The sky above the Blood Fire Sect was usually a churn of red smoke and ash, a testament to
the volcanic vents they harnessed for their cultivation. Today, however, the sky was white.
A blizzard had descended upon the volcano.
Li Wei stood on a ridge overlooking the sect's main valley. He was wrapped in the Mantle of the
Salamander, but the cold still bit through to his bones. Beside him, hovering ten feet in the air,
was Su Mei.
She looked like an executioner carved from diamond.
"They attacked our supply caravans three times this month," Su Mei said, her voice carrying
over the wind without shouting. "They crippled two of my junior brothers. They insulted the
Azure Cloud Sect."
"So we are here to demand reparations?" Li Wei asked, squinting against the snow.
"Reparations are temporary," Su Mei replied. "Silence is permanent."
She raised her hand. The Golden Core spinning within her dantian pulsed, releasing a terrifying
wave of blue pressure.
"Art of the Frozen Heavens: Fourth Movement—Falling Sky."
She dropped her hand.
Above the valley, the clouds solidified. Massive spears of ice, each the size of a temple pillar,
materialized in the thousands. They hung there for a heartbeat, blotting out the sun.
Then, they fell.
The sound was deafening. It was the sound of stone shattering, wood splintering, and earth
screaming. The defensive formation of the Blood Fire Sect—a barrier of magma—flickered and
shattered like glass under a hammer.
The screams began a moment later.
Li Wei watched, horrified, as the ice spears decimated the outer ring of the sect. Buildings
collapsed. Watchtowers were flattened.
"Mei'er!" Li Wei shouted over the roar. "That's enough! You've broken their defense! The Sect
Leader will surrender!"
Su Mei didn't look at him. She was guiding the ice with her fingers, conducting a symphony of
destruction. "Surrender? And then what? They wait ten years, rebuild, and poison my tea? No."
She flew forward, descending into the chaos.
Li Wei scrambled down the ridge, sliding on the scree. "Wait! Su Mei!"
By the time he reached the valley floor, the battle—if it could be called that—was a massacre.
The disciples of the Blood Fire Sect were running. Their fire arts were useless; Su Mei's ice was
so cold it extinguished their flames before they could even manifest.
She walked through the burning wreckage. Every step she took froze the ground. A terrified
Elder charged her, screaming, wreathed in flames. She didn't even slow down. She slashed her
hand horizontally. A blade of wind and ice decapitated him. His head rolled to Li Wei's feet.
Li Wei jumped back, retching.
He looked around. It wasn't just warriors dying. He saw servants running. He saw young
disciples—teenagers, barely older than Su Mei was when they met—huddling in corners.
Su Mei approached a dormitory. It was the housing for the Outer Sect disciples—kids with low Li Wei sprinted. He didn't have speed, he didn't have power, but he had desperation. He threw
himself between Su Mei and the huddled group of terrified teenagers.
"Stop!" Li Wei screamed, spreading his arms. "Look at them, Su Mei! They are children! They
aren't your enemies!"
Su Mei stopped. The sphere of frost hovered in her hand, pulsating. She looked at Li Wei, then
at the crying children behind him. Her expression was utterly blank.
"They wear the red robes," she stated. "They cultivate the Blood Fire Sutra. In ten years, they
will seek revenge for their masters. A spark left alive can burn down a forest."
"They are children!" Li Wei cried, tears freezing on his face. "Where is your heart? You are
killing the future because you are afraid of it?"
"I am afraid of nothing," Su Mei said coldly. "I am being efficient. Move, Li Wei."
"No." Li Wei stood his ground. He shook, terrified of the monster in front of him, but he wouldn't
move. "If you kill them, you kill the last part of yourself that is human. You kill the part of you that
is my wife."
Su Mei stared at him. For a second, the blue light in her eyes flickered. A memory of warmth, of
a shop in Cloud Sparrow City, seemed to surface.
Then, she blinked, and it was gone.
"You are obstructing the Dao," she whispered.
She waved her sleeve.
It wasn't an attack. It was a gust of wind. But to a mortal, a gust of wind from a Golden Core
cultivator was like being hit by a carriage.
Li Wei was lifted off his feet and thrown twenty meters. He slammed into a ruined stone wall. He
felt his ribs—the ones she had healed months ago—snap again. Air rushed out of his lungs. He
collapsed into the snow, gasping, unable to move.
Through his blurred vision, he watched.
Su Mei turned back to the children. She didn't hesitate this time. She closed her fist.
Flash.
The dormitory was encased in a block of solid ice. The screams were cut off instantly. The
children were preserved in crystal, their terror frozen forever.
Su Mei turned and walked away, moving deeper into the sect to hunt the remaining Elders.
Li Wei lay in the snow, watching the red blood of the sect mix with the white ice. It was a
beautiful, artistic nightmare.
"System..." Li Wei wheezed, blood bubbling past his lips. "Why..."
[Analysis: Beneficiary logic is sound. Total extermination prevents Karmic backlash from
survivors.] [Host Morality Conflict detected. Suggestion: Suppress empathy to avoid
psychological damage.]
Li Wei closed his eyes. He didn't want to suppress it. He wanted to feel it. He wanted to feel the
horror. Because if he stopped feeling it, he would become like her. And one monster in the
family was enough.