Chapter 62: Melee (Part III)

The entire inner valley had fallen into a state of utter turmoil. The chaotic currents of air, stirred up by the violent collision of fierce qi, even triggered gale-force winds from the outer valley. For a time, the surging qi, fierce winds, and rolling sand and stones completely threw the entire Sky-Wild Valley into chaos.

On the Meng family's side, Meng Yu and two others instantly unleashed their true qi, erecting a protective barrier that enveloped their family members. Everyone's eyes were fixed dead on the center of the battlefield.

After a long while, the tyrannical air currents finally began to calm down. A figure gradually emerged from the dust and mist, suspended halfway in the air with both palms pointing downward. As the figure became clearer, Xie Peng, Xing Ye, Tsering, and Ban Jue were all left standing there, dumbfounded and frozen in place!

That figure was none other than Tong Jin. At this moment, his clothes were tattered, revealing several shocking, bloody lacerations. His body was frozen in mid-air, maintaining the posture of having just thrust out two palms. Directly beneath his palms, Ban Jue was embedded nearly entirely into the ground!

"What terrifying youths!" Meng Xuan murmured beside Meng Yu.

Hearing this involuntary exclamation of praise, everyone nodded heavily. "This completely surpasses the strength of the peak Qi-Consolidation Realm. To think that at such a tender age, both of them have reached such heights—truly monstrous talents!" Meng Renzhong's wrinkled eyes were widened to the limit, and his voice trembled as he spoke.

Meng Yuerou covered her mouth tightly with both hands, her large eyes looking through tear-filled light at Tong Jin suspended in the air in the distance. Although she knew Tong Jin possessed a certain level of strength, she could never have imagined, even in her wildest dreams, that this strength would reach such a terrifying degree! It seemed that even the heavens were blessing her Meng family to escape this disaster this time!

In contrast, over on the Gu family's side, Gu Family Head Gu Ming and Gu Feng beside him both furrowed their brows tightly. "Is this the insignificant brat you told me not to worry about?" Gu Feng asked in a low voice.

Gu Ming's expression turned ashen. No matter what, he never expected that the Meng family would recruit such a baleful star. He gave a dry cough and said, "Uncle Feng, do not be hasty. The outcome is far from decided yet."

As they spoke, Tong Jin's figure stirred, and he then plunged straight down from mid-air, landing with a dull thud beside Ban Jue, who was still embedded in the ground. At that moment, Ban Jue also opened his eyes and coughed up a mouthful of blood. His eyes shifted from a blood-red hue back to pitch-black, and he looked with a complex expression at Tong Jin lying beside him.

Just when everyone thought Tong Jin had passed out, "Ahem!" He gave a heavy cough that shook his body, spitting out another mouthful of blood before slowly opening his eyes.

"What a tenacious brat!" Tsering, not far away, did not seize the opportunity to attack. Instead, he turned his head back, his fighting spirit burning in his eyes as he stared at Xie Peng, who had been battered all over by his secret arts. "Is this all the level you have? Quite disappointing. I had hoped for a satisfying fight like the one with my junior brother."

Hearing these words, Xie Peng, who had barely managed to prop himself up to a standing position, stared fixedly at Tsering before him with a frigid gaze. It was not that Xie Peng's strength was too poor, but rather that after Tsering used his secret art, even his silhouette became completely untraceable, let alone defeating him.

"Things have come to this..." Xie Peng gritted his teeth fiercely, feeling that at least six or seven of his bones were broken. Enduring the piercing pain, he fumbled into his bosom and pulled out a silver talisman glowing with a white luster, made of an unknown material. He then bit down on his finger, pressed heavily upon the silver talisman, and began to chant incantations under his breath.

Instantly, the silver talisman emitted a blinding glare that enveloped the entire inner valley. The onlookers nearby all shivered involuntarily. "The temperature is dropping!" Meng Xingfan cried out in alarm.

Meng Yu and Meng Renzhong exchanged glances and spoke in unison, "It's actually Old Man Xing's Profound Ice Talisman!" Both of them saw the solemn gravity in each other's eyes. This Profound Ice Talisman was a high-grade talisman refined by the Snow Elder Xing Cang, extremely rare and with formidable might not to be underestimated. If Xing Cang himself were to activate this talisman, an area of ten miles around would instantly become a realm of snow and ice.

Before the two could dwell on it, the surrounding temperature had plummeted to a terrifying degree. The ground and the stone walls all around were coated with a thick layer of frost. Tsering, bearing the brunt of it, felt a shock in his heart. The Snow Elder's talisman arts were quite tricky to deal with, even for his own master. For this Xie Peng, who was virtually destined to lose, to be willing to use such an item showed he had truly been driven blind with rage.

Not far away, Tong Jin and the others likewise felt this chilling frost. Feeling the empty, hollow weakness within his body and enduring the tearing pain, Tong Jin fumbled into his bosom for two medicine bottles, tumbled out a few pills, and swallowed them without hesitation. They were none of the Qi-Replenishing Bi-Condensing Pills he had refined in recent days, along with a Frost-Repelling Pill.

As the pills instantly melted in his mouth, a surge of rich warmth rushed into his internal organs, and then frantically burrowed into his hollowed-out meridians. Tong Jin closed his eyes tightly, slipping into a state of transcendence where he forgot both self and surroundings. The frost and snow outside his body miraculously melted away just as they brushed against him.

"Are those medicinal pills?" Ban Jue, deeply embedded in the ground nearby with his own vitality completely exhausted, felt a sense of bittersweet irony as he watched Tong Jin casually sit cross-legged to enter the refining state. Yet, choosing not to disturb him, he simply watched quietly as Xie Peng in the distance activated the Profound Ice Talisman.

Finally, the low temperature in the valley stabilized. Now, wherever the eyes could reach, everything was covered in a thick layer of ice, save for the patches of ground where people stood, having melted the frost beneath their feet using their own internal energy to carve out a foothold.

"Relying on the power of a talisman, you certainly possess some tricks." As Tsering spoke, his figure slowly faded from view, leaving only the patch of exposed sand and stones where he had just been standing.

"Hmph, your secret art won't be of any use now," Xie Peng said with an icy glare, letting out a cold snort.

Mid-sentence, Xie Peng's eyes suddenly shot toward a patch of empty space to his right. "Come out!" With a fierce roar, an ice cone resembling a sharp blade sprouted from the ice surface before him, snapping off and shooting through the air toward that empty space upon his will.

"Oh?" Accompanied by a soft exclamation of surprise, the ice cone seemed to strike something in mid-air and shattered into pieces. Then, Tsering's figure slowly materialized upon the previously empty ice surface. "To be able to see through my Ethereal Spirit Secret Art shows some skill! But it's still not enough."

Tsering's figure shot forward like a bolt of lightning. Though standing upon the icy surface, his speed was completely unaffected, and in the blink of an eye, he appeared right before Xie Peng, unleashing a heavy, devastating punch!

Xing Peng did not dodge or evade, his eyes narrowing slightly. Just as the fist drew closer to his body, several hard ice cones suddenly erupted from the ice surface before him, blocking his path.

Clang! The fist slammed into the ice cones with a crisp sound, shattering them instantly. Yet Tsering's punch was successfully blocked. Before he could retreat, several more ice cones burst forth from beneath his feet, carrying a bone-chilling frost as they viciously thrust toward Tsering's legs!