The Invisible Duel

Chapter 325: Hidden Battle

“Xue Hong!”

The voice, full of grief, came from a senior disciple of Chen Qiaoqian, who was apparently the deceased woman’s dual cultivation partner. With a cry of anguish, he waved his hands, sending a black streak of light flying around the corpse. The light circled frantically, trying to find the Ice Fiend that had killed her.

This senior disciple, Xue Hong, had indeed died a rather unjust death. If she hadn’t given in to her competitive nature and used the Talisman Treasure, she might still be alive.

Before activating the Talisman Treasure, she had kept a light-gauze defensive magic tool floating by her side. But because she wanted to shorten the activation time and conserve mana, she carelessly withdrew the tool. Without protection, she lost her life.

Still, it seemed unfair to blame her entirely for inexperience and carelessness.

She had seen her enemies transform into cocoons of light, and felt surrounded by her fellow sect disciples, which gave her the confidence to activate the Talisman Treasure. Who could have predicted that the Ice Fiend would break out of its cocoon in a half-demon form and immediately turn invisible, targeting her?

At the moment of the attack, she was in the final stages of powering up the Talisman Treasure, unable to stop even if she wanted to. That was how she met her end.

Speaking of which, Song Meng, when activating his spear Talisman Treasure, hadn’t used any defensive measures either. It was only because his Talisman Treasure had less power that he managed to activate it sooner. Otherwise, no one could say which of them the invisible Ice Fiend would have ambushed.

And it wasn’t just the two of them. Even Han Li and the others who were attacking hadn’t activated their defensive magic tools. They had all assumed the cocoons were helpless targets, unwilling to waste mana on extra defenses.

But now, seeing the woman’s eviscerated corpse and hearing Han Li’s warning, cold sweat ran down everyone’s backs. Defensive tools and shields were hastily raised to guard against another sudden attack from the bizarre, cruel enemy.

Yet what left them even more bewildered was this: no matter what invisibility-tracking spells or magic tools they used, they could not locate the fiend.

They caught a glimpse here or there, but before they could feel relieved, the figure vanished again, as if moving at extreme speed. The Ice Fiend was now almost completely translucent, flickering in and out of sight around them. Not even keen magical artifacts could lock onto it; it escaped their tracking within moments.

Now, everyone felt the danger closing in. They watched their surroundings with growing dread, completely suppressed by the single half-demon Ice Fiend, unable to act.

Only Han Li wore a strange expression as he observed the scene.

The same Senior Brother Wang who had fought alongside Han Li had never seen such a bloody spectacle. His face was deathly pale, his expression one of pure terror.

To him, the senior disciple who had been laughing and talking just moments ago was now dead—brutally. It felt like a nightmare. This was nothing like the triumphant, easy victory he had imagined.

He glanced at Xue Hong’s partner, who seemed almost mad with grief, and his face turned even paler.

Perhaps it was true that fear attracts what it fears most.

Whether the Ice Fiend sensed his cowardice or simply thought him an easier target, a transparent, icy claw appeared out of thin air behind him, aiming straight for his heart.

His defensive magic tool, a small bronze shield, was surprisingly quick. Without his command, it flashed into position, blocking the strike.

A sharp clang rang out. The icy claw was deflected, but the bronze shield was instantly coated in thick frost and fell to the ground, its spirit temporarily lost.

Wang only then realized the danger behind him. His face drained of blood in an instant. He instinctively turned, looking around in panic.

Seeing nothing nearby, he hesitated, then bent down to retrieve his shield, hoping to thaw it and reactivate it.

“Dodge!”

Liu Jing, who was nearby, saw this and shouted in alarm.

“What?” Wang was taken aback. Before he could understand, his water-element shield shattered with a crisp sound, and a bone-chilling gust swept toward his back.

“No,” he thought. He knew what was happening. The invisible Ice Fiend hadn’t fled; it had circled behind him for a killing blow.

In that instant, Wang’s mind went blank. The only image that surfaced was the bloody corpse of Xue Hong.

“So soon... it’s my turn,” was all he could think.

But then, something flashed before his eyes. His body felt light, as if carried by clouds. A rumble of thunder sounded beneath him, mixed with angry shouts.

Then his feet touched solid ground. He stood there, safe.

“Junior Wang, are you alright?”

A voice full of concern broke through his daze. He turned his head slowly.

Liu Jing was looking at him with worry.

Seeing that familiar face, Wang finally realized he was alive. Overcome with gratitude, he stammered, “Senior Liu… did you save me?”

His own voice startled him. It was hoarse and weak, betraying his terror.

Liu Jing looked embarrassed. “I’m ashamed to say it wasn’t me. Fellow Han saved you. He’s still fighting the fiend over there. I used to hear that Fellow Han had killed over a dozen Foundation Establishment cultivators, but I never quite believed it. Now I know I was wrong. His strength is unfathomable.”

“Fellow Han?” Wang blinked.

He remembered Han Li was five or six zhang away. How could he have reached him in time?

He turned quickly toward the sounds of battle. What he saw left him stunned.

There, in the space where he had been attacked, the air was empty. Yet the clashing sounds of combat echoed loudly, accompanied by guttural roars. Sword light and sharp rays shot out from nowhere, carving deep trenches into the ground.

Wang was speechless for a long moment.

Just as he was about to ask, a sudden gust of wind swept the area. A translucent, white figure appeared out of thin air, flying backward in an arc. Wang jumped, startled.

The figure was the half-demon Blood Servant. He looked even more bizarre now, his entire body as clear as crystal.

“Impossible! How can you see through my invisibility and match my speed?” the fiend’s crystalline face was twisted with shock and anger, and even a trace of fear.

But no sooner had he spoken than he let out a guttural roar, lunged forward, and vanished again.

A cold snort from Han Li followed, and the sounds of combat resumed, even fiercer than before. The fight was no longer confined to one spot; it spread outward. Liu Jing and the others, who could only hear but not see, retreated hastily.

Even the grief-stricken partner of the dead woman had to step back, afraid of being caught in the invisible battle and dying without knowing how.

They knew they couldn’t intervene in this unseen struggle.

“Look at the ground!” Song Meng shouted.

The others looked down. A layer of thick, crystalline ice had formed on the ground, gleaming under the moonlight.

“That fiend is cunning. He’s turned the ground to ice. This is bad for Fellow Han,” Song Meng said, his face worried.

“Not necessarily. I don’t know what movement technique Fellow Han is using, but from the sounds of it, he’s not losing. The ice doesn’t seem to hinder him much. Still… this transformation is more dangerous than I expected. We lost one of our own. I can’t escape the blame for that,” Liu Jing said, his voice heavy.

The others exchanged glances, unsure how to comfort him.

What they didn’t know was that Han Li, while locked in combat with the Ice Fiend, was cursing in his mind.