“Do not worry about me.”
Four words, as cold and clear as shattered jade falling onto ice.
Before her voice could even fade, Bai Qingxue was already on the move.
Instead of retreating, she took a step forward, braving the massive wave of cold air kicked up by the malevolent golem.
When the sole of her boot touched the ice, the frost patterns beneath her feet silently spread out in a ring of fine cracks, diverting the oncoming impact away from her sides.
The small patch of ice where Bai Qingxue stood remained completely still, but the shattered ice within three feet of her was jolted upward, suspending in the air for half a breath before falling back down.
Bai Qingxue did not need protection. Even though the restriction inside her burned like a raging fire, her spine remained as straight and unbending as a sword.
She brought the Frost Moon Chant to her lips. Bai Qingxue pressed her fingers onto the flute holes. Her fingertips were slightly hot from the burning restriction, but as her finger pads covered the edges of the holes, the heat seemed to be absorbed by the jade. A warm, gentle touch traveled back from the flute to her finger pads, as if someone were repeatedly telling her:
I am still here, still here.
Bai Qingxue took a deep breath.
The air she inhaled was filled entirely with the Xuanyin malevolent energy surging from the depths of the ice cave. It was so cold it felt like razor blades scraping against her throat, but she did not cough or pause.
A wisp of ice-blue spiritual light, laced with scarlet blood-red threads, gathered at the flute holes like light compressed to its absolute limit, its edges trembling slightly.
“Zheng!”
The first note of the flute was not a melody, but a sound of slaughter.
The momentum of the golem's violent charge abruptly ground to a halt the instant the sound of the flute touched it.
Its massive body seemed to be pushed head-on by something, its forward momentum arrested mid-stride, and its thick ice claws plowed four deep grooves into the ice.
Its eye sockets, dancing with blood-red flames, suddenly contracted as the two bursts of fire locked firmly onto Bai Qingxue.
As if in confusion, yet also in wild fury.
A low roar rumbled from deep within its throat, shaking the walls of the ice cave and causing shattered ice to shower down.
“Huh?!”
Seeing this, although Zhao Yue was astonished by Bai Qingxue's bizarre methods, he reacted with extreme speed in the face of the great enemy.
His gray-rainbow sword light split into two. One beam slashed toward the golem's thick ice leg joints, while the other swept up the Northern Underworld disciple on the ground who had been caught in the malevolent energy, flinging them to a safe area.
Though shocked and angry, Zhao Yue did not lose his composure. In this critical moment, he chose self-preservation and rescue, putting aside his curiosity about Bai Qingxue for the time being.
“Roar!” The golem roared in pain as ice shards exploded from the spot where Zhao Yue's sword qi had struck.
Thoroughly enraged, it swung its massive palm, carrying a force that seemed capable of crushing the void itself, and slammed it toward Bai Qingxue, who was directly in its path.
As if sensing the golem's fury, the touch of crimson at the corners of Bai Qingxue's eyes deepened.
The tune of the flute shifted in that instant, changing from a sharp sound of slaughter to a low, sobbing drawl, like a string being gradually tightened, producing a deeper and more resonant hum.
As the flute music changed, the cold air within a ten-foot radius of Bai Qingxue began to gather frantically.
Countless tiny ice crystals precipitated from the air and peeled away from the surface of the ice layer.
They spun, gathered, and elongated in midair, condensing into dozens of thick ice spears in a fraction of a second.
Each ice spear was as thick as an arm, its surface covered in fine frost patterns. Their tips were as sharp as needles, reflecting a dangerous, cold light under the blue glow of the ice cave.
Then, like venomous snakes endowed with spiritual intelligence, these ice spears shot forward in a crisscross pattern, stabbing toward the golem's underarms and eye sockets.
However, Bai Qingxue's internal condition was far less composed than it appeared on the surface. Under the close-range pressure of the golem, the restriction inside her was growing violent at an alarming rate.
Every time she channeled her spiritual power, the tearing pain in her meridians intensified.
Consequently, her movements began to show extremely subtle hesitations.
Beside them, Ning Qinghan watched this scene play out but did not make a move, merely observing everything silently.
“Junior Sister Bai!” Lu Xueqing was anxious, clearly seeing Bai Qingxue's struggle.
She immediately flicked her longsword, preparing to step forward to share the burden, even if it was just to block a single strike for her.
But the moment her sword momentum was about to move, Bai Qingxue seemed to sense it. Without even turning her head, she transmitted a cold divine sense through the still-steady sound of her flute: “Stand back.”
These two words brooked no argument.
Lu Xueqing's body stiffened. Veins bulged on the back of her hand gripping the sword, but she ultimately did not disobey.
She knew Bai Qingxue. The more critical the situation, the less she would allow others to interfere.
Lu Xueqing could only shift her sword stance to expand her defensive range. She frantically shattered the flying ice shards and rocks that were sharp enough to pierce metal and stone, using her own method to clear an undisturbed battlefield for Bai Qingxue.
The golem roared again. Its massive body twisted violently, and its tail, condensed from malevolent energy, swept out like a steel whip, forcing Zhao Yue—who was adjusting his position and trying to cut in from the side—back by three steps.
Zhao Yue's sword light was shattered for an instant before the tail. He flipped half a turn in the air before regaining his balance, his boots leaving two deep skid marks on the ice.
Then, the golem opened its massive mouth. Inside, a bottomless mass of blood-red malevolent cold energy was condensing, its light rotating slowly as if being repeatedly compressed.
The edges of the cold energy had already begun to spread.
It had not yet left the golem's mouth, but just being brushed by its aftershocks caused a layer of white frost, far denser than normal, to form on the nearest ice surface.
In the next instant, the mass of blood-red malevolent cold energy erupted!
This strike was impossible to dodge!
Bai Qingxue's light-colored pupils reflected the destructive, cold light.
She knew Lu Xueqing could not protect her; she had to rely entirely on herself.
Bai Qingxue formed an extremely complex hand seal in front of her chest, pushing all the Ice Spirit spiritual power she could mobilize in her body, along with the restriction power that was nearly tearing her apart, forward without reservation.
There was no shield, no defense.
Instead, she used offense as defense. The Frost Moon Chant erupted with an unprecedentedly brilliant blood-red light, transforming into a spiraling ice spike that charged right into the blood-red malevolent cold energy!
Boom!!!
An earth-shattering explosion erupted in the ice cave.
Two forces of the same origin yet completely different natures clashed violently, the resulting shockwave shaving off a thick layer of the surrounding ice.
Bai Qingxue's figure was violently thrown back by the impact, drifting like a broken kite.
In the split second before her consciousness faded into darkness, she clearly felt that the moment the restriction in her body came into contact with the golem's power, it seemed to transmit back an extremely faint... call.
Guided by this final glimpse, through the dancing ice shards and blood-red malevolent mist, Bai Qingxue seemed to see the ice coffin from the Nanhuai ruins once more.
Was the ice coffin calling out to her? ...
Before she could think further, Bai Qingxue's world fell into darkness.
Her body went limp. Just before she hit the ground, Lu Xueqing rushed over and caught her in her arms.
“Junior Sister Bai!” Lu Xueqing's voice carried a sob. She found the girl in her arms bleeding from the corner of her mouth, her body temperature bone-chillingly cold, and the touch of crimson at the corners of her eyes still lingering even in unconsciousness, a shocking sight.
Rate on N.U.
