Elder Kanev's aura surged with spiritual energy and pillars of rock burst out of the ground at an upward angle beneath the Chen family's feet, launching them all over the lake of blood, toward the rocky island while bypassing the bridge entirely.
While in the air, blazing golden wings erupted from Chen Huo's back as he drew his sword and surged even faster toward Jie's friends. Chen Ai followed behind him, pulling herself forward with her strange movement skill as though yanking on some invisible thread that warped the light around her slightly.
Blue water serpent qi formed beneath Chen Lisha's feet, swelling into the head of an enormous snake, and growing out the rest of its length as she fell toward the lake of blood. Just when it seemed Chen Lisha would fall short of the island, the serpent's bulk hit the lake of blood and slithered across it. The serpent kept its neck reared up high, so Chen Lisha stood level with the edge of the island.
Chen Yi turned into a dazzling ball of turquoise and black qi and rocketed toward the island like a shooting star.
Each of the Chen family reached the island and rapidly gained on Jie's friends. But Jie dared not take her eyes off Elder Kanev as she activated her storage ring and the silver stone appeared in her grip.
Jie raised her hand out toward Elder Kanev to show him the stone and ward him off. But he didn't return his gaze back to her. Instead, he looked down at the ground as he hefted his massive hammer and imbued it with an overwhelming amount of white frost qi that swirled around the hammer's head like a blizzard.
He swung his hammer down without so much as a glance in her direction despite him being too far away to hit her.
Or so she thought.
Frost qi surged as the hammer struck the stone bridge and a torrent of ice-cold qi rushed toward Jie in a freezing wave that swallowed the stone bridge.
Jie leaped back, using a lightning step platform to boost her speed at an angle to try and get out of the path of the strike. But the frost expanded in a cone outward and even with all her speed and the distance between them, the fringes of it caught Jie.
It slammed into her like an avalanche, draining her qi armor at an alarming rate and piercing her bones with biting cold. Even with her qi armor, it knocked the wind out of her lungs and sent her flying backward. The tidal wave of frozen force ripped the silver stone out of her fingers.
Jie clawed at the air with numb fingers, desperately trying to grab it. But the stone spun away from her and sailed across the island. It bounced, spun through the air, bounced again, then skid across the rock toward the edge of the island and the lake of blood below.
It came to rest right on the edge of the island, part of it suspended above the lake of blood as it wobbled in place.
The wave of frost qi carried Jie backward and slammed her hard into the bottom step of the step pyramid. Her qi armor screamed from the impact as pain flared through her body.
The frost qi solidified around Jie up to her neck, pinning her in place against the stone as blood ran down from her nose over her lips. The heat of it felt like lava against her frozen skin.
The cloud of frost cleared, revealing Elder Kanev with a smug smile upon his lips.
Jie sensed the Chen family intercept her friends and felt their auras flare with martial skills. Xue roared and the power Jie sensed from him sharply increased. Something exploded. Pan Tian's aura surged, and a silvery-white full moon appeared in the air, bathing the entire chamber in its light. Jie felt its aura swirling around her and her friends as it bolstered their strength.
Elder Kanev rested his war hammer on his shoulder as he strode toward Jie. The frost of the bridge crunched beneath his heavy boots as it glistened from the light of Pan Tian's full moon skill.
Jie struggled against the ice covering her. Her eyes flicked from Elder Kanev back to the silver stone. If she could just get her hands on it, she could use it to repel him as she had the lady in white, she was sure.
Her friends battled fiercely against the Chen family, but she could only put her faith in their abilities and focus on delaying Elder Kanev.
The stone called out to her, begging for her to take it. Her heart ached to be apart from it with a pain so deep it radiated through her bones.
Elder Kanev drew closer with every step, his smug smile only growing as Jie tried and failed to wrest herself free of the ice.
Elder Kanev chuckled. "Even you aren't strong enough to fight someone in the Elementalist rank. You've advanced quickly, but your journey is at an end now," he said.
The call of the stone intensified as did Jie's fears that they would all die here and now because of her failure. Her dragon lightning qi snarled chaotically in her dantian and rushed up toward her middle dantian. Once again, it slammed into the barrier there. So hard it drove the breath from Jie's lungs.
With an effort of will, Jie calmed herself and wrestled with her energies. She pushed them back down into her lower dantian as she poured dragon lightning qi into her qi armor.
She radiated blue lightning, causing the ice covering her to glow as she cycled qi armor to its limit. Then, she willed it to react to the ice around her.
Her armor hummed with power as the ice around her vibrated, but the only obvious effect was a massive drain on her qi armor. Jie poured yet more energy into her qi armor and the hum built up louder and louder.
A slender crack spread through the ice.
Then, the ice exploded in a spray of jagged shards and arcs of dragon lightning qi. The massive drain on her qi armor from the reaction caused her armor to unravel and exposed almost her entire body to the icy shrapnel. The frigid splinters cut into her skin, covering her body and face in shallow cuts.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
But she was free.
Jie wasted no time celebrating her victory and ran for the silver stone as it teetered on the edge of the island with the blood lake oozing below.
Jie pushed her lightning step to the limit. Her feet slipped on the slick ice, causing her to fall forward. But Jie formed a lightning step platform and boosted off it, stopping her fall, and speeding toward the silver stone with all she had.
Jie felt Elder Kanev cycle spiritual energy behind her. She glanced over her shoulder just in time to see him form a pillar of rock beneath his feet that launched him into the air in her direction. The ground shuddered from the force of his power and the silver stone wobbled on the edge of the island.
Elder Kanev plummeted through the air toward her. He would fall short, but he cycled the same martial skill he'd used earlier as he fell. Swirling white frost qi gathered around the head of his hammer.
She'd been lucky to survive his first strike. This one would be at much closer range. And her qi armor hadn't reformed yet.
Jie's spirit sense screamed a warning as Elder Kanev landed behind her. His hammer struck the floor like the fist of an angry god and a pulse of frost qi surged toward her.
She dove for the silver stone, grabbed it, rolled off the edge, and allowed herself to drop.
After she'd fallen what felt like far enough, Jie grabbed the rough rock on the side of the island with her free hand. Rock scraped away, crumbling beneath her fingers for a moment before she brought herself to a stop. She clung to the rock as the freezing wave of frost qi cascaded over the edge of the island above her head.
Most of the wave passed harmlessly over her head, leaving only a small amount to drift down and shower her with frost qi. The bone-chilling cold made her already numb body ache and shattered what little of her qi armor had reformed.
Jie let out a sigh at the close call and her breath steamed the air. If that had hit her... she was certain she would be dead. Especially without her qi armor to bear the brunt of it.
And she didn't think Elder Kanev was even taking her seriously in the slightest. If he had... she was sure they would all already be dead.
She sensed and heard her friends fighting for their lives against the Chen family.
The Chen family had the advantage of numbers and cultivation rank. But Jie's friends were using careful positioning, letting themselves be pushed back closer and closer to the portal.
Her friends were doing better than she could've hoped. Now, she needed to make sure she kept Elder Kanev distracted as she'd promised.
She pushed down the pride and worry she felt for her friends and gathered herself for a moment as hot blood trickled from wounds all over her hands and body.
Jie formed a lightning step platform and boosted herself up over the edge of the stone island with ease. She landed with the crunch of ice beneath her feet.
Elder Kanev stood fifteen feet in front of her, his enormous war hammer in his hands. But his gaze was on Jie's friends.
"Hey! You missed!" Jie yelled as she fired a finger of light attack at his face.
He blocked her attack with his forearm. The bright blue bolt of dragon lightning qi burnt his crimson sleeve but if it hurt at all, he didn't show it. Instead, his cold gray eyes met hers and he gave her a bloodthirsty grin.
Finally! Jie thought.
She held the silver stone out in front of her.
His icy gray eyes went wide as he recoiled. "Get that away from me!" he screamed, but his gaze remained fixated on it.
A sense of relief washed over Jie as she stood with the stone in hand, her breaths steaming upon the air.
Her dragon lightning qi flickered over her as her qi armor reformed around her. Blood coated her fingers and her hand felt so numb that she could barely feel the stone. Her heart squeezed with the worry that it might slip from her numb fingers and she gripped it all the tighter.
The stone glowed with a dim silver light from deep inside. Jie thought nothing of it as it had reacted the same way to her qi before. She glanced at her friends as they battled fiercely with the Chen family.
Jie's friends were almost at the bridge leading to the portal room. Chen Huo stabbed at Ithilix with his flaming sword, but she parried the strike with her spear. The length of which oozed green poisonous qi and glistened with the silvery white empowerment of Pan Tian's full moon skill.
Ithilix continued with the motion, spinning her body as she slashed at him with the other side of her spear. Chen Huo leaned out of the way of that strike and started to lunge toward Ithilix to stab her in the back. But he was forced to retreat once more with a flap of his wings as the barb of Ithilix's tail pierced the air where his face had been.
She separated her spear into two shorter spears, continuing the whirling dance of death and forcing Chen Huo to parry her strikes with his blade.
Chen Ai sliced at Pan Tian with the edge of her hand which was engulfed in dark qi that bent the light around it. Pan Tian met the strike with long qi claws sprouting from her claws of blood.
Chen Ai had the higher cultivation, but Pan Tian's strike carried additional notes of power from her full moon skill. That extra power allowed Pan Tian to hold her own as she slashed at the air in the direction of Chen Lisha, sending great curved blades of moonlight qi shooting toward her.
Chen Lisha's serpent carried her out of the path of Pan Tian's resplendent slashes only for Xue to crash into her like a thunderbolt. He was larger than usual, with engorged muscles that rippled beneath his fur as his blue stripes glowed with the bright blue of dragon lightning qi. All no doubt due to his new martial skill.
Chen Lisha shrieked as Xue's claws tore through her robes and left deep cuts on her stomach and arms as she tried to fend him off.
She cycled another martial skill and a swirling whirlpool of smaller serpents made of her water serpent qi spun around her like a tornado, smashing into Xue and sending him flying away from her.
Chen Yi then raised his bow and fired bright turquoise and black arrows at Xue. The arrows homed in on Xue as he fell and tumbled over the ground and struck him hard in the side.
Xue snarled and scrabbled back to his feet as his chest swelled and he exhaled a bright blue beam of dragon lightning qi at Chen Yi.
The large serpent Chen Lisha rode upon slithered her into the path of the strike and she blocked it for Chen Yi with the swirling tornado of liquid snakes surrounding her. Dragon lightning struck her spinning whirlpool of serpents and shredded it in a spray of arcing lightning and glistening water but Chen Lisha's defense held.
Jie took it all in within the span of a heartbeat.
But just as she started to consider if she could throw out a finger of light attack to aid her friends, some instinct in the back of Jie's mind screamed a warning. She snapped her attention back to Elder Kanev, her conscious mind racing to understand what her instincts were trying to say.
The instant she looked at him, she knew.
He'd stopped screaming and now stared at her as though in a daze. Fear spiked in Jie's heart, and she looked at the silver stone in her hand.
The stone's glow had intensified as rivulets of her blood oozed along its surface.
No! No! What are you doing? Don't stop working! Not now! Jie thought.
She turned her hand palm up and opened her fingers, trying to see what was happening to the stone while doing her best to ensure that it continued to distract Elder Kanev.
Slits appeared in the stone and her blood oozed into the gaps.
All along... it just wanted my blood? Jie thought.
The idea horrified her, yet she dared not throw the stone away. Even if she could somehow force herself to part with it.
A moment later, the stone broke apart into five smaller stones of about equal size and a bunch of extremely fine silver dust.
Jie looked up at Elder Kanev, terrified that the stone's effect would be broken, and he'd lunge at her. But he continued to stare blankly at the stone as though caught in a daydream.