A shadow of uncertainty skimmed Vermilion Demon Lord''s face, yet resolve zed behind his eyes. "I thank you, Mr. Cloudridge. Even if hope is a single thread, I will walk through des and fire to seize it!"


    Jared looked up, fingers tapping the arm of his chair. "Mr. Cloudridge, do we know anyndmarks that point to this pool? And when is the next blossoming expected?"


    Linden closed his eyes, drifting through centuries of scroll dust. "The old texts are vague," he said atst, "but they speak of a ce ringed by three titanic ice peaks arranged like the corners of a glyph."


    He counted backward in silence, lips barely moving. "Last recorded bloom-two hundred eighty years ago. By the hundred-year cycle, the next awakeninges within the next twenty years. Could be this winter...or the winter after the next dozen."


    Hope red brighter in Vermilion''s gaze. Twenty years, to a cultivator, was no more than a drawn breath.


    "I wield primordial me," Jared said, confidence ringing clear. "And after merging with the ice nascence, that fire has only grown. I evenmand a fragment of icew. If a mere frozen pool bars the path, I have nothing to fear."


    The ice ins, a frostpool, a flowerpared with worlds I have burned and storms I have endured, they are insects beneath an avnche.


    Linden''s hand drifted over his beard again; this time, the motion felt like a warning bell.


    "Sir Chance," he murmured, "even if cold, wind, and lurking beasts cannot dissuade you, one obstacle remains more troublesome than any blizzard or serpent."


    Jared''s eyes narrowed. "What obstacle?"


    Linden''s voice dropped to a hush that filled the chamber with frost. "The Eternal Ice ins are not unimed tundra. Its core has long been considered sacred ground by a singr, aloof people—the Northern Abyss Celestial n."


    He allowed the name to hang like falling ice.


    "The Northern Abyss Celestial n? They''re all Celestials?" asked Jared. This was the first time he heard something like that.


    "Yes," he continued, answering Jared''s unspoken question, "they carry ancient god- blood, born to thenguage of ice. Their bodies rival star-steel, their lifespans stretch beyond imagination. From their pce-Northmere Hall-they oversee nearly every resource the icefield offers, especially the hidden sanctums. The Bloodshade Ice Pool is almost certainly under their guard."


    Linden''s eyes hardened. "They are proud, frigid hearts. To them, all who dwell beyond the ice are lesser, unclean. Trespassers receive no warning: at best, expulsion; at worst, obliteration."


    His final words tolled like iron on stone. "Countless masters thought their cultivation high enough to ignore that decree. The snow still keeps their bones."


    Jared listened in silence, piecing together the revtion Linden had just offered. The so-called Northern Abyss Celestial n, he now understood, was nothing more than a proud tributary of the vast Celestial race.


    Yet every member of that offshoot, he learned, carried the same sickness of arrogance. They drifted through life like self-crowned emperors, their gazes skimming over lesser souls as if the world were personal property.


    Jared almostughed. People behaved that way only when life had not yet bruised the vanity out of them.


    A handful of decisive beatings, he mused, and even the loftiest tiara would learn humility.


    After all, he himself bore the legendary Golden Dragon Bloodline, yet had never felt the urge to parade it about.


    Beside him, the Vermilion Demon Lord''s crimson face darkened a shade; clenched fists grew so tight the knuckles shone white.


    The situation was turning into sleet on frozen ground treacherous terrain, elusive treasure, and now a local tyrant unwilling to yield.


    Jared''s voice remained level, yet irony beneath it. "So they are Celestials what of it? I have never hesitated to strike the Celestial race. Offshoot or hearnd, if their bastion blocks my road, I will tear it open Rest easy, Mr. Cloudridge swore to bring back the Blood-Lotus, and I


    will. But blunt force alone will not suffice; cunning will carry us through the gate."


    Bold words aside, Jared truly feared no Celestial. He still intended to face their


    patriarch and demand the freedom of Maxwell.


    Linden read the resolve zing in Jared''s eyes; trying to dissuade him further would only seem patronizing.


    He sped his hands behind his


    back, pondered for a heartbeat, then


    spoke. "Sir your sense of honor humbles me. Our Mystic Sky Sword


    Sect seldom deals with the Northern Abyss Celestial n, yet we do possess charts of the Eternal Icefield''s outer and


    minds weather shifts hidden pitfalls, region''s best avoided You are new to level ten and know none of this. Allow a familiar guide to lead the way; it could spare you needless blood and conflict."


    Turning toward the archway, Linden called, "ra,e inside."


    The doors parted, and ra stepped forward, snow-white training leathers whispering against the floor. Her presence was as cool and precise as falling frost.


    "Father. Sir Chance," she greeted, bowing respectfully.


    Her gaze hesitated on Vermilion for a single heartbeat—no surprise; she had overheard enough in the corridor.


    Linden continued, "ra, Sir Chance


    and Vermilion here are bound for the Eternal Ice ins in search of a lifesaving herb. You once crossed level ten''sndscape beside the me Sword Venerable. You know the fand well. Guide Sir Chance and aid him with your whole heart."


    Trust shone in the master''s eyes, though a pinprick of worry hid beneath the


    surface.


    ra pressed fist to palm without hesitation. "Yes, Father. I will devote myself fully."


    She turned to Jared. "Sir, both our sect and I owe you more than we can repay. Whatever you ask, I will attempt dly—even at the cost of my life."


    She meant every word; had Jared not intervened, the Mystic Sky Sword Sect might have been ashes, and she perhaps another casualty.


    Her devotion ran so deep that she would not have flinched at even the most personal of requests; to stand beside Jared was, to her, an honor beyond measure.


    To serve a hero of such stature, she thought, would be a privilege few were granted.


    The very notion of sharing in his trials filled her with fierce, unspoken pride. Jared caught the shine of admiration in her eyes—the quiet willingness to sacrifice withoutint.


    He had seen that look before; sooner orter, most women he encountered found their hearts tilting toward him. ra would, evidently, be no exception.


    At least the trek across the ice ins will not be lonely, he mused. Apanion to talk with—and perhaps cultivate alongside—will make the white silence bearable. He bowed toward Linden. "My thanks, Mr. Cloudridge, and to you, ra, for your forting help."


    The Vermilion Demon Lord sprang upright. Crimson robes hissed around his boots as he bowed deeply to Linden and ra. "Words cannot repay such kindness. Vermilion engraves this debt upon his heart," he said, voice gravelly yet earnest.