The journey was a new kind of hell. It was not the sharp, sudden violence of the city, but a slow,
grinding, wet-and-cold misery. They moved through dense, ancient forests and over rain-lashed
mountains, avoiding roads, avoiding towns, avoiding everything.
Lin Yue, the prodigy, was utterly out of her element. She could shatter stone and freeze rivers,
but she did not know how to start a fire with damp wood. She could fast for a week by absorbing
worldly Qi, but the raw, untamed Qi of the wilderness was chaotic, forcing her to expend more
energy to filter it. She, for the first time in her life, was the burden.
Kael, however, thrived. His Path didn't care about comfort. He wasn't a cultivator; he was a
survivor. He didn't need to 'meditate'; his Stamina recovered with simple, steady rest. He
hunted, he foraged, he set their watches. He was the guard, the provider, and the guide. He
never complained. He just... endured.
Their roles had completely reversed, and the tension was palpable. She felt useless. He felt...
responsible.
They were three weeks out, deep in the Black-Pine Hills, when they were finally caught. Five
men, all in the dark, practical robes of bounty hunters. All Foundation-Establishment. They'd
used a tracking beast, a silent, shadow-feline, to find them.
"The Ice-Witch and her mortal pet," the leader sneered, his sword glinting with a poisonous,
green Qi. "Give us the girl, boy. The Raging Sky Sect pays well for her. You, they just want
dead."
Lin Yue's hand went to her flute, her face a mask of ice. "Kael, get back. This will be..."
"No." Kael's voice was flat. He stepped in front of her. He drew his warped, battle-scarred
sword. "Lady Lin," he said, his voice formal, but with a new, hard edge. "You are the artillery. I
am the wall. Do not waste your power defending. Attack. I'll handle... this."
Before she could process the command he'd just given her, he Vowed. "I will be her shield."
[Guardian's Stance (Active) Lvl 4!] [Bulwark (Active) Lvl 2!] He lowered his stance, his body
thrumming with a power only she could feel—that strange, non-Qi conviction. And then, the wall
moved.
"[KNIGHT'S CHARGE]!" He didn't just move, he exploded. He shot across the clearing like a
cannonball, a blur of bronze light. He slammed, shoulder-first, into the sneering leader, sending
the man flying backward into two of his companions. [Stamina: 300/300 -> 250/300]
"Now!" Kael roared, planting his sword in the dirt.
The remaining two hunters, stunned by his audacity, unleashed their attacks—a "Wind-Cutter"
blade and a "Grave-Spike" of earth. Kael didn't even try to dodge. He raised his [Bulwark]
shield.
[Bulwark (Active) Lvl 2 - Impact Absorbed!] [HP: 300/300 -> 280/300] [Aura of Protection
(Passive) Lvl 4 - Mitigating 90%...] [Vow Upheld.]
He took both hits. He stumbled, his shield cracked, but he held. Lin Yue, her shock lasting only
a fraction of a second, understood. He wasn't asking her to fight. He was giving her the freedom
to destroy. She raised her flute to her lips. She didn't play a song. She played a single, piercing note. [Azure-Veil Art: Echo of the Void] The note traveled, and the two hunters Kael was
"tanking" simply... stopped. Their eyes went wide, and then their Qi shattered, their spiritual
veins frozen from the inside out. They collapsed, dead before they hit the ground.
The three Kael had charged were scrambling to their feet. He, grinning, used [Knight's Charge]
again, this time to get between them, sowing chaos. They couldn't get a lock on him, and they
couldn't get a clear shot at Lin Yue, because this madman kept getting in the way.
"You... you mortal!" the leader screamed, finally throwing a desperate, poison-laced dagger at
Kael. Kael just let it hit his arm, his [Iron Will] and [Arcane Resilience] burning the poison away
before it could even register. [HP: 280/300 -> 275/300] [Poison (Minor) - Purged!]
That was when Lin Yue's real attack landed. [Thousand-Petal Ice Prison] Dozens of
razor-sharp, spinning ice-lotuses bloomed from the ground, encasing the three men in a tomb of
ice. It was over. Five Foundation-Establishment cultivators, dead in thirty seconds. Kael was
breathing hard, bruised, and grinning. Lin Yue was pale, her Qi depleted, but her eyes were
blazing. She stared at him, at this man who had just gleefully "tanked" attacks that would have
vaporized him a month ago. "You... you enjoyed that," she said, her voice incredulous. "I
enjoyed working," Kael panted, retrieving his sword. "Together." The word hung in the air, heavy
and new. Together.