The verdant, mist-shrouded foothills of the Azure Dragon Peaks, Province of Lingnan, Great Xia Dynasty.
The predawn air in the Green Reed Valley was thick with the scent of damp earth and pine resin. Jin Wei, seventeen summers old with calloused hands and shoulders already broad from years of labour, swung his worn axe with practiced rhythm. *Thwack.* The blade bit deep into the trunk of an ancient Ironbark Pine, a tree prized by the local carpenters for wood harder than bronze. Sweat stung his eyes despite the chill. Every swing was measured, efficient; firewood for Master Chen the blacksmith, timber for Old Man Li's repairs, and, most importantly, silver coins for the apothecary in Willow Creek town. Silver coins for the bitter root teas and rare spirit herbs that barely kept the wasting cough rattling in his father's chest at bay.
Jin Wei wasn't destined for the celestial heights whispered about in tavern tales. He was a woodcutter's son, bound to the earth, his world defined by the weight of an axe, the scent of sap, and the gnawing fear of loss. Yet, even in the mundane, the magical bled through. Glimmer-winged spirit moths danced in shafts of early light. The distant roar echoing from the peaks wasn't just thunder, but perhaps the territorial bellow of a Mountain-Shattering Bull. And sometimes, if he squinted at the highest snow-capped peaks where the clouds clung like torn silk, he fancied he saw flashes of impossible colour – cultivators soaring on swords, or riding wisps of cloud.
Today, however, magic crashed into his world not as a distant dream, but as a tempest of jade silk and chilling disdain.
He was hauling a bundle of split logs towards the path when the air *crackled*. It wasn't sound, but a pressure, a sudden shift in the very breath of the world. Birds fell silent mid-song. The rustling leaves froze. Jin Wei stumbled, dropping his load, his hand instinctively going to the simple, cool jade pendant hidden beneath his rough-spun tunic – his mother's only legacy, its surface worn smooth, depicting a coiled dragon so faded it was almost invisible.
Then, she descended.
Like a petal detached from a celestial blossom, a figure drifted down from the canopy, landing silently on the mossy path ten paces ahead. She was clad in robes of pristine white and softest jade green, woven with threads that shimmered with their own inner light. Her hair, black as a moonless night, was swept up in an intricate arrangement held by a single, glowing hairpin shaped like a phoenix feather. Her face… Jin Wei had seen village beauties, but this was like comparing candle flame to the sun. Ethereal, flawless, with eyes like chips of frozen amethyst that swept over him, the fallen logs, and the humble valley beyond with an expression of utter detachment, bordering on contempt. She radiated an aura of profound coldness and immense power that made the hairs on Jin Wei's neck stand on end.
He dropped to one knee, head bowed, the ingrained respect for cultivators warring with a sudden, fierce resentment at her icy presence. "Esteemed Immortal," he murmured, his voice rough. "This humble woodcutter, Jin Wei, greets you. How may this one serve?"
Her gaze lingered on him for a fraction longer than necessary, those violet eyes seeming to pierce through his worn clothes and see the weary soul beneath. There was no warmth, only a detached curiosity, like one might examine an unusual insect. "This valley," she stated, her voice clear as mountain ice chimes, yet devoid of inflection. "It lies near the Azure Dragon Peaks. Have you witnessed any disturbances? Unnatural energy fluctuations? Strangers?"
Jin Wei shook his head, keeping his eyes fixed on the mossy ground. "No, Esteemed Immortal. Only the usual forest spirits and the distant roars from the peaks. The valley is quiet." He dared a glance up. "Is… is there danger?"
Before she could answer, a new, harsher energy ripped through the tranquil air. Three figures landed with far less grace than the celestial maiden, kicking up dust and snapping twigs. Their robes were deep azure, embroidered with coiling silver serpents that seemed to writhe in the fabric. The man at the front was lean, with sharp features and eyes like flint. His companions, a brutish-looking man and a woman with a permanent sneer, radiated arrogance and barely restrained violence. Jin Wei recognized the insignia – the Azure Serpent Sect, a local power known for its ruthlessness and ambition.
"Well, well," the leader drawled, his voice oily. His eyes swept past Jin Wei as if he were invisible, locking onto the white-robed woman. "If it isn't the Frostbloom of the Northern Star Palace, Yun Meilin. Slumming it amongst the dirt-grubbers, are we? Scouting territory for your precious Palace so far south?"
Yun Meilin didn't flinch, but the air around her grew perceptibly colder. A faint rime of frost formed on nearby ferns. "My movements are no concern of the Azure Serpent Sect, Feng Bo," she replied, her voice still calm, but now edged with frost. "The Northern Star Palace seeks only knowledge, not conquest."
Feng Bo barked a laugh. "Knowledge? Or perhaps the same thing we seek? Rumours whisper of a nascent spirit vein awakening near these foothills. Powerful. Untapped." His gaze sharpened, predatory. "Such a resource shouldn't fall into the hands of outsiders. Or," his lip curled, "wasted on peasants." His eyes finally flickered dismissively towards Jin Wei, still kneeling.
Jin Wei felt a hot surge of anger mix with terror. A spirit vein! That explained the cultivator presence. Such a source of pure spiritual energy was worth kingdoms, worth wars. And this Feng Bo spoke of his home, his people, as mere obstacles.
Yun Meilin's expression remained impassive, but Jin Wei saw a flicker of something – disdain, perhaps, or calculation – in her amethyst eyes. "The Great Xia governs the spirit veins," she stated coolly. "Not the Azure Serpent Sect."
"Governs?" Feng Bo sneered. "The Imperial Court is far away. What matters is who holds the ground. And we hold it now." He took a step forward, his hand resting on the hilt of a sword that pulsed with a sickly green light. "Leave, Frostbloom. This vein belongs to the Serpent."
The tension crackled, thick and dangerous. Jin Wei felt crushed between these titans. He saw the brutish cultivator smirk, saw the sneering woman's fingers twitch near a pouch at her belt. They outnumbered Yun Meilin. They were clearly prepared for violence.
Yun Meilin stood tall, a solitary snow lotus facing a storm. "The Northern Star Palace does not yield to threats." Her voice dropped, colder than the deepest winter. Frost began to visibly spiral around her feet. The phoenix hairpin glowed brighter.
Feng Bo's eyes narrowed. "Foolish." He gestured sharply. "Deal with her. And silence the witness." His gaze snapped to Jin Wei, filled with cold malice. The brutish cultivator grinned, cracking his knuckles, and took a menacing step towards Jin Wei.
Panic, primal and overwhelming, seized Jin Wei. He was no cultivator. He was a woodcutter facing a force that could shatter boulders with a thought. His father's face, pale and coughing, flashed in his mind. The apothecary's bill. The sheer, unfair *cruelty* of it. Yun Meilin, for all her coldness, hadn't threatened *him*. These Serpent Sect thugs would kill him like squashing a bug, just for being there.
As the brutish cultivator lunged, a rough hand reaching for his throat, instinct overrode fear. Years of swinging an axe, of wrestling stubborn logs, took over. Jin Wei didn't think; he *moved*. He rolled sideways, the man's grasping fingers brushing air. Scrambling to his feet, he didn't run towards the forest – he ran *towards* Yun Meilin, putting himself between her and the advancing brute, though it felt like stepping before a charging bear.
"Leave him out of this!" Jin Wei shouted, his voice cracking but loud in the sudden stillness. He brandished his woodcutting axe, a pathetic gesture against cultivators, but it was all he had. "He hasn't done anything!" He pointed the axe shakily at Feng Bo.
For a split second, everyone froze. The sneering woman actually looked surprised. Feng Bo stared at Jin Wei as if he'd grown a second head. Yun Meilin's glacial eyes widened almost imperceptibly, fixed on the reckless peasant boy standing defiantly before her, facing down cultivators with nothing but a woodsman's tool.
Then Feng Bo's face contorted with fury. "Insolent maggot! You dare?!" He didn't even gesture. A flick of his wrist, and a bolt of sickly green energy, like condensed venom, shot from his fingertips straight at Jin Wei's chest. It was too fast, too brutal. Jin Wei saw death coming, felt its corrosive chill.
He braced, closing his eyes, thinking of his father's weary smile.
But the impact never came.
A blur of white and jade moved faster than thought. Yun Meilin was suddenly *in front* of him. With a graceful, sweeping motion of her sleeve, she deflected the venomous bolt. It sizzled against an invisible barrier of shimmering frost inches from her hand, dissipating harmlessly into the air with a foul stench.
She hadn't moved to save *him*, Jin Wei realized dazedly. She had moved to intercept an attack that had passed close to *her*. Protecting herself, not him. Yet, the result was the same.
Her intervention, however, broke the fragile standoff. "Kill them both!" Feng Bo roared.
Chaos erupted. The sneering woman flung handfuls of glittering, razor-sharp needles that hummed through the air. Yun Meilin spun, her robes flaring, conjuring a swirling vortex of wind and ice that shattered the needles mid-flight. The brutish cultivator charged, his fists glowing with molten rock. Yun Meilin met him with a palm strike that met his fist with a crack like splitting stone, sending him staggering back, his arm encased in ice up to the elbow.
Jin Wei scrambled backwards, trying to get out of the way, his heart hammering against his ribs. He saw Feng Bo draw his serpentine sword, its green light flaring malevolently. He saw Yun Meilin, a whirlwind of frost and light, holding off two attackers, her face a mask of focused intensity. Beautiful and deadly. Feng Bo circled, looking for an opening.
*This is it,* Jin Wei thought desperately. *They'll kill her, then me, then take the valley. Father…*
As Feng Bo lunged, aiming a vicious, energy-wreathed thrust at Yun Meilin's momentarily exposed back while she parried a blast of fire from the sneering woman, Jin Wei acted purely on blind, stupid courage. He couldn't fight them. But he could distract. He scooped up a heavy, jagged piece of Ironbark he'd just split and, with a guttural yell born of fear and fury, hurled it with all his strength not at Feng Bo, but *past* him, towards the sneering woman who was gathering energy for another attack.
It was a clumsy throw, but unexpected. The heavy wood chunk clipped the woman's shoulder, disrupting her focus. Her fiery blast went wide, singeing the trees instead of Yun Meilin. It was only a fraction of a second, but it was enough.
Yun Meilin capitalized instantly. A wave of pure, biting cold exploded outwards from her, throwing both the brutish man and the sneering woman back, encasing them momentarily in thick ice. She spun, facing Feng Bo, frost coalescing into a long, elegant sword of purest ice in her hand.
Feng Bo snarled, pure hatred twisting his features – hatred directed not just at Yun Meilin, but now at the insignificant peasant who'd dared interfere. His eyes locked onto Jin Wei. "YOU!"
He didn't attack Yun Meilin. He pointed his free hand, fingers crooked like talons, straight at Jin Wei. Not a killing bolt this time. Something darker, more insidious. A thin, writhing tendril of shadowy green energy, like a venomous serpent, shot from his fingers.
Yun Meilin moved, impossibly fast, her ice sword flashing to intercept. But Feng Bo had anticipated it. He feinted with the shadow serpent, then slammed the pommel of his glowing green sword against the ground. A concussive wave of force erupted, not aimed to kill, but to *disrupt*. It hit Yun Meilin's defensive aura, staggering her for a crucial instant.
The shadow serpent, its true target, slipped past her guard.
It struck Jin Wei squarely in the chest.
There was no physical impact, only an instant, soul-deep agony. It felt like ice and fire and acid tearing through his veins, concentrating in the pathways along his spine and limbs – his meridians. He screamed, a raw, animal sound of utter torment, collapsing to his knees. He felt something vital *snap*, *shred*, deep inside him. The world greyed out, the sounds of battle fading to a dull roar. He felt weak, hollowed out, like a gourd drained of all its contents. The vibrant life-force he'd always taken for granted, the strength that let him swing his axe all day, felt… *severed*.
Through the haze of pain, he saw Feng Bo's triumphant sneer. He saw Yun Meilin, her icy composure finally cracked, a flicker of something like shock or perhaps fury in her eyes as she disengaged from the briefly frozen others and faced Feng Bo again, her frost sword blazing with cold light. He heard Feng Bo's mocking voice, distant: "See how the Serpent deals with gnats? Broken, useless. Finish the Frostbloom!"
Then, a different sensation bloomed beneath the agony. A warmth. Centered over his heart. Where his mother's jade pendant lay. It wasn't the gentle coolness it usually emitted. This was a sudden, fierce *heat*, like a banked ember flaring to life. It pulsed once, twice, countering the icy venom spreading through his broken meridians. As the world swam towards darkness, a voice, ancient and dry as autumn leaves yet resonant with impossible power, whispered *directly into his mind*:
*"Hmph. The Serpent's Venom Meridian-Severing Technique. A crude toy. To shatter the vessel before the wine is tasted… wasteful. Very well, broken one. Let us see what spark yet remains in the ashes..."*
The warmth surged, flooding Jin Wei's chest. Then, mercifully, the pain and the voice faded as unconsciousness claimed him. The last thing he registered was the sound of clashing energies – frost against venomous green light – and the fading silhouette of a white-robed figure standing amidst the chaos, her gaze for a fleeting, impossible moment, meeting his fading eyes.
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**Chapter 1 End.**