Chapter 280: Misunderstanding

The movement became increasingly pronounced. The coiled, scaled body began to twist and writhe like a millstone, causing snow to cascade down and a growing hum of friction.

Everyone looked up in surprise. The ice pillar, which had been gradually coiling tighter and shrinking, was now stretching and rising, and a head emerged from its top. It shook and swayed, as if just waking up.

A massive serpent's head, adorned with antlers and ears, rose from its hidden position. Its eyes glowed with a silver-blue light; without that radiance, it would have been difficult to discern its features at such a height.

The enormous head, extended from the top, gazed down at the crowd below, its silver-blue eyes radiating an intimidating majesty.

Wu Jinliang and others, who were secretly observing from a distance on the ice plain, also caught sight of the developing situation. Wu Jinliang turned to the person beside him and asked, "What is that?"

Xu Anchuan replied, "I don't know. I haven't heard of any other monsters in here. It must be a monster formed from divine fire."

Wu Jinliang was startled and said, "It's so big, can the Summer Dao Mountain sect handle it?"

Xu Anchuan responded, "It should be fine. The Summer Dao Mountain sect is clearly setting up a formation to deal with it."

It turned out the ice pillar was a living creature. The Summer Dao Mountain group's expressions changed; its size was beyond their imagination. According to the experiences of previous generations in their sect, none had ever encountered a creature this massive, and the first one they encountered upon entering was incredibly enormous.

The Summer Dao Mountain group realized something was wrong. Gu Lianni, slowly backing away, still subconsciously asked, "Shi Chun, what is this thing?"

What thing? Shi Chun was also dumbfounded. How could he know what it was, let alone that it was a living creature? What he was thinking about now was, what about the five divine fire shadows, big and small, inside this monster?

Here, a monster's size was proportional to its strength. Facing the monster's scrutinizing silver-blue gaze, Yuan Yao, who held the divine fire, suddenly yelled, "Retreat quickly!"

His words jolted everyone awake. A group of Summer Dao Mountain disciples immediately darted up into the air. Gu Lianni was no exception, leaping and quickly ascending with her wind scales.

As soon as the commotion started, the ice dragon, which had been gazing down, let out a thunderous roar that vibrated eardrums. Faint silver-blue flames surged from its mouth, like a celestial river pouring down, sweeping across the chaotic, scattering crowd.

Wherever the flames touched, they instantly transformed into towering ice mountains, and those who failed to escape were instantly frozen within them.

Those guarding An Wuzhi completely abandoned him, turning to flee.

An Wuzhi also panicked, thinking, "Boss, I fell for your deception! You told me these were five divine fires? And you brought me here as a hostage?"

He too turned to flee but couldn't escape, becoming frozen by the sweeping flames.

Out of the hundreds of people from Summer Dao Mountain, approximately thirty percent were instantly frozen. The rest scattered and ascended into the sky like birds and beasts.

Seeing this, Gu Lianni, who was in the air, her eyes wide with fury, cast a spell and roared, "Shi Chun, if you dared to trick me, I'll make sure you die a terrible death!"

She wasn't the only one enraged; at this moment, all the Summer Dao Mountain disciples wished they could tear Shi Chun to shreds. Where were these "five divine fires"? There was only an ancient monster of unknown age. Saying this monster was one divine fire might have been plausible, but claiming five was clearly a trick to lure them in by exaggerating the number, fearing they wouldn't fall for it otherwise. And these fools had actually been deluded into believing it.

Why would he trick them? Even a fool would know: he was trapped after being surrounded and wanted to use this ancient monster to escape.

Yuan Yao's eyes were also blazing with anger.

Gu Lianni nearly gnashed her teeth to powder. She knew not a single word from that scoundrel was trustworthy, yet she had foolishly believed him, even swearing a venomous oath on her own father. The thought nearly made her cough up blood in fury; she longed to rush down and chop Shi Chun into pieces to feed to dogs.

Below, chaos reigned, and the poor lighting made it impossible to see Shi Chun.

So, she waved her hand, scattering an unknown amount of sandalwood gold, which fell like purple rain.

Hearing from afar that the target of the enraged, yet somewhat mournful, curses was Shi Chun, Wu Jinliang and the others peeking from the ice plain exchanged bewildered glances. Xu Anchuan whispered, "Could this be Shi Chun's doing?"

Wu Jinliang and his group didn't know and couldn't answer.

"Boss!" Chu Jingting urgently whispered, tugging at Shi Chun and gesturing for him to run.

To his surprise, Shi Chun, who had re-sheathed his knife on his back, pulled Chu Jingting's wrist. Instead of fleeing like the others, in such a perilous situation, he actually dragged Chu Jingting closer to the massive ice dragon, seeking cover beneath its body.

The flames swept past them, and the two managed to dodge with minimal movement.

The ice dragon's enormous body thrashed and unfolded, crushing the ice mountains formed by the surrounding flames. Shards of ice rained down, and Shi Chun again pulled the panicked Chu Jingting, leaping onto the ice dragon's colossal body.

No sooner had they left the ground than the ice dragon's extended tail swept wildly across the icy surface, powerfully demolishing the ice mountains formed by the flames, effectively clearing the surroundings in an instant.

Of those frozen in the ice mountains, some shattered along with the broken ice, some bled within the ice blocks, and others were flung out still encased, screams filling the air.

At this moment, Shi Chun also heard Gu Lianni's curses. He inwardly groaned, wanting to retort loudly, but fearing he would disturb the ice dragon, he had to endure it.

Then he saw a shower of purple, fiery sandalwood gold raining down. Were it not for the perilous situation, the sight would have been quite beautiful.

Snowflakes swirled, and the ice plain rumbled and trembled. The ice dragon, now fully extended, was not just dozens of feet tall; straightened out, it would likely be hundreds of feet long.

It seemed to have fixated on the divine fire Yuan Yao held. Like a soaring dragon, it shot upwards, startling the group in the air and forcing them to ascend even higher.

Shi Chun and Chu Jingting actually clung to the scales of the flying ice dragon. Shi Chun remained calm and collected, constantly surveying his surroundings, while Chu Jingting felt an extreme thrill, bordering on terror; this was truly a first for him in his life.

With a resonant hum that vibrated eardrums, the ice dragon, which had shot into the air, suddenly crashed to a halt. A giant, inverted bowl-shaped light barrier, rippling with energy, had blocked it. Though the barrier bulged from the impact, it did not collapse; instead, numerous electric current-like ropes appeared, seeming to bind and hold the creature.

The ice dragon twisted its body, struggling violently, and Shi Chun, clinging to its scales, was nearly nauseous.

The more the ice dragon exerted its strength to struggle, the more prominent the ripple and brightness of the giant bowl-shaped light barrier seemed to become.

Wu Jinliang, observing from a distance, asked with surprise and doubt, "What kind of magical artifact is that?"

Xu Anchuan exclaimed, "I've heard that some major sects refine a magical artifact called the 'Spirit-Locking Array,' which can trap spiritual entities. This must be the 'Spirit-Locking Array.' The more power a spiritual entity unleashes in resistance, the more power the array absorbs, and in turn, the stronger its ability to confine the entity becomes."

Seeing that the ice dragon couldn't break free, Shi Chun, while marveling at the Summer Dao Mountain sect's methods, also seized the opportunity to call out, "Let's go!"

He pulled Chu Jingting along and jumped down from the thrashing ice dragon. As soon as the two landed in the shimmering light of the sandalwood gold flames below, someone in the air immediately spotted them.

Immediately, someone pointed below and shouted, "Uncle-Master, look, Shi Chun is there!"

Gu Lianni's eyes flashed as she fixed her gaze on him, then immediately cast a spell and commanded, "Surround them, don't let him escape!"

Hearing this, Shi Chun urgently called out, "Gu Lianni, this is a misunderstanding!"

"A misunderstanding?" Gu Lianni retorted angrily. "Where are the five divine fires?"

Shi Chun shouted back, "They should be inside this monster!"

Gu Lianni was so enraged she almost laughed. "Do you truly think I'm a fool?" she roared. "If I, Gu Lianni, believe another half-word you say, I'll chop off my own head and give it to you!"

Seeing the massive ice dragon, bound by electric ropes, furiously spewing flames, and the rapidly expanding ice mountains forming wildly within the array, Shi Chun could only give up. There was no reasoning with this woman now; he needed to leave first.

Just as he was about to tell Chu Jingting to leave, he suddenly heard a shout from one direction: "Spring, over here!"

It was Wu Jinliang's voice. Shi Chun turned his head, greatly startled. Had this idiot lost his mind? Why was he getting involved now?

Little did he know, Wu Jinliang didn't want to get involved either; he was forced into it by Shi Chun's predicament.

Precisely because of Gu Lianni's command to "surround them, don't let him escape," two Summer Dao Mountain disciples swiftly flew down and landed right in front of them, catching them off guard and leaving them no time to react or hide.

Since that was the case, Wu Jinliang wasted no time. He boldly stood up and called out loudly to Shi Chun, inviting him to meet up.

The two Summer Dao Mountain disciples, who were hovering in mid-air, saw this and immediately retracted their wind scales, lunging towards him.

Xu Anchuan and the others who jumped after him looked grim, also preparing for a desperate fight. However, they saw Wu Jinliang point his hands at the two Summer Dao Mountain disciples from a distance, then, seizing the moment, he darted forward. He retrieved his distinctive large saber mid-air, and as he brushed past the two disciples, a spray of blood erupted, instantly cutting them down to the ground!

Wu Jinliang had killed two Summer Dao Mountain disciples in a single encounter. Xu Anchuan and the others, who hadn't quite grasped what happened, were stunned. Was this big man really that formidable?

Tong Mingshan and Hao Ji were even more shocked. They had never seen this large man fight seriously during the Heavenly Rain Meteorite Assembly, and now they realized he had been hiding his true strength.

Wu Jinliang landed and pointed his large saber. Several Summer Dao Mountain disciples who had flown over upon hearing the commotion were instantly intimidated, halting abruptly in mid-air, their eyes filled with disbelief and uncertainty, not daring to act rashly.

Shi Chun and Chu Jingting, who had darted out, were not affected by the Spirit-Locking Array and happened to witness this scene.

Witnessing this, Shi Chun's heart sank. He desperately wanted to ask Wu Jinliang, "You fool, would it kill you to wait a moment? Why are you so eager to kill?"

With those people dead, there was truly no way to explain things to the Summer Dao Mountain sect now. Any hope of cooperation was utterly dashed!

"Why are you still standing there, get moving!" Shi Chun snapped.

Wu Jinliang quickly darted over to pick up the two fallen wind scales from the ground, tossing one to Tong Mingshan.

Due to the lighting conditions, which made it hard to see from light to dark areas, Gu Lianni and the others in the air hadn't clearly seen what happened. There was practically no engagement; people were simply cut down without any sounds of a struggle.

It wasn't until their fellow disciples let out long, wailing cries for help, signaling distress, that Gu Lianni and the others guarding the array turned their attention to the commotion.

The ice dragon within the array already posed a significant danger, and now something else had happened on the other side.

At the same time, the ground suddenly trembled violently, beginning to crack. The ice layer fractured, and cracks spread with a loud splintering sound over a large area.

Shi Chun and the others, who were about to flee, turned back in horror. Inside the inverted bowl-shaped light shield, ice mountains had already expanded outwards, rapidly pushing against and enlarging the ground.