Due to the woman's sudden appearance and the alarming number of talented disciples who had already fallen against her within such a short period of time—
Various sects eventually joined together in an attempt to uncover the woman's true origins.
However—
"The Yamato of the Rising Sun denies any involvement with the woman whatsoever," Master Qing of the Flowing Vermilion Sect spoke calmly.
His gaze shifted toward Zhou Shuxuan, who remained silently seated beside him while reading through a scroll.
Numerous sect masters sat gathered around the long hall table alongside the two of them.
Some quietly stroked their beards in thought.
Others still carried visible grief over the deaths of their disciples.
"Master Qing," a woman from the Jade Shattering Fist Sect suddenly spoke up while raising one hand slightly.
Qing glanced toward her.
"Yes, Master Yue?"
"I have heard," she began carefully,
"…that all three disciples from the Flowing Vermilion Sect survived their encounter against this woman."
Master Qing paused briefly.
At the same time, Zhou slowly lifted his eyes from the scroll in his hands.
His gaze settled upon the woman dressed in emerald-and-gold robes seated across from them.
Her dark hair was gathered elegantly behind her head by a dragon-shaped *buyao.*
"Yes," Zhou answered calmly.
"All three disciples returned alive."
"However…"
The atmosphere inside the hall immediately thickened.
Every sect master turned toward him, waiting intently for what he would say next.
Zhou quietly set the scroll down onto the table before clearing his throat.
"One of our disciples," he continued,
"The Third Pillar—Chi Rong Guang—personally confronted the woman."
"And barely survived after being recovered by her fellow disciples."
Shock immediately swept through the gathering.
Questions erupted all at once.
"She confronted that monster and survived?"
"What elemental root was the woman using?"
"What kind of cultivator could create an entire frozen mountain range beside Mount Firn?"
Zhou calmly raised one hand.
Then slowly closed it into a fist.
The room instantly fell silent.
Though several sect masters clearly still had more questions, none dared interrupt the man who had cultivated for over three thousand years.
"The woman was not using anything currently known to us," Zhou stated.
As he spoke, faint yellow-white divine light began gathering around his fingertips before spiraling around his arm like flowing ribbons.
Then—
The energy quietly reabsorbed back into his body.
"What you are witnessing," Zhou explained,
"…is a condensed manifestation of Qi produced through one's connection to the Dao."
His eyes drifted from the fading light before returning toward the gathered sect masters.
Beside him, Master Qing remained silent with his arms folded across his chest.
"Chi Rong Guang was not attacked by something connected to the Dao."
Zhou's expression darkened slightly.
"The frost that covered her body…"
"…was not a manifestation of cultivated concepts."
"It was not Dao."
He slowly reached into his sleeve before pulling out a thin sheet of ice collected from Guang's body days earlier.
"But rather…"
"…a direct crystallization of concepts beyond our understanding."
The room immediately fell silent once more.
Zhou held the frozen fragment high enough for the gathered masters to inspect using their sensory roots.
The moment they did—
Several expressions instantly changed.
"…That's impossible," Master Yue whispered hoarsely.
"There isn't even a trace of Dao or Qi within it…"
Another sect master stared at the ice with widened eyes.
"That is not condensed spiritual manifestation…"
"…that is genuine ice."
"Not imitation created through Dao solidification."
Zhou quietly nodded.
Then—
He released the fragment.
The ice shard struck the floor before shattering apart and melting naturally into water.
No spiritual residue remained.
No Dao dispersed into the surroundings.
Nothing.
Zhou's gaze sharpened slightly afterward.
"What attacked our disciples…"
"…was never operating under the same laws we cultivate through."
Beside him, Master Qing silently clenched one fist.
His eyes slowly opened as he stared toward the table before them.
"This entity was capable of twisting nature itself," he added quietly.
"The region where the confrontation occurred continues to snow even now."
"…despite the skies above remaining completely clear."
He placed one hand atop the table before leaning slightly forward.
"In other words—"
"The threat before us is neither human…"
"…nor anything this world has ever encountered before."
Silence swallowed the hall whole.
Then Qing spoke once more.
"And by rough estimation…"
"…it may even surpass the mythical Conflagration Emperor herself."
The moment those words left his mouth, every sect master present felt something subtly shift within the atmosphere around them.
It was faint.
Yet enough for instinct alone to send a chill crawling down their spines.
Silence briefly swallowed the hall.
Then—
A master from the Sword-Dancing Wonyoong Sect slowly spoke, his voice trembling slightly.
"The Conflagration Emperor alone was capable of dragging entire realms into the mortal plane…"
"…causing catastrophic changes throughout the Endless Divine Heavenly Realms…"
His throat tightened.
"And you are suggesting this… monster is even—"
"More powerful than the Conflagration Emperor," Zhou finished calmly.
For the briefest moment, the composure on his face cracked.
The tightening of his jaw.
The slight darkening of his gaze.
And just as quickly—
The expression vanished once more.
"This woman, who manipulates reality itself…"
"…is something even the Conflagration Emperor would arguably have to bow before."
Several masters quietly gasped.
Others looked utterly bewildered, almost wanting to reject his words outright.
Yet none dared.
Because the man standing before them.
Zhou Shuxuan.
Had personally witnessed the catastrophe known as The Kazar drag the Heavenly Jade Palace from the higher realms into the mortal world.
"The Kazar was a calamity beyond reason," Zhou continued quietly.
"But there is a distinction."
His gaze slowly swept across the gathered sect masters.
"The Conflagration Emperor was an overwhelming force of nature."
"A being powerful enough to force even the heavens themselves into submission."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"But this woman…"
"She is not a force of nature."
A brief pause followed.
"She is something closer to a governing principle of reality itself wearing the shape of a woman." Zhou muttered, just enough for the rest to hear.
The room fell completely silent.
"Because she never once overpowered anything."
Zhou's voice lowered slightly.
"Reality simply obeyed her will."
—
The meeting concluded roughly an hour later.
Soon afterward, Zhou and Master Qing stepped out from the Jade Palace together.
Zhou's hands rested calmly behind his back as he slowly floated upward into the skies, with Qing following shortly after.
His expression remained unreadable.
The quiet stillness of a man who had lived for millennia and witnessed far too many catastrophes throughout his life.
As they flew back toward the Flowing Vermilion Sect, Qing remained beside him, occasionally glancing toward the ancient cultivator.
Three thousand years ago, countless older and far more influential sects had attempted to recruit Zhou Shuxuan with immeasurable offers and promises.
Yet in the end—
He had chosen the Flowing Vermilion Sect instead.
The wind swept through their hair as they passed the gargantuan ice spikes left behind by the mysterious woman who had slaughtered many of the most promising disciples throughout the cultivation world.
Looking upon them more closely once again, Qing felt a cold sense of dread crawl down his spine.
The ice looked far too natural.
Far too real.
Unlike Dao manifestations, which always carried a faint sense of impermanence, these frozen structures possessed none whatsoever.
"By the heavens…" the words unconsciously slipped from Qing's mouth.
"I doubt any sect master below the Divine Immortal Renegade Realm would have survived this."
"…What a catastrophe."
"That," Zhou suddenly spoke,
"…was merely the result of a single strike."
Qing immediately turned toward him.
His face paled slightly.
"A single strike…?"
Zhou slowly nodded.
"A single strike."
"That woman never required overwhelming force."
"It was already clear from the beginning…"
"…that she had merely been testing Guang."
Qing's eyes widened slightly.
"Testing Guang?"
"For what possible reason?"
Zhou did not answer immediately.
Instead, his thoughts drifted back toward the day he first met Guang standing within the rice fields.
And the same thing he had seen behind her that day. The same thing that still lingered there even now.
"Chi Rong Guang…" Zhou finally murmured.
"That girl may one day become a monster surpassing even that woman."
A brief silence followed afterward.
"In fact…"
"…she may eventually become a God in her own right."
Master Qing immediately stilled.
The words caught in his throat as his eyes shifted toward Zhou.
There was no arrogance within the three-thousand-year-old cultivator's gaze.
No exaggeration.
Only a quiet certainty.
And somehow, that certainty unsettled him more than anything else they had discussed today.
The wind howled softly around them as the distant peak of the Flowing Vermilion Sect slowly came into view beyond the horizon.
"A God, huh…" Qing murmured quietly to himself.
"Immortals may earn titles associated with divinity…"
"…but becoming something truly worthy of that name is an entirely different matter."
He slowly shook his head.
"To pursue enlightenment is natural."
"But to reach the realm of creators and destroyers simultaneously…"
His gaze lowered slightly.
"…that should not be something humanity seeks."
"Even immortals."
Zhou gave no response.
He simply continued flying toward the sect in silence. Watching him, Qing let out a quiet breath before muttering softly beneath his voice.
"What kind of disciple did you bring into our sect in the first place…"
"…Zhou Shuxuan?"