Three days after the fall of the Cloud Mist Sect, the Blue River Province was in a state of absolute chaos. The power vacuum left by the destruction of its strongest sect had sent every minor clan into a frenzy, but Su Lan was already far away. She traveled under the cover of night, her aura suppressed by the System to avoid the "Celestial Tracker" that was still pulsing faintly within her reclaimed root.
[Ding! Mission 'Uproot the Sect' COMPLETE.]
[Status: Fugitive from the Immortal Palace.]
[New Destination: The Northern Barrens—A land beyond the reach of the Central Empire.]
Su Lan arrived at the edge of the province, where the lush greenery turned into the jagged, ice-slicked stone of the Weeping Cliffs. This was the gateway to the Northern Barrens, a place so cold and spiritually desolate that even Nascent Soul experts feared to tread there. It was the perfect hiding spot for a girl who needed to master her new, dual-natured power.
As she walked through the border town of Grey-Mist Crossing, she noticed the posters on the walls. Her face—or rather, the face she used to have—was drawn in ink. Wanted: The Demoness of Cloud Mist. Reward: 1,000,000 High-Grade Spirit Stones.
"A million stones," Su Lan murmured, pulling her hood lower. "I'm worth more than the entire treasury I robbed."
She stopped at a small, dingy tavern to gather information. The air inside was thick with the smell of cheap ale and the hushed whispers of mercenaries.
"Did you hear?" a scarred man whispered to his companion. "They say she didn't just kill Qinghe. They say she ate him. They say she's a Void Walker from the Outer Realms."
Su Lan sat in a corner, sipping a cup of hot tea that tasted more like dirt than leaves. She checked her status in the System.
[Current Points: 65,000.]
[Recommended Purchase: 'Frost-Resistant Void Robes' and 'Hidden Sky Compass'.]
"Purchase them," she thought.
Suddenly, her tattered cloak was replaced by a fine, midnight-blue fabric that seemed to absorb the cold. The Hidden Sky Compass appeared in her sleeve, its needle pointing toward a hidden path through the mountains that would bypass the main checkpoints of the Immortal Palace.
Just as she was about to leave, the tavern doors burst open. A group of five cultivators in the silver armor of the Immortal Envoy's Guard stepped in. The leader, a man with a cultivation at the Core Formation Level 2, scanned the room with a spiritual sense that felt like cold needles.
"No one leaves!" he barked. "We are looking for a woman traveling alone. Show your hands and reveal your Dantians!"
The tavern went silent. Su Lan didn't look up. She kept her eyes on her tea.
The leader walked toward her table, his boots thudding on the wooden floor. "You. Under the hood. Stand up."
Su Lan slowly set her cup down. "I'm just a traveler trying to stay warm. I have no business with the Palace."
"Everyone has business with the Palace," the guard sneered, reaching for her hood.
Su Lan moved. She didn't draw her sword; it would be too loud. Instead, she used a single finger, infused with the emerald-black energy of her new core. She tapped the guard's wrist.
CRACK.
The guard's entire arm turned to ice and shattered into a thousand pieces. He didn't even have time to scream before Su Lan's other hand pressed against his chest.
"Void Pulse."
The guard was sent flying through the tavern wall, disappearing into the blizzard outside. The other four guards drew their swords, but Su Lan was already a blur of shadow. In the blink of an eye, she was behind them. Four strikes, four broken spirits.
She walked out of the tavern, leaving the stunned mercenaries behind. The wind of the North was howling, calling to her.
"The Barrens are waiting," Su Lan whispered, her purple eyes glowing in the dark. "Let the Immortal Palace send their best. I need the practice."
She stepped into the blizzard, her silhouette disappearing into the white void. The revenge in the Blue River Province was over, but the war against the Heavens had only just begun.