Amidst a rapid crackling, Qianzhang Lake was frozen into a cube of blue ice. A plume of white colored, cold mist rose into the sky, colliding with the red light shout out of the crystal mirror and producing a deafening explosion, as if a thousand bombs had just been detonated together. A muffled boom echoed out and shook the small pools and ponds around the lake, raising countless water pillars a few hundred feet into the air and sending muddy water splattering in all directions. It was a scary scene.
Lord Xiansheng, Gold Horn, and Silver Horn were hiding under the layer of ice, staring through the translucent ice at the hundreds of Daoists in the sky. A little crab demon was ordered to follow them by Qianzhang Dragon King, who was timidly hiding next to Lord Xiansheng. Lord Xiansheng gave him a glance, then pointed his finger out and made a crack in the ice. After that, he kicked the little demon out while transmitting a few words into his ears.
The crab demon, who had two black iron hammers in hands, lifted his little head up with two big eyes rolled about. He pointed a finger at the Daoists in the sky and shouted harshly, "You unruly Daoists! Why are you attacking us? Do you know that this place belongs to Qianzhang Dragon King? Touch your head and see if it is still there! You will be dead in just a breath's time!"
All the Daoists roared with laughter. One of them, a white-bearded Daoist who was clad in a golden Daoist robe, came above the crab demon on a cloud, looking down as he said, "Qianzhang Dragon King? What a famous demon! Haha, save your breath now, little demon! Tell your dragon king to hand over the man, the girl, and the two Dragon Pythons of Fire and Ice. As long as he does that, we have no intention of seizing your 'great base'!"
Another round of wild laughter erupted among the Daoists. "I am Daoist Ling from Mount Ziya," announced the white-bearded Daoist with a smile on his face, "and they are my disciples. Mount Ziya is well-known for our mastery of divination techniques. It had taken me more than a month's hard work to figure out that the group of people we are hunting are hiding under this lake. Do not prevaricate and just hand them over immediately, or you and your demon friends will crumble to dust with the blow of thunder!"
All of a sudden, the Daoist holding the crystal mirror began to pant. He put down the mirror, turned around, and cupped his fist to Daoist Ling as he said, "Master, my energy is exhausted. The demons under the water are very strong. I find it really tough to resist the cold mist."
As the red light emitted by the crystal mirror disappeared, the cold mist unleashed by Gold Horn and Silver Horn immediately became dominant. A vast sheet of cold air spread rapidly around Qianzhang Lake, and soon, the surrounding pools and ponds were covered with a layer of white frost. Some aquatic beasts, such as pythons and crocodiles, were scurrying away in panic. Weeds were stirred and water was splashing; only heaven knew how many beasts had fled Qianzhang Lake.
The crab demon rolled his eyes, and at Lord Xiansheng's order, he grinned and said, "We don't have any men or women here, and I don't know what Dragon Pythons of Fire and Ice are..."
Daoist Ling's face darkened. He pointed at the crab demon and snapped, "Stop prevaricating with lies! Do you really think I have a good temper?" With his finger pointing out, three blue swords sprung out from the scabbards behind his back, turning into three ten-feet long sword beams that soared through the air and flew toward the crab demon.
The sword beams came with an immense murderous air that petrified the little crab demon, even though they were still hundreds of feet away. As he stared blankly at them falling down toward his head, he suddenly let out a strange cry, covered his heads with both hands, and rushed toward the crack in the ice. His movement surely was fast, but how could he be faster than sword beams? Just as he turned, three sword beams were already on top of his head.
There were three loud bangs as Lord Xiansheng shot out of the ice. His head had transformed into a great dragon's head, his body suddenly rose to the height of thirty feet, and he was covered with gleaming dragon scales like a suit of armor. With both fists wrapped in a strong dragon aura, he knocked all three sword beams off into a distance with three consecutive punches.
Daoist Ling's body swayed a little. His immortal soul had suffered a concussion when Lord Xiansheng knocked his sword beams away, and it nearly made him cough up blood. But, he was not scared. Instead, he stared at Lord Xiansheng and cried out excitedly, "Well, aren't you the man in the image given by Young Master? Ha, a Heaven Dragon will not scare me! My disciples, let's get him!"
More than a hundred sword beams thrust whistling out of the hands of the Daoists, turning into a great sheet of bright mist that set to wrap around Lord Xiansheng. There were even more than a dozen very powerful magical weapons shooting toward him amidst strange lights, flames, and thunderbolts.
Lord Xiansheng snorted coldly. His body swayed a little as a sudden rush of water burst out from under Qianzhang Lake. The blue water soared up into the sky and turned into a rapidly spinning whirlpool above his head, a few miles thick and several hundred miles in circumference. Then, he held up both hands and exercised the innate divine ability of dragons, causing thunderclaps to echo out of the whirlpool as hundreds of water pillars, each as thick as a flood dragon, abruptly thrust out to meet the sword beams and magical treasures.
Loud rumble kept ringing out as one water pillar crumbled and shattered after another, while over one hundred sword beams were thrown up into the sky with their bright light fading. The flame and thunderbolts unleashed by the dozens of powerful magical treasures landed in the rapidly spinning whirlpool. The huge whirlpool absorbed all the attacks, turning them into a vast expanse of dazzling light in the blue water. None of the attacks could penetrate the defensive line put up by this giant whirlpool.
Daoist Ling was struck dumb. Although Mount Ziya, the sect founded by him on Pangu Continent, was only famous for their divination techniques, the cultivation base of his disciples was quite remarkable as well. In addition to the fact that he himself was a thirty-fourth tier Heaven Immortal, three of his disciples were thirty-sixth tier Heaven Immortals. Among the disciples he had brought here, over thirty of them were Nascent Divinity cultivators, and the rest were all Nascent Soul cultivators. But to his surprise, they could not take Lord Xiansheng down even with the joint forces of over one hundred people. That was just absurd.
Even if Mount Ziya was not known for powerful divine abilities and magic, their cultivation bases were not weak either. How could this Lord Xiansheng be so fearsome?
Burning with a frenzied rage, Daoist Ling summoned back the three sword beams which had been knocked away. As he was about to attack Lord Xiansheng himself, Gold Horn and Silver Horn suddenly craned their heads out of the ice layer. The brothers let out a shrill, harsh cry as they opened their big mouths, shooting out two beams of strong light, one red and one white, which twisted together into one spiral beam of light and swept through the void.
The many cultivators of Mount Ziya were caught off guard. In a blink, the beam of white-and-red light had struck them and smashed the defensive magical treasures of over eighty cultivators with one swift move. The cultivators' bodies turned red as if they were almost fully cooked, but a cold air swept across them in the next instant, causing their fleshly bodies and souls to shatter into nothingness. Miserable howls kept echoing out. Even Daoist Mo Luan's defensive immortal item was destroyed under the joint attack of Gold Horn and Silver Horn, let alone these cultivators of Mount Ziya, who were so much weaker than him!
Daoist Ling was so angry that he coughed up a mouthful of blood. A strange encounter, as well as several Periods of laborious cultivation, and hard work had given him his current cultivation base, and allowed him to establish a small foundation on Pangu Continent, the Mount Ziya. Under the violent suppression of Great Yu official, he managed to build a base and raise hundreds of disciples. But, just with one strike from Gold Horn and Silver Horn, eighty percent of them were dead now. He felt like wanting to commit suicide for what he had gone through.
Trembling all over, he gave an angry roar. With both hands pressing down, three blue sword beams shot whistling out and thrust toward Lord Xiansheng, Gold Horn, and Silver Horn. Then, he sprayed out three mouthfuls of blood mist, which caused the sword beams to stretch hundreds of feet longer. Like a waterfall, they plunged straight down from the sky, their power at least one hundred times stronger than when he attacked the little crab demon.
Lord Xiansheng's face darkened. A vast expanse of water mist suddenly sprayed out of his body, inside of which, thunderbolts twisted and tangled with one another, filling the air with deafening thunderclaps as everything went straight to meet the incoming sword beams. His coiling-dragon halberd had been destroyed in the previous battle, so he now had to use his divine abilities to confront Daoist Ling.
Fortunately, there were Gold Horn and Silver Horn on his side. Before the thunderbolts unleashed by Lord Xiansheng collided with Daoist Ling's sword beams, Gold Horn opened his mouth and sprayed out a stream of raging flame. It swept across the three sword beams, made them tremble, and turned their blue glow into a red-hot shine. Then, Silver Horn sprayed out a stream of glistening cold air. Amidst a series of crackling, three red-hot sword beams shattered into pieces.
Daoist Ling coughed out another mouthful of blood. "My spirit items!"
Lord Xiansheng glared at him and snapped, "You are a Heaven Immortal and yet you are still using a spirit item? Don't you feel ashamed of yourself?"
Daoist Ling was stunned, and was momentarily distracted by Lord Xiansheng's rebuke. "We bet this old Daoist is not a rich man. He is already a Heaven Immortal, yet he is still using some spirit item. Alas, how poor he really is!" sneered Gold Horn and Silver Horn.
Daoist Ling gritted his teeth and was about to refute Gold Horn and Silver Horn, when he suddenly saw a dark cloud rushing toward him from the far side of the sky. Across the distance of tens of miles, a deep, hoarse voice echoed out, "Fellow Daoist Ling, thanks for leading the way! The divination technique of Mount Ziya is truly remarkable! Haha, I wouldn't be able to find them so easily if I were to do this myself!"
In a blink, the dark cloud had appeared before Daoist Ling. A dark fiend claw stretched out from it and seized his head while ripping his body in half. Daoist Ling howled miserably. As his immortal soul was about to flee in a golden light, the fiend claw grabbed him with a backhand, then crushed him.
The Daoists of Mount Ziya roared furiously, and while they were about to launch an attack, the dark cloud suddenly spread out and enveloped all of them. A nasty gnawing noise rang out, and was accompanied by some forlorn howls. Soon the dark cloud shrunk, and all the Daoists had disappeared without a trace, leaving only a very pungent smell of blood in the air.
Lord Xiansheng exclaimed, "Who are you?"
A deep laugh rang out from within the dark cloud. "I am Patriarch Ji Mie, an itinerant Immortal of Myriad Immortal Alliance. Haha, don't you know that the Myriad Immortal Alliance has issued an arrest warrant for you?"
The dark cloud vanished, revealing a misshapen old man who stood only three feet tall, with a head as big as a rice hopper.