The wind on the city wall had stopped.
Shuangyu stood by the battlement, looking down at the defenders who had been frozen into ice sculptures. One after another, some held swords, some had their mouths wide open, and some still maintained their posture of drawing a bow. A layer of white frost clung to the bowstrings, and the arrows remained notched, unreleased. Her gaze stopped on the bearded man at the very front. He was half-kneeling on the ground, his hand still gripping a broken hilt, his eyes half-open as he stared at the deep blue tide outside the city. Shuangyu clicked her tongue softly and squatted down in front of him. Extending a pale, greyish finger, she tapped his cheek with her knuckle, producing a crisp, ringing sound.
“Why bother?” Her voice was very soft, like a sigh, or perhaps she was talking to herself. This bunch had held her up for half an hour, turning her “surprise attack” into a joke. The Ice Spirit Cult's strategy for Black Mountain Fort should have been completed overnight, yet it had been dragged out for half an hour by these ants who hadn't even reached Foundation Establishment. If the Central Continent Alliance could actually send reinforcements—even if it was just two or three Void Refinement experts and dozens of Soul Transformation cultivators—it might have introduced some variables into this dead end. What a pity; they hadn't even notified the commoners. Shuangyu stood up and looked toward the south. The torches on the city walls had all been extinguished, and the lights in the city were dying out one by one. It was like a candle burning down to its end, flickering precariously in the wind and snow. She looked at the fading light, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Being delayed for half an hour was harmless. This grand sacrifice dedicated to the Lord Apostle of the Heavenly Dao was still proceeding as planned.
She squatted down and thrust her fingers into the bearded man's chest cavity. Ice crystals spread from her fingertips, peeling the frozen heart from between his ribs. The heart, which should have been bright red, had now turned into a translucent ball of ice, containing a few streaks of dark red blood like insects trapped in amber. She held it up to examine it, then clenched her hand around it. The ice ball compressed into a red-and-white marbled bead, which she tossed into her mouth and crunched between her teeth. The sound of ice shards and flesh splintering was quiet, but exceptionally clear on the silent city wall. She closed her eyes, savored it for a moment, then frowned and opened them. “Useless trash. He didn't even have a Foundation Establishment cultivation.” She wiped the icy water leaking from the corner of her mouth.
The fortune above her head was different from others—it was blood-red, so vivid it seemed ready to drip. After she swallowed the bead, that red hue deepened a fraction more, bordering on black. She stood up, no longer looking at the ice sculptures.
Behind her stood two Ice Spirits, nearly three meters tall, with clear armor patterns and ice-blue crystals embedded in their joints. They held large halberds, their blades frosted over, emitting a suffocating chill. Shuangyu pressed her hand against the chest of one of the Ice Spirits. The moment her greyish hand touched the ice crystal, it became translucent and clear. An elusive current of energy flowed between her and the Ice Spirit. She closed her eyes, her brow slightly furrowing, as if she were receiving some kind of message.
Before long, she opened her eyes and looked toward the south. She licked her lips with her purplish-red tongue, her mouth slowly curling upward. That old ghost Guhan... he wouldn't be keeping all the good stuff for himself behind my back, would he? Her gaze pierced through the wind and snow, passing over the flattened ruins to look southward. She didn't know what place lay there, but she could feel it—there was something she wanted. The most abundant vital energy, the purest souls, the ultimate sacrifices. She withdrew her hand from the Ice Spirit's chest, a thin layer of frost clinging to her fingernails.
“Time to move faster.” She leaped down from the city wall, her greyish robes rustling loudly in the wind. Upon landing, she shattered several defenders who had been frozen into ice sculptures before they could even mount the wall, scattering a red-and-white mixture of ice shards and snow across the ground. She stood up, brushed the dust off her robes, stepped over the broken ice, and walked toward the south.
Ice Spirits poured through the cracks of the Abandoned Guest Hall's front door, wave after wave, like an endless rising tide. Chen San's axe swung down, scattering broken ice everywhere, but the Ice Spirits behind them trampled over the shards and surged forward without hesitation, pause, or fear. Su Li stood by his side, her nine tails dancing behind her as dark red flames erupted from her palms, burning a ring of scorch marks around the doorway. But the scorch marks were shrinking, the flames growing smaller. The tips of Su Li's tails were already singed, the burnt fur curling and emitting a pungent smell of burning protein.
Chen San glanced back at Du Qi. Having used the last of his ink, Du Qi tucked his brush behind his ear. “Retreat to the south gate.” Chen San turned his head back, casually splitting a blocking Ice Spirit with his axe before turning to head south. Flames exploded behind them, forcing the surging Ice Spirits back a few steps; it was Su Li, closely following Chen San as they retreated south. Yao Wu scrambled up from the floor and yanked Lu Yan up from the side of the formation plate. Lu Yan struggled slightly, his hand still pressed against the extinguished formation lines. “Stop messing with it, let's go!” Yao Wu's voice was tight. Lu Yan stumbled under the pull but didn't break free, following him southward. Jiang Ci brought up the rear, holding Qinghan horizontally in front of her as she retreated step by step. She had no spiritual energy, no formations, and no ranged attacks; she had only a cracked sword and a body that hadn't yet fully healed. She couldn't help, so she could only make sure she didn't become a burden.
The lanterns of the Abandoned Guest Hall were still lit. As Du Qi passed the doorway, he paused to steady a lantern that was swaying wildly in the wind. The candlelight flickered once before he extinguished it with his own hand. He withdrew his hand and followed the group southward. They would return, and they would light it once more.
The journey from the Abandoned Guest Hall to the south gate required crossing three streets. During the day, it wouldn't take more than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, but now every step felt like walking on the edge of a blade. Ice Spirits poured out from the alleys on both sides, leaped down from the rooftops, and crawled out from cracks in the ground. Chen San's axe hacked to the left, Su Li's fire burned to the right, and Yao Wu conjured vines from behind to trip the pursuing Ice Spirits. But the vines were too thin and frozen too brittle; the Ice Spirits snapped them with a single step and continued their pursuit. Yao Wu gritted his teeth, conjuring them only for them to snap, then conjuring them again and again. His face was as pale as paper, his lips blue, his hands trembling, and his spiritual energy was almost completely depleted. He fished a Rejuvenation Pill from his storage bag and crunched it between his teeth; it was so bitter that his brow knit into a tight knot. The medicinal effect was almost nonexistent, but he had no other pills left. He fished out another and swallowed it. Then another, and another. He no longer knew what he was eating, feeling only wave after wave of bitterness in his mouth. Nausea surged from his stomach to the back of his throat until he could no longer force anything down.
Lu Yan was dragged along by Yao Wu, his vision completely pitch-black. He heard the sound of Chen San's axe ahead, Su Li's flames at his side, Yao Wu's heavy breathing in his ear, and Jiang Ci's footsteps behind him. Unable to see, he could only draw blindly, carving formation lines in the air to construct formations. However, his spiritual energy was too weak now, and they could only stall the Ice Spirits for a mere instant before being trampled through like paper. He could only desperately squeeze his Qi Condensation stage cultivation, trying to wring out just a little bit more.
Jiang Ci walked at the very back, holding Qinghan horizontally before her. An Ice Spirit flanked them from the side. She raised her sword, pointing the tip at the creature, her hand trembling, but she did not retreat. Yao Wu glanced back and saw her, rushing over to pull her behind him. “You go in front.” Jiang Ci was pulled into the middle of the group, with Lu Yan ahead of her and Yao Wu behind. She looked back at Yao Wu, but he didn't look at her; his eyes were focused entirely on how to block the Ice Spirits more quickly and efficiently. Behind them was an endless, surging tide of icy blue.
This group was like a solitary boat, and the Ice Spirit tide was the ocean. The waves battered and swept over the small vessel, waiting for the moment it would capsize. The boat was gambling—gambling that it could reach the shore before it sank.
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