The shadow didn't grow as they approached—it waited.
By the time the basin's far rim rose underfoot, the wall resolved into worked stone: a cliff carved flat, veined with iron seams, its face pierced by a single arch tall enough for a siege tower.
The gate's doors weren't wood or metal. They were slabs of interlocked jade, green so dark it looked black in the shade, each tile carved with sigils that caught stray light like trapped stars. Cold bled from them.
Yi let out a low whistle. "Not exactly something you kick open."
"They won't open it," the Bellkeeper said. "They'll ring it."
Qin Mo glanced at her.
She pointed to the top of the arch, where a lattice of brass cradled a single bell the size of a cart. Its surface was dull, but the air around it bent faintly, like heat over stone—except the breath from it was ice.
"That's a frost note," she said. "One strike will lock this valley for a week. No one in, no one out."
They didn't have a week.
The ledger's overlay showed movement behind the wall—dots of heat pacing, shifting, drawing closer.
[Hostile entities detected: 12. Heat signature variance: trained human.]
[Secondary source detected: beast-class anomaly. Bloodline match: 71% to Frostmane variant.]
"Split guard," Lian murmured. "Half men, half… what, exactly?"
The Bellkeeper's answer was too quiet for the rest. "Something that's not supposed to be here."
A groan of stone rolled through the air. The jade slabs began to part—not outward, but inward, folding into themselves along seams so fine they'd been invisible a moment before.
Cold hit them like a thrown net. Breath fogged. Steel glittered where frost rimed the blades of the men stepping through.
In their midst padded a beast the size of a carriage: wolf-shaped, its mane not copper but silver-white, each hair tipped in ice crystals that tinkled when it moved. The eyes were pale, almost colorless, and fixed straight on Qin Mo.
[Frostmane Wolf — Elite variant.]
[Advisory: Elemental opposition detected. Current heat bias may cause unstable reactions.]
The lead man stopped three paces from the basin floor. His armor was layered hide under steel plates, the style foreign but the bearing familiar: someone who'd survived enough fights to stop counting.
"You're far from the lattice trails," he said. His voice didn't carry threat—it carried certainty.
"Your trail crossed mine," Qin Mo replied.
The man's gaze flicked over the group, weighing, ranking. "Leave the boy and the Bellkeeper. The rest can walk away."
No one moved.
The man's brows rose slightly, as if confirming a bet. He raised one gauntleted hand. The Frostmane's head lifted.
The beast's first step cracked the frost under its paws. Steam curled from Qin Mo's collar as Flame Aegis reacted to the cold. He rolled his shoulders, feeling the volatile edge where heat and frost scraped against each other inside his veins.
He didn't wait.
Flame Step burst beneath him, and he met the wolf head-on. The collision was like plunging into a river mid-thaw—burn and freeze in the same heartbeat. His blade cut low for the tendon, frost leaping to the steel, heat flaring in answer. The clash sprayed shards of steam and ice in all directions.
The wolf twisted, snapping at his shoulder. King's Howl broke in his throat, not as a roar but as a pulse—heat-laced, defiant. The Frostmane faltered, instincts warring with the foreign pressure in its mind.
Behind him, Ren and Lian closed with the armored men. Bells began to ring—not from their enemy, but from the Bellkeeper's hands, each note bent to shatter frost rather than spread it.
The ledger's overlay blinked crimson:
[Synergy event detected — Heat Vein × Frost Opposition.]
[Temporary trait: Thermal Fracture — damage spikes when heat and cold contact within target. Duration: 90 seconds.]
Ninety seconds.
Qin Mo shifted his grip, drawing the wolf into tighter turns, forcing heat and cold to meet in every wound. Steam began to pour from its mane. The pale eyes bled color.
The armored captain saw it too. His gauntlet clenched. "Fall back—"
The wolf lunged instead, fury drowning obedience. Qin Mo met it, steel finding the heart through the ice-packed ribs. The Thermal Fracture burst, a shockwave of steam and shards that drove men to their knees.
When the mist cleared, the Frostmane lay still.
[Target slain: Frostmane Wolf — Elite variant.]
[Essence obtained: Frost Core (High).]
[Synergy recorded: Heat Vein + Frost Aspect → Thermal Fracture (Temporary).]
The captain's face was unreadable, but his stance shifted—not retreat, not surrender, but something in between.
"You're not who I was sent for," he said. And before Qin Mo could answer, he signaled the retreat. The jade gates began to fold shut again, sealing the cold behind them.
The Bellkeeper's bells stilled. She didn't look at the dead wolf. She looked at Qin Mo's hands, still steaming.
"You can't hold that balance forever," she said.
He knew. But for now, he had another core to weigh, and a gate that wouldn't stay shut forever.