Explosions rocked the atmosphere as Yi Fu chased after Hua Xue. The old-looking man following close behind her propelled himself forward with fire blasting from his feet to increase his speed. Hua Xue sadly could not outpace him without unlocking more of her power, which she hesitated to do because of the backlash she would receive.

“Don’t think you can run away from me!!”

“Tch.”

Clicking her tongue as she felt Yi Fu come up behind her, Hua Xue spun around and thrust out her hand. Several dozen ice lotuses appeared around her and flew at Yi Fu. Each one moved so fast they were naught but blurs dancing through the night sky. A normal cultivator would never have been able to see them.

Yi Fi struck each lotus with fists coated in fire. The ice lotuses shattered into crystalline fragments that evaporated from the heat.

But that was just a distraction.

[Icy Prison]

Keeping a firm grip on Hou Chao under her left arm, Hua Xue created a hand seal with her right hand and breath out. Particles of ice flowed from her cool lips. They quickly formed several crystals that surrounded Yi Fu. Beams of prismatic light extended from each crystal, connecting one to the others. The light solidified into a powerful barrier that looked like reflective glass.

Yi Fu stopped immediately before crashing into the prison. He tapped on it with his knuckles, then jerked his hand back as though he’d been shocked. A glance at his hand revealed that it had become covered in a layer of ice that not even his fire could melt.

Hua Xue did not stick around and flew off once the barrier had solidified--Yi Fu would eventually be able to break out, and she wanted to be far enough away that he could not catch up to her.

Those hopes were dashed when she felt a powerful explosion of chi behind her. She didn’t stop flying, but she turned her head to find that Yi Fu’s entire body had become like a miniature sun. Bright flames lashed at the ice prison. It looked like the prison would hold at first, but as the flame’s strength increased, cracks began forming along the surface. The ice prison exploded into steam. Yi Fu burst out of the steam like an avenging beast.

“You are not getting away!!”

He quickly caught up. A sword of flames appeared in his left hand, and he thrust it at her back. Hua Xue dodged to the side, channeled ice chi into her legs, and kicked the flames. The fire sword quickly froze over, then shattered.

This did not deter Yi Fu, who appeared in front of her and thrust out his fist. It wasn’t a punch. A beam made of fire flew from the extended appendage. Hua Xue rolled away, though some of her hair was singed. She was forced to slow down, lest Hou Chao suffer from the gravity pulling at them, and Yi Fu capitalized on this to engage in hand to hand combat.

She grimaced as she realized how limited her options were. Yi Fu wasn’t very strong, but he was strong enough that she couldn’t fight back and protect Hou Chao at the same time unless she did something drastic.

I guess there’s no choice. I really didn’t want to do this.

Hua Xue blocked several strikes with her only free arm, now covered all the way to her elbow in ice. She moved her arm swiftly to block each of Yi Fu’s strikes. Even though he was attacking her with two hands, he was still unable to land even a single strike.

“I don’t understand! I thought you were only at the Human Limit Realm! Have you been keeping your cultivation a secret this whole time?!”

“That’s none of your business,” Hua Xue said.

Though she spoke calmly, she was struggling to defend against Yi Fu’s attacks, protect Hou Chao, and undo the seal on her power. She had to gather more power inside of herself to attack the seal. Doing so meant diverting chi from her other tasks.

Yi Fu seemed to realize this and began attacking Hou Chao instead. He pressed two fingers to his forehead, then aimed them at Hou Chao, and fired off a small but intense beam of concentrated flames. Hua Xue grimaced as she created a lotus before the attack.

[Spinning Lotus Shield]

The lotus spun at an incredible speed, and the beam that slammed into it scattered like light refracted when it entered a prism.

Being forced to divert her attention like this meant Hua Xue was unable to do anything when Yi Fu flew behind her and struck her in the back. She didn’t scream as powerful flames hit her dress. The clothes she wore were resistant to heat and fire. Yet the force she was struck with sent her blasting toward the ground.

She landed on the ground and bent her knees. The earth rippled before several cracks split it apart. The area where her feet had struck tried to collapse, but ice spread across it starting at her feet and froze everything in sight. Hua Xue took a deep breath as she slowly set Hou Chao on the ground, eyes remaining on the elder floating in the sky.

“I did not expect their to be a Deva Realm Cultivator hiding within the Ice Phoenix Sect. You have hidden yourself well, but you should have stayed out of this. Now, I have no choice but to kill you,” said Yi Fu.

“The Deva Realm?” Hua Xue would have scoffed if doing such a thing was in her nature. “The Deva Realm is nothing but a small stepping stone in the Samsara Cycle Cultivation Realm. You who have not stepped outside the realm of mortals are but ignorant fools. Allow me to show you just how insignificant you really are.”

“What was that?! You certainly talk big for someone who’s about to die!”

Yi Fu gnashed his teeth together in anger as he formed a circle with his hands, left under facing the sky, right hand toward the ground, fingers curled. A small light flared into existence between his hands. This light soon gained incandescent brilliance red chi streamed in from all around him. He was gathering chi from the atmosphere to help fuel his attack.

That must be a high-grade spirit rank technique.

Hua Xue quickly categorized the technique and determined how much power it had, determining it was no threat. She had already gathered the chi she needed. Hua Xue willed the chi circulating through her meridians to form a sharp, compressed ice needle, which she used to peirce the sealing array surrounding her dantian. A single small hole appeared in the array. It would close quickly, but before it did, she widened the hole and dragged as much chi as she dared into her body.

Familiar power rushed through her. Her cultivation quickly rose. Deva Realm. Seeker Realm. Realization Realm. Perfection Realm. It stopped there. This was more than enough power. No, it was too much power. She hadn’t meant to bring this much of her true cultivation out.

At her height, she had been so much stronger than she was now, but with the sealing array limiting her, she could only use about this much of her true strength.

It was enough.

[Lotus Shield]

“Do you think that puny technique will be able to block my attack?!”

Yi Fu shouted as he launched flames from his hands. The fire took on the shape of a dragon this time. It soared forward, mouth open wide as though to swallow Hua Xue, the Lotus Shield, and Hou Chao. Yet the moment it touched the lotus, the dragon froze solid.

“WHAT?!” Yi Fu shouted in surprise.

Hua Xue took another deep breath.

[Ice Lotus Bloom]

The ice lotus shield’s petals quickly spread apart. The ice covering the dragon grew so thick the flames trapped inside couldn’t even be seen. Briars appeared on the ice’s surface and attacked Yi Fu, whose eyes bulged as he tried to fly away. However…

“You’re welcome to try and escape, but I’m not letting you get away,” Hua Xue declared, holding out her hand as though directing the briars herself.

The briars quickly latched onto Yi Fu, who tried to burn them away by turning his whole body into flames, but these briars were infused with powers far beyond a mere Deva Realm expert. It wasn’t long before the ice spread across his body. His flames were snuffed out. His limbs were frozen solid. Yi Fu glared down at Hua Xua and, with the last of his strength, screamed expletives.

“You damn bitch! Do not think you’ll get away with this! We’re coming for you! My sect will annihilate you and everyone in the Ice Phoenix Sect! Your days are numbered! You are courting--”

His words ceased there as ice filled invaded his mouth, spreading rapidly through his body, freezing him solid. The man soon became little more than an icicle trapped within dozens of briars.

“You talk too much,” Hua Xue muttered as she clenched her hand. Yi Fu’s body, the briars grasping him, and the frozen flame dragon, all shattered into millions of pieces.

Hua Xue took a deep breath as the chi she had gathered dispersed. Pain suddenly wracked her body. She fell to a knee, hand covering her mouth as she coughed and hacked several times. Her body shuddered even after her coughing fit calmed down. She kept a hand pressed to her mouth as warm liquid seeped between her fingers and splattered against the ground. When she finally pulled her hand away, she saw that it was covered in blood.

“Dammit… I used way too much power…”

She probably didn’t need to bring out so much power, but she hadn’t been able to concentrate enough to control herself. Now she was suffering a backlash much worse than she wanted.

“I can’t rest yet, though. I need to get out of here…”

Hua Xue grasped Hou Chao by the arm and lifted him over her shoulder. He was basically a vegetable, so his legs and arms dangled limply as she began staggering along. She left the area covered in ice and traveled north-east.

The sun soon appeared over the horizon. The area she was currently walking was filled with farms. Several people were working the fields. She watched the people for a moment, all of whom stared at her in a daze, and eventually decided she had traveled far enough. Hua Xue went up to one of the farms and found a decent sized house. She wrapped on the door once.

The person who appeared on the other end was a plain-looking woman who looked stunned. She had black hair, tanned skin, and brown eyes. The clothes she wore were was a basic blue dress made of rough fabric.

“Excuse me. My companion is injured and I have been traveling for a long time. Do you think we can rest here?” she asked with a smile.

“Oh… y’all must be cultivators, right? P-please come in, esteemed cultivators!”

“Thank you. I will pay you for your help.”

“O-oh, there’s no need fer that! Don’t worry about it!”

The woman sounded nervous, and no amount of reassurances seemed to help ease her mind. Hua Xue felt exhausted already. This was how cultivators everywhere were treated, whether on the Xaio Continent or even beyond the stars. She didn’t blame this woman for her worry. After all, so many cultivators took advantage of their strength to bully regular mortals. The people she blamed were the idiots who abused their power. None of them realized how their actions made interactions like this so much more difficult.

The woman showed Hua Xue to a room. She stifled a grimace when she realized it was the master bedroom, where the woman and her husband normally slept. A simple bedroom with a single bed would have been fine.

She turned to the woman.

“Hold out your hand, please,” she said.

“Er… y-your exultedness…”

“Your hand. Please, hold it out.”

“Um…”

The woman’s face was pale as she held out her hand, but Hua Xue ignored it as she summoned a bag and placed it on the woman’s palm.

“I apologize, but I don’t have normal coins on me. If you take that to the nearest city, they should be able to exchange one of those spirit crystals for gold coins.”

“Er… what?”

“Thank you for letting us stay here,” Hua Xue said.

“U-un…”

The woman nodded, and Hua Xue slowly entered the bedroom and closed the door. She set Hou Chao on the bed. He stared sightlessly at the ceiling. The boy hadn’t responded to anything that happened around him. A shocked squeal from the other side of the door told Hua Xue the woman had finally taken a look at what was inside of the bag.

With a sigh, Hua Xue removed her heeled shoes, sat cross-legged on the floor, and closed her eyes. She needed to recover from such a judicious use of her powers. It would likely take several days. She hoped nothing would happen while she was recovering.