Bai Qingxue pulled Lu Xueqing along as she led the way. The ice path was narrow, only wide enough for one person to pass through.
The ice walls on either side were as smooth as mirrors, reflecting the blurred silhouettes of the three women. Their distorted shadows, stretched by the eerie blue light, trailed behind them.
A heavy, muffled boom echoed from behind.
The entire ice path trembled. Fine cracks appeared on the ice walls, spreading downward from the ceiling like countless opening fingers.
The stone room had completely detonated.
Ice mist erupted from the fissures, surging down the ice path in pursuit. It moved with the terrifying speed of a rising tide.
The white fog instantly swallowed Ning Qinghan’s figure before sweeping past her toward Bai Qingxue and Lu Xueqing.
Rubble and ice shards mixed within the mist, striking their backs with stinging force.
Bai Qingxue quickened her pace.
"There's light ahead," Lu Xueqing said.
Bai Qingxue looked up.
At the end of the ice path, a sliver of white light indeed shone through. However, it wasn't an exit; it was simply a place where the ice was thinner, allowing a faint glimmer of daylight to filter in.
But before they could reach that beam of light, the three of them were forced to stop.
Several figures had begun to coalesce in front of them out of nowhere.
One, two, three... seven in total.
The seven figures were clad in black robes, with beast horn tokens hanging at their waists. Dark gray spiritual power swirled within their palms.
They stepped out of the ice mist with silent footsteps, looking like ghosts stepping in from another world.
Leading them was a middle-aged man.
He possessed a cultivation at the peak of Foundation Establishment. His expression was sinister, with high cheekbones and deep-set eyes.
He walked slowly, the hem of his black robe dragging across the ice without making a sound.
Bai Qingxue halted.
Lu Xueqing's hand moved to her sword hilt.
Ning Qinghan stopped behind them, the ice mist rushing past her sides and making her robes flutter violently.
The middle-aged man's gaze swept across the ice path, passing over Lu Xueqing and Bai Qingxue before finally settling on Ning Qinghan.
"I've been looking for you for ten years," the man said, his voice low and suppressed. "So, you were hiding here."
At those words, Ning Qinghan's expression darkened completely.
She took a step back, pressing her back against the ice wall.
The chill from the ice seeped through her clothes, but she didn't react. Her gaze was locked onto the middle-aged man.
The man's gaze shifted away from Ning Qinghan and fell back onto Bai Qingxue.
"Thank you for flushing her out for us."
Bai Qingxue gripped her sword hilt.
"Who are you?"
The man did not answer.
He raised his hand and gave a light wave, as if brushing dust off a table.
Several black-robed men attacked simultaneously.
Dark gray spiritual power erupted from their palms, condensing into chains in mid-air that shot toward Ning Qinghan.
The ice path was too narrow; there was nowhere to hide.
Lu Xueqing's sword was faster than Bai Qingxue's thoughts.
With a flash of sword light, the chain closest to Ning Qinghan was severed.
Dark gray smoke rose from the break, accompanied by a hissing, corrosive sound.
Lu Xueqing withdrew her sword and turned just as a second chain reached her.
She leaned aside to avoid it.
The chain grazed Lu Xueqing's left shoulder.
In an instant, her robe was torn and her flesh ripped open, sending beads of blood flying.
Lu Xueqing let out a muffled grunt.
Yet, she didn't stop. Before she could finish her sword stroke, a third chain exploded beside her. Fragments of dark gray spiritual power splashed onto her Daoist robe, burning several charred holes into the fabric.
Then, Bai Qingxue's sword arrived.
The Shuanghua sword cleared its sheath, and a surge of coldness erupted from the blade, condensing into an ice wall in front of her and Lu Xueqing.
The ice wall extended from the floor to the ceiling of the ice path, shielding the two of them.
The chains slammed into the ice wall.
Ice shards flew, but the wall did not shatter.
Bai Qingxue stood firm with her sword, continuously pouring spiritual power into the ice wall.
A new layer of frost rapidly formed on the surface of the wall, sealing the dark gray chains outside the ice.
The ice wall constantly melted under the erosion of the dark gray power, only to be reborn under the infusion of her spiritual power.
The speed of melting and regrowth pulled at a dangerous line of equilibrium.
The spiritual power of a mid-stage Foundation Establishment expert against a peak Foundation Establishment expert.
She actually blocked it.
The man's brow twitched slightly, as if something had piqued his interest.
Bai Qingxue glanced at Ning Qinghan.
Ning Qinghan was leaning against the ice wall, her face pale.
Noticing Bai Qingxue's gaze, she simply said one thing.
"I never said I was a good person."
Bai Qingxue withdrew her gaze and pressed even more spiritual power into the ice wall.
Lu Xueqing stood at Bai Qingxue's side. The wound on her left shoulder was still bleeding, staining a large portion of her robe red.
But Lu Xueqing ignored it.
Her sword was still in her hand, the blade reflecting the eerie blue light of the ice wall.
Then, her gaze fell upon the wall itself.
The ice wall was a layer thicker in front of her than it was in front of Bai Qingxue.
Frost patterns were stacked densely together, so thick that the figures of the black-robed men behind the wall were blurred.
On Bai Qingxue's side, the ice wall was much thinner; the dark gray patterns on the chains were already visible.
It was clear that Bai Qingxue had focused more of her spiritual power on the side protecting her.
Lu Xueqing lowered her head, looking at the thickened layer of ice.
Her reflection on the ice surface wavered.
She saw her own left shoulder slumped, blood dripping down her arm and freezing into a small patch of dark red ice at her feet.
Her sword was held in her hand, its tip only an inch from the ground, yet it felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.
Junior Sister Bai was once again bearing the burden of what she had failed to stop.
Just like seven years ago.
At that thought, Lu Xueqing couldn't help but bite her lower lip. She tasted a hint of iron on the tip of her tongue.
Lu Xueqing wanted to stand in front of Bai Qingxue.
She wanted to be like the first time she protected Bai Qingxue, letting her sword light shine first and severing all approaching danger before it could reach them.
But clearly, as she was now, she couldn't do it.
Lu Xueqing stood behind the ice wall, at Bai Qingxue's side, behind that layer of frost that was twice as thick as anyone else's.
For the first time, she felt the sword in her hand was so light.
So light that it didn't seem like a sword that could protect anyone.
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