He found himself amidst a range of mountains.
As Bai Zihe searched for the possible guardian.
The small pagoda in his mind suddenly spoke, "No need to look. It's on the mountain peak."
Bai Zihe looked up.
Indeed.
At the summit of the highest peak, a figure stood tall, looking down at him with a cold, contemptuous gaze that seemed to disdain everything.
This person…
Just by his gaze, Bai Zihe felt an extremely powerful presence.
That made sense.
Since this was the second guardian, they would naturally be more powerful than the first, the Water Qilin, and more difficult to overcome.
"I thought…"
"After the water trial, it would be one of fire, wood, metal, or earth. I didn't expect to face someone like this directly."
Bai Zihe sighed and began to walk towards the mountain peak.
"Too slow."
Unexpectedly, the figure, seeing Bai Zihe's leisurely pace, became impatient and decided to strike first.
With a sudden flash, he moved with incredible speed towards Bai Zihe.
He reached the summit of Bai Zihe's mountain in an instant.
Then…
He lightly touched the peak with his toe and leaped high into the air.
His speed was like a shooting star. In the blink of an eye, he had vanished into the clouds, obscuring him from Bai Zihe's sight.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Time passed slowly, and Bai Zihe still couldn't see him.
So.
"Buzz—"
A powerful divine sense instantly expanded, covering a vast expanse of land.
However.
Bai Zihe still couldn't detect his presence, as if he had simply vanished into thin air, leaving no trace.
"This person's divine sense is definitely far superior to mine!"
Bai Zihe's heart didn't dare to relax even slightly.
This person's strength was so formidable that he could evade his divine sense, indicating a gap in their cultivation realms.
He had to be wary.
Cautiously.
"Whoosh—"
The next moment, a figure, head down and body up, descended from the sky with unparalleled speed, heading straight for Bai Zihe.
Behind him.
Wind and thunder flashed, and three thousand clouds churned!
It was the same person from before.
After gathering his strength in the clouds for a moment, he had reached the peak of his power. Without a single wasted word, much like the Water Qilin, he attacked immediately.
"Swoosh…"
His falling speed was extreme.
Even though Bai Zihe had reached the peak of the Tribulation Transcendence stage, his eyesight couldn't pinpoint the figure's exact form.
He could only see a blur.
"What terrifying speed!"
Bai Zihe was secretly astonished, but his actions were swift.
"Swish!"
The next moment, Bai Zihe raised one hand to the sky, and his entire body leaped towards the figure in mid-air.
He chose a head-on confrontation, meeting the challenge head-on.
"Heh."
"Seeking death."
The figure slowly uttered a few words, filled with unconcealed killing intent, overwhelming disdain, and contempt.
Bai Zihe was not angered.
Having cultivated to his current level.
To be provoked by a mere sentence would mean that sentence had struck a vital nerve.
"Crack!"
The distance between them closed rapidly.
The next moment, a streak of sapphire light flashed by, and a powerful wave of cold air instantly erupted, filling the surroundings.
This was precisely the power of water that Bai Zihe had comprehended from the Water Spirit Pearl.
Although it was still somewhat lacking compared to the Water Qilin's previous display, the difference was not vast, and it was within reach.
"The power of water…"
The figure's lips curved into a smile, still arrogant and disdainful.
"Boom!"
In an instant, the two collided.
"Crack."
"Crack crack crack—"
Upon contact, streaks of bone-white ice crystals immediately spread from Bai Zihe's palm towards the figure's hand.
In the blink of an eye, his entire arm was covered.
And the ice crystals continued to spread without losing any momentum, moving towards his shoulder, his entire body, and even his head.
This was the same move the Water Qilin had used at the beginning.
"A mere trick."
Even after being encased in ice, the figure could still speak. And.
In less than half a second.
"Crack!"
"Rumble—"
The ice crystals on his body immediately shattered, exploding outwards in all directions like a blast, without any delay.
Meanwhile, Bai Zihe…
After receiving that palm strike, a vast force, like an unyielding mountain, struck him.
Bai Zihe's body was sent plummeting towards the ground at a speed seven or eight times faster than when he had ascended. Blood spurted from his mouth as he fell.
With just one strike, Bai Zihe was already gravely wounded!
"Whoosh—Boom!"
The next moment, Bai Zihe slammed heavily onto the ground.
The extreme speed imparted tremendous momentum, instantly smashing a human-shaped crater into the hard mountain rock. Bai Zihe lay sprawled within it, resembling the character "太."
"Cough cough…"
Bai Zihe struggled to get up. He could still see many shattered ice fragments around him—these were ice crystals Bai Zihe had used to encase himself the moment of impact, preventing further injury.
Then.
He leaped out of the massive crater and landed on the mountainside.
"An Eight-Turn Loose Immortal!"
Bai Zihe wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and uttered the words with difficulty.
Loose Immortal!
That was a realm superior to cultivators of the Tribulation Transcendence stage but not yet a true immortal.
And an Eight-Turn Loose Immortal was the highest realm below that of an immortal. One more step, and they would be a bona fide immortal!
As for the person before him…
Although his realm was only that of an Eight-Turn Loose Immortal, his mastery of power, his comprehension of dao, and his battlefield adaptability were countless times greater than that of the weakest immortal Bai Zihe had encountered in the five hundredth stage of the Haotian Tower.
Such an opponent was truly not simple.
"Whoosh—"
Just then, another sound of breaking air approached.
It turned out that after exchanging a palm strike with Bai Zihe, the Eight-Turn Loose Immortal had immediately used the force to spring upwards and was now attacking again in the same manner.
At this moment.
He was less than a hundred zhang away from Bai Zihe!
"A second performance?"
A hint of surprise flickered in Bai Zihe's eyes.
Immediately, he moved as well.
"Whoosh…"
Bai Zihe soared into the air.
Simultaneously, he waved his hands incessantly.
With each wave, countless ice arrows shot towards the Eight-Turn Loose Immortal.
These ice arrows were no ordinary projectiles.
With Bai Zihe's current understanding of the power of water, each ice arrow was far more terrifying than thousand-year-old profound ice.
An ordinary cultivator at the Tribulation Transcendence stage would be instantly frozen solid by the extreme cold upon mere contact, their nascent soul unable to escape.
Imagine.
A cultivator whose nascent soul was frozen would be as helpless as a scholar without the strength to wield a chicken!
"Heh…"
To his surprise, upon seeing Bai Zihe's technique, the Eight-Turn Loose Immortal suddenly laughed, a terrifying, ferocious laugh. "If this is all you have…"
"Then die!"
"Once you die, all this will be clean!"