Chapter 530: Great Calamity!
In the depths of the Forbidden Land of Ice, the Demon Sealing Tombstone floated high above the surface of the frozen lake, shooting ray after ray of dazzling divine light downward.
The frozen lake’s giant, reflective surface burst under the force of the barrage, sending crystalline spears of ice flying throughout the the area and cras.h.i.+ng into nearby glaciers and mountains. Enormous chunks of ice began cras.h.i.+ng downward as a result.
An cold sheen radiated from the countless shards of ice shooting through the sky as a bone-chilling energy soaked the area, threatening to freeze everything.
The eastern barbarians had experienced countless struggles and hards.h.i.+ps. They managed to enter the Graveyard of G.o.ds from the territories west of the Land of Chaos and were now looking for the remains in the Land of Buried G.o.ds… only to become victims of this ice storm in the Forbidden Land of Ice.
The ice storm had completely besieged the hundreds of eastern barbarians traveling through a valley between two icy mountains. It was as if they had entered a freezing h.e.l.l.
A spear of ice more than five hundred meters long, one that was reminiscent of a crystalline ice dragon, came soaring towards them from the frozen lake in the distance. It seemed to have a mind of its own, savagely soaring straight toward the densest group of the barbarians.
The ice spear descended from the sky, piercing the ground and engulfing the area with a frigid chill. All of the eastern barbarians trembled in fear.
“Crack! Bang bang b-bang!”
The giant ice spear abruptly fragmented into hundreds of smaller spears dozens of meters long that rained down upon them.
Numerous barbarians released tragic shrieks as the spears impaled them, dying instantly.
As all of this took place, a snow-covered mountain behind the eastern barbarians shook violently, then collapsed.
Humongous icy boulders hurtled down from that mountain and into the midst of the eastern barbarians. Those unable to get out of their paths were crushed into a b.l.o.o.d.y paste.
In an extremely short amount of time, around a hundred eastern barbarians had either died or suffered grievous injuries. They wailed and howled like ghosts or eerie wolves, trying to find a way to survive this calamity. Their thoughts of killing all Land of Chaos pract.i.tioners had disappeared, their previously high spirits completely nonexistent.
The eastern barbarians were being brutally eradicated!
Meanwhile, Qin Lie’s group did everything they could to rush to the top of the icy mountain they were on. All of them had become frantic, each of them exuding spirit energy that radiated a dazzling glow and shocking, colorful light.
They tried their best to find shelter.
Having seen what was happening to the eastern barbarians, they knew that the lower they were, the more danger they were in.
Being at the peak of this icy mountain would allow them to avoid the aftermath of other mountains collapsing, the bombardments of icy boulders, and the ruthless icy a.s.saults shooting from the frozen lake.
“This doesn’t make any sense!” Du Xiangyang shouted, scared out of his wits. “The ice shooting from the frozen lake shouldn’t be striking so accurately! It’s almost as if it’s intelligent!”
“The ice spirit is using its power to guide the ice.” Qin Lie took a deep breath, his expression as tranquil as water. “The ice spirit is hidden in the depths of the frozen lake. Upon sensing the terrifying threat that is the Demon Sealing Tombstone, it began to fight back. It considers all living things in the Graveyard of G.o.ds enemies that need to be killed.”
“When the wood spirit formed a soul connection Ye Yihao, the Demon Sealing Tombstone wasn’t able to seal it. It was only after that connection broke that the tombstone could do anything,” Song Tingyu said. Then, her aura abruptly changed as she took s.h.i.+ning armor out of her spatial ring and put it on. She now seemed dignified and intimidating. “If the ice spirit has formed a similar connection to Jia Yue, the Demon Sealing Tombstone won’t be able to seal it. Doesn’t that mean we need to do the same thing here?”
Realization spread across everyone’s faces.
In the Forbidden Land of Wood, Ye Yihao had made a deal with the wood spirit, allowing it to take some of his energy. That made it impossible for the Demon Sealing Tombstone to lock onto its target.
Were it not for Xie Jingxuan’s shocking intervention during that chaotic battle, breaking the wood spirit’s guard and interrupting its connection to Ye Yihao, the Demon Sealing Tombstone might not have been able to seal the wood spirit.
“The earth spirit also formed that kind of connection with Di Fei,” Du Xiangyang said, his expression wavering slightly.
“The ice spirit is dominating everything!” Luo Chen exclaimed.
As soon as he said this, everyone stopped speaking and looked into the distance with fear in their eyes.
Between the Demon Sealing Tombstone’s position high in the sky and the enormous frozen lake below it, giant spears of ice floated into the air, controlled by some invisible power. Then, like frozen dragons, they shot directly toward the mountain peak Qin Lie’s group was at, carried by bone-chilling currents of wind.
These spears of ice flashed with a crystalline glow and contained the power of pure frost. They seemed capable of freezing everything in their vicinity.
Despair welled up in the hearts of everyone in Qin Lie’s group as dozens of ice spears carrying terrifying waves of frigid air approached them.
“Good lord...” Du Xiangyang exclaimed with a grim expression on his face. “Those ice spears are clearly coming for us. There isn’t the slightest error in their trajectory. The ice spirit’s control over them is just too frightening!”
“This icy mountain peak is going to collapse once they hit!” Luo Chen shouted. “Those ice spears could also just slaughter us at the same time!”
“Maybe we could scatter and flee?” Pan Qianqian suggested.
“There wouldn’t be any point,” Qin Lie said, forcing himself to calm down. “The ice spirit controls everything in the Forbidden Land of Ice. As long as we remain within its domain, it’ll be able to track us down regardless of where we go or how we try to hide. Even if we scatter, those spears of ice will adjust accordingly, firmly locking on to every single one of us!”
“Then what should we do?!” Pan Qianqian asked anxiously.
The location of Qin Lie’s group could be considered quite far from the frozen lake. Since the spears of ice were so large, they weren’t actually moving that quickly.
They still had time to prepare.
“The Demon Sealing Tombstone is in the process of breaking through the surface of the frozen lake to force the ice spirit out. Since it acts as a natural barrier, I’m afraid that the tombstone won’t be able to do anything before it’s destroyed.” Qin Lie watched the dozens of ice spears slowly approaching, his head beginning to throb painfully. “The ice spirit is definitely much stronger than the wood and thunder spirits. This strange land must have provided this guardian spirit of the Graveyard of G.o.ds with some unexpected benefits. That explains why it dares to oppose the Demon Sealing Tombstone.”
“You’re saying that... before the surface of the frozen lake is destroyed, all of the Forbidden Land of Ice is under ice spirit’s control?” Du Xiangyang summarized.
“That’s one way to put it.” Qin Lie thought to himself for a moment, but couldn’t come up with a good plan. “We need to hold on until the Demon Sealing Tombstone has destroyed that barrier of ice, entered the frozen lake, and forced the ice spirit to flee. We will only be able to avoid those ice spears when the tombstone has suppressed the ice spirit to the point that it can no longer focus on targeting us.”
Du Xiangyang laughed bitterly. “I’m afraid we won’t last until then.”
Everyone’s expressions were grim.
Looking at their present situation, it was clear that the the ice spirit wanted to take advantage of the time it took the Demon Sealing Tombstone to break through the frozen lake. It sought to first kill all living things that had entered its domain.
Perhaps it also knew that, of the people who were present, one had bonded with the Demon Sealing Tombstone.
As long as the ice spirit killed all of the martial pract.i.tioners it could find, it will have killed the one bonded to the Demon Sealing Tombstone and diminished its power. It would then have nothing to fear.
The ice spirit of the Forbidden Land of Ice was definitely the strongest and smartest of the seven spirits. It was also the easiest one to enrage!
“Swoosh swoosh swoos.h.!.+”
Dozens of ice spears whistled across the frost filled sky, gradually approaching the ice mountain peak where Qin Lie’s group stood.
All of them went pale at the sight.
It didn’t matter how much they wracked their brains. In the face of those ice spears, which seemed able to exterminate everything in the Forbidden Land of Ice, none of them could think of a way to deal with them.
They had watched as a great calamity fell upon the eastern barbarians...
The eastern barbarians, originally numbering over two hundred, could not hold on for even half an hour as more than half of them were killed.
The more powerful Sen Ye, Di Fei, and Jia Yue also didn’t have any way to deal with the icy a.s.sault and could only continue to dodge.
Of the ice spears flying through the sky, only a few had actually gone toward the barbarians.
Just those few ice spears had already contributed to taking the lives of over half the eastern barbarians, causing them to despair at the terrifying h.e.l.l they found themselves in.
As for Qin Lie’s group, they were facing dozens of ice spears, more than ten times the number that attacked the eastern barbarians.
Suddenly, Xue Moyan spoke up.
“I should be able to destroy several of the ice spears.”
Everyone instantly turned to look at her.
“I can destroy several of them by using Blood Fiend Sect’s ultimate treasure one more time.” Xue Moyan wore a calm expression. “However, I don’t have enough power to destroy all of them. I already exhausted a lot of my blood spirit energy in the previous battle.”
“Don’t be reckless! You can’t recklessly call upon the Bloodthirsty Dragon again!” Qin Lie shouted. “All the Spring of Life did was help you recover your vitality and break free of your short lifespan! It didn’t help you recover your blood energy, and there’s no way you could’ve recovered enough of it in so little time. You can’t keep using such a tyrannical spirit artifact!”
“Don’t you cultivate the Blood Spirit Art as well, Qin Lie?” Pan Qianqian asked. “Can’t you use your blood energy to control that Heaven Grade spirit artifact?”
Everyone’s eyes suddenly lit up at the idea.
“Me?” Qin Lie exclaimed, momentarily confused. “This is Blood Fiend Sect’s treasure and has bonded with Sister Xue’s soul. How would I be able to use its power?”
“The Bloodthirsty Dragon isn’t bonded to my soul,” Xue Moyan said quietly. “It has always refused to connect to me since my lifespan has been short since birth.”
“Then... how about letting Qin Lie try?” Pan Qianqian asked.
“That…” Xue Moyan was stunned by Pan Qianqian’s proposal. She thought to herself for a while, then said, “There could be complications. The Bloodthirsty Dragon has a horrible temper, which can be seen from how I am unable to control it. I’m afraid that it may hurt Qin Lie… and even if he could use it, he’d need to use a terrifying amount of blood energy. Either way, Qin Lie would be injured…”
“Can’t he recover his blood energy using the Demon Sealing Tombstone?” Du Xiangyang interrupted.
“Let me try,” Qin Lie pleaded.
As of this moment, they didn’t have any better ideas for how to deal with the ice spirit’s attacks. He had already seen the terrifying power of Blood Fiend Sect’s Heaven Grade spirit artifact.
If he could wield the Bloodthirsty Dragon’s destructive power one or two levels stronger than the power it had demonstrated against the scarlet barbarians earlier, perhaps he’d be able to destroy the incoming spears of ice.
“... I suppose you could try it,” Xue Moyan said reluctantly, taking out Blood Fiend Sect’s great spirit artifact of slaughter. “Fine. Go ahead.”