Heavens and Earth seemed to merge into a vortex of power as Mu Shenhua made contact with the Yang Blade Formation. A primal terror engulfed the Great Generals as they realized the true power of the Strongest Grandmaster under Sky.

The 3 great generals at the rear end of the formation saw General Hong’s guandao and body split into half, and his head flew away towards them. Surprisingly his last expression was not of terror but awe. As if he was satisfied to die under the power of Mu Shenhua's strike. Very soon the three were plunged into a world of pain as they suffered heavy injuries from Mu Shenhua's final strike. But even the pain didn't matter much for them, as the confusion from Shenhua's sudden display of strength. They knew that Mu Shenhua has the Hell's Fury poison in her veins. The poison doesn't affect the physical body and its functioning much, but it affects the inner Qi present in a person. It keeps feeding on Qi and grows more potent as time passes and it absorbs more Qi. A poison like this is the bane in the existence of warriors who primarily use their inner Qi to fight. The only way to counter the poison is if one cultivates from a very young age and absorbs only Hell's fury Qi to temper their meridians. Only then would one be able to tame this poison.

Then how could Mu Shenhua deliver such a strong blow even though she has been poisoned for about 9 years? Did she actually not get poisoned at all?

After seeing that her strike has killed three of the strongest of her opponents and injured the rest, she immediately sat down in a meditative posture to control her Qi. It was actually true that she was poisoned. When she fought the Venom Monarch, he was tricky, and when he realized that he couldn't match her, he leads her to strike him, and before dying, he managed to poison her. A potent poison like Hell's Fury was indeed crippling for a martial artist who is reliant on inner Qi.

But what her opponents didn't know that not only did she have impeccable control over Qi, but also her own Qi reserve was immense, and far above the league of her peers. After she realized what poison was slowly eating her up, she trapped the poison in a zone above her navel and carefully controlled her Qi to slowly feed the Qi and control its effects. As long as she maintains the constant cycle of feeding the poison with her Qi and replenishing the lost Qi with time, she could delay the effect of the poison.

She knew very well that an all-out fight with 3 Great Generals or more will force her to lose control, and the poison will cripple her thereafter. So she put in great work to avoid them. She wasn't afraid of dying, but she knew that these bloodthirsty warriors will not let her daughter live. She took shelter in the harsh cold valleys of Northern Mountain Ranges. She had set out vague trails with the aid of local tribesmen and traders for many years. The Ice Abyss Lake was indeed very cold and suitable for suppressing Hell's Fury Qi, but it wasn't the only Cold spot in this mountain range, so when the Yu spies came looking for her many years ago, they found no traces of her. The Generals were lured here by her trail because she wanted to take out as many of them as possible before the poison cripples her.

Shenhua looked satisfied despite the onset of immense pain from her abdomen. She had wanted to take out at least 3 of them, but all the 7 Great Generals actually came here, giving her a chance to kill four of them and injure 3. She wanted to quickly pacify her Qi a little and kill the rest, but she realized something was amiss. She slightly smiled and sighed, and resumed meditating.

In the meanwhile, the remaining three generals, who were injured regained their senses. They were all battle-hardened and have experienced the cruelty and bloodshed of wars. Yet the scene before them sent chills down their spines. General Hong's head was lying on the frozen, snow-covered surface of the lake. There were mutilated body parts, flesh scattered on the snow, and blackish-red blood splattered across the snow in a fanning pattern. General Xie and Xia who were in before them had didn't have their chests, as if they had been exploded. They were lying lifelessly on the ground. Contrasting with the white serene snow, it seemed as if a blood-red rose has blood on the surface of Ice Abyss Lake.

The Twin Generals must have used some strong defensive art to save their lives, thought the 3. They looked at Shenhua and saw her meditating, and pacifying her Qi. They were overjoyed and thought that she must been injured too, so they could kill her now. But suddenly they realized something amiss and looked at the center of the lake where a young girl was supposed to be standing. But there was no one there. Only a brown fur coat was lying on the ice. Before they could guard themselves, the ice sheet beneath them cracked as all 3 of them were immediately drowned in water.

Amongst the three was a burly axe-wielder. He quickly steadied his balance in the water and looked at his comrades. But he saw that one of them had a very pale look and his body was invisible because of blood seeping into the water. The axe-man frowned and gave a light sweep with his axe, the resultant water waved away the blood. When the water he was shocked as he saw a slender hand protruding from his comrade's chest, holding his still-beating heart. His other companion who used claws to fight rushed forward to strike something in the water, but he missed as he saw Mu Linhua propelled away.

The claw-wielder swam towards her and caught up. He raised his arms and tried to drive the claw to her head, but she suddenly twisted her body, avoided the blow, and drove her hand towards the man's neck. The axe-wielder watched as Linhua dug out his comrade's windpipe with her bare claws. Blood gushed out from the claw-wielder's neck as they diffused in water, while his body went limp and he drowned.

The Axe-man had suffered internal injury from Shenhua's attack so he couldn't infuse Qi in his attacks. When he saw Linhua swimming towards him as she left a bloody trail in the water, he prepared his axe and feinted. Linhua fell for the feint and couldn't block the next strike. The axeman raised his axe and struck at her head with as much strength as he could muster. Linhua felt danger as she desperately shifted her head but the strike caught her at her shoulders.

The axe-man thought that he could slice the young girl into two with the force from his sweep, but the shock came to him as he saw that the axe has only cut her shoulder for an inch and struck her bones, let alone cutting off her arms. The girl who was probably eight had such a strong body. She must have tempered her body from a very young age.

The moment of confusion threw him off guard as Linhua drove her other arm towards his chest. The axe-man felt as if a cold blade had pierced her chest instead of a human hand, as his consciousness faded.