The place where Alex was currently was filled with huge trees. This looked more like a verdant forest. Alex decided to explore this place for three or more days before returning to the top of the pillar.
As Alex was walking, he suddenly found a pair of Icicle-horned Leopards. To be more exact, they had come here looking for him.
"Awooo!!"
"Awooo!!"
The moment they set their eyes on him, they howled really loudly. The birds flew away as a bad premonition raised in Alex's heart.
Alex was surprised to see them. These two demonic beasts were only Rank 8 demonic beasts, equally powerful as peak Heavenly Completion Stage martial warriors. He immediately took out the Heavy Earth Sword and rushed towards the two Icicle-horned Leopards.
The two Icicle-horned Leopards seemed to have sensed the horrifying aura of Alex, they immediately scampered away, running away from the devil. They used the trees as their cover to hide from Alex's line of sight while widening the distance between them.
"They are crafty." Alex thought as, with a gentle leap, he launched into the air. Looking down, he saw the two smart asses zigzagging across the trees. His lips curled into a smile, a murderous one, as like a psychopath, he muttered, "Caught you...."
He did a nose dive, landing three steps above them. All that was seen by the Icicle-horned Leopards then was a flash of white light. Alex stood in their attacking range. But they didn't move a single muscle as they didn't have the strength or breath to do so. Alex slashed with his sword. In that very instant, the heads of two Icicle-horned Leopards detached from their body, dropping to the white ground which their blood dirties.
Alex waved his hand the devouring flame flew out of his body and entered the two demonic beasts' corpses before returning to his body, bringing a surge of comfortable energy along that further solidified Alex's foundation and brought him a step closer to the Crystal Transformation Stage.
Alex smiled ears to ears. Just as the devouring flame's attribute panel said, the devouring flame could devour the strength and cultivation of other people and demonic beasts, and give them to its master.
Alex was still smiling when he suddenly had a strong tingling feeling on the back of his head as if Death itself was running its hand through his hair, and continuous chills were creeping up his spine.
He immediately sensed a deadly danger approaching him.
But from where?
Alex looked around, working his senses to their utmost limit.
Sure enough, there was a huge fluctuation of energy 200 meters behind his back. His senses weren't fooling him. He turned around, and what he saw thinned his eyes to the size of needles. Glimmering rays of frostiness shot out from the sides of the tree, launching an assassination on him.
Alex waved his hand in a hurry. Immediately, a barrier of energy manifested out of thin air and enveloped him completely. Then he swung his sword, smashing six frost spears into smithereens.
Two more volleys of frosty iciness tried to claim his life but the energy barrier around him blocked the attack.
Taking a deep breath, just as Alex let his guard down, a powerful frost spear came piercing at him, immediately shattering the energy barrier that he made in a hurry. Then the frost spear shot past him, cutting open a bloody gash on the side of his shoulder.
It didn't hurt a lot, but Alex felt like a dozen bees had stung him in the same place.
At first, Alex thought someone is targeting him.
"Show yourself!"
Just as he shouted those words, a downsized Icicle-horned Leopard followed by varying size Icicle-horned Leopards came into his vision. There were dozens of them. Four of them were Origin Sea Stage demonic beasts. The rests were Heavenly Completion Stage demonic beasts and Crystal Transformation Stage demonic beasts. But the demonic beast in the lead was actually a Royal Rank demonic beast.
This Icicle-horned Leopard had blue eyes and there was the mark of a snow flower on its head. This demonic beast seemed to have advanced to become a Royal Rank demonic beast just a few months ago. It was almost on par with a Martial King Level 2 martial warrior.
When Alex saw this demonic beast, his lips trembled out of excitement.
"If I can absorb this demonic beast's cultivation, I can advance to Crystal Transformation Stage easily."
Alex looked at this demonic beast and an attribute panel appeared in front of him.
[Name: Icicle-horned Leopard (Leader).
Grade: Royal Rank.
Talents: Royal Rank Frost Bite Talent, Royal Rank Speed Talent, Royal Rank Cold Breath Talent.
Abilities: Frost Spears, Snow Cannon, Icicle Rain,...]
Alex was surprised. This demonic beast's two out of three talents were something he was looking at for the first time. He had never seen them before.
But whatever, he immediately chose to replicate them.
[Replication Successful! Congratulations to the Originator for obtaining Royal Rank Frost Bite Talent!]
[Replication Successful! Congratulations to the Originator for obtaining Royal Rank Cold Breath Talent!]
[Replication Successful! Congratulations to the Originator for obtaining the skill Frost Spear!]
[Replication Successful! Congratulations to the Originator for obtaining the skill Icicle Rain!]
Alex was happy. The moment he was about to fuse with the replicated treasures, the leader Icicle-horned Leopard let out a loud roar.
"Awoo!"
This roar signaled the start of the fight. The intelligence of this Icicle-horned Leopard took Alex by surprise.
Upon its roar, the other Icicle-horned Leopards surrounded him, circling him.
"If you think you can overwhelm me with numbers, you're wrong!" Alex scoffed.
The Icicle-horned Leopards' leader gave no heed to his word and howled, commanding its minions to tear him apart.
"Awooo!"
Instantly, they pounced on him.
Alex's eyes turned cruel, and his fighting spirit rose to an unprecedented level. His muscles swelled, his face turned red, and veins popped up on his head and neck as if an exorcist was trying to force a demon out of his body.
An instant after he uttered that word, a wave of aura invisible to the naked eye suddenly burst out in all directions, with him as the center.
The Icicle-horned Leopards that had pounced on him were thrown away brutally.
Some crashed into their comrades, some died after smashing their heads on ice-cold stone, while some head-butted thick trees and slumped down to the snow. The icicles hanging on the trees fell down as they were rocked, stabbing the wolves down below.
Pitiful roars were heard. At the same time, six heads flew towards the Leader of Icicle-horned Leopards, landing on its footsteps. These heads belonged to its comrades, who weren't given a chance to stand up before they were killed.
It glared at Alex with blue eyes full of resentment and undisguised murderous intent.
Alex stood 50 feet away, but he could feel her anger. He smashed some leopards, giving them a concussion, before turning around to give her a disdainful look.
The Leader of Icicle-horned Leopards felt as if Alex had poured salt over her wounds. Feeling taunted, its blue eyes darkened.
Then it opened its mouth, and in the very next instance, all the frosty air in the surrounding was sucked towards it. All that wind condensed into the shape of a ball.
"It's coming…."
Right at that very moment, the Icicle-horned Leopards surrounding him backed off, and the Leader of Icicle-horned Leopards blasted the freezing cold air toward him.
He dashed to the sides, escaping the Leader of Icicle-horned Leopards Frost Breath.
Three Crystal Transformation Stage Icicle-horned Leopards had silently slinked their way to him when he was busy dodging the Frost Breath. All three pounced on him at the same time, noticing at the last second that Alex was looking at them as if they were as good as dead.
Whoosh!
He spun in a circle with his sword. The wolves that couldn't change their position in mid-air were chopped in two halves by it. Only one of them escaped death by landing on Alex's sword. Then, it tried to bite his head off. What it got to eat, however, was a beefy smash of his powerful fist.
Alex's attack reassigned its facial structure, but it stubbornly kept its jaw clenched on his fist, trying to rip out his hand.
"Ahh!"
The pain made Alex cry out in pain. This was the first time he was injured, and it is all because of his underestimation of Crystal Transformation Stage Icicle-horned Leopard. He had underestimated them by thinking that, with his strength, dealing with them would not take much effort.
And the result...
At this time, Alex again felt a tingling sensation on the back of his head.
"Oh, I see…."
The Leader of Icicle-horned Leopards was closing up on him. He immediately slashed out the sword that he was holding in his other hand, cutting off the head of the leopard that was biting on his hand.
By the time he dealt with the Crystal Transformation Stage Icicle-horned Leopard, the Leader of Icicle-horned Leopards had pounced on him.
His back was facing her as her claws lengthened to 1 meter in size, ready to attack him.