"Ice Sword!"
Slender swords made of pure ice appeared in Su Xue and Su Yue's hands. Winter's Snow Dance activated, surrounding their bodies in a flurry of snow and yin energy. They then put distance between each other, intending to attack the demon from two directions at the same time.
Chen Wentian shook his head and rubbed his brow when he saw their move. This strategy was well-intentioned but ultimately an incorrect one. The demon seemed to think so as well.
"Kekeke. I don't know what that human immortal behind you intends but since he sent you two to die, I will oblige!"
"Shut up!" Su Yue shouted and attacked.
She launched forward with a flurry of stabs. Rays of ice materialized all around her and shot out towards the demon.
Su Xue did the same, launching attacks from long-range utilizing the 2nd stage of Winter's Snow Dance, Arrows of Frost.
The faceless demon took these icicles without moving. Its four limbs waved around rapidly, smashing large swaths through the incoming hail storm. The ones that made it through smashed against its tough hide. Ice energy from the attacks was then dissolved into nothingness by the demon's thick spiritual aura.
"That tickles!" The demon said gleefully. "Now, my turn!"
It flexed its muscular legs and then started dashing around the flaming arena.
The twins tried to track its movements, raining ice shards towards the demon's afterimage. Instead of retreating or grouping up, they stood rooted where they were, leaving themselves open to a counterattack that soon came.
With a grey blur, the faceless demon appeared behind Su Xue. Before she could react, the claws extended, ready to strike and slash her apart.
"Noo!" Su Xue screamed in terror and recoiled.
She tried to turn her body and bring her ice sword to bear but she was too slow. Demon claws shot down, two towards her face and two towards her heart.
In that instant, she trod upon the boundary between life and death. Sheer terror wracked her and she froze.
She was like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
Woosh!
A wall of flame erupted between Su Xue and the faceless demon. Gentle energy pulled to her safety while the demon roared in pain as its limbs were scorched by divine dragon flames.
"Focus!" Chen Wentian said, "Your foe is much stronger than you so you have to stay together. Combine your strength!"
"Yes, master!"
The twins awoke from their stupor and reacted accordingly. They came together, each one watching the other's weak side and supporting each other.
The faceless demon disengaged and let out a furious cry, "Despicable humans! Using me for practice… practice! If the ancestor heard of this, he will extinguish your existence and destroy your soul!"
"Ignore it, attack together!" Chen Wentian said.
"Yes!"
The twins combined their ice powers, attacking in unison to double the power. The fight became a little more even and their ice was able to slow the demon a little.
The battle dragged on. The faceless demon tried again and again to kill the twins but Chen Wentian stepped in right before it could hurt them.
It was a difficult show to watch. They couldn't damage the demon with either ice or flames of Summer and Winter's Eternal Sutra. Their elemental spiritual energies were not profound enough. Physical attacks were even more out of the question. The demon was too quick for them and their underdeveloped sword skills.
Still, Chen Wentian persisted and forced them to fight. He knew they were having a hard time and experiencing moments of sheer terror over and over again. He felt bad but he wanted them to struggle through it and perhaps find a breakthrough.
He was reminded of Wu Qianyu, who would have thrived in this challenge. She never backed down from a fight and got stronger the longer it went and the more injured she was. The better the opponent, the more determined she would be. Especially against demons, it was almost like she couldn't lose. She was simply amazing.
The twins were good disciples but compared to Wu Qianyu, they were lacking by a large margin. They were also used to operating in a group of five with the other ice sisters. Their actions and reactions in a group of two were too sluggish and unnatural.
He didn't quite know how to teach them properly. He was still learning how to be a good master. He wanted every disciple to be amazing and he was greatly worried that he would not be able to achieve this dream.
Chen Wentian sighed. The battle was getting nowhere. The twins were running out of energy and they weren't able to find an inner flame to keep them going.
He waved his hand and trapped the demon in a tight cage of blue flame, preventing it from moving or even speaking.
"Alright, that's enough. Xue'er, Yue'er you did well."
"Thank you… master." They replied.
They collapsed to the floor, leaning against each other out of exhaustion, wiping sweat from their brow. He sent some spiritual energy their way to help them recover. After they found their legs again, they quickly returned to his side.
"Master, what are you going to do with that faceless demon?" Su Xue asked.
"Hmm…" Chen Wentian scratched his head, "I thought about keeping it imprisoned somewhere for future use but there's no point. There are plenty of demons, beasts, and strong opponents in the world. Keeping one around might cause accidents at some unexpected point…"
As he trailed off, the prison of blue flame surged. The faceless demon let out a horrified shriek before it was incinerated. Only a bit of ash was left and a wisp of demonic energy that soon dissipated.
"That's that. I will keep the teleportation array locked down for another three days while Chen Mo does some final investigations. Since we caught the demon rather easily, the situation can soon return to normal. Demons like this one usually operate alone. Alright, let's return to Glacier Palace. You two need some extra training!"
He wrapped his arms around the twins and floated into the air.
"But master…" Su Xue complained, "Our sisters are still at Divine Blazing Mountain."
"Yeah!" Su Yue chimed in.
"I train them in three days. Don't worry about it." He said, "You two need to work hard after the difficult show you made me watch. Now that I think about it… we haven't trained together just the three of us. Hah! This will be fun!"
"Bully!"
"So mean!"
The twins squealed and squirmed but couldn't escape his arms, not that they wanted to.
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