None of Us Are Free

Bai Qingxue still didn't answer.

The ice cave fell silent for a moment.

The cold wind squeezed through the cracks in the shattered ice wall, wailing as it passed between the frozen figures, sounding like someone weeping in the far distance.

The sound was intermittent, sometimes feeling as close as a whisper in the ear, and other times as distant as if separated by a thick veil.

"You should bandage your wounds," Ning Qinghan's voice broke the silence.

As she spoke, Ning Qinghan's gaze fell upon the still-bleeding wound on Bai Qingxue's arm. She quickly looked away, speaking as if it were a casual remark, as if it had nothing to do with her.

Lu Xueqing, who had been silent for a long time, seemed to be jolted awake by the reminder. She hurried to take out bandages and medicinal powder from her storage bag.

However, Lu Xueqing ignored her own injury. Even though the gash on her left shoulder torn by the chains was horrifying, she didn't even spare it a glance.

She simply poured the medicinal powder into her palm, used the fingers of her other hand to dab it, and then leaned down to apply it to the wound on Bai Qingxue's arm.

Lu Xueqing's movements were very gentle. When her fingertips touched the open flesh, she acted as if she were afraid of startling something, circling the edges first. Only when Bai Qingxue showed no reaction did she slowly apply it to the center.

The moment the powder touched the wound, Bai Qingxue's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

Still, Bai Qingxue made no sound.

But Lu Xueqing's finger paused nonetheless.

"Does it hurt?" Lu Xueqing asked, her voice so soft it seemed intended only for Bai Qingxue's ears.

"It doesn't hurt," Bai Qingxue said.

Lu Xueqing didn't ask again.

She lowered her head and continued the bandaging.

The bandage was wrapped around and around, each layer neither too loose nor too tight, perfectly fitting the curve of the skin.

Her movements were practiced and skillful.

From the time Bai Qingxue's shoulder was clawed by an ironback bear during the fourth level of Qi Refining, to the time her forearm was nicked by Lu Xueqing's sword at the training ground, Lu Xueqing had been the one to bandage her every time.

Every time she bandaged her, she would ask, "Does it hurt?"

And every time, Bai Qingxue would say it didn't.

But Lu Xueqing would still...

Ning Qinghan stood to the side, watching them.

She took a few steps back and leaned against an ice pillar, arms crossed over her chest in a lazy posture, like an indifferent bystander.

But her gaze remained fixed on Bai Qingxue.

It wasn't that Ning Qinghan was intentionally staring; it was just that she didn't know where else to look. Her gaze drifted around, but it always ended up back in the same place.

She watched Lu Xueqing's fingers brush over the bandage, watched the faded green cord, and watched the newly added dark red pattern on Bai Qingxue's wrist.

That was her restriction.

It had been wrapped around her wrist for ten years, like a snake that would never wake up, and now it was wrapped around someone else.

She was free, but another person was bearing it for her.

But what kind of freedom was this?

Ning Qinghan lowered her head, looking at her own empty wrist. The skin was clean, as if it had never been bound by anything.

But she knew better. The remnants of the seal were still within her body, like an invisible thread connecting her heart to the deepest parts of the Northern Region Ice Field.

She had broken the chains, but the other end of the chain was still tethered to her.

It was merely a longer leash.

Ning Qinghan turned her hand over, looking at her palm.

Right now, there was nothing in her palm.

She slowly clenched her fingers into a fist and then released them.

When she opened her hand, there were several shallow nail marks in her palm, red and fresh.

After a moment, Ning Qinghan looked away, her eyes returning to her bare wrist.

At that moment, Bai Qingxue took out the jade slip from her storage bag.

The jade slip was a pale bluish-white, its surface covered in fine lines like cracks in ice or some ancient script.

It lay quietly in Bai Qingxue's palm, rendered translucent by the blue light, its edges glowing with a faint shimmer.

The ice lotus in Bai Qingxue's dantian rotated slightly, and silver-white spiritual power flowed through her meridians into her fingertips, pouring into the jade slip.

The jade slip lit up.

At first, a very faint halo emerged on the surface of the jade slip, like moonlight falling on a lake. Then the halo grew brighter and more intense, gushing out from the jade slip to condense and spread in the air before the three of them, transforming into a massive map.

It was a complete map of the Northern Region Ice Field.

The contours of the ice field, the path of the mountain ranges, and the network of rivers—every detail was revealed with absolute clarity.

The map was three-dimensional, like a miniature ice field suspended in mid-air, with undulating mountains and crisscrossing ice valleys. One could even see the eerie blue undercurrents faintly visible beneath the ice layers.

Bai Qingxue's gaze swept from the edge of the ice field toward its depths.

Several sealed locations were marked in different colors.

Some were dark red, some were deep blue, and some had faded to a nearly transparent gray. Beside each marking were tiny rune annotations, the characters ancient and profound, unlike any script of the current age.

The location at the very deepest part was repeatedly circled with red runes.

It was a piercingly sharp red.

Watching the map, Ning Qinghan's brow gradually furrowed.

"This is..." she murmured.

Bai Qingxue looked at her. "You can understand it?"

Ning Qinghan shook her head.

"I can't read it." Ning Qinghan's gaze remained on the map, never wavering.

After a moment of silence, she added, "But I've seen it."

Bai Qingxue didn't speak, waiting for her to continue.

Ning Qinghan pointed to the location at the very depths of the map, the one repeatedly circled in red runes.

"The people of the Holy Sect took me there. That is the source of the seal." She paused. "The restriction on my body spread out from that place."

Bai Qingxue looked in the direction Ning Qinghan was pointing, at that place circled over and over by red runes.

Seeing that no further information was forthcoming.

Bai Qingxue withdrew her spiritual power, and the light of the jade slip dimmed instantly as the map began to dissolve from the edges.

The jade slip became quiet once more, resting in Bai Qingxue's palm.

"Your restriction doesn't seem to be fully resolved," Bai Qingxue said suddenly.

She was looking at Ning Qinghan's wrist.

The patterns on Ning Qinghan's wrist had indeed vanished; her skin was currently clean, as if nothing had ever been there.

But Bai Qingxue could feel that although Ning Qinghan's aura had recovered, it was not complete. It was as if a sword had been re-sharpened, but there were still invisible cracks on the blade.

Ning Qinghan lowered her head, looking at her empty wrist.

"That's right, so I'm still not free," she said in a low voice, sounding somewhat dejected.

Bai Qingxue looked at her. Then, she raised her own hand—the one wrapped in bandages, tied with the green cord, and carved with the pattern.

"None of us are free."

Ning Qinghan looked up.

Bai Qingxue's face was cast in half-light and half-shadow by the eerie blue glow.

Her expression was the same as ever—cool and indifferent, revealing nothing.

Hearing those words, Ning Qinghan remained silent for a long time.

Long enough for Lu Xueqing to help Bai Qingxue up, long enough for Bai Qingxue to hang the Shuanghua sword back at her waist, and long enough for the wind in the depths of the ice path to stop and start, and stop again.

Finally, Ning Qinghan replied with a smile:

"Perhaps."