Soul Grade Ice Seed!
Ice clouds that had hung overhead suddenly shattered without warning, cascading down as a torrent of hail that flattened the forest below.
The trees themselves had already been frozen solid; the crashing sheets of ice shattered them to splinters, and fragments scattered across the ground in great sweeping drifts.
On the frozen earth, lifelike ice sculptures stood row after row — expressions of pure terror locked into their faces, some still caught mid-motion, their hands tracing Star Charts in the instant before the ice had sealed them completely.
They never could have imagined that an Intermediate-Level female Ice Element Mage would summon a Bow Enchanted Gear of such staggering power. And they certainly never imagined that a student from the Imperial Capital Magic Academy could, at her age, wield a Soul Grade Ice Seed — using her Domain to suppress their entire group, including a powerful High-Level Mage.
That single arrow had shaken the world. Even Mo Fan, who had already witnessed the Ice Crystal Slay Bow in action, hadn't anticipated that its true might would be this terrifying.
But why was there a power hidden inside Mu Ningxue's body — one that didn't seem to belong to her at all?
Her silver hair, which had been whipping and wild, settled limply into stillness. The cold, queenly authority that had radiated from Mu Ningxue a moment ago had vanished entirely, replaced by the hollow weakness of someone whose very soul had been drained.
The Ice Crystal Slay Bow in her hands let out a faint crack and dissolved into shards and ice dust, slipping from her fingers.
Mu Ningxue's slender body could no longer hold itself upright. She crumpled backward, emptied of all strength.
Mo Fan caught her in a rush, but she was ice-cold to the touch — not a trace of warmth left in her, barely different from a corpse.
He pressed two fingers to her wrist. A pulse — faint, but there. He let out a slow breath. *If she had just died like this, I would never have forgiven that delusional murderer Lu Nian.*
"Move! Now!" Mo Fan swept a glance across the group.
Mu Nujiao, Bai Tingting, Song Xia, Zhao Manyan — they were still reeling from the impact of that arrow. Mo Fan's shout snapped them back to their senses.
They understood now: Mo Fan had been buying time for Mu Ningxue to Release that arrow. Looking at her near-lifeless form, none of them could find words adequate for what they felt.
"Wait — take Mu Ningxue and go. Their target is me. Zhao Manyan, I'm counting on you to look after them, and—" Mo Fan glanced at Mu Ningxue, who looked like she could slip away at any moment. All the concern welling up inside him had to be compressed into a single order. "No matter what — don't let her die."
Zhao Manyan gave a heavy nod and led the group in a swift retreat.
Mo Fan couldn't afford to hesitate either. He cast one glance at Lu Nian, who was on the verge of breaking free from the ice, then another at the few officers who hadn't been fully frozen—
He gritted his teeth, turned, and ran — straight toward the treacherous Jinlin Desolate City.
Mu Ningxue's arrow could never have killed them all. What it had done was buy everyone just enough time to run.
The moment Mo Fan understood that he was their primary target, he knew he couldn't lead them toward the others.
They had Celestial Eagles. They had a High-Level Mage. A blind, directionless flight would end only one way — capture.
His only chance at survival was Jinlin Desolate City.
The Desolate City swarmed with Demon-Beasts beyond counting — some powerful enough to cut down a mage in an instant, others with abilities so uncanny they could drive mages to slaughter one another. He had to use Jinlin Desolate City to shake them off.
"Mo Fan went into the Desolate City."
"That's basically suicide, isn't it?!"
"We split up. They want to silence all of us — running together just means they take us all at once."
"Then — then we're gone." Shen Mingxiao and Luo Song were already half out of their minds with fear.
This whole affair had nothing to do with either of them from start to finish. Now that a chance to survive had opened up, they weren't about to stay for anyone else's sake. If those monster Military Mages caught them, they were dead — and they were too young to die.
"Then — then I'll take Song Xia with me," Peng Liang said, his voice uncertain.
Song Xia was in no condition to flee on her own. Peng Liang volunteering to bring her was nothing short of a blessing.
Zhao Manyan looked at Mu Ningxue — half dead. Then at Bai Tingting — wounded. Then at Mo Fan, running alone toward Jinlin Desolate City.
"You three — with me!" Zhao Manyan made his decision.
He already half-regretted agreeing to protect the three women. He was just as afraid of dying as anyone; he would have loved to bolt like those heartless wretches Luo Song and Shen Mingxiao. But he thought of Mu Ningxue throwing herself into the line of fire to save them all, and he saw Mo Fan running into the Desolate City alone rather than lead the danger toward anyone else. He simply couldn't bring himself to run.
Not long after everyone scattered, the ice crystals that had blazed so brilliantly in the morning light began to crack.
The first to break free was Military Commander Lu Nian. He had clearly applied a protective layer to himself beforehand. However mighty the ice, it could not truly harm a High-Level Mage worthy of the title.
His face had gone blue from the cold, and when combined with the glacial fury in his expression, it left no doubt about how enraged he was.
Outwitted. By a group of students.
He was a Military Commander. Killing these people should have been like slaughtering a flock of trussed-up chickens—
And yet they had fled.
They had drunk Demon-Beast blood raw, razed entire Demon-Beast lairs, and never once failed. Were a handful of students fresh off their first Field Expedition really going to be the exception?
"You — go after the others and bring them back," Lu Nian said to the officers who had broken free first. "Alive."
"Yes, sir!" The officers were no weaklings. After a brief moment to collect themselves, they set off at once in the direction Zhao Manyan's group had fled.
"The rest of you, with me. We can't afford to lose the most important test subject." Lu Nian fixed his eyes on Jinlin Desolate City, his voice flat and cold as he addressed the officers awakening one by one behind him.
"Military Commander — some of them aren't waking up," the female aide reported.
"Dispose of them."
**Crack!**
**Crack!**
One after another, the human-shaped ice sculptures were smashed to pieces. Buried within the cascading frost were the blood and flesh of those officers — by the time the ice fully melted, no one would ever know what those shattered remains had once been.
Seven sculptures in all. Mu Ningxue's single arrow had killed exactly seven of the finest Intermediate-Level Mages outright.
Even behind his mask of indifference, Lu Nian could not pretend this was anything other than a humiliation.
They crushed the remaining ice underfoot as they advanced — these devils who had stripped away the sacred mantle of military law had no intention of turning back.
Silencing witnesses was no longer the priority. What mattered now was capturing the boy born with Dual Elements.
*A new Element — it will be completed through him.*
When that day came, it would be their trump card for dominance over all — including the Demon-Beasts that had held dominion over this world for more than a thousand centuries.