Clash with a Silver Snow Leopard

"Old Hu, send down my order, all middle stage cultivators in the main force are to dispatch to the Wild Forest immediately, kill all those my clone sent out and bring them to the sacrificial altar. They must get that technique at all cost. Remember to tell them that not a word of this mission must go down." The tenth master added, his red hair danced without the wind making his evil aura more pronounced.

"As you wish, Tenth Master." Old Hu replied obsequiously, it was now a race against time, the preparations for the meeting has already gone into swing. He quickly left the mountain to relay the order.

The surbordinates hand-picked by the Tenth Master's clone hurried to the Wild Forest whistling and giggling unaware of the imminent doom awaiting them. All they had on their mind was the reward they would get after completing the mission.

* * *

Ye Mo searched for a quiet cave to cultivate but couldn't find one, cultivating in the open was not an option, so he could only wander aimlessly, his steps paused, a narrow and inconspicuous cave laid ahead of him at the foot of a cliff, he forgot how long he walked, thirty metres away from the cave was devoid of any spirit beast, it was strangely quiet and peaceful. The place provided a great deal of secrecy, no one would even notice that a cave was in this place because the canopy of trees and shrubs created a perfect cover for the cave. They would only see the large cliff behind the cave, he stumbled upon this cave by luck.

He put his guard up as he entered the cave, such a peaceful and quiet cave usually hid great dangers. The cave was deep and narrow, it seems to have been roughly dug by a beast, the walls of the the cave was filled with claw marks. He took notice of something as he entered the cave, the temperature was slightly lower than the outside, he took little notice of that since it was normal to such a hidden cave to have a lower temperature.

Ten steps.. twenty steps.. thirty-five steps... The deeper he walked, the colder the cave became, the terrifying chill was trying to stop his heartbeat.

His sturdy body shuddered ever so slightly as he walked deeper into the cave. The deeper he went, the darker and more ominous the cave was. His rosy face began to turn pale, his sixth sense told him that something frightening was hiding deep within the cave, his steps faltered, he wanted to turn back but the system voice shouted right in time, "You must not go back, there is an rare treasure down the cave, you must fetch it at all cost, an opportunity knocks at the door only once." The system voice carried a tempting and luring charm, he became lost in the system's words.

He disregarded the plea and warnings of his sixth sense and turn to another bend deeper into the cave. A deep tunnel appeared before him, the depth of the tunnel was something his eyes could not estimate but all the coldness emanated from this seemingly deep and ominous tunnel, the mouth of the tunnel looked like that of a viper.

His gaze solidified and remained firm, a great man must never be afraid of troubles, brazing through the twists and turns with an unwavering determination. If he back out because of this litte cold, how will he survive the dangerous and disastrous world of cultivation. He motivated himself as he entered the dark tunnel.

His body jolted suddenly, a terrifying chill swept past his body, it was like he was plunged into a glacial sea. He hurriedly tried circulating the Spiritual energy but it even made it worse, the spiritual energy had a cold attribute to it. He rubbed his palms vigorously to keep himself warm.

He fell rapidly, it was like there was no end to the tunnel.

-40°C... -60°C... -80°C... -100°C...

The biting chill sent fear down his spine, he should have listened to his intuition, the tunnel was even colder than the Eastern Antarctic Plateau, a big mess, he got himself in a big mess in the name of self-righteousness?

His downward descend ceased when he landed on a solid material, as for the number of metres, well he lost count.

His curious gaze looked around the spacious cave that look like a small world, a world of ice, the ground, the wall, everything was covered his ice, the chill here was terrific to say the least. His body shuddered violently, he had never for once encountered that type of cold environment. His gaze landed on the exquisite silver crystal floating mid-air in the middle of the cave, the crystal gave one a sense of peace but Ye Mo thought otherwise as the ice that filled the entire cave originated from this crystal, there was a disastrous chill constantly emanating from the crystal.

"Wow! Two treasures! Boy am so envious of your luck." The system voice sounded excited, Ye Mo snap out from his thoughts, glancing around, 'two treasures?' all he saw was a sliver crystal, 'where was the other treasure?'.

His gaze froze, his heart came to a brief pause when he saw what was under the crystal, ' a Four Star Silver Snow Leopard!!!'

Alarm rang in his mind, 'was this what the damn system called treasure?' his face twisted to an ugly expression. The indifferent gaze of the Silver Leopard sent chills down his soul, a single misstep will end his life. According to the encyclopedia of Spirit beast, all Silver Snow Leopard were in the spirit realm but the star between their brows determined their stages. A Silver Snow Leopard with one star pattern between it brows was comparable to a first stage Spirit cultivator. So this four starred Silver Leopard was comparable to a Fourth stage Spirit cultivator, which was already beyond the scope of what he could handle.

He stared intently at the four stars between the Silver Leopard brows hoping and praying it was an illusion but what he saw made his soul almost fly out his body. A Fifth star was already half formed, he rubbed his eyes vigorously and pinched himself hard but the pain from the pinch reminded him that it was reality, a quasi five star Silver Snow Leopard, meaning its strength has already surpassed what a four starred could muster.

His body was like a broken dam, buckets of sweats poured out from his body, he was but a measly ninth stage body cultivator, facing off against a beast that was six times stronger than him? Drinking Grandmother Meng soup[1] in the Naihe bridge[2] would be the only outcome.

He looked at the Silver Snow Leopard with utmost respect, "Cough... Cough... Hmm... Sorry to intrude into your territory, damn I don't even know how I ended up here. I will take my leave now. Thanks for your time." He turned back without any hesitation hurrying to escape this damn place.

Although the Silver Leopard could not speak, it understood clearly what the human was implying, letting him leave here will only spell trouble for him. Humans should not be trusted, this was a truth it learned bitterly. He would surely go and bring many more masters to fight it. Humph! Not a chance.

Ye Mo only saw a blur and the Silver Snow Leopard appeared blocking the one and only path of escape, the beast growled ferociously, a ball of ice was shot out from its mouth, the ball gradually expanded turning into an ice cage. Ye Mo slashed forth with his sword causing the ice cage to fall apart.

The Silver Snow Leopard growled even more ferociously, with a stomp of it foot, blocks of ice began to spread, a wave of terrifying chill came out from the crystal flaoting mid-air, the world of ice seems to have been given breath, waves after waves of coldness poured out ceaselessly. The beast shot forward, Ye Mo swore that he had never seen such a frightening speed in his lives.

He only saw a blur, he just followed his instinct this time and turned to the left, his left hand was ripped open, the bone in is left hand became visible to the naked eye. No blood flowed out from such a grevious wound, puzzled he glanced at his left hand, ice slowly formed on his hand, his blood was frozen in place that it could not flow, soon his left hand became a block of ice.

AAAAAAGHHHHH.....

The pain hit him so hard that he screamed hysterically, it was like he had lost his sanity. The biting chill disregarded his sturdy body and invaded his internal organs ruthlessly, his blood turned cold. Coldness ran amok inside his body, his organs were freezing, the chill emanating from the surrounding poured more fuel to the raging flame.

The strengthened five viscera were freezing slowly, if this continue he would surely turn to an ice sculpture in a matter of minutes.

It only took one strike for the Silver Leopard to utterly defeat him, the gap in the strength proved difficult to measure. The gears of his mind sounded like crazy looking for a way out of his impending death. His mind was fuzzy, he could not think clearly, ice was already covering his feets, if only he had not listened to the system's word, he wouldn't be here now, unfortunately there was no medicine for regret.

Blood trickled from his lips, his chunk of flesh that the Silver Leopard ripped apart had been frozen solid. He bit his lips as blood flowed down his lips staining his clothes red.

The feeling of death was terrifying, he roared loudly in his mind, he could not give up now, he had to even with this damn system, he had yet to enter a cultivation academy, he roared loudly in his mind, it was his willpower that was keeping till this moment.