A merciless wind howled across the frostbitten expanse, sweeping flakes of snow that shimmered like shattered stars under the ghostly moonlight. The air bit at my exposed skin, each gust a blade slicing through my resolve.
I, Kai, trudged alongside Li, my boots sinking deep into the snowdrifts, each step a laborious crunch that echoed in the oppressive silence. The Frostfort loomed ahead, its spires jagged as broken fangs, etched with intricate ice patterns that seemed to pulse with ancient, unyielding power.
The cold was a living thing, clawing at my lungs with every breath, turning it to white mist that danced briefly before dissolving into the void. My fingers, wrapped around my sword's hilt, ached from the chill seeping through my gloves, a constant reminder that this land forgave no weakness.
Li, his black hair tied high and eyes sharp as frost, moved with a warrior's confidence, his fur-lined cloak snapping in the wind, a stark contrast to the stillness around us.
"Beginner's luck," he smirked after three hours of uneventful patrol, his voice cutting through the silence.
"Not a single harug in sight."
His tone carried a mocking edge, but beneath it, I sensed a camaraderie born of shared hardship. Three hours in this bone-chilling cold had softened his usual stoicism, if only slightly.
I nodded, my senses stretched taut, scanning the endless white. My instincts, honed through years of battle, thrummed like a plucked string, warning of danger lurking just beyond sight.
The landscape was a frozen wasteland, jagged ice formations rising like the remnants of a shattered world, their surfaces reflecting moonlight in cold, prismatic arcs. Snow blanketed the ground in deceptive softness, hiding treacherous dips that could break an ankle with one misstep.
The spiritual energy here was heavy, a frigid force that seeped into my meridians, slowing the flow of my qi as if the land itself sought to bind me. My heart wavered between vigilance and a strange, reckless curiosity. The Frostfort, with its veiled secrets and lurking perils, stirred a fire in my chest—fear and exhilaration intertwined. Could I conquer this alien realm, or would it swallow me whole?
"They're coming! From behind!" Li's roar shattered the silence, his voice a thunderclap in the frozen night.
He thrust a hand forward, spiritual energy erupting in a dazzling burst. Hundreds of ice spikes materialized, coating the walls and floor in a lethal forest of glistening thorns, their edges sharp enough to rend flesh from bone.
I'd sensed the threat moments before, my instincts screaming. The enemies burrowing through the ice didn't catch me off guard.
With a single, fluid swing, my sword cleaved through a massive worm, its body splitting in two. But instead of collapsing, the halves writhed, baring snowy fangs that gleamed like daggers in the dim light.
Worms.
Who could have imagined I'd face an army of giant, toothy worms? It had all seemed so deceptively simple at the start.
Three hours earlier, as we began our patrol, Li had leaned back, his voice lazy with boredom.
"This job's tedious, not dangerous."
Powerful spiritual beasts avoided the Frostfort, sensing predators far greater than themselves. Weaker creatures, barely attuned to spiritual energy, posed little threat. Exceptions were rare, but they existed, and I was beginning to suspect we'd stumbled into one.
"What's a harug?" I asked, my voice betraying my ignorance.
"Giant white rat," Li replied, his tone casual but his eyes scanning the horizon.
"Most creatures here wield ice qi."
"My advice? Join Master So Yun's expedition to the Frost Plum Grove."
"It's a sight you won't find in the outside world, and the points are generous."
"Frost Plum Grove? Actual plants?" I said, my mind conjuring images of green amidst this endless ice.
"You thought this place was just frozen waste?" Li laughed, the sound echoing across the plain.
"There's plenty here, Kai. Not always pleasant, but the Grove is a marvel."
Ryu, our third companion, spoke softly, his voice almost lost in the wind.
"The Grove has kind spirits."
"They told me a sad tale."
Ryu was a mystery, his gaze often lost in the void, as if he saw things beyond mortal ken. Were it not for the potent aura radiating from him and the strange sensation—like an invisible presence circling him—I'd have thought him mad. Spirits, perhaps. My knowledge of this realm was riddled with holes, and that ignorance gnawed at me.
The cold deepened as we pressed on, the stars above unfamiliar and cold, their light offering no warmth. My teeth chattered despite my efforts to channel qi, and I felt the weight of this alien world pressing against me.
"Time to head back," Li said after another hour, his voice heavy with fatigue.
We'd barely covered a hundred meters when the ice beneath us cracked, a deafening roar splitting the night.
I drew my sword, its blade catching the moonlight in a deadly gleam. Li and Ryu activated their techniques, their bodies encased in shimmering ice armor that glowed like starlight, a testament to their mastery of ice qi.
"This… I don't understand. The spirits are silent!" Ryu stammered, his voice trembling with rare panic.
Then the ice gave way, and we plummeted into darkness.
"Ugh!" I grunted, the impact jarring every bone in my body.
Without my cultivation's reinforcement, I'd have been a shattered wreck.
"Ryu! Wake up!" Li shouted, kneeling beside his brother, who'd landed hard and lay unconscious in the ice cave, his face pale against the frost.
I moved toward them, but a flicker of movement stopped me. Flinging a spark of fire, I illuminated a nightmare: the cave floor writhed like living flesh, a seething mass of dog-sized worms, their toothy maws glinting with predatory hunger.
"What is this place?" I blurted, my heart pounding as I activated Dance of Embers.
My spiritual energy was nearly depleted, with no fire qi to replenish it. Natural recovery was agonizingly slow in this frozen hell.
"An incubator," Li said, his face ashen.
"Damn worms ate through the ice! We need to run!"
Easier said than done. Flight was impossible, and the sheer ice walls were slick as glass, offering no purchase.
"Look out!" Li yelled, his voice sharp with urgency.
I leaped back as a worm erupted from the ice where I'd stood, its screeching maw lunging with terrifying speed.
"Weak," I sneered, my sword slicing it in half with a practiced arc.
The halves writhed, refusing to die, their fangs snapping at the air.
"But tenacious."
"There's a legion of them!" Li's voice cracked with panic.
"They're the weakest, but they'll overwhelm us!"
He unleashed a torrent of razor-sharp ice shards, each one glinting like a blade. The worms squealed, a horrific sound that pierced my skull, as if their cries were laced with telepathic venom. My head throbbed, vision blurring under the assault.
The worms surged forward, their numbers overwhelming, crawling over each other in a grotesque tide. I realized their strategy: they weren't individually strong, but their coordination was flawless, like a swarm of ants hunting larger prey. They aimed to separate us, isolating me from Li and the unconscious Ryu to strike at our weakest link.
"Can you make a ladder?" I shouted, nodding toward the wall, now crawling with worms like a living tapestry.
"I'll try," Li grunted, hoisting Ryu over his shoulder.
"Keep them off us!"
No need to tell me twice. I met the first wave with a broad swing, my sword carving through writhing bodies in a deadly dance. Each strike was precise, targeting the soft juncture between their jaws and segmented bodies, where they split most easily. But the severed halves continued to writhe, crawling toward us with relentless hunger.
The worms' screeches intensified, a psychic hammer pounding my mind. I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to focus through the pain. My spiritual energy was fading fast, Dance of Embers flickering like a dying candle. My muscles burned, each swing of my sword heavier than the last, as if the blade itself resisted me.
"Kai, hold them!" Li shouted, his hands weaving intricate seals to form a ladder of ice up the wall.
I pivoted, my sword a blur as I carved a path through the swarm. The worms adapted, some burrowing into the ice to flank me, others climbing the walls to drop from above. I ducked and rolled, avoiding a pincer attack, and slashed upward, bisecting a worm mid-air. Its halves fell, still wriggling, as I spun to face another wave.
"Got it!" Li called, but his triumph turned to horror as the ice ladder shattered, worms spilling from the cracks like a flood.
"Are you kidding me?" he roared.
"An incubator this close to the Fort?"
No one answered. The worms pressed closer, their bodies piling over each other, a writhing wall of teeth and flesh. I felt like a character in a nightmare, trapped in a cheap horror tale, but the fear was visceral, clawing at my chest. My spiritual energy was gone, my sword heavy in my hands, my breaths ragged in the freezing air.
"They're coming! Behind!" Li warned, his voice hoarse.
I slashed on instinct, cutting through three worms at once, but more surged forward, their screeches deafening. Was my karma so wretched that every creature here hungered for my death? I adjusted my stance, adopting a defensive form, using minimal movements to conserve energy. I aimed for efficiency, striking only when necessary, but the sheer numbers threatened to overwhelm me.
The worms' tactics evolved, some feinting to draw my attention while others burrowed to attack from below. I leaped, twisting mid-air to avoid a snapping maw, and drove my sword into the ice, pinning a worm before it could strike Li.
"Kai, we can't keep this up!" Li shouted, his ice shards mowing down dozens, but the horde was endless.
I nodded, sweat freezing on my brow. We needed a new plan. I scanned the cavern, searching for an advantage—a choke point, a weakness in the worms' formation. My eyes caught a narrow crevice in the wall, barely wide enough for us to slip through.
"There!" I pointed, parrying a worm's lunge.
"Get to that crevice!"
Li nodded, dragging Ryu toward it, his ice techniques creating a temporary barrier. I covered their retreat, my sword a whirlwind, each strike calculated to maximize damage while minimizing effort. But the worms were relentless, their screeches drilling into my mind, threatening to break my focus.
We reached the crevice, squeezing through as Li unleashed a final wave of ice spikes to hold the worms at bay. The narrow passage slowed their advance, but the screeches followed, echoing in the stone. My heart pounded, my body screaming for rest, but I pushed forward, knowing we couldn't stop.
Then, a faint voice cut through the chaos.
"The spirits say we go down," Ryu whispered, his eyes fluttering open.
Li spun, his face a mask of disbelief.
"Have you lost your mind? Down is death!"
"The spirits don't lie," Ryu murmured, his voice weak but certain.
I didn't trust his cryptic words, but the worms were closing in, their screeches growing louder. The crevice wouldn't hold them forever. What lay in the depths below? Salvation or doom?
Thank you for reading! Please keep supporting to see Kai's next trial!