The ice clouds floating in the air suddenly peeled off and turned into a glacier crushing down on the woods.

As the woods were already frozen, the weight of the glacier thoroughly shattered the trees to pieces. The broken ice scattered across the ground.

On the frozen land, vivid and lifelike ice statues stood silently. Their faces were dominated by fear. Some were frozen up while aligning their Star Patterns.

They never thought an Intermediate Ice Magician would be able to summon an Ice-type Bow Magical Weapon with such outstanding power, nor did they expect a student of the Imperial College would be able to maneuver a Soul-grade Ice Seed at her age. Her Domain alone had overwhelmed their whole troop, including an Advanced Magician!

The arrow was utterly astonishing. Even Mo Fan, who had recently witnessed its power, had not expected its true strength to be this terrifying.

But, why would Mu Ningxue have such power that clearly did not belong to her, hiding inside her?

Her silver long hair was disheveled. The imposing, imperial expression on her face was replaced with a debilitated look, as if her soul had been drawn away.

The Ice Crystal Bow broke into pieces after a soft crack, and fell off from her hand.

Mu Ningxue could no longer stand. She slowly fell backward.

Mo Fan immediately caught her in his arms. Her body was extremely cold, like a corpse. Not a single hint of heat could be felt.

Mo Fan quickly felt her pulse and let out a relieved sigh after confirming that she was alive. If she were to die here, he would never forgive that lunatic Lu Nian and his ridiculous ambitions!

"Quick, run!" Mo Fan blurted out glancing at the students.

Mu Nujiao, Bai Tingting, Song Xia, Zhao Manting and the rest were still experiencing a great shock after witnessing the power of the arrow. They finally collected their wits when Mo Fan yelled at them.

It turned out that Mo Fan was buying some time for Mu Ningxue so she could fire the arrow. They glanced at Mu Ningxue whose life was at risk, not knowing how to express their gratitude.

"Wait, bring Mu Ningxue with you. They are here for me. Zhao Manting, take good care of them, and..." Mo Fan glanced at Mu Ningxue, who could fall into an eternal sleep anytime. He could only express his concern with a brief demand, "No matter what happened, don't let her die."

Zhao Manting nodded heavily and brought the students away with him.

Mo Fan did not hesitate further. He glanced at Lu Nian, who had almost broken free from the ice, and the rest of the soldiers who were not completely frozen...

Clenching his teeth, he turned around and ran toward the desolate Jinlin City, which was still plagued by monsters.

It was impossible for Mu Ningxue's arrow to wipe the whole troop out. It would only buy some time for them to run away.

Knowing they were trying to hunt him down, Mo Fan was not left with many options.

The enemies had Heavenly Eagles and an Advanced Magician. He would definitely be caught if he were to flee aimlessly.

The only place that would increase his odds of surviving was the desolated ruins of Jinlin City.

The city was overrun with countless demon beasts. They were strong enough to kill a Magician instantly, not to mention their capabilities of making the Magicians fighting against each other. He had to rely on them to get rid of his pursuit!

"Mo Fan is heading into the city."

"What difference would that make?"

"We have to split up. They are trying to silence us. We'll be wiped out if we stayed together."

"Then...we'll be leaving first." Shen Mingxiao and Luo Song almost wet their pants.

They had nothing to do with the mess at all. Now that they had the chance to escape, they could not care less about the others. If those evil Battlemages caught up to them, they would be done for. They were still young, they did not want to die!

"Then...I'll be taking Song Xia with me." Peng Liang mumbled.

Song Xia was utterly exhausted. There was no way she could escape on her own. It was quite a relief that Peng Liang was willing to look after her.

Zhao Manting glanced at the half-dead Mu Ningxue, the injured Bai Tingting, and finally Mo Fan, who was fleeing towards the ruins of Jinlin City...

"You three, come with me!" Zhao Manting made up his mind.

He was slightly regretful that he had promised Mo Fan to look after the three girls. He was afraid to die, too. He wanted to run away like an unscrupulous coward, just like Luo Song and Shen Mingxiao. However, when he recalled how Mu Ningxue had put her life at risk to save them, and how Mo Fan had left on his own so he would not drag the others into the mess too, there was no way he could leave the girls and run for his own life.

------

A while later after the students fled, the ice crystals under the bright sunlight finally cracked open.

Commander Lu Nian was the first to break free from the ice. He had managed to apply a layer of protection around himself. The frost might be powerful, but it was not enough to inflict any serious damage to an Advanced Magician.

His face had turned blue after being exposed to the cold. His grim face was enough to imply how furious he was!

They had been tricked by a bunch of students!

However, as a Commander, killing them was as easy as killing poultry with their legs tied up...

Did they really think they could run away?

They had drunk fresh demon beasts' blood and destroyed their nests before. And now, they couldn't handle a bunch of students who were only on their first training mission?

"You guys, go after those who are trying to escape. I want them alive!" Lu Nian said to the soldiers who managed to break free from the ice first.

"Affirmative!" The soldiers were not weak either. They quickly prepared themselves and rushed off in the direction Zhao Manting and the others had fled into.

"The rest of you, come with me. How could we lose our most important test subject?" Lu Nian glared at the desolate city and gave the order to the rest of the soldiers who were regaining their feet.

"Commander, I'm afraid they won't be able to wake up," the female advisor said.

"Then destroy them."

...

The remaining ice statues were knocked into pieces. The tiny shattered pieces were mixed with the blood and flesh of the soldiers they contained. When the ice melted, it would be impossible to tell whose corpses were they.

Seven statues were destroyed in total, which meant that Mu Ningxue's single arrow had instantly killed seven talented Intermediate Magicians.

Commander Lu Nian continued to wear an expressionless face, but it was definitely a humiliating defeat for them.

The ice on the ground was crushed as they marched forward. The devils who had stripped off their sacred wind jackets never thought of giving up.

Now, it was not a matter of silencing the students. Their priority now was to seize the kid with Double Innate Elements.

He was their hope to invent the new Element!

When the time came, he would be their ace to overcome everything, including the demon beasts who had been dominating the world for millennia!