At the top of the mountain, the wind and snow were raging, and the clash of spiritual lights caused the sky and the earth to darken and brighten in turn.

On the top of a towering cedar tree stood Ye Anping, wearing a bamboo hat and carrying the *Snow Jade Spirit Sword* on his back. His hands held the bamboo hat, his deep purple eyes unusually calm.

The golden dragon and black python tangled on the mountainside were reflected in his eyes. The fight between the two beasts had already scattered the surrounding *Snow Guards* and demonic cultivators.

At this moment, the golden dragon was obviously at a disadvantage. He was afraid that in half an hour, it would be destroyed by the black python.

But even if he went over to help now, it would only help the golden dragon hold on for a little longer.

Ye Anping turned his head to look in the direction of the mountain peak. The lightning snake fire rumbled endlessly, sometimes accompanied by the sword lights flowing and dancing.

It seemed that Lianxue and Yunluo were also in a stalemate with Jiang Mojiao...

However, this was also within his expectations. Without Feng Yu Die's *Nine Heavens Sword Art* and the *Snow Jade Spirit Sword*, It would not be easy for just the two of them to destroy Jiang Mojiao's *Nascent Soul*.

Anyway, with Old Lady Si's protection spell, Yunluo and Lianxue were the safest of them all.

"Whew..."

Ye Anping let out a long breath and turned his head to look in the direction of the cave where Li Longling was hiding.

To be honest, he was most worried about her.

Li Longling was blind and only in the middle stage of the *Foundation Building* stage. Lu Meimei might not be very strong, but she was still a middle-stage *Core Formation* cultivator. The difference between them was a whole level.

"Longling, hold on for a little longer. It'll be fine in a while..."

After saying that, Ye Anping pressed down his bamboo hat, turned around, and flew toward the silver dragon spear in the east.

...

*Boom---*

The light of the spear flashed through the sky.

A spear inlaid with two dragons playing with pearls was imbued with boundless ice spiritual energy, turning into an ice dragon that stirred up the snow and blizzard and crashed toward a man and a woman in midair.

The two people widened their eyes, and they hurriedly tried to flee on their flying swords into the sky to dodge. Unexpectedly, the ice dragon suddenly raised its head and swallowed one of them in one gulp.

Seeing this, the female demonic cultivator who had dodged the ice dragon, reached out and shouted, "Husband!!!"

However, she only heard her husband's screams. "Ahhhhh--!"

Her eyes bulged as she looked at Xu Mulan, who was flying on her sword above. She gritted her teeth and pointed at her chest. "You! Big boobs!!! Give me my husband back !"

Fierce blood energy surged out of her skin, and the female cultivator transformed into a blood-furred tiger, pouncing on Xu Mulan.

Xu Mulan's eyes widened, and she brought back her spear to meet the attack.

"Break!!"

With a roar, the ice dragon and the blood tiger collided head-on in the air.

*Boom---*

The air waves created by the collision of the two spiritual energies uprooted all the cedars below. Then, with a sharp scream from the woman and the dissipation of the blood tiger, the silence returned.

"Ahhhhhh---"

With a thunderous sound, Xu Mulan pinned the female demonic cultivator to the ground and twisted the spear.

There was a sharp "click".

The female demonic cultivator spurted out blood and died after her core shattered. Her skin and bones shrank, leaving a dried corpse behind.

Xu Mulan staggered to her feet and looked around. All she could see were fallen cedars and the corpses of five or six *Snow Guards*. She gritted her teeth and wanted to tear the demonic cultivator into pieces, but her rationality prevailed, and she held back her anger.

"Where are Miss Pei and Miss Xiao..."

Xu Mulan looked at the lightning and fire on the top of the peak, as well as the giant golden dragon and black python. Knowing that Pei Lianxue and the others were still fighting, she wanted to go over to help.

However, just as she took a step, her knees buckled uncontrollably.

She could say that the two *Core Formation* demonic cultivators she killed just now were the two most difficult opponents she had encountered in the past few decades.

Even her armor, which had been personally gifted by the **Cold Country** Imperial Advisor, had been cracked by those two.

Xu Mulan knelt on the ground in a sorry state, holding her spear. She gritted her teeth and took out a healing pill from her storage bag, ready to swallow it.

But, just as the pill was about to fall into her mouth...

*Swoosh---*

There was the sound of air breaking.

What followed was a chilling killing intent.

Xu Mulan widened her eyes slightly and immediately pulled out her spear from the ground to parry.

*Ding---*

Sparks flew everywhere.

An armored fist slammed into the spear shaft, and the gust created blew the bones of the demonic cultivator below into pieces.

"Yet another Physical cultivator?!"

Xu Mulan widened her eyes as she looked at the owner of the fist. He was a man who appeared to be in his early twenties.

Unlike the demonic cultivators she had seen along the way, this person was full of demonic energy, but he did not have the "crazy" appearance of most demonic cultivators.

Wu Tianci punched Xu Mulan's spear to restrict her swing. Then, he brought his knee up and struck her chest armor.

Xu Mulan couldn't parry, so she quickly used her spiritual power to protect her body.

But during the *Core Formation* stage, Physical cultivation became like the power of a dragon-elephant breaking through a mountain, and it was definitely not something she could block with her spiritual power.

"Ah--"

The cold iron breastplate was instantly dented by the kick, blood spurting out of her mouth and nose, and Xu Mulan flew backward, breaking several cedars in half with her back.

She struggled to control her posture and kicked her armored foot into the ground to stop herself, then looked up at Wu Tianci who had appeared out of nowhere.

However, the moment she looked up, she saw an armored fist swinging at her face.

The word "death" stood out in her mind.

This man's fist armor was definitely not an ordinary item. When it hit her spear just now, she felt the spiritual spear in her hand screaming. If she hadn't skillfully used her strength to release the power just now, the spear might have been broken by this man's fist in an instant.

But her spiritual spear was made of hundred-year-old cold black iron. Even if a cultivator in the *Nascent Soul* stage attacked with all his strength, it would not be damaged at all...

Not good! This was really bad!

What to do?

It was said that before a person dies, everything will pass like a year in their eyes.

However, Xu Mulan couldn't think of a way to dodge this direct attack...

Can't move my body!!

Can't dodge!!

"...Ah!"

Wu Tianci looked at the despair in Xu Mulan's eyes and narrowed his eyes slightly. However, he suddenly seemed to sense something and looked to the left.

A white shadow dashed out of the snowy forest.

The ice-blue spiritual energy drew a cross in the air and stopped in front of Xu Mulan's nose.

*Ding---*

In Xu Mulan's eyes a long sword wrapped in bandages reflected.

Ye Anping rushed in front of her and blocked Wu Tianci's fist with his *Interrogation Sword* technique. He then slashed with the sword, but Wu Tianci quickly jumped back and dodged it.

*Whoosh---*

Wu Tianci jumped, turning three and a half times into the air, and landed ten feet away from them. He squinted at the man in white clothes and a bamboo hat who suddenly appeared in front of him, a hint of doubt showing in his eyes.

Ye Anping raised his hand and slid the bandaged *Snow Jade Spirit Sword* into several arcs around his body, blocking it in front of Xu Mulan, who was kneeling on the ground, then looked at her.

"Luckily I made it in time, Commander Xu."

"Ye... Mr. Ye?"

Xu Mulan's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise, but then she turned serious "That's a Physical cultivator, and his fist armor is probably a mysterious treasure... You..."

"I know."

Ye Anping interrupted softly. He took a step forward and looked at Wu Tianci, who was carefully examining him. His dark purple eyes revealed some surprise. He smiled and said, "Oh? I seem to have seen this face somewhere before. Let me think..."

Wu Tianci frowned slightly but did not respond.

He was not the kind of person who liked to talk during a fight. Following the principle of "too much talk leads to mistakes", he thought it was generally possible to find out the other person's details after two or three rounds of fighting.

However, that strange ice-blue spiritual energy and the bandage-wrapped spirit sword in his hand made him somewhat afraid to directly test it.

Without knowing the other party's background, rushing forward rashly would be suicide...

The key was that the temperament of this man in white was not that of an ordinary small character.

Meanwhile, Ye Anping rested his chin on his hand and remained silent for a while. Then, as if he had suddenly realized something, he raised his eyebrows. "Don't tell me your surname is Wu? Previously, in the ***Dragon House***, I met an old demonic cultivator who used formations, but he was quite... weak. His lousy formation looked magnificent, but it didn't hit me once."

Hearing this, Wu Tianci's eyes flashed with anger, but he quickly suppressed it.

*He is provoking me... He knows my background...*

"Liang Xiaoliu..."

"Oh?" Ye Anping smiled and replied in a slick tone, "It seems that Sister Gu often mentions me to you, her brother, eh? It's quite an honor."

"Sister Gu..."

"Let's talk about Sister Gu later. Let's talk about the old demonic cultivator who used the formation first. I heard that it took him hundreds of years to create the formation, but unexpectedly, it was so poor. Guess how he died?"

"..."

"He was angered by me because his lousy formation failed to hit me once. Then, with a bang, his entire body exploded. That scene... tsk tsk... blood flew everywhere."

Xu Mulan, who was kneeling on the ground behind Ye Anping, was stunned. Hearing his tone, for a moment, she felt that Ye Anping, who was standing in front of her, was the actual demonic cultivator.

This cannon fodder-like tone... made her teeth itch.

Wu Tianci was also gritting his teeth, but he knew Liang Xiaoliu was provoking him, so he managed to barely control himself.

Until--

Ye Anping raised his sword finger and took out a scroll from his storage bag. "This is what I got from his storage bag... *Thousand Execution Formation Diagram*. It took him a hundred years to write such a crappy thing... Alas---"

As he spoke, a spiritual fire ignited the scroll.

Seeing this scene, Wu Tianci couldn't hold back. He suddenly stepped down with his front foot, sending snow flying up for hundreds of feet. In one step, he was in front of Ye Anping.

It was also at this moment that the teasing look in Ye Anping's dark purple eyes disappeared. He waved the *Black Ice Spirit Sword* upward and at the same time, released the burning scroll in his right hand.

*Swish---*

The cold light flashed and then disappeared.

The confrontation between the two lasted only a moment before they distanced themselves again.

Ye Anping frowned slightly as the scarf on his face slowly fell off. Wu Tianci, who had retreated ten feet away, held the scroll stained with spiritual fire in his hand. The left shoulder of his robe suddenly exploded, and the black ice on his back froze.

Wu Tianci widened his eyes and extinguished the fire on the scroll with his own spiritual power before unfolding it to read.

When he saw the contents of the scroll, he came to a sudden realization.

Although he had been extremely careful, he still ended up falling into Liang Xiaoliu's trap.

On the first page of the scroll were written two words: "Ha ha--"

The second page contained five golden lightning talismans.

?!

The inscription on the thunder talisman slowly revealed a dazzling spiritual light.

*Boom---*

In the forest, snow dust flew up and almost covered the sky.

"Hah-ah-ah--!"

Wu Tianci suddenly swung his fist, lowered his body in a horse stance, and dispelled all the snow dust around him. However, the next moment, he saw the sword wrapped in bandages swinging toward his neck.

He immediately raised his armored left fist and punched the sword from bottom to top with an uppercut, trying to break it.

His fist armor was a mysterious treasure bestowed by the Elders of the ***Heavenly Demon*** Sect, and it could break invisible spells and even spiritual power.

However--

*Ding---*

When the armored fist landed on the sword, the bandages wrapped around it suddenly disintegrated, revealing the ten-thousand-year-old ice blade.

The cold air was overwhelming as a layer of frost instantly covered his fist armor.

"This sword..."

Wu Tianci couldn't hide his surprise in his eyes, but he didn't freeze. He quickly leaned back and opened up a distance of five feet with some really strange steps.

But the next moment, a vertical frost wound was left on his shoulder.

What was going on?

He was cut horizontally, so why was the wound from top to bottom?

This Liang Xiaoliu's sword and sword technique were both extremely unusual...

Wu Tianci gritted his teeth slightly and did not bother to dodge anymore. Instead, he stepped forward and rushed toward Ye Anping.

"Liang Xiaoliu!!!"

"Yes, yes, yes... I'm not deaf, why are you yelling so loudly?"

Ye Anping's eyes were abnormally calm. He stepped forward and twisted the *Black Ice Spirit Sword* in his hand to block and then counterattack.

Neither of them moved their feet at all, and the sword and fist were pointed at each other from a two-foot distance.

*Ding-ding-ding-ding---*

*Boom-boom-boom---*

Spiritual energy exploded in the forest, and gusts of wind danced wildly around the two people.

Xu Mulan, who was lying on the ground, was dazzled.

It was the first time she saw a Sword cultivator fighting with a Physical cultivator in a static position.

In such a situation, the Sword cultivator would clearly be at a disadvantage.

Without footwork, sword technique would be useless, and besides, a sword cultivator's physique was not as well forged as a physical cultivator's.

She had to help!

Xu Mulan gritted her teeth and struggled to stand up, but found that she couldn't even hold the spear properly.

"Master Ye..."

Facing Wu Tianci's punches, Ye Anping obviously felt the pressure.

If he weren't in a hurry, he would never fight with a physical cultivator in this way.

He had hundreds of ways to kill Wu Tianci without getting hurt, but now Li Longling, his sister, the girls, were all waiting for him. The sooner he could deal with Wu Tianci, the less likely they would get into trouble.

The several high-grade golden lightning talismans hidden in the scroll should have greatly consumed Wu Tianci's martial spirit and spiritual energy.

His verbal provocation had to make him want to confront him instead of choosing the better option of "running away".

If Wu Tianci knew that he was in a hurry, he would definitely treat this as guerrilla warfare and not get too close to him.

And so...

*Ding ka---*

A strange sound of striking metal burst out.

Countless veins popped out on Wu Tianci's forehead, and his whole body seemed to be boiling, hot sweat gushing out into the snowy forest.

He caught Ye Anping's sword with his right hand, then clenched his left fist and punched him in the abdomen.

*Boom---*

The white robe suddenly burst open, revealing his lean upper body. The muscles on his abdomen seemed to have lost their eight-block shape and curled into a roll.

However, Ye Anping did not take a single step back. Instead, he slapped his right hand under the hilt of the sword with his left hand.

*Swish---*

Wu Tianci's right armored fist that was holding onto the *Snow Jade Spirit Sword* suddenly emitted countless tiny ice-blue spiritual lights before exploding into minced meat along with his entire arm.

"Ahhhh--!!!"

With a roar, Wu Tianci gathered all his spiritual power in his remaining left hand and threw a punch directly at Ye Anping's heart meridian in his chest.

But at the same time, Ye Anping half-turned the sword in his hand, and a horizontal stroke flashed over the position of the golden core in Wu Tianci's abdomen.

*Crack!*

*Swish!*

The sound of bones breaking rang out. Wu Tianci's left fist struck Ye Anping's chest, and a sea of blood burst out from his back.

The two stopped moving at the same time.

The wind and snow seemed to have stopped as well, and only the sound of their breathing remained in the forest.

"..."

"..."

Looking at Ye Anping's unperturbed face, Wu Tianci's bloodshot eyes flashed with disbelief.

Why did this person still act like he was fine even though he had taken two punches from him?

How could an early-stage *Core Formation* Sword cultivator take two of his full-strength punches so calmly, without even changing his expression?

"You..."

Ye Anping interrupted with a cold voice. "Go after your father now. By the way, I was lying to you just now. Your father spent a hundred years creating his own formation. It can be said to be a masterpiece."

"..."

Wu Tianci's eyes widened, and then his upper body slid down from the waist and fell to the ground, turning into a half-body sculpture.

At this moment, the fine snow finally got close to the two of them and landed on his lower body, which was still standing in the same place.

Ye Anping closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He then took out a few Fire talismans and threw them onto Wu Tianci's body. He cremated him thoroughly, then put away his sword before walking toward Xu Mulan, who looked dumbfounded.

"Commander Xu... are you okay?"

"Ah..."

Xu Mulan looked at Ye Anping's bare upper body and then looked down at her breastplate.

Wu Tianci's kick had dented her cold iron breastplate, but Ye Anping's physical body had withstood two punches.

Could Ye Anping's body be tougher than her cold iron breastplate?

"Ye... Master Ye, are you... are you okay?"

"Don't I look okay?" Ye Anping smiled wryly. He walked over, took out a pill, and fed it to her. Then, he turned to look toward a cedar tree nearby. "You two... hiding behind the tree, quickly send Commander Xu back to the boat to heal."

Xu Mulan had a puzzled expression on her face. She turned around and saw two *Foundation Building Snow Guards* hiding behind a cedar tree with wounds all over their bodies.

It seemed that they had been hiding there the whole time, probably looking for an opportunity to help. However, they did not expect Ye Anping to cut open this *Core Formation* stage Physical cultivator in just a few breaths.

The two *Snow Guards* limped over, and looking at Ye Anping's lean and perfect figure, they blushed. Then, they cupped their hands: "Many thanks, Senior Ye! We've been..."

Ye Anping raised his hand to interrupt them. "...We'll talk about it later. Take Commander Xu to recover first."

"...Yes, sir."

Xu Mulan hesitated before saying, "No, I can still..."

"Go back quickly, leave the rest to us. If you fall, the *Snow Guards* will be in disarray. There are still so many demonic cultivators to deal with..."

"..."

Xu Mulan looked at Ye Anping, and suddenly she was afraid to look directly at him. She nodded faintly. "Well... then Mr. Ye, you should be careful too. I... I'll wait for you to come back."

Seeing the originally dignified leader of the *Snow Guards*, now looking like a young girl who had just begun to fall in love, Ye Anping lightly pursed his lips and nodded. "Alright."

The two *Snow Guards* stepped forward, supporting Xu Mulan's shoulders. Then, they summoned their flying swords and left, carrying her toward the distant boat.

Ye Anping, who was left alone in the snowy forest, watched the three people leave with a smile on his face.

And then...

He knelt on the ground and covered his stomach, his face turning pale in an instant.

"Hiss-uhhh... cough-cough--"

Then, he spat out a mouthful of blood and rolled on the snow, trying to use the coolness to relieve the pain in his chest and abdomen.

"Ha-ha-ha-- I will never fight like this next time... ah ah ah--"

After rolling a few times, Ye Anping took out a pain-relieving pill from his storage bag and threw it into his mouth.

When the medicinal pill's effect was almost over, he finally stood up and took out a spare piece of clothing from his storage bag. He draped it over his body, then ran quickly toward the golden dragon and the black python.

The mountain-like golden dragon in the distance had already been bitten by the black python on the neck, and it looked like it would not last much longer.

Ye Anping took a deep breath, quickened his pace, and threw healing pills into his mouth while running. When he had run about half a mile into the forest...

Two ethereal but somewhat miserable female voices came from some distance.

*"Ow--!"*

*"Tsk..."*

*Slap--!*

A slap resounded through the forest.

*"Are you a dog?!"*

*"Ah!"*

*"Let go!"*

*"Aaah... don't pull my hair!! You black bastard!! Ouch---!"*

*"Hiss--- you golden bitch!! Hey!! Where the hell are you biting?!"*

?

Ye Anping stopped in his tracks when he heard the strange hissing sounds. He suddenly frowned, and with mixed feelings in his heart, quickly ran toward the commotion.