The crowd traversed the solemn passage formed by bowed stone giants and hanging ancient trees, where dots of star-glow flowers sprinkled faint light, dispelling much of the oppression in the depths of the ink-dark dense forest. The decaying miasma in the air was neutralized by the gentle vitality continuously emanating from Lin Ya and the clear aura released by the ancient giant trees, making breathing much smoother. However, this rare tranquility did not last long. As the passage extended, the terrain gradually descended, and a cold wind carrying sharp granular sensations began to surge from ahead, wailing through jagged strange rocks and twisted dead branches, emitting sounds like countless beings softly lamenting.
"Sighing Canyon..." Lirian said softly, her emerald eyes gazing toward the direction from which the cold wind blew. "We're almost there. Beyond it lies the Eternal Frost Tundra."
The team advanced in silence for a while. Moras rode his ferocious scorpion-tailed shadow tiger at the forefront. His figure in the dim light resembled a moving obsidian statue, with only his deep purple eyes occasionally sweeping over the team behind, sharp as knives.
His gaze ultimately fell on Arya. This half-elf of elf and dark elf descent had cautiously suppressed her powers during the traversal of the dense forest and the audience with the elf king, especially the part belonging to the dark attribute. However, under Maragos's abyss-like gaze, in the rich shadow magic environment of the Eternal Night Hall, certain subtle fluctuations from the depths of her bloodline could not be completely concealed from this experienced knight captain who also carried the blood of the dark night elves.
"Arya," Moras's voice broke the silence of the march, low and hoarse, like two rough rocks grinding against each other. He did not turn back, yet his voice clearly reached Arya's ears, drawing the attention of the entire team. "In the royal court, you hid well. You didn't use a trace of shadow power, using your affinity for light and wind elements as a barrier for disguise." He paused, the scorpion-tailed shadow tiger's steps remaining steady. "But the resonance of bloodlines doesn't lie. When my king's gaze swept over you, the string belonging to the 'Descendant of Shadows' in the depths of your soul trembled. Though faint, it couldn't escape my perception."
Arya's heart tightened, her fingers gripping the Storm Bow slightly. Fa beside her gently squeezed her hand, offering silent support. Arya took a deep breath, meeting Moras's probing gaze. Her delicate face showed no panic, only a faint, reminiscent melancholy. She gently stroked the warm Star Resonance Stone at her neck, her voice clear and calm: "My father..." she began, her voice exceptionally clear in the wind's sighs. "Was a dark night elf. Many years ago, he questioned the royal court's overly closed and radical path, choosing self-exile and leaving the ink-dark dense forest. While wandering the world, he met my mother, a forest elf pursuing harmony between life and elements. Their differing ideals did not hinder the attraction of their hearts; they fell in love under the moonlight." Her voice was clear and steady, echoing in the cold air. "This wasn't deliberate concealment, just... this bloodline, outside the ink-dark dense forest, brought my father and me more pursuit and prejudice. Here, I didn't want it to cause complications, nor did I intend to use it to prove anything."
She paused, her eyes revealing complex emotions toward the father she had never met: "My birth was a miracle of a brief convergence of light and shadow, and also an unblessed taboo. The union of elves and dark night elves... in the ancient records of both races, is extremely rare, even seen as ominous. When I was young, my father chose to travel far again to prevent my mother and me from suffering more criticism and potential dangers, disappearing into the vast world... leaving only some vague memory fragments about his origins, deeply hidden in my bloodline." She looked at Moras, frank and sincere. "That's the entirety of my background. I had no intention to conceal it; this bloodline, like the dark side of the moon, is part of me, but not the path I choose to embrace. I follow the light of life, seeking balance in elements, like my mother, and like... the stars that guide me." Her gaze softened as she looked at Fa beside her.
A flash of understanding passed through Moras's deep purple eyes, then turned into a complex, somewhat scrutinizing expression. "The union of an exile and a daughter of the forest..." he repeated lowly, his tone revealing no joy or anger. "No wonder. In the long river of my race's history, such unions are indeed few and far between. The essential conflict between shadow and light is like the two faces of the moon, hard to reconcile. Your existence itself is a miracle, or... a paradox." His gaze swept over Arya's face again, blending the elegance of forest elves with the mystery of dark night elves. "Your father chose to leave, abandoning the embrace of eternal night, and you... chose to inherit her hidden bloodline, walking under sunlight and forests. This choice requires courage and is destined to be lonely."
Arya slightly lowered her eyelids, then raised them, her eyes firm: "Loneliness or not depends on where the heart leads. My power comes from all natural phenomena—light, dark, wind, fire, wood... they are all part of me, just as forests accept sunlight and embrace shadows. I won't deny any, but will use them to protect what I cherish." She looked at Fa beside her, her eyes flowing with gentleness and determination.
Moras was silent for a few breaths, a subtle fluctuation seeming to pass over his cold, hard face, finally turning into a barely audible sigh: "Fine. Everyone has their own path. Your choice, your power—as long as it doesn't point toward the dark night royal court, it has nothing to do with my race. However..." his tone shifted, carrying a hint of elder-like admonition, "that hidden shadow power, in the Eternal Frost Tundra and Frostblade Snow Mountains, might become a double-edged sword. Extreme cold and darkness sometimes awaken the most secret corners of the soul. Use it cautiously."
"Thank you for the reminder, Captain. I'll remember it." Arya nodded solemnly.
The conversation ended, and the team fell into silence again, leaving only the sounds of the shadow tiger's claws crushing thin ice and the crowd stepping on decayed leaves and ice shards. The air grew increasingly cold and biting.
The Crisis of Sighing Canyon
Half a day later, the team reached the entrance of the canyon. The scene before them was breathtaking.
Two towering, nearly vertical black rock walls rose into the clouds, as if cleaved by an ancient giant god with a sharp axe, forming a bottomless, narrow, and winding massive fissure. This was the "Sighing Canyon." The bone-chilling cold wind howled out from this wound in the earth, carrying fine ice crystals and the ancient, unmelting frigid aura from the depths of the Eternal Frost Tundra. The wind sounds echoed, collided, and twisted among the bizarre rock pillars and wind-eroded holes, converging into continuous, mournful wails, as if countless departed souls eternally sighed here, giving the canyon its eerie name. The bottom of the canyon was extremely dim, with only cracks high on the rock walls containing fluorescent minerals emitting faint blue or pale green light, barely outlining the rugged terrain. Underfoot was black gravel frozen hard as iron and shattered rocks.
"This is the boundary between the ink-dark dense forest and the Eternal Frost Tundra," Moras raised his voice amid the howling wind, his tone metallic and cold. "It's also the buffer zone between death and extreme cold. The cold wind pours into the forest year-round from here, and predators from the tundra often lurk here, hunting wanderers driven into the canyon by the cold wind. Legend has it that these wind sounds are mixed with the unwilling remnants of ancient powerhouses who fell here." He turned, his gaze sweeping over Fa and the others, his tone unquestionable: "Follow us closely, stepping in the knights' footprints. All threats in the canyon will be handled by the Night Shadow Knight Order. You must not act! Any external energy fluctuations or lights could awaken more troublesome things sleeping in the rock walls or attract sensitive predators from the tundra with keen senses! Absolute silence and following is the fulfillment of the promise to my king!"
"Understood!" Fa nodded solemnly, her right eye's star pupil vigilantly scanning the dark depths of the canyon. She could feel that the space here seemed more distorted than it appeared, and the wind sounds indeed carried some faint but negative emotional spiritual residues. Arya gripped the Storm Bow tightly, forcibly suppressing her body's elemental instinctive resistance to the severe cold. Kayla took a deep breath of the cold air, her bronze nostrils flaring slightly, the ice crystals on her thunder claws seeming to resonate faintly with the environment. She lowered her voice, with the unique keenness of an orc hunter: "I smell it... the wind carries a strong bloody scent, mixed with... scorched metal and a cold, like the bottom of a rotten mud pond. Just a few days ago! And... a faint, uncomfortable shadow magic, very weak, but unmistakable! It must be that masked bastard! He definitely fled through here in a panic a few days ago!" Her orc intuition was exceptionally sharp in this environment.
Upon hearing this, a cold light flashed in Moras's eyes, but he said no more, simply raising his hand and waving forward: "Stay alert, advance!"
The Night Shadow Knight Order immediately shifted formation. The dozen elite knights divided into three columns: Moras and several heavily armored knights leading the way, the flanks guarded by knights wielding long-handled energy weapons and short staves, and the rear by the knight carrying a small rune energy cannon and scouts responsible for side vigilance. Their scorpion-tailed shadow tigers lowered their bodies, scarlet beast pupils flickering in the darkness, sharp claws gripping the icy ground silently as they stepped into the shadows of the canyon's depths. Fa and the others followed closely, like parts merged into the knights' massive shadows.
The wind sounds inside the canyon were even more mournful, like ghostly cries. The frost on the rock walls reflected eerie sheen under the faint blue fluorescence. Less than a quarter hour into the advance, crisis struck suddenly!
"Left rock wall! 'Crystal Cluster Rock Lizards'!" A Night Shadow scout's low shout was somewhat muffled by the wind.
On the left steep rock wall, dozens of shadows that had seemed like ordinary rock protrusions suddenly "came alive"! Their size was like large hunting dogs, covered in gray-black, angular mineralized shells that blended perfectly with the rock wall. Now, the gaps in these shells suddenly lit up with faint blue light—that was their internal ice magic crystal cores activating! Their movements were lightning-fast, four claws attached with cold magic, traversing the nearly vertical rock wall as if on flat ground, opening mouths full of dense ice teeth, silently diving toward the team's flank! From their mouths spewed dense, sharp ice cones capable of piercing iron armor!
"Form up! Shadow Barrier!" Moras growled lowly.
The knights on the left flank reacted with unparalleled speed. Their black crystal short staves struck the ground simultaneously, the shadow gems embedded in the stave heads—pulsing like living hearts—shining brightly! Dense, light-absorbing dark energy instantly surged from the staves, rapidly interweaving and condensing on the team's left side, forming an arc-shaped energy shield constantly flowing and rippling with deep purple waves! Puff puff puff puff! The dense ice cones struck the shadow shield like stones sinking into the sea, only stirring ripples before vanishing without a trace, unable to shake it at all!
"Soul Renders, free hunt!" Moras commanded.
Behind the shield, several Night Shadow knights wielding bizarre long spears resembling giant insect limbs (Soul Render spears) were already poised. Their eyes flickered with cold light, arm muscles bulging as they hurled the spears with astonishing force and precision! Whoosh—! The spears tore through the air, spear tips flashing with soul-tearing purple-black energy! They seemed alive, tracing eerie arcs in the air, precisely piercing the diving rock lizards' relatively vulnerable throats or core positions where the crystals lay! The hit lizards didn't even have time to scream; their faint blue lights extinguished instantly, stiffly falling from the rock wall and smashing onto the frozen soil with dull cracking sounds.
However, the assault didn't end!
"Overhead! 'Sonic Bat Swarm'!" A rear knight warned.
Above the canyon's dark dome, a massive rolling black cloud-like shadow rapidly descended! It was thousands of creatures with wingspans nearly a meter, shaped like giant bats—sonic bats! Their wings weren't membranes but composed of countless tiny, metallic-glinting black bone plates, emitting tooth-gritting high-frequency vibrations in flight. They opened their mouthparts, not emitting audible sounds, but releasing invisible, ultra-high-frequency oscillating sound waves! These waves might have limited lethality to flesh, but they were terrifyingly destructive to metal structures and mental strength!
In the team, Rex's electronic eye flashed a glaring red warning! His armor shell emitted fine, unsettling buzzing and vibrations under the invisible sound waves' impact, with some joint areas even sparking tiny flames! The nano-drone control signals suffered strong interference! Arya and Yuyuer also felt a wave of intense dizziness, their mental strength like being hammered!
"Annoying vermin! 'Weaver's Whisper'!" A knight in the team holding a black obsidian staff "Dream Weaver" (a high-level dark elf mage) snorted coldly. He raised the staff high, the color-shifting black obsidian at the top instantly freezing into a deep, swirling vortex-like purple! An invisible but powerful mental fluctuation spread like water ripples—not an attack, but precisely disrupting the collective sound wave frequency emitted by the sonic bat swarm! In an instant, the headache-inducing invisible attack effect was greatly reduced.
"'Bone-Eroding Ejectors', clear the field!" Moras ordered coldly.
The knights carrying small rune energy cannons were already half-kneeling, their thick cannon barrels aimed at the diving swarm. The complex rune circuits on the cannons lit up with faint green light one by one, energy balls of roiling ink-green plasma condensing at the muzzles! Zzz—boom!
A thick ink-green energy beam roared out! This beam wasn't pure energy impact; it mixed strong corrosive acid mist and negative energy disrupting life fields! Where the beam passed, directly hit sonic bats vaporized instantly, while those grazed at the edges dissolved like doused in strong acid, their metal bone wings and flesh rapidly melting and carbonizing in piercing "sizzle" sounds,falling like raindrops while billowing smoke! With just one shot, a large swath of the dense swarm was cleared, the remnants screeching in panic as they fled into higher darkness.
The battle erupted quickly and ended even faster. The Night Shadow Knight Order displayed chilling combat proficiency and powerful individual strength. They each performed their duties, cooperating seamlessly, perfectly fusing black magic and rune technology. The shadow shield was impregnable in defense, the soul render spears precise in point kills, mental spells disrupted and controlled, and energy cannon fire destroyed and cleared the field. The entire process was like a cold, efficient killing machine in operation—no superfluous movements, no flashy techniques, only absolute practicality and lethal efficiency. Fa and the others strictly followed orders, like silent shadows trailing behind, witnessing the shocking combat style of this dark night elf elite force, and deeply understanding why the Doomsday Rebirth organization's clones had met their end here.
Under the powerful escort of the Night Shadow Knight Order, the remaining journey, though still encountering several waves of canyon creature assaults—such as "Frost Throat Worms" lurking under the frozen soil that suddenly erupted spewing extreme cold freeze gas, and "Stone Bullet Fleas" bouncing like flies between rock walls firing bone spikes—was swiftly resolved by the knights with thunderous means.
When the light at the canyon exit ahead gradually became pale and glaring, a more vast, purer extreme cold aura surged like icy giant waves!
The Portal of the Eternal Frost Tundra
Finally, they took the last step out of Sighing Canyon.
Before them, the view opened up abruptly.
Endless pale white devoured all vision.
Moras raised his hand to rein in the shadow tiger, stopping at the edge of the canyon exit. He and the Night Shadow knights behind him halted in unison, like ink spots utterly out of place in this pale, dead silent world. Moras's deep purple gaze swept over the group, lingering slightly on Fa, Lin Ya, and Arya, finally landing on the hand where Fa held the "Shadow Moon Root Talisman."
"We can only escort you this far." Moras turned, his deep purple eyes sweeping over Fa and the others, ultimately landing on Fa. "One step out, and it's the Eternal Frost Tundra. The protection of the dark night elves ends here. The tundra's cold, lurking snow beasts, unpredictable ice crevasses and blizzards, and... the enemies you're seeking who fled into it—these will all be your own challenges." Take care.
He paused, his tone carrying a hint of warrior's recognition: "Traversing the ink-dark dense forest and gaining my king's promise proves you're no ordinary folk. May the Mother of Shadow Moon (the dark night elves' faith in the moon's dark side incarnation) bless your journey. Remember the Shadow Moon Root Talisman and the promise of the dark night elf race."
Fa stepped forward, representing the group, solemnly saluting Moras and all the Night Shadow knights: "We are immensely grateful to Captain Moras and all the knights for the escort and guidance. Without you, crossing Sighing Canyon would have been a near-death experience. We will remember the kindness of the dark night elves in our hearts. May the shadows of eternal night protect your royal court."
Lirian also bowed elegantly: "May the balance of nature soon return to the ink-dark." Jack grinned, patting his beloved "Thunderer": "Thanks, night elf brothers! Next time, drinks on me!" Gorg pounded his chest heavily with his fist, producing a dull sound—this was the highest orc salute.
Moras nodded slightly, accepting the thanks. Without further words, he and the dozen knights behind him, along with their ferocious scorpion-tailed shadow tigers, blurred and twisted as if swallowed by the intense cold air and strong light surging from the canyon exit, then vanished silently into the air like ink drops in water, leaving only a faint, cold remnant of shadow magic in place. Coming and going without trace, like true dark night phantoms.
The black rock wall blocking the view completely disappeared, the field of vision suddenly opening to a heart-palpitating extent!
Lirian: "This is the Eternal Frost Tundra."
As far as the eye could see, heaven and earth were reduced to pure, cold white. Immensely thick snow covered everything, forming undulating snow hills like frozen giant waves. The sky was oppressive lead gray, low-hanging clouds seeming within reach, continuously sprinkling fine, icy snow powder. The biting cold wind howled across the vast tundra like countless sharp ice blades, whipping up loose snow from the ground, forming patches of hazy, flowing snow mist (commonly called "white devils"), with visibility fluctuating. The air was stingingly dry, each breath carrying the pain of ice shards scraping the throat, the temperature low enough to numb exposed skin in minutes. Dead silence was the main theme here, with only the ceaseless wind roaring in the ears.
The oncoming extreme cold made everyone shiver, even wearing the "Eternal Frost Resister" constant-temperature backpacks prepared by Karim, with the "Geothermal Core" activated—the soul-freezing chill still seeped in everywhere. Yuyuer instinctively wrapped his clothes tighter; his marine fishman blood instinctively rejected this extremely dry and severe cold environment.
"Hiss... this damned place!" TISK couldn't help cursing, his thick beard and eyebrows instantly frosting over. "It's fucking cold!"
"Energy consumption increasing, external temperature: minus thirty-two degrees, continuing to drop. 'Geothermal Core' operating efficiency: 76%. Recommend elevating insulation level." Rex's electronic eye scanned the environment, emitting a steady mechanical tone.
Kayla, however, took a deep breath of the icy air, her bronze face showing not fear but an almost enjoyable expression. She spread her palms covered in fine white fur, letting ice crystal-like snowflakes fall into them, the ice-blue arcs on her thunder claws seeming more active and solid. "Ha! This is the place to loosen up the bones!" Her eyes sparkled with the excitement of an ice plain hunter. "Much better than that sticky cold in the woods!"
Gorg, the silent orc giant, for the first time in front of the group showed an almost "comfortable" expression. He unfastened the top buttons of his heavy beast hide armor, letting the cold wind pour in directly, his gray-green skin showing a healthy hue in the low temperature. The chainsaw battle axe on his back seemed eager to drink the hot blood of snow beasts, emitting a low hum. He stomped heavily on the deep snow beneath his feet, producing a dull sound, and spoke lowly: "Here... is Gorg's home." His tone carried a hint of imperceptible nostalgia and belonging.
Jack tightened his cold-proof mask, his mechanical prosthetic eye scanning the white expanse, his tone grave: "Alright, folks, no more sentiment! The Rift Wind Plain was the appetizer, the ink-dark dense forest was the nightmare's antechamber, this Eternal Frost Tundra... is the real deadly tough nut! Stick close to Gorg; he's our eyes and nose on the snowfield! Lirian, watch for nature's warnings! Fa, the road ahead is up to you all!" He pointed to the endless white north. "Target, Frostblade Snow Mountains! Move out!"
The team, braving the biting cold wind and swirling snow, under the lead of Gorg the "Skullbreaker," like a few tiny black dots, resolutely ventured into this eternally frozen white purgatory. Behind them, the dark entrance of Sighing Canyon like a scar on the earth, gradually swallowed by the churning snow mist. Ahead lay harsher trials, and that towering, year-round blizzard-shrouded extreme cold peak—Frostblade Snow Mountains. The traces of star fragments, the shadows of the Doomsday Rebirth organization, all pointed to that ice-and-snow-covered summit.