Chapter 640: Caged Bird

Upon hearing these words, the Peacock Demon clan members were taken aback but also instinctively became curious. The future clan leader on the stage seemed to have strong control over space, but how would she fare against other attributes?

Hu Mengyu turned to Mei Gongzi, "Then let me give it a try."

"Go ahead." Mei Gongzi, not wanting to engage in too much conversation with him, made a gesture of invitation.

Hu Mengyu didn’t take flight, but his eyes instantly turned ice blue. At the same time, blue patterns like ice flowers spread out from under his feet, enveloping the platform under both him and Mei Gongzi, with extreme cold surging out.

Ice Domain!

Although he appeared relaxed, he had watched the battle between Mei Gongzi and Wang Ling earlier. He dared not be careless and immediately used his domain-level power.

Daring to challenge her naturally meant he had confidence. The Ice Phoenix bloodline was a first-tier one, and he himself was a peak-level Demon King.

His understanding of Mei Gongzi was even deeper and clearer than that of the Peacock Demon clan members. He had personally seen her participate in the elite competition in the Ancestral Court. But since he had been there, he knew that even if Mei Gongzi had broken through, it had only been a few days at the most. With his peak-level Demon King power and comparable bloodline, he believed he had a good chance.

However, in the next moment, his expression changed. His Ice Domain had indeed enveloped both himself and Mei Gongzi, and he was well on his way to freezing Mei Gongzi... or so he thought. But just as his domain expanded and the cold air made even the spectators in the distance shiver, his vision blurred.

When it cleared again, he found himself in mid-air.

In other words, even though he had activated his domain, both he and his domain had been directly transported into the air.

It looked like nothing had changed in their position, but the opponent had used space control to simply shift the entire battlefield. This was just preposterous.

Hu Mengyu was startled by the opponent's spatial control, but with his rich combat experience, he didn't hesitate. Every bit of water in the air instantly turned into ice needles, shooting towards Mei Gongzi from all directions.

Mei Gongzi floated quietly, silver ribbons of light swirling around her. As the ice needles passed through the silver light, they seemed to lose their way and turned back, shooting straight at Hu Mengyu.

Star Shift!

"Condense!" Hu Mengyu shouted coldly, and the ice needles halted. In the next moment, they all exploded simultaneously, with powerful force, sealing off all the space around Mei Gongzi.

Hu Mengyu was confident that his cultivation was definitely above Mei Gongzi's. Even if he couldn't match her in elemental control, he would overpower her with sheer force.

However, the girl at the center of the explosion vanished into thin air.

A flash of shock crossed Hu Mengyu's eyes. Impossible! His ice explosion had clearly shattered the surrounding space. How could she have teleported away?

In fact, she hadn’t teleported away. She had never been there to begin with.

Dozens of Mei Gongzis appeared out of nowhere, surrounding Hu Mengyu on all sides. Each Mei Gongzi raised her hand, guiding a silver ribbon of light. For a moment, the sky was filled with dazzling silver light. The ice elemental energy was instantly transported away, and in the space delineated by the silver ribbons, there was not the slightest bit of it remaining.

Hu Mengyu's pupils contracted, and his wings flapped violently as he activated his bloodline essence. Bits of spirit ice floated out from his phoenix wings, freezing the space they passed through. He then plunged into the ice layer.

But Mei Gongzi made a circular motion with her hands. "Seal!"

Her cold voice was clearly heard by everyone present.

Then they saw the soft, cotton-like ribbons of light suddenly transform into solid silver pillars. With a bang, Hu Mengyu slammed into the pillar and bounced back, letting out a cry of pain as his body appeared to crack.

The silver pillars were not made of bloodline energy alone; they seemed to be cracked, but those cracks were not caused by the collision with Hu Mengyu. Instead, they had been there to begin with—they were spatial rifts. Strangely, the usually unstable spatial rifts had formed into pillar shapes, creating a cage that trapped the Ice Phoenix inside.

Hu Mengyu frantically launched attacks, but he had no external elemental energy to rely on. He was in a spatial cage that isolated him from it, so he could only rely on his innate ice energy to attack. Yet the spatial cage was incredibly solid; the Peacock Demon clan members present could feel that each pillar of the cage absorbed space energy from the outside to reinforce itself. Although it shook with each impact, it still trapped Hu Mengyu inside, preventing his escape.

Even worse, it seemed that the energy of the pillars behaved somewhat like Star Shift, dissipating the powerful impacts.

Mei Gongzi hovered above the cage, gently adding more and more silver ribbons of light, maintaining the cage's form.

The lofty peacock imprisoned the proud phoenix.

Many of the older Peacock Demon clan members couldn't help but feel tears welling up in their eyes at this sight. The Peacock Demon clan and the phoenix race had always been arch-enemies; seeing their rival trapped, a veritable bird in a cage, how could they not be moved to tears?

This scene made them subconsciously begin to accept their new clan leader. They all believed strength was paramount, and what better way to prove one’s strength than by humiliating one’s enemies?

Stepping on the cage, she slowly descended to the high platform. Although true experts could see that maintaining the cage required Mei Gongzi to continuously infuse spatial power, and it wouldn't be easy to kill the Ice Phoenix Demon King Hu Mengyu inside, the sight of it alone made the Peacock Demon clan's blood boil with excitement.

A peacock stepping on a phoenix — this had been their dream for many years, and now it was right before their eyes.

This Ice Phoenix Demon King was far from comparable to an ordinary Demon King, yet he was defeated by Mei Gongzi in a short time. Although she had just passed her tribulation, she was undoubtedly a top-tier existence among Demon Kings. She didn't just win because she could suppress the bloodline of her clan; she was truly powerful.

Mei Gongzi's age was no secret—everyone knew she wasn’t even twenty yet. A Demon King under twenty was unprecedented in the history of the Peacock Demon clan, especially one so powerful. If the Ancestral Court was too far away and the Elite Competition merely boosted her reputation among the nobility, then now, in front of everyone, two battles against Demon Kings had fully demonstrated her strength. More importantly, they demonstrated her potential! Undoubtedly, she had proven to everyone who mattered that she had the bearing of an Emperor!

How many young powerhouses with such profound potential were there among the many demon and nymph clans? Only a few dozen. Although not every one of them could become an Emperor, future Emperors would unquestionably emerge from among them. For the Peacock Demon clan, she was the first in hundreds of years to be counted among these youths. She brought true hope for a hopeless clan.

Hu Mengyu continued to struggle in rage, but no matter how much he struggled and raged, he could not break through the spatial constraints. Although a Demon King's endurance was undeniable, being continuously suppressed and using up his energy while his opponent had no problem replenishing her own meant that the final result could only be his defeat.