The sudden, absolute drop in temperature froze the surrounding forest into an eerie, crystal-like stillness. The crimson light of the Blood-Iron Isolation Array flared violently against the icy air, but the shimmering magical energy seemed to shrink back, repelled by the immense, oppressive blade-intent emanating from Li-Wen's towering frame.
Elder Meng felt an instinctual, primal tremor shoot through his spine. His withered fingers tightened around his bronze serpent staff until his knuckles turned pale, and his breathing grew shallow and rapid. For a fleeting second, the terrifying sensation of a massive, unseen mountain collapsing directly over his head gripped his soul.
No... Impossible! Elder Meng forced the rising panic down into his chest, his yellowed eyes burning with hysterical denial. He is merely putting on an act! He is just a nameless, rogue Stage-3 cultivator! I am an Elder of the Overlord Sect, supported by four Stage-3 Iron-Blood Enforcers and a Grade-3 Slaughter Array! There is no way he can overcome us!
"Iron-Blood Enforcers!" Elder Meng screeched, his voice cracking with desperate rage. "Do not let his posturing fool you! Strike together! Cut him into pieces!"
"Kill!"
The four broad-shouldered enforcers roared in unison. Trained in synchronized execution arts, their dark red Qi surged forth like erupting volcanoes. The blood-red energy enveloped their massive executioner blades, forming four-foot-long crimson blade-lights that cut through the frozen fog with sickening, whistle-like shrieks.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
The four enforcers moved with ruthless speed, leaping into the air from four different angles—north, south, east, and west—locking down every possible avenue of retreat. Their heavy blades descended toward Li-Wen's head, shoulders, and chest in a lethal, seamless cross-formation designed to butcher even a Stage-3 Peak master in a single instant.
Li-Wen stood completely still in the middle of the ice-covered road. He held Xiao-Yue securely in his left arm, his broad palm gently covering her ear so she remained cradled against his neck, shielded from the brutal sight and deafening noise.
He did not draw his weapon. He did not even turn his body.
As the four blood-red executioner blades came within three inches of his body, Li-Wen simply took half a step forward with his left foot and exhaled a long, pale column of icy mist.
BOOM!
An invisible, terrifying surge of raw physical force mixed with supreme Frost Qi exploded outward from his body in a three-hundred-sixty-degree shockwave!
The air cracked like thunder. The four incoming crimson blade-lights were shattered into meaningless red dust before they could even touch his dark coat.
"WHAT?!"
The four Iron-Blood Enforcers gasped in horror as an unimaginable, crushing weight hit their chests like an iron battering ram. Their heavy executioner blades snapped in half with sharp CLANGs, and all four men were sent flying backward through the air like broken paper kites!
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
They slammed brutally against the glowing crimson walls of the isolation array, spitting out mouthfuls of dark, frozen blood. The moment their backs hit the ground, thin blue frost rapidly covered their armor and skin, freezing their meridians and paralyzing their limbs instantly.
In a single, casual wave of kinetic energy, four elite Stage-3 martial artists had been completely neutralized!
Elder Meng stood frozen on the road, his jaw hanging open in utter disbelief. Cold sweat poured down his withered face, freezing into tiny ice beads before reaching his chin.
"You... what kind of monster are you?!" Elder Meng stumbled back two paces, his voice trembling uncontrollably. "You didn't even draw your blade! Stage-4... You are a Stage-4 Martial Grandmaster?!"
Li-Wen slowly turned his head to look at Elder Meng. His dark, abyssal eyes showed no anger, no joy, no hatred—only the absolute, unyielding coldness of an ancient northern glacier.
"I told you," Li-Wen spoke, his voice low and echoing like thunder inside the array, "you chose the wrong words."
Li-Wen raised his right hand. With a subtle flick of his index finger, a tiny, translucent sliver of condensed Frost Qi condensed at his fingertip.
THWACK!
The sliver of frost shot through the air faster than the eye could follow. It struck the ground right between Elder Meng's feet, shattering the stone road and blasting a three-foot-wide crater into the earth. The explosive force sent Elder Meng flying backward, crashing hard onto his back. His bronze serpent staff flew out of his hand, clattering uselessly against the frozen ground.
"ARRRGH!" Elder Meng clutched his broken wrist, rolling on the frozen dirt in agony. The sheer terror of impending death completely erased his former arrogance. He scrambled backward on his hands and knees, weeping hysterically.
"Don't kill me! Please! Spare my life!" Elder Meng begged, slapping his own face repeatedly against the ground. "I was blind! I was foolish! The Overlord Sect has endless riches! I can give you thousands of spirit stones! High-grade manuals! Anything you want! Just spare my miserable life!"
Li-Wen walked toward him with steady, measured steps. His heavy boots crunched against the icy ground, each footstep sounding like a funeral knell in Elder Meng's ears.
"The world is vast," Li-Wen said softly, stopping three paces away from the groveling old man. "Yet fools like you always believe that wealth and background allow you to trample upon the weak without consequence."
Li-Wen extended his broad right palm over Elder Meng's head.
"No... NOOOO!" Elder Meng shrieked in absolute despair.
WOOSH.
A gentle wave of pale blue cold air descended from Li-Wen's palm. The frost engulfed Elder Meng in a fraction of a second, sealing his screaming form into a thick, crystal-clear block of solid ice. The fear and agony on his withered face were forever frozen in time.
Li-Wen retracted his hand. With a light tap of his boot against the base of the ice block, the frozen pillar shattered into millions of sparkling, harmless ice dust particles that dissolved softly into the night breeze.
With Elder Meng's death, the four red energy pillars maintaining the Blood-Iron Isolation Array flickered violently and collapsed. The heavy red dome shattered into fading specks of spiritual light, reopening the mountain road to the cool, open night sky.
The quiet rustling of the pine trees and the gentle whistling of the autumn wind returned. The gruesome battlefield had been completely cleansed by the frost—no blood, no corpses, no trace of the brutal encounter remained on the clean, white-powdered path.
Li-Wen gently lifted his palm from Xiao-Yue's small ear.
Xiao-Yue blinked her dark, clear eyes, looking around at the silent, moonlit road. The scary red barrier was gone, and the noisy old man was nowhere to be seen. She looked up at Li-Wen's calm face and smiled brightly.
"Brother Li-Wen, did the noisy old man go away?" she asked innocently.
"Yes," Li-Wen replied softly, his voice returning to its usual warm and gentle tone. "He realized he was on the wrong path and went back."
"Oh, that's good!" Xiao-Yue giggled softly, holding her glowing lotus lantern high. "The mountain path is quiet again."
Li-Wen adjusted her posture in his arm, feeling her warm, steady heartbeat against his chest. He turned his head and looked back toward the twinkling lights of Imperial Sun City far below. He knew that the complete disappearance of an elder and four enforcers would soon send shockwaves through the Overlord Sect and the local factions. But to him, it mattered little.
He turned back and continued walking up the winding mountain trail toward the quiet Autumn Water Courtyard.
An hour later, the peaceful atmosphere of the Autumn Water Courtyard welcomed them back. The moonlight bathed the ancient plum blossom tree in a soft, silvery glow, and the Grade-3 Spirit-Gathering Array hummed quietly, keeping the garden warm and serene.
After tucked Xiao-Yue safely into her small bed and ensuring she was fast asleep with her small wooden sword resting beside her pillow, Li-Wen walked out into the quiet center of the courtyard.
He stood under the blooming branches of the plum blossom tree, the cool night air fluttering the hem of his dark coat.
With a sweep of his sleeve, the heavy, rectangular shadow-iron trunk materialized on the flat stone table before him.
Li-Wen drew the small pale-blue jade key from his pocket and inserted it into the lock mechanism. With a soft click, the heavy shadow-iron lid swung open, exposing the Ancestral Northern Rune Slab resting within its velvet-lined compartment.
In the quiet night, the dark, weathered stone emitted a soft, rhythmic pulse of pale white light, as if breathing in harmony with the surrounding atmosphere. The four ancient, jagged runes carved into its surface glistened with a thin layer of natural frost mist.
Li-Wen reached out his broad right hand, his rough fingers gently touching the cold, weathered surface of the stone slab.
The moment his skin made contact with the ancient mineral, his internal northern bloodline resonated violently!
BOOM!
A silent, ethereal wave of white light erupted from the stone, enveloping Li-Wen's entire body! The four jagged runes on the slab began to glow with brilliant, blinding radiance, dissolving into four floating, liquid-like streams of golden-white light that circled around Li-Wen's hands.
HUMMMMMM!
An ancient, powerful voice—echoing across decades of time and memory—sounded directly within Li-Wen's consciousness:
"To the descendant who reclaims this stone... The Frost-Blade Art is not merely a weapon of destruction, but the pillar that protects the light in absolute darkness. Remember the oath of the Northern Ridge: Standing tall like the mountain, silent like the frost, unyielding against the storm!"
The four streams of golden-white light shot directly into Li-Wen's forehead!
Vast, intricate diagrams of ancient blade techniques, meridian circulation paths, and the true, unsealed intent of the Frost-Blade Sovereign Technique flooded his mind! The subtle flaws and missing linkages in his previous cultivation were instantly repaired and perfected by the pure, ancestral legacy contained within the slab!
Inside his dantian, the dormant ocean of northern energy roared with immense power. The dense, liquid Qi condensed rapidly, refining itself into a purer, sharper, and far more terrifying form of divine frost energy!
Li-Wen closed his dark eyes, standing motionlessly under the plum blossom tree as the ancestral inheritance merged completely into his soul. His breathing became incredibly deep and rhythmic, synchronizing with the natural flow of the earth and sky.
When he opened his eyes thirty minutes later, the bright golden-white light had completely vanished, leaving the stone slab as a simple, unadorned piece of grey mineral.
However, deep within Li-Wen's dark pupils, a brilliant, permanent star-like glint of divine frost light burned with absolute clarity. His cultivation foundation had not only fully stabilized, but had quietly broken through to a far higher, unshakeable realm!
He looked down at his broad palm, clenching it slowly. The heavy blade wrapped in dark cloth resting across his back gave off a soft, joyful vibration, as if welcoming the true return of its master's ancestral heritage.
Li-Wen looked up at the vast, starry sky above Imperial Sun City. The quiet night wind scattered a few pale-pink plum blossom petals across his shoulders.
He knew that the quiet days in this courtyard were coming to an end. The Overlord Sect, the Central League, and the distant northern forces would eventually cross his path again. But no matter how fierce the upcoming storms might be, he now possessed the absolute strength to protect the small, warm light in his life.
Li-Wen closed the shadow-iron trunk, stored it away into his spatial ring, and walked softly toward the house to watch over Xiao-Yue's sleep as the first faint rays of dawn began to touch the eastern horizon.
See you in next chapter....