If Ki had chosen to remain in place and had not dodged the sudden ambush on her then it was unknown if she would be harmed by the attack.
Her physique was resistant against poison, heat and cold while it had been further tempered by body strengthening medicines and the Blood Buddha Art that had progressed a lot over the years.
The Blood Buddha Art was at the very peak of her realm so she had gained superior strength and endurance compared to other martial artists.
The body strengthening baths had only further help to strengthen her body further past those limitations so it was difficult for her to be harmed by ordinary means.
The cold flame that missed her body may have been able to cause some harm if it came from someone that was far stronger and if it was above what her cold resistance could protect her from.
Getting hit by it could have not harmed her but there were always techniques that went beyond simply causing physical harm to others.
Some techniques created effects would get in the way of others movements so even if they did not harm a person, they could still slow them down or help to capture them.
Even an invincible martial artist at a much higher realm could fall victim to such tactics or could be worn down by a large crowd of people.
Once they were put into restraints that made it difficult for them to escape then there would be more than enough time for the captors to search for a way to kill her.
The cold or ice that may not have been harmful to Ki would have still formed an outer layer on the parts of her body that it made contact with.
That icy layer would obstruct her movements slightly unless she was able to remove it before more similar attacks hit her.
If an icy layer surrounded her whole body then it did not matter how much of a resistance she had, her whole body would be enveloped in a layer of ice and would suffocate.
Arrogance was often the main downfall of most martial artists who believed themselves to be invincible.
The Blood Sect master that Ki worked under was an example of someone that had a large amount of vitality within him and a highly durable body but he was still killed by Ki who was weaker than him.
There was another reason that Ki had chosen to avoid the attack and run away, it was to not get others caught up in the battle.
The survival of Nova and the other dogs would be far less if Ki had chosen to stay where she was and fought off her attackers.
If she stuck around then it was more likely that the dogs would get caught up in the ongoing battle or would even be used as shields or hostages against Ki.
The most logical decision for Ki to make was to leave them behind even if she did not like the idea of it.
Nova had been with her for a long time so there was a bond between them so Ki would not coldheartedly abandon her.
There was a chance that her attackers would harm the dogs that were left behind to vent their anger or they could just coldly kill each of them for any other possible reason.
If they saw no reason to harm them and were seeking some form of profit or had some other goal then they would be in a hurry to remove the dogs and the sled to somewhere away from the main path that they were on.
There would be others that were supposed to come through the same path so they could not leave them out in the open and leaving traces of blood behind would only help to alert some others that had entered that path before they reached the ambush point.
It was more likely that they would keep the dogs alive long enough for them to be moved out of sight then it would be up to them whether they would be able to survive for longer.
Since Ki had created some distance from them and kept running away into the mountain, the dogs had some chance of surviving even if it meant for a little while longer.
Ki did not have her sword with her or any other of her other more dangerous weapons to use since she and her sled had been checked over before the race began.
The sled dog race did not allow for the use of weapons and dirty tactics but it was still possible for anything to happen in between the race.
There could always be things that would happen out of the sight of others and other people may have found a way to sneak something dangerous with them.
If someone wished to cheat then they would have to fool the eyes of the others but those that had played by the rules did not have anything useful to protect themselves from the sudden ambush.
If it was happening in more than one place then it was likely that there could have been many that had fallen victim to the trap that had been set.
Those that had passed through the same path in the earlier round of the race may have been ambushed before her so Ki had suspected that the person who did not appear again after she took another path may have fallen victim to an ambush too.
If the attackers were not in a hurry and picked their targets carefully then they would not expose themselves right away.
Some people may have been able to pass through during the time that the attackers were busy hiding away what was left behind from their ambush and were making their preparations for another ambush.
It meant that others may have been waiting to ambush on other places that Ki had passed through but they may not have had the opportunity to target her at that time.
The head of Ki was filled with various scenarios as she continued to run ahead of her pursuers.
Her physical bodies strength that was assisted by the qi within her body that was used to aid her qigong techniques had only helped her to further increase the distance between them.
The mountain was an unfamiliar place to her and others would be more knowledgeable about it, Ki had one goal and that was to go deeper into the mountain even if there was a chance of there being more people waiting for her there.
The people chasing her did seem physically fit and were not affected by the cold environment but they still found it difficult to keep up to her, their only real advantage was that they knew the mountain better than her and they knew where others were located.
They were each panting as they tried to keep up behind Ki and they saw her figure further ahead, once they saw her heading towards the deeper areas of the mountain, they started to show a cruel looking smile on their faces. "Do not give up men. Even if that girl is fast, she cannot possibly hold out like that forever."
"Ha..ha.. yeah."
"She is only human after all."
"Kekeke. She is running straight into danger."