The Seal

The disturbance in the ruins came without warning.

Bai Qingxue was cultivating in the courtyard at the time, while Xiao Nanyuan sat opposite her, flipping through the copy of 《Introduction to Qi Sensation》.

Suddenly, the ground began to tremble violently.

Xiao Nanyuan looked up, staring around in confusion.

The leaves of the old locust tree rustled and fell in a sudden downpour, far more than usual.

Bai Qingxue set down her teacup. Sensing the anomaly in the ruins, she stood up immediately.

“Stay here,” Bai Qingxue told Xiao Nanyuan.

Before Xiao Nanyuan could even nod, Bai Qingxue had already stepped out of the courtyard gate.

Her frost-white silhouette quickly vanished around the corner of the stone steps in the morning light.

Xiao Nanyuan stood by the stone table, still clutching her book, staring at the empty courtyard gate.

The wind rushed in from outside, blowing the pages of her book over, but she didn't reach out to stop them.

She simply stood there, looking in the direction where Bai Qingxue had disappeared. Her lips moved slightly, but no sound came out.

Xiao Nanyuan did not sit back down. She placed the book on the stone table and stood at the courtyard gate, watching the path Bai Qingxue had taken.

She didn't know how long she would have to wait, but she knew that she could do nothing but wait.

By the time Bai Qingxue reached the altar, the fissure had more than doubled in size.

What was once a crack only wide enough for a person to squeeze through sideways had now opened into a gap nearly ten feet wide.

Turbulent spiritual power surged from underground, even more violent than before.

A pungent, burnt scent filled the air. The massive stones around the altar had been tossed about by the spiritual impact; several had rolled off the edge and plummeted into the depths of the fissure, falling for a long time without an echo.

Bai Qingxue stood at the edge of the fissure and looked down.

The darkness was bottomless, yet there seemed to be light within it.

It was an eerie blue, cold light, originating from the same source as the ice lotus in her dantian.

The light flickered in the depths like an eye, blinking slowly.

Bai Qingxue didn't know what it was, but she knew it was waiting for her.

It had been waiting for her since the day she was sent to Nanhuai.

Perhaps since the day she became a True Disciple, perhaps since she joined Xueji Peak, or perhaps since the day she had transmigrated into this world.

But what did it matter?

Bai Qingxue leaped into the fissure.

The sensation of falling lasted only a few breaths. The ice lotus sensed her intent, and coldness surged from her body, condensing into a thin ice platform beneath her feet to support her as she descended slowly.

The door to the stone chamber was still there.

The stone door was not fully closed, leaving a gap as wide as it had been last time.

But the light leaking from the gap was no longer an eerie blue cold light; it was a murky, dull grayish-white, like the eyes of a dying man.

Bai Qingxue pushed the door open and walked inside.

Everything in the stone chamber was the same as before.

The walls were as smooth as mirrors, and the ice coffin lay quietly in the center, its transparent body emitting an eerie blue cold light.

However, an indescribable aura now filled the air. It was as if something was slowly and silently seeping from the bottom of the ice coffin, spreading across the floor, into the walls, the ceiling, and every stone crack.

The substance had no shape or color, but Bai Qingxue could clearly perceive its presence.

The ice lotus inside her was trembling slightly, like a startled cat arching its back.

Bai Qingxue walked to the ice coffin and looked inside.

The layer of thin frost at the bottom was thicker than last time. Frost patterns crawled up the walls of the coffin, already halfway to the top.

The direction of the frost patterns suggested something was pushing outward from the bottom, arching the frost layer into fine cracks.

Was the ice coffin moving?

No, something beneath the ice coffin was moving!

Bai Qingxue crouched down and reached out to touch the bottom of the coffin.

Coldness traveled from her fingertips, sharing the same root as her ice lotus, but she felt another power.

That power was being suppressed by the ice coffin like a sleeping giant beast. Now, the beast was about to wake; the seal was on the verge of failing.

Bai Qingxue withdrew her hand and stood up.

She had no time to hesitate.

The seal on the ice coffin was loosening, the fissure was expanding, and the spiritual power from underground was still surging out. If nothing was done, the seal would completely collapse within days.

Bai Qingxue closed her eyes and sank her spiritual sense into her dantian. The ice lotus floated in the center, rotating slowly, its petals layered and glowing with a faint blue light at the edges.

Bai Qingxue forced all her spiritual power into the ice lotus. The lotus shuddered violently, and its rotation speed suddenly increased.

Instantly, the petals of the ice lotus unfurled one by one, like a flower blooming in a flash. The mass of spiritual power at its core, condensed to the extreme, shone with a blinding light.

Coldness erupted from her body.

Taking the opportunity, Bai Qingxue pressed both hands onto the ice coffin. The coldness flowed from her palms into the coffin, into the bottom, and into the seal beneath it.

The frost on the surface of the ice coffin thickened rapidly, turning from semi-transparent to an opaque white, then to eerie blue, and finally to a deep blue that was almost ink-black.

The temperature in the stone chamber plummeted. Thick layers of ice formed on the four walls, and ice pillars hung from the ceiling to the floor, turning the stone chamber into an ice cave once more.

The air around the ice coffin began to condense again, with tiny ice crystals floating in the air like a never-landing snow.

Gradually, Bai Qingxue felt the seal responding to her.

The ancient power was forced back by her coldness, inch by inch.

Its struggles grew weaker and slower, like a beast being pinned underwater. Finally, the seal closed once more.

Bai Qingxue let go and took a step back.

Her face was paler than usual, her lips devoid of color. Her silver-white long hair hung over her shoulders, the tips coated in a thin layer of frost.

Suddenly, a soft sound came from inside the ice coffin.

The body of the ice coffin slowly sank into the ground. The ice layer cracked, revealing the pitch-black rock beneath.

Bai Qingxue backed away as she watched the ice coffin sink into the earth, the floor of the stone chamber close back up, and the ice on the walls begin to shatter.

The stone chamber was collapsing!

Realizing this, Bai Qingxue immediately turned and rushed out of the chamber. The ice behind her peeled off in sheets, crashing to the ground and shattering into powder.

The ice lotus patterns on the stone walls disintegrated silently as she passed. The petals broke and transformed into fine ice crystals that scattered in the air like a scene of snow falling in reverse.

Bai Qingxue burst through the stone door, leaped onto the ice platform, and used the last of her spiritual power to ascend. The passage behind her was caving in; rocks and chunks of ice fell from above, crashing beside her and splashing ice shards and dust.

Bai Qingxue leaped out of the fissure and landed on the edge of the altar.

Standing there, she gasped for breath as she looked at the altar below—or rather, what was now more appropriately called a ruin.

Bai Qingxue didn't know how long this reinforcement would last.

One year, three years, ten years? She didn't know.

But she knew this was likely not the end. Perhaps she would have to stay here for a very long time, just like Suxue.

She didn't let her thoughts linger; there was no point in dwelling on it.

Turning away, she walked out of the altar's vicinity, passed through the back gate of the royal palace, crossed the garden, and returned to the guest courtyard.

The twilight chased her from behind, stretching her shadow very, very long.

From a distance, Bai Qingxue saw someone standing at the entrance of the guest courtyard. The figure was small, wearing a pale green cotton dress, her hair tied back with a plain cloth strip.

The person stood there with hands hanging in front of her, watching the direction from which Bai Qingxue would return.

Xiao Nanyuan saw her. Those bright black eyes suddenly lit up, like someone striking a match in the dark.

Bai Qingxue reached the courtyard gate and stopped, looking down at Xiao Nanyuan.

Xiao Nanyuan tilted her head back to look at Bai Qingxue's face.

That face was bloodlessly pale, her lips were chapped, and her silver-white hair was covered in dust and ice shards.

Xiao Nanyuan reached out and gently grasped the edge of Bai Qingxue's sleeve. She didn't pull hard, just held it lightly, as if afraid she might vanish.

“Immortal Sister, you're finally back,” Xiao Nanyuan's voice was very soft, with a hint of a nasal tone, as if she were confirming something she almost couldn't believe.

Bai Qingxue looked down at the hand but didn't pull away.

“Yes.”