The summons came on a blade of frozen wind—a single character carved into the mountainside with surgical precision:
Return.
Li Qing stood motionless, her knuckles white around her sword hilt. Luo Feng knew that look. It was the same one she'd worn when the Nine-Tails had unsealed—the look of someone standing at the edge of an abyss.
The Fox Spirit's claw-mark on his palm burned, its glow pulsing in time with his heartbeat. "You don't have to go."
Li Qing didn't blink. "Yes. I do."
[System Alert: Divine Intervention Detected]
[Mission: Survive the Sword Saint's Judgment]
[Reward: Frost Vein Awakening]
[Failure Penalty: Losing Li Qing Forever]
The wind howled between them, carrying the scent of glacial iron—her master's signature.
The Trial: A Cut That Divides
The Sword Saint waited at the peak, his back turned, his blade planted in the ice like a grave marker.
"Lingering Cloud Disciple." His voice could have frozen hell. "Kneel."
Li Qing knelt.
Luo Feng stepped forward—
—and the mountain shifted, a wall of razor-edged ice erupting between them.
"You," the Sword Saint said, finally turning, "are unworthy to witness this."
His gaze wasn't on Luo Feng. It was on the claw-mark.
The Fox Spirit's power reacted, lashing up Luo Feng's arm in veins of molten gold.
[Claw-Mark Evolution: 40%]
[Warning: Nine-Tails' Influence Growing]
The Ultimatum: Blade or Bond?
The Sword Saint didn't draw his sword. He didn't need to.
The air itself cut Li Qing's cheek, drawing a single line of blood that froze before it could drip.
"Your sword or his life."
Li Qing didn't hesitate. "You taught me to value my blade above all else."
A beat.
Then she snapped her sword across her knee.
The sound echoed like a dying bell.
The Fallout: A Saint's Wrath
The Sword Saint moved.
One hand seized Li Qing's wrist. The other plunged into her chest—not to kill, but to seal.
"Then you will learn what happens when a sword breaks."
Ice crawled up Li Qing's veins, her meridians shattering from the inside out.
[Frost Vein Awakening: Forced]
[Effect: Power at the Cost of Feeling]
Luo Feng roared, the claw-mark exploding down his arm—
—but it was too late.
The Sword Saint vanished, taking Li Qing's warmth with him.
All that remained was her frozen sword fragment…
And a single tear, frozen mid-fall.
Check-In Complete (Catastrophic Loss)
[Reward: Frost Vein Location Revealed]
[Penalty: Li Qing's Emotions Locked]
The claw-mark pulsed, its glow now tinged with blue.
Somewhere, the Nine-Tails laughed.
END OF THE CHAPTER36