The wooden door to my chamber did not simply open. It dissolved into a fine mist of splintered timber and freezing frost under an overwhelming wave of sheer force.
I had expected a reaction. I had calculated that my words would linger in her mind, perhaps prompting a subtle inquiry tomorrow. I had severely underestimated the matriarch of our clan.
Before the debris could even settle against the stone floor, the temperature in the room plummeted to an absolute zero. The breathable air vanished, replaced by a suffocating, dense miasma of pure cursed energy.
It felt as though an entire mountain range had just been dropped squarely onto my shoulders. My knees instantly buckled under the invisible weight, the floorboards groaning and cracking beneath my feet.
Standing in the shattered doorway was Elizabeth dressed in her flowing white robes that fluttered gently.
There was no trace of the momentary hesitation she might have felt out in the corridor.
Her face was a mask of carved glacial ice. Her silver hair practically floated around her, suspended by the sheer density of her radiating aura.
And her eyes... her eyes were no longer silver. They burned with a radiant, terrifying crimson light that illuminated the dim room with a bloody hue.
She stepped inside.
With every inch she moved forward, the gravitational pressure inside the room doubled. The glass pitcher on my nightstand shattered into a thousand pieces as though they were unable to withstand the pressure of her presence.
She was testing me. No, she was crushing me.
"No one," Elizabeth spoke, her voice devoid of any human warmth. It echoed not just in the room, but directly inside my skull. "No one speaks to me like that without an agenda. What is yours?"
The sheer killing intent behind her words threatened to rip my consciousness apart. This was the true power of the woman who ruled our clan with an iron fist.
She had not come here out of simple curiosity. She had come to eliminate a potential anomaly.
In her world, a sudden compliment from her son was not affection.
It was a calculated manipulation, a breach in protocol, a hidden dagger waiting to strike.
My heart hammered violently against my ribs. The system remained completely silent in my mind, offering no cheat to escape the suffocating pressure. I was entirely on my own.
If I showed fear, if I stammered, or if I broke eye contact, she would see right through me. She would classify me as a scheming liability.
The fragile seed of intrigue I had planted would be crushed instantly.
I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek, using the sharp spike of physical pain to anchor my mind. I forced my spine to straighten.
It took every ounce of my meager cursed energy, every shred of my willpower, just to stand completely upright under her crimson gaze. My bones creaked in protest. The blood in my mouth seeped past my lips, trailing down my chin.
I did not wipe it away. I refused to break her gaze.
"An agenda?" I rasped, my voice straining against the crushing atmosphere, yet steady. "You think I need a hidden motive to state an absolute fact?"
Elizabeth narrowed her crimson eyes. The pressure increased exponentially. I felt the capillaries in my eyes threaten to burst. The air grew so cold that frost began to form on my eyelashes and the collar of my tunic.
"Do not play games with me, Aristarkh," she commanded, her tone dropping an octave, resonating with lethal authority. "For years, you have kept your head down. You have spoken only when spoken to. You have shown nothing but deference. Then, tonight, you invite me to a private chamber under the guise of a cultivation flaw, only to spout empty flattery. Speak the truth. What are you trying to extract from me?"
She was searching for weakness. Her crimson eyes were tearing through my superficial layers, looking for deceit, fear, or hesitation. I had to give her something else entirely. I had to give her undeniable, irrational confidence.
I took a step forward.
The effort required to move my leg was astronomical. My muscles screamed, tearing slightly under the strain. But my foot landed solidly on the frosted floor. The sharp sound echoed loudly in the tense silence.
Elizabeth's expression remained frozen, but the faintest flicker of surprise flashed deep within those blood red pupils. She had not expected me to move towards her. She had expected me to cower.
"Empty flattery?" I echoed, forcing a dry, dark chuckle past my lips. The sound was jarring in the deadly atmosphere. "Mother, look around you. Look at what you are doing right now. You possess the power to obliterate this entire room with a single thought. You rule thousands of cultivators with absolute precision. You hold the lives of the entire clan in the palm of your hand."
I took another agonizing step forward. The gap between us was closing. I could feel the glacial chill radiating directly from her skin. T
"You are terrifying," I continued, my voice gaining strength, locking my gaze relentlessly with hers. "You are untouchable. You are absolute perfection forged in ice and cursed energy. To call you beautiful is not an agenda. It is simply the only adequate word left when observing a goddess descending upon mortals."
The silence that followed was deafening.
For a long, agonizing moment, neither of us moved. The suffocating pressure of her cursed energy hung in the air like a guillotine waiting to drop. Her crimson eyes bore into mine, analyzing, dissecting, and searching for the lie.
But there was no lie for her to find. I had layered my ambition and my system driven goals beneath a veneer of absolute, fanatic sincerity. I believed every word I said, because her power and her beauty were undeniably linked.
I wanted that power. I wanted those eyes. I wanted her.
The tension stretched until it felt like reality itself might snap.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the crushing weight in the room began to recede.
It did not vanish instantly. It withdrew gradually, like a receding tide, leaving behind a profound stillness. The frost on the walls stopped spreading.
The air became breathable once more. I dragged in a deep, ragged breath, my chest heaving, but I kept my posture rigid. I did not let myself sag in relief.
Elizabeth stood merely a foot away from me now. Her crimson eyes slowly faded, bleeding back into that familiar, unreadable silver.
The lethal matriarch had returned to her dormant state, but the atmosphere between us had irrevocably changed. The heavy silence was no longer purely antagonistic. It was charged. It was deeply, dangerously intimate.
She looked at the trail of blood on my chin. Her gaze lingered there for a fraction of a second before returning to my eyes.
"You are bold, Aristarkh," she said quietly. Her voice was still cold, but the sharp, killing edge was gone. It was replaced by something else. Something calculating, and undeniably intrigued. "Reckless, bordering on suicidal. But bold."
"I only speak what I observe, Mother," I replied smoothly, wiping the blood from my chin with the back of my hand. "If honesty is a crime in this clan, then you should have killed me just now."
Elizabeth tilted her head slightly, studying me as if seeing me for the very first time. The boy she had known for years had just withstood her full killing intent without breaking. He had stared into her crimson eyes and doubled down on his dangerous words.
"Do not mistake my restraint for mercy," she warned softly, her tone laced with a complex mixture of authority and an unspoken challenge. "Words have consequences. If you choose to step out of the shadows and look directly at the sun, do not complain when you burn."
"I have always preferred the heat," I countered without missing a beat.
A heavy pause stretched between us. For the briefest moment, I thought I saw the absolute corner of her perfectly sculpted lips twitch. Not quite a smile, but the ghost of a reaction. A crack in the ice.
She turned around slowly, her robes sweeping gracefully over the frosted floorboards. She walked back towards the ruined doorway. She did not look back as she paused at the threshold.
"Your cultivation flaw," Elizabeth stated, looking out into the empty corridor. "If the pain persists when you absorb cursed energy, come to my private chambers tomorrow evening. I will examine you thoroughly in greater detail. Be punctual. I despise waiting."
Without another word, she stepped out into the hall. The ruined door frame stood empty.
I stood alone in the freezing room, my body trembling slightly now from the delayed shock of the adrenaline and the immense physical toll. I let out a long, slow exhale, watching my breath plume in the cold air.
I had survived. Not only had I survived, but I had secured the next step.
A dark, predatory grin slowly formed on my face. The matriarch thought she was merely investigating a bold anomaly. She had no idea she had just invited the anomaly directly into her inner sanctum. The real game had only just begun.