CHAPTER 619: CHAPTER 604: DEBTS SETTLED

This is an extremely steep ice peak.

It stands over three thousand zhang tall. If it weren’t for the sky above the snowfield being bluer than elsewhere and the clouds thinner, the peak would have already pierced the heavens.

The entire ice peak, apart from the hundreds of zhang near the base where one can still see some snow pines and other snowfield plants common to the area, is covered in nothing but glistening white snow and solid ice above that level. Near the summit, the ice reflects a blue icy light, these are thousand-year-old blue ice that never melts.

Zhouyang had been observing from a few hundred li away from this ice peak for more than half a month.

More than half a month ago, after he and Master Bai Lu arrived here, their initial plan was to rely on Master Bai Lu’s assistance to directly assault the ice peak, kill or trap the Three-headed Ice Vulture and harvest the Ice Tear Flower growing at the mountain’s summit.

However, just as they were about to take action, Master Bai Lu sensed the remnants of a Tier Six Demon King’s aura on the ice peak, which gave both of them quite a fright.

At that time, Zhouyang thought he had arrived too late, believing that the Three-headed Ice Vulture had already upgraded from a Tier Five Demon Beast to a Tier Six Demon King.

Upon closer investigation, the two discovered that the Tier Six Demon King aura on the ice peak was not from the Three-headed Ice Vulture. It was just an aura left by a Tier Six Demon King who had visited this place before.

So the real situation should be that not long ago, a Tier Six Demon King visited this ice peak and while staying there, left some of its aura.

The fact that a Tier Six Demon King visited and left behind its aura meant that the Three-headed Ice Vulture on the ice peak holds an incredibly significant position.

For safety reasons, Master Bai Lu suggested Zhouyang lure out the Three-headed Ice Vulture, and then he would personally sneak onto the ice peak to steal the Ice Tear Flower.

As long as the Ice Tear Flower was in hand, they would split up and retreat from the Endless Snowfield. At that point, if a Tier Six Demon King made a move, it would surely only chase the larger target, Master Bai Lu.

Zhouyang accepted Master Bai Lu’s suggestion, so he’s now observing the situation and looking for the opportunity to strike.

After observing for half a month and getting a clear understanding of the surrounding area, Zhouyang finally exposed himself, riding the clouds directly towards the summit of the ice peak.

The moment the aura of a late-stage Golden Core Cultivator appeared, the Three-headed Ice Vulture, which was cultivating within the ice cave at the summit of the ice peak, instantly perceived it and swiftly rushed out of the ice cave with an angry screech.

Soon, even a hundred li away, Zhouyang saw the full appearance of this Tier Five High-Grade Demon Beast.

He saw in the sky, a massive blue bird with a wingspan of sixty or seventy zhang approaching with a howling wind. It had three long heads, each with feathers of a different color: the middle head’s feathers were blue, the left one silver, and the right one green.

The feather color on each head represented the power that particular head specialized in: blue for ice attribute, silver for thunder attribute, and green for wind attribute.

The combined might of ice, wind, and thunder attributes in attack is a notch stronger than the usual Five Elements power, which is the fundamental reason why the Three-headed Ice Vulture surpasses other Tier Five High-Grade Demon Beasts.

However, because these three powers are incredibly difficult to integrate, the Three-headed Ice Vulture has been stuck at the Tier Five level for countless years, unable to advance to a Tier Six Demon King.

This time, upon seeing the intruder in its territory, blatantly defying its majesty, was a human cultivator, the six differently colored eyes of the Three-headed Ice Vulture simultaneously revealed anger.

Its left head with silver feathers opened its mouth and spit out a thick silver lightning bolt aimed at Zhouyang. Subsequently, the right head with green feathers also opened its mouth, spitting out a greenish-white Wind Blade slashing towards Zhouyang.

As the alternating wind and thunder attacked, Zhouyang did not dare to be careless. He hurriedly waved his sleeve, summoning the Flaming Dragon Shield to protect himself, and then summoned the Fiery Sun Heart-Burning Spear and his Lifebound Spiritual Artifact "Qianyang Golden Tower" to attack the Three-headed Ice Vulture.

Both the human and the demon had just started to clash, still probing each other, so while the methods used were not weak, they were not their strongest moves yet.

After about half a ke—moment of time—the Three-headed Ice Vulture first lost its patience and launched a killing move.

Its three heads opened their mouths simultaneously, spewing out a torrent of ice, wind, and thunder powers, with Wind Blades, Ice Cones, and lightning falling like rain, instantly enveloping Zhouyang within.

Though these are the most basic magic attack forms, with the Three-headed Ice Vulture’s powerful magical power and innate divine technique support, the attack power is not inferior to ordinary Tier Five magic, possessing a continuous nature that Tier Five magic absolutely lacks.

Zhouyang’s Flaming Dragon Shield had an immensely strong defense, capable of blocking any attack from the Three-headed Ice Vulture.

However, faced with such a sustained consuming attack, the protective shield formed by the Flaming Dragon Shield visibly weakened rapidly.

Seeing this, Zhouyang could only activate the divine technique "Flame Dragon Guardian" attached to this spiritual artifact, and then, under the Three-headed Ice Vulture’s onslaught, held up his fists horizontally in front of him and shouted explosively.

A dragon’s roar, earth-shaking, ascended to the sky, as an azure-gold Azure Dragon suddenly soared out from behind him, roaring furiously at the Three-headed Ice Vulture and pouncing fiercely towards it.

At this point, Zhouyang’s Azure Dragon Body Refining Technique was only one step away from the Fourth Layer, and the true form of the Azure Dragon manifested through the Azure Dragon’s Fury already had a hint of genuine dragon might.

It was distinctly visible when the dragon roar sounded, the Three-headed Ice Vulture trembled slightly for an instant and its offensive weakened somewhat.

But it was, after all, a Tier Five High-Grade Demon Beast, and soon it shook off the influence of Long Wei, roaring with anger as it swung its sharp claws towards the cyan-gold Azure Dragon.

Yet, although the cyan-gold Azure Dragon seemed to have form, it was essentially a transformation of power, not a true flesh and blood creature.

The [Three-headed Ice Vulture] took the initiative to approach, only to fall into a trap instead.

With a loud explosion, the blue feathers on the [Three-headed Ice Vulture] were blown into a chaotic dance in the sky, blood-spattered feathers floating amidst its six eagle eyes of varied colors, now seemingly tinted with a layer of fresh blood, red with rage.

It hadn’t been injured for a long time, but today, it was wounded, struck by a human cultivator.

This filled it with boundless anger.

Its three heads suddenly opened their mouths in fury, spewing out three magic artifact rings each of different colors.

One of them, a white ring emanating an icy power, spun swiftly and looped the [Fiery Sun Heart-Burning Spear], then unleashed a torrent of white icy air from the ring, freezing the fire-attributed [Fiery Sun Heart-Burning Spear].

Then, a silver ring flickered with electric light, rapidly expanded to encompass the top of the [Qianyang Golden Tower], unleashing countless bolts of silver lightning upon the golden treasure tower, seemingly intent on destroying it.

As for the last green-ringed artifact, it shot directly towards Zhouyang himself.

"You vile beast, be not so arrogant!"

Zhouyang shouted loudly and waved his hand mightily, catching the green ring aimed at himself in mid-air.

The green ring, caught in his grasp, immediately released countless fine wind blades to slice at his hand, causing his cyan-gold dragon-scaled hand to ring with sound.

"Shatter for me!"

Zhouyang roared again, and a golden true flame suddenly erupted from his hand, burning the green ring.

Under the domineering refinement of "Qianyang True Flame," the green spiritual light emitted by the ring rapidly dimmed, soon squeezed by Zhouyang into several pieces.

After destroying the green ring, Zhouyang waved his hand to send the golden true flame towards the frozen [Fiery Sun Heart-Burning Spear].

Meanwhile, he formed a spell with both hands, causing the [Qianyang Golden Tower], which had been trapped by the silver ring, to rapidly expand, forcing the silver ring to crack and fly back into the [Three-headed Ice Vulture]’s mouth.

The three artifact rings, though impressive at first glance, were actually Tier Five Lower Grade Artifacts, merely appearing formidable due to their rare materials.

Zhouyang was caught off guard initially, allowing the [Three-headed Ice Vulture] to succeed, otherwise, with the intricacy of his artifacts, he wouldn’t have been so easily thwarted.

Having reacted, he struck fiercely, instantly destroying one and heavily damaging another of the opponent’s artifacts, crushing the arrogance of the [Three-headed Ice Vulture].

To prevent the remaining white ring from getting damaged, the [Three-headed Ice Vulture] had to recall the white ring, which looped the [Fiery Sun Heart-Burning Spear], as its six eagle eyes locked onto Zhouyang, gleaming with fierce light.

Those three artifact rings were requested by its Tier Six Demon King mother from another artifact-refining Demon King, although they don’t have much effect given its current power, but they hold significant sentimental value.

Now that Zhouyang destroyed one and heavily damaged another, this angered it even more than the earlier injury.

Killing intent flowed in its eyes as its three heads simultaneously opened their mouths again, spewing out three shining demon pills.

Three demon pills!

The [Three-headed Ice Vulture] actually condensed three demon pills!

Witnessing this for the first time, Zhouyang was greatly shocked.

In the cultivation realm, there were many demon beasts like the [Three-headed Ice Vulture] with multiple heads, but most could only condense one demon pill.

A beast like the [Three-headed Ice Vulture] forming three demon pills, Zhouyang had only seen mentioned in some ancient texts before, seeing it in reality was a first.

At this moment, the three demon pills spewed from the [Three-headed Ice Vulture]’s mouths floated in mid-air in a triangular formation, each emitting a power that converged towards the center.

Seeing this, Zhouyang turned and ran without saying a word.

He didn’t come here to engage in a life-and-death battle with the [Three-headed Ice Vulture], there was no need to stay and take the opponent’s finishing move.

Moreover, after the [Three-headed Ice Vulture] spewed those three artifacts, Zhouyang abandoned the idea of killing it.

```

Whether it’s human cultivators or demon beasts, those with backing always receive different treatment compared to those without.

For those demon beasts without backing, or with weak backing, Zhouyang could kill them without fear of trouble.

However, for demon beasts like the Three-Headed Ice Vulture, whose backing was evidently not ordinary, unless it threatened his life, Zhouyang had to reconsider the consequences of killing it.

In terms of protection, the demon race often excels beyond human cultivators.

Zhouyang certainly did not want to be targeted by a powerful Tier Six Demon King.

The Three-Headed Ice Vulture obviously didn’t expect Zhouyang to escape so decisively. However, since it had already spat out its demon pill, it wouldn’t let go so easily.

Therefore, after a slight preparation, it prematurely activated its ultimate move.

A force created by the convergence of its three demon pills suddenly formed a three-colored beam, which soared into the sky and then descended upon Zhouyang’s head dozens of miles away.

Such an attack, defying all logic, greatly shocked Zhouyang. He hurriedly activated the Flaming Dragon Shield to confront it, and still feeling unsafe, he released the Qianyang Celestial Fire Shield divine technique with the Qianyang Treasure Pearl to protect himself.

Rumble!

The three-colored beam fell onto the Flaming Dragon Shield, immediately triggering a fierce explosion.

Since acquiring it, the Flaming Dragon Shield had never disappointed Zhouyang, but this time it couldn’t withstand the explosion, being blasted away, and the aftermath almost broke the golden flame shield Zhouyang erected.

This sent a chill down Zhouyang’s spine.

One must know that, due to his escape, the Three-Headed Ice Vulture hadn’t fully charged this attack.

Even without full charge, the attack had such power; it was unimaginable how powerful it would be if fully charged!

This made him even less willing to engage in a life-and-death battle with the Three-Headed Ice Vulture.

Zhouyang fled even faster.

Seeing its ultimate move fail to kill the enemy, the Three-Headed Ice Vulture was not only surprised but also enraged. It immediately retrieved its demon pill and chased after Zhouyang aggressively.

Being a Tier Five High-Grade demon bird, its flying speed was much faster than Zhouyang’s. Zhouyang had no chance of escaping under its nose.

On the other side, upon seeing Zhouyang lure away the Three-Headed Ice Vulture, Master Bai Lu, who had been hiding far away, immediately sneaked into the ice peak.

To his surprise, besides the Three-Headed Ice Vulture, there was another Tier Five demon beast on the ice peak.

It was a Tier Five Lower Grade demon beast, the Ice Demon, lurking at the entrance of the Three-Headed Ice Vulture’s nest, guarding the treasures inside.

Fortunately, the intruder was Master Bai Lu, a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator. Had it been a Golden Core Stage cultivator, they most likely would have failed to detect the hidden Ice Demon and lost their life in vain.

But now, before the Ice Demon even discovered the identity of the intruder, its head was severed by a flash of sword light.

After killing the Ice Demon guarding the nest, Master Bai Lu only took its crystal core and entered the ice cave.

Half a moment later, Master Bai Lu, with a face full of joy, emerged from the ice cave, activated a spirit talisman to inform Zhouyang of his success, and then directly left the ice peak to return to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm.

After receiving Master Bai Lu’s notification, Zhouyang no longer lingered with the Three-Headed Ice Vulture. He immediately summoned the Heaven-Suppressing Azure Dragon Cauldron to seal the sky, then repeatedly struck out with fist shadows, pummeling the three heads of the Three-Headed Ice Vulture until it saw stars and felt dizzy.

He then retracted the magical artifact, cast the Rainbow Light Gold Escape divine technique, and swiftly transformed into a golden light disappearing from the battlefield.

By the time the Three-Headed Ice Vulture recovered from its dizziness, Zhouyang had already flown several hundred miles away, using the Stinging Dragon Avoiding Tribulation Technique to conceal his aura and form.

The Stinging Dragon Avoiding Tribulation Technique, at Small Success Realm, could almost perfectly conceal Zhouyang’s aura. The Three-Headed Ice Vulture wasn’t a demon beast naturally skilled in tracking divine techniques, and could not detect his presence.

Hence, after venting its anger, the Three-Headed Ice Vulture could only return to its nest in fury.

Upon returning to the nest, finding the slain Ice Demon and the empty nest, its fury skyrocketed, and the lingering aura of a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator in the nest filled it with dread.

This mixed emotion of anger and fear made it unable to hold back, spitting out a blue feather and breaking it on the spot.

Half an hour later, a large blue Ice Vulture with a wingspan over a hundred feet suddenly appeared atop the ice peak with a long cry.

[Three-headed Ice Vulture] heard the whistle and quickly rushed out of the ice cave, its six eagle eyes filled with delight and fear as it chirped lowly to the blue ice vulture, recounting its ordeal.

After the blue ice vulture listened to the [Three-headed Ice Vulture]’s tale, its pair of sapphire-like bright and dazzling eagle eyes glared fiercely at it and angrily rebuked, "Fool, you fell for such a simple diversionary tactic. Don’t ever claim you’re my son again!"

Chirp chirp!

The [Three-headed Ice Vulture] retorted in a low voice but was soon swept away by a wing of the blue ice vulture.

"Stay put here and reflect on yourself. I’ll first go after that human Nascent Soul Cultivator and deal with you when I return."

After leaving behind these words, the blue ice vulture turned into a bluish phantom and left the ice peak, chasing in the direction Master Bai Lu had departed.

Meanwhile, Zhouyang, using the "Stinging Dragon Avoiding Tribulation Technique" to escape the [Three-headed Ice Vulture]’s pursuit, retraced his original path back to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm.

However, compared to the smooth journey there, the return trip was fraught with obstacles.

Without Master Bai Lu, the Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, constantly on guard, although he remembered the route, he inevitably encountered unexpected situations, leading to direct confrontations with some demon beasts active on the snowfield.

Despite his formidable strength, which allowed him to quickly subdue any demon beast he encountered, he still couldn’t ensure that no trace was left behind, and at times he was discovered and pursued by some Tier Five demon beasts.

It was in these situations that the [Invisibility Ice Staff], which he had obtained from the "Bingyi People," proved invaluable.

The [Invisibility Ice Staff] allowed him to become invisible on the snowfield, while the "Stinging Dragon Avoiding Tribulation Technique" completely concealed his aura. The combination allowed only some high-tier demon beasts with keen sense-related divine techniques to barely catch his trail, while the vast majority of Tier Five demon beasts couldn’t detect his whereabouts.

Thus, despite the numerous bumps and hurdles along the journey, Zhouyang ultimately managed to return safely to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm.

"Congratulations, Zhou Xiaoyou, you have finally returned safely."

Within an Immortal City near the Endless Snowfield, Zhouyang, who had returned from the snowfield, and Master Bai Lu, who had arrived at their rendezvous earlier, were finally reunited.

At this moment, hearing Master Bai Lu’s words, Zhouyang exchanged a few polite remarks before eagerly asking, "Senior, was your journey smooth?"

"It was alright, alright. Although I did have a confrontation with a pursuing Tier Six Ice Vulture, things went relatively smoothly. In hindsight, thanks to your lending me spirit stones to purchase the [Flame Dragon Whip] artifact, I managed to retreat unscathed."

Master Bai Lu displayed a calm smile as he recounted his experiences with Zhouyang.

Upon hearing from him that a Tier Six Ice Vulture had come to avenge the [Three-headed Ice Vulture], Zhouyang felt both belatedly fearful and fortunate.

He was grateful for his caution in hiring Master Bai Lu, a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, to accompany him. Otherwise, had he recklessly attacked the ice peak without knowing the background of the [Three-headed Ice Vulture], he might very well have relied on the powers of the "Heaven-Suppressing Azure Dragon Cauldron" to boldly slay the [Three-headed Ice Vulture], and the consequences would have been unimaginable!

"Here is the [Ice Tear Flower] you wanted, Zhou Xiaoyou. Please check it to ensure everything is correct."

In the room, after recounting his experience, Master Bai Lu waved his hand and placed the [Ice Tear Flower] Zhouyang desired on the table.

Although the [Ice Tear Flower]’s name suggests it is a flower, its appearance resembles a reishi, sculpted from ice, typically growing on ten thousand years cold ice in frigid regions, drawing sustenance from extreme cold spiritual qi.

Its association with a flower comes from the beautiful blue patterns on its white ice-reishi surface, intricately interwoven, making it resemble an exotic spirit flower.

The truly useful part is the tear-like blue droplet at the center of the reishi cap, the essence of the entire [Ice Tear Flower], only the size of a fingernail.

At this moment, Master Bai Lu had placed the entire [Ice Tear Flower], along with the ten thousand years cold ice it grew upon, on the table. After careful inspection, confirming it as a genuine [Ice Tear Flower], Zhouyang cautiously took out a jade box made of [Thousand-year Cold Jade], and carefully dug out the [Ice Tear Flower] along with its roots, sealing it within the jade box.

Only after he secured the jade box did the previously silent Master Bai Lu say, "Now that you, Zhou Xiaoyou, have obtained the [Ice Tear Flower], I consider my promise to you fulfilled. I need to visit an old friend cultivating in this Northern Land, so I won’t escort you back."

Upon hearing this, Zhouyang quickly bowed and said, "No need to trouble Senior to escort me, I can return on my own."

Then he watched as Master Bai Lu left the room, disappearing from sight.

From start to finish, Zhouyang never asked Master Bai Lu about any other treasures in the [Three-headed Ice Vulture]’s lair besides the [Ice Tear Flower].

He knew well that whatever other treasures Master Bai Lu found there were not his to inquire about.

In the past, to repay a favor from Xu Zhengyang, he had accompanied him to the Endless Snowfield with hopes of at least getting something worthwhile for the trip. Master Bai Lu, being a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, surely would not accompany him for nothing.

This sense of propriety, he understood very well.