Xu Zhen’s gaze flickered. Without drawing attention, he shifted half a step closer to Yun Che and asked in a low voice,
“Sir… could it be that Brother Yun has been implicated by us and caught up in this blood calamity as well?”
Yun Che remained calm. He glanced at Zhou Wenyuan but said nothing.
At his ear sounded Li Han’s unhurried, icy voice:
“This little fellow’s qi-observation is rather interesting. Though it’s nothing more than mortal folk arts, he’s brushed against the threshold of ‘fate-gazing.’ Just now, I passed him a sliver of memory—from the year I wiped out the Netherfrost Sect… heh. And that alone was enough to break him.”
By now, Zhou Wenyuan was drenched in sweat, his robes soaked through. When he looked at Yun Che again, the earlier gentleness was gone—replaced by an indescribable awe. Hearing Xu Zhen’s question, he waved his hands frantically.
“It has nothing to do with Yun… Yun, little friend! Your destiny is extraordinary—far beyond what I dare窥探. My skills are lacking… woefully lacking!”
As he spoke, he repeatedly bowed toward Yun Che, his face bitter.
What he had seen in that instant was no “purple qi intertwined with death qi”—
It was a frozen hell of corpses and blood!
Countless cultivators slaughtered one another amid skies filled with ice blades and Spectral Flame. Severed limbs and shattered bodies piled into mountains. Figures flew through the air, sealing thousands of miles of land with a single gesture—
A battlefield of immortals, utterly beyond his comprehension!
The Zhou family’s inherited Qi-Observation Manual clearly stated:
Those who pry too deeply into heavenly secrets—especially the killing calamities of the immortal path—will inevitably suffer backlash.
At this moment, pain stabbed through Zhou Wenyuan’s dantian, his meager spiritual energy on the verge of collapse. How could he dare probe further?
Xu Zhen frowned deeply and was about to press him—
“AH—!!”
A scream of absolute agony tore through the night from the camp’s perimeter!
Immediately after, a frost-covered human head was hurled out of the darkness. It traced an arc through the air and landed beside the bonfire with a dull thump, rolling several times before stopping.
Xu Zhen’s face changed drastically—
That head belonged to one of the escorts who had been patrolling outside!
Zhao Rui lunged forward and grabbed the head, his eyes bloodshot as he roared,
“Old Wu!! I’ll hack those bastards to pieces!!”
All the escorts drew blades and swords in unison, murderous intent surging as they scanned their surroundings. Under the firelight, every face was taut and pale.
Hong Lei shielded Xu Zhen and shouted harshly,
“Which road are you from, friends? Hiding like rats—breaking the rules, aren’t you?!”
“Heh heh heh…”
A chilling laugh drifted through the air.
Accompanied by the crack of breaking ice, dozens of figures in white camouflage cloaks slowly rose from the surrounding snowfields. Their movements were uniform—clearly, they had been lying in wait for a long time.
“Xu Zhen of the Ice-Breaking Palm.”
A gaunt old man stepped out from the group, his voice hoarse like scraping bone.
“Hand over the goods, and we’ll leave your bodies intact.”
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Xu Zhen’s face was cold as iron.
“So it’s you… Song Xiao, the ‘Snow Ghoul.’”
The old man grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellowed teeth.
“No need for riddles, Xu. On this return trip, you’re carrying a hidden consignment—a three-hundred-year Ice Crystal Ginseng. Hand it over. Otherwise… this ice plain could use a few dozen more corpses as nourishment.”
Xu Zhen’s pupils shrank. His gaze swept over the men behind him, his heart sinking.
“Only the patron and I know about the hidden consignment… There’s a traitor in the convoy.”
His eyes turned icy—and suddenly flicked toward Yun Che, a cold smile curling at the corner of his lips.
He signaled Hong Lei with his eyes, then stepped forward, palms lifting slightly as he said in a deep voice,
“What Ice Crystal Ginseng? Song, with just this handful of men, you dare target the Zhenbei Escort Agency?”
Hong Lei understood and quietly shifted his footing, sealing off Yun Che’s retreat.
Yun Che frowned slightly.
But Zhou Wenyuan suddenly stepped forward, blocking Hong Lei, and shouted,
“Escort Head Hong! Little Friend Yun is absolutely not a traitor!”
Hong Lei froze, about to argue—
“Heh heh heh…”
Song Xiao suddenly laughed strangely.
“Xu Zhen, in a one-on-one fight, I truly wouldn’t be your match. But today… our Great Chieftain is personally present. Even if you had heaven-defying abilities, you’ll still be buried here!”
With that, he retreated three steps and dropped to his knees toward the north, his voice rising sharply:
“Welcoming the Great Chieftain’s honored arrival—!”
Dozens of white-robed bandits knelt in unison, faces feverish, shouting together:
“Welcoming the Great Chieftain’s honored arrival—!”
“Hand over the Ice Crystal Ginseng. Otherwise… your souls will be annihilated.”
A voice devoid of all emotion echoed from every direction.
Before the words even fell—
Three fist-sized spectral azure ice spikes appeared out of the darkness, carrying bone-chilling cold as they silently shot toward three escorts!
“Watch out!” Xu Zhen roared—but he was already half a beat too late.
The three escorts didn’t even have time to raise their weapons before the spikes pierced straight through them. There was no spray of blood—
Their bodies froze instantly, thick layers of spectral azure ice crystallizing over their skin. Their faces locked in terror, they stood stiff for a single breath—
Crack!
They shattered into piles of icy debris!
A tide of cold surged outward. With a puff, most of the bonfires were extinguished.
The surviving escorts went deathly pale. Some dropped their blades with a clang; others’ legs went weak, barely able to stand.
Zhao Rui’s lips trembled.
“Th-this… what kind of demon art is this?!”
Xu Zhen staggered back several steps, staring at the three piles of ice shards in horror.
Mortal martial arts—how could they possibly wield such power?!
Hong Lei’s teeth chattered as he muttered,
“C-cultivators… it’s cultivator magic!”
As a child, he had once seen disciples of the Profound Frost Sect practicing ice techniques from afar—the spectral azure glow, the instant freezing—how eerily similar it was to this scene!
Song Xiao laughed wildly.
“That’s right! Our Great Chieftain is a true immortal cultivator! You ants—why aren’t you offering up the spirit ginseng at once?!”
All the escorts turned to look at Xu Zhen. Any will to fight was gone—only pleading remained.
Against ordinary bandits, they would gamble with their lives.
But against cultivators who could summon storms and kill with a flick of the finger?
Xu Zhen’s face twisted bitterly as he was about to speak—
Five more spectral azure ice spikes condensed out of thin air, hovering midair and slowly rotating. Bone-piercing cold enveloped the entire camp as frost spread across the ground.
Yun Che’s eyes flickered with interest.
From the fluctuations of the ice spikes’ spiritual power, the caster’s cultivation was at most Qi Condensation Third Layer—and the circulation was sluggish, the technique crude.
His divine sense quietly swept outward, instantly locking onto a spot a hundred zhang away, behind an ice boulder—
There lay a gray-robed man around thirty years old, cultivation at the peak of Qi Condensation Second Layer. His face was riddled with grotesque frostbite scars—but his brows and facial contours…
Yun Che froze.
This man… he recognized him.
Zhou Wenyuan let out a long sigh.
“Escort Leader Xu, hand it over. I’ll testify to the patron on your behalf. The might of cultivators… is not something we mortals can resist.”
Xu Zhen closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, only despair remained.
He slowly reached into his robe and withdrew a palm-sized cold jade box, about to place it on the ground—
When suddenly, the jade box flew up into the air!
But it didn’t fly toward Song Xiao.
Instead, it turned midair and landed steadily in Yun Che’s palm.
Dead silence.
Everyone—Xu Zhen, Zhou Wenyuan, Song Xiao, the escorts, the white-robed bandits—stared in shock at the gray-clad youth who had been quietly sitting by the fire all this time.
Yun Che gently rubbed the warm jade box, lifted his eyes toward the ice boulder, and spoke calmly:
“Zhang Mingyuan.”
“Four years apart… and you’ve grown quite capable.”
-
?? A cultivator’s strike instantly freezing three escorts to shards
-
?? Zhou Wenyuan’s complete collapse after witnessing immortal power
-
?? Yun Che seizing the jade box midair
-
?? The calm call of “Zhang Mingyuan,” revealing an old acquaintance
?? Has Zhang Mingyuan fallen out of desperation—or chosen this path willingly?
?? Will this be Yun Che’s first true reveal before mortals?