Alaric gently lowered Yun Lan’s unconscious form onto the thick, snow-white fur rug he had pulled from his spatial ring. The contrast between the dark fur and her pale, alabaster skin was striking, a visual feast that made his blood hum with a dark, possessive rhythm. She was a masterpiece of ice and silk, currently vulnerable in a way a woman of her station—a forr Sect Master, a near-Martial King—would never allow herself to be.
But the ti for ogling was over. Now, it was ti for the performance of a lifeti.
Alaric bit down hard on his inner lip, tasting the sharp, copper tang of fresh blood. He let it trickle down his chin, staining his skin. He closed his eyes, turning his vast, chaotic mana inward. He didn’t just suppress his aura; he strangled it. He twisted his own energy flow, creating turbulent, chaotic eddies within his magical circuits that mimicked the symptoms of a shattered foundation. He forced his skin to pale, his sweat glands to open, his breath to co in ragged, wheezing gasps.
He had to look like a man who had burned the candle at both ends and then threw the candle into a furnace.
He sat beside her, assuming a cross-legged ditative pose, his hands hovering over her naked chest. He allowed his hands to tremble violently, a physical manifestation of "exhaustion."
"Wake up..." he rasped to the empty, freezing cave, his voice echoing off the icicles. "Don’t let this be for nothing..."
He began to channel energy. Not his corrosive, Void-touched mana, but a carefully filtered, warm stream of simulated Yang energy. He pushed it into her heart ridian, fighting back the lingering frost of the Absolute Zero Ice.
He groaned theatrically, his body jerking as if the backlash was tearing him apart.
"Nngh..."
Beneath his hands, Yun Lan stirred.
Her eyelashes, thick and frosted with ice crystals, fluttered. Her chest heaved—a sudden, desperate intake of breath as her lungs restarted. She coughed, a violent spasm that expelled a cloud of glittering, freezing mist from her lips.
Her eyes snapped open.
They were a crystalline, piercing blue, like the heart of a glacier. But right now, they were confused, hazy, and filled with the terrifying disorientation of soone waking up from the dead.
Her vision swam. She saw the stone ceiling, dripping with ltwater. She felt the softness of the fur beneath her bare back. And she felt... heat. A warm, anchoring pressure on her chest.
She turned her head, her neck stiff and cracking.
She saw a man.
He was hovering over her, his face inches from hers. He was handso—no, beautiful. Golden blonde hair that fell in ssy, sweat-drenched waves around a face that looked like it had been carved by angels, but marred by suffering. His eyes were red, exotic and intense, burning with a desperate determination.
But he looked... wrecked.
He was sweating profusely, his skin the color of old parchnt. A streak of bright red blood ran from his lip down to his jaw. His hands, which were pressed against the soft swell of her breasts, were shaking so hard she could feel the vibrations in her own ribs.
"Steady..." Alaric rasped, his voice a broken whisper that sounded like dragging stones over gravel. "The cold poison... is deep... I have... stabilized it... but..."
He coughed, a wet, hacking sound, and spat a mouthful of blood onto the stone floor beside her head.
Yun Lan blinked, her mind sluggishly piecing together reality. The last thing she rembered was the pain. The breakthrough failing. The Ice Qi rampaging through her ridians like a thousand knives. The desperate decision to seal herself in the Absolute Zero Ice to prevent her body from exploding, knowing it was likely a tomb.
She realized three things in rapid succession.
First, she was alive. The Qi in her body was calm, the lethal cold neutralized. Second, she was naked. The cool air of the cave was biting at her skin, and she could feel the texture of the fur against her bare legs. Third, this stranger... this beautiful, dying stranger... was killing himself to save her.
Instinctively, sha flooded her. She tried to cover herself, her arm moving to shield her breasts from his gaze. But her limbs were heavy, filled with lead. She barely managed to lift her hand an inch before it fell back to the fur.
"Who... who are you?" she whispered, her voice hoarse, scraping against a throat that hadn’t spoken in years.
Alaric slumped.
It was a masterful collapse. His arms gave out, his hands sliding from her chest (dragging pleasantly over her nipples on the way down) as if they were made of lead. He fell back against the cave wall, his head lolling, his chest heaving as he gasped for air.
"Just... a traveler..." he wheezed, wiping the blood from his mouth with a trembling hand. He looked at her, his ruby eyes soft, kind, and utterly exhausted. "My na... is Alaric. I sensed... soone in distress... a massive energy fluctuation... the ice..."
He closed his eyes for a mont, his brow furrowed in pain. "I had to... burn the Azure Fla... to lt it... I think... I think I overdid it..."
Yun Lan stared at him, her heart pounding against her ribs. She knew what the Absolute Zero Ice was. It was a forbidden technique of her sect. To lt it from the outside required a Heavenly Fla or the raw power of a Martial King burning their own Origin Essence.
This man... he wasn’t a Martial King. She could feel his aura now that he had stopped channeling. It was faint. Flickering like a candle in a gale. His ridians felt... empty. Shattered.
He had burned his foundation. He had destroyed his path of martial arts to save a stranger he found in a cave.
Her heart, usually cold and guarded by decades of sect discipline, trembled. Not with cold, but with a tidal wave of guilt and gratitude.
"You saved ," she said, the realization crashing down on her. Her voice cracked. "You... you used your Origin Essence? To save a stranger?"
Alaric opened his eyes. He gave her a weak, charming smile—a smile that said ’I’m dying, but you’re worth it.’
"I couldn’t... leave such a beauty to freeze in the dark," he murmured, his voice laced with a tragic romance. "Even if... it cost my cultivation base. So things... are worth more than power."
His eyes road her naked body. He didn’t look away. He didn’t apologize. He looked at her with a raw, honest appreciation that made her skin burn.
"You are... very beautiful, Fairy."
Yun Lan blushed. A flush of heat spread from her chest to her face, a stark contrast to her pale skin. She finally managed to summon a surge of willpower, accessing her spatial ring. A set of spare white robes appeared in a flash of light, covering her nakedness.
She struggled to sit up, her body weak but functional. She pulled the robes tight, tying the sash with trembling hands.
She turned to him and bowed, her forehead touching the fur rug.
"I am Yun Lan," she said, her voice filled with a solemn weight. "Forr Sect Master of the Frozen Cloud Asgard. I... I owe you a debt of life, Alaric. A debt I can never repay."
"Yun Lan..." Alaric repeated, testing the na on his tongue. He let his head fall back against the stone, staring up at the icy ceiling. "A beautiful na. Fitting for an ice spirit."
He tried to shift his position, to sit up straighter.
"Ah!"
He gasped, his face twisting in pain. He collapsed back down, clutching his legs. "My legs... they won’t move. The backlash... it severed the connection..."
"Don’t move!" Yun Lan cried, abandoning her reserve. She rushed to his side, scrambling over the furs. She knelt beside him, her hands hovering over his legs, afraid to touch him, afraid to cause more pain.
"I am sorry," she whispered, tears welling in her eyes. "I am so sorry. You... you were a genius, weren’t you? To have such fire... such power at your age... and you threw it away for ."
"It was my choice," Alaric said softly. He reached out and took her hand. His skin was hot, feverish. "Don’t cry for , Yun Lan. I would do it again."
She looked at him. Really looked at him.
He was young. So young. Maybe early twenties. Feng Xiao, the man who held her heart, was handso, heroic, a dragon among n. But Feng Xiao was always distant, always looking at the horizon, always chasing the next fla.
Alaric was looking at her. He was broken, ruined, and yet he was smiling at her as if she were the one who saved him.
"I will help you," she vowed, her voice fierce with determination. She gripped his hand tight. "I will find a way to restore your strength. Even if I have to beg the Emperor. Even if I have to search the ends of the earth for the Heaven-nding Elixir. I will fix this."
"Don’t worry about the Emperor," Alaric said, letting out a long, shaky breath. He leaned his head heavily on her shoulder, burying his face in the crook of her neck.
Yun Lan stiffened for a second at the contact, then lted. She wrapped her arms around him, supporting his weight, sharing her body heat.
"Just... stay with for a mont," he whispered against her skin. "It’s cold. And I feel... empty."
"I’m here," she said, stroking his golden hair, an instinct she didn’t know she had kicking in. "I’m not going anywhere."
Alaric smiled against her neck, hidden from her view. It was a dark, victorious smile. Hooked.
"Why were you here?" Yun Lan asked softly, trying to keep him talking, trying to keep him conscious. "In this dangerous realm? You said you are a traveler?"
"I am from a neighboring kingdom," Alaric lied, his voice vibrating against her collarbone, sending shivers down her spine. "The Jorailian Kingdom. I ca to the Celestial Dragon Empire seeking strength... seeking to broaden my horizons."
He paused, letting out a sad sigh.
"I have a sister," he invented, weaving the backstory he had prepared. "She... she was born with a Congenital Yin Pulse. Her body produces too much cold energy. She is dying, Yun Lan. Every day, she freezes a little more."
Yun Lan gasped. She knew that condition. It was rare, painful, and usually fatal.
"I ca here," Alaric continued, his voice thick with emotion, "because I heard rumors of a Nine-Yin Frost Grass growing in this secret realm. I thought... if I could find it... I could hire an Alchemist to concoct a suppression pill. To save her."
He laughed bitterly. "And now... I found the realm. I found the Ice Cave. But instead of an herb... I found you."
Yun Lan’s heart broke. He wasn’t just a traveler. He was a loving brother on a desperate quest. And he had sacrificed his ability to save his sister... to save her.
"You... you gave up your sister’s hope... for ?" she whispered, horror and awe mixing in her voice.
"You were dying in front of ," Alaric said simply. "She... she still has ti. I couldn’t trade a life for a possibility."
"We will save her," Yun Lan said, her voice steel. "I promise you, Alaric. We will save your sister. I know the Congenital Yin Pulse. The Frozen Cloud Asgard has thods... I will help you."
"Thank you," he murmured.
He shifted, wincing. "Is there... anyone else here?" he asked innocently. "Anyone looking for you? A companion? It seems dangerous for you to be alone in such a state."
Yun Lan paused. Her mind flew instantly to Feng Xiao.
She hadn’t seen him in two years. Not since she left the sect. She had co to this realm alone, seeking the solitude and the Ice Qi to force her breakthrough, hoping that if she beca a Martial King, she could stand by his side without sha. She hadn’t told him. She didn’t want him to worry.
But in her heart, a small, treacherous part of her had hoped. Hoped that he would sense her danger. Hoped that he would co crashing in to save her, like he always did.
But he wasn’t here. This stranger was.
This stranger, who had no reason to care, had bled for her. Feng Xiao was... sowhere else. Probably chasing another fla. Probably with another woman.
"No," she said, a hint of deep, buried sadness in her voice. "I am alone. No one knows I am here."
"Not anymore," Alaric said.
He took her hand in his. His thumb stroked her knuckles, a slow, deliberate caress that was far too intimate for strangers, yet felt justified by the life-debt between them.
He lifted his head from her shoulder and looked deep into her eyes. His red eyes bore into her blue ones, intense and unyielding.
"I may be crippled, Yun Lan," he whispered. "My cultivation may be gone. My quest may be failed. But looking at you right now... alive... warm... breathing..."
He reached up, his trembling hand cupping her cheek.
"I feel like I’ve won the greatest treasure in the world. Saving you... it was the best thing I’ve ever done."
Yun Lan blushed furiously, her heart skipping a beat. His flirtation was bold. Direct. Overwhelming.
Unlike Feng Xiao, who was always respectful, always distant, always calling her ’Senior’ or ’Sect Master’, always focused on his revenge and his path... Alaric was focused entirely on her. He didn’t see a Sect Master. He saw a woman.
"You... you shouldn’t say such things," she stamred, looking away, but she didn’t pull back from his touch.
"Why not?" Alaric asked, his thumb brushing her lip. "It’s the truth. And a dying man should always speak the truth."
"You are not dying!" she insisted. "I won’t let you."
"Then we need to leave," Alaric said, wincing as he tried to shift his weight. "This cave... the residual energy is unstable. And I can’t walk far. My ridians are screaming."
"I will carry you," Yun Lan said imdiately.
She stood up, pulling him with her. She was tall for a woman, strong, but Alaric was heavy. She put his arm over her shoulder, wrapping her arm firmly around his waist to support his weight.
He leaned heavily on her, his body pressing against hers with every step. His chest brushed against her side. His thigh rubbed against hers.
His arm was draped over her shoulder, his hand dangling dangerously close to her breast. As she took a step, adjusting his weight, his hand brushed against the side of her breast.
It wasn’t a grab. It was a brush. Accidental. Rhythmic.
Yun Lan stiffened, but she didn’t say anything. He was crippled. He couldn’t help it.
"Thank you, Yun Lan," he whispered, his lips brushing the shell of her ear, his warm breath sending shivers down her spine. "You are... incredibly soft."
She shivered, a strange, warm feeling curling in her stomach. It felt wrong. She loved Feng Xiao. She belonged to him, in her heart.
But this man... this savior... his touch ignited sothing in her she hadn’t felt in a long ti. Being needed. Being admired not for her strength, but for her self.
"Let’s go," she said, her voice trembling slightly.
They walked out of the cave, into the biting wind of the snowy peaks.
Alaric glanced back at the empty ice block one last ti.
He had the damsel. He had the debt. He had the physical contact.
Down in the valley, the hero was busy playing with lizards in the lake, fighting for a herb to increase his power. Up here, the villain was walking away with the hero’s heart.
The NTR had begun. And the first cut was the deepest.
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