The northern mountain ranges, like a silver dragon coiled at the edge of the earth, stretched across the northern border of the White Horse Kingdom.
When sunlight spilled over them, the peaks and ridges refracted billions of dazzling, magnificent points of light, like scales shaken loose by the dragon, breathtakingly majestic.
Yet behind this extreme beauty lay a harsh environment for survival.
The howling cold wind was the eternal song here, and the resilient snow pines and lichens were among the few plants that could survive in this place.
The beastmen who had lived here for generations had migrated to the ice-free ports further north on the continent. Now, only tenacious mountain savage tribes, scattered like moss on the outer fringes of the mountains, coexisted with this icy, snowy land, relying on hunting and ancient wisdom.
In a sheltered valley, a small savage tribe was situated.
Dome-shaped snow huts resembled scattered white mushrooms, with faint wisps of cooking smoke rising from chimneys, bringing a touch of civilized life to this tranquil white wilderness.
However, at this moment, the clamor emanating from the center of the tribe shattered that tranquil atmosphere.
A young savage hunter had been carried back by his tribesmen. Having slipped and fallen from a low cliff, he had broken his leg bone. His right leg was now bent at an unnatural angle, the excruciating pain leaving his face deathly pale and dripping with cold sweat.
"Make way, bandage it first, start a fire quickly!"
The savages bustled about, but there was little they could do in the face of such a serious injury.
"Make way."
Just as they were at a loss, a petite figure pushed through the crowd and squeezed in.
Unlike the savages surrounding her, this was a Lizardfolk draped in thick animal hides.
It was Sekashi, who had been in the snowy mountains for a long time.
After everyone made way, she entered, knelt beside the injured man, and gently placed her cool hand around the wound.
"Bear with it," she said softly, then closed her eyes and concentrated.
A soft, vibrant green light, like the tender buds of early spring, emanated from her palm and gently seeped into the injured man's leg bone.
The power of nature nourished the torn tissues and fractured bone. The pain rapidly eased, and the young hunter's tense body gradually relaxed.
Semiaya, following behind her, also entered. Silently, she took out the medicinal herbs she carried, carefully grinding them into powder on a smooth stone, and applied it around the wound in coordination with Sekashi's healing.
By the time the tribe's elderly Shaman hurried back, the treatment was already over. The old man met with the two sisters alone, his wrinkled face showing expressions of gratitude and approval.
"The spirits of nature favor you, child. The tribe thanks you for your kindness."
Sekashi lowered her head somewhat bashfully, her small hands waving shyly. "No, it is we who should thank you for being willing to take in my sister and me. It's just... just that I happened to be able to help a little."
The old Shaman chuckled softly at her shy demeanor. He took out an object wrapped in thick fur from his chest and solemnly handed it to Sekashi.
"Child, this is the Eternal Frost Orchid you asked us to find earlier. The snow on Mount Buda melted a bit, revealing its presence."
"It can help you complete the final trial for the Life Spirit's transformation, and it is also the key to the Snow Eagle Trial."
Sekashi carefully accepted it and looked down to examine it closely.
It was a flower of indescribable beauty, as if carved from the purest ice. The petals were layered and translucent, bone-chillingly cold to the touch, yet strangely, it did not melt.
She knew this miraculous flower only bloomed on the peaks of snowy mountains or near fissures leading to the ice elemental plane, making it extremely rare.
So she thanked him quietly, her eyes brightening a bit with joy.
The old Shaman smiled kindly and told her how to use it.
She only needed to swallow the petals or brew them with snow water into "ice tea" to drink.
Then, when her breath turned to white mist and her thoughts became as clear and calm as ice crystals, the one who ingested it would be able to hear absolute silence, see the flow of heat in the environment, and vaguely perceive the suffocating cold of the ice elemental plane and the illusions of its majestic glaciers.
To complete the trial, she needed to find and form a contract with an ice elemental creature within a plane where ice and snow existed, obtaining its power to complete the Life Spirit's transformation.
"But child, you must be wary of the risks involved."
The old Shaman's tone became extremely serious. "During this time, your body temperature will drop drastically, with the danger of severe frostbite and hypothermia. And after entering the ice elemental plane, the fluctuations of your soul might attract the gaze of some... unknown entities."
Sekashi asked softly, "Unknown entities... what could they be?"
"If you're lucky, perhaps just some mischievous and curious small ice elemental creatures."
The old Shaman said gravely, "If luck is not on your side... you might encounter evil gods or ancient beings wandering the elemental boundaries, holding fragmented authority over ice and snow."
"Remember, if you truly encounter one, it's better to abandon the trial and leave that place."
Sekashi took a deep breath of the icy air, tightly clutched the Eternal Frost Orchid in her hand, and nodded seriously. "I understand. Thank you, Shaman."
Afterwards, Sekashi and the other returned to the small snow hut they were temporarily borrowing. A wave of warmth greeted them.
The firewood crackled in the small stone hearth, emitting reassuring light and heat. Semiaya leaned against the wall, arms crossed, her face filled with worry.
"Sekashi, this is too dangerous."
"The ice elemental plane... that's simply not a place Lizardfolk should set foot in, let alone attracting the gaze of unknown entities."
Sekashi was carefully clearing a small, clean area, preparing for meditation.
After hearing this, she looked up and reassured, "Sister, I've already completed the previous 'Nature' and 'Ice Scale' trials. Please believe me, Sekashi has grown up. I'm not a child who shrinks back at the first sign of difficulty anymore."
"That's exactly why I'm worried."
She sighed, knowing it was useless to dissuade her. She could only walk to the door, silently guarding her younger sister with her tall frame, saying in a low voice, "I'll watch over you. If anything seems wrong, stop immediately."
"Mhm!" Sekashi nodded vigorously.
She sat cross-legged, took a few deep breaths, and prayed quietly.
"Putu, Envoy, please protect me from being harmed by evil gods..."
Reciting the prayer, she recalled that warm night in the swamp. Seeing that round figure in her memory, her heart settled considerably, her anxiety lessening.
After a long while, she entered meditation, feeling the flow of natural power within her body, then adjusted her mental state to its peak.
Only after completing all these preparations did she carefully pluck a crystal-clear petal from the Eternal Frost Orchid, take a deep breath, and slowly place it in her mouth.
"Boom!!"
Extreme cold, like countless tiny needles, exploded from the tip of her tongue, rapidly spreading throughout her entire mouth and throat, then rushing toward her brain like a surging cold tide.
The warmth from the hearth shattered and dissipated like fragile glass. She felt as if she had been instantly stripped naked and thrown into an ice cave.
The hut's walls, the warm fire, her sister's worried gaze... everything was receding from her, becoming blurred and unreal.
Replacing it was an all-pervasive, severe cold.
At this moment, she felt her breath had already frozen solid, yet her thoughts were exceptionally clear—so clear she could see the slowing flow of her own blood and hear the faint sound of ice crystals forming deep within her bone marrow.
Her consciousness seemed to transform into a light snowflake, blown by an intangible cold wind, detached from her heavy physical body, drifting toward the cold, empty end...
This sense of detachment was both wondrous and terrifying. She tightly held onto her last shred of clarity, silently reciting her prayers.
She didn't know how much time had passed when she felt her "consciousness" seemed to hit an intangible barrier, then suddenly plummeted downward, a real sensation coming from beneath her.
Was this the ice elemental plane? She thought sluggishly.
In Sekashi's perception, her surroundings were a boundless, pure white world. There was no direction, no time here, only deathly silence and piercing cold.
But soon she discovered this place wasn't always so silent. In some areas, many light orbs of varying sizes drifted in the air. They were the inhabitants of this place—ice elemental creatures.
They seemed sculpted from condensed auroras and ice and snow, emitting a soft, cold white light, slowly moving, gathering, and dispersing.
Sekashi's consciousness drifted like a small boat on this sea of cold energy.
She felt both minuscule and fragile.
She tried to approach a medium-sized light orb, concentrating her will, striving to send out a faint, friendly thought.
However, the moment Sekashi's consciousness drew near, countless sharp ice crystal fragments instantly burst forth around the light orb, like an exploding hedgehog. A cold mental impact slammed into her consciousness.
"Outsider..."
"Fragile... heat... discordant..."
"Leave!"
The light orb roughly rejected her attempt at communication and pushed her away.
Sekashi's consciousness was sent drifting backward by this force. A mental sting and dizziness washed over her, as if her very soul had been frostbitten.
Unwilling to give up, she tried approaching several other light orbs, large and small. But they either remained as unresponsive as boulders or emitted a cold rejection. One particularly massive light orb even seemed curiously intent on devouring her.
After escaping the massive light orb, the immense mental drain made it difficult for Sekashi to maintain her meditative state.
Soon, her consciousness returned to her body. Sekashi's eyes snapped open, and she coughed violently, exhaling nothing but icy white vapor, her lips turning purple from the cold.
"How was it?" Semiaya immediately stepped forward, wrapping her in thick furs.
"I'm... I'm fine."
Sekashi's teeth chattered, somewhat discouraged. "They... they don't seem to like outsiders much."
After warming up by the hearth, Sekashi reflected on her previous failure and realized she might have been too impatient.
Everything in the ice elemental plane followed a slow and eternal rhythm. Her communication method might have been too hasty, clashing with the fundamental tone of this place.
The second time she swallowed the petal, that bone-chilling cold assaulted her again, but this time she was mentally prepared.
When her consciousness drifted back into that pure white, silent world, she no longer rushed to approach those powerful, dazzling light orbs.
She forced herself to become still, like a piece of ice, like a snowflake, merely observing and feeling silently.
She saw that the larger light orbs generally moved more slowly, containing vast and stable energy, but were also more difficult to influence and communicate with.
Those very tiny points of light, however, were like small flames, their energy fluctuations extremely weak, seeming as if they might extinguish at any moment, and also unable to bear the connection of a contract.
She needed to find a suitable target—not too strong, and not too weak.
She ignored the blindingly bright and the dim light orbs, carefully discerning those in the middle range.
Time passed slowly. This kind of fully focused search was extremely draining on her mental energy. She felt her consciousness itself was beginning to tire.
Finally, she locked onto a target.
It was a relatively small light orb, its glow not particularly dazzling but very stable.
Its form was constantly shifting slightly, but one could vaguely make out a contour similar to a young wolf, sometimes curled up, sometimes looking around warily.
More importantly, Sekashi perceived a sense of curiosity different from other elemental creatures in the energy fluctuations it emitted.
She held her breath and concentrated, gathering all her intent into an extremely fine, slow ripple, slowly transmitting the simplest thought.
"See... you... resonate..."
The small ice wolf light orb paused for a moment, turning slightly toward the direction of her consciousness.
It seemed to hesitate;
ripples of confusion appeared in its energy fluctuations.
It didn't reject her immediately, nor did it approach. It was like a wary little beast, assessing the unfamiliar visitor.
It really worked!
This tiny progress filled Sekashi with a bit of joy.
But maintaining such delicate communication was extremely difficult. Her mental energy was about to run out. She just tried hard to remember this ice wolf light orb's unique energy frequency and location, then actively ended her meditation.
She needed to recover. Just one more time, and she could succeed.
After a day of rest and replenishing her energy, Sekashi began her third meditation with unprecedented determination.
This time, she felt her tolerance for the cold seemed a bit stronger, and the process of her consciousness descending was smoother.
Her heart filled with anticipation, she drifted directly toward the location she remembered from last time, eagerly wanting to find that "ice wolf" light orb that had given her hope.
There!
But...
What's going on?
Her consciousness looked around, and confusion arose within her.
The pure white world that, although cold and silent, had been filled with points of living light before, was now empty and desolate.
It was as if all the ice elemental creatures had evaporated in an instant or deliberately hidden themselves.
Where are they?
Where did they all go?
Where is that little one?
She searched near the location she remembered but found nothing.
This strange phenomenon made Sekashi feel slightly uneasy.
Had she encountered the unknown entity the old Shaman spoke of?
Just as she was feeling anxious and uneasy, a cluster of flickering, fiery red light points intruded into this absolutely pure white world.
An accident had truly occurred.
An unknown entity had broken into here.
Sekashi's consciousness immediately became tense. She quietly crouched in place, not daring to move, and began praying silently.
Don't see me, don't see me...
However, her prayers were ineffective. The cluster of fiery red light points seemed to have discovered her. After pausing slightly, it actually jumped straight toward her.
"Wah! Evil god, please spare me! Lizardfolk aren't tasty!"
Sekashi was so scared she wanted to flee, but she had nowhere to hide. She could only watch helplessly as that cluster of fiery red light, representing the unknown and danger, came closer and closer, finally crashing directly into her consciousness.
The expected devouring did not occur.
At the moment of contact, a familiar warmth instantly enveloped her cold consciousness. The feeling was like suddenly returning from a blizzard wilderness to that small hut with its crackling hearth—utterly reassuring.
Immediately afterward, she heard a familiar voice tinged with confusion.
"Sekashi?"
Sekashi was completely dumbfounded. Her consciousness seemed to freeze solid. Subconsciously, she responded with a silly sound.
"Huh?"