Chapter 5: The Frost Wolf
Five years could change a city.
Or...
It could change a single shop so thoroughly that it began changing the city around it.
Yun Che stepped through the doorway and instinctively looked around.
The little tailor shop he remembered from childhood had almost vanished.
What stood in its place was something entirely different.
The building had expanded twice.
The neighboring property had long since been purchased and merged into the original shop.
Rows upon rows of colorful fabrics lined polished wooden shelves.
Fine mountain wool.
Silk imported from warmer southern provinces.
Monster leather carefully cured by skilled craftsmen.
Furs from snow foxes, frost wolves, and mountain bears hung neatly from display racks.
Several apprentices hurried between worktables carrying measuring tapes, patterns, and bundles of cloth.
The steady hum of sewing needles had replaced the silence the shop once knew.
Customers filled nearly every corner.
Some examined cloaks.
Others tried on travel coats.
A pair of hunters debated which reinforced trousers would survive another expedition.
Yun Che smiled.
"It keeps getting bigger."
Lin Xia folded her arms proudly.
"It has to."
"People keep buying things."
"A terrible problem to have."
"It truly is."
She nodded with complete seriousness before bursting into laughter.
Unlike the luxurious fashions popular in the great southern cities...
Everything here reflected mountain life.
Warm.
Durable.
Practical.
Elegant without becoming fragile.
Beauty existed.
But it never came at the expense of usefulness.
That philosophy had become the heart of the brand.
Its name—
Cloudweave Outfitters.
The name had been Yun Che's suggestion years ago.
Lin Xia's father had thought it sounded strange.
Her mother had liked it immediately.
The customers eventually decided the matter for everyone.
Now merchants carried Cloudweave clothing to neighboring towns.
Orders arrived faster than the workshop could complete them.
The Yun Smithy and Cloudweave had grown together.
The smiths forged armor.
The tailors crafted leather straps, padded linings, decorative elements, and fitted underlayers.
Together...
They created equipment that people actually wanted to wear.
Not merely because it protected them.
But because it looked good doing so.
One suit in particular had become famous.
Displayed proudly near the entrance stood a full set of steel armor resting upon a wooden mannequin.
Steel plates shimmered in soft shades of grey and deep blue.
Thick white fur lined the collar and hood.
Leather reinforcements followed the joints elegantly.
The entire design somehow managed to appear rugged...
And noble.
A hunter.
A guardian.
A hero walking through a snowstorm.
"The Frost Wolf," Lin Xia said proudly.
"Our best seller."
Yun Che circled it slowly.
Even after seeing the design dozens of times...
He still admired it.
His Father had made the armor alongside Lin Xia's Father.
"Come on."
Lin Xia tugged lightly on his sleeve.
"I didn't bring you here to admire old work."
She led him upstairs to a quieter workshop reserved for custom projects.
Several unfinished garments rested upon mannequins.
One in particular caught his attention.
It was...
Unexpectedly familiar.
A black jacket with dark red accents.
Comfortable by appearance rather than ceremonial.
Beneath it rested a fitted long-sleeved shirt.
Sturdy combat trousers.
High boots.
Fingerless gloves.
Everything appeared designed for movement rather than status.
Yun Che blinked.
"...You actually made it."
Lin Xia smiled nervously.
"I changed a few things."
"You always do."
"The shoulders needed adjusting."
"The stitching too."
"And the sleeves."
She pointed toward the fabric.
"Try touching it."
He did.
It felt surprisingly soft.
Yet strong.
Almost like modern outdoor clothing.
"It's not finished," she admitted.
"There are still improvements."
Yun Che noticed faint silver patterns woven beneath the surface.
"...Runes?"
She nodded excitedly.
"Basic ones."
"Nothing impressive."
"They reinforce durability."
"And improve temperature regulation a little."
She looked almost embarrassed.
"I'm still learning."
Runes.
One of the most mysterious arts in the world.
A properly inscribed rune could strengthen armor.
Sharpen weapons.
Store Ki.
Resist elements.
Or perform countless other functions.
The difficulty lay not merely in drawing them.
Every line had to be perfect.
Every curve carried meaning.
The ink itself required special preparation.
Plants infused with Ki.
Blood from magical beasts.
Rare minerals ground into powder.
And above all...
A suitable foundation.
A poorly made weapon couldn't support powerful runes.
The entire discipline remained closely guarded.
Knowledge wasn't shared freely.
Every manual cost a fortune.
Most families couldn't even dream of purchasing one.
Lin Xia had only managed to study because a retired rune artisan occasionally visited Mistforge and accepted her as an apprentice.
Even then...
She had only learned the basics.
Yun Che admired her determination.
He had attempted learning runes himself.
The results had been...
Memorable.
Apparently, someone incapable of drawing straight decorative lines also struggled to draw mystical symbols requiring microscopic precision.
His father had politely suggested that Yun Che leave art to artists.
The runes seemed to agree.
Lin Xia carefully lifted the outfit from the mannequin.
"It's yours."
Yun Che looked up.
"...Mine?"
She nodded.
"A gift."
"You've given my family so many ideas."
"You never asked for anything."
"I wanted to make something."
"For you."
For a moment...
Yun Che simply stared.
He slowly accepted the clothing.
The craftsmanship was remarkable.
Every stitch reflected countless hours of effort.
His smile widened.
"This is amazing."
"I mean it."
"It's probably the nicest thing anyone has ever made for me."
Lin Xia looked away, trying unsuccessfully to hide her smile.
"You really think so?"
"I do."
Yun Che laughed.
"Lin Xia..."
"You're the best."
"If there's ever anything I can do to help you become an even better tailor..."
"I'll do it."
Anything.
Her eyes brightened.
"I know."
She held the measuring ribbon behind her back.
"I owe you a lot too."
"You changed our shop."
"You changed my life."
She glanced downstairs where workers busily served customers.
"I don't want to stop here."
Yun Che listened quietly.
"I've decided."
"I'll open another Cloudweave shop."
"In the next city."
"Eventually..."
"I want people across the kingdom wearing our designs."
There was no hesitation in her voice.
Only determination.
Yun Che grinned.
"I expected nothing less."
She laughed.
"When the time comes..."
"I'll probably need help."
"If I'm nearby..."
"I'll absolutely help."
He shrugged lightly.
"If I'm already traveling..."
"My brother will happily carry heavy boxes for you."
Lin Xia giggled.
"Yun Ren would ask for food first."
"He definitely would."
"Probably before helping."
"Definitely before helping."
The two shared another laugh.
Then...
The smile on Lin Xia's face faded ever so slightly.
"So..."
"You're really leaving someday."
It wasn't a question.
Yun Che nodded gently.
"I think so."
She looked toward the window overlooking Mistforge.
"...I thought maybe..."
She stopped herself.
Then smiled again.
"...Never mind."
Instead, she clapped her hands together.
"Enough serious talk."
"I need to complain."
"Oh?"
She rolled her eyes dramatically.
"Girls."
Yun Che blinked.
"...Girls?"
"They're impossible."
"They come into my shop."
"Talk about boys."
"Then ask for the strangest clothes imaginable."
She imitated an exaggerated voice.
"A traveling merchant said ladies in the southern kingdoms wear sleeves this long!"
"Can you make a dress that sparkles like moonlight?"
"Can you make something that will make Young Master Shen notice me?"
Lin Xia groaned.
"I spend half my day explaining why mountain hunting clothes shouldn't have silk ribbons hanging from them."
Yun Che chuckled.
"It sounds difficult."
"It is."
"They never stop talking about boys."
She folded her arms.
"It's annoying."
Yun Che listened patiently.
From the outside...
It sounded like ordinary teenage complaints.
Yet...
He noticed something.
Whenever the girls mentioned Shen Tianyu, Lin Xia's expression became just a little more complicated.
She always listened.
Even while pretending not to care.
Yun Che wasn't exactly an expert.
His previous life hadn't made him particularly successful with romance.
And mentally...
Watching thirteen-year-old girls argue over handsome boys felt...
Awkward.
He still carried the perspective of an adult.
He simply couldn't think of them that way.
Even so...
He wasn't blind.
Lin Xia was beautiful.
Hardworking.
Kind.
And whenever Shen Tianyu's name appeared in conversation...
Her ears seemed to become just a little sharper.
Yun Che quietly smiled to himself.
Some things...
...are apparently universal.
No matter the world.
No matter the century.
No matter whether people cultivated Ki or worked ordinary jobs.
Teenagers still found complicated ways to like one another.
And somehow...
That simple thought made this extraordinary world feel just a little more familiar.
----------------------------------------
The afternoon passed peacefully.
For once, Yun Che wasn't the one buried in work.
Instead, he found himself helping around Cloudweave Outfitters.
"Three rolls of mountain wool to the front."
"Coming."
"And those leather samples too."
"On it."
Although he knew little about tailoring itself, there was always work to be done.
Moving heavy crates.
Organizing monster hides.
Helping customers compare fabrics.
Fetching tea.
The shop buzzed with life.
Tailors sat shoulder to shoulder, needles dancing through cloth with practiced precision.
Salesmen explained the differences between snow fox fur and frost wolf fur to curious customers.
Children ran excitedly toward a display of colorful winter cloaks before embarrassed parents hurried after them.
The entire building felt alive.
Yun Che liked places like this.
People working honestly.
Creating something useful.
It reminded him that not every battle in this world required a sword.
Then...
The front door burst open.
A broad-shouldered man stomped inside.
Two rough-looking companions followed closely behind him.
Their boots were muddy.
Their expressions were anything but friendly.
"I want the owner!" the large man bellowed.
The cheerful atmosphere disappeared almost instantly.
Customers stepped aside.
Several apprentices nervously backed away.
Lin Xia frowned.
Her father, Lin Guo, emerged calmly from the back workshop.
He was a middle-aged man with kind eyes and a measuring tape hanging around his neck instead of a weapon.
"What seems to be the problem?"
The large man threw a battered suit of armor onto the floor.
It slid several meters before stopping.
"The Frost Wolf armor you sold me!"
"It almost got me killed!"
His voice echoed throughout the shop.
"A mere Mortal Realm beast pierced it like paper!"
"You call this quality?"
Nearby, one of the city guards stationed near the market hurried inside.
Mistforge always kept guards close to its busiest businesses.
The guard raised both hands peacefully.
"Sir."
"Please calm down."
"We'll investigate your complaint."
"If there's truly a manufacturing defect, you'll receive compensation according to city regulations."
"Let's sit down."
"I'll have someone bring tea while we examine the armor."
The guard's tone remained polite.
Professional.
Exactly as it should.
The large man answered by spitting onto the wooden floor.
"I don't want tea!"
"I nearly died!"
"I want compensation now!"
His companions immediately began shouting as well.
The scene quickly became chaotic.
Yun Che didn't move.
He simply watched.
His eyes drifted from one man to the next.
Peak Mortal Realm...
The leader.
Two Ninth Stage Mortal Realm cultivators...
The companions.
Strong enough to intimidate ordinary merchants.
Weak enough to avoid real danger.
Something else bothered him.
Their eyes.
Instead of looking at Lin Guo...
Or the damaged armor...
They repeatedly scanned the shelves.
The workers.
The storage room.
The exits.
Yun Che's expression remained calm.
They're not here because of the armor.
The more he observed...
The more convinced he became.
The damaged Frost Wolf looked strange.
The puncture marks weren't clean.
The leather had clearly been cut apart after the battle.
Almost as though someone had deliberately enlarged the damage.
It wasn't proof.
But it was suspicious.
Combined with their behavior...
The answer became obvious.
A scam.
Or perhaps...
Something worse.
Yun Che stepped forward.
"You should leave."
The three men turned toward him.
"What?"
"You've made your complaint."
"The guards will investigate."
"If you're innocent, you'll receive justice."
"If not..."
He smiled politely.
"You'll probably spend tonight in a cell."
"So I'd suggest leaving while you're still being asked nicely."
The leader looked him up and down.
Then laughed.
"A child?"
One companion snorted.
"They let children guard shops now?"
"This city really is backward."
None of them bothered sensing his cultivation.
His appearance deceived them.
A thirteen-year-old boy helping inside a tailor shop hardly looked threatening.
That mistake lasted exactly one heartbeat.
Yun Che disappeared.
The wooden floor exploded beneath his feet.
His Ki surged through his legs.
Swift Movement.
Unlike Swift Strike, which accelerated attacks...
Swift Movement concentrated Ki throughout the lower body, unleashing explosive bursts of speed.
For a brief instant...
Yun Che crossed the room at nearly the speed of sound.
Before the three men even realized he had moved—
Flash.
A small black dagger appeared in his hand.
Its blade barely touched the first man's thigh.
A tiny scratch.
Nothing more.
The second received an identical cut.
Then the third.
Yun Che returned to his original position before any of them had managed to turn around completely.
"What was th—"
The leader suddenly stumbled.
His companions did the same.
Each looked down in confusion.
A tiny cut, scarcely longer than a fingernail, marked one leg.
Almost no blood flowed.
"...You missed," one of them sneered.
Yun Che simply folded his arms.
"No."
"I didn't."
The poison worked almost immediately.
Their eyelids grew heavy.
The leader tried to raise his weapon.
His arm refused.
"Wha..."
One by one...
All three collapsed onto the wooden floor, deeply unconscious.
Silence filled the shop.
Even the guard stared.
Yun Che crouched beside the leader and calmly removed a slender black dagger from its sheath.
The blade itself was almost spotless.
Only its edge carried the faintest trace of dark green.
He wiped it clean before returning it to its sheath.
"I wasn't trying to cut them," he said matter-of-factly.
"I was trying to stop them."
He looked toward the stunned guard.
"The poison is only a sleeping mixture."
"They'll wake up later with a terrible headache."
The guard finally recovered enough to move.
"...I'll..."
"...I'll take them into custody."
Two more guards arrived moments later, alerted by the commotion.
After quickly hearing the witnesses' accounts, they shackled the unconscious men and carried them away.
As the shop slowly returned to normal, Lin Guo looked at Yun Che for a long moment.
"You've changed."
Yun Che tilted his head.
"Have I?"
"When you were younger..."
"You would have challenged them openly."
He glanced toward the door through which the guards had departed.
"Now..."
"You ended it before the fight even began."
Yun Che looked down at the dagger resting at his side.
"In my experience..."
He answered quietly,
"...the safest fight is the one that's already over before the other person realizes they've lost."
It wasn't a particularly heroic philosophy.
He knew that.
Stories celebrated glorious duels.
Honorable victories.
Fair contests.
Yun Che had no objection to those.
But against unknown opponents...
Against people willing to intimidate civilians...
He preferred certainty.
He had only one life in this world.
As far as he knew...
He wasn't getting reincarnated twice.
Before anyone could say another word...
More city guards rushed into the shop.
Apparently someone had already reported the disturbance.
The captain frowned at the unconscious men.
"What happened?"
"They refused to calm down," the first guard answered.
"...Then the blacksmith's son happened."
The captain looked at Yun Che.
"...Of course."
Everyone in Mistforge already knew that explanation somehow made sense.
The guards immediately began searching the unconscious men.
Weapons.
Money.
Pouches.
Hidden knives.
Everything was carefully removed.
Then...
One guard froze.
"Captain."
"What?"
"I found something."
The guard carefully pulled aside the leader's shirt.
Just above the left side of his chest...
Near his heart...
A dark tattoo had been burned permanently into the skin.
It depicted the head of a snarling bear.
The captain's expression changed instantly.
"...No."
Another guard looked closer.
"...Black Bear."
The room fell completely silent.
Even Lin Guo's face lost its color.
The Black Bear Bandits.
A name feared throughout the surrounding region.
Unlike ordinary bandits...
They were organized.
Patient.
Clever.
When necessary, they disguised themselves as merchants...
Hunters...
Travelers...
Even laborers.
They robbed caravans.
Extorted villages.
Killed witnesses.
And somehow...
Whenever stronger cultivators organized extermination campaigns...
The gang disappeared before anyone arrived.
For years they had slipped through the fingers of every nearby city.
The captain slowly stood.
His expression had become grave.
"They weren't here to complain."
Yun Che nodded.
"I didn't think so."
The captain looked around the shop.
"They were scouting."
His words sent a chill through everyone present.
The Black Bear Bandits had finally turned their attention toward Mistforge.
And that could only mean one thing.
This peaceful little mountain city...
Had just become someone's next target.