Master of Nine Stars

’Two weak little humans. I was being generous just by letting you run, and you dare to confront me head-on? Have you no idea what rank I am?’

"FIGHT!!!" Abruptly, a fierce cry from Gao Lingwei exploded at the bottom of the valley!

The one-armed Snow Corpse’s mind instantly went blank...

’Wh-what... What is this?’

A loud CLANG!

Carried by inertia, the Snow Corpse’s sharp claws still managed to catch the long halberd. With its absolute strength, it held the weapon in a death grip, preventing it from striking its body.

Though the Snow Corpse avoided serious injury, Gao Lingwei’s strike still slammed it to the ground!

"Die!" Gao Lingwei’s eyes were sharp and her movements terrifyingly fluid. Seeing the Snow Corpse’s stiff movements, clearly unaccustomed to multitasking, she stomped on it the very instant she landed.

After all, while leaping forward, Gao Lingwei had already formed a Snow Burst Ball under her foot!

Gao Lingwei viciously swung the Heaven-piercing Halberd to one side. The Snow Corpse’s claw, which was tightly gripping the halberd’s Crescent Blade, was immediately wrenched away to its side.

It was at this exact moment that Gao Lingwei, the Snow Burst Ball gathered at her foot, stomped down on the Snow Corpse’s face!

BOOM!

Even though the Snow Corpse was of a high rank—at least Master-rank—its defenses were no different from a human’s.

As Gao Lingwei stomped down, the violent Snow Burst detonated, and the Snow Corpse’s head was instantly blown into a bloody pulp!

STOMP! STOMP! STOMP! Gao Lingwei ignored everything else, stomping again and again, determined to crush the one-armed Snow Corpse’s head to smithereens.

It was nothing complicated. Just two words: So. Satisfying.

On the cliff above, Xia Fangran couldn’t help but grimace, his body even leaning back slightly. "Damn... So her stone-cold expression yesterday was all an act. I bet she was already about to explode with rage. Tsk tsk..."

"Da Wei!" Rong Taotao shouted. As he ran past Gao Lingwei, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a desperate forward charge.

In fact, with Rong Taotao’s speed and strength, Gao Lingwei was practically being dragged, her body flying horizontally through the air as she rushed forward. All the while, her vicious gaze remained locked on the one-armed Snow Corpse whose head she had crushed into a pulp.

They were gone. The four familiar corpse spots were gone. After all, the one-armed Snow Corpse’s head had been completely shattered, its crimson blood and shredded flesh scattered across the pristine white snow...

"Break through, Gao Lingwei!" Rong Taotao roared, yanking her arm and flinging her forward.

Gao Lingwei immediately snapped back to her senses. Halberd in hand, she thrust it forward fiercely!

Behind them, the large group of Snow Corpses that had been thrown aside at the start of the fight had already climbed back to their feet and were now giving chase.

Suddenly, a Corpse Tide surged. A scene straight out of a battle royale unfolded on the valley floor.

A battle royale would have been manageable.

The problem was, there were at least a hundred more Snow Corpses in front of Rong Taotao and Gao Lingwei!

SHIIINK! As Gao Lingwei charged, her Heaven-piercing Halberd skewered two Snow Corpses. She viciously swung the halberd, corpses and all, toward her front right, smashing them into another lunging Snow Corpse.

"Don’t move!"

WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~ The moment Rong Taotao gave the order, three Heaven-piercing Halberds flew past both sides of Gao Lingwei, precisely piercing the skulls of several Snow Corpses and buying her time to re-summon her Snow Soul.

"Ice Pillar! Forget the ones at the very front! Just make an opening for me!"

Gao Lingwei was about to charge again when she heard Rong Taotao. She quickly crouched, ignoring the Snow Corpses closing in from the front, and instead unleashed a series of Ice Pillars further ahead, right in the middle of the horde.

FWOOSH...

A few Snow Corpses were sent flying, creating a small gap in their ranks.

A hand suddenly burst out of the snow and grabbed for Rong Taotao!

’Can’t let them group up!’

’Absolutely can’t let them group up!’

As Rong Taotao leaped, the hand caught him by the neck in mid-air and viciously slammed him downward!

THUD! Rong Taotao had landed right beside an Ice Pillar? In the very center of the corpse horde?

And his feet landed heavily on the ground.

Starfield Soul Skill—Star-Stepping Split!

"Hssss..."

"Ugh..." Instantly, pained hisses and groans filled the air. The Snow Corpses were still just a cluster, not yet a full-blown Corpse Tide. With Rong Taotao as the epicenter, a good seven or eight of them were instantly knocked back in every direction.

Pushing and slashing, Gao Lingwei fought through the now thinned-out group of corpses. Her Great Xia Dragon Sparrow flashed repeatedly and her Butterfly Dual Sabers spun rapidly around her body as she hurried to catch up with Rong Taotao.

"Excellent!" On the cliff above, Li Lie’s eyes burned with intensity as he couldn’t help but shout his praise.

Obviously, watching from the cliff above, the two teachers had a much clearer and more thorough grasp of the battle. Rong Taotao’s decision to throw himself into danger was both brave and brilliant, allowing him to seize a fleeting opportunity.

Because once a full Corpse Tide formed, with the bodies piling up layer by layer, there would be no room to maneuver. Rong Taotao and Gao Lingwei’s escape would have been doomed to fail.

But now, Rong Taotao had turned himself into a chess piece and made a risky gambit, revitalizing the entire battlefield.

’Just three more layers of Snow Corpses, and they’ll be able to fight their way out!’

"It’s over, it’s over... It’s all over..." Xia Fangran sat on the edge of the cliff, elbows on his knees and chin in his hands. His tone was surprisingly mournful...

"Just ahead!" Rong Taotao shouted, holding his long halberd. He suddenly pressed close and leaned against something, startling Gao Lingwei.

He was actually leaning into the chest of a Snow Corpse, using his halberd to push away another on the left and his own body to block one on the right, creating a path forward for her!