The opening of the Enchanted Forest Realm had attracted many sky-prides to enter and explore it.
Even the outlaw sky-prides who barely showed themselves had entered it in search of Opportunities of Fortune. All of them were hoping to gain a greater advantage to become an Emperor when the Emperor Throne appeared.
Somewhere inside the Enchanted Forest Realm.
“Roar!!”
With a terrifying roar, a huge frightening beast overflowing with ferocious qi was pursuing a female cultivator.
That female cultivator was dressed in white and had long black hair over her shoulders. Her skin was shiny and had the appearance of frosted ice. Although she was chased by that wild beast[1], there was no sign of fear on her face. It was not because she was confident but as if she was born without any emotion instead.
“I didn’t expect the Empyrean Frost Python to be that powerful. It looks like I was careless earlier.”
The female cultivator looked at the wild beast that was currently pursuing her and mumbled.
That wild beast was a giant python that was three hundred meters long. It had a crystal white horn growing out from its head, while its body was covered in snowy white scales that were seething with terrifying freezing qi.
Wherever it went, the ground froze in thick layers of snow.
“Roar!”
The Empyrean Frost Python roared, releasing great amounts of freezing qi from its mouth.
“Heavenly Ice Shield!”
The female cultivator uttered lightly as tremendous amounts of freezing qi emanated from her body as well, forming an ice shield in front of her.
However, when the two energies collided, the female cultivator’s ice shield instantly froze and shattered into pieces!
Although both parties had freezing qi in their techniques, the Empyrean Frost Python’s freezing qi was even more powerful and terrifying than hers. It could freeze her ice shield even more!
Large amounts of snowy icefalls swept out, forcing the female cultivator dozens of meters back. Soon, several hundred meters around her was enveloped within the freezing qi.
Any plants or animals that were caught up in it were instantly frozen!
Her sight was filled with a silver-white scene. It was as if everything in the world was frozen.
The female cultivator’s body was covered in a layer of ice as well. However, she channeled her spiritual power to shake the ice off her.
“Your abilities are indeed impressive, human sky-pride. I didn’t think you would last so long in my hands.”
The Empyrean Frost Python uttered.
As a wild beast that was conceived within the Enchanted Forest Realm and gone through many years of cultivation, it had gained an intellect of its own.
“Frost Python, I’m willing to offer you some items as compensation for my misbehavior. How about we put this matter behind?”
The female cultivator looked at the Frost Python and said.
“Hmph. You deserve nothing less than a painful death for trying to steal my horn! There’s no way I’m going to let this matter slide that easily!”
“It seems that I’ll have to fight with my life then,” the female cultivator uttered with a determined look on her face.
“Now, die!”
The Empyrean Frost Python spewed out vast amounts of freezing qi, which poured out from its mouth like an unstoppable frosty river.
The strength of that freezing qi was on par with a top-notch Boundary Emperor.
Upon seeing that, the female cultivator released an incredibly mysterious surge of Daoist Rhyme from the palm of her hand.
The Daoist Rhyme gathered and soon formed a white seal in the void that launched towards the incoming wave of freezing qi.
“Mystical Wind Seal!”
The gigantic seal crashed into the freezing qi. When the two energies collided, the Mystical Wind Seal gradually froze up.
The female cultivator was also starting to show signs of fatigue.
Yet with an indifferent expression, she raised her hand and channeled the spiritual power in her body once again. “Supreme Emotional Forgetting Pierce!”
As soon as she pointed her finger, a gigantic finger strength appeared within the void.
The attack released a cold that could freeze one’s heart. This meant that it was not the coldness of nature but the coldness of a human heart!!
Suddenly, an explosion erupted!
The finger strength brutally shattered the freezing qi before making its way to the Empyrean Frost Python’s body.
In a blast, great amounts of snowy white scales were destroyed. The Empyrean Frost Python’s head was almost dyed red from all the blood that was spurting out.
“I did it!”
Despite the female cultivator’s apathetic behavior, even she could not help but rejoice at what happened.
“Roar!!”
However, the Empyrean Frost Python roared into the skies, and a mix of an even more terrifying ferocious qi and freezing qi erupted.
“You insolent human! How dare you injure me!!”
The Empyrean Frost Python roared as its blood-stained eyes gazed coldly towards the female cultivator.
Its aura still remained incredibly menacing and powerful despite having been injured by the female cultivator’s most powerful attack.
“Its physical body is even more terrifying!”
The female cultivator uttered with surprise.
After all, that piercing attack she unleashed earlier was strong enough to kill a Boundary Emperor. Yet, it only made the Empyrean Frost Python bleed a little.
Its strong physical body was far beyond the female cultivator’s abilities.
“Sovereign level. Only a Sovereign level of attack can kill this Empyrean Frost Python.”
The female cultivator said frustratingly.
At that moment, the enraged Empyrean Frost Python had already unleashed an attack towards her. With its mouth wide open, it dashed towards her, seeking to swallow her whole!
The female cultivator wanted to escape but soon realized that the surrounding freezing qi had frozen her feet at some point, rendering her immobilized.
“It seems like this will be the end of me today. What a shame. There’s still so much that I haven’t accomplished.”
Facing her impending death, the female cultivator’s reaction was not huge. However, her heart began to race uncontrollably.
An extremely unfamiliar emotion welled up in her.
‘Is this the feeling of fear?’
‘A sense of fear that every living being has by instinct?’
Just when the female cultivator was about to meet her end in the python’s belly, a ray of sword ray suddenly struck out from afar.
That sword ray shot through the skies like a crashing meteor before it slashed the Empyrean Frost Python’s horn.
The horn was the strongest part of the Empyrean Frost Python’s body. Hence, the moment it was hit with the sword ray, a bright spark erupted.
The sparks of light flew everywhere, followed by a crisp, clear sound of something being cracked open.
The sword qi had created a huge crack on the horn!
The Empyrean Frost Python could no longer be bothered by the female cultivator. With its horn damaged, it let out a frightening cry.
“F*ck this. Who the hell is this! How dare you ambush me!!”
The Empyrean Frost Python roared as it looked around its surroundings.
In the air, a white-robed figure with black hair was approaching from afar.
The female cultivator looked towards him and was momentarily dazed.
She had seen all kinds of people throughout her life, and that naturally included countless so-called handsome men.
However, none of them were able to tug the female cultivator’s heartstrings at all.
Yet now, the female cultivator noticed that her heart was seemingly throbbing. It was a little similar to her heartbeat racing when she was on the brink of death, but it was slightly different too.
That female cultivator was a little confused.
‘What kind of feeling is this?’
‘Is this what my fellow brothers and sisters were talking about within the sect? The so-called… tugging of heartstrings?!’
Before she could think of anything more, the person who came, who was none other than Chu Kuangren, had started battling the Empyrean Frost Python.
“How dare you ambush me, human! You’re dead to me!!”
“I’ve taken an interest in that horn of yours, little snake. If you’d be so kind as to hand it to me yourself, I might let you live.”
Chu Kuangren uttered lightly, seemingly ignoring the female cultivator at the side. No matter how beautiful she was, she was still less attractive than the Empyrean Frost Python’s horn before the likes of him.
“Another one who wants my horn! Let’s see whether you’re able to get it then!!”
As the Empyrean Frost Python roared, its whole body shook, and its horn also began radiating with a bright white light. Tremendous amounts of freezing qi emanated from it, enveloping most of the skies.
Immediately after that, countless icicle spikes rained down on Chu Kuangren like a raging blizzard.
“It seems like I’ll have to take it by force then.”
Chu Kuangren struck out with his Descendant Self Sword. A dense surge of sword qi poured out, swallowing the blizzard attack that had enveloped the skies.
One by one, the countless icicles were shattered by the sword qi.
Just that strike alone was enough to shock the onlooking female cultivator.
“Such tremendous combat strength! Which orthodoxy is this outlaw sky-pride from??”
[1] the author used “异兽” instead of “凶兽”, assumed to be a typo
