Mu Fan was blocked by the cold white barrier, while the Ice Armor Yao Beast behind him continued its relentless pursuit.
At this point, there was no choice but to fight.
"Living Vine Talisman."
He flicked out a green talisman. And three thick vines burst forth, coiling tightly around the Ice Armor Exotic Beast.
Mu Fan knew such restraints would not last long, but he only needed a brief moment.
A black fiend bead appeared in his hand.
This was a specially refined bead bestowed by Jiang Yi.
Once detonated, it was said that few within the Qi Refining Stage could withstand it. Aside from his own talisman treasure, this was Mu Fan's most powerful .
The bead shot forward and exploded at the beast's neck.
In an instant, rolling Demonic Qi surged, engulfing the exotic beast.
The beast was forced back slightly by the explosion. The Demonic Qi clung to it like maggots on bone, continuously invading and corroding its body.
Mu Fan's eyes lit up. The power of the black fiend bead exceeded his expectations.
Without hesitation, he shifted his position. He could not remain near the barrier, if he got cornered, that would be game over.
Whoosh!!
The ice crystal vortex reappeared, tearing through the lingering Demonic Qi. Though weakened, it still roared toward Mu Fan with terrifying speed.
Having suffered from it before, Mu Fan activated his wind-chasing boots and dodged.
This attack was powerful, but was slow enough he could always dodge.
After circling around in a semicircle to evade it, Mu Fan closed in once more. Raising his spear high, he brought it crashing down.
Boom!
The beast was slammed into the ground, its body sinking slightly before it straightened and retaliated with a swipe of its claws.
Mu Fan dodged while directing the armor-piercing bead to strike.
After these exchanges, the light in Mu Fan's eyes got a little brighter.
The Ice Armor Exotic Beast's armor was visibly thinning, first weakened by the black fiend bead's explosion, then continuously eroded by the lingering Demonic Qi.
He could feel it: the corroded ice armor had lost much of its strength. Under the combined assaults of spear and bead, it was steadily breaking apart.
His chances of victory had surged, from two or three percent to over fifty percent.
"I still have the talisman… The black fiend beads will keep weakening it, and then the talisman should finish it off.."
With a plan in mind, Mu Fan continued to tangle with the beast.
⸻———X——————
Another half an hour passed.
Mu Fan's outer robes were completely ruined. His inner armor was riddled with dents and claw marks, it would not survive another battle.
He had already consumed sixty to seventy percent of his prepared talismans. The Fire and metal attributes were completely exhausted.
Water attributes were useless here. Only a handful of wood and earth talismans remained for the final push.
The Yao beast was no better off.
Its once-thick ice armor had been reduced to a thin, fragile layer. It stood two or three metres away, it no longer charged recklessly.
Mu Fan put away his spear.
Behind his back, he concealed three Earth-Turning Talismans and eight Living Vine Talismans between his fingers.
A grin spread across his face.
He threw them all at once.
The ground beneath the beast turned to mud, dragging it downward. At the same time, over twenty vines erupted, binding it tightly in place.
Without hesitation, Mu Fan hurled another black fiend bead.
Then..with his last bit of Qi he faced his left palm upward. In his right hand, he held a talisman, thicker than ten talismans combined, covered in dense, intricate inscriptions.
As his Qi flowed into it, the patterns ignited, releasing waves of black gas.
"Foul beast, Taste my Blade!"
The talisman transformed.
A massive black blade, four meters long, materialized above his head. Demonic Qi surged and coiled around it like living shadows.
Mu Fan's body trembled violently. His Qi was nearly depleted, only a few dozen points remained.
This was his final strike.
If it failed… he would die.
He extended his hand and pressed downward.
The Seven Fiend Blade cleaved down with unstoppable force.
The moment it struck, the remaining ice armor shattered completely.
The blade continued downward without losing momentum, slicing through flesh, bone, and everything in its path like a hot knife through butter.
Only then could Mu Fan confirm
This was a real beast, not a puppet.
That realization brought him a fleeting sense of relief.
What he feared most was a construct sustained by formations, something that could not truly be killed. If that had been the case, he would have had no chance at all.
But in the next instant…
Mu Fan's vision dimmed, and he collapsed.
His Qi and spirit were utterly drained.
Through blurred vision, he saw the Seven Fiend Blade cut deep into the beast's abdomen, then suddenly stop.
It was the cold sand.
An endless amount of it surged forth, blocking the blade.
The sand seemed inexhaustible. Each layer expended its cold energy to resist the blade, turning into ordinary sand and scattering, only to be replaced by more cold sand rising to take its place.
Another war of attrition.
After more than twenty breaths, the blade dimmed and shattered, reverting back into the talisman, which fell slowly from the air.
Normally, a talisman sealed one-tenth of a Spirit Treasure's power and could be used multiple times.
But Mu Fan had no magic power left to activate it again.
Lying on the ground, staring at the false sky above, Mu Fan muttered weakly:
"Blindly focusing on cultivation… really isn't enough."
"I lacked real combat experience… always holding back my strongest moves…"
"If I had used the talisman from the very beginning… exhausted it completely… this beast might have already…"
He sighed.
"The core… it's the cold sand in its abdomen. Even then… I probably couldn't have killed it…"
Closing his eyes, he accepted his fate.
⸻
Yet time passed.
No attack came.
Mu Fan struggled to prop himself up and look forward.
Could it be… the beast had actually died?
And what about that cold sand?
Boom!
The Yao beast's body exploded.
In its place, a swirling mass of cold sand appeared. At its center floated a crystal-clear, icy gourd.
The gourd began absorbing the surrounding sand.
All across the desert, the cold sand surged like tides, flowing toward it. The ground rose and fell beneath Mu Fan like waves, carrying him along.
The desert revealed its true structure.
The upper layer, ordinary sand, about one foot thick.
Beneath it, endless cold sand.
Now, all of it was being drawn into the gourd.
After a long time, the final traces of cold sand were absorbed.
Mu Fan lay where he was, now several feet lower than before, the entire cold sand layer had been consumed.
The gourd hovered quietly in the air, emitting a faint, pure white glow. It looked harmless… almost gentle.
Mu Fan hesitated, then forced himself to stand.
Step by step, he approached.
Nothing happened.
Finally, he reached out, and grasped it.
A stream of information flooded into his mind.
Just as he had guessed, this desert was a trial.
The first stage required traveling one hundred km within nine extreme cold cycles.
Those who hesitated or advanced cautiously would be forced to traverse one thousand km. Even if they survived, they would not truly pass, and would receive no reward.
Mu Fan had succeeded because he chose to advance quickly.
The second stage was the Ice Armor Yao Beast.
Empowered by the cold sand through the gourd, it excelled in prolonged combat.
If one could not break its defense but survived for one hour, the trial would still count as passed, but would be equivalent to a C, a passing grade but with minimal rewards.
Only by killing the beast within one hour and revealing the gourd's true form could one truly clear the trial.
After understanding everything, Mu Fan didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Without prior knowledge, how could anyone possibly deduce all of this?
He had guessed correctly in the first stage.
'But that's all it was..a guess'
In the second… he had failed to commit fully.
He neither used his strongest move immediately nor deliberately prolonged the fight.
He hovered in between.
Fighting for over half an hour, only unleashing his final trump card when near his limit.
Shaking his head, Mu Fan muttered:
"This really can't be blamed on me…"
"The nine cycles could have been ten… or twelve…"
"The one-hour limit could have been two…"
"It all depends on the whim of the one who set it."
He paused, then sighed.
"But it's not their fault either."
"It's a trial. They can set it however they want."
"Whether you meet the conditions… that's luck."
"This is what we call Opportunity in the cultivation world."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"And I… still have Opportunity."
Regaining his composure, Mu Fan held the cold gourd in both hands, rubbing it repeatedly, unable to put it down.