The air thinned, growing noticeably colder and sharper the instant Lin Feng and Xiao Lan crossed the ancient natural stone arch, eroded by countless winters, which marked the true and ominous entrance to the Distant Echo Mountains. Behind them lay the last wooded hills and the relative familiarity of the territory near the sect; before them now stretched a landscape of austere, primordial, and profoundly wild beauty.
Jagged, bluish-gray peaks, almost black where the bare rock was exposed, rose like the fangs of a sleeping ancestral dragon, their summits perpetually crowned by glaciers that shone with a pale, ghostly light beneath the overcast sky. An icy mist, denser and more persistent than that of their secret valley, clung to the slopes and swirled in the deep valleys like a shroud, swallowing sound and whispering promises of unknown dangers. Vegetation was sparse and twisted: gnarled pines clinging to life in the cracks of rocks and ice flowers that seemed carved from crystal, emitting a palpable cold.
"The spiritual energy here is a whirlwind," Xiao Lan commented, her voice clear yet tinged with caution as her jade eyes swept the desolate landscape. Her Golden Core aura protected her from the penetrating cold, but even she frowned at the environmental instability. "Unpredictable and filled with hidden currents that my spiritual sense struggles to discern clearly. Every step must be measured."
Lin Feng nodded, feeling his Chaotic Heart respond to the erratic energy with a vibration of alert. Glob, hidden and shrunken in his inner pocket, transmitted a series of psychic impressions to him: images of energy flows swirling like icy serpents, zones of unnatural stillness, and others where energy pulsed with latent aggression.
"Elder Sister," Lin Feng said, interpreting his companion's information, "Glob is perceiving the fluctuations very clearly. It indicates that if we follow the bed of this ancient glacier," he pointed towards a vast expanse of dark blue ice descending from one of the peaks, "the Yin energy there is more stable, though much colder. It seems it can 'see' the paths of least energetic resistance."
Xiao Lan looked at him, a spark of genuine interest in her eyes. "Your familiar's sensitivity to primordial essences is increasingly astonishing, Lin Feng. In such a chaotically unstable environment, its 'map' will be more reliable than my own spiritual sense, which is partially interfered with by the constant distortions. Lead the way, then, but keep Glob extremely vigilant."
They ventured into the frozen landscape. The silence was almost absolute, broken only by the crunch of their boots on the hardened snow and the distant howl of the wind among the monumental peaks. Lin Feng, although his body was tempered by chaos, felt the cold bite at his skin. Xiao Lan, in contrast, walked with imperturbable serenity, her Umbral Phoenix Flame contained yet radiating a subtle warmth that created a small bubble of relative comfort around her.
They had not advanced for more than an hour when Glob emitted a sharp, silent warning in Lin Feng's mind: a sensation of multiple icy presences, incredibly swift and with an astonishing capacity for mimicry, lurking among the ice blocks and swirling blizzards that surrounded them.
"Elder Sister, company!" Lin Feng whispered urgently, stopping and adopting a defensive stance. "Glob senses six entities. They're fast, they hide in the snow and ice, and they're approaching from all flanks."
Xiao Lan stopped instantly, her hand already on the hilt of Purifying Light. Her jade eyes scanned the apparently empty surroundings, but her absolute confidence in Lin Feng's (and therefore Glob's) warning was evident. "Can you ascertain their nature or intentions through Glob?"
Lin Feng closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating on the more detailed impressions Glob was sending him: fragmented images of white fur, eyes like sapphires, and a sense of predatory cunning and pure ice energy. "They are... Ice Crystal Foxes, I believe. And their intention is clearly a coordinated ambush."
"Vulpis glacialis," Xiao Lan murmured, a faint glint of recognition in her eyes. "Swift, intelligent, and their horns can shoot ice shards imbued with icy Qi. A nuisance, even for a Golden Core cultivator if they attack in a group and by surprise." Her gaze sharpened. "Thanks to Glob, the element of surprise is ours."
In that instant, as if responding to an invisible signal, the air around them erupted in a blizzard of white movement. From the shadows of the ice blocks and from the swirling snow itself emerged six slender, elegant figures: the Ice Crystal Foxes. They were the size of large dogs, with fur as white as freshly fallen snow and eyes like frozen gems that glittered with intelligence. Their horns, intricate spirals of bluish ice, began to glow with an internal light.
Before they could launch their coordinated attack, Xiao Lan acted.
"Hmph! Presumptuous insects!" her voice resonated with the power of her Golden Core. The Umbral Phoenix Flame erupted from her like a nova, not in an uncontrolled explosion, but in six precise torrents of tricolored fire—gold, purple, and dark orange—that shot towards each of the foxes.
The effect was overwhelming. The Ice Crystal Foxes, whose ice defenses and agility made them formidable against Foundation Establishment cultivators, barely had time to react. Xiao Lan's flames not only reached them but seemed to shatter their frost shields instantly. Three of the foxes were incinerated on the spot, their howls of agony cut short, leaving only a smell of ozone and burnt fur. The other three, though they managed to dodge a direct hit, were gravely wounded, their fur singed and their movements now erratic.
Lin Feng watched, dumbfounded. This was the true strength of a Golden Core expert and, moreover, of Xiao Lan's Umbral Phoenix Flame. The battle, if it could even be called that, was almost over before it began.
The three remaining terrified foxes tried to flee in different directions. Xiao Lan was about to dispatch them with another wave of fire when Lin Feng, feeling an impulse from Glob and remembering his own experiments, quickly said, "Elder Sister, wait! Perhaps I can… try something."
She looked at him, one eyebrow arched, but halted her attack. The curiosity in her eyes outweighed her instinct for lethal efficiency.
Lin Feng focused on one of the foxes fleeing with a limp. It was his chance to test the Ephemeral Shadow Step under pressure, but also something more. Glob transmitted a sensation to him: a particular vibration in the fox's crystal horn, a point of chaotic resonance.
With an exhalation, Lin Feng activated the principles of the Shadow Step. His figure flickered, blurring, and he appeared a few meters away, cutting off the fox's retreat. The movement wasn't perfect, a little clumsy at the end, but the speed and stealth were surprising. The confused fox tried to turn.
"Now, Little One," Lin Feng thought. Glob, from its hiding place, seemed to focus a minuscule amount of chaotic energy that resonated with what Lin Feng was now channeling into his hand. Lin Feng didn't attempt a devastating physical blow, but a precise touch, his open palm landing gently on the fox's crystal horn.
There was no visible burst of power. But the fox let out a sharp yelp, different from one of pain from a burn. The brilliant crystal horn instantly dimmed, as if all its internal energy had been drained or neutralized. The beast stumbled, weakened, and fell to the snow, trembling, its vitality rapidly diminishing.
Xiao Lan observed the scene with a frown, deep concentration in her eyes. What Lin Feng had done was not a Qi technique. It was something more subtle, more fundamental.
Before she could analyze it further, the other two foxes attempted a final, desperate charge. This time, Glob acted more directly, though still hidden. Lin Feng felt a surge of cold energy emanate from his pocket, and two small tendrils of dark slime, almost invisible against the rock shadows, shot out and wrapped around the foxes' hind legs, tripping them and causing them to fall awkwardly. It was an action of barely a second, and the tendrils retracted instantly.
Xiao Lan, without missing a beat, finished off the two remaining beasts with two precise bolts of Umbral Phoenix Fire.
Silence returned to the frozen landscape, broken only by the whistling wind.
"Your control over that 'Shadow Step' is improving, Lin Feng," Xiao Lan commented, approaching to examine the fox he had "touched." The horn was cold, with no trace of energy. "And your 'touch'... what exactly was that?"
"I believe it's an application of chaotic entropy, Elder Sister," Lin Feng explained, sharing the truth with her. "Glob sensed a resonance in the horn, a way to destabilize its energy structure from within. I just... helped channel that intention." He knew she would understand Glob's involvement without needing more explicit details at that moment.
"Fascinating," she murmured. "And your familiar… it seems its strength and abilities grow alongside your understanding of chaos." She looked at Lin Feng with new appreciation. "Your value as an exploration companion far exceeds what any ancient text could offer, Lin Feng. You are a constant source of surprises."
They collected the cores and valuable crystal horns. The small confrontation had given them a clear idea of the common dangers of the region, Xiao Lan's overwhelming superiority, and the potential of Lin Feng's and Glob's unique contributions.
They continued their journey, venturing deeper with more caution, but also with a growing confidence in their strange synergy. Several hours later, as they followed a winding canyon that, according to Glob's "mental map," was a shortcut to an inner valley where Yin energy was particularly dense, Glob emitted another warning, this time of a different nature.
"Elder Sister, Glob senses… cultivators," Lin Feng said quietly, stopping. He relayed Glob's information: "A group of five, further ahead in the gorge. Their auras are erratic, some weak. It seems they've been in a recent battle and are injured or in trouble."
Xiao Lan nodded. "Let's proceed with caution. They could be hostile or desperate, which is sometimes worse. But they might also have valuable information about this area."
They advanced stealthily, using the rock formations and sparse vegetation as cover. Soon, they reached a bend in the canyon and saw them. There were five cultivators, three men and two women, huddled around a small fire that struggled to burn against the icy wind. Their robes, an earth-brown color with the emblem of a stylized mountain, were torn and bloodstained. They undoubtedly belonged to one of the minor sects that inhabited these remote mountains. One of the men lay on the ground, groaning in pain, while one of the women desperately tried to bandage an ugly wound on his arm that looked a disturbing blackish-blue, frost visibly creeping up his veins.
"Stop right there!" shouted one of the men on guard, a young man with a haggard face but fierce eyes, upon seeing Lin Feng and Xiao Lan slowly emerge from the shadows. His sword, nicked and stained, was already in his hand, his stance defensive but trembling. "Who are you, and what are you doing in our Steadfast Rock Sect's hunting grounds?"
Xiao Lan stepped forward, her Golden Core aura now subtly released, not aggressively, but as a statement of power that instantly silenced the young man and drew the fearful attention of the others. It wasn't just her power that left them breathless; Xiao Lan's cold beauty also utterly astounded the Steadfast Rock Sect cultivators. Her ethereal bearing, the almost supernatural perfection of her features framed by night-dark hair, and those jade eyes that seemed to hold the wisdom of ages and the chill of eternal glaciers, impacted them profoundly. The young guard, in particular, gazed at her with a mixture of reverent awe and stunned admiration, his initial bravado replaced by a barely audible stammer. Even the other members, despite their distress and the pain of their wounds, couldn't help but fix their gazes on her, captivated by this presence that seemed sculpted from the finest winter jade, an ice goddess descended to their mortal world. Lin Feng remained a step behind, observant and silent, Glob completely still and hidden.
"We are cultivators passing through, from a distant southern sect," Xiao Lan replied, her voice calm but resonating with an authority that brooked no argument. "We are on a sect mission to collect a specific spirit grass in the Distant Echo Mountains. We do not wish for trouble and were unaware this territory was exclusive to any sect."
The apparent leader of the group, an older man with a graying beard and cultivation at the peak of Foundation Establishment, though visibly fatigued and with a shoulder wound, stepped forward with a mixture of caution and profound respect upon sensing Xiao Lan's unfathomable aura and observing his disciples' reaction to her imposing presence. "Forgive my young martial brother's rudeness, Esteemed Immortal. We are from the Steadfast Rock Sect. These mountains are our ancestral home, though we rarely see cultivators of your extraordinary caliber here. We've had an unfortunate encounter with an Ice Devouring Beast, and our nerves are… on edge." His gaze briefly passed over Lin Feng, noting his low cultivation, but Xiao Lan's presence overshadowed everything.
"We understand the difficulties and dangers inherent in these mountains," Xiao Lan assented diplomatically. Her gaze fell on the groaning, injured man, the frost visibly spreading. "It seems your companion is gravely affected by an ice venom."
The woman attending him looked up, her eyes filled with desperation. "It's the Devouring Beast's frost venom! It's spreading rapidly! Our Yang Fire pills cannot counteract it. If we don't do something, I fear Elder Brother Liao…!" Her voice broke.
The injured man, Elder Brother Liao, began to convulse, his lips turning a livid blue. Panic seized the Steadfast Rock Sect group.
Xiao Lan observed the scene, her face a mask of cold contemplation. She knew her Umbral Phoenix Flame could neutralize the venom.
Lin Feng, feeling an impulse from Glob and recalling a principle he had studied in the Library about the interaction of opposing elemental energies and purification through "controlled chaotic resonance," approached Xiao Lan and whispered discreetly, "Elder Sister, the nature of that venom… Glob senses it's a frost that 'devours' vitality at a very fundamental level. Ancient texts from the Library suggest that such pure venoms can sometimes be neutralized not with raw fire, but with a flame containing a resonance capable of 'undoing' the venom's structure from within, purifying vitality. It requires an application of your Umbral Phoenix Flame with a very specific intent of 'reversal' and 'controlled chaotic purge.'"
Xiao Lan listened, her jade eyes shining with a flash of understanding. Lin Feng's "erudition," which she knew came from a much deeper and more anomalous source than mere texts, often offered her perspectives that complemented her own vast knowledge of the Dao of Fire. She nodded slightly.
She turned to the leader of the Steadfast Rock Sect. "Elder, my Dao of Fire is… particular. It possesses certain unusual purifying properties. If you will allow me to try, and if you trust my methods, however unorthodox they may seem, perhaps I can help your martial brother. But I will need everyone to refrain from interfering and to follow my instructions to the letter."
The leader, clinging to any glimmer of hope, nodded vigorously, his eyes filled with desperate gratitude. "Anything, Esteemed Immortal! If you can save Brother Liao, our humble Steadfast Rock Sect will be eternally indebted to you and your… wise assistant!" He made a respectful gesture towards Lin Feng, who simply inclined his head.
Xiao Lan knelt beside the injured man. She summoned an incredibly thin and controlled strand of her Umbral Phoenix Flame. The three colors—the white-gold of purity, the intense orange of fire, and the purple and black wisps of harmonized chaos—danced in a perfect spiral around her fingers. Following the "intuition" Lin Feng had whispered to her, she imbued the flame not only with power but with a complex intention to "undo" and "purify." With surgical precision, she guided that strand of flame towards the frozen wound.
There was a sharp hiss as the flame touched the dark frost. An acrid smell filled the air. But instead of a burn, the flame seemed to flow into the wound, seeking out the venom, disintegrating its icy structure at a fundamental level.
The process lasted several agonizing minutes. Xiao Lan's face was pale with concentration, fine beads of sweat pearling on her forehead despite the glacial cold. Lin Feng could feel the immense amount of control she was exerting, and Glob, from its hiding place, emitted a soft vibration, as if helping to stabilize the residual chaotic energies emanating from the process.
Finally, with a last, delicate tug, Xiao Lan withdrew her flame. The dark frost that had covered Elder Brother Liao's wound had completely vanished. The bluish color of his lips and skin began to recede, replaced by a sickly but much more hopeful pallor. His breathing, though weak, became more regular. The venom had been neutralized.
A deep, collective sigh of relief swept through the Steadfast Rock Sect group. The leader fell to his knees before Xiao Lan, his forehead touching the frozen ground. "Esteemed Immortal, your skill is divine, your compassion limitless! You have saved our Brother Liao's life! Our Steadfast Rock Sect will never forget this grace!"
Xiao Lan helped him up with a serene gesture. "Such formality is unnecessary, Elder. We are all cultivators on the same arduous path. Consider this a simple gesture of goodwill." Her gaze, however, grew more inquisitive. "Nonetheless, if you wish to show your gratitude, any information you can share about the exact location of the Moonfrost Spirit Grass in these mountains, or about the specific dangers guarding the inner valleys, would be of great help to our own mission."
The leader of the Steadfast Rock Sect, brimming with relief and gratitude, did not hesitate for an instant. "Of course, Esteemed Immortal! What we know is yours!" He pulled out a worn piece of leather and, with a piece of charcoal, began to draw a rudimentary but detailed map of the areas his sect had explored for generations. He indicated a remote, perpetually blizzard-swept valley known as the "Ice Dragon's Nest," where, according to his sect's oldest legends, the Moonfrost Spirit Grass was sometimes found. But he also warned them gravely about its guardian: a Matriarch of the Ice Devouring Beasts, an ancient creature whose power, it was rumored, rivaled that of late-stage Golden Core experts.
They exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then the two groups parted ways, each following their own dangerous path.
Lin Feng and Xiao Lan moved on, venturing deeper into the frozen heart of the Distant Echo Mountains, now armed with a map and knowledge.