CLINK!

Glancing at the ring wobbling on the icy ground, Gao Zhen’s mind turned chaotic.

’This can’t be...The Heir Selection Ceremony...I’ll miss it...’

Strength seemed to wane in her legs, forcing her to take a few steps back to keep from falling. However, the state of her mind remained chaotic, as the thoughts of failing to become the next heir spiralled through her mind.

Seeing Gao Zhen’s bewildered expression, Yi Chen snorted, ’You should have just believed me earlier.’

With that thought, he walked towards her and picked up the ring.

"Didn’t I say it before? I never possessed the artefact in the first place," He commented while glancing towards Gao Zhen, whose countenance seemed to be completely frigid, devoid of any emotions.

However, the moment Yi Chen’s voice entered her ears, she lifted her gaze to lock her eyes with him.

A fiery rage stronger than the flames of hell took over her being the very next instant, and with reddened eyes, she lunged towards him.

"!!"

Too close to react in time, Yi Chen was unable to dodge and fell on his back the very next instant.

THUD!

"Ugh!"

He groaned when the back of his head strongly hit the ice floor underneath, but that wasn’t the end of it.

Grabbing tightly onto his robes, Gao Zhen pulled him up by his chest and roared, "It’s all because of you. You bastard!"

THUD!

She slammed his head back, making it hit the ice and continued while pulling on his robes again, "If not for those Golden Firmament Pills, I wouldn’t have drawn such a conclusion and would still have my teleportation artefact with me!

Do you have any idea what you just did? You stole away my chance to become the guild’s successor, you filthy mongrel!"

Losing herself to her rage, Gao Zhen clenched her fists and directed a punch right at Yi Chen’s face, who was still a little disoriented because of the head impact.

SMACK!

"My cultivation! I didn’t destroy it for this, you disgusting piece of shit!" She shoved her face right in front of his and exclaimed, "Unlike a poor bastard like you with no background, I could have inherited my father’s entire fortune, but now...but now!... Because of a bastard like you...my cultivation...my future... everything is shattered!"

Just repeating those words further intensified her rage, and coating her fists with Qi, she was about to beat him to death the next instant.

"S-So? Do you think I give a shit about a bitch like you?"

However, she had just lifted her fist when Yi Chen’s eerily clear voice entered her ears.

Immediately glancing at his eyes, she found a hint of mockery evident in them as she roared in anger, "What did you say you bas-!"

SLAP!

Before Gao Zhen could finish speaking, an intense slap jerked her whole being, sending her rolling a few meters to the side.

"That crazy wench!" Yi Chen exclaimed in irritation, rubbing the side of his face that had been struck a few moments ago as he stood.

Meanwhile, Gao Zhen, whose entire world had turned black for a second, opened her eyes to a searing pain from the side of her face.

The pain immediately jolted her memory as she was reminded of being slapped by Yi Chen a few moments ago.

"That bastard!" she raged, and wiping the blood trailing down the side of her lips, stood up the next instant to face Yi Chen, who was also on his feet by that time.

With fire burning in her eyes, she glared at him, "Y-You do you have any idea what you just did?"

Each of her words was as sharp as a knife and fully reflected the anger that was welling up in her heart.

However, Yi Chen didn’t give a damn about her emotions and snorted dismissively, "Yes, I taught a bitch who thinks the world revolves around her some manners."

"YOU!"

Unable to control herself any longer, she wildly circulated her Qi and launched a massive attack.

"Severing Wind Blades!"

Using half of her entire Qi and a huge chunk of her spiritual energy, she launched thousands of sharp wind blades straight at Yi Chen with the intention of shredding him to pieces.

’Fire Shield’

Yi Chen thought the very next instant and, using a small portion of his spiritual energy, created a massive spherical shield of fire around him that rotated with intense speed.

A majority of the wind blades failed to penetrate the shield’s surface, and the few which did end up passing through it had all their momentum sucked away, and before they could even reach Yi Chen, they faded into oblivion.

"H-How?!...This shouldn’t be possible!"

She was already aware of how strong Yi Chen was physically, and it was also because of this reason she had decided to attack using a combination of her Qi and spiritual energy...an attack which no cultivator below the Qi Absorption should be able to resist.

However, to her very surprise, not only was he able to completely deflect her attacks, but while at it, he utilised his Qi in a manner that shouldn’t be possible in the Meridian Refinement Stage.

"What are you surprised about? Do you think you’re the only one who can use spiritual energy?" Yi Chen snorted with mockery, which only further intensified her disbelief.

Not bothering about her reaction, Yi Chen clenched his jaws and said with a hateful grimace, "Now that you’ve already launched an attack, it looks like it’s finally my turn to retaliate."

As he said that, a massive wave of fire towering tens of meters in height rose behind him, causing Gao Zhen’s eyes to dilate.

"T-This..." Seeing the size of the attack, which formed instantly, she immediately realised that she was no match for Yi Chen.

Circulating all her remaining Qi towards her legs, she prepared to escape far away, but just then, the entire ground began to shake. It was much more intense compared to before.

’What’s happening?" Yi Chen withdrew his attack and tried to balance his footing the next instant.

Seeing the massive wave of fire disappearing, Gao Zhen sighed in relief and wanted to use this opportunity to escape, but just like Yi Chen, she failed to steady herself and was forced to stay in place.

The violent shaking lasted for a full ten seconds before finally coming to a stop.

However, before Yi Chen could launch his attack or Gao Zhen could escape from there, black, human-like figures made entirely of ice emerged from the ground at that very instant.

They numbered in thousands and had surrounded the two of them from all sides.

"Just Wh-"

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Before Yi Chen could even finish his words, all the black figures rushed in their direction as their deafening footsteps swallowed the previous silence.