"Xue Hong!"
A senior brother of Chen Qiaoqian who appeared to be the woman's dual-cultivation partner let out a grief-stricken cry. He swept both hands forward, sending a streak of dark light shooting to all sides of the woman's corpse, where it flew about in wild, erratic arcs as he tried to locate the Ice Demon who had killed her.
Speaking of which, this senior sister named "Xue Hong" had died rather unjustly. If she hadn't momentarily felt the urge to prove herself and used her talisman treasure, she might very well still be alive and well.
Before activating the talisman treasure, she had always kept a light gauze defensive artifact floating at her side. But wanting to shorten the time needed to power the talisman and hoping to conserve a bit of Magical Power, she had carelessly recalled the artifact. Left without any protection, she ended up losing her life on the spot.
However, to blame the woman for being too inexperienced and too careless to have made such a grave error was also somewhat unfair.
She had seen that the enemies opposite them had all transformed into cocoons of light, and feeling surrounded by fellow disciples, she had felt safe enough to activate her talisman treasure without worry. But who could have predicted that the Ice Demon would burst from its cocoon in a half-demonic form, then immediately turn invisible and fix its target on her?
At that moment, the woman had been at the final stage of channeling the talisman treasure — even if she had wanted to stop, she couldn't have done so immediately. That was why she had met such a cruel end.
Come to think of it, Song Meng had likewise not employed any defensive measures when activating his spear talisman treasure. It was only that his talisman treasure held less power, and so it finished activating sooner. Otherwise, no one could have guessed which person the hidden Ice Demon would have ambushed instead.
Moreover, let alone the two of them — even Han Li and the others who had been attacking moments ago had barely activated any defensive artifacts. After all, the cocoons of light had been nothing more than targets unable to fight back, so naturally they weren't willing to waste Magical Power deploying additional defensive artifacts.
But now, after witnessing the girl’s horrific demise and hearing Han Li’s warning, the others felt a chill run down their spines. Defensive artifacts and protective barriers immediately materialized around them, guarding against another sneak attack by this bizarre and vicious enemy.
However, what left them even more dumbfounded was that no matter what invisibility spells or artifacts they used, they could not track the demon’s whereabouts.
Even when someone caught a glimpse of it, the demon would vanish again in an instant before they could even feel a spark of hope, as if it were moving at tremendous speed. By now, the Ice Demon had become semi-transparent, flickering in and out of sight around them. Forget their naked eyes—even their spiritually attuned artifacts were unable to actively track it, being thrown off within moments.
The situation had turned everyone anxious. Each person kept a wary eye on their surroundings, heartbeats loud with tension. They were so suppressed by the half-demonized Ice Demon that they were completely immobilized.
Only Han Li, observing the scene, had a flicker of a peculiar expression on his face.
Senior Brother Wang, who had fought alongside Han Li before, had never witnessed such a bloody spectacle. His face was now deathly pale, revealing his fear.
For him, the thought that his "senior sister," with whom he had been chatting and laughing just a short while ago, had died so tragically, was like a nightmare. This was utterly different from his earlier fantasy of their side displaying overwhelming might and effortlessly annihilating the enemy!
Thinking of this, he glanced at "Xue Hong" senior sister’s dual-cultivation partner, whose expression was close to madness, and his own face grew even more grim.
Perhaps it was a case of one’s greatest fears coming true.
Whether it was because his guilty conscience had been seen through by the Ice Demon, or because it deemed him the weaker and easier target...
Thus, at the very moment he stood frozen and helpless, a translucent icy claw materialized out of thin air behind him and lunged savagely toward his heart.
Senior Brother Wang's protective magical artifact, a small bronze shield, was remarkably spirited. Before Wang could even activate it himself, it flickered and shifted into position on its own, intercepting the blow perfectly.
With a soft clang, the ice-like claw was deflected, but the small bronze shield was instantly coated in a thick layer of frost. It plummeted straight to the ground and temporarily lost its spiritual connection.
Only then did Senior Brother Wang notice the crisis behind him. The blood drained from his face in an instant. He whipped around instinctively, scanning left and right in a panic.
Seeing no movement nearby, he hesitated for a moment before abruptly bending down to retrieve the small bronze shield. He needed to thaw his artifact quickly so he could summon it again.
"Dodge it!"
Liu Jing, who was nearby, caught sight of his actions and screamed at him in alarm and fury.
"What?" Wang froze in confusion. Before he could even understand what was happening, the water-attribute barrier behind him let out an extremely crisp shattering sound. Then a bone-penetrating blast of frigid wind surged straight toward his back.
"This is bad!" Senior Brother Wang realized what had happened at almost the same instant. The invisible ice demon had not retreated after its first strike—it had circled behind him and launched a lethal blow.
In that fleeting moment, Senior Brother Wang's mind went completely blank. The only image that surfaced was the scene of "Xue Hong" senior sister lying dead in a pool of blood.
"I never thought it would be my turn so soon!"
That was the only thought Senior Brother Wang could muster.