: Snow Color Agility

Pi Fujie, though the face genius of the Pi family, was only at the Foundation Establishment stage in cultivation.

Ning Zhuo was also at the Foundation Establishment stage, and his cultivation was even weaker than Pi Fujie's. But he had killed Golden Core cultivators, slain Nascent Soul experts, and even faced off against a Deity Transformation level opponent directly!

Pi Fujie's eyelids twitched as he sensed Ning Zhuo's surging confidence, becoming increasingly unwilling to accept the challenge.

For a moment, he felt somewhat at a loss and began regretting greeting Shen Xi and his group, which left him with no way to extricate himself now.

If he were to retreat without fighting, word would get back to his family, and Pi Fujie's days would surely be difficult, likely costing him dearly.

"Hahahaha!" Just then, the tiger demon beside Pi Fujie burst into loud laughter.

"Such a young brat with such big words. Let me deal with you!"

This tiger demon was exceptionally powerful and had just been successfully recruited by Pi Fujie.

Just as Shen Xi had once been close to Ning Zhuo, Pi Fujie had deliberately approached the tiger demon. Their initial intentions were the same. However, as they interacted, Ning Zhuo displayed his own strength, prompting Shen Xi to wisely adjust his attitude and treat Ning Zhuo as an equal.

Seeing the tiger demon laugh, Pi Fujie's eyes lit up immediately.

The tiger demon cupped his fists and said solemnly to Pi Fujie, "Young Master Pi, we've only met a few times, yet you gifted me the Soul Spirit Tattoo. I should exert myself to help you regain face!"

Pi Fujie breathed a sigh of relief, feeling pleased. This was undoubtedly the best response—he wouldn't have to step onto the field himself, and he could account for it to his family.

Pi Fujie immediately promised, "This is your first time taking action. Regardless of victory or defeat, there will be a reward!"

Ning Zhuo sneered, "No matter how big the reward, a dead cultivator can't claim it, right?"

The tiger demon glared angrily at Ning Zhuo, "Little brat, you really have a big mouth. After I defeat you, I won't kill you right away. I'll swallow you alive. Let's see if you're still so arrogant then!"

Ning Zhuo put away his Five Elements Life-Death Fan, his face full of disdain, "You're just a mere demon cultivator. What makes you worthy of fighting me?"

"If I were to take action, killing you, Pi Fujie, would be slightly more justifiable."

The tiger demon burst into laughter, pointing at Ning Zhuo's nose, "You're scared! Cowardly and afraid to die, you don't dare accept my life-and-death martial challenge!"

"If you won't accept, that's fine too. I'll spread the word everywhere that you're a weakling who's too scared to fight!"

"I know you righteous path types care about reputation. Just you wait."

Ning Zhuo sighed, "Fine then. Since you're seeking death, I won't stop you."

"If you can defeat the puppet in my hands, I'll step onto the field myself and grant you death."

Shen Xi glanced sideways, thinking, "A puppet?"

The two groups entered the martial hall. Since the tiger demon had initiated the challenge, according to customary rules, he would pay the spirit stone fee.

Ning Zhuo selected a room.

The room was set up with a formation. As everyone crossed the threshold, they entered the formation space.

While waiting to enter, Shen Xi urgently transmitted a message, "Brother Ning, you might not know this yet. The Pi family primarily cultivates the 'Seven Talisman Demon Skin Sutra,' using paper crafting and talisman-making skills to inscribe talismans on their own skin, with souls as the main material."

"At their strongest, they can inscribe seven talismans simultaneously, whether identical or not."

"These talismans activate swiftly, almost as fast as innate spells. Not only that, the talismans often resonate with each other, forming combinations."

"Although the tiger demon hasn't been with him long, Pi Fujie has the ability to inscribe demon talismans on him."

"From what the tiger demon said earlier, Pi Fujie has already inscribed one on him to recruit him. Their delay in arriving now is likely because they're inscribing a second one."

"In the upcoming fight, be very careful. Using the puppet to probe the tiger demon and the talismans' details is a prudent move."

Shen Xi knew Ning Zhuo's understanding of the five elements far surpassed ordinary people's. As for how much, he hadn't managed to probe it out.

In his view: Ning Zhuo was about his age, perhaps slightly older. For someone this young to have such profound mastery of the five elements was quite remarkable. Ning Zhuo must have invested most of his time and energy into the five elements.

As for puppetry, he certainly couldn't be that proficient.

So, he already had an estimation for the upcoming fight: Ning Zhuo would use the puppet to probe the tiger demon's capabilities. If things went well, he could also wear down the tiger demon and weaken his combat power. Afterwards, Ning Zhuo would use the Five Elements Life-Death Fan and five elements spells to kill the tiger demon and secure victory.

Ning Zhuo waved his hand slightly, "Brother Shen, don't worry. It's just a little kitten."

Shen Xi praised, "Brother Ning is bold and heroic."

Su Lingkou curled her lip inwardly, thinking, "My cousin kindly advised you, but you're ungrateful. So overconfident. If you lose later, you'll probably lose even more face."

"Sigh, I hope you can win."

"You should be able to win, right?"

After all, Su Lingkou had never seen Ning Zhuo fight personally, so she didn't have much confidence in him.

After a while longer, Pi Fujie and the tiger demon entered the room.

The tiger demon went to the martial field, while Pi Fujie stood outside the field with Shen Xi and Su Lingkou to watch.

The tiger demon's eyes shone brightly, looking thrilled.

He thought, "Challenging him was the right move! To ensure victory in this fight, Young Master gave me another demon talisman, greatly boosting my power!"

"I will definitely win this fight. Kid, consider yourself my stepping stone to advancement."

He extended a finger, hooking it at Ning Zhuo provocatively.

Ning Zhuo remained expressionless, lightly waving his hand to release a puppet from his storage belt.

The puppet was six feet three inches tall, female in form, with six arms and a graceful posture.

Its body was covered in three-colored enamel armor, its face a snow-porcelain mask, with ice silkworm silk woven into black hair.

Snow Color Maiden · Hui!

As soon as she appeared, her stunning appearance attracted everyone's attention.

Immediately, Su Lingkou exclaimed softly, "A Golden Core level puppet?"

Pi Fujie frowned immediately.

By now, all the elite puppets Ning Zhuo crafted started at the Golden Core level.

The materials used for Snow Color Maiden · Hui were almost all Golden Core level treasures. The core mechanism component supplying magical power contained a Ghost Path Golden Core. The Golden Core released magical power, converted through formations into ice-attribute magical power. This conversion process inevitably produced losses and delays.

But Ning Zhuo had achieved the best possible with current means.

He didn't have a suitable ice-attribute Golden Core on hand.

Seeing Ning Zhuo directly deploy a Golden Core level puppet, the tiger demon cursed inwardly, "That human brat is cunning! This is probably his strongest trump card. He talks big, but in reality, to deal with me, he's going all out from the start!"

The tiger demon looked serious, not daring to be careless.

He had considerable combat experience too. Seeing the puppet's dazzling, beautiful appearance, he guessed it was primarily a long-range combat puppet.

He roared, unleashing a wind movement spell that drastically increased his speed.

The tiger demon pounced toward Snow Color Maiden · Hui, his tiger claws like blades tearing through the air, fast and fierce.

"Good, I've closed in!" The tiger demon felt振奋 when he saw Snow Color Maiden · Hui not reacting, staying motionless in place.

His two tiger claws almost simultaneously struck Snow Color Maiden · Hui.

Snow Color Maiden · Hui extended a pair of secondary arms, crossing them in front to block.

Clang!

A metallic clash erupted, painfully piercing their eardrums.

"What?!" The tiger demon's pupils contracted, showing a trace of disbelief.

After the clash, the expected scene of the puppet's arms breaking didn't occur. The three-colored enamel armor covering its arms shimmered with flowing light, stubbornly withstanding this rock-shattering strike without even showing a single crack!

Instead, the tiger demon felt pain in his own claws.

Snow Color Maiden · Hui's snow-porcelain mask showed no expression as another pair of secondary arms shot out like venomous snakes, aiming straight for the tiger demon's exposed waist and ribs.

"Ugh!" The tiger demon was struck, his heart shuddering again, "So fast!"

He retreated several large steps, simultaneously crouching and swinging his thick tiger tail.

The tiger tail whipped like a steel whip toward the puppet's lower body.

Snow Color Maiden · Hui stepped aside, her movements graceful yet swift and agile, easily avoiding it.

She closed in actively, her six arms becoming a blur of afterimages. Fists, palms, and fingers accurately struck the tiger demon's joints, waist points, and other vulnerable spots, driving him back step by step.

Seeing this, Shen Xi, Pi Fujie, and the others were greatly surprised.

None of them had expected the puppet's close combat ability to be this powerful, its movements so nimble.

Shen Xi looked at Ning Zhuo, whose ten fingers moved frequently, manipulating Snow Color Maiden · Hui with magical threads to perform various combat postures, all while maintaining martial beauty.

The tiger demon roared repeatedly, his claws flying everywhere, trying to turn the situation around.

But Snow Color Maiden · Hui's enamel armor had astonishing defensive power, her six arms coordinated seamlessly, and she never tired nor felt any pain.

Under Ning Zhuo's control, she resolved, blocked, and suppressed the tiger demon's ferocious attacks one by one!

The tiger demon's burly figure appeared clumsy and powerless before Snow Color Maiden · Hui.

Failing to counterattack, the tiger demon was beaten black and blue, his heart trembling, "This puppet is so strong, definitely a close combat model! I shouldn't attack its strengths!"

He roared, unleashing the demon art Tiger Might, momentarily stunning the puppet.

Seizing this opportunity, the tiger demon burst backward, creating distance.

Ning Zhuo smiled, "You made the wrong choice."

The tiger demon's heart immediately sank, "Could it be?"

The next moment, Snow Color Maiden · Hui's six arms were already raised, her slender fingers aimed at the tiger demon.

Inside her body, the Warm Jade Wheel as the core mechanism component began rotating at high speed! The three-colored enamel flowed faster, Golden Core level magical power converted to ice attribute, surging to her fingertips.

Various ice element spells were unleashed, forming sharp ice spikes and ice spears. Simultaneously, biting cold winds blew out, creating a powerful long-range assault.

Pi Fujie's face turned quite ugly.

Even Shen Xi and Su Lingkou looked grave. Putting themselves in that position, they realized they would definitely prioritize dodging and couldn't withstand such attacks head-on!

The tiger demon also chose to dodge.

But Snow Color Maiden · Hui also began moving, her posture floating like willow catkins, easily leaping several yards.

The tiger demon was chased and beaten, soon covered by various frost spells.

Pi Fujie, Shen Xi, and Su Lingkou watched with twitching eyelids.

The defensive artifacts the tiger demon relied on quickly became overwhelmed, destroyed one after another.

"What kind of puppet is this? It's actually a long-range model?! If you want me dead, I'll make you die first!!" The tiger demon, at a critical life-or-death moment, was driven to madness, bloodlust blazing in his eyes. He slammed his chest, instantly activating the two demon talismans Pi Fujie had given him!

A tattoo appeared on his left shoulder—the Thousand Layer Scale Skin Talisman.

The talisman emitted a grayish-blue light, quickly forming a layer of grayish-blue scale armor over the tiger demon's entire body, greatly increasing his defense.

Another talisman appeared on his right chest—the Blood Burn Gallop Talisman.

Instantly, the tiger demon's blood energy steamed, his speed skyrocketing several times, leaving an afterimage in place as his true body flashed like a ghost.

The frost spell attacks were quite dense, but there were always gaps.

The tiger demon used these fleeting gaps, paying the minimum cost, to close the distance with Snow Color Maiden · Hui!

Ning Zhuo thought: This is fine too.

He was just about to take this opportunity to have Snow Color Maiden · Hui engage in more close combat to cultivate her spirit, when suddenly Snow Color Maiden · Hui's spirit trembled violently.

A strong desire and impulse transmitted to Ning Zhuo along the magical threads.

Snow Color Maiden · Hui wanted autonomy, actually trying to seize control from Ning Zhuo!

Ning Zhuo was momentarily stunned, creating an opening.

The tiger demon, under blood burn, keenly caught the opening and launched a furious assault.

His speed and defense skyrocketed, boosting his combat power greatly.

But at this critical moment, Ning Zhuo secretly completely relinquished control, causing Snow Color Maiden · Hui to become a punching bag, brutally attacked by the tiger demon.

"Good!" Pi Fujie clenched his fist tightly, shouting loudly, his face overflowing with wild joy.

Shen Xi and Su Lingkou's expressions changed dramatically.

Shen Xi thought, "Just as I expected! Brother Ning excels in the five elements; puppetry is at most a side study for him."

Thud.

Snow Color Maiden · Hui fell to the ground.

The tiger demon, succeeding in his assault, became even more ferocious, laughing wildly, "Shatter for me!!"

He wanted to seize this excellent opportunity to dismantle the puppet in one go!

Ning Zhuo's spiritual sense had already receded like a tide, leaving only superficial five elements magical threads as disguise, with no actual control.

The moment the tiger demon's claws reached her body, Snow Color Maiden · Hui, lying on the ground, suddenly had glowing eyes.

A chill erupted from the tiger demon's heart. In that instant, he had an absurd thought—this puppet seemed alive!

The core component inside Snow Color Maiden · Hui, the Warm Jade Wheel, erupted with unprecedented brilliant light! Three hundred and sixty apertures spewed extremely cold ice mist.

Six palms directly struck the tiger demon's body.

The cold energy surged, transforming into a freezing current that enveloped the tiger demon.

Crack, crack, crack...

The "Thousand Layer Scale Skin Talisman" on the tiger demon's body flashed wildly, the scale illusions quickly covered in cracks and thick white frost!

The blood energy accelerated by the Blood Burn Gallop Talisman was rapidly frozen and consumed by the cold energy!

The tiger demon惊恐地发现: his speed was plummeting, his strength diminishing, his demon power circulation becoming extremely sluggish! He wanted to retreat, but the icy storm trapped him firmly like a quagmire!

The tiger demon let out a desperate roar.

He struggled madly, burned his essence blood, and activated his demon power, but couldn't break through the increasingly thick ice layers and piercing cold.

After a dozen breaths, the tiger demon's roars ceased, his last sound a whimper full of resentment and fear.

He was completely frozen in place, turned into a lifelike, giant ice sculpture with a terrified expression!

His life force was completely extinguished.

Snow Color Maiden · Hui slowly ceased her efforts, gracefully rising, her six arms hanging down. The Warm Jade Wheel's light retracted inward, the three-colored enamel armor flowing with cold luster in the ice mist.

She stood quietly before the ice sculpture, her head slightly raised. Though her snow-porcelain mask couldn't show any expression, all the spectators felt that Snow Color Maiden · Hui was displaying a proud demeanor.

(End of )