A wall of ice sprung up from the ground around Ruyue the second she finished her small conversation with Damien.
From the second she decided to kill the geniuses of the Xue Clan in the secret realm, she was prepared for this moment.
And once Damien took the 11th Elder into the shattered space to fight, Ruyue immediately engaged the 12th Elder on her own.
Her figure flashed through the air, trials of blue flames following her path as she did so. She was moving so fast that she was almost illusory, but the 12th Elder's attacks still managed to reach her without any trouble at all.
The 12th Elder smirked. "Little slut, even after selling yourself to that trash, you still only have this much power. Frankly, I'm ashamed to say that you were ever part of our Xue Clan."
Ruyue rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Dumb bitches sure know how to talk. With that bastard Xue Yebai's personality, I assume the only reason a woman like you was able to become an Elder was by getting a train ran on you by all the other Elders of the clan. Am I right or am I right?"
The 12th Elder's face turned black. "Staying with lowborn scum like that man had really ruined your mouth. Slut, I won't let you die easy!"
"I can't argue that staying with a shameless rogue like him has changed my demeanor. But, your mouth was ruined too, was it not? Swallowing the kids of so many different people at once must have some kind of negative effect, not that I would know."
The 12th Elder almost coughed blood at Ruyue's provocations. The worst part was, she hadn't said anything false at all.
The 12th Elder was no longer in the mood for a battle of words. At first, she wanted to crush Ruyue mentally before killing her, but her plan completely backfired.
Instead, she roused her mana, causing the air around her to freeze. Blue runic patterns began to form in the air around her, dancing in the sky and turning even the wind into sparkling frozen dew drops.
"Ice Phoenix Divine Patterns!" The 12th Elder shouted. The runes immediately mobilized, surrounding Ruyue and trapping her in a frozen coffin.
Ruyue looked around indifferently. 'It's like a downgraded version of Luna's runes. Instead of carrying the Life properties of a true Ice Phoenix, this is purely ice. It's just a cheap copy using the same name.'
She had spent a year with Lunaria Snow, a true Ice Phoenix. In that time, she had learned plenty about Ice Phoenix Patterns. As such, dealing with a minor trick like this wasn't a problem for her.
Blue flames lit up Ruyue's palm as she imitated the 12th Elder's previous trick. Except, instead of runic patterns, Ruyue drew beastly figures in the sky with her iceflames.
Phoenixes, Dragons, even more common feline beasts like leopards appeared around her. As soon as she finished drawing them, they roared to life.
Roar!
The Iceflame Dragon let out a frightening roar filled with the aura of yin. It charged into the side of the coffin encasing Ruyue and exploded itself.
Boom!
Icy flames devoured the runic patterns creating the coffin. In that instant, Ruyue flicked her wrist. The remaining iceflame beasts around her charged into the opening created by the dragon and pried open the coffin, causing it to shatter and fall to the floor.
But escape didn't mean safety. The 12th Elder stood in the sky with arrogance. Behind her, thousands of ice runes danced around, forming the shape of cannons.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
As soon as Ruyue saw the light of day, she was forced to take on another barrage. Ice walls and beasts made of iceflame emerged continuously to protect her from the attack, but each construct she created could only block a single attack before being obliterated.
'If it goes on like this, I'm sure to lose. There's no way my mana capacity can compare to a 4th class. If it's like that…'
Ruyue spread her arms, emitting a lunar white essence that made her look like a holy saintess descended from heaven.
'Blood Moon.'
But the object that appeared behind her made her feel like more of a demon. A bloody red moon, not losing out in any way to the actual moon in the sky, radiated a chilling aura that repelled the attacks that were aimed at it.
'Empower.'
A beam of light left the moon and showered Ruyue's body. When the light faded, she was covered in a set of Valkyrie-esque armor, a shining white spear in hand.
Her figure appeared in front of the barrage of ice spears, confronting the coming onslaught head-on. Her two hands tightened around the spear shaft, making a large sweeping motion through the air in front of her.
'Moon Goddess Spear Arts First Form: Tide Formation'
An iridescent white mana covered the blade of her spear. Ruyue's movements suddenly became extremely fluid, as if she was following the flow of the world.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Even though the strength of the 12th Elder's attack far outstripped what Ruyue could directly fend off against, her spear seemed to think otherwise:
With the sound of clashing metal, Ruyue swam through the sky, sweeping her spear and expertly deflecting every shard of ice that entered her vicinity.
With every movement she made, her spear became more powerful. The ebb and flow of her movements became more defined. The force that was deflected through her graceful dance was coagulated and stored in the tip of her spear.
As Ruyue danced, she slowly inched closer to the 12th Elder, who was still in shock from what she was seeing. The fact that Ruyue was evading her onslaught so effortlessly made her endlessly aggrieved.
And so, she pushed her mana, fusing her comprehension of Ice Laws into her spears as they were shot.
But her movements were a second too late. Ruyue appeared before her, eyes closed and hands tightly gripped on her spear. Using the momentum she had built through her dance until this point, she swept her spear upward toward the 12th Elder's chin.
WHOOOSH!
It wasn't a simple matter of releasing the stored energy at the tip of her spear. Using the Blood Moon as an anchor, Ruyue drew the power of the moon itself, causing the earth below to become fluid.
A tsunami of earth rose with the motion of her spear, threatening to engulf the 12th Elder. As the name of her spear technique suggested, the first movement formed an unstoppable tide.
The 12th Elder gritted her teeth. "There's no way a brat like you can be so powerful!"
She spread her arms and gathered her mana, pushing it to the center of her chest. As soon as she did, a strong pulse spread with her as the epicenter.
"Absolute Zero!"
Voom!
Ruyue's tsunami was frozen in place in an instant. Even the raging mana gathered at the tip of her spear froze, falling to the ground like snowflakes.
"Keuk…!" Ruyue coughed a mouthful of blood and shot backward. Although the pulse of the 12th Elder's Absolute Zero didn't damage her much, the backlash of being unable to release the stored energy in her spear hit her hard.
But Ruyue didn't let out a single mutter of pain. She wiped the blood on the side of her mouth and took her stance once more.
"If a 4th class couldn't even do this much, I'd be immensely disappointed. Now, come. Prove to me that your body isn't the only reason you were promoted."
