Myriad Ascents Mountain Range, Fallen Immortal Lake.
A scruffy, stubble-faced man stood by the lakeshore with a sword strapped to his back. He glanced at the opposite bank several hundred meters away, then looked toward the center of the lake. What should have been rippling blue water was now occupied by a giant ice pillar that shot straight into the sky.
The pillar rose a thousand feet high, its body as clear and glittering as crystal, radiating a bitter cold that felt as ancient and unchanging as time itself. Beneath the cascading moonlight, that chill continued to spread, until the entire vast lake had been frozen solid.
The bearded man smacked his lips, seemingly chilled by the cold, and rubbed his arms with a sigh of lingering shock.
"Tsk, tsk. Good thing I didn't chase after them alone. At this scale, by the time you came back from reporting in, I'd probably already be sealed inside that giant block of ice."
The two of them were the same man and woman who had appeared outside the Buddhist hall earlier.
The woman was still dressed in that tight black combat outfit trimmed in red, her graceful figure sharply defined beneath it. The high ponytail behind her head swayed lightly as she, too, looked at the enormous ice pillar rising from the lake and said in a clear voice,
"It's Ran Qingmo of the Sword Sect." The bearded man's eyes narrowed. Suddenly, he stomped once, and his figure vanished from where he stood. The next instant, he was already standing atop the giant ice pillar in the middle of the lake.
The woman flickered forward as well. By the time she arrived, the bearded man was crouched on the ice, one hand lightly brushing across the crystal surface.
The woman swept her gaze over the surroundings from above.
Around Fallen Immortal Lake, a huge stretch of forest made up of towering hundred-meter trees had already been flattened, making it obvious just how fierce the battle had been.
After a pause, the woman asked, "Did you find anything?"
Still crouching there, the man stroked his stubble and answered with some hesitation,
"The one who fought Ran Qingmo… doesn't seem to have been human."
"A demon?" The woman frowned, then thought for a moment. "There aren't many shape-shifting demon kings in the Myriad Ascents Mountain Range capable of fighting Ran Qingmo on this level."
The bearded man smiled faintly. He picked up a scale the size of a palm, held it to his nose and sniffed it, then casually tossed it to the woman.
"Not one of those old monsters. A female serpent."
The woman lowered her eyes to look at it and frowned.
"A female serpent? Can you tell what it was?"
The bearded man pondered briefly, then said in a low voice, "The aura it left behind is somewhat like a Seven Life Python. Judging by the methods used here and the lingering source qi, this one has probably already shed its skin into its sixth life."
He clicked his tongue, his voice tinged with amazement. "Tsk, tsk... A Six-Rebirth Seven Life Python. One more life and it will have a completely stable human form. It's probably someone important from the serpent race over in the Demon Kingdom."
He paused after saying that, then rose to his feet. For once, a trace of seriousness appeared on his face. "Ran Qingmo trapped it inside this ice pillar. It revealed its true form to break free, and from the look of things, Ran Qingmo didn't seem to want a direct fight with it."
The woman's brows knit even tighter. "You mean the Third Young Master was taken by Ran Qingmo?"
The man did not answer at once. After thinking for a long while, he shook his head. "Not certain. But at least at Fallen Immortal Lake, Ran Qingmo was trying to protect the Third Young Master. Send word to the Eldest Young Master and the others on the other routes. Tell them we've found the Third Young Master's trail."
A trace of confusion flashed through the woman's eyes.
"But right now w—"
"We tracked them all the way here, and the person who took the Third Young Master never once made a detour."
The man cut her off with a wave of his hand. Standing atop the ice pillar, he stared at the distant mountain range looming like some heaven-swallowing beast.
"They're headed for Heaven's Gate Peak."
ᯓ➤
The wound on the white tiger's back was ghastly to behold. Though it had already scabbed over, the dark red blood that had once spread across its snow-white fur was still a jarring sight.
Having only just arrived in this world and still not having come into contact with cultivation, Xu Yuan could not infer much more from the depth and shape of the wound alone. But the fact that the white tiger had been injured was already enough.
With him unconscious, the only way the two of them could have made it from where they started all the way to Heaven's Gate Peak in four days was if the white tiger had carried him the whole way.
And yet this same white tiger, which had served as his mount while he was unconscious, had still been wounded by an outside attack despite Ran Qingmo being there with it. Whatever had happened in those four days of unconsciousness, it seemed to have been even more dangerous than he had imagined.
As thoughts flashed through his mind, Xu Yuan swept his gaze over the surroundings once more. Snow drifted down in flurries with the bleak mountain wind. Beneath the thick layer of accumulated snow, he could vaguely make out a bloodstained beast skeleton.
That discovery made his heart sink at once. He glanced at the half-dead snow wolf lying on the ground and let out a faint sigh. That bloodied skeleton was probably the remains of food the white tiger had caught and eaten earlier. Judging from the size of those bones, they had stayed in this spot for at least a full day.
A whole day… With pursuers behind them, what could have forced Ran Qingmo to stop and rest?
Xu Yuan looked at the woman sitting cross-legged on the snow.
Moonlight brushed softly across her veil. Her ink-dark robes moved with the wind, like a beautiful statue carved from the night itself.
A thousand thoughts flashed through Xu Yuan's mind. He took a deep breath. "You're injured."
His voice was quiet, and in the next instant it was carried away by the cold wind through the mountains.
After a moment of silence, Ran Qingmo still kept her eyes closed, regulating her breathing, but she did not deny it.
"Mhm."
"Badly?"
"A little."
His suspicion confirmed, Xu Yuan lifted a hand and rubbed his brow. Then he looked back toward the endless sea of forest below the mountain.
"What about the other side?"
"Her injuries are lighter than mine."
Xu Yuan fell silent. He thought of the wound on the white tiger's back. He had probably been the one dragging her down.
After a long while, Xu Yuan spoke again, his tone earnest. "I'm sorry."
Ran Qingmo did not respond. With her eyes still closed, she only said flatly, "Since you're awake, go up the mountain with it. I'll wait here for her."
As she spoke, she lifted a hand slightly and tossed a small object to him.
Xu Yuan caught it on instinct. Lowering his eyes, he saw that what Ran Qingmo had thrown him was a tiny ice-crystal sword, clear and translucent like carved crystal.
He asked reflexively, "This is?"
Ran Qingmo opened her eyes and glanced at the big white tiger beside her.
"If it acts up, crush it."
A flicker of understanding passed through Xu Yuan's eyes.
Just a moment ago, he had been wondering why this white tiger had become so obedient to Ran Qingmo in only four days. So that was it. She had planted something inside its body.
After a brief silence, Xu Yuan said nothing more. He simply closed his hand around the tiny crystal sword and climbed straight onto the tiger's back.
The moment he touched the scabbed-over wound there, he clearly felt the massive beast beneath him shudder.
Fortunately, aside from that, the white tiger showed no stronger reaction.
Seated on the tiger's back, Xu Yuan looked once more at the woman sitting cross-legged nearby. After a slight pause, he said in a low voice, "I'll wait for you at Suspended Heaven Cliff on the summit of Heaven's Gate Peak."
After a moment of silence, Ran Qingmo's voice was as cool and ethereal as when they had first met. "No need."
Xu Yuan looked at her and repeated himself at an unhurried pace. "I said, I'll wait for you at Suspended Heaven Cliff."
Ran Qingmo blinked, a trace of puzzlement in her beautiful eyes. She was trying to understand why this man insisted on waiting for her.
Xu Yuan did not explain. He only looked at her calmly. If Ran Qingmo did not come, then his only option would be to jump off the cliff.
With the Third Young Master’s miserable Luck stat of three, forget finding some hidden cave dwelling. He would probably get snagged on a jutting rock and die halfway down in free fall.
Ran Qingmo could not make sense of it. She gave a faint shake of her head. "I left a trace of my aura on you. I can find you."
Xu Yuan made something up on the spot, speaking with complete seriousness, one word at a time. "The cave dwelling can block aura tracking."
Ran Qingmo fell silent. After a long pause, she slowly opened her eyes fully and tipped her head back slightly, looking at the finely dressed young master seated atop the white tiger beneath the moonlight.
Their eyes met. Then at last, she gave a faint nod. Beneath the black veil covering her face, her red lips parted slightly. "All right."
Xu Yuan smiled lightly. "Come early."
In the next instant, without a sound, the white tiger turned into a streak of white and shot toward the summit, leaving behind only that lone figure in black, sitting motionless in the boundless snowfield like a stroke of ink against white emptiness.