Adam shivered, not because of the cold encroaching on the cave’s walls, nor because of the campfire that crackled with a sickly blue hue. No... he had sensed it crash on him like a tidal wave of frost and hate before it influenced his surroundings—a life force that dwarfed anything he had ever felt, putting to sha Adras’ demonic puppet. Even five of them could hardly compare to the monster that had co for him.
Dread gripped his heart, whispering words of inescapable doom—that resistance itself was futile, and fleeing, a fool’s errand.
And when he saw her behind Yann, the dread only intensified.
Pale blue eyes brimming with unconcealed hostility locked onto him. Locks of hair twisted mid-air like hissing serpents, but he knew they rely floated because of her energy.
Hers was a face that should have been beautiful beyond asure—like the immortal fairy from Misha’s bedti stories—if not for the grimace twisting her features and the frozen lotus tattooed on her brow.
The fabric of her dress, as thin as the wings of a cicada, refracted light around her, as if she wore layers of ice rather than enchanted silk.
His breath hitched, trapped in his throat like a bird in a snare. Still, he forced a crooked smile and clasped his fist. "I think you got the wrong man, Lady Yuehua Ji." He raised his palm, grey wisps of qi dancing between his fingers. "I’m no parasite, just a curious cultivator that seed to be in the wrong place at the wrong ti."
She answered with a wave of her palm. Instantly, the space around the entire hill shimred like the surface of a lake frozen on the winter solstice. The water was there, but unreachable—he could feel space, but not tear it to flee. Even worse, his lips stuck to each other, turning pale, then purple. He tried to open them, only for his pupils to constrict. He couldn’t. They were frozen.
"A glib tongue for a young man who speaks like one of us. But we both know you aren’t. The Verdant Peak sect’s survivors know it, too."
Her lips curved like a knife. "Did you think they wouldn’t testify if you spared them, or did you want to live with a clear conscience? Humph. What we teach our disciples first is whether they are right or wrong; they should always thoroughly end their enemies. Sky-blue-haired and eyed teenagers wearing silky robes soone their age shouldn’t are few and far between, don’t you think so?"
The air crackled with unspoken tension as silence enveloped the cave, broken only by Yann’s laboured breath.
Adam couldn’t answer, lips still locked—but Yann seized the silence.. Clutching his hands to hide their trembling, his voice still cracked.
"Your acun is worth praise, fairy celestial Frost Matriarch." He glared at Adam, his finger drawing circles on his palm, the sa way he had done last ti soone’s problems burdened him. Back then, he had been the only one to walk out. This ti would be no different.
"He’s indeed who you seek—a rogue mage who blends with cultivators, spreading chaos, and death, and... trouble to those of his kind."
He bowed, a sliver of hope lting the dread from his shoulders. "I’ve barely spoken to him—t the boy monts before your arrival. Can I... leave since this has nothing to do with ?"
Adam clenched his fists. But Yann didn’t spare him a glance. He closed his eyes, sweat trickling down his brow. For years, he had avoided sects and other rogue mages. Resources had never mattered more than his life, nor did relationships.
As he waited to be graced, anger seared through Adam’s thoughts. Logically, Yann was correct. He even understood him. But with what Yuehua Ji just said about thoroughness, did he really think words could save him?
And as expected, a flicker of amusent relaxed Yuehua Ji’s tense expression. "I wish I could make that old rector plead quaintly like you do. But I’m afraid I must disappoint you."
Frosty gales erupted from her raised palm, icicles sharper than knives and frozen boulders heavier than ores whistling in the storm.
"I’ll preserve your bodies well." She smirked at Adam. "Especially yours. What do you prefer? To hang at the gates of my blessed land as a warning, or to beco a cute, mindless frozen puppet at my beck and call? You may answer."
The frost sealing Adam’s lips thawed at her words. Numbness accompanied their rise as he glanced at Yann... or the frozen statue he had beco. He shook his head, narrowing his eyes at Yuehua Ji. If words wouldn’t work, why would he waste his potential last monts pleading? Pleading about what, anyway? He didn’t regret what he did, and he knew she didn’t care about the Verdant Peak sect child traffic.
But more importantly, when did he ever plead? He had endured Vivan Zestra’s glares and struck a deal with the bellicose Beast Emperor. The ghost king, Ossian, couldn’t bend him, nor the arrogant Selene Sunfire. Even Andras’ puppet, feared by the void emperor and probably Yuehua Ji herself, couldn’t intimidate him.
So, faithful to himself, he raised his trembling fist and extended his middle finger upward. A defiant smirk split his face, mana blasting in his eyes like miniaturised bombs.
"Try , old hag. I’ll give you a run for your money. And trust , you don’t want to push beyond my limits."
"Good, very good." She snorted. "I’ll make you regret your brashness until the end of ti. Not dead, nor leaving, a martyr of your own body—eternally tornted."
Her words hung in the air like divine judgnt. The ground and walls cracked like glass, glistening shards shattering on the ground as vapor swirled out of Adam’s mouth with each breath taken.
He had wanted to unleash devastating nuclear fusions, but he knew the atoms would freeze before the reaction occurred. He truly had only one way out, one he was reluctant to use—one he had never wanted to use...
’Hey, bastard,’ he called out in his mind, the words echoing inside his soul sea. ’Ti to pay rent. And don’t even co up with your scams. You’re in more danger than I am.’
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AN: Who’s Adam calling for? I wonder. ;)
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