The voice ca before the figure fully stepped into view, its timbre like velvet dragged across a blade smooth, but with sothing cruel beneath.
He erged from the shadows in the narrow passage, clad in robes that marked the scholar class, ink-black with subtle silver embroidery curling along the sleeves like ancient script. A jade ornant hung from his belt, swinging slightly as he walked, and his hands were clasped behind his back with practiced calm.
His face was refined, pale and unmarred, frad by raven-black hair tied loosely with a white ribbon that suggested academia, not warfare. A gentle smile played on his lips, yet it never reached his eyes, eyes that glead with sharp, predatory amusent. There was a strange stillness about him, as if he had not rely arrived, but had always been there, waiting.
The scent of dried ink and herbs clung to him, yet mingled subtly with sothing tallic, almost like rusted iron.
"Rats" he repeated, almost fondly. "How curious that they squeak so loudly at dawn."
Despite his scholarly appearance, sothing about him set every nerve on edge as though under the polite tone and graceful bearing, he was asuring where to cut first.
Mo Tianze imdiately growled, ears perked up, tail agitated and his qi flaring up. Taking a step forward by Feng Jiao Xue’s side. Not as a protector, but as a weapon, a companion to fight by her side.
"Sister, there’s sothing off about this guy" He remarks.
"You!" Xie Lian bristled. "Your the one who made Wei Jian is like this!"
Without hesitation, she summoned her contractual beast, a fiery blazing fox.
"Die you b@stard!" Xie Lian cried in anger as she begins chanting. The place seems shake beneath Xia Lian’s feet, ancient stone groaning under the weight of what stirred in her soul. Her eyes narrowed, molten with fury, as she thrust her hand forward, raising her staff, her voice ringing out like a war-drum in the echoing dark.
"Nirathiel, shalora vī! Veyrath zulnara vī dharash valen!"
"Spirit of fire, heed my call! Bring forth my rage in a blazing storm!"
At once, the stale, damp air ignited.
A pulse of magic burst from her chest, rippling across the cavern walls like a shockwave. The ground split in jagged lines beneath her, veins of glowing magma spiderwebbing outward as if the earth itself was fracturing under her command. From the circle beneath her feet, fla spiraled upward wild, seething, angry.
The fire wasn’t red but it was white-hot at the core, rimd in gold and streaked with flashes of violent scarlet. The air thickened with blistering heat, warping vision and peeling moss from the stone. The cavern’s shadows danced madly as the spell took shape. A spiraling storm of fla, swirling in the low ceiling like a beast unchained.
Feng Jiao Xue’s eyes widened before she imdiately used her own Qi to prevent the flas fro chaotically spreading and hurting the unconscious bodies.
She had only read basic spells. She could not help but admire Xia Lian slightly. It seems that she had gotten stronger, much stronger than she initialize analysed while from when they parted ways.
The other two did not miss any opportunity either, wielding their swords and rushing towards the stranger.
But with only a waved of his hand, black qi imdiately blew them away, as if simply swatting smoke and ants.
The force struck the two cultivators mid-dash, sending them flying backwards with violent grace. They crashed against the cavern wall, stones cracking beneath the impact.
Chen Rong groaned, blood trailing from the corner of his lip. Lin Feng rolled once, then rose again, more shaken than hard, but wary now.
"You burn too quickly" the man said, turning his gaze to Xia Lian, then briefly to the fox. "Pretty. Passionate. Predictable."
He raised one pale hand and snapped his fingers.
The ground shivered again, but this ti it wasn’t from fire.
Black tendrils, thick, sinewy coils of what appeared to be a fusion of ash and shadow, slithered out from the shadows behind him. Snuffing out torches in their wake, they moved in eerie silence as they twisted through the air like serpents hunting scent.
Mo Tianze snarled again, positioning himself between the tendrils and Feng Jiao Xue, fur bristling. His form blurred for a mont, muscles expanding as his beast form responded instinctively to the surge of killing intent.
"Watch the left!" he barked, then leapt toward one of the shadow coils, slamming it with a flaming strike of his paw imbued with qi.
The tendril shuddered but didn’t dissipate. Instead, it coiled tighter, latching onto Mo Tianze’s arm like a leech. The demi beast growled, then spun, throwing the creature into the stone with a thunderous crack. He winced, but remained standing.
anwhile, Feng Jiao Xue’s gaze narrowed. Her fingers twitched, subtle signs of an internal spell gathering. She drew in a breath and activated her internal qi art, the temperature around her dropping sharply.
"Ice Lotus Formation," she whispered.
A halo of silver-blue light pulsed at her feet as crystalline patterns blood in the air around her, spiraling like snowflakes caught in a windless world. With a flick of her wrist, shards of compressed ice, sharp as forged steel, fired toward the tendrils with impeccable aim.
Xia Lian and the others wasn’t the one who improved. She may not have cultivated just as much as she should have but that didn’t an she didn’t improve.
So cut through. Others were caught and lted. But the effect was there. The shadows recoiled, and the scholar’s expression flickered, the smile tightening.
"Interesting," he mused. "So the frost flower finally blooms." He looks at Feng Jiao Xue excitedly. "The lord would love you, little beauty. Why don’t you withdraw less I hurt that pretty face of yours?~"
Feng Jiao Xue ignored him. Her focus was on control, asured force to contain and repel rather than destroy. Too much power might collapse the chamber, and with unconscious cultivators behind her, that was a risk she could not take.
"You still dare mock us" Xia Lian said coldly, stepping beside Feng Jiao Xue, flas swirling in her palms again. "Even with your tricks exposed."
The fox contractual beast growled, its coat now flickering with tendrils of blue fla, reacting to the intensifying bond with its master.
The man tilted his head. "Tricks? Dear girl, this is a lesson. And your next test is patience. You rely on noise and chaos," he said mildly, brushing imaginary dust from his sleeve. "So primitive."
The fire spirit summoned by Xie Lian snarled, flas rippling from its fur as it lunged forward, jaws open, eyes burning with wrath. It moved fast, a blur of golden heat and light.
But the man didn’t move.
Instead, he uttered one word under his breath, a word that did not belong to this world. A sound that twisted like oil on water.
The fox-beast froze mid-leap, yelping in confusion as its body seized. Its flas dimd, collapsing onto the floor like a puppet with cut strings, twitching faintly.
Xie Lian’s chant faltered, her eyes wide with disbelief.
"You bound that creature without understanding its heart," the man said quietly. "You borrowed power you didn’t earn. And now, you’ve lost it."
Xie Lian scread, not in pain, but in raw, frustrated fury and charged.
Feng Jiao Xue moved.
She didn’t speak. She didn’t scream. Her body blurred, vanishing into a step that rippled space, appearing in front of Xie Lian with one hand raised to block.
"Don’t!" she hissed, barely catching the other girl by the shoulder.
Xie Lian froze, panting, grief in her gaze as her fox’s unconscious form smoked faintly behind them.
"This is not a battle of brute strength," Feng Jiao Xue murmured lowly, her voice tight with warning. "He’s not just strong, he’s sothing else entirely. Fight smart, not brash."
Mo Tianze’s fur bristled, lips pulled back in a silent snarl. He bared his fangs, ready to leap in. "Sister, do you have a plan?"
The stranger walked slowly toward them, footsteps soundless.
"not yet" Feng Jiao Xue said grimly.
The cavern seed to agree, light dimming, shadows pulling long like ink bleeding across the walls. That rusted iron scent deepened, flooding their senses.
"You" the stranger said, now addressing Feng Jiao Xue directly. "I gave you a chance to retreat, little girl. So, run along. We’ll play another ti~"
Feng Jiao Xue didn’t respond. She raised a hand, fingers tracing a sigil in the air, her qi spiraling around her in a controlled pattern.
He smiled wider, this ti genuinely amused. "Ah~" His gaze turned crazed as he felt her qi now more clearly. "I’ve never felt a qi like this." He licked his lips. "You would bear quite the tasty fruits~"
Then he moved.
He didn’t run. He simply vanished, one blink, and he was in front of her. Feng Jiao Xue reacted on instinct, arms crossing to deflect as a palm shot toward her chest.
The impact sent her flying.
Qi exploded outward, tearing through stone and moss. She rolled midair, landed in a crouch, coughing blood. Her ribs scread.
Mo Tianze howled, leaping into a blur of claws and silver energy. This ti, the stranger raised his arm to block.
Claw t palm.
The entire cavern shook.
A wave of force blasted outward, stones cracking and bodies flung back. Mo Tianze was knocked aside, skidding across the floor but rising again, growling.
The scholar exhaled, slightly impressed. "Spirit beast... no, half-beast. Curious."
He reached into his sleeve and pulled out a fan, lacquered black, edges sharp enough to cut qi. With a flick, it snapped open, revealing a painted lotus, dripping with blood.
"Shall I test your limits, then?"
Feng Jiao Xue wiped the blood from her mouth and stood.
Behind her, the unconscious cultivators stirred faintly. She didn’t have much ti. If this went on, they’d all die here.
She narrowed her eyes.
"Mo Tianze. Don’t protect . Buy ti."
He pause, fangs bared. "Sister?" Mo tianze looks at her confuse before nodding. "Okay, whatever sister needs" He nodded, fully trusting Feng Jiao Xue.
The two launched forward.
Their strikes were a dance, sharp, asured, rehearsed through trust and instinct. Mo Tianze kept the stranger occupied, forcing him to parry with his fan while Feng Jiao Xue’s qi swelled silently, her body glowing faintly with frost-threaded light.
The stranger blocked Mo Tianze’s claws again, then turned, too late.
Feng Jiao Xue’s palm struck the ground.
To wield magic without spells... Beads of sweat trailed down Feng Jiao Xue’s forehead as she concentrated on manipulating the magic particles in the air.
She gritted her teeth, her fingers stiff as if struggling to hold sothing.
In small movents, it’s possible but... even then it’s like trying to mold water into sothing.
Mo Tianze didn’t know what she was doing but he trusted her. So, he only needed to do what she needs him to. Buy ti.
Even Xia Lian, Cheng Rong, and Lin Feng undoubtedly followed through, making sure that the other guy doesn’t even get close to her as they work together.
A whisper of light blood from Feng Jiao Xue hand, threading through the cracks of the stone like starlight. It was feignt at first, flickering like fireflies.
From the ground, a field of crystalline ice exploded outward in a wide do, freezing air and slowing ti itself within its shimring periter. The stranger froze, not in fear, but in curiosity, as the frost reached his feet, lacing up his legs.
For a mont, the cavern was silent.
Trapped.
Bound.
Feng Jiao Xue fell to her knees, panting, vision dimming.
The scholar blinked once, then chuckled.
"I see," he murmured. "You do know how to bite."
Cracks ford in the ice around him.
The spell would not hold long.
But it was enough.
Feng Jiao Xue turned to the others. "Take the injured. Get them out."
"What about-"
"Go!"
Reluctantly, they obeyed, gathering the groaning forms and tossing them over his shoulders with gritted teeth.
Mo Tianze looked back once. Unwillingness written all over his face
"I’ll co back."
"I know" she whispered.
And as the ice shattered behind her, the scholar stepping through like it was mist, she rose again, bloodied, broken, but burning.
She would not fall here. Not yet.
"How sad. They left you here just like that?" The scholar mocked trying to ntally unstable her. "Your looking for death, little mouse"
Feng Jiao Xue looked up at him head on. "No, your already looking at her" Feng Jiao Xue coldly smirked.
"What?" The attacker asked confused. "That doesn’t even make sense."
"Death..." Feng Jiao Xue stood up slowly, balck eyes, cold, detached and blank, as if looking through a bkack hole that would just swallow you whole"I’m not looking for death. Your looking at her"
Suddenly, it was like everything turned black as a massive killing intent leaked out of Feng Jiao Xue.
The guy’s eyes widened, staggering backward. Drowning. That was what it felt. As if drowning it an icy ocean, a giant wave threatening to crush him.
This is no longer just Feng Jiao Xue the young miss of the Feng Clan. This is Feng Jiao Xue, the Black Rose, the Goddess of Death.
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