243: tease

“Where is this place?”

Ice Phoenix had no time to think; the moment she regained her freedom, the demonic Qi within her body surged.

She didn't even spare Lin Feng a glance; her beautiful face only showed the wild joy of escaping and endless contempt for Lin Feng.

“Fool! How dare he actually let me go!”

She sneered inwardly, and her figure, amidst a violent spatial fluctuation, transformed into a faint blue phantom, instantly vanishing from her original spot.

Innate Divine Ability: Spatial Shuttle!

This was a life-saving method etched deep within her Bloodline, far superior to any other escape technique.

The next moment, she appeared atop an isolated peak hundreds of miles away.

The biting mountain wind ruffled her tattered palace dress and disheveled hair. Feeling the surging demonic Qi within her, Ice Phoenix let out a long cry to the heavens, her cry filled with long-suppressed satisfaction and resentment.

Once she found a hidden place, triggered her Heavenly Tribulation, and achieved a Breakthrough to the Soul Transformation Stage, she would repay the humiliation she suffered today a thousand-fold, ten thousand-fold, to that despicable Human Race member!

However, before her cry had faded, a gentle voice, tinged with a hint of playfulness, drifted from beside her.

“Daoist Friend Bing Feng, why the rush to leave?”

Ice Phoenix's laughter abruptly ceased, as if an invisible hand had clutched her throat. She stiffly turned her head, her pupils instantly constricting into the most dangerous needlepoints.

The man in green robes had appeared beside her at some unknown point, looking at her with a smile, his gaze like that of someone watching a pet that couldn't escape his grasp.

“You…!”

Ice Phoenix's mind reeled, a chill shooting from her feet straight to the crown of her head.

“This is impossible!”

“How could he possibly catch up to me?!”

She had no time to ponder, activating her Bloodline Power once more, her figure merging into the Void Realm again.

This time, she held nothing back, shuttling a thousand miles away to a vast, shimmering lake in one breath.

But just as she stabilized her figure, her heart still pounding, that voice that made her soul tremble echoed in her ears again.

“The scenery here is quite pleasant. Would Fellow Daoist like to enjoy it together?”

Ice Phoenix turned back in horror, only to see Lin Feng sitting cross-legged on the surface of the lake, the water undisturbed, as if he were an inherent part of the lake and mountains.

“Who exactly are you?!”

For the first time, Ice Phoenix's voice trembled with fear and trepidation.

She no longer hesitated, beginning to shuttle continuously without regard for the cost.

Her figure flashed madly between mountains, rivers, deserts, and seas of clouds, each time crossing vast distances.

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, when nearly half of her demonic Qi was depleted and she appeared panting on a barren Gobi desert, she finally stopped.

“Tens of thousands of miles away, he absolutely cannot catch up!”

Her heart settled slightly as she vigilantly scanned her surroundings.

No one was there.

She let out a long sigh of relief, but before she could finish exhaling, Lin Feng's figure, from virtual to solid, appeared ten feet in front of her, smiling as he looked at her.

“Is Daoist Friend Bing Feng tired?”

Ice Phoenix's psychological defenses completely crumbled at this moment.

She stared intently at Lin Feng, her eyes bloodshot and filled with madness, as she shrieked, “What demonic art did you use?!”

With that, she activated her Divine Ability one last time, attempting to escape into the spatial interstice.

But just as half of her body merged into the Void Realm, an irresistible, terrifying force, like an iron clamp, seized her, forcefully pulling her out of the spatial interstice!

“Pfft!”

Her Spatial Shuttle was forcibly interrupted, and Ice Phoenix, as if struck by a heavy blow, spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, her face instantly turning as pale as paper.

She staggered backward, her face filled with disbelief.

This was the first time in her life that her Spatial Shuttle had failed!

She abruptly raised her head, looking at Lin Feng, her eyes filled with shock and horror: “It was you?!”

Lin Feng looked at her dispirited appearance and shook his head with a trace of amusement.

This Ice Phoenix was truly spoiled, having been invincible in the Human Realm for too long, unable to even discern an opponent's Realm.

He no longer bothered with idle talk. With a thought, the terrifying pressure belonging to the Soul Transformation Stage, like a celestial river pouring down, enveloped Ice Phoenix without reservation.

Boom!

The air instantly solidified, and heaven and earth paled.

Ice Phoenix felt as if her Divine Soul had been directly struck by an unimaginable ancient divine mountain. That absolute suppression, stemming from a higher level of life, left her unable to even conceive of resistance.

“Soul…Soul Transformation Stage!”

Her eyes revealed boundless despair and terror. Her human form, unable to be maintained, was forcibly crushed back into her original form amidst a mournful cry.

A giant Ice Phoenix, with a wingspan of tens of feet, crystal clear all over, yet utterly disheveled, fell helplessly from high in the sky, crashing heavily to the ground and stirring up a cloud of dust.

Lin Feng slowly descended before her, looking down at her Phoenix eyes, which held unwillingness and humiliation, and spoke indifferently: “How about it? Daoist Friend Bing Feng, are you convinced now?”

Ice Phoenix's massive head struggled to lift, the voice she emitted filled with resentment: “You are already a Soul Transformation, and I am merely a tenth-level demonic Cultivator. How can we compare? If I were also to Break through to the Soul Transformation, with my talent, you would never be able to catch me!”

Lin Feng raised an eyebrow, thinking that this woman's mouth was truly stubborn. It seemed the previous hardship wasn't enough; perhaps her arrogance truly needed to be completely ground away.

Just then, Ice Phoenix, seemingly having given up, spoke again: “If you have the guts, suppress your cultivation to the Nascent Soul Stage! If you can still catch this Queen then, this Queen will submit to you!”

Lin Feng couldn't help but chuckle at her words.

“Daoist Friend Bing Feng's audacity is truly unparalleled in the Human Realm,” he said, examining the giant Phoenix on the ground with interest. “However, I accept.”

As his voice fell, the world-destroying pressure on his body abruptly vanished, his aura receding and stabilizing back at the Late Nascent Soul Stage.

The power binding Ice Phoenix disappeared. She 愣怔地 changed back into human form, her already tattered palace dress even more disheveled, revealing large expanses of pale skin and alluring curves.

She looked at Lin Feng with some surprise. She had thought this was just her desperate rambling, and that her opponent would never agree. She hadn't expected this Human Race Cultivator to actually possess such boldness.

While she was still in a daze, Lin Feng had already moved.

Without any politeness, he flicked his finger, and a Flying Sword transformed into a startling streak of light, piercing directly towards Ice Phoenix's heart.

Ice Phoenix was startled, but then quickly reacted. This was merely a Flying Sword driven by a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator. What could it do to her?

She instinctively raised her hand, intending to swat the Flying Sword away directly.

“Chirp!”

With a soft sound, that seemingly ordinary Flying Sword was unexpectedly sharp, directly piercing through her palm, which was imbued with demonic Qi.

“Ah!”

Ice Phoenix let out a cry of pain, her palm bleeding profusely, the sharp pain instantly clearing her mind.

She no longer dared to underestimate him in the slightest, her figure flashing repeatedly, continuously performing short-distance Spatial Shuttles within a small area, narrowly dodging the Flying Sword that followed her like a shadow.

She didn't want to just flee like this.

This man had made her suffer so much. Now that their cultivation was “equal,” she was determined to make him taste some hardship before she calmly departed!

For a time, on the Gobi, blue figures flickered erratically, and sword light crisscrossed.

Ice Phoenix unleashed her spatial Divine Ability to its extreme, and Lin Feng's Flying Sword indeed struggled to gain ground for a while.

But she tried every trick in the book, yet neither her ice cone storm nor her cold Qi Domain could harm Lin Feng in the slightest, not even touching the corner of his clothes.

After a long while, Ice Phoenix finally recognized a cruel reality.

Even with equal cultivation, this man's strength was far superior to hers.

However… she glanced at the Flying Sword that constantly shuttled around her but could never lock onto her, and a hint of arrogance resurfaced in her heart.

“You can't hurt me, and you won't catch me either! As long as I want to leave, no one in this world can stop me!”