The sea churns violently around the island.
Water darkens.
Then reddens.
Blood spreads in wide streaks as Xingli and Diexin cut down the crocodile fish leaping toward them, their attacks precise and rciless, each strike ending a life before the beast can even complete its arc through the air.
Around them, chaos unfolds.
Lower-stage cultivators struggle to hold their ground, but seeing the two won standing firm at the forefront, many gather behind them, using their presence as a shield against the relentless tide.
The battle stretches across the waves.
Endless.
Grinding.
Diexin’s brows knit slightly.
The beasts are too weak.
Too many.
A waste of ti.
Without a word, she rises.
Higher into the air.
Cold energy gathers around her.
Behind her, a vast Qi image forms,
A Snow Spirit.
Silent.
Ancient.
Her aura deepens as she begins to brew her magic power, drawing in the surrounding spiritual energy until the air itself seems to still.
Below,
In the dark waters,
A massive crocodile fish pauses.
Its eyes lift.
It senses the danger.
Diexin’s voice cuts through the battlefield.
“Everyone, get away from the water!”
The command spreads quickly.
Most of those present are Outer Qi warriors or Fourth Stage spiritual refiners.
They react instantly.
Bodies rise.
Leaving the surface behind.
Clearing the area beneath her.
Diexin releases.
“Snow Spirit’s Breath.”
The phantom behind her exhales.
A stream of absolute cold descends.
It passes through her body,
Frost forming along her skin,
Then strikes the sea.
The mont it touches,
The ocean freezes.
Rapidly.
Relentlessly.
In re monts, a vast expanse forms,
Hundreds of ters wide.
A solid sheet of ice.
One ter thick.
Sea beasts trapped within.
Frozen in motion.
Silenced.
For a brief mont,
The battlefield is still.
Xingli rises to her side.
Diexin begins circulating her energy rapidly, her body moving in quick, practised motions to dispel the cold biting into her flesh.
“Are you alright?” Xingli asks.
Diexin’s expression softens slightly at the concern in her voice.
“I’m fine.”
Below them, cultivators begin descending carefully, eager to harvest the frozen beasts.
But,
A sound breaks the silence.
Crack.
Then another.
Crack.
The ice trembles.
Before anyone can react,
It explodes.
Shattering outward in violent bursts.
A swarm erupts.
Crocodile fish.
Dozens.
All are at the level of Fourth Stage spiritual refiners or Outer Qi warriors.
Their bodies twist mid-air.
Their ridges flare open.
From hollow thorns along their backs,
Water jets erupt.
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They spin.
The streams weave together.
Forming a net.
A deadly vortex of cutting water.
A death zone.
Any cultivator caught within,
Is torn apart instantly.
Bodies split.
Blood scatters.
Screams erupt across the sky.
The swarm shrieks.
And charges upward.
Panic spreads.
So lose control.
Fall,
Straight into the waiting jaws below.
But high above,
Xingli and Diexin remain untouched.
Their cultivation shields them.
Their distance protects them.
They prepare to counter.
Energy gathers once more,
But,
Sothing changes.
Directly beneath them,
The sea splits.
A massive figure rises.
Larger.
Far larger than the others.
Its aura surges.
Sublimation Stage.
The surrounding crocodile fish retreat instantly.
Yielding.
The beast opens its mouth.
Lightning crackles within.
Water and electricity rge.
A violent sphere forms.
Then,
It fires.
A blast of water lightning tears through the sky toward them.
Both won halt their casting.
React instantly.
Energy shields bloom around them.
The attack slams into their defences.
Forcing them back.
Without hesitation,
They rise.
Higher.
Toward the clouds.
The massive crocodile fish follows.
Its body surging upward through the air,
Relentless in pursuit.
The massive crocodile fish surges through the sky with terrifying montum.
Its form is grotesque and imposing, a fusion of predator and abyss.
A crocodile’s head, wide and brutal, lined with jagged teeth that glint with wet light.
A long, streamlined fish body, built for speed and endurance.
A heavy crocodile tail, thick and muscular, cutting through the air like a whip.
Along its back, hollow ridges rise in rows, each one pulsing faintly as if breathing, channels for the violent techniques it unleashes.
It soars.
Faster.
Higher.
Diexin and Xingli attack together.
Ice and star energy streak downward.
The crocodile fish responds instantly.
Water surges around it.
A dense shield forms, layered, spinning, compressing,
Blocking both attacks.
Then,
The shield disperses.
Not shatters,
But dissolves.
Into mist.
Thick.
Obscuring.
The creature vanishes within it.
Xingli’s eyes narrow.
Her palm rises.
“Star Snake Hand.”
Hundreds of wisps of star Qi gather.
They twist.
Coil.
Like serpents made of light.
Then surge forward.
At the sa ti,
Diexin strikes.
Her sword flickers.
“Ice Cones.”
Hundreds of sharp ice projectiles form instantly.
They shoot forward like a storm.
The mist ripples.
Then,
A scream erupts from within.
A sonic blast explodes outward.
The sound wave tears through the attacks.
Star serpents scatter.
Ice cones shatter mid-flight.
The shockwave slams into both won.
Their bodies tremble.
But they hold.
The mist clears.
The crocodile fish reappears at a distance.
Facing them.
Its ridges flare.
Lightning gathers.
Water and thunder rge again.
Then it fires.
A barrage of water thunder surges forward.
Diexin and Xingli split apart instantly.
Dodging.
Counterattacking.
The sky becos a battlefield.
Star Qi lashes out in winding strikes.
Ice spreads in arcs of freezing power.
The crocodile fish dives, twists, rises again,
Releasing waves, lightning, and sound in rapid succession.
They chase each other through the clouds.
Attacking.
Evading.
Clashing again.
Rain begins to fall.
Then the wind rises.
Thunder rolls.
The storm builds around them as if drawn by their battle.
Diexin freezes portions of the sky itself.
Xingli’s star energy cuts through the storm like streaks of celestial fire.
The crocodile fish fights back with relentless fury,
But it begins to falter.
Its movents are slow.
Its aura flickers.
Then,
A combined strike lands.
Star and ice collide against its body.
Its scales crack.
Blood bursts outward.
A deep wound tears across its side.
The creature lets out a furious scream,
Then turns.
Dives.
Straight down.
Into the ocean.
Disappearing beneath the waves.
The storm continues to rage.
Diexin and Xingli hover above the sea.
Watching.
Waiting.
But the beast does not return.
After a mont, they exhale.
The battle ends.
For now.
Rain pours around them.
Thunder echoes across the sky.
Wind howls.
They glance toward the distance.
An island appears through the storm.
Dark.
Silent.
They move toward it.
The island is the remnant of a cooled volcano.
Black rock rises from the sea.
Dense forest covers its surface.
There are signs of life,
But faint.
Very faint traces of spiritual energy.
As they descend and enter the forest, they quickly realise,
It is filled with ordinary beasts.
No cultivators.
No demons of power.
Just native creatures surviving in isolation.
Xingli steps forward.
Her hand rises.
With a controlled motion, she carves into the base of the volcanic mountain.
Stone parts.
A cave forms.
Then expands.
Two chambers take shape within.
Simple.
Clean.
Enough.
Without speaking further, they separate.
Each enters her own room.
They take out pills.
Begin cultivating.
Recovering.
Yu Diexin sits in silence, her breath slow and controlled as she channels her energy carefully through her body, guiding warmth into her frozen cells to counteract the lingering cold that seeps deep into her flesh after every battle.
The ice she wields is not ordinary.
It is colder.
Sharper.
More absolute than that of any cultivator at her level.
That is her advantage.
But it is also her burden.
The inheritance she received from the Snow Spirit was never ant for a human.
It belongs to a different race.
A race born from frost.
Though their bodies resemble humans, the essence within them is entirely different.
They possess an innate immunity to cold.
She does not.
Every ti she uses that power,
It harms her.
Freezes her from within.
Yet she continues.
Because the technique is too valuable.
Too powerful to abandon.
It leads toward the Quasi-Saint stage.
A path she cannot ignore.
So she endures.
Silently.
She continues circulating her energy, lting the frost within her veins, restoring warmth to her body until the stiffness fades and her breathing steadies.
Hours pass.
When she finally opens her eyes and steps out, the cave is quiet.
But not empty.
Star stands near the back wall, her gaze fixed on sothing within the rock.
Diexin walks toward her.
“Did you find sothing?”
Star glances at her, then steps aside.
She points.
At the cave wall.
Crystals protrude from the stone.
Faint.
Yet unmistakable.
Diexin’s expression changes instantly.
She can feel it.
Spiritual energy.
Pure.
Condensed.
Her voice lowers in disbelief.
“How is this possible?”
Spirit stones.
On this island.
It makes no sense.
The spiritual energy here is thin.
Scattered.
Such a place should never produce a vein.
Both of them spread their spirit into the mountain.
It reaches the rock,
Then rebounds.
Blocked.
Sealed.
They exchange a glance.
Shock mirrors in both their eyes.
Xingli’s voice cos out in a breath of excitent.
“Could there be a ruin inside the island?”
Diexin considers.
Her gaze sharpens.
“If there is…”
“Then the entrance would be inside the volcano.”
“Or beneath the water.”
They do not hesitate.
Turning, they step out of the cave.
Rain pours steadily from the sky.
Wind brushes past them.
They form a thin layer of energy around their bodies, shielding themselves from the cold and keeping their clothes dry as they begin climbing the volcanic slope.
Step by step, they inspect the outer surface.
Nothing.
Until,
They reach the crater.
Without pause, they leap.
Dropping into the hollow below.
They land lightly on accumulated rainwater at the base.
Ripples spread outward.
Then,
They see it.
An opening.
Carved into the inner wall of the volcano.
Dark.
Hidden.
Waiting.
They approach cautiously.
Xingli takes out a bell.
The one left to her by her late master, Frasser.
She channels her energy into it.
A faint ring echoes.
A field forms around them.
Subtle.
Suppressing their aura.
Concealing their presence.
They step inside.
Moving deeper.
Careful.
Silent.
Then,
Voices.
Faint.
Echoing through the stone.
They follow the sound.
Slowly.
Until they reach the edge of a cavern.
They stop.
Peek inside.
What they see,
Freezes them.
A figure stands in the cavern.
A demon.
In human form.
Facing three others.
mbers of the Star Singer Tower.
The demon’s voice is cold.
“You will compensate us.”
“For the losses we suffered during the beast riot.”
One of the n replies calmly.
“The riot benefited you as well.”
“It reduced the number of sea beasts.”
“We have already provided sufficient resources.”
The demon’s expression darkens.
“If more is not paid…”
“The riot will end.”
Tension fills the space.
The female among the three steps forward slightly.
“Calm down.”
“We can discuss this further.”
The demon snorts.
Unmoved.
It turns.
Walks toward a pool within the cavern.
Then dives in,
Vanishing beneath the water.
The three mbers remain.
They begin speaking among themselves.
Quietly.
Xingli and Diexin exchange a glance.
No words are needed.
They step back.
Carefully.
Silently.
Preparing to leave.
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