Chapter 10: The Iron-beaked Owl and Snow Sculptures (Part 2)

Li Ran smiled bitterly. “Damn it…”
On a towering mountain ridge not far ahead, a giant head emerged, roaring loudly at the group of snow sculptures behind Li Ran and his companions, clearly showing a threatening intent. If those snow sculptures entered, it would mean war.
Guo Shier asked, “What’s that?”
Li Ran recognized it at a glance and said, “A Level 15 Abnormal Talisman Beast… an Abnormal Great Snow Dragon, a dragon-type Abnormal Talisman Beast!”
Yang Miluo said, “How come everything keeps coming out? Our luck is really terrible.”
Guo Shier could no longer laugh. He knew well how formidable Level 15 Abnormal Talisman Beasts were and said, “The noise is too loud. It has nothing to do with luck…”
Li Ran said, “We can’t escape. Heh, if that’s the case, I don’t mind having a big fight… You three form a group. Don’t aim to kill enemies, just focus on protecting yourselves. Leave the rest to me.” After running all this way, even he, who was usually calm, was getting angry.
Guo Shier said, “Alright. Anyway, our task is to collect Soul Beads and materials. With so many mutated talisman beasts, we’ll surely get a good harvest.” This time, not only Yang Miluo thought he was greedy, but Fan Zhen also couldn’t help shaking his head. This guy didn’t consider danger at all, only focusing on gains.
Li Ran said, “Be careful. Neither the snow sculptures nor the Great Snow Dragon are easy to deal with!”
It was only then that Guo Shier had time to observe the flying mutated snow sculptures.
The mutated snow sculptures varied in size—some were Level 8 or 9, while others were Level 15 or 16. Mutated birds and mutated talisman beasts were of the same type, but Abnormal Birds were even more powerful. There were no Abnormal Birds among these snow sculptures. Abnormal Birds were naturally weaker than mutated talisman beasts that moved on land, but when they formed flocks, their combat strength lay in collective attacks. With hundreds or thousands of them, they dared to fight against mutated talisman beasts of higher levels.
There were tens of thousands of these mutated snow sculptures, enough to cover the sky. The flapping of their wings sounded like the roars of monsters, and their cries echoed throughout the land.
After observing, Guo Shier found that the most common were snow sculptures at Level 11 or 12. These snow sculptures were hundreds of meters long, with white feathers that emitted a silver glow. Each feather was several meters long, resembling countless swords embedded in their bodies. At the tip of each snow sculpture’s wing was a black feather, extremely sharp and serving as a deadly weapon for them.
The mutated Iron-beaked Owls chasing from afar tried desperately to break through the siege of the snow sculptures. But with so many enemies, they were torn to pieces in moments, creating a sky filled with blood mist.

The group of pursued professionals also failed to escape and were quickly overwhelmed by the snow sculptures. In an instant, magical lights flashed, loud roars echoed, and chunks of flesh flew into the air. Those altar professionals killed over a dozen snow sculptures, but they couldn’t eliminate them all. The sounds of the sculptures’ roars, curses, shouts, screams, and explosions rang out one after another—the battle was extremely fierce.

Seeing the snow sculptures charging at them, Guo Shier said, “Let’s back away and let Brother Li Ran take care of it!”

Li Ran grinned and said, “You little rascals, be careful yourselves. Don’t retreat into that mountain!”

Guo Shier replied, “Got it!” He, along with Yang Miluo and Fan Zhen, teleported backward together. After two consecutive teleportations, they moved slightly further away from the swarm of snow sculptures.

As soon as the three reappeared, over a dozen snow sculptures rushed after them. The snow sculptures were incredibly fast—no wonder Li Ran refused to retreat further, knowing that even with their own flying abilities, they couldn’t match their speed.

Moreover, there was a giant mutated snow dragon on the road ahead—a true abomination that even Li Ran had to approach with caution. So he first turned to confront the snow sculptures.

Guo Shier shouted, “Brother Li Ran, try to lure the snow sculptures to the foot of the mountain…”

Li Ran immediately understood. Guo Shier’s plan was to draw the swarm of snow sculptures into a fight with the mutated snow dragon. To maintain his peak strength, he couldn’t waste too much soul energy, so Guo Shier’s method was more reliable. He roared, “Be careful yourselves! Don’t get surrounded by the snow sculptures. Just fight defensively!”

Guo Shier yelled back, “Brother Li Ran, just go ahead and fight. Don’t worry about us!”

Fan Zhen also shouted, “Let’s work together!” His altar extended two virtual talisman chains, locking onto Guo Shier and Yang Miluo’s altars. With a spell cast, the three altars quickly drew closer together, forming a triangular formation. Guo Shier smiled and said, “This is a good plan. I’ll handle the enemies in front. Old Fan, you lead, and we’ll protect the back.”

Despite this brief delay, the swarm of mutated snow sculptures had already charged over. It was just dozens of them, not an entire army, so the three weren’t afraid. The triangular formation of the three altars spun rapidly, and each of them summoned their sacred artifacts.

Guo Shier and the old hero combined their efforts to create a strengthened moon blade. At this moment, he had no intention of holding back—he wanted to kill as many snow sculptures as possible. Countless tentacles of the ancient Xixi Bi emerged from his altar, protecting the bases of all three altars. In aerial battles among altar-level professionals, the hardest thing to defend against were attacks from below, and the tentacles of the ancient Xixi Bi were an excellent defense.

Li Ran did not unleash his soul pressure. With a wave of his hand, countless streams of silver light shot out. So far, he had not brought out the altar either. At his level, there was no need for an altar—it was completely integrated with his soul body, so even without it, his strength remained unaffected.

Hundreds of streams of silver light streaked across the sky, accompanied by successive “puff” sounds. Like cutting through dry grass, they instantly killed five or six hundred Snow Carvings, triggering a chorus of mournful cries. Li Ran turned and left. The Snow Carvings let out shrill cries, their anger palpable even to Guo Shier and the others in the distance.

Guo Shier turned to look and asked, “What’s Brother Li Ran doing?”

Fan Zhen added, “Ignore what he’s doing. Focus on the Snow Carvings!”

Three altars spun outward, unleashing attacks on the pursuing Snow Carvings. Continuous assaults killed seven or eight of them. The tentacles of Gu Xi Bi stretched out, catching the fallen Snow Carvings, collecting several corpses, and extracting their essences in the process.

Guo Shier and the old hero joined forces to wield the Moon Blade, slaying an eleven-level mutated Snow Carving with a single strike. This excited Guo Shier greatly, as he realized his own strength was improving rapidly. He had not yet fully tapped into the power of the Heavenly Altar, but its attack enhancement effects had already significantly boosted his abilities without him even realizing it.

The three of them moved around the outer perimeter of the Snow Carving swarm, killing a few from time to time. Yet the swarm was enormous, and killing a few hardly made a difference.

A large group of Snow Carvings chased after Li Ran.

When the swarm of mutated Snow Carvings invaded the territory of the Abnormal Giant Snow Dragon, the massive creature finally emerged from behind the mountains. Over 1,800 meters long, its sheer size filled Li Ran with awe.

Snow Dragons belonged to the dragon lineage, lived in snowy regions, and possessed ice-based spell abilities. The Abnormal Giant Snow Dragon was extremely powerful. Without reaching a certain level as a professional, no one could even fight it. Not only did it have an astonishing vitality, but its combat strength was also formidable.

Mutated beast beasts of the dragon lineage were already stronger than those of other lineages, and after mutating, they became even more terrifying. The Abnormal Giant Snow Dragon was furious. It crouched at the foot of the mountain, crushing countless plants like snow pines. Those were huge trees, hundreds of meters tall and seven or eight meters in diameter, yet they couldn’t withstand the dragon’s trampling and collisions.

With a roar, a white mist burst from the Great Snow Dragon’s mouth, quickly condensing into blue ice shards that shot out like countless blue arrows, whizzing toward the flock of snow sculptures in the sky. Hundreds of snow sculptures were knocked down in an instant.
Roar!
Huff!
Li Ran suddenly teleported away, cursing with a laugh, “Damn, this place is truly a treasure trove—there’s even an Abnormal Silver Snow Leopard! A level-16 Abnormal Silver Snow Leopard… This is going to be interesting, hehe.”
This Abnormal Silver Snow Leopard wasn’t very large, about 900 meters long, entirely white in color with large silver patches on its fur, looking extremely majestic. With just one glance, Li Ran fell in love with it—this leopard was too beautiful. He, like Guo Shier, had a fondness for beautiful animals.
Li Ran had already decided that he must obtain the soul of this Abnormal Silver Snow Leopard at all costs.
The Abnormal Silver Snow Leopard and the Abnormal Great Snow Dragon were old enemies, fighting against each other for countless years without either side being able to gain the upper hand. Although the Silver Snow Leopard was an Abnormal Talisman Beast at level 16, the Great Snow Dragon was a dragon-type Abnormal Talisman Beast, naturally stronger than beasts of the same level. Their sizes also differed, so their combat strengths were roughly equal, with neither side able to defeat the other.
At this moment, the main force of the snow sculpture flock arrived, darkening the entire sky. Countless snow sculptures circled in the sky, their cries shaking the heavens. The flock had lost hundreds of members and was now completely enraged.
This was a battle to the death.
Book 35: Secrets of the Great Abyss Altar