Snow Maiden unfurled her form, evading with extreme speed. Seizing an opportunity, she formed a hand seal and pointed to the sky. Suddenly, the wind and clouds shifted. What was a clear sky moments ago was now engulfed in a blizzard of large snowflakes, each one dancing with dazzling beauty.
The air grew intensely cold, radiating a chilling aura that instantly permeated the entire space, as if solidifying the very air layer by layer.
As the rings of the pillar extended, they tore through the chilling air, like scissors slicing through fabric, emitting a continuous 'zi zi zi' sound.
However, the speed at which the pillar rings expanded slowed, allowing Snow Maiden ample time to nimbly weave between the two alternatingly expanding and contracting rings, moving with effortless grace.
Min Zhiyuan also unfurled his form, pinpointing Snow Maiden's direction. His Qilin Arm struck out fiercely, unleashing a divine light that filled the entire space with scorching heat. A bloodthirsty aura extended infinitely outwards. The divine light's range was confined to Snow Maiden's surroundings, yet the entire space seemed to ignite and boil.
From a considerable distance, Snow Maiden could already feel the power that threatened to tear her skin apart inch by inch, accompanied by the surging pressure of an incoming tide, wave after wave.
At this moment, a clear whistle suddenly echoed from the sky. A colossal white figure descended from above, with snow-white feathers and long wings. It had a round head, limbs like iron pillars, and its wings, when spread, blotted out the sun. Its claws were like celestial hooks.
"What is that thing?" the surrounding crowd exclaimed in surprise, some instinctively retreating further away.
"It's a Sky Eagle Snow Beast. I didn't expect Chao Xi Xue could summon it."
Mo Qi was also greatly astonished. The snow beast summoned by Snow Maiden seemed to be of a higher tier than the one he had summoned last time!
However, it had been a long time since he had used his ice and snow divine ability summoning technique, and he wasn't sure what kind of snow beast he could summon now.
What was certain was that as his cultivation increased, the snow beasts he summoned would also become more advanced.
The snow beast let out a roar and suddenly pounced towards Min Zhiyuan. With a swing and a slam of its thick claws, it shattered the divine light that was originally aimed at Snow Maiden with a thunderous boom.
However, its massive body also suffered a severe backlash, twisting violently. It somersaulted several times in the air before stabilizing its form after a flurry of movement.
Then, it opened its mouth and spat out a ball of flames that raged outwards, expanding explosively in the air. In an instant, it transformed into a sea of fire that swept towards Min Zhiyuan.
Min Zhiyuan bent his Qilin Arm in front of him. His entire arm suddenly thickened by more than double. When he extended his Qilin Arm again, it was as if a beast's cage had been opened, and a bloodthirsty aura grew unprecedentedly.
The sea of fire spat out by the snow beast surged towards him like an avalanche. In the face of this fiery expanse, his figure appeared incredibly small, insignificant.
It seemed as if, in an instant, he would be swallowed without a trace, like a grain of sand before an ocean.
However, Min Zhiyuan's expression was calm, his eyes filled with determination. He still punched towards the sea of fire. It was a seemingly simple punch, yet it seemed to gather the power of countless annihilations within it.
A divine light whistled out, accompanied by the howling of the wind and the mournful cries of ghosts. It shot out at an incredible speed, covering a thousand miles in an instant, directly piercing into the sea of fire. A passage was torn open in the center of the fiery expanse, and the sea of fire magically parted on both sides, swirling around Min Zhiyuan's body and rushing past him.
The divine light, which had opened a passage through the center, continued to devour the flames, its momentum undiminished, and it advanced like a conquering army towards the snow beast.
The snow beast was somewhat panicked; it had already sensed the earth-shattering power.
The snow beast had no choice but to spread its massive palms again and slam them down fiercely. A deafening roar echoed.
The snow beast let out a howl of pain, its body recoiling backwards.
Cracks had appeared on its front right palm, from which blood was oozing.
One of its toes hung limply, seemingly on the verge of falling off, with a few tendons still attached.
The snow beast glanced at Snow Maiden, flapped its wings, and flew away into the sky.
On the other side, the Dragon Restraining Pillar relentlessly pursued Snow Maiden. Although it couldn't trap her, it severely restricted her movements, preventing her from fully engaging Min Zhiyuan.
At this moment, Snow Maiden took out a flute and brought it to her lips.
The melodious flute music flowed like a stream, gently permeating everyone's hearts.
Shadows darted through the air. Each shadow that struck the rings of the Dragon Restraining Pillar produced a 'ding ding ding' sound, causing the expanding rings to suddenly shrink. Just as they were about to expand again, more shadows struck, and the rings shrank once more.
Simultaneously, the bell-shaped magical artifact began to spin rapidly, its size suddenly increasing. With a loud boom, the pillar rings shattered, scattering into broken strips.
Freed from the restraint of the pillar rings, the bell-shaped magical artifact flew towards Min Zhiyuan.
Just as Min Zhiyuan was preparing to unleash another heavy punch at the snow beast, he saw the bell whistling and expanding towards him.
Min Zhiyuan remained unfazed, his expression calm. He once again bent his right Qilin Arm, and the arm grew by another double.
At this point, his arm appeared extremely disproportionate to his body, as if a giant were holding a child.
Mo Qi, watching from the sidelines, was greatly shocked. The strength Snow Maiden displayed today far exceeded his expectations.
Min Zhiyuan was at least at the late stage of the Mahayana realm, coupled with his mutated physique and extraordinary magical artifacts. The power he displayed was at least that of an early Mahayana realm cultivator.
Yet, Snow Maiden, fighting him, was not at a disadvantage. What was her true strength?
It was clear that she had deliberately concealed her strength during the entrance test.
She had led Mo Qi and others to believe she was only at the Soul Transformation realm.
Now, forced to go all out, she was revealing her true power.
Xing Mian was also greatly shocked. This was like discovering a treasure!
Even if Fen Tian and Jing Lei returned, they would likely be at this level.
He now regretted not having Snow Maiden go up in the first match.
The people from the Heavenly God Academy were arrogant and looked down on the people from the Heavenly Tier Academy. They had arranged their participants in order of ascending strength, without any thought for strategy, believing they would win regardless of the order.
Xing Mian, however, had considered strategic deployment. He believed that placing Wei Jianfei and the other person first had a high chance of victory. If Mo Qi won two rounds in alchemy, then the Heavenly Tier Academy would win.
Snow Maiden and the others were merely fillers. But he never expected Snow Maiden to be the true ace, and Wei Jianfei and the other person... alas, his expectations were too high.
With a deafening boom, Min Zhiyuan's massive arm struck the treasure bell. Min Zhiyuan didn't budge an inch. The giant bell spun and flew back, striking Snow Maiden instead.
Snow Maiden's flute music suddenly became high-pitched. The darting shadows grew thicker and denser, and their movements became more rapid. The wind whistled through the air, and waves of turbulent energy surged forward, striking the Dragon Restraining Pillar with each wave, pushing it to violently collide with the giant bell.
Upon contact, both the treasure bell and the Dragon Restraining Pillar spun and swung to the sides.
The air suddenly expanded, and boundless spiritual energy erupted, causing both Snow Maiden and Min Zhiyuan's figures to be tossed about within the vortex.
Snow Maiden continued to play her flute, the music suddenly taking a sharp turn, like a tide reaching its peak and then abruptly receding.
The surrounding air began to condense again, white mist steaming, and bone-chilling coldness slowly diffused.
As the vortex slowed their spinning, Snow Maiden executed a turn, breaking free from the turbulent flow with an extremely graceful posture.
At this moment, the flute music became melodious, with various notes drifting out and transforming into streams of shadows that flowed like silk threads through the air, darting rapidly. As they weaved, they intertwined, coiled, and gradually rolled together, growing larger and larger, forming a phantom sphere that hurtled towards Min Zhiyuan.
Along the way, more shadows continuously entered it, causing the phantom sphere to grow larger and larger. After a moment, it was like a circular mountain rolling forward.
From afar, a powerful force was released outwards.
Min Zhiyuan was forced to retreat repeatedly by the pressure.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the Dragon Restraining Pillar and the treasure bell continued to battle, colliding, separating, and twisting together.
The phantom sphere continued forward, striking Min Zhiyuan with immense power.
Min Zhiyuan gritted his teeth, a hint of ferocity flashing in his eyes. He raised both hands in front of him, placed his head on his hands, and twisted his body violently, shooting forward with extreme speed. His entire body transformed into a ball of red light, colliding with the sphere.
This ball of red light was not a chaotic mass like mist, but possessed a fixed form, conical at both ends and bulging in the middle, like a massive icicle, piercing through the air at high speed.
As it pierced through, the red light blazed like fire, with flames surging. Wherever it passed, the air emitted smoke. Upon contact with the sphere, it pierced the sphere with a deafening explosion, scattering burning fragments like sparks in all directions.
The surrounding onlookers screamed and dodged to the sides.
Min Zhiyuan, transformed into the sphere, continued to move forward at high speed. Countless shadows still struck it along the way, but they vanished without a trace, like mud entering the sea.
A ripple appeared in Snow Maiden's eyes. She suddenly played a few disconnected notes, and the air seemed to tremble. The space appeared to fracture into distinct layers, as if solid.
The red light, transformed from Min Zhiyuan, suddenly reached a fracture, paused abruptly, and then passed through. It encountered another fracture layer ahead and paused again.
At this point, the flute music changed key again. The air grew intensely cold, and the chilling aura circulated freely in the air, gradually forming white mist that converged in one spot, gathering at the edge of the last fracture layer.
The white mist rapidly condensed, gradually forming blocks of ice. These extended forward from both sides and then gradually retracted, forming a shape resembling an ice ball.
When the red light reached the last fracture layer, its speed slowed to an extreme. Min Zhiyuan's original body became faintly visible.
The ice ball had just finished condensing and enveloped him.
The flute music continued melodiously, with more and more white mist covering it layer by layer, transforming into ice blocks and fusing with the previous ice ball, making the ice ball thicker and larger.
Sounds of muffled thumping came from within the ice ball, as if Min Zhiyuan was trying to break free. However, the ice ball remained stable and grew increasingly thicker.
Cheers erupted from the surroundings.
The people from the Heavenly Tier Academy shouted excitedly, "We won, we definitely won!"
"Don't relax, suffocate him."
"He's already lost, why haven't they announced our victory yet?"
Mo Qi looked up at Snow Maiden in the sky. At this moment, she was clad in snow-white attire, her face bearing a frosty expression, her hair fluttering slightly in the wind. She looked so proud, so breathtakingly beautiful.
At this moment, with a rumbling sound, the ice ball rapidly expanded, the exterior cracking continuously, the 'kaka' sounds growing louder. The crowd watched with great anxiety, "Quick, keep playing the flute, suffocate him!"
However, at this moment, the ice ball clearly could no longer hold on.
The white mist continuing to cover it was like a drop in the bucket. With a deafening roar, ice shards scattered, and white mist instantly filled the air.
A beam of red light shot out rapidly.