Su Ran warily stared at the group of black-robed men, secretly thinking that their strength was considerable, and a fierce battle seemed inevitable. She shielded her disciples behind her and shouted, "You uninvited guests, don't even think about taking the inheritance core!"

The leader of the black-robed men sneered. He was tall and thin, with a black mask covering his face, revealing only a pair of sinister eyes filled with disdain: "You? A bunch of immature brats, daring to stop us. If you know what's good for you, obediently hand over the inheritance core, and maybe we'll spare your lives."

Su Ran did not back down. Her spiritual power surged in her hands, and the icy blue light illuminated the entire ice chamber: "If you want to inherit the core, you have to get past me first!" After saying that, she launched the first attack, using "Ice Spirit Illusion Step". Her whole body turned into an icy blue phantom and instantly appeared in front of the black-robed man. Then, "Ice Shard Piercing" shot towards the black-robed man like a storm.

The man in black robes remained calm. He swiftly formed hand seals and chanted incantations, instantly conjuring a black spiritual energy shield in front of him. Ice shards struck the shield, producing a series of crisp sounds, merely causing ripples but failing to shatter it.

"A mere trick!" the black-robed man scoffed, flicking his wrist as a black flame hurtled towards Su Ran. This flame carried an eerie aura; wherever it passed, the surrounding ice rapidly melted, turning into billowing mist. Su Ran's expression changed; the power contained within this black flame was extremely malevolent, far surpassing that of ordinary flames. She hurriedly activated "Ice Shield Protection," and a massive ice shield appeared before her. The black flame struck the ice shield, causing it to melt rapidly. The intense heat caused fine beads of sweat to appear on Su Ran's forehead.

Seeing this, the disciples rushed to help. One disciple, skilled in wind magic, unleashed "Whirlwind Tornado," a powerful tornado sweeping towards the black-robed man, attempting to engulf him. Another disciple cast "Thunderous Descent," and suddenly dark clouds filled the sky, with thick bolts of lightning striking down towards the black-robed man.

Despite the onslaught, the man in black remained calm and composed. He dodged the raging tornado with a swift movement, his hands moving rapidly, sending forth strands of black spiritual energy that coiled around the lightning. Surprisingly, these lightning bolts were guided by his spiritual energy strands, redirecting them back towards the disciples.

Su Ran's heart tightened, and she hurriedly cast the "Ice Spirit Barrier" to protect her disciples. Lightning struck the Ice Spirit Barrier, producing a deafening roar, and the barrier trembled violently, on the verge of shattering.

Just then, the other black-robed figures also surrounded Su Ran and his group. These black-robed figures varied in strength, but the weakest among them was at the late Foundation Establishment stage, posing a significant challenge to Su Ran and his companions.

A black-robed figure brandished a long black sword. He moved like a ghost towards a disciple, the sword flashing with a sharp light, aiming straight for the disciple's throat. The disciple, in his haste, only had time to cast a simple spiritual energy shield. The shield shattered instantly under the sword's edge, and the sword was about to pierce him.

Su Ran was frantic. She exerted all her strength and unleashed the "Ice Spirit Freezing Technique." Centered on her, a powerful ice-based force rapidly spread out, instantly freezing the surrounding space. The black-robed man rushing towards the disciple froze, his entire body encased in ice, his long sword stopping less than an inch from the disciple's throat.

However, Su Ran's action also consumed a large amount of her spiritual energy. Taking advantage of this, the other black-robed figures launched an attack, unleashing various evil spells upon Su Ran and the others. Su Ran, struggling with her exhausted body, cast spells again to defend herself.

"Don't panic, everyone! Concentrate your spiritual power and let's fight back together!" Su Ran shouted. Hearing this, the disciples gritted their teeth and gathered their spiritual power together. They unleashed a powerful combined spell—"Five Elements Unity to Break Evil Formation." The five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth merged together, forming a massive energy sphere that hurtled towards the black-robed man.

Upon seeing the powerful spell, the black-robed man's expression changed slightly. The leader hurriedly directed the others to join forces and create a black defensive barrier. The energy ball struck the barrier, producing a deafening roar. The entire ice chamber shook violently, and cracks multiplied on the ice walls, threatening to collapse at any moment.

The black defensive barrier developed fine cracks under the impact of the energy sphere. A hint of panic appeared on the faces of the black-robed figures; they increased their spiritual energy output, attempting to stabilize the barrier. Meanwhile, Su Ran and the others were also doing their utmost to maintain the "Five Elements Unity Evil-Breaking Array," resulting in a stalemate.

Just then, Su Ran suddenly noticed a weak spot in the black-robed man's defensive barrier, where the spiritual energy fluctuations were relatively weak. A thought struck her, and she looked at the person beside her...

Su Ran whispered to the disciple beside her, "Look at the bottom right corner of the barrier; the spiritual energy there is weakest. Let's concentrate all our attack there." The disciple understood and quickly relayed the message to the other companions. The group slightly adjusted the direction of their spells, concentrating most of the power of the "Five Elements Unity Evil-Breaking Array" towards the bottom right corner of the black-robed man's defensive barrier.

The powerful forces of the five elements surged like a raging torrent, relentlessly assaulting the weakest point in the barrier. The black-robed man sensed the danger and attempted to gather spiritual energy to repair it, but it was too late. With a crisp crack, the lower right corner of the barrier shattered first, followed by the entire black defensive barrier crumbling like glass.

The residual power of the "Five Elements Unifying to Break the Evil Formation" had not diminished, and it charged straight towards the group of black-robed figures. Unable to dodge in time, several were directly struck by the energy ball, spitting blood as they flew backward. The leader of the black-robed figures glared angrily, his hands rapidly forming a strange hand seal as he chanted incantations. An even more powerful evil force erupted from his body. This force, like a black vortex, frantically absorbed the surrounding ice shards and mist.

"No! He's about to unleash an even more powerful spell! Stop him!" Su Ran shouted. The disciples launched another attack, raining down spells of ice shards, flames, and wind blades upon the black-robed man. However, the evil power surrounding the black-robed man formed a protective layer, and the spells only caused ripples on that layer of power.

The black-robed figure thrust his hands forward with tremendous force, unleashing a black beam of light that shot straight towards Su Ran and the others from the vortex. Su Ran's expression turned grave; she knew the immense power of this attack. Without hesitation, she gathered all her spiritual energy into her hands, unleashing "Absolute Ice Domain." Centered on her, an unbreakable layer of ice instantly covered an area several feet in radius, protecting everyone within.

The black beam of light struck the ice, producing a deafening roar. Countless fine cracks appeared on the ice's surface, and a trickle of blood escaped from Su Ran's lips. But she gritted her teeth, doing her best to maintain the ice's stability. At this critical moment, a disciple skilled in earth magic had a flash of inspiration. He cast "Earth Guardian Barrier," and a thick earthen wall rapidly rose from the inside of the ice, working together with the ice to resist the impact of the black beam of light.

Finally, with everyone's combined efforts, the power of the black pillar of light gradually dissipated. Meanwhile, the situation inside the ice chamber worsened; the cracks in the ice walls widened, and large chunks of ice began to fall. Su Ran knew that the ice palace was about to collapse, and they had to obtain the inheritance core and escape as soon as possible.

The core of the inheritance was located in the ice sphere not far away, which was now mostly cracked. Su Ran seized the opportunity, enduring the weakness from her depleted spiritual energy, and used the "Ice Spirit Flash" movement technique to instantly appear beside the ice sphere. She placed her hands on the ice sphere, mobilizing her last bit of spiritual energy to accelerate its cracking.

Seeing that Su Ran was determined to seize the inheritance core, the black-robed figures were unwilling to give up. Ignoring their own injuries, the leader of the black-robed figures led the remaining men in another charge. One of the black-robed figures produced a black halberd and thrust it fiercely towards Su Ran's back. Su Ran sensed the attack from behind but was unable to dodge, and could only place his hopes on his disciples.

A disciple skilled in wood-based magic reacted swiftly, casting "Entangling Vines." Countless resilient vines surged from the ground, instantly binding the black-robed man's legs, causing his attack to veer off course. The halberd grazed Su Ran's back, tearing her clothes and leaving a shallow bloodstain.

Meanwhile, the other disciples unleashed spells to hinder the black-robed man. Some used "Ice Prison Imprisonment" to trap him in an ice prison; others used "Illusory Mist" to obscure his vision. Taking advantage of this brief opening, Su Ran increased his spiritual power output. With a soft sound, the ice sphere shattered completely, revealing the inheritance core radiating a gentle light.

Su Ran grabbed the inheritance core, sensing the powerful ice-type energy it contained. But there was no time to study it in detail. She put the inheritance core into her storage ring, turned around and shouted, "Everyone, stop fighting and find a way out quickly! The Ice Palace is about to collapse!" Upon hearing this, the disciples fought and retreated, moving towards the exit of the Ice Palace.

The man in black robes wouldn't let them off easily and pursued them relentlessly. The ice palace passageway, now trembling violently, had become even more complex and difficult to traverse. Blocks of ice kept falling, obstructing their path. Su Ran used her spiritual power to blast away the ice blocks while searching for an exit.

Suddenly, a narrow passage appeared ahead, its end shimmering with a faint light, seemingly the exit. However, as the group approached the entrance, a horde of ice golems emerged from all directions. These golems were clearly far more powerful than the ones they had encountered before, emanating a chilling aura.

"Damn it, these puppets came at the worst possible time!" a disciple cursed. But by then it was already too late.