After parting with Ye Qingyao, Bai Qingxue headed north alone.
After walking for some time, Bai Qingxue stopped and crouched down to touch the ground.
The soil was rock hard, its surface covered in a thin layer of frost. When she pressed her finger against it, the frost crystals shattered with a faint, subtle sound.
Ice Ganoderma grows where yin veins converge, and the ground temperature in the vicinity is much lower than normal.
It should be close.
Bai Qingxue stood up and continued forward.
After crossing another mountain ridge, the scenery before her suddenly changed.
Before her lay a low-lying valley. The surrounding trees looked as if they had been pushed aside by something, growing at awkward angles on the slopes with twisted branches reaching away from the valley.
The ground was covered in thick permafrost, and the weeds had long since withered, leaving only grayish-brown stalks shivering in the cold wind.
The valley was filled with jagged rocks, the crevices packed with snow. As far as the eye could see, it was a world of gray and white, without a hint of green.
At the end of the valley was a steep stone cliff draped with a crystal-clear ice waterfall that hung from the top to the bottom like a giant icy curtain.
At the base of the cliff was a cave entrance, not particularly large—about the height of a person. The edges of the entrance were coated in white frost that shimmered with a ghostly cold light in the dimness.
Icicles of varying lengths hung from the rocks at the entrance, the longest being as thick as an arm, dangling down like the fangs of a wild beast.
Bai Qingxue did not rush to approach.
She hid behind a large boulder, first consuming a Recovery Pill to restore her spiritual power before slowly extending her spiritual sense into the cave.
The cave wasn't deep but was quite winding. Her spiritual sense followed the walls inward, eventually reaching the back after a long moment.
The bottom of the cave was much wider than the entrance, resembling a hollowed-out small hall.
A large white mass lay there, its massive body covered in snow-white fur. Though stained with dust and stone chips, the fur remained blindingly white.
Its breathing was heavy. With every breath, the white vapor puffing from its nostrils condensed into a small patch of frost near the entrance, slowly spreading before dissipating.
An ice-fanged tiger.
She crouched behind the boulder and closed her eyes, quickly recalling the information from the jade slip she had read previously.
The ice-fanged tiger was an ice-attribute monster, Tier 1 high-grade, equivalent in strength to a human cultivator at the late stage of Qi Refining.
Its defense wasn't as strong as a Black Armored Bear's, but it was faster, possessed sharper claws and teeth, and had a natural resistance to ice-attribute attacks.
In a direct confrontation, she was only at the sixth level of Qi Refining—one minor realm lower than the beast. She would have almost no chance of winning.
But having Ice Spirit power made things different.
Although Ice Spirit power shared the same element as the ice-attribute monster, her power was far more refined than ordinary ice-attribute spiritual power.
It was like comparing two types of ice; Bai Qingxue's ice was colder and more overbearing.
If used correctly, she could suppress the ice-fanged tiger's spiritual power for a short time and create an opportunity for a fatal blow.
Bai Qingxue opened her eyes and checked her equipment. The Frost Condensation Sword hung at her waist, she had four Recovery Pills left, and the Moonfrost Silk was fastened beneath her clothes.
It was enough.
She then stepped out from behind the boulder, making no effort to hide her footsteps.
After all, an ice-fanged tiger's sense of smell and hearing were extremely sharp. There was no point in hiding; it was better to face it directly.
As Bai Qingxue walked toward the entrance, the frost on the ground shattered under her feet with a crisp crunching sound.
Inside the cave, the ice-fanged tiger's ears twitched. First the left ear turned toward her, then the right ear followed.
It lifted its head, and a pair of ice-blue vertical pupils lit up in the darkness, locking onto her.
When Bai Qingxue saw those eyes, she actually felt more at peace; it wasn't anything truly terrifying.
She immediately drew her sword.
Frost.
Frosty mist exploded within the cave, instantly filling the entire space. The thick mist was almost tangible, completely obscuring the ice-fanged tiger's vision.
It let out a low roar that echoed through the cavern, causing stone chips to rain down from the walls.
Relying on its memory of her position, it lunged.
The ice-fanged tiger was incredibly fast. Almost at the same moment it roared, its body had already left the ground.
Bai Qingxue sidestepped to avoid it. The tiger's claws brushed past her shoulder, the forceful wind stinging her cheek and tearing a hole in her robe.
But she didn't shrink back. Moving silently through the mist, she quickly circled to the tiger's side.
Ice Seal.
The tip of her sword tapped against the ice-fanged tiger's left hind leg.
Pale blue spiritual light surged through the sword tip into its flesh, and white frost spread from its thigh down to its knee. The tiger's movements visibly slowed for a moment.
Its left leg was frozen stiff, as if it had been anchored to the spot.
But it only lasted an instant.
As a Tier 1 high-grade monster, its strength far exceeded the snow-maned wolves and Ice Crystal Pythons she had encountered before.
The ice-fanged tiger let out a furious roar, and the spiritual power within its body surged violently, forcibly shattering the Ice Seal.
The white frost crumbled and fell from its fur.
It turned around, its ice-blue vertical pupils staring deathly at Bai Qingxue. It bared its teeth, revealing two rows of forest-white fangs.
However, it had learned its lesson. It no longer lunged blindly, instead moving side to side with the agility of a giant cat, attempting to block her retreat and corner her against the cave wall.
Bai Qingxue retreated while swinging her sword, releasing Frost again and again. Her spiritual power was being consumed rapidly; with every release of the technique, the energy in her dantian diminished.
The ice-fanged tiger rampaged through the mist. Its sharp claws tore chunk after chunk of rock from the cave walls, sending debris flying and leaving deep gouges behind.
Yet, it could never quite pin down Bai Qingxue's position. She drifted through the mist like a ghost, dodging just in time whenever the tiger lunged.
Bai Qingxue knew she couldn't hold out for long. The total spiritual power of the sixth level of Qi Refining was inherently less than that of the seventh level. If the fight dragged on, she would be the one to lose.
The ice-fanged tiger keenly sensed this change. It stopped its reckless charging, its ears twitching and nostrils flaring.
It had caught her scent. With a low growl, it pushed off the ground with all four limbs, its body flying toward her like a white arrow.
Bai Qingxue did not dodge.
Spiritual power poured into the Frost Condensation Sword, and the blade lit up with a blinding blue light that dyed the entire cave in an eerie azure glow.
The moment the tiger's claws struck, she stood her ground and thrust her sword toward its throat.
Ice Spirit power flooded in through the sword tip.
Shatter Ice.
The Frost Condensation Sword glowed to its limit, and the meridians inside the ice-fanged tiger's body were torn apart inch by inch by the intense cold. Its body stiffened mid-air, its ice-blue vertical pupils staring fixedly at Bai Qingxue.
Reflected in its pupils were her face, the white hair at her temples, and the glowing sword in her hand.
Then, the light in those eyes vanished completely.
The ice-fanged tiger crashed to the ground and slid into the cave wall, falling silent.
Bai Qingxue stood where she was, gasping for breath.
Her spiritual power was nearly exhausted, and the mass of light in her dantian was reduced to a faint glimmer, like a candle flickering in the wind.
But she did not fall. Once her breathing stabilized, she quickly took out a Recovery Pill and swallowed it.
The medicinal power dissolved, and a warm flow of spiritual power rose from her stomach, slowly filling her parched dantian.
She had recovered less than twenty percent of her power, but it was enough.
Bai Qingxue walked over to the ice-fanged tiger's corpse, knelt down, and cut open its belly.
The tiger's blood was still warm, staining her hands. She retrieved an ice-blue monster core, nearly twice the size of a snow-maned wolf king's core. It was freezing to the touch, with a bone-chilling cold.
A seventh-level monster core.
She placed the core into her storage bag and turned her gaze to the spirit herb at the back of the cave.
Ice Ganoderma.
It grew in a rock crevice on the cave wall, surrounded by a thick layer of ice on the ground.
The Ganoderma was pure white, its cap marked with faint blue veins and its edges glowing with a pale blue light, resembling a lonely lantern in the dark cave.
Bai Qingxue crouched down and carefully dug out the Ice Ganoderma by its roots, placing it into a jade box.
As she was about to stand up, she noticed a few spirit stones scattered in the corner with teeth marks on them, along with a dark red monster core slightly smaller than the ice-fanged tiger's. She swept those into her storage bag as well.
When Bai Qingxue stepped out of the cave, the sunlight made her squint.
The mountain wind blew past, carrying the crisp scent of the snowy plains, washing away some of the scent of blood from her body.
She looked down at the jade box in her hand. Even through the box, she could feel that coldness seeping into her palm, echoing the faint light in her dantian.
She tucked the jade box into the deepest part of her storage bag and thought silently to herself.
'Ice Ganoderma in hand. Next, I should be able to break through...'
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