Otherworldly Affairs Office

The body was hammered by a massive impact, floating in mid-air, but Li Songtao remained calm. The girl's attack, although unexpected and peculiar, couldn't even scratch the surface of his defensive array.

"Heaven and Earth!" Shangxing's angry roar echoed throughout the pond. His suddenly enlarged body directly cracked the ice beneath his feet, the left fist like a small mountain smashing towards the black-robed man flying backwards.

This was the power Shangxing gained after awakening to the fourth tier. Although it was not yet perfected due to his initial level, this unfinished attack was still stunning to all present.

The strike directly caused the ice layer beneath to crack and collapse. Pei Yan barely managed to keep his balance by jumping around, while Liang Qian lost his balance and fell flat on his back. It took more than ten seconds for the shaking to gradually calm down.

Liang Qian propped himself up on the ice, staring at the deep pit created by Shangxing's giant fist. He murmured, "Did the attack work?"

"No, he's still alive, everyone be careful!" With the thermal imaging system in Pei Yan's left eye, he clearly saw the figure standing up under Shangxing's fist and warned loudly.

However, before he could finish speaking, Shangxing's tall body let out a muffled groan, quickly raising the smashed left fist, and the whole body deflated like a punctured balloon.

Pei Yan didn't have time to check Shangxing's injuries. He glared at the black-robed man in the deep pit, watching him calmly point his finger at the sky. Despite a series of attacks against him, not even his clothes were wrinkled, and he casually broke Shangxing's attack with just one finger. How could there be such a huge strength gap between people!

"Gun..."

"Metal Storm!"

Although intimidated by his opponent's overwhelming strength, both the body's instinct and inner rage prompted Pei Yan and Liang Qian to shout out their attacks simultaneously.

Unfortunately, before Liang Qian could finish speaking, while the power surged in her arm, ready to swing, the black-robed man suddenly pointed at her. Her body floated uncontrollably and then smashed into a nearby upright ice spike.

At the same time, gun barrels emerged from Pei Yan's palm and chest. Amidst brilliant blue light, bullets rained like a storm towards the black-robed man.

The black-robed man didn't prepare much defense against Pei Yan. Even though he could consume the devouring demon's black smoke, he merely saw it as a clever trick. From the previous battle, the combat power Pei Yan showed posed no threat to him. Instead, the young girl's attack reminded him of the techniques developed over a millennium in this plane, as mentioned by the sect. Though he regarded them with disdain, out of caution, he decided to eliminate her first.

If failing to leave this place promptly tonight was Li Songtao's first mistake, then underestimating Pei Yan's attack was his second.

Amid Wang Wenze's cries, his floating arm controlling Liang Qian was just about to swing down, when suddenly his body shuddered. In great shock, he looked down at his own body, then up at the metallic boy standing in place, shooting wildly. His arm slipped, losing control of Liang Qian's body, which fell straight down.

In that instant of distraction, Liang Qian's falling body floated in mid-air, caught and gently landed. Zhao Yuanhu, hidden since the attack began, leapt out at the critical moment to catch her.

"How is this possible!" Li Songtao exclaimed in shock, watching his rapidly weakening defensive array. He felt the array being rapidly consumed and devoured by impacting attacks. In disbelief, he channeled all his spiritual power to reinforce the array, forcibly blocking over ten rounds of bullets with his hands in front of his chest.

Merely ordinary iron tools, how could they so quickly consume his array? Puzzled, he observed closely and soon discovered the anomaly—every fired bullet was wrapped in striking blue spiritual qi. Upon contact with his array, the spiritual qi swiftly consumed and assimilated the spiritual qi provided by the array. Though a single bullet posed no threat, thousands fired together caused the defensive array to ripple, becoming unstable.

"Pei Yan, well done, just like that!" Shangxing watched the dark purple fog surrounding the black-robed man rapidly dissipate. Although he didn't understand the change in Pei Yan, the attack clearly worked. Seeing this, Shangxing took a deep breath, mustering all his remaining energy to unleash Heaven and Earth again.

"Xia Yu!" Shangxing, ignoring the wound on his left fist, shouted forcefully.

"Jiumu! Assist me!" Xia Yu, understanding his intent, shouted towards Ye Jiumu in the distance.

Standing in place, Xia Yu vanished from the ice surface, reappearing on Shangxing's arm. With both hands gripping Shangxing's thick fur tightly, she cried out, "Heavy as a Mountain!"

"Gun Shrimp!"

"Lifelike!"

Wang Wenze and Liang Qian shouted in unison. A fiery internal attack swiftly launched from Liang Qian's swing, while the remaining giant wolves on the ice lunged at the stationary black-robed man to bite him. Even Zhao Yuanhu disappeared from sight once more, and semi-transparent tubular objects began to surge around the black-robed man's body.

Just then, Shangxing's weight-enhanced fist by Xia Yu's ability swung down!

"Bang!" A light sound, everyone froze! Those prepared to witness an earth-shattering strike were stunned!

After Shangxing's fist concealed the black-robed man's form, only that light sound was heard!

Crunch, crunch, crunch! The battlefield, previously filled with the sound of continuous fighting, now plunged into a deathly silence. Everyone held their breath, listening to the sound of what seemed like metal cracking emanating from under Shangxing's fist.

"Eyes of Golden Flame, Great Sage Points the Soldiers!" Having realized the truth, Shangxing closed his eyes in despair, exhausting his strength to perform his final technique. One by one, identical Shangxings appeared out of thin air, standing before all team members.

As he completed this action, a powerful shockwave erupted from under Shangxing's fist, boom! As if all their previous attacks returned multiplied, the shockwave shattered the ice surface, flinging ice shards and an astounding force wave, centered on the black-robed man.

In an instant, everyone was caught in the shockwave and violently tossed by the force wave.

"Cough, cough, cough!" Despite being prepared, Pei Yan still suffered from the shockwave, coughing several times. He rubbed his neck, pushing away the ice fragments pressing on him, standing up with difficulty amidst the dust, and stared incredulously at the scene before him.