The Price of Ruthlessness

Ji Xue made no superfluous movements; she merely raised her wrist and, in Qiu Yue’s direction, clenched her hand in the empty air.

Abruptly, an ethereal blue flame erupted, blazing forth as a towering column of fire that twisted and writhed, threatening to ignite even the heavens themselves.

High above, the cerulean flames coalesced into a magnificent fire phoenix, which let out a piercing cry as it spread its wings and ascended.

Though undeniably fire, it carried an icy chill reminiscent of the harshest winter as it plunged earthward!

Ji Xue, unwilling to remain idle, then conjured a long, ethereal blue spear into her hand.

With a light tap of her foot, she became wreathed in flames, sweeping low across the ground directly towards Qiu Yue’s position.

This two-pronged assault was undeniably formidable.

Yet, Qiu Yue showed no trace of alarm.

After a brief glance at the stone monument nearby, a faint, knowing smile played upon her lips.

“Everyone, gather around me! Raise your shields to defend against the fire phoenix descending from above. Leave those on the ground to me.”

As Qiu Yue issued her command, everyone instinctively converged around her, forming a protective circle, vowing to shield their benefactor to their last breath.

Ji Xue’s flames, however, were clearly no ordinary fire.

The instant the fire phoenix collided with the defensive barrier, its form shattered, yet the scattered flames did not disperse.

Instead, like parasitic maggots devouring bone, they began to incinerate within the condensed barrier, transforming it into a raging inferno within moments.

More horrifying still, their spiritual energy itself seemed to ignite, creeping upwards like an invisible vine, directly threatening their very beings!

Panic seized the disciples, who frantically tried to sever their spiritual energy supply.

“Don’t break it! Hold fast! Otherwise, we’re all dead!” a voice sharply commanded.

These novice disciples had never before witnessed such sinister flames capable of incinerating spiritual energy.

Overwhelmed by terror, they abandoned any thought of collective defense, withdrawing their spiritual energy in a chaotic scramble.

The barrier, already strained, instantly succumbed as multiple individuals withdrew their power, devoured and incinerated by the raging cerulean flames.

With a resounding “Ooomph—”, the barrier fractured, unleashing a torrent of surging flames that cascaded downwards.

A deluge of fire rained down from above, engulfing everyone.

These bone-chilling flames seared them, inflicting agonizing pain that sent countless individuals wailing and screaming.

Some even collapsed to the ground, rolling desperately in a futile attempt to extinguish the inferno.

Yet, how could flames that fed on spiritual energy be quelled?

Despite their frantic efforts, the inferno showed no signs of abating.

To make matters worse, Ji Xue had already breached their defenses, now standing directly before them!

The long spear in her hand, radiating an overwhelming aura, pointed menacingly at Qiu Yue’s head.

With barely a thought, Qiu Yue pressed her hand onto a female disciple’s back, then pulled her forward, using her as a shield.

“Eh?”

Before anyone could react, the long spear instantly pierced through the disciple’s chest, its tip stopping less than a foot from Qiu Yue’s face.

The disciple’s eyes widened in shock; she didn’t even have time to register the wound in her abdomen.

The icy chill radiating from the ethereal blue spear, spreading like wildfire, felt instead like countless tiny, frigid vipers instantly coiling around her limbs and bones, relentlessly burrowing inward!

“Uh… ahh—!”

There was no earth-shattering explosion, no dazzling clash of arcane arts.

Before the horrified gazes of all present, the disciple’s body instantly froze, transforming into a lifelike, ethereal blue ice sculpture!

A lingering trace of bewilderment was forever etched upon her face.

The ice sculpture lasted less than a second.

Crack… crackle…

With a faint crack, the ethereal blue ice, along with the frozen figure it encased, instantly crumbled and shattered, dissolving into countless tiny, shimmering specks of cerulean dust that were then dispersed into nothingness by the gentle breeze of the secret realm.

An instant kill.

Yet, what truly made them gasp in chilled horror was not Ji Xue’s formidable power, but rather Qiu Yue’s ruthless decision to sacrifice another without a second thought.

This chilling scene was seared deep into their minds.

Ji Xue did not spare another glance for the clear, icy remnants of her victim.

With a light, almost ethereal step, she swiftly leaped backward, instantly creating distance between them.

It wasn’t an act of mercy from Ji Xue; rather, countless crimson threads had erupted from the spear shaft, transforming into chains that bound the ethereal weapon she held.

These threads then slithered and coiled along the spear, resembling venomous scarlet snakes as they crept towards Ji Xue.

A prickling sense of danger, sharp as thorns, assailed her back!

Confronted by the unyielding spear, Ji Xue made a split-second decision: she instantly detonated it!

A blinding burst of ethereal blue light, accompanied by a deafening roar, erupted in a violent explosion!

The disciple Qiu Yue had used as a human shield was utterly obliterated, reduced to mere dust.

The unleashed cold fire, in its destructive wake, also engulfed Qiu Yue.

Even though a protective aura enveloped her, the ethereal blue cold flames ignited her entire being.

Bathed in the frigid fire, she felt the searing cold gradually pierce through her protective qi, invading her very limbs.

“Igniting spiritual energy? Heh, a rare trick indeed, but ultimately, it’s just a prettier, colder flame,” Qiu Yue scoffed, and once more, spiritual energy surged forth from her body!

Yet, this surge of spiritual energy was not expended in a futile attempt to erect a new defensive barrier.

Instead, it firmly enveloped and forcibly condensed the already ignited portion of her protective aura.

With her exquisite control, the ethereal blue cold fire was forcibly isolated by an even denser surge of spiritual energy, then casually discarded as if it were mere refuse.

Even Ji Xue felt a flicker of surprise.

She had never imagined that her ethereal blue cold fire—a flame that ignited upon contact and relentlessly burned until its target’s spiritual energy was utterly consumed—could be so decisively isolated by Qiu Yue.

“Everyone, follow my lead!” Qiu Yue commanded, her voice firm and unwavering, without even turning her head. “Forcibly extract the ignited spiritual energy within your protective aura, condensing it into a core! Then, envelop it with fresh spiritual energy, and you can prevent the flames from searing your bodies.”

Hearing this, the remaining disciples seized upon her words like a lifeline, promptly mimicking her actions.

Ji Xue’s ethereal blue cold fire was forcibly suppressed and isolated, as if a boundary had been drawn.

“Your Royal Highness, how will you contend with this now? Perhaps you’re unaware, but the scoreboard monument clearly displays the time remaining. It seems there’s barely ten minutes left until the end of the third day, wouldn’t you agree?”

Qiu Yue tilted her head, humming softly.

“Hmph~ We still have quite a number of people here, don’t we? Each of them can try their best to delay you; that shouldn’t be too difficult, right? If you wish to dispatch me swiftly, I can certainly ensure a protracted struggle~”

With a snap of her fingers, Qiu Yue issued a new directive: “Keep going; drag out the time until the very end.”

“Dream on!” Ji Xue retorted, lunging forward as the ethereal blue cold fire in her hand morphed into a longbow, which she drew back and fired directly.

Yet, even as the arrow hurtled towards her, Qiu Yue saw no pillar of light signifying a challenge, nor did anyone utter the word “Challenge.”

A profound shock seized Qiu Yue.

She narrowly dodged the attack, then followed her gaze to discover that, at some point, everyone had retreated, putting significant distance between themselves and her.

“What are you… doing?”

Her cold gaze fixed on the people behind her, but those disciples, one by one, cast aside all the boons Qiu Yue had previously bestowed upon them, letting them fall to the scorched earth.

One person’s action spurred the others to follow suit.

The message was unequivocally clear.

Silence.

Talismans shimmering with spiritual light, jade vials of elixirs, and even several high-quality artifacts lay strewn across the charred, smoking frozen ground, discarded like worthless refuse.

Traces of frost and ethereal blue flames intertwined on the ruined landscape, while the air hung heavy with a bone-chilling cold, the acrid scent of charring, and an almost palpable sense of silent collapse.

Q Qiu Yue remained standing, her gown swaying gently in the subtle breeze.

She seemed both utterly out of place amidst the devastation and, paradoxically, the very heart of the surrounding chaos.

She tilted her head slightly, her gaze slowly tracing over each of the followers who had once regarded her with fawning admiration, awe, or even fervent devotion.

Now, those same eyes held nothing but fear and alienation.

She could not comprehend why.