บท 93: Ten-thousand Helicoid Ice Lance

Shiro sneered at the stupid bird. He was just making conversation with it to delay for time. The first attack was just a probing attack that served as a distraction. His real attack was concealed by his Ice Shard Mirage skill which needed some time to be ready. This unique auxiliary arcane arts of Glacier Mirage foxes could not only hide from optical sensing and body heat detection, it could also disrupt the flow of spiritual energy signature from being detected by unsuspecting opponents. Combining this camouflage skill with their long-range frost-attributed attacks made them experts in performing ambushes on the enemies.

However, the mirage skill could not shield from several unique sensing techniques and augury divination methods. Strong penetrative spiritual sense from higher leveled spiritual beasts could break the auxiliary skill almost immediately if the skill was cast individually that is. Nonetheless, when several experts cast the skill together with the assistance of the clan's spirit gathering formation for support, the concealment was almost perfect!

Thousands of spiraled Ice Lances filled the night's sky. They started to spin at an increasing speed. An inconspicuous spiritual energy thread was attached to each blunt end of the spinning lances to Shiro's fluffed up white fur. Since he had fine-tuned his ability to manipulate the spiritual energy for Mom's sake, he noticed he could perform intricate manipulations from any parts of his body. Adding some modification to the ice cone attack was also Mom's suggestion as she commented on them in passing last time.

All those sufferings from endless practicing were worth it!

"Just an ice cone attack? Seriously? Not glamorous at all. Sounded so cheap lah. Change, change, change!" Mom flapped her hand left and right in a most exaggerated manner. "You know what could make it cooler and better? A good Xianxia name! Mommy will think one for you! A grand one! Oh, and, do try to make them into spiral-shaped like this." Mom drew on the cave wall with a twig she randomly fetched from the fireplace. "Not too big, make the core sturdy. You'll see the difference! It'll be so awesome, befitting a regal Xianxia-ish name!"

He chuckled under his breath amusingly while reminiscing on Mom's trash-talking. She even renamed his simple ice cone skill!

Shiro nearly expended all of his available spiritual energy to launch this attack. The ones left were enough to only support the levitating ice platform he was standing on. He needed to end the fight as soon as possible. The unavailability of the frost-attributed spiritual energy meant that he couldn't replenish his energy reservoir easily if the flying spiritual beast could defend it and counterattacked. Nonetheless, he needed to take this gamble as he knew that the flying spiritual beast in front of him was very powerful.

[Let's see what is the difference Mom talked about last time.]

He unleashed the Ten-Thousand Helicoid Ice Lance!

…

The second Suria saw thousands of gigantic ice spiral lances swarming over her at breakneck speed, her irises turned into the size of a pin-hole; the sense of crisis was overwhelming! She knew the mini-cyclones couldn't withstand the incoming attack. She unhesitatingly burned a drop of her blood essence and cast a high level forbidden art from her bloodline memory, Eye of Windstorm!

The eight mini-cyclones around her enlarged rapidly and merged around her. They then consolidated into a gigantic cyclone with her in the center, where she was safe and sound. The ice attack from the white spiritual beast reached her as soon as she managed to wall herself inside the cyclone. The cyclone was continuously bombarded by the giant ice lances while making deafening sounds!

The sounds of the collision between the two skills were so loud, it alerted all the spiritual beasts in the vicinity. Many scampered around to leave the region while a small number of them hid as deep as they can. The cyclone effectively grounded the large ice lances into ice chunks repeatedly from all sides. Suria heaved a relieved sigh but still didn't put her guard down. Time trickled by as now it became a battle of attrition between them.

…

Hana was suddenly awake from her deep sleep. She had forcefully exited her cultivation session as a large tremor jolted her into waking up. In her confusion, she looked around only to find no one was around!

"Aiyoo! An earthquake?! Seriously!" She was lamenting on why there was an earthquake when the kids were away. Who was going to save her from her high-rise sojourn?! She didn't know rock-climbing! Obviously she can't climb down by herself TT___TT

Feeling like crying, she immediately contacted her two doted pets via telepathy.

[Ku-chan, Shi-chan! Help, there's an earthquake! Mommy's gonna die!] TToTT

[On the way, Mommy!] Only Kuro replied with a short sentence.

A sudden flap of wings alarmed the panicking aunty. To Hana's relief, it was just her bestie, Markisah. "Markisah! Help! It's the end of the world!"

The little yellow bird sweated as she looked at Hana's panicky demeanor while feeling a little guilty. Although she didn't understand her, she could guess what the aunty was saying.

[How could I tell her that it was the tremor from a battle initiated by my friend from my hometown and the mean fox?] Both Kuro and Shiro were away. She could only nudge her to peer out of the cave entrance to witness the clash between the fox and her gigantic friend.

Hana peered outside and made an incredulous look.

"Isn't that a hornbill? What is Shiro doing?! It's an endangered species!" Hana wasn't happy with Shiro's action. She could tolerate with her pets eating chickens and random birds, but not endangered ones!

…

Shiro's eyes lit up as he saw the effect of his improved ice cone atta… ehem.. Ten-thousand Helicoid Ice Lance attack. He could feel that he was on par with the bird, but he faintly noticed the balance between their colliding attacks was tipping. He was winning!

[Mom is so unfathomable! Only a slight adjustment could make a big difference…] He quietly pondered what else he could ask Mom and upgrade his skills.

[Ku-chan, Shi-chan! Help, there's an earthquake! Mommy's gonna die!] TT___TT

Speak of the devil! Shiro was delighted when he received Hana's transmission. Before he could arrange the words to explain the current predicament, Mom suddenly talked with anger to him.

[Shi-chan! What are you doing?! Don't kill the bird! It's an endangered species!] Shiro nearly fell down from the floating ice platform from hearing Mom's harsh words.

[Mom, it attacked us! It wanted to eat Big Bro Ku! Just now it was looking for Big Bro Ku! I was just defending our home!] Hana could hear Shiro whinnied while feeling wronged.

The taboo words had touched her reverse scale.

Any mother who heard someone was going to hurt her kids will definitely snap, even if how popular the person was, or in this case, how endangered the animal was. "Trash it until it cannot move. Don't kill it. Let's see who's gonna eat who." Hana turned 180-degree; she was now rearing to give the sorry bird two tight slaps. Both mother and son totally read the situation wrongly.

Shiro blinked.

He grinned in satisfaction. "You read my mind, Mom. A good trashing it is."

…

Five minutes in, Suria was panicking within the eye of the cyclone. She was reaching her limit. The energy from burning her blood essence was rapidly diminishing by time as the second level of the Tempest series Divine Arts was forcefully unleashed. Her current level of cultivation did not permit her to perform the arcane arts for a prolonged period even after she burned her blood essence for it. Once the skill loses its protective ability, she was certain she will die. At the moment, she felt a deep sense of regret.

If only she listened to Markisah.

Her arrogant self won't permit her to place herself at the level of a normal spiritual beast, even how special the spiritual beast was. She was the daughter of the Ancient World Tree. Her future was bright. Now, her journey will end here due to a single wrong step.

The last bit of the blood essence finally extinguished. The forbidden arts dispersed by itself as she was faced with the incoming attack of the remaining large pikes. Strangely, the pikes exploded into large chunks and bombarded her body, making her vomit blood.

The huge body fell down like a meteor and caused an earthquake. A large crater as large as a small lake was formed.

[Whatever it is, I will not surrender to them. I will fight to the end…] Suria tried to stand up as her eyes were getting blurry. She knew her fate. Once she lost her consciousness, even if she was not dead, she'll be the prey instead.

As she nearly lose her consciousness, at the periphery of her sight, she saw a humongous snake moving towards her!

Damn Markisah. The snake is actually an Ancient Lord. Why didn't you explain properly. I have no chance at all from the beginning…

She could only hear a young man's voice telling her to sleep before finally losing consciousness.

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"How was it?" Hana asked the little bird with worry. Kuro had returned with a huge hornbill towed to his tail. He was in his real form as he glided in the air elegantly while flapping her bat-like maroon wings. Her worry stemmed from fearing for Markisah's friend's little life. If the bird couldn't save itself, Hana hadn't decided if its body will enter their pot as tomorrow's meals. She won't know how to face Markisah if it turned that way.

"She's alright! Don't worry, Suria didn't die. She's just unconscious. I'm sure when she wakes up, she'll definitely agree to help properly this time." Markisah chirped happily while simultaneously being translated by the bored Kuro. She still hadn't realized that she was selling her old friend in favor of Hana. She was just feeling glad that the notorious duo didn't directly eat Suria on the spot just now.

The unfortunate Suria had never met with Kuro; she was a total recluse and was not willing to leave the ancient tree except for very few occasions. Although her name spread far and wide, she hadn't taken the time to be abreast with the information of the current powerhouses in the vicinity due to her arrogance. Naturally, she had a lack of contact with the outside world and occasionally hunted for other spiritual beasts for nutrients and energy building. Although the lightning snake was considered a 'young' local celebrity, it didn't quite reach Suria's ears. The World Tree was quite far from Kuro's territory and its surroundings after all.

Hana clapped merrily. "Excellent! You're really my lucky star, Markisah! Thank you for bringing your friend over! Now we have everyone, let's follow the plan and move out in seven days' time. Hopefully, she will be able to recover enough by that time.". Hana didn't know the Lord of the Tri-colored Ancient World Tree's true intention. She was simply happy that an expert literally falls down from the sky when she needed one.

Everyone nodded seriously. In their hearts, they were extremely nervous but tried their best not to show it. They believed in Hana's ability to strategize wholeheartedly. After being together with the aunty, they realized that her mind was more complicated than they thought and had the ability to think various creative solutions even without the help of 'Papa' from the black rectangular treasure. She just needed a resolute conviction to firm up her resolve before making a decision to perform certain tasks.

The subjugation of these Elemental Fiends was very important for their Mistress as it directly related to how she could find her way back home. No matter how Kuro and Shiro tried to connect with each other as a family, they were essentially Hana's eternal guardians who will live and die with her no matter what. They knew that Hana needed to do this and no amount of coaxing will stop her from progressing with the plan. Her heart was deeply affected by the previous altercation between her and her real family members somewhere out there.

Until now, Kuro nor Shiro still couldn't decipher Hana's origin and especially how did she reach their place. They too were concerned and feeling complicated about the matter. In their hearts, they sincerely hoped that Hana could find what she was looking for but they were hopeful it will not be too soon. They believed, as long as they were beside her protecting her wholeheartedly, she will be able to survive and even transcend to an extremely strong entity one day. However, if she wanted to leave, they will not stop her and willingly will follow. After all, Hana had promised to bring them along.

...

The battered spiritual bird woke up a day later only to be surrounded by the intimidating duo. Under their glare, she and Hana came to an agreement while establishing some terms between the two of them. Suria was pleasantly surprised with Hana's laid-back attitude towards her although the aunty knew she had harbored malicious intentions towards her before. She was confused but felt full of gratitude. She then realized Hana's two guardians' true strength. The fox was slightly stronger than her, while the snake was a whole level above her! From the beginning, she never even has the slightest chance.

She was slightly bitter with her own rash actions.

"You're strong. Let's spar again in the future. I won't admit defeat." Suria spoke quietly at Shiro.

Shiro raised a brow and answered after a short pause, "Sure. You're not bad either." She took off towards the horizon without looking back while trying her hardest to maintain some semblance of dignity.

Hana saw her flew away spiritedly and only shook her head with a smile.

[Another tsun~ tsun~ here!]

…

Hana sat in a lotus position while focusing on her shared vision with Kuro. It was two days before the implementation of the plan. Everything was ready except for a single point. Kuro and Hana were working together with their shared senses and sight while discussing deeply. Her irises were ruby red while her gaze was empty. As usual, Shiro prowled around her in restlessness while staying vigilant.

Both Hana and Kuro were actually in a very vulnerable state during soul-link; a premature disruption might lead to the soul and internal body injury. Both kinds of injuries were very hard to cure as compared to physical ones.

[Found it!] Hana nodded in satisfaction. [Ku-chan, check the scale of the nest before you retreat. Find the right route tonight so that you won't get lost during the operation later.]

[Noted, Mommy.]

[Now, everything is in place. Only the east winds remain.] Hana pondered mysteriously with a smile.

...

Authors' Note:

1) tsun~ tsun~ = a short for tsundere

2) Only the east winds remain = waiting for favorable condition (as in fengshui or instinct). For olden days sailors, the notion was quite true. They really needed to wait for good wind before setting sail.