For the first time, the creature was forced backward, the impact sent it skidding through the air, crashing into a nearby mountain of ice it had formed around a cluster of trees. The shockwave rippled through the ground, scattering snow in every direction.

"It’s tougher than it looks," Cattaleya said, her eyes narrowing as she unleashed another flurry of attacks. Each strike left glowing trails of energy that tore through the storm like meteors.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

While she attacked, Daoist Chu was already in motion.

His sleeves flared as hundreds of talismans flew from his palms, embedding themselves into the ground with precision. Each talisman shimmered faintly, forming intricate runic patterns that began linking together.

"Meng Bai! Set the formation flags! Yin Attuning Formation, Frost Dissipating Method!" Daoist Chu commanded.

"Yes, right away!" Meng Bai replied, pulling a set of formation flags from his Spatial Storage ring.

His movements were quick and practiced. Though his cultivation was the lowest, his proficiency in formations was unmatched except by Daoist Chu and Lin Mu himself. With every flag he planted, the ambient temperature dropped less and less, as if the land itself resisted the cold.

But the Greater Ice Elemental sensed danger.

The talismans’ faint glow reflected in its crystalline eyes, and its instincts screamed of threat. Its massive form trembled before releasing a shockwave. Thousands of icy needles shot outward like a storm of death, targeting the talismans before the formation could be completed.

"Not so fast! Dawn Occluding Veil!" Elyon’s calm voice echoed through the chaos.

He raised his hand, and a wave of darkness spread across the battlefield, blanketing the ground in a shroud of pure shadow. The air rippled as the veil took form... an endless abyss that devoured light itself.

The storm of ice needles struck the veil, disappearing upon contact.

Poof. Poof. Poof.

The deadly shards melted into harmless drops of water, falling softly to the frozen earth.

Lin Mu grinned beneath his flaming rock mask. The coordination of his allies was flawless. The first phase of the battle was going exactly as planned, but the true test had only just begun.

While Daoist Chu and Meng Bai focused on setting up the Formation Array, Lin Mu continued his flurry of attacks.

Afternoon Pine and Ocean Raker slashed out relentlessly, each swing unleashing red arcs of sword energy that merged Lin Mu’s Sword Intent with searing Fire Qi. The two blades whistled through the freezing air, their trails glowing like streaks of molten metal cutting through ice.

The combination made his strikes far more potent, especially now that Lin Mu had reached the Sword Heart stage. Having witnessed how resilient the Great Ice Elemental was, Lin Mu knew that without Sword Intent, his attacks would barely scratch its surface.

While the swords lashed out, Wonderseeker rained down a storm of flaming arrows, each one bursting against the elemental’s icy armor like tiny suns. The battlefield blazed with heat and frost, light and shadow colliding in a violent dance.

Just Lin Mu alone occupied half of the Great Ice Elemental’s focus, keeping it from attacking others.

Cattaleya and Little Shrubby handled the other half, their movements fierce and coordinated. The beast’s flames, fierce as a divine inferno, were agony for the elemental. With Little Shrubby’s Absolute Flame Command, his fire did not dissipate upon contact with the creature’s frozen body. Instead, it clung to it like living fire, devouring its essence.

On one side, Lin Mu unleashed flaming sword arcs that crashed against the creature like waves of molten fire. On the other, Little Shrubby poured torrents of flame that wrapped around the elemental’s colossal form, setting half its body ablaze.

Cattaleya struck whenever the icy appendages reached out to counter or defend, shattering several of them with thunderous swings.

SHATTER! SHATTER!

"There we go!" Cattaleya shouted triumphantly as the crystalline spikes shattered into shards of blue ice.

GRRAAAAAAAAAA!

But the Ice Elemental did not falter. Instead, its roar echoed through the storm, a sound that made the air itself vibrate.

SHUA! SHUA! SHUA!

"What the..." Cattaleya muttered as she saw frost gather again, congealing into new appendages almost instantly. "This is going to be a pain."

Lin Mu observed closely, his eyes narrowing. The speed of its regeneration was astounding.

’In such a blizzard it can regenerate rapidly, though there should be a limit to its power,’ Lin Mu thought.

At that moment, the familiar calm voice of the Saintess echoed in his mind.

"I have observed the elemental. It does not possess the same vast energy reserves as naturally formed ones. Though durable, it will eventually falter if you maintain your attacks."

"Does it have a weakness, Saintess?" Lin Mu asked quickly.

He had already tasked the twin serpents with locating one.

Even his own immortal sense could not pierce the creature’s body, and his Spatial Perception revealed only the fabric of space behind it rather than its internal structure. Against a being composed of pure elemental essence, ordinary detection methods failed.

"You can target its core," the Saintess replied. "But since this is an Ice Elemental, it will be difficult to locate, as it is nearly indistinguishable from the rest of its body."

"Even you cannot sense it, Saintess?" Lin Mu asked.

"With the world’s limitations, I cannot. The core is not a true physical construct, but an ever-shifting node of energy. The twins will be better suited for finding it."

"I see..." Lin Mu murmured.

The situation was clear to him now.

Defeating the elemental was not the only problem. They had to restrain its spread, prevent it from harming the loggers nearby, and minimize destruction to the forest. A small loss of trees was acceptable, but letting the creature rampage freely could devastate the Dynasty’s land and people.

That was also why Lin Mu could not use his strongest attacks.

Even a single Mountain Collapsing Fist might annihilate the elemental—but it would also devastate the surroundings. His Gravity Dao Embryo was the same, and the Heaven Crushing Descent would be catastrophic to unleash with allies present.

He clenched his fists. ’No, I must rely on precision and control.’