The last body still steamed in the snow when Han Li dragged it off the field. Steam, not breath. No life left in it.
The night was quiet again, save for the far-off hiss of wind through frozen stalks.
Five men had come. Four lay dead. One ran.
That was the problem.
He could already see it—word carried back to the Black Fang camp, their leader licking his teeth at the thought of a defiant little farming village ripe for the taking.
Han Li knelt, pressing his palm to the earth. Qi bled out of him in thin, glowing threads, racing into the cold dirt. The lines were faint now, nothing more than veins waiting for flesh. If he didn't finish the array before the next wave came, the fields would be nothing but open killing grounds.
The System floated at the edge of his vision.
> [Formation Progress: 31%]
Warning: Hostile return likely within 3–5 days.
Three to five days. That wasn't time—it was a race against a storm he could already hear in the distance.
By dawn, he was moving through the paddies with a hoe slung over his shoulder, working like any other farmer—at least, that's what it looked like. Every furrow he cut was measured to the finger. Every stone he "cleared" was a marker. Qi lines snaked between them, invisible unless you knew where to look.
Lanfen found him before the frost had melted. She came barefoot, her skirts hitched high enough to show pale calves dusted with snow.
"You're not even going to eat first?" she asked, voice bright with mock reproach.
"Not hungry," Han Li said, sinking the hoe into the soil.
"You will be." She stepped into the field, the frozen mud cracking under her feet. "What's all this?"
"Planting," he said.
"In winter?" Her brows arched.
He didn't answer, and she smiled as if that told her everything. "You're hiding something again." She bent, plucking up one of the marker stones. "This isn't a seedbed. It's… oh. Clever."
Han Li looked up sharply. "Put that back exactly where it was."
She did, but her smirk didn't fade. "I know where the ground dips and where it's rocky. If you're making… whatever this is, I could save you hours."
"I don't have hours to waste teaching you," he said, though his hands didn't stop working.
"Then let me follow and watch. I learn fast." She leaned in close, her breath warm despite the morning chill. "Besides… maybe I like seeing how you work."
The System chimed quietly.
> [Emotional Resonance +2]
Side Quest Progress: Win Lanfen's Heart — 35%
By mid-morning, she was trailing him, dropping marker flags exactly where he told her. She didn't complain, didn't even seem to notice the cold seeping into her toes. But every so often, he caught her watching him instead of the ground.
They were bent over the same line when Mianhua's voice cut across the field. "You've been busy."
She was standing at the edge with a basket on her hip, steam rising from the cloth-covered loaves inside. Her eyes flicked from Han Li to Lanfen, lingering just a little too long.
Han Li straightened. "The land will fight for us if we shape it right."
Mianhua stepped forward, setting the basket down. "Then I'll bring the men to help you dig."
"That's not necessary—" he began, but Lanfen was already shaking her head.
"Careful, Mianhua," she said sweetly. "If you're not precise, you'll ruin his work."
The frost in their voices had nothing to do with winter.
Han Li slammed the hoe into the soil hard enough to send a puff of white dust into the air. "Enough. We need hands, not barbs."
The rest of the day was a blur of motion—marking, digging, threading qi into the frozen veins of the field. By the time the sun slid low, his back was a lattice of dull aches and his breath smoked heavy.
That night, he worked by candlelight, sketching the final array into a scrap of parchment. Outside, the village was quiet, the snow muting even the barking of dogs.
He didn't hear the wind change until the flame guttered sideways.
A sound followed—faint, but wrong. Not the shift of branches. Not a hunting fox.
Han Li was at the door in three steps.
On the far ridge, pinpricks of light moved—torches, bobbing fast. Too fast for farmers.
The System's voice was cold in his ear.
> [Alert: Hostile Auras Detected]
Count: 9
Estimated Cultivation Level: Mid to Late Body Refinement
The scouting party had grown.
He grabbed his cloak, knife, and a pouch of stone beads he'd been saving for the array's trigger lines. The formation wasn't finished, but it could still bite.
Snow crunched under his boots as he jogged to the outer paddies. Frost glittered under the moonlight like scattered shards of glass.
The first torch broke from the ridge, then another, the bearers' laughter cutting through the night air.
Han Li knelt, pressing a bead into the earth, channeling qi until it warmed in his palm. He set three more, the lines between them glowing faintly beneath the snow.
The enemy hit the first row of markers without knowing it. The ground didn't open, but it shifted—just enough to throw their steps off. Han Li moved like water through gaps, the knife a flash of silver. One fell, gurgling; another staggered into a ditch.
Shouts broke out. Steel hissed from sheaths.
Han Li slammed his qi into the earth again, and the second row of beads flared. Frost shattered upward in a sudden burst, slicing exposed skin like a thousand tiny blades. The Black Fang men cursed, flailing in the dark.
It wasn't perfect. The gaps in the array left openings, and one man barreled through, blade raised. Han Li caught the strike on his forearm, pain lancing up to his shoulder, then drove the knife into the man's ribs.
The fight was over in heartbeats. Seven bodies lay bleeding into the snow. Two fled, their torchlight dwindling toward the mountains.
The System chimed.
> [Objective Complete: Repel Second Wave]
Reward: +1 Combat Instinct, Moderate Qi Increase
Han Li stood among the dead, breath clouding, the ache in his arm sharp with every heartbeat. Two survivors. Enough to tell their leaders exactly what they'd found here—a village with teeth.
The next time, they'd come in force.
From the village, voices rose as doors opened, the torchlight inside spilling into the snow. Mianhua's shawled figure was among them, scanning the fields until her eyes found him.
Lanfen stood beside her, lips curved—not in amusement this time, but in something sharper.
Han Li looked past them, to the black mouth of the mountain pass. Somewhere out there, the Black Fang was already on the move.
And the Fields of Power would have to be ready when they came.