The White Serpent Temple loomed before Mei like a jagged fang of ice, its spires piercing the storm-gray sky. Every step sent needles of pain through her cursed veins, the serpent-shaped key around her neck burning colder with each pulse. Frostbite's whispers slithered through her mind, urging her forward.
*"Almost there, little sister. The Priestess waits."*
Mei gritted her teeth. The spirit had been riding her consciousness for three days now, its icy presence growing heavier with each passing hour. She could feel it coiling around her thoughts, freezing her resistance from the inside out.
The temple doors groaned open before she could raise a hand, revealing a cavernous hall of black ice. Frost patterns twisted up the walls like petrified serpents, their eyes glittering with captured moonlight. At the center of the chamber stood the High Priestess, her face a mirror of Mei's own - same violet eyes, same blackened veins creeping across pale skin.
"Welcome home, vessel." The Priestess's voice echoed like cracking ice.
Mei's body moved without her command, Frostbite surging forward to take control. "We've come to complete the ritual," the spirit spoke through her lips.
The Priestess smiled, revealing needle-like teeth. "Then let us begin."
A jagged ice dagger materialized in her hand, its edge humming with ancient power. Mei fought against Frostbite's grip, but the spirit held firm.
*"Don't struggle,"* Frostbite crooned. *"When your curse transfers to her, I'll be free. You should thank me."*
Mei's vision swam as the Priestess approached, the dagger raised. At the last moment, she bit down hard on her tongue, the burst of pain shocking her system. For one precious second, Frostbite's hold slipped.
With a scream that tore her throat, Mei wrenched control of her arm and slashed upward with her own dagger. The blade passed through Frostbite's spectral form, shearing away a chunk of the spirit's essence.
"You treacherous wretch!" Frostbite howled as its form destabilized.
The Priestess's smile didn't waver. "It seems your vessel has spirit. How... delicious."
Mei collapsed to her knees, her breath coming in ragged gasps. The temple walls pulsed around her, the ice groaning like a living thing. She could feel the curse in her veins responding, writhing in anticipation.
"You were never meant to survive the curse," the Priestess murmured, circling her. "Only to carry it here, to its true vessel." She pressed a hand to her own chest, where black veins pulsed hungrily. "The Temple hungers, and I would feed it."
Mei's vision blurred as the Priestess raised the dagger again. Then the world exploded in fire and noise.
---
The stained-glass window above them shattered in a rain of molten shards as Jiang Chao came crashing through, wreathed in flames. Xiao Ling landed in a crouch beside him, talismans already flying from his fingers.
"Miss us?" the boy called out, his grin wild beneath a coating of soot.
Mei barely had time to register Zhang Wei's arrival before the High Priestess shrieked in fury. The temperature plummeted, frost racing up Jiang Chao's arms even as his flames fought back.
"Disrupt the ritual!" Zhang Wei barked, ducking under a spear of ice. "Xiao Ling, the altar!"
Mei watched through bleary eyes as Xiao Lung slapped a talisman onto the frozen dais. The paper ignited on contact, flames licking up the ice without melting it. The Priestess howled, her form flickering like a guttering candle.
"Now!" Mei gasped, thrusting the serpent key toward Zhang Wei. "Destroy it!"
The moment the key left her fingers, the temple began to shake. Cracks spiderwebbed through the black ice, and from deep below came a sound like a thousand serpents hissing in unison.
"Time to go!" Jiang Chao grabbed Mei under one arm while Luo Yan covered their retreat, his sword flashing against the Priestess's ice daggers.
They barely made it outside before the temple collapsed in on itself, the ground swallowing the ruins whole. Mei collapsed in the snow, her breath coming in ragged gasps. The curse still pulsed in her veins, but quieter now - dormant, if not gone.
---
The return journey passed in a haze of exhaustion and pain. By the time the Verdant Cloud Sect's walls came into view, Mei could barely keep her feet. The others weren't faring much better - Jiang Chao's hands were blistered from overuse of his flames, and Xiao Ling kept nodding off mid-step.
Their exhaustion turned to alarm when they saw the smoke rising from the sect's compound.
Granny Hua met them at the gates, her usual smirk replaced by a grimace. "Took you long enough," she croaked, wiping soot from her brow. "While you were off playing heroes, the Black Vipers poisoned our wells."
Zhang Wei's hands clenched into fists. "Casualties?"
"Ten down with fever, more to come." The old alchemist eyed Mei's trembling form. "Though I suspect your little trip wasn't a picnic either."
Mei opened her mouth to respond, but the world chose that moment to tilt violently. Strong arms caught her before she hit the ground - Zhang Wei's face swimming above her, his mouth moving but the words lost in the roaring in her ears.
The last thing she saw before darkness took her was the Frost Phoenix Feather strapped to Jiang Chao's back, its glow pulsing in time with her slowing heartbeat.
---
When Mei awoke, it was to the sound of arguing voices.
"-can't just march into their territory!" That was Erhu, his usual bravado undercut by a tremor of fear.
"We're sitting ducks if we wait for them to attack again," Jiang Chao shot back. "I say we burn their compound to the ground."
"The boy's right, for once." Granny Hua's rasp cut through the noise. "They've allied with that ice witch. We need allies of our own."
Mei pushed herself upright, wincing at the ache in her limbs. She lay in the infirmary, her arms wrapped in bandages soaked through with some foul-smelling poultice. Through the open door, she could see the others gathered around Zhang Wei in what passed for their strategy room - a repurposed storage shed with a map nailed to the wall.
Xiao Ling noticed her first. "She's awake!"
The others turned as Mei shuffled into the room, leaning heavily on the doorframe. Zhang Wei studied her for a long moment before nodding. "Good. We need your counsel."
He pointed to the map, where several locations had been marked in charcoal. "The Black Vipers and Lady Bai are gathering their forces. We have maybe a week before they march on us in earnest."
Mei swallowed against the dryness in her throat. "What do you propose?"
"Alliances," Zhang Wei said simply. "We can't face them alone."
Luo Yan crossed his arms. "And who would ally with a no-name sect like ours?"
To everyone's surprise, it was Xiao Ling who answered. He reached into his sleeve and produced a blackened talisman - one Mei recognized from the temple ruins.
"The White Serpent Temple had enemies," the boy said, his usual grin absent. "Powerful ones. And we just destroyed it for them."
The talisman pulsed faintly in his hand, its edges curling like living shadow. Mei felt the curse in her veins stir in response, a dull throb of recognition.
Zhang Wei's eyes narrowed. "What exactly are you suggesting?"
Xiao Ling's smile returned, though it lacked its usual mischief. "That we make a deal with some very dangerous people."
---
That night, Mei stood at the edge of the rebuilt watchtower, testing the weight of the new blade Jiang Chao had forged for her. The ice-fire alloy shimmered in the moonlight, its edge singing as it cut the air.
Behind her, the sect slept fitfully - those who weren't standing watch or tending the sick, at least. The Frost Phoenix Feather had been enough to purify one well, but the others remained tainted. They were running out of time.
A footstep on the stairs announced Zhang Wei's arrival. He joined her at the rail, his face drawn with exhaustion.
"You should be resting," he said.
"So should you."
For a long moment, they stood in silence, watching the distant lights of Pine Ridge village flicker in the valley below.
"Xiao Ling's plan is dangerous," Zhang Wei said at last.
Mei snorted. "When isn't it?"
"I'm serious. If we invite the Temple's enemies into this..."
"Then we deal with that when the time comes." Mei turned the blade in her hands, watching moonlight dance along its edge. "Right now, we need every advantage we can get."
Zhang Wei sighed, rubbing at his temples. "You sound like him."
"Maybe he's rubbing off on me."
A gust of wind carried the scent of burning herbs from Granny Hua's cauldron below. Somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled.
Zhang Wei turned to go, pausing at the top of the stairs. "Whatever happens next... I'm glad you came back."
Mei didn't respond, but as his footsteps faded, she found her free hand drifting to the serpent key that still hung around her neck. The metal was warm to the touch now, pulsing faintly like a second heartbeat.
Above them, the stars burned cold and bright, indifferent to the struggles of mortals and cultivators alike. The storm was coming.
And for the first time since the temple, Mei found herself looking forward to it.