After beaten up by serpent, jian wu expression changed and killing intent awakens with when her sword vanished from her hand. Jianwu raised both arms.
Her movements were slow. Deliberate. Perfect. Seals formed between her fingers, each one precise, each one absolute. Her eyes closed. The lake went still.
Even the Ice Heart Serpent hesitated, its massive body frozen mid-motion, instincts screaming that something had shifted beyond its control.
Then, Jianwu opened her eyes. World as womb, she said. Ice as partner.
Cold-white light erupted from her pupils. Ice surged outward as authority.
A massive sphere of ice formed in an instant, swallowing Jianwu and the Ice Heart Serpent whole. The lake roared in protest. Water surged violently outward as the domain stabilized, waves slamming into the cavern walls like a beast trying to escape its cage.
Mike stood at the edge, unmoving. I was wrong, he muttered. She's stronger than me.
Inside the ice sphere, the world had changed. This was no longer the Heart-Chilling Lake. This is Jianwu's domain.
Here, she decided the rules. Only three laws existed.
First: Spikes. It comes from the everywhere inside.
Second: Extreme cold. Cold enough to freeze marrow, blood, and spiritual circulation.
Third: Amplification. The domain fed its master, allowing a single decisive strike.
The Ice Heart Serpent roared and slammed its body against the inner walls. The ice did not crack. It twisted. Burrowed. Smashed again. Nothing.
Jianwu vanished inside the ice sphere in front of ice heart serpent.
The serpent panicked.
Then Cold iron mist spread through the domain, thick and suffocating, invading every breath, every movement.
Jianwu's voice echoed calmly from nowhere. Second law. The temperature dropped instantly.
The serpent's movements slowed. Its scales dulled. Frost crawled inward through flesh, through blood, through energy channels.
The serpent screamed, a raw, desperate sound that tore through the ice sphere.
It charged blindly, searching for a weakness that did not exist.
Jianwu appeared above it. Trying to flee your fate? she said coldly. Foolish serpent.
The cold deepened. The serpent began freezing from the inside out.
Then First law.
The walls answered. Thousands of razor-sharp ice spikes erupted inward at once. The roar was cut short. The massive body was pierced completely. Silence. The ice sphere shattered gently, dissolving into drifting frost. The lake returned to calm.
Jianwu stood alone, breathing steadily. The Ice Heart Serpent is dead.
During jian wu was killing serpent, Mike says slowly with himself, Ice Heart Serpents did not gamble their lives for nothing.
I think guarding these spiritual flowers is right but fighting with their might for this is meaningless. So what were you protecting?he murmured.
Then,Mike dove back into the lake. He went deeper than before. The water changed.
Crystal clarity vanished replaced by dark stillness. The cold intensified yet something else replaced it. A pull. A faint light shimmered in the abyss. Mike followed it.
The moment he touched it, the world flipped. He stepped into a chamber.
No water. No cold. Stone floors. Suppressive pressure. Ancient silence.
His flame calmed instinctively. This place… doesn't belong to the lake, Mike claims.
Before he could investigate.
BOOM.
A violent shockwave tore through the space.
Mike was expelled.
He was hurled back through the portal, crashing into the lake and regaining balance as the surface settled.
Jianwu stood nearby.
In her hand was a glowing beast core, pale blue, threaded with white-gold.
Brother Mike, she said, slightly tired but composed, this is an A-rank beast core. Extremely pure.
She handed it to him.
Mike tried to return it. This suits your nature better.
Jianwu shook her head. Cores aren't that picky. Cultivation is cultivation.
He hesitated, then accepted. Alright, Mike said quietly. Let's begin. The Heart-Chilling Lake was unnaturally still.
Mike and Jian Wu sat submerged up to their waists, facing one another at the lake's center. The water was so cold it numbed the senses, yet neither moved. Frost drifted slowly through the depths like pale smoke.
Both of them entered a meditative posture.
Mike's consciousness sank inward. With a thought, his storage ring trembled, and the first spiritual flower appeared between his palms.
The Snow Glass Lily. Its petals were translucent, crystalline, radiating a cold so pure that even the lake's water recoiled slightly around it.
He opened his meridians and a faint blue flame surfaced around his fingers not like protective but it's original flame moved like a living serpent, coiling slowly, silently. The Sea Dragon Flame, restrained into its Sea Python form. Unlike ordinary fire, it did not evaporate the water. It flowed with it.
The flame wrapped around the Snow Glass Lily. There was no explosion and steam.
The petals softened first, dissolving into clear liquid essence, the crystalline structure melting into something purer, calmer. The flower lost its shape completely, becoming a thread of cold-white liquid that merged seamlessly with the surrounding lake water.
Jian Wu's body trembled slightly as the liquid essence brushed against her skin.
Mike moved on immediately and the second flower emerged.
The Frostcore Moon Orchid. Its yin aura was heavier, deeper, pressing down on the lake like a silent weight. Mike's flame shifted instantly, its coils tightening, movements slower, more deliberate. The orchid's essence melted drop by drop, spreading through the water in pale silver currents. Where it passed, the lake's cold grew calmer, more ordered.
Jian Wu clenched her fists. The liquid essence entered her directly through the lake, slipping into her body without resistance. Pain bloomed in her chest, sharp, precise but it did not spiral out of control.
Mike did not look at her, his focus never broke. Then the last and third flower appeared.
The Glacier Vein Lotus. The moment it touched the water, the lake stirred, ice cracking faintly beneath them. Its essence was dense, stubborn, ancient meant to anchor itself beneath glaciers, not be refined by human hands.
Mike's eyes narrowed. The Sea Python Flame expanded. Its form became clearer, long, coiling, scales faintly visible within the blue glow. It wrapped the lotus completely, pressing, constricting, not allowing escape. Slowly lotus gave way. Its essence melted into thick, pale-blue strands that sank into the lake like veins spreading through ice.
The moment the final trace dissolved, the flame withdrew. Only coldness remained.
Mike opened his eyes. That's all I can do, he said quietly. The rest is on you.
Jian Wu inhaled, steady despite the pain still echoing through her veins. Don't worry, she replied. I can do it.
Mike stood. One last thing, he added, his tone firm. After your breakthrough, go deeper into the lake.
Jian Wu nodded without hesitation. Yes.
The lake fell silent again and melting process was complete.