The metal serpent's emergence sent shockwaves through the battlefield. Black Viper berserkers stumbled as the earth buckled beneath them, their bloodrage faltering in the face of this ancient terror. The construct's body—a seamless fusion of black iron and glowing crimson runes—uncoiled like a whip, its massive head swinging toward the nearest source of movement: Lady Bai's retreating frost phoenix.
With a sound like a thousand swords unsheathing at once, the serpent struck.
Mei watched in stunned horror as the phoenix shattered into a million ice fragments, its dying shriek piercing the air. Lady Bai barely managed to leap free, her robes fluttering as she landed in a roll.
"Fall back!" she screamed at her forces, her voice raw with panic. "Retreat to the tree line!"
But the serpent wasn't finished. Its tail swept through a cluster of Black Viper cultivators, reducing them to crimson mist.
---
**System Analysis:**
**Entity Identified:** Azurefang Guardian (Ancient Sect Protector)
**Status:** Rampant (Control Protocols Offline)
**Threat Assessment:** Eliminates ALL combatants indiscriminately
**Weak Point:** Glowing core at base of skull (Requires precision strike)
---
Zhang Wei grabbed Mei's arm, dragging her behind a shattered wall. "We need to shut it down before—"
A section of the barracks exploded outward as the serpent's body crashed through it. Xiao Ling went flying, saved only by a hastily activated talisman that cushioned his landing.
Jiang Chao's voice carried over the chaos: "I can blast the damn thing!"
"No!" Granny Hua emerged from the smoke, her cauldron strapped to her back. "That's no ordinary construct—it's a legacy guardian! Fire will only make it stronger!"
As if to prove her point, the serpent turned toward Jiang Chao, its maw opening to reveal a swirling vortex of molten metal. The pyromancer barely dodged the ensuing blast, his eyebrows singed off.
Mei's cursed veins burned suddenly, violently. Frostbite's voice slithered through her mind:
*"The guardian knows you. Let me... help."*
Before she could refuse, the shadow within her surged forward, merging with the curse. Her vision doubled—she saw the battlefield normally, but overlaying it was a ghostly image of the sect as it once stood centuries ago, the Azurefang Guardian coiled proudly around a gleaming pagoda.
---
**Memory Fragment Accessed:**
**Origin:** Frostbite's stolen recollections
**Content:** The guardian's activation sequence (Hand seals + blood sacrifice)
**Warning:** Partial data corrupted
---
Mei gasped as the knowledge burned itself into her mind. "I can stop it!" she shouted to Zhang Wei. "But I need to get close!"
Luo Yan appeared at her side, his sword dripping with Black Viper blood. "Then let's dance."
---
They moved as a unit—Luo Yan carving a path through the panicked enemy forces, Zhang Wei deflecting debris with qi-enhanced strikes, Mei focusing on the sequence burning in her mind. The guardian noticed their approach, its massive head swinging toward them with terrifying precision.
"Now!" Mei screamed.
Zhang Wei and Luo Yan leapt in opposite directions as Mei performed the first two hand seals. The guardian froze, its glowing eyes flickering.
But the third seal wouldn't come. The memory fragment was incomplete.
*"You need me,"* Frostbite whispered. *"Let me take over."*
The guardian began moving again, its tail whipping toward her. At the last second, Jiang Chao tackled Mei aside, the impact sending them both skidding across the frozen ground.
"Whatever you're doing, hurry!" he yelled over the chaos.
Mei closed her eyes. *Fine. Take what you need.*
The shadow's presence swelled, cold and inexorable. Her hands moved without conscious thought—completing the third seal, then the fourth. The guardian shuddered, its movements becoming sluggish.
But Frostbite didn't stop there.
Mei felt her body moving toward the construct, her stolen blade raised. Not to deactivate—*to claim*.
*"No!"* She fought back, regaining partial control. The conflicting commands made the guardian spasm violently, its tail smashing into the already ruined main hall.
Xiao Ling appeared suddenly, slapping a talisman onto Mei's forehead. "Wake up!"
The shock of pure yang energy disrupted the shadow's control. Mei gasped, falling to her knees as the final seal came to her—not from Frostbite's memories, but from somewhere deeper. Her own bloodline?
She completed the sequence just as the guardian's maw opened above her, its molten breath heating the air.
"**Azurefang, stand down!**"
The construct froze. Its eyes dimmed from crimson to a soft blue. Then, with a series of echoing clicks, it began to collapse in on itself, segments folding away until only a small iron sphere remained, its surface etched with those same ancient runes.
Silence fell over the battlefield.
---
**Post-Battle Analysis:**
- **Black Viper Forces:** 60% casualties, Lady Bai escaped
- **Sect Defenses:** 80% destroyed
- **Casualties:** 7 dead, 14 severely wounded
- **Acquisition:** Azurefang Guardian Core (Condition: Stable)
---
That night, as Granny Hua tended to the wounded, the remaining sect members gathered around the iron sphere in what was left of the courtyard.
"It recognized you," Zhang Wei said quietly to Mei. "Why?"
She turned the sphere in her hands, feeling its faint pulse. "I think... it was waiting for someone with this curse." Her blackened veins throbbed in time with the core's glow.
Xiao Ling, despite his injuries, was practically vibrating with excitement. "Do you know what this means? We've got an ancient war machine! Once we figure out how to—"
A guttural scream cut him off. From the infirmary tent, Erhu thrashed against three men holding him down. His eyes were pure black again, his mouth foaming.
"The shadows," Granny Hua spat. "They're not letting go."