Master of Nine Stars

SWISH...

Gao Lingwei’s spear-like forward thrust met nothing but air.

"SQUEAK!!!" The Ice Crystal Squirrel was incredibly fast, leaping onto a nearby pine tree. Its body, made of ice crystals, even traced a dazzling line under the winter sun. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Gao Lingwei’s Long Halberd shattered the thick branch, sending a cascade of snow rustling down. She spun around abruptly and planted her feet on the tree trunk.

"Keep an eye out." Crouching with her feet flat against the trunk, Gao Lingwei took the Snowball Cat from her head with one hand and tossed it onto the broken branch.

"Meow~" The Snowball Cat landed steadily on all fours, perfectly balanced on the branch. Its large, misty eyes scanned another nearby pine tree, searching for the Ice Crystal Squirrel.

Meanwhile, Rong Taotao was crouched on his galloping steed as it raced through the Pine Forest. He saw his chance, reversed his grip on the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow, and was just about to leap when a pair of extremely vicious eyes locked onto him!

Gasping, Rong Taotao felt as if a heavy hammer had struck his chest, and his heart gave a violent thump.

His body, which had been about to spring from the horse’s back, froze in place.

In his vision, the Snowfield was still a Snowfield covered in white snow, and the dense Pine Forest around him looked the same, but...

The sky had grown dark.

Not pitch black, but an instantaneous, deep crimson.

Beneath this crimson sky, the warm winter sun was completely obscured. The scene was utterly bizarre.

And in Rong Taotao’s line of sight, the giant pine tree in the distance—the one where the Ice Crystal Squirrel should have been hiding—had now transformed into the Ice Crystal Squirrel itself?

Rong Taotao: ???

The giant pine tree was at least fifty meters tall, and now it had been replaced by a fifty-meter-tall, gigantic Ice Crystal Squirrel.

The colossal Ice Crystal Squirrel was formed entirely of ice, and it glimmered with an eerie light under the crimson sky.

"SQUEAK SQUEAK!!!" The gigantic Ice Crystal Squirrel was terrifyingly ferocious. It bared its teeth, long fangs sprouting from its mouth, its eyes glowed red, and the claws on its paws extended endlessly.

Rong Taotao’s pupils contracted slightly. ’This is... this is...’

’Heart palpitations?’

The feeling was unbearable!

To be honest, the crimson background and the terrifying, red-eyed, giant Ice Crystal Squirrel were enough to strike fear into anyone’s heart.

Rong Taotao admitted he was a bit flustered and scared, but enough to make him retreat? ’Where did this sudden feeling of dread come from?’

Standing in the snow, he subconsciously took a step back, and the crimson scene before his eyes suddenly vanished.

Only then did Rong Taotao realize that he wasn’t standing in the snow at all. He had been crouched on Snow Night Shock’s back the entire time!

And with that one step back, Rong Taotao toppled right off...

"Oh my god, oh my god." Rong Taotao lay on his back in the deep snow, his chest heaving violently. There was no physical pain, but his mind...

’Is this an Illusion Technique? A Visual Illusion Technique?’

’Yes, of course it is, but it’s definitely more than that. There must be some kind of Mental Attack mixed in!’

His heart pounded wildly. Rong Taotao fought back the feeling of terror and panic and quickly scrambled to his feet.

"Damn it..." A sudden cry of alarm came from his right front. Lu Mang, riding his tall horse, had actually been thrown off, his body slamming hard onto the snow.

His gaze had only accidentally met the Ice Crystal Squirrel’s for a moment, but Lu Mang was instantly ensnared, and his reaction was even worse than Rong Taotao’s.

After all... Rong Taotao had a Spiritual Soul Pearl on his forehead.

Even though the Spiritual Soul Pearl was a support-type and wasn’t related to Spiritual Defense, embedding it had still more or less increased Rong Taotao’s resistance to mental effects.

Lu Mang was in a much worse state. He was just a Soul Soldier and had no Spiritual Soul Pearl on his forehead for support. Facing an elite-level Ice Crystal Squirrel, he had been unceremoniously thrown from his horse...

"AWOOO!!!" A wolf’s howl suddenly rang out!

At that exact moment, the wolf pack hiding behind the pine trees in the distance finally seized their opportunity and charged toward Lu Mang.

Lu Mang’s heart was in his throat, not because of the charging Snowflake Wolves, but because the ferocious, demonic face of the giant squirrel was still burned into his mind.

"Snow Burst! Snow Burst!" Rong Taotao yelled, fiercely throwing the Heaven-piercing Halberd in his hand toward the Snowflake Wolf charging at Lu Mang.

SCHLICK!

The Long Halberd brutally pierced the Snowflake Wolf’s side, but it shattered in the same instant.

"Whimper... whimper..." The lead Snowflake Wolf let out a whine and rolled around in the snow in pain.

It had been too greedy. Its eyes had seen nothing but Lu Mang lying in the snow; it hadn’t even noticed the Heaven-piercing Halberd hurtling toward it.

Lu Mang struggled to his feet, his legs still trembling slightly. Here, so close to the Second Wall, Lu Mang’s "Silent Expert" facade was finally shattered to pieces.

"Distract yourself! Don’t let that image keep affecting you! Think about something else! Think about why you came to the Snowfield!" Rong Taotao shouted, quickly running to Lu Mang’s side.

Lu Mang shook his head forcefully and drew a longsword from the snow beside him.

For a Soul Soldier, it was already quite impressive that Lu Mang could snap out of an elite-level Pupil Technique so quickly. Of course, it helped that the ferocious squirrel had only given him a passing glance and hadn’t maintained its Casting on him.