Fei Yangnian was dumbstruck for a moment, then it suddenly hit him: these ice threads were not physical threads of ice at all, but condensed from spiritual consciousness. No wonder brushing against them from behind had stung so sharply while his skin remained unbroken and not a drop of blood was drawn.

Fei Yangnian was not the only one obstructed by the ice threads—even Xue Jianming, who had gone on ahead, was now forced to retreat. His face dark, he turned to Bing Wushuang and demanded, "What's the meaning of this?"

"Nothing much. I intend to settle it here, that's all. Care to join the fun?" Bing Wushuang replied expressionlessly. There was no doubt about it: those threads of condensed consciousness were his handiwork.

"You think a little trick like this can trap me?" Xue Jianming snorted coldly.

"Whether it can trap you, you already tried just now, didn't you?" Bing Wushuang, dodging the Primeval Giant Lizard's attacks, actually cracked a rare grin.

Xue Jianming's expression turned uglier still. What Bing Wushuang said was true—he had already tried. If he could have broken through those consciousness-formed ice threads, he would never have turned back. The crux was that these threads had at some unknown point encircled the whole area, leaving no blind spot at all. The place had become a veritable cage.

Clearly, Bing Wushuang no longer wished to face the Primeval Giant Lizard alone. Unless the two of them joined forces to finish off this brainless brute, Xue Jianming could forget about leaving this place.

"Is this a new technique of yours?" Xue Jianming asked in a low voice.

"Of course not," Bing Wushuang replied indifferently. He had known this move long ago; only, limited by his strength in the past, he could at best produce a few scattered, fine threads—nothing like the dense, woven ice-thread cage before them now.

"What's it called?" Xue Jianming asked again.

"The Heartless Ice Threads." Bing Wushuang did not conceal it. This was a supreme technique derived from the Heartless Ice Force, and all along his cultivation had centered upon the Heartless Ice Force. Every technique he had trained in, before and after, was built upon that foundation—the Heartless Ice Threads included.

Xue Jianming fell silent. Though his outward strength was no longer beneath Bing Wushuang's, it had come too quickly. The unavoidable drawback was a lack of depth: he had yet to master many of the powers belonging to the Golden Core Great Perfection stage, and spiritual consciousness in particular was a glaring weakness. Against these Heartless Ice Threads woven from condensed consciousness, he was utterly helpless.

Bing Wushuang, too, had risen swiftly, but he at least had an early Golden Core foundation to build on. And his innate talent was a cut above Xue Jianming's to begin with, so by comparison he was far better off.

At this moment, the Primeval Giant Lizard, Bing Wushuang, Xue Jianming, and Fei Yangnian were all trapped inside the ice-thread cage. A patch of ground no bigger than a palm had become an open-air arena of fight-to-the-death: either the Primeval Giant Lizard died, or all three men died with it—there was no third outcome.

Strictly speaking, the ice-thread cage could trap Xue Jianming and Fei Yangnian, but it need not have trapped Bing Wushuang himself along with them. Yet even he would have to expend some effort to pass through his own Heartless Ice Threads—and plainly, Xue Jianming would never grant him the chance to slip away.

Fearsome as the Primeval Giant Lizard was, if Bing Wushuang and Xue Jianming could have cooperated in good faith, two Golden Core Great Perfection experts might not have found it so troublesome. Unfortunately, each harbored his own schemes. At a time like this, not tripping each other up already counted as noble character; from first to last they did essentially one thing—scheming to shift the Primeval Giant Lizard's hatred onto the other.

What was astonishing, though, was that Fei Yangnian actually managed to survive in such circumstances. It was likely because his strength was so pitifully low that even if one strained to redirect the Primeval Giant Lizard's hatred onto him, it would delay things only a few seconds. So Bing Wushuang and Xue Jianming both instinctively treated him as invisible, and thus he escaped disaster.

One incense-stick's time later. The battle had entered its white-hot phase. Because each kept shoving the burden onto the other, Bing Wushuang and Xue Jianming had actually fallen completely on the defensive against the Primeval Giant Lizard. Both were battered and grimy, while the lizard fought more ferociously with every exchange. At this rate, the two of them might well end up as the lizard's rations.

"Cut it out, you two! Can't you settle this lizard first and fight each other afterward? Otherwise we're all done for!" Fei Yangnian shouted anxiously from the sidelines. If Bing Wushuang and Xue Jianming really lost, he would not live either.

Bing Wushuang and Xue Jianming exchanged a glance. They knew this could not go on; if they truly died here together, it would be a farce. Bing Wushuang spoke first: "You hold it off. I'll take the offense."

"Fine!" Xue Jianming agreed at once. With a superb movement technique like Traceless Snowstep, holding the Primeval Giant Lizard at bay for a short while would not be difficult, nor would it cost him much effort. It was Bing Wushuang, handling the offense, who would expend more stamina—by that reckoning, Xue Jianming still came out ahead.

The two worked together, and the effect was immediate. Once Xue Jianming had fully drawn the Primeval Giant Lizard's attention, Bing Wushuang gathered power for a moment, then suddenly struck. Using his palm as a blade, roiling cold qi swiftly condensed upon it into an exceedingly thin, deep-blue ice saber. He brought it down square upon the Primeval Giant Lizard—the Life-Reaping Heartless Slash!

The Primeval Giant Lizard's reaction was nothing if not swift; sensing the danger, it dodged at once. Alas, its massive bulk became an outright burden at that moment—however fast it was, it could not fully evade. The deep-blue ice saber struck true, cleaving squarely into its tail.

Earlier, Xue Jianming's full-powered sword strike had failed to break through its silver-grey scale armor, yet this time, against Bing Wushuang's Life-Reaping Heartless Slash, the entire tail was severed clean at the root. Blood sprayed on the spot, and the beast howled in agony.

"It's done!" Fei Yangnian was overjoyed—then promptly gaped in dismay. Having lost its tail, the Primeval Giant Lizard did not collapse; instead it grew even more savage and frenzied than before, its rampage more complete than ever.

"Good gods! It still won't die?" Xue Jianming was caught off guard and sent flying by a swipe of its claw. Luckily none of its drool touched him—otherwise that blow would have finished him outright.

Even Bing Wushuang felt a lingering chill at the sight. The Primeval Giant Lizard had already lost a tongue and a tail; by all reason it should be gravely wounded. Yet its current state was more terrifying than before—both its attacks and its speed had jumped another notch. How were they supposed to fight this? (To be continued.)