Lin Tian replaced the ledger. His mind was racing. Xu Wen had connections. He heard things. If the rumor was in the air, Xu Wen would know.
He left the library, ignoring the gatekeeper’s stare, and made his way to the small, secluded garden at the edge of the outer quarters. It was where they’d spoken before.
Xu Wen was already there, leaning against a bare, frost-laced tree. He looked tired.
"It’s true, then," Lin Tian said, stopping a few feet away.
"The rumor started dripping from the inner peaks last night," Xu Wen said, not looking at him.
"Quietly. Among the senior disciples. They’re saying the Ice Phoenix needs a proper cage. That the little experint with the outer disciple has run its course. Mu Chen’s na is being whispered as the new keeper."
"It’s not a rumor. She confird it."
Xu Wen finally looked at him, his eyebrows rising. "She contacted you? That’s... impressive. And dangerous."
"Three days," Lin Tian said. "What can be done in three days?"
Xu Wen let out a short, humorless laugh. "In three days? You could run. You could hide. You could pray for a miracle." He pushed off the tree.
"You cannot fight the Council, Lin Tian. And you cannot fight Mu Chen. Not yet. He’s in another world."
"I’m not asking how to fight him. I’m asking how to stop the marriage."
"Sa difference." Xu Wen ran a hand through his hair.
"The only way to stop a formal betrothal backed by elders is to have a higher authority countermand it. That ans the Sect Master, or a unanimous decision from the Council of Peaks. The Sect Master is in seclusion."
"What if the asset is proven to be more valuable in its current state?" Lin Tian asked, his mind latching onto an idea. "What if I can prove our bond isn’t a contamination? That it’s a strength?"
Xu Wen considered him. "You an demonstrate it? In front of them?"
"The Bond Resonance. The Ice Phoenix feedback. It’s real. It healed her."
"It also created a Dual Core freak that worries Elder Shen," Xu Wen countered.
"They don’t see strength, Lin Tian. They see instability. They see a variable they can’t control. Mu Chen is a variable they can control. A known quantity. A safe, powerful vessel for their precious bloodline."
The truth of it was a physical weight. Lin Tian looked away, at the frozen stream, its surface a milky, opaque white.
"So there’s no way."
"I didn’t say that," Xu Wen said quietly. "I said you can’t fight them directly. But there are rules, even for this. The betrothal of a core disciple, especially one involving a unique physique, requires a formal ceremony. A ’Declaration of Harmony.’ It’s not just an announcent. It’s a ritual."
Lin Tian turned back to him. "Go on."
"During the ritual," Xu Wen said, his voice dropping even lower, "there is a mont where the compatibility of the union is spiritually verified. A jade mirror is used to reflect the mingling of their auras. If the harmony is imperfect... the ritual can be challenged."
"How?"
"By a third party," Xu Wen said, eting his eyes. "By soone who claims a prior, deeper bond. Who challenges the union’s legitimacy on spiritual grounds."
Lin Tian’s heart began to pound. "A duel."
"Not a duel to first blood. A ’Contest of Resonance.’ You would have to stand before the mirror with her, against him. Your bond with her would be asured against his proposed compatibility. If yours is stronger, the ritual fails. The elders would lose face. They might be forced to reconsider."
"And if I lose?"
"Then you publicly prove your bond is inferior," Xu Wen said flatly. "You legitimize their decision. And you humiliate yourself and her in front of the entire inner sect. After that, they could exile you with full justification. Or worse."
The risk was astronomical. It was a single, desperate roll of the dice with everything on the line.
"Would they even allow it?" Lin Tian asked. "Would they let , an outer disciple, challenge a core disciple’s betrothal ritual?"
"The rules allow for it," Xu Wen said.
"It’s an ancient law, rarely invoked. But it’s there. They would have to permit the challenge, or admit the ritual is a sham. The trick would be getting to that point without being disqualified on so technicality beforehand."
Three days. To prepare for a spiritual contest against a Core Realm disciple. To strengthen a bond that was already under siege.
Find a way.
Lin Tian looked down at his hands. They were steady. "How do I issue the challenge?"
Before Xu Wen could answer, a new voice cut through the cold air.
"Lin Tian."
They both turned. A Discipline Hall disciple stood at the garden’s entrance, his expression stern. He wore the silver insignia of Elder Shen’s direct office.
"You are summoned," the disciple said, his voice echoing slightly in the quiet space. "Elder Shen Ruoyi requires your presence. Imdiately."
Xu Wen shot Lin Tian a warning look. Careful.
Lin Tian gave a small, almost imperceptible nod. Then he turned and walked toward the waiting disciple, his mind already racing ahead, planning for the confrontation to co.
The ssenger from Frostheart had been received.
Now, the real battle was beginning.
****
Lin Tian followed the silver-insignia disciple in silence, his boots crunching on the frosted gravel path. The summons felt like a trap, but walking into it was his only move.
They didn’t go to Elder Shen’s usual ditation chamber. Instead, they climbed a series of winding stairs carved into the living rock of the central peak, arriving at a wide observation platform open to the sky.
Elder Shen Ruoyi stood at the stone railing, her back to him. She wasn’t alone.
A young man stood beside her, and Lin Tian’s senses scread a warning before his mind caught up.
The disciple announced them and withdrew. Elder Shen turned, her expression unreadable. But Lin Tian’s eyes were locked on the other figure.
He looked to be in his early twenties, tall and broad-shouldered, with hair the color of polished silver tied in a severe knot. He wore inner disciple robes, but they were edged with a subtle, frost-blue thread that shimred with contained power.
Glacial Sword Body. The knowledge dropped into Lin Tian’s mind like a stone. This was Mu Chen.
"Lin Tian," Elder Shen said, her voice cutting through the silent assessnt. "You have been summoned to receive formal notification. This is Mu Chen, premier disciple of the Azure Snow Sword Sect."
Mu Chen’s eyes, a pale, piercing gray like winter mist, slid over Lin Tian.
He turned his head slightly toward Elder Shen, his voice a smooth, cold baritone that carried without effort.
"This is the one?" he asked, as if inquiring about a stain on the floor. "The outer disciple with the... unusual resonance?"
"It is," Elder Shen confird.
Mu Chen’s gaze returned to Lin Tian, and this ti it held. The pressure in the air intensified, a physical weight that pushed down on Lin Tian’s shoulders and sought to freeze the qi in his ridians. It was a casual, effortless display of dominance.
"I have reviewed the reports," Mu Chen said, his tone conversational yet utterly devoid of warmth. "Your rapid advancent is noted. Your performance in the Sword-Testing Spire was... acceptable, for an outer candidate."
Lin Tian said nothing. He t that gray stare, forcing his own breathing to remain steady. Don’t flare. Don’t give him anything.
"The Council of Peaks has reached a decision regarding Disciple Bai Xueya," Mu Chen continued, as if Lin Tian’s silence was the expected response from a lower life form.
"Her Ice Phoenix Divine Beast bloodline is a treasure of the sect. Its purification and optimization are our highest priority."
He took a single step forward. The temperature on the platform dropped sharply.
Lin Tian’s skin prickled, his own Ice Fla Qi stirring in response, a flicker of warmth against the invasive cold.
"You are an anomaly, Lin Tian," Mu Chen stated. "A variable. Your bond with her, while montarily stabilizing, introduces chaos into a system that requires perfect order.
My Glacial Sword Body provides that order. It is the complentary force to her Ice Phoenix essence. Together, we will elevate the sect’s legacy."
He said it with the absolute certainty of a man reading from a decree. There was no malice in it, only a cold, surgical fact. That was worse.
"The formal betrothal ceremony will occur in three days," Elder Shen added, her eyes watching Lin Tian closely. "You will be expected to attend, as her... current linked partner. To facilitate a peaceful transition."
A peaceful transition. Like handing over a tool.
Mu Chen’s lips curved into sothing that wasn’t a smile. "Your cooperation will be rembered. Your continued presence, however, will not be required afterward. The sect has uses for talented individuals, even those with... irregular foundations. In the remote branches, perhaps."
The offer, or threat, hung in the frozen air. Disappear to the outskirts, or be removed.
Lin Tian felt a hot coil of anger tighten in his gut. He shoved it down, locking it behind a wall of ice. He looked from Mu Chen’s arrogant face to Elder Shen’s impassive one.
"I understand the notification," Lin Tian said, his own voice sounding rough in the thin air. "Is that all?"
Mu Chen’s eyes narrowed a fraction. He had expected defiance, or pleading, or fear. Bland acknowledgnt seed to irritate him.
"There is one more thing," Mu Chen said. He lifted his right hand, palm up. On his open palm, the moisture in the air condensed, crystallized, and ford a perfect, miniature longsword of clear ice. It hovered, spinning slowly, its edge so sharp it seed to cut the light.
"The bond you share is a spiritual tether," Mu Chen said, watching the ice sword spin. "It is also a point of vulnerability. When the new bond is forged, the old one must be cleanly severed. For her health. For her future."
He closed his fist. The exquisite ice sword shattered into a fine, glittering dust that vanished before it hit the ground.
"If the severing proves... difficult," Mu Chen said, opening his empty hand, "more direct thods may be employed. For the good of the asset."
He wasn’t just talking about breaking the bond. He was talking about breaking Lin Tian.
The unspoken promise hung between them, colder than the mountain wind.
Elder Shen spoke again. "You are dismissed, Lin Tian."
Lin Tian gave a short, stiff nod. He turned, feeling those pale gray eyes on his back like the point of a blade. He walked to the stairway, each step asured and controlled.
Only when he was out of sight, descending into the relative warmth of the lower peaks, did he let the fury show on his face.
End of Chapter 90
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