Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 512 Who says a strategist can't wipe out your entire clan?
As Jiang Yuan entered the secret cave, Ling Qixuan was also leading the Yin Feng Elder and his group to visit his "small town ruins".

Lu Xingzhou mingled in the crowd and observed that the city was still an ice city, only much smaller than the royal city he had visited; it was just a small, run-down town.

It looks like there's only one main street with a few scattered houses. But the architectural style is basically the same as that of the royal city, so it's clear that it's a country.

The town was also hidden deep underground, but after being discovered by the Ice Prison Sect, a teleportation array was built through its spatial rifts. Many secret locations designated by major sects and factions came about in this way. In other words, although it seems like you're going through the back mountain of the Ice Prison Sect, you actually don't know where you are now.

The town had been ransacked by the Ice Prison Sect, and all usable resources had undoubtedly been taken away. The remaining ice sculptures lay neatly arranged on an open space. Lu Xingzhou scanned them; these ice sculptures had completely lost their remaining soul fire—they were utterly dead.

Ling Qixuan said, "There's nothing else in this secret realm, just these things... If Your Majesty the Ghost Emperor likes them, please take them."

The old man with the cold wind was quite pleased: "These are indeed a batch of fresh ancient corpses. I will accept them."

Ling Qixuan said, "So we really haven't found any clues related to the Ice Demon. Please report this to Lord Yama."

If this was truly just someone sent by Yama to inquire about the Ice Demon, or simply to test whether the ambush was theirs on Lu Xingzhou's behalf, then it would basically end here.

Unfortunately, Lu Xingzhou didn't come for these reasons.

He kept a small wooden figure given to him by Jiang Yuan in his hand, simultaneously sensing what Jiang Yuan was seeing and hearing, just to figure out if there was any power beyond his expectations.

When Jiang Yuan met Xuan Nu, Lu Xingzhou also found out.

So this is the power hidden by the Ice Prison Sect... That's alright then.

Lu Xingzhou sent a signal directly to Si Han. At the same time, Si Han led several elites into the secret cave to meet Jiang Yuan, while another allied force composed of high-ranking members of Si Han's Shadow Moon Sect and high-ranking members of the Tianyao Holy Land stationed in Shadow Moon City directly attacked the Ice Prison Sect's mountain gate.

While Ling Qixuan was still chatting and laughing with the Yin Feng Elder in the secret realm, his home above had already been breached.

Most of the sect's high-ranking members were "receiving guests for sightseeing" in the secret realm, leaving few powerful figures within the sect. The ferocious allied forces stormed into the mountain gate, shattering the great formation within moments.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" The Ice Prison Sect members were bewildered and alarmed, and they sounded the alarm to Ling Qixuan.

Before Ling Qixuan could react, the seemingly smiling old man from Yinfeng, who was collecting corpses, and his subordinates from the Yin Corpse Sect suddenly attacked. Several steel corpse puppets suddenly assaulted the high-ranking elders from the Ice Prison Sect who were accompanying him.

Lu Xingzhou flashed behind Ling Qixuan, his left hand on fire and his right hand on water, and viciously punched Ling Qixuan's back with both fists.

Dugu Qingli aimed her sword at Ling Qixuan's vital points.

If you want to block the Ice Demon's channels, just take them all and the outcome will be clear. What can't be investigated under the Soul Banner? With the momentum in hand, there's no need for pretense, deception, or scheming.

The elders of the Ice Prison Sect were caught off guard by the sudden attack and didn't have time to react. Several of them were ambushed by Elder Yin Feng, and the scene instantly turned into the Yin Corpse Sect overwhelming the Ice Prison Sect.

A magical artifact resembling an ice crystal appeared in Ling Qixuan's hand, rapidly expanding to envelop him like an ice egg. Lu Xingzhou and Dugu Qingli's attacks simultaneously struck it.

Amidst the shattering of ice crystals, Ling Qixuan roared, "Lord Lu, what do you mean by this! Is this how the Underworld attacks its allies?!"

The shattered ice crystals transformed into sharp blades that swirled in all directions, and Ling Qixuan fled in a flash.

He subconsciously avoided Dugu Qingli when choosing a direction, heading only towards Lu Xingzhou.

"Sect Leader Ling knows who attacked first." Lu Xingzhou delivered a punch to the face.

The raging purple flames spread throughout the secret realm with this punch, turning even the image of the setting sun in the sky purple, and the world became like a furnace.

The setting sun in the blazing inferno now truly embodies the imagery of a blazing inferno.

Ling Qixuan thrust his sword forward, piercing through the sea of ​​fire.

"Clang!" The fist and sword clashed head-on, and the energy surged violently, causing the secret realm to tremble violently.

Dugu Qingli's second sword strike had already reached Ling Qixuan's back, but seeing Lu Xingzhou's head-on confrontation, her heart still leaped into her throat. This was perhaps the first time in her life that she had felt tense about someone else's battle; she had never felt this way before... not even towards her master, not even towards her "friend" Shen Tang, and not even towards Lu Xingzhou before.

And now it exists.

She finally understood what Lu Xingzhou felt when he stood in front of her without regard for anything else. At this moment, she felt the same way, wishing she could be the one facing him head-on.

So this is what people are like...

A thought flashed through his mind, and Lu Xingzhou took a half-step back, still firmly blocking Ling Qixuan's path. At that moment, Dugu Qingli's sword pierced Ling Qixuan's back.

If he had encountered a weaker opponent, this sword strike would have been fatal. But Ling Qixuan only let out a painful groan; the sword wound didn't even draw blood.

"Ice-transformed demonic body..." Dugu Qingli murmured, and then Ling Qixuan's flesh and blood began to dissipate, and his whole body turned into something like ice.

His aura was also different from before. He was a mid-level first-grade demonic cultivator before, but now it was impossible to tell what kind of cultivator he was.

It's like a level that has just broken through to the highest level, yet it's also like an endless, unfathomable ocean—an incomprehensible realm. It fluctuates repeatedly between highs and lows, defying definition.

"Heh...heh..." Ling Qixuan seemed to be laughing, yet also seemed to be in pain, as he slowly said, "I misjudged you...I always thought you, Lu Xingzhou, were a strategist, someone who always considered the consequences before acting, at least to understand the whole situation before making a decision...but I didn't expect you to be so direct, coming to wipe out my family without saying a word...What makes you think that the person who ambushed you must be me?"

Outside the secret realm, the battle cries of the Ice Prison Sect were fading. All the sect's high-ranking members had been attacked within the realm, leaving the outside leaderless. A few elders who had been in seclusion had escaped, but they were no match for the combined forces of the Shadow Moon Sect, the strongest sect in the Frost Kingdom, and the Heavenly Jade Holy Land. The combined forces were utterly crushed, offering no resistance whatsoever.

Within the secret realm, they were ambushed. The high-ranking elders, caught off guard by the Yin Wind Elder and the Yin Corpse Sect's followers, suffered repeated defeats.

Only Ling Qixuan remained, his body transformed by demonic energy, as if possessed by an ice demon.

But the fact that he was alone aroused alarm in Lu Xingzhou and the others. Lu Xingzhou took a step back and said calmly, "It seems there's no need to explain to you."

Ling Qixuan nodded and chuckled: "When the difference in strength reaches a certain level, directly overwhelming the opponent with overwhelming force is indeed the most efficient strategy... But Lu Xingzhou, you are so confident, haven't you considered that I can already draw upon the power of the Ice Demon?"

His condition does indeed resemble the power of the Ice Demon possessing him, but he can't sustain it, so his state fluctuates wildly and is unpredictable. It should be said that this sudden attack was an extremely correct choice. If Ling Qixuan had been given more time to develop, he might have been able to stabilize his control over the power of the Ice Demon, but right now there are still some problems.

Lu Xingzhou was worried that Dugu Qingli would be affected, so he glanced at her carefully. Seeing that she looked normal, he was slightly relieved: "If you really had the ability to use the power of the Ice Demon at will, we wouldn't have been able to escape during the ambush. It's clear that you must have paid a huge price to achieve this, such as... using it just once would completely destroy your body?"

Ling Qixuan sneered, "So what... at least you'll all die here... like... your little lover who's currently entangled with Xuan Nu?"

As he spoke, Ling Qixuan pointed to a certain empty space.

Jiang Yuan, separated by a dimension, felt the power of being frozen at this moment and could not break free.

Lu Xingzhou calmly said, "The reason you dealt with Jiang Yuan first was because you hoped that Xuan Nu could quickly resolve her situation and come here to help you... This shows that you were not confident in dealing with us at all. With such powerful strength, capable of freezing people across realms, yet you were not confident in dealing with us, there is only one explanation—your Ice Cold is ineffective against Qing Li."

As she spoke, Dugu Qingli flashed by, slashing her sword through the void.

Touched by Ling Qixuan's icy demeanor, Dugu Qingli's heart stirred slightly.

This feeling is strange; it's not about cutting off, but about fighting for something.

It felt as if he was vying with Ling Qixuan for control of Frost... or rather, with the Ice Demon.

The Ice Demon was sealed and unable to participate in the battle on its own. Ling Qixuan borrowed the Ice Demon's power through some secret method, not his own, so there was a layer separating them. As for who is the master of the frost here, he is not in the running.

However, Ling Qixuan's power was ultimately stronger... and so a strange stalemate was formed. Bing Shuang was more willing to listen to Dugu Qingli, but was pulled back because Ling Qixuan's power was stronger, like a tug-of-war.

In short, for Jiang Yuan, such a slight tug-of-war, with the freezing power slightly weakened, was enough for her to release the suppression of her ancient bloodline and break free.

Unsure of the situation on Jiang Yuan's side, Lu Xingzhou made his move at the same time as Dugu Qingli.

Dugu Qingli pulled the ice and frost control, and Lu Xingzhou's Taiyin True Fire ignited under Ling Qixuan's feet.

Ling Qixuan's frozen demonic body clearly couldn't withstand the Taiyin True Fire, and he retreated from the range of the flames in some pain. However, Lu Xingzhou had already anticipated the direction of his retreat and swept a whip kick towards him.

Ling Qixuan raised his frozen arm to parry, his icy hand colliding with the immortal bone on Lu Xingzhou's leg, producing a muffled thud. Lu Xingzhou was sent spinning, and Dugu Qingli's sword was already at the back of Ling Qixuan's neck.

This battle is very similar to the battle against the King of Ice City, and even Ling Qixuan's current power level is very close to that of the King.

But the two already have a wealth of experience.

Dugu Qingli's sword is not for dealing damage, but for controlling the frost on the opponent; the real damage dealer is Lu Xingzhou.

When Ling Qixuan tried to deflect Dugu Qingli's sword, he found that the sword had no power at all. Instead, his frozen body felt a little numb. It wasn't numbness; Dugu Qingli was fighting him for control of the frost on his body.

In that moment of paralysis, Lu Xingzhou punched him in the face.

With a "bang," one of his front teeth was knocked out, and a drop of something—whether it was blood or water—instinctively went down his still-frozen esophagus into his stomach.

(End of this chapter)