339: Ice Crisis

On the smooth, glistening icy ground.

Ripples spread out in waves.

Xiao Shi’s expression was wary, his gaze fixed intently on the front.

He clearly saw these ripples spreading and gradually converging, causing the icy ground in front of him to twist and writhe like a vortex.

Then, four figures emerged from beneath the twisting, writhing ground.

These four figures… were none other than the reflections of Xiao Shi himself, cast upon the icy ground!

However, under the effect of the ice, these four reflections had solidified into physical bodies made of ice.

They had the same physique and appearance as Xiao Shi.

But their faces were expressionless.

Their eyes also appeared hollow.

“Reflections?”

Xiao Shi’s heart skipped a beat.

At the same time.

Not only did reflections appear in front of Xiao Shi, but also in front of the many guards behind him.

However, each of these guards only faced two reflections, while Xiao Shi alone… had four reflections!

Xiao Shi speculated as to why this was.

He presumed it was because he had previously dealt with that Martial Demon Realm youth, which resulted in a certain increase in the difficulty of this checkpoint.

Originally, this checkpoint was a two-person challenge.

Now, with Xiao Shi entering alone, the difficulty of this checkpoint would double from its original base.

If two people had entered normally, each person would correspond to two reflections.

Now, with Xiao Shi alone, he had to face four reflections simultaneously.

“It seems the main danger of this checkpoint comes from these reflections!”

Xiao Shi narrowed his eyes.

Once the four reflections in front of him solidified, there was only a pause of less than half a second before their hollow eyes flickered with a hint of vitality, locking directly onto Xiao Shi.

Whoosh!

They instantly transformed into four afterimages, charging at Xiao Shi with astonishing speed.

“Hm?”

Xiao Shi frowned slightly.

He sensed something was amiss.

He felt an incredibly astonishing killing intent from the eyes of these four reflections; so strong was this killing intent that Xiao Shi faintly felt a sensation of needles pricking his skin.

Before this, he had only experienced such intense killing intent from one person.

Even the Martial Demon Path forces’ cultivators did not possess such terrifying and powerful killing intent.

Only his Demonic Body Clone… possessed this level of killing intent!

“They are not my reflections!!”

“They are the reflections of my Demonic Body Clone!!”

Xiao Shi’s mind tensed.

Besides the astonishing killing intent emanating from the eyes of these reflections, their attacks were also completely different from Xiao Shi’s.

If they were Xiao Shi’s reflections, their attacks would undoubtedly be consistent with his.

But now, their attacks were of two completely different styles from Xiao Shi’s.

For a moment, as these reflections approached, a vivid, giant Crimson Tiger head suddenly materialized on Xiao Shi’s body.

A powerful, resonant tiger roar immediately erupted from the mouth of this Crimson Tiger head, unleashing shockwaves that spread out in all directions, centered on Xiao Shi.

These shockwaves not only impacted the four Demonic Body Clone reflections but also the reflections of the surrounding guards.

With Xiao Shi’s current strength, the Crimson Tigers Roar he unleashed was no longer something those below the Martial Demon Realm could withstand; it was enough to easily obliterate anyone below the Martial Demon Realm.

To prevent these guards from dying at the hands of their own reflections, Xiao Shi felt it necessary to clear these reflections for them first.

Therefore, he directly unleashed his current largest-range attack, Crimson Tigers Roar!

However, after the shockwaves unleashed by the Crimson Tigers Roar swept over these reflections, whether it was the four reflections in front of Xiao Shi or the reflections of the other guards, they merely trembled slightly.

After only a slight pause, they continued their attacks.

There was no instantaneous collapse or shattering of these reflections as Xiao Shi had imagined.

Even the bodies of these reflections showed not a single trace of damage.

It was as if they had merely been brushed by a gust of wind.

“Soul attacks are ineffective?”

Xiao Shi frowned.

He knew clearly that with the power of Crimson Tigers Roar, these reflections should not have been able to withstand it.

Yet, they were completely unharmed.

This clearly indicated that soul attacks had no effect on these reflections.

“That means these reflections don’t possess souls…”

Xiao Shi understood.

He raised his right hand, unleashing a punch like a cannonball, colliding fiercely with one of the charging reflections.

Boom!

A circle of white shockwaves immediately exploded from where their fists met.

Upon impacting the three nearby reflections, it directly sent them flying far away.

At the same time, a crack spread rapidly across the body of the reflection in front of him, visible to the naked eye.

It extended from its arm all the way to its entire body.

With a crack.

This reflection shattered explosively in front of Xiao Shi.

“They are indeed the reflections of the Demonic Body Clone…”

Xiao Shi was now completely certain of this.

The moment he collided with the reflection, he felt the solidity and sharpness emanating from it!

It was like striking a weapon!

This was precisely a characteristic of the Demonic Body Clone.

However, this reflection possessed only about twenty percent of the Demonic Body Clone’s strength; even with a solid body and astonishing power, it could not withstand Xiao Shi’s full-strength punch.

It was directly shattered by Xiao Shi.

Whoosh!

Xiao Shi did not stop there.

After shattering this reflection, he charged at the other three reflections with even greater speed.

Accompanied by a series of shattering mirror-like sounds, these three reflections were all blasted apart by Xiao Shi’s attacks.

Although, as reflections of the Demonic Body Clone, their bodies were incredibly solid, Xiao Shi’s physical body was equally formidable!

Furthermore, these reflections only inherited about twenty percent of the Demonic Body Clone’s strength.

Even with a numerical advantage, they were no match for Xiao Shi.

After dealing with the four reflections in front of him at the fastest possible speed, Xiao Shi immediately rushed to support the guards.

If he could easily smash the reflections of his own Demonic Body Clone, then the reflections of these guards were even simpler for him.

Xiao Shi transformed into a streak of light.

Wherever he passed, the reflections of these guards shattered and exploded.

He only took less than ten seconds in total to shatter all the appearing reflections, leaving none behind.

However… Xiao Shi’s expression did not relax because of this.

Instead, his brows were tightly furrowed.

He felt something was very wrong!

This checkpoint… was a bit too simple!

Although for other Martial Demons, they might not be able to shatter the reflections so easily, especially given that soul power was ineffective against them, it would certainly be troublesome for them.

After all, for Martial Soul Realm cultivators, their souls had already merged with their physical bodies, and every attack they performed would carry soul power.

Once soul power was ineffective, the overall power of their attacks against the reflections would be greatly reduced.

This would prevent them from dealing with the reflections as efficiently and quickly as Xiao Shi.

However… with these reflections only possessing twenty percent of the Demonic Body Clone’s strength, even if other Martial Demons couldn't quickly kill them, it wouldn't be impossible for them.

They could completely eliminate these reflections without using specialized items, it would just take more time.

This level of difficulty… Xiao Shi felt it wasn't much stronger than the first checkpoint.

It was truly strange!

“Normally, these checkpoints should only get harder and harder. If they were all this simple, then their existence would be meaningless.”

Xiao Shi’s intuition told him that this checkpoint… likely concealed a greater danger!

He immediately led the guards, moving forward quickly, wanting to leave this checkpoint as soon as possible.

However, the characteristics of this ice plain limited their movement speed, preventing them from going fast.

Even if Xiao Shi himself could maintain a relatively fast speed, the guards behind him could only advance slowly, step by step.

This gave Xiao Shi a headache.

Unless he abandoned them, he would inevitably be unable to leave quickly.

As time passed, Xiao Shi’s sense of unease grew stronger.

However, their progress remained slow, and the extent of this ice plain was also surprisingly vast.

Even after traveling for a long time, they still couldn't see the end.

At this moment, the icy ground beneath their feet once again rippled, and as these ripples spread, new reflections rose from the ground.

The number of reflections appearing this time was clearly greater than before.

Previously, Xiao Shi had four reflections appear.

Now, there were six!

The other guards also had three reflections appear.

“It’s not that simple after all!”

Xiao Shi’s eyes sharpened.

He realized that these reflections would most likely appear over time.

From just now until now, it had been about an hour.

“That is to say,”

“This ice plain will form a new batch of reflections every hour, and their number will be greater than before!”

Xiao Shi summarized the pattern.

In this way, the longer they stayed on this ice plain, the more dangerous it would become!

There would be an endless stream of reflections appearing.

“No wonder this ice plain restricts speed; unable to leave quickly, one must face wave after wave of reflections!”

Xiao Shi finally understood the danger of this checkpoint.

Whoosh!

In response, he could only continue to act, shattering these reflections as quickly as possible.

Boom!

However, when he and one of the reflections collided, although the reflection was directly shattered by Xiao Shi’s punch, Xiao Shi discovered that its strength had significantly increased compared to before.

If the previous reflections were roughly equivalent to twenty percent of the Demonic Body Clone’s strength, then the current reflections already possessed thirty percent of the Demonic Body Clone’s strength!

This situation immediately brought a heavy feeling to Xiao Shi’s heart.

If these reflections only increased in number, then no matter how many there were, Xiao Shi would not feel pressured.

In the face of absolute strength, any number is futile.

But if these reflections not only increased in number but also gained ten percent in strength each time they appeared… then even Xiao Shi would face danger!

Once the strength of these reflections reached seventy or eighty percent of the Demonic Body Clone’s strength, Xiao Shi would also find it troublesome when facing a group siege.

Furthermore, if the strength of these reflections reached one hundred percent of the Demonic Body Clone’s strength, Xiao Shi could at most deal with only one individually.

But according to the current pattern, when the reflections’ strength reached one hundred percent of the Demonic Body Clone’s, their number would be twenty!

Once it reached this point… even Xiao Shi would fall into immense danger.

After all, the Demonic Body Clone’s strength was not weaker than his main body’s, especially when soul attacks were ineffective; Xiao Shi could at most fight the Demonic Body Clone to a standstill.

“I absolutely cannot fall into such a predicament!”

Xiao Shi took a deep breath.

If destroying these reflections could also drop items, then he wouldn't mind staying here and continuously killing them.

However, he only received item drops when killing living beings.

Reflections were not considered living beings, so naturally, they wouldn't drop any items.

Now, only one path lay before him: to find a way to leave this place as quickly as possible.

Soon, after Xiao Shi dealt with these reflections at the fastest speed, he couldn’t help but start thinking about how to leave this place most quickly.

If it were just him, he would have the ability.

But the crucial problem lay with the guards… “Since walking on the ice plain constantly restricts speed due to the ice on one’s feet, why not try flying?”

Xiao Shi’s mind stirred.

He directly took out a flying boat from the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree’s storage space, attempting to lead these guards away from the ice plain via the flying boat.

However, as soon as he took out the flying boat, it crashed heavily onto the icy ground.

Even with Xiao Shi’s strenuous effort to control it, the flying boat could not lift off the ground.

“No-fly zone?”

Xiao Shi frowned.

He found that the flying boat couldn't be used here at all.

He then tried to fly using the flight mode of the Martial Emperor Shoulder Armor, and he was indeed able to ascend into the air.

But even in the air, with every step forward, frost would still condense on his body, causing his speed to decrease.

In other words, there was no difference whether he was on the ground or in the air.

“It’s a pity the heaven officiant robe has reached its wear time; otherwise, through the heaven officiant robe’s Heaven Officiant Domain, there might be hope of accelerating…”

Xiao Shi’s brows were deeply furrowed.

He began to search among his various items for something that could resolve the current predicament.

However, after thinking for a while, he couldn't think of any item that could solve the current situation.

He did have the ability to quickly lead one or two people away from this ice plain.

But he couldn't lead so many guards, along with the box sealing the Demonic Body Clone, away simultaneously.

Especially since the box sealing the Demonic Body Clone could only be moved by these guards.

Xiao Shi himself could not carry this box away.

“Then…”

“I can only search for a suitable item in the Myriad Treasure Pagoda, or… exchange for a specialized item through the era crystal and gamble on my luck!”

The most troublesome thing now was that he didn't know how large this ice plain actually was, and he worried that at the guards’ speed, they might not be able to get out.