But at last, her cultivation stopped rapidly growing and the shaking cavern stilled. The oppressive force emanating from her ceased. Apart from her aura which continued to weigh upon him.

  Elder Kanev almost fell to his knees in relief.

  The icy armor covering his skin intensified as he cycled his frozen rage skill and the swirling blizzard around him thickened as he cycled his frozen aura with everything he had.

  Those two techniques had been vital to dealing with her absurd speed even before she broke through and he was sure they would be now. Still, just to be safe, he gathered his spiritual energy and gestured with his hand.

  The blood around Chen Yi, Chen Lisha, and Chen Huo flowed in a wave that pushed them back toward the chamber's entrance. The blood swelled into a swirling column that lifted them upward as they approached the bridge leading back up to the ancient palace.

  They got the hint without him needing to say anything. Each of them stepped out of the swirling blood and onto the bridge then bolted back up the tunnel with Chen Ai following close behind.

  Once the Chen children were safely upon the bridge, Elder Kanev cut off his control and the column of blood collapsed back into the lake. The Chen children ran like a demon was chasing them.

  Their panic was unwarranted but at least it took them out of harm's way. It could prove difficult to protect them now that she'd broken through not once but twice.

  Still, he was four stars ahead of her. And he'd had long years of practice with his elemental affinities. Not even she could close that gap.

  He cycled his spiritual energy and qi. He wasn't going to make the mistake of underestimating her. Now he'd wait for her to attack in a blind rage and then strike her down with swift precision.

  Somehow it made him nostalgic for the days of his childhood. Sometimes he missed the Frozen Wastes... facing mighty beasts upon the freezing snow... perhaps he'd go back there. It would be wise to move away from the Crimson Academy and lie low for a while anyway.

  He blinked and the girl was gone. Dust, ash, embers, and steam swirled in the space where she'd been standing.

  Elder Kanev's instincts screamed, and primal fear ran down his spine like the hairy legs of a spider.

  He turned, whirling to face where his spirit sense now indicated she was, and found her easing the Pan brat off the spear of rock.

  Elder Kanev staggered back away from her, too stunned and terrified by her speed to do anything but stare with wide eyes.

  Some distant part of his mind whispered that perhaps the Chen children had the right idea...

  Liu Jie slid Pan Tian off the rock and set her down gently on the ground. She withdrew a healing pill from her storage ring.

  Elder Kanev could sense it, however, and it was far weaker than the nine cloud's healing pill. Despite the fear coursing through him, some rational part of his mind wondered how that could be. Why would she not use another nine clouds healing pill? The hidden expert had been buying them all up... was he not linked to her?

  Liu Jie pressed the pill into Pan Tian's lifeless mouth as she cradled the older girl's head in her hands.

  The healing pill melted and vibrant green healing energy drifted aimlessly from Pan Tian's mouth.

  Frozen tears fell upon Pan Tian's dead face as Liu Jie placed another pill into the Pan girl's mouth... then another... and another. Each with a similar lack of effect.

  Liu Jie sobbed.

  The spirit tiger cub roused and struggled onto trembling legs before stumbling toward her. He mewed and pressed his head against Liu Jie's arm. She gave him one of the healing pills and he shivered with visible relief. He curled up beside the Pan brat's lifeless body.

  Liu Jie tenderly closed the Pan girl's eyes.

  Finally, Elder Kanev shook himself free of his stunned mixture of fear and confusion and gathered his spiritual energy for an attack.

  Just as he was preparing to release it, she looked up at him.

  Her eyes glowed with an intense blue that radiated unspeakable hatred. The pressure of her aura redoubled, and her sharp, cold killing intent intensified until it felt like needles of ice were drilling into his bones.

  Elder Kanev swallowed hard and staggered back. The attack he'd been cycling unraveled as he lost his focus in the face of the feral aura that washed over him.

  The pressure of it intensified as though her strength and power were increasing. But he couldn't sense any new martial skill that might explain where it was coming from.

  Then, to his horror, her eyes shifted.

  Her pupils lengthened into narrow slits like the monster his instincts had screamed she was during her breakthrough.

  Liu Jie set Pan Tian's head down tenderly even as her reptilian eyes stayed locked on his. She stood slowly with the smooth, sinuous grace of a hunting cat as she stepped over the Pan girl's lifeless body toward him.

  As she did so, her black fingernails lengthened into long, curved black talons. What was left of her shoes broke away as her feet shifted, her bones rearranging into something unnatural as yet more talons grew from her toes.

  Black scales spread over her feet and up her legs as fabric tore and a long, serpentine black tail snaked out behind her. More black scales crept up along her arms, forming upon her skin in patches like tattoos.

  Her lips peeled back into a feral snarl, exposing teeth that lengthened into sharp fangs.

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  It doesn't matter what she is. Even at the second star of the Elementalist rank... even with all her freakish power for her cultivation... she hasn't had time to learn her affinities much less use them. I'll kill her and get the Chen family out of here. Elder Kanev told himself, sickened by the feeling of weakness and terror bubbling up within him.

  Yet, despite his attempts to bolster his nerves, he took a step back from her.

  The fear he felt was wrong. He knew that down to his bones. Knew for a fact that someone at her cultivation wasn't a threat to him even with all her speed.

  So why were his instincts screaming danger like he'd never felt before?

  Even when facing down the most savage wild beasts in his frozen, unforgiving homeland against enemies above his cultivation, he'd never felt this sense of awe-inspiring terror.

  Lightning crackled over her body as she stalked toward him, but she didn't seem to notice.

  Elder Kanev gritted his teeth.

  Whatever you are, I can still kill you! He thought.

  Frost qi gathered in the palm of his hand, swirling in a frozen orb as he cycled frost strike. He thrust out his hand toward her and unleashed his attack at full power.

  She appeared in front of him, blue lightning marking the path she'd traveled in the blink of an eye. She swatted his arm aside with the back of her hand.

  It struck his arm like a hammer blow and sent his attack off course. A wave of frost qi shot out, washing harmlessly over the stone step pyramid beside them.

  She clenched her other hand into a fist and a swirling orb of her strange lightning qi gathered around it. Snarling bright blue electricity shifted around her fist, elongating, and warping into a shape like a dragon's head.

  Then, she drove it into his gut before he had a chance to evade.

  Blue lightning exploded over his body as all the air left his lungs in a whoosh and he folded in half over her fist.

  She continued with the motion, following through with a brutal punch that felt as though it were drilling through his stomach.

  The blow sent him flying backward as his muscles spasmed and pain radiated through his body.

  Wind stirred up around her as it did whenever she hit him, and her speed and power surged.

  Elder Kanev tumbled over the icy ground but leaned into the motion and rolled back up to his feet as he cycled his spiritual energy.

  He poured it into the ground beneath him as he raised his arms upward and spears of rock exploded toward her from all sides.

  Electricity crackled around her body, forming itself into armor. She bent her legs and jumped as her armor snarled and scorched the rock beneath her. She shot up into the air as the rock spears skewered her afterimage. It exploded in a burst of blue lightning that played over the rock as she soared into the air.

  She pointed two clawed fingers on both hands toward him and twin bright blue beams of lightning lit the chamber like a blue sun.

  Elder Kanev threw out a frost strike with each hand. His attacks formed a singular cone of frost qi that expanded up into the air toward her. Her snarling lightning bolts surged through his cone of frost, cutting a path through it, and slammed into his chest.

  Elder Kanev screamed as lightning scorched his skin and drove him down hard into the icy rock beneath him.

  He groaned as he lay flat upon the floor, his body twitching involuntarily as aching, burning pain throbbed through every fiber of his being.

  The cloud of frost and lightning above him swirled and dissipated, revealing empty air where she'd been.

  Before his conscious mind could identify where she'd gone, his instincts screamed at him to move. He rolled to the side as a clawed foot, covered in the head of a dragon made of blue lighting, slammed into the icy ground he'd been lying upon.

  The ground exploded into shards of ice and splintered rock. Yet, her electric blue, snake-like eyes remained locked upon him even as ice and rock pattered and bounced off the two of them.

  A disk of lightning formed behind her other foot. It was all he had time to register before she shot forward and a crackling dragonhead over her knee smashed into his face.

  He felt his nose break as his head snapped back and he fell over backward. He rolled and threw out a double frost strike as she charged him. The space between them turned into a howling blizzard as the icy torrent washed over her.

  Blood dripped from his lips as his meridians screamed from the sheer amount of qi he poured into the attack.

  Finally, the cone of howling ice cut off and he staggered back. A misshapen glacier stood before him with Liu Jie's aura trapped beneath thick layers of ice.

  Relief washed over Elder Kanev. He'd finally caught her with a full attack. Now, she could suffocate inside the ice for all he cared.

  He spat out a mouthful of blood and fragments of his broken teeth then took in grateful lungfuls of air.

  It hurt just to breathe, and his muscles pulsed with the memory of lightning coursing through them, aching as though it were still there.

  He wondered if her death and the death of the Pan girl would be enough for Chen Liang to spare his life or if he should just cut his losses and run for the Frozen Wastes.

  He ran his tongue over his broken teeth and winced.

  How could Chen Liang judge him for this failure? Nobody could've expected the girl would be so powerful. But would that explanation be enough to satisfy him? He wondered.

  He activated his storage ring and withdrew a healing pill.

  An arc of lightning played over the surface of the ice encasing Liu Jie.

  Elder Kanev's icy gray eyes went wide as power rapidly built up inside the ice.

  The ice vibrated and Elder Kanev shoved the healing pill into his mouth as he cycled his spiritual energy.

  What does it take to stop her!? He thought as the ice glowed with bright blue light from within.

  Cracks raced through the surface of the ice as healing energies flooded Elder Kanev's body. Three massive earthen spears burst through the ground around him. With a gesture, they broke off at their bases and levitated in the air, angling their points toward the girl as he reinforced the spears with spiritual energy.

  The ice in front of him exploded in a white spray that expanded in every direction as lightning crackled around Liu Jie and she charged toward him once more.

  Elder Kanev roared with effort as he gestured toward the monstrous girl and the three enormous spears of reinforced rock shot toward her like massive arrows loosed from a bow.

  The middle one was aimed exactly at her while the other two flew in a closing spiral around it to catch her should she try to jump out of the way.

  But, rather than attempting to dive out of the way, she lunged toward him as the ground beneath her feet exploded with a sizzling crack that sent shards of ice and rock spraying behind her.

  She twisted her body in the air, narrowly avoiding the middle spear. Then, she brought her feet under her and ran along its surface, curving around the spear to avoid the two other spears rotating around her.

  Worst of all, she made it look effortless. As she ran, lightning gathered around her right fist, forming into the shape of a dragon's head.

  She leaped off the spear toward him and boosted off a lightning platform that discharged in the air with a thunderous crackle, closing the distance between them in an instant.

  Elder Kanev's eyes were locked on the intense, howling lightning around her fist as she hurtled toward him.

  He stomped the ground, hastily forming a small pillar of rock between them. He gestured and the pillar fell to the side, catching her forearm and knocking her arm wide in a perfect parry.

  It was only then he noticed her previously unassuming left hand and the two taloned fingers aimed directly at his right eye.

  His eyes widened as he realized her other attack had merely been a distraction.

  He tried to raise his arms to protect himself but she was too fast.

  Curved black talons pierced the soft, wet tissue of his right eye and she unleashed a lightning bolt into his skull.

  The rest of her body slammed into him as he staggered back, sending them both flying through the air as she poured lightning into his skull.

  He screamed as bright blue electricity arced over his body and burned inside his skull.

  His eyeball boiled, bubbled, and smoked around her scaled fingers as she drove two fingers from her other hand into his other eye and unleashed yet another lightning bolt.

  Jie roared as the flesh on Elder Kanev's face caught fire and his brain cooked inside his skull. The back of his skull exploded as the bright blue beam of dragon lightning qi burned through, scorching the icy ground behind him as they fell to the floor together.

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