As the old saying goes, "three feet of ice can"t form overnight."
However, this saying didn"t apply to Su Liu"er at all.
Accompanied by the cold voice of the empress, the ice on Hanba"s body kept climbing upward at an even faster face.
“Break.”
Bang! Bang! Hanba"s fists smashed repeatedly against the unyielding ice, but no matter what she did there was nothing she could do to stop it from spreading.
In just the blink of an eye, her entire body was encased in ice.
“Hm？”
On a battlefield not far away, Jiang Chen, still br.i.m.m.i.n.g over with black smoke, felt his heart inexplicably tremble.
The four Zombie Progenitors could all sense each other. Those sudden palpitations surely meant that Hanba had encountered some sort of problem.
“Get out of my way.”
Jiangchen shook off Lady Nuwa"s spiritual technique with a fist as a pair of wings suddenly sprouted from his back. Without any delay he burst into flight.
Even though the Zombie Progenitors had exceptional strength, they also had some disadvantages.
Because they were already dead, they couldn’t use the laws of heaven and earth, and therefore couldn’t fly and were poor at spiritual arts. However, their physical bodies were so strong, not even divine beasts could compare with them.
But there was one exceptional existence among them: Jiangchen.
He could fly.
His beating wings stirred up fierce winds as he hurtled past, knocking Lady Nuwa backward. She wiped fresh blood from the corners of her mouth.
“This isn’t good,” she said to herself, and dashed in Ye Zichen’ direction.
“Ye Zichen, I’ve done everything I can. The rest is up to you.” Nine-tails radiating outward like a peac.o.c.k"s feathers, Su Liu’er’s expression was now somewhat listless. Even though she’d only used two spiritual techniques, they had both consumed enormous amounts of spiritual energy.
“Mmhm.”
The Xuan-Yuan sword flew from his hands and it hovered horizontally above Ye Zichen"s head.
The prelude to the Myriad Mysterious Concealed Swords.
Ye Zichen had gotten this sword technique after regaining the Yellow Emperor’s memories. Its effectiveness was comparable to the Sword Slash Maelstrom. However, the true strength of this technique was in the number of illusory swords produced.
Woos.h.!.+
One sword shadow after another appeared around him but, but then....
"My Liu"er sure is amazing. Look at this ice statue! It"s practically a work of art!"
Yuan Hong, who"d originally been sent to look after Su Yan and Su Zhu, chose this moment to make an appearance. His smiled fawningly at Su Liu"er, but.....
"Why did you come?"
Ye Zichen and Su Liu"er asked at pretty much exactly the same time.
“……”
They really were pretty well coordinated.
Yuan Hong had some misgivings in his heart, but he shrugged and said,
"There are four Zombie Progenitors in total. Two were imprisoned by Fatty, one is locked in combat with Lady Nuwa, and the only one left is sealed in Su Liu"er"s ice. Way I see it, there shouldn"t be any problems, so I came out for a stroll."
He was right in theory, but just in case...
"You"d best get back over to Su Yan," said Ye Zichen with a frown. The illusory swords around him became more and densely packed.
Yuan Hong glanced at him searchingly and said, "That spiritual art of yours looks pretty awesome. Next time let me see its results, okay? Since you"re telling me to go, I won"t dilly-dally. I"ll just head on back, then."
With that, he unsurprisingly went to bid farewell to Su Liu"er, but before he could open his mouth, he saw a black shadow....
"Liu"er, watch out."
Poof.
A staff suddenly appeared in Yuan Hong"s hand. He pressed hard against the ground and flew toward Su Liu"er.
“What"s wrong?”
Su Liu"er knit her brow, then suddenly felt a cold chill from behind.
"It was you who froze Hanba, right? So if I take care of you, the problem will go away? But that spiritual art looks pretty intimidating. How about you come with me instead?"
Without leaving her any room to resist, he karate-chopped her neck.
"Eat Grandpa Yuan Hong"s...."
Jiangchen turned back to look at him.
Looking into Jiangchen"s blood-red eyes, it was as if Yuan Hong was looking at an incomparably ferocious and evil beast; his body froze involuntarily.
Ulp.
He gulped despite himself, but then saw Su Liu"er in Jiangchen"s hands
"Your Grandpa Yuan Hong will take you on!"
He rushed to her aid, smas.h.i.+ng his staff against Jiangchen"s skull, but even though the blow was extremely forceful….
Smash.
The staff snapped.
Yet Jiangchen was completely uninjured.
"Where"d this wild monkey come from?"
He flicked a finger against Yuan Hong’s forehead.
Bam.
Splat.
Yuan Hong fell to the ground in an instant, carving a deep hole into the earth.
“Yuan Hong.”
Ye Zichen, still surrounded by sword shadows, knit his brow, but before he could make a move Jiangchen was in front of him.
Jiangchen seemed to be smiling, making Ye Zichen knit his brow even further.
Wasn"t Lady Nuwa supposed to be fighting him? How was he here?
A beam of rosy light pierced through the sky, and as the light dispersed Lady Nuwa emerged from within. She walked forward, but when she saw Su Liu"er in Jiangchen"s hands....
She was one step too late!
“Lady!”
Ye Zichen was longer in the mood to play jokes on Nuwa. He simply looked at her and frowned. From his expression, Nuwa could tell that he wanted her to explain herself.
"I got over-confident," said Nuwa apologetically. Then, facing Jiangchen, she said, "Let her go."
"It’s not that I can’t let her go, but we ought to be fair, right?
"We can let Hanba go too, but Big Sister Liu"er sealed her in ice. She"s the only one who can undo it."
It was absolutely obvious even without thinking that Jianchen’s “fairness” referred to Hanba.
"So I do need her to undo it. Good thing I didn"t kill her earlier," said Jiangchen, raising his eyebrows as if rejoicing. Then he knocked Su Liu"er on the head.
“Hm?”
Su Liu"er slowly opened her eyes.
"Little girl, this young man says that only you can undo the ice-seal. If you let Hanba go, I can spare your life. "
"You"re dreaming," said Su Liu"er with a contemptuous snort. She looked at Ye Zichen and his countless sword shadows and bellowed, "Ye Zichen, why haven"t you done it yet? Kill her! Denglong will lose one of his souls. Trading my life for a primordial beast’s is worth it!
"Clan Chief of the Nine-Tailed Foxes, we can"t do that," said Lady Nuwa.
Although Ye Zichen hadn"t spoken, he obviously felt the same way.
"What on earth are you doing? We worked so hard to get this far. If you release Hanba from the ice, then we"re all doomed as soon Fatty"s formation to loses its effect."
"Little girl, do you think I don"t exist? You"re in my hands now. How dare you even suggest something like that?"
Jiangchen smiled indifferently, but nevertheless anyone looking at his expression could feel his anger.
"What are you waiting for?" Su Liu"er ignored him completely and instead kept on urging Nuwa and Ye Zichen to make their move.
"The Clan Chief of the Nine-Tailed Foxes really is an "empress." You"re even willing to sacrifice yourself, how admirable.
Then, an unfamiliar voice appeared suddenly from behind.
"But I"m a little uncertain. If wanted to trade these two girls for Hanba"s life, would the Empress be a bit more willing?"