Snow drifted lazily through Bai Shuo's courtyard, settling upon frost-laced bamboo and pale stone tiles.
At the center of the courtyard, a small figure moved.
Bai Shuo's wooden sword cut through the air with crisp precision. Each strike was sharp, controlled, and burning with restrained heat, completely out of place in Snowveil Mountain's eternal cold.
Her breath remained steady as qi circulated through her meridians, steam faintly rising from her skin as frost melted beneath her feet.
"Sister."
A soft voice drifted in from beyond the courtyard gate.
Bai Shuo didn't turn.
Footsteps crunched lightly on frost.
Bai Yu entered carrying a lacquered food box, bundled in pale lilac robes that fluttered gently in the cold wind. Her cheeks were red from the chill, her eyes bright with warmth.
"You forgot breakfast again," she said gently. "I brought your lunch too."
Bai Shuo finally lowered her sword and wiped sweat from her brow. "Didn't I tell you not to run around in this cold?"
"I'm fine," Bai Yu replied with a shy smile.
Her gaze drifted to Bai Shuo's wooden sword, eyes shining. "Sister, you're amazing. Brother Su is already at Mid Foundation Establishment, yet you fought him and came out unscathed."
Bai Shuo's ears warmed slightly. She twirled the sword once in her grip. "It's still not enough. I want to defeat him."
Bai Yu laughed softly. "Only Sister would dare think of defeating a Foundation Establishment cultivator while still in Qi Condensation."
Bai Shuo frowned slightly. "Has anyone been bullying you during my seclusion?"
Bai Yu shook her head. "Who would dare, with you backing me up?"
She hesitated, then reached into her sleeve and produced a pale-blue jade pendant, delicately carved with calming runes.
"I made this for you," she said quietly. "I infused it with calming herbs."
"I don't need it," Bai Shuo waved her hand. "I already have the wristband you gave me." She shook her wrist lightly, and the bracelet chimed.
"Sister…" Bai Yu lowered her head, voice soft and wounded. "Please don't reject me. I don't have anything else to give you except my measly alchemy skills."
She lifted her head slightly, revealing two pendants tied together with silver thread. "See? They're a pair. One for you, one for me. Or… are my herbs not effective?"
Bai Shuo sighed helplessly. "I don't disdain your alchemy at all. In the future, you'll become the best alchemist in the clan."
She pinched Bai Yu's cheek lightly. "Fine. Help me put it on."
A smile bloomed across Bai Yu's face as she stepped forward and tied the pendant around Bai Shuo's robes herself, her fingers cold against Bai Shuo's warmth.
"Don't forget to wear it," she added gently.
Bai Shuo glanced down at the pendant, then nodded. "I won't."
Bai Yu smiled, wide, sweet, obedient but when she turned away, her eyes darkened for a fleeting instant. Little Bai Shuo didn't see this but Fox Bai Shuo did.
Remembering the events that followed afterwards, Bai Shuo only felt an overwhelming disgust.
Bai Shuo had gone to the Icy Training Pavilion.
The Icy Training Pavilion stood atop a frozen platform carved from eternal frost jade. Cold mist coiled around its pillars, and pale-blue light pulsed faintly beneath the formation lines engraved into the ground.
It was a sacred place — a cultivation ground used by Bai Clan disciples to temper their qi through ice qi compression and refinement before breaking into the Foundation Establishment Stage.
The moment she stepped onto the platform, whispers followed.
"That's Bai Shuo."
"The fire-rooted one?"
"What's she doing here?"
"I heard she broke through the tenth stage of Qi Refining?"
Gasps followed.
"Tenth stage? The Legendary Stage?"
"As expected of a Heavenly Spiritual Root?"
"Hmph? Tenth stage? That's old news, I heard that she already reached twelfth stage after seclusion and even defeated a Mid stage Foundation Establishment expert."
Sucking of cold breaths echoed through the crowds.
"Is the Heavenly Spiritual Root that perverted?"
"All the so-called genuis are just trash before her?"
"Shhh….you better shut up before your mouth gets ripped apart?"
"Entering the Icy Training Pavilion means she's ready to break through, right?"
"Damn…a Foundation Establishment at the age of ten. This is so unfair."
Bai Shuo was indifferent to the buzzing around her. Before she could take another step, a sharp laugh rang out.
"Well, well. Isn't this my precious sister?"
A girl stepped forward, clad in layered white robes trimmed with silver frost-thread — a concubine-born disciple, her cultivation slightly above Foundation Establishment. Her lips curved smugly.
"Did you get lost, fire girl? Or are you here to embarrass yourself again?"
Bai Shuo didn't even look at her.
"Move."
The girl sneered. "Still so arrogant. Let me teach you—"
She never finished her sentence because Bai Shuo moved.
In a blur, her wooden sword struck the girl's wrist, twisted, then slammed into her ribs. Frost exploded across the platform as the girl crashed backward, tumbling across the jade tiles.
"AH—!"
She tried to rise.
Crack.
Bai Shuo's foot came down on her shoulder.
The courtyard went silent.
"You wanted a lesson," Bai Shuo said arrogantly. "You got one."
Blood trickled from the girl's lips as she whimpered, too stunned to respond.
"IMPUDENT!"
An elder descended from the pavilion steps, his robes flaring. His gaze swept over the scene before settling on Bai Shuo.
"Enough."
Bai Shuo stepped back without argument.
The elder helped the concubine disciple up, his face dark. "Have you no restraint?"
"She provoked me," Bai Shuo replied indifferently.
The elder was speechless. He glared at her with a dark face and ordered for the injured girl to be carried away.
Around them, whispers grew louder.
"She beat her again…"
"Maybe this one thinks she's still at the tenth stage of Qi Refining."
"Tsk…she just came out from seclusion too and wanted to show-off."
"But she picked on the wrong person."
"No mercy at all…"
"She's too violent…"
Bai Shuo ignored them.
Without sparing anyone another glance, she stepped past the crowd and into the Icy Training Pavilion.
The pavilion interior was vast and silent.
An enormous formation array glowed beneath Bai Shuo's feet, carved into the frost jade floor. Cold qi surged through the air like invisible tides, heavy enough to weigh upon the bones.
The elder raised his hand. "Begin."
The formation activated.
Instantly, the temperature plummeted.
Cold flooded Bai Shuo's body, burrowing into her skin, her muscles, her meridians, yet she remained perfectly calm. Her breathing slowed as she sat cross-legged at the formation's center.
Fire and ice collided within her body.
But instead of resisting, Bai Shuo guided her flames inward, refining them, compressing them, forging them into something denser and purer.
Her foundation deepened and her qi stabilized.
Everything proceeded perfectly.
Then, the jade pendant on her wrist pulsed.
Once.
Twice.
A strange chill slid through her dantian.
Bai Shuo frowned.
Before she could react, something sharp pierced her core. Her meridians trembled violently.
"What—"
Pain exploded..
It felt as though something alive had burrowed into her dantian, gnawing at her qi, devouring her spiritual foundation from within.
Blood surged up her throat. She vomited and her robes were drenched crimson.
The formation destabilized violently.
"STOP—!" The elder shouted.
Bai Shuo's body was flung backward, crashing through the formation barrier and slamming onto the jade platform outside.
Blood splattered across the frost.
"Bai Shuo!"
"Quick, stop the array!"
"Call the healer!"
Elders rushed forward, surrounding her as she lay pale and motionless on the cold stone.
Her wrist hung limp and the jade pendant shimmered faintly.