Chapter 55: Chapter 55: Meeting Li Peiyi Again
The vast world was filled with frost. His mind gradually entered a state of ethereal tranquility, and Qin Ya felt as if he were lost in a boundless expanse.
Time slowly passed. Qin Ya had been sitting in the snow for three full days, and his comprehension of the Frost Great Trend was steadily improving.
Two more days passed like this.
On this day, Qin Ya, covered in snow, abruptly opened his eyes. The surrounding frost suddenly levitated into the air. With a jolt of his body, the snow and ice around him instantly turned into a flurry of flakes, and he slowly rose to his feet.
A white gleam flashed in his eyes, and the surrounding temperature plummeted. Chilly air pulsed from Qin Ya’s body as he drew his Hundred Battles Spear. With a single sweep, he shattered the frost on the ground, sending it dancing wildly in the wind from his spear.
"Hah!"
Qin Ya let out a cold shout. The frost rose into the air as the Hundred Battles Spear erupted with a bright white radiance, like a full moon. The endless frost became the cool, clear light that this moon scattered upon the world.
The white light flashed, and the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi erupted, forming a snowless zone with a ten-zhang radius around Qin Ya—a shocking sight.
The second form of the Solitary Yang Spear Technique, Moon Chasing!
Retracting the Hundred Battles Spear, a layer of frost condensed on its cold shaft. Qin Ya smiled faintly. ’The Frost Great Trend is now at the rudimentary level, and the power of Moon Chasing hasn’t disappointed me. With Wind-Splitting added in, my chances of dealing with the Spiritual Element Ninth Grade Wang Yan have increased significantly.’
Since the purpose of his trip had been achieved, Qin Ya had no intention of staying longer. But just as he was about to leave, he suddenly heard the sounds of a fight nearby. He went to investigate and found several students of the Profound Origin Realm battling a few Snow Bears.
The Snow Bear was a relatively powerful Fierce Beast in this Ice Moon Valley, with strength comparable to an ordinary Profound Origin Fifth Grade. The students, however, were generally at the Profound Origin Fourth Grade, with the strongest being only a Profound Origin Sixth Grade.
The situation was quite perilous. Among the group, a woman in white was the strongest. She wielded a snow-white longsword, her strikes falling like rain, as fast as a gale. Each attack left countless bloody marks on the Snow Bear, provoking it into a furious roar.
’How is it her?’ Qin Ya was rather surprised. The woman was an acquaintance of his: Li Peiyi of the Anxing City Li Family. The Wind and Rain Sword Technique she was using was even the one he had put up for auction.
Compared to the last time they met, Li Peiyi’s cultivation had undoubtedly grown much stronger. She was already at the Profound Origin Sixth Grade, and her swordsmanship was more profound, faintly showing the bearing of a master. This secretly astonished him. ’Li Peiyi’s talent is definitely greater than Qin Yunlong’s.’
"If she had been born a few years earlier, the title of Anxing City’s number one genius would never have gone to Qin Yunlong," Qin Ya murmured to himself.
"ROAR..."
The Snow Bear roared again and again, its blood-red eyes filled with a cruel and savage light. Its attacks grew even more frenzied.
Aside from Li Peiyi, who could still hold her ground, the pressure on the other students mounted. At this rate, they would be defeated in less than fifteen minutes and become a delicious meal for the Snow Bears.
"Sister Li, if this goes on, we’re going to be defeated! We should retreat!" one of the youths, who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen, shouted to Li Peiyi. He had just dodged a Snow Bear’s massive paw with a clumsy roll, and his eyes were on his struggling comrades.
"Damn it!" Li Peiyi thrust her sword, which transformed into a thousand rays of sword light, leaving innumerable bloody marks on the Snow Bear. But the beast’s hide was thick, and it wouldn’t die so easily. Instead, the attack only provoked it to greater ferocity.
Li Peiyi felt a surge of unwillingness. Not long ago, she had passed the entrance exam for Mingxin Academy, the most revered academy in the Empire. But with her level of talent, she was far from the top in an institution teeming with geniuses.
This, in turn, ignited her competitive spirit. Day and night, she entered secret grounds to cultivate, hunted Fierce Beasts to earn Academy points, and exchanged them for resources. In just over ten days, her cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds.
Not only that, but she had also joined a team of new students and quickly became its core member. Today, she had accepted a points-based mission: to come to Ice Moon Valley, retrieve ten hundred-year-old Snow Lotuses, and obtain the heart of a Snow Bear. That was why she had led her team here.
The task of gathering the Snow Lotuses was easy enough. The accident happened when they tried to hunt the Snow Bear. Normally, Snow Bears are solitary creatures. However, one of her team members had picked a Snow Spirit Flower, which attracted several Snow Bears to surround and attack them.
The Snow Spirit Flower was a Fourth-Grade Herb. Its fragrance could spread over a hundred-zhang radius and was extremely alluring to Snow Bears. It was precisely this flower that had plunged the team into their current crisis.
By the time they realized it, it was already too late.
Looking at her team surrounded by Snow Bears, Li Peiyi bit her lip and said, "In a moment, I’ll use all my strength to attack one of the Snow Bears and create an opening for you. Seize that chance and run."
"No, Captain!"
"Sister Li, if we go, we go together!"
"I, Cheng Fei, am not someone who clings to life and fears death! Sister Li, we came here together, so we leave together. We would never abandon you!"
Li Peiyi’s heart warmed slightly, but her face remained cold. "Stop dawdling. I’m the captain, so you’ll all listen to me."
One of the youths said anxiously, "But—"
Before he could finish, Li Peiyi cut him off. "Shut up. There are no buts. Do you want everyone to die here?"
Watching this scene from a distance, Qin Ya felt a slight stir in his heart. ’This woman is as headstrong as ever.’
At this point, it was time for Qin Ya to make his move. He executed the Carefree Travel Body Technique, his figure flashing forward. In the blink of an eye, he was in the middle of the battlefield. "Heh, Miss Li, we meet again."
"Qin Ya!"
Li Peiyi’s mind reeled. She stared at the young man before her, more surprised than confused. "What are you doing here?"
"We can talk about that later. First, let me solve this little problem for you," Qin Ya said with a slight smile. He then raised his hand and struck a Snow Bear with the Sixth-Layer Wave of the Overlapping Waves Palm. With his current cultivation, dealing with a Profound Origin Sixth Grade Snow Bear was as simple as eating and drinking.
The Snow Bear’s chest caved in as it was sent flying with a loud CRASH. It landed on the ground, let out two miserable howls, and died on the spot. The scene left Li Peiyi and the others utterly shocked.
The Snow Bear they had fought tooth and nail just to resist was so fragile in the hands of this seemingly delicate young man.
"So strong! That young man is incredibly powerful!"
"He looks about our age, but I can’t believe he’s so much stronger than us. Comparisons are just deadly."
"Captain, do you know him?"
"I do. He’s from the same place as me." A faint, bitter smile touched Li Peiyi’s lips. ’His strength has grown even greater... so great that all I can do now is look up to him.’
Immediately after, the bitterness vanished from her expression, replaced by a blazing fighting spirit. ’If he can do it, so can I! One day, I will defeat you. I definitely will!’
