Hen Ping was utterly shocked. She never expected Henry to withstand a single spell, but to her astonishment that sword spell actually dominated and even pushed her back three steps.
With a loud cry, she gripped her staff and raised it into the air. With a mean look, she set her eyes on Henry with a deathly stare and continued to shout the Ping family's ice prison spell.
"Hima Naga Charita Bandhana Samharini" (Ice Snake Soul Binding Death)
Just as she finished shouting the spell, the air around everyone felt cold and the ground sharp. Moving snakes appeared out of thin air and began circling around Henry with a loud hissing noise.
Henry felt like he was standing inside a hurricane. Like living snakes, the ice serpents moved in a zigzag fashion while ready to strike him at any moment.
Usually people would be confused by the moving snakes and release spells randomly to block them, but the actual magic was not in the moving serpents. The trick behind this Ice Serpent spell was the cold ice needles hidden inside the cold air. That's why many people feared the ice prison spell of the Ping family. This trick was their family secret.
But Henry saw through this ice prison spell in one glance. Without wasting another second, Henry gripped his broken sword tightly and swirled around himself with a strong wave of his sword. While moving he shouted,
"Silver Sword Spell! Fifth Form – Mountain Wind Splash."
In the next second, a swirling vortex of hot air countered the ice prison spell. As Henry pointed his sword toward Hen Ping, the ice prison moved toward her at great speed. Before she realized what was happening, all the ice needles in the air pierced her skin, leaving several cuts all over her body.
While everyone was watching in awkward silence, blood started oozing out from different parts of Hen Ping's body. Several sharp cuts appeared on her clothes like needle marks.
"Ahhh!"
With a loud cry of pain, she began crying and tears started falling along her cheeks. She lost the grip of her staff and it fell to the ground with a loud bang.
Before anybody could understand what was happening to her, the pet swan immediately reached underneath her falling body and carried her away like a guardian.
Henry thought of stopping the flying pet swan as Hen Ping still didn't pay her ten spirit stones, but on second thought he let it go as the damage would be severe for Hen Ping to bear.
While everyone was watching in utter silence, Henry walked casually and picked up the staff left by Hen Ping on the ground. He decided to keep the staff until she paid those ten spirit stones. Suman was already smiling widely as he tightly hugged the big jar of spirit stones.
Luna was also smiling happily. The nervousness on her face was completely gone as she finally understood the ability of Henry.
"This is wrong! Lady Hen Ping didn't admit her defeat, so this fight won't be valid. Please give our spirit stones back!" Suddenly little Dong stepped forward and shouted loudly in a righteous tone.
More and more people joined their voices. They all started demanding that Suman return those spirit stones.
"Tch… tch…"
Suddenly a snapping sound made everyone turn towards Henry, who was casually playing with his broken sword with his other hand.
"You all clearly know what happened here. If you still dare to speak nonsense, you can always come fight me. Or if you believe Hen Ping is not defeated, I will always be available to fight her again at any time. Is there anybody who still wants their spirit stones?" Henry asked in a serious tone while staring at little Dong, who had raised his voice first.
Little Dong swallowed hard after seeing the death stare of Henry. He immediately took a step back and mixed himself among the crowd.
As nobody dared to raise their voice, Suman picked up the jar of spirit stones and followed Henry.
Philip Clarke, the patriarch's son, continued to stare at the leaving back of Henry with a murderous look. A bit of fear also invaded Philip's heart because Henry was now powerful enough to defeat Hen Ping.
"I must do something before this fellow steps on me. With the amount of spirit stones in his hand, Henry will definitely grow stronger," Philip muttered.
Philip didn't know about the deadly plan made by his father, Ryan Clark, to kill Henry tonight. Otherwise he wouldn't worry this much.
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In the sky above the Silver Pond…
"Master, that Luna's husband seems to be a bit stronger. I think it won't be easy to take Luna with us. Why don't you drop this idea?" the winged fox asked as he slowly followed the trio of Henry, Luna, and Suman.
"What do you know? This lady Luna is definitely worth our risk. Even if this fellow is stronger, his cultivation is still at most that of a third-class disciple Magus. He is definitely not a match. More than anything, I already made a plan to take Luna with us willingly," Lady Melissa said confidently with a proud smile.
"What?! Master, you are truly a genius. How can you make Luna come with us willingly? She seems to be deeply in love with her husband," the winged fox asked curiously.
"Wait and see. My plans never fail," Lady Melissa said as she tossed a dried meat piece to the winged fox.
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"Brother, here take these spirit stones, total seventeen. As promised I am sharing half and half, and the extra one for you," Suman said with a gleeful smile as he handed the spirit stones collected from the gambling.
Henry accepted them directly while patting Suman on the shoulder.
"Brother, if you don't mind, I will go on my own. I must absorb all these spirit stones before taking the test for academy recruitment," Suman said excitedly.
"Don't overdo yourself. Your cultivation of a fifth-class disciple is already enough to get inside the academy. Rather than increasing your cultivation, use these spirit stones to increase your spell casting efficiency," Henry suggested.
"No, brother. I will use these spirit stones to raise my cultivation. Once I reach the academy I will choose better spells where I don't need to increase my spell proficiency," Suman said directly before taking his leave.
Henry only nodded his head. He didn't want to force his opinion on Suman.
Meanwhile Luna was occasionally staring at the sky as she felt that someone was watching her. For a second she thought of sharing the news with her husband Henry, but she dropped the idea as she couldn't see anyone even after a long time.