Pain was a familiar friend. Li Ye sat in the darkness, suspended by his wrists.
The chains were made of Spirit-Suppressing Iron. They were hooked directly through his collarbones, piercing the flesh and locking onto his skeletal structure. Every breath was agony. Every movement sent liquid fire racing down his arms.
He was in the Water Prison of the Discipline Hall. Cold, sewage-tainted water rose to his waist, swarming with blood-leeches that tried to latch onto his wounds.
[SYSTEM STATUS: CRITICAL] [CULTIVATION: SUPPRESSED (10% OUTPUT)] [BODY CONDITION: SEVERE TRAUMA. POISON DETECTED.] [SWORD STATUS: CONFISCATED.]
"Efficient," Li Ye croaked, his voice raw. He spat a mouthful of bloody phlegm into the dark water.
The heavy iron door groaned open. Torchlight spilled into the chamber, blinding him momentarily.
Three figures entered.
In the center was an old man wearing the golden robes of an Inner Sect Elder. His face was twisted with hate, resembling the crippled Wang Teng, but with decades more cruelty etched into the wrinkles.
[TARGET DETECTED: ELDER WANG LIE] [IDENTITY: WANG TENG'S GRANDFATHER / DISCIPLINE HALL VICE-MASTER] [CULTIVATION: FOUNDATION ESTABLISHMENT (MID-STAGE)] [THREAT: LETHAL]
Flanking him were two torturers, massive men with hoods and instruments of pain—whips made of barbed wire and branding irons glowing with spiritual heat.
"You have spirit, little beast," Elder Wang sneered, stepping onto the dry platform overlooking the water pit. "Most disciples scream as soon as the hooks go in."
"I've had worse massages," Li Ye replied, looking up with a bloodied grin. "Your technique is sloppy."
Elder Wang's face darkened. "You crippled my grandson. You destroyed his dantian. You ended the Wang bloodline's hope."
He gestured to the torturers. "Start with the skin. I want him flayed alive before we extract his soul."
One of the torturers stepped forward, raising the barbed whip.
CRACK.
The whip tore across Li Ye's chest. It didn't just cut skin; the barbs were coated in salt and venom. It felt like being slashed with molten glass.
Li Ye didn't scream. He grunted, his body seizing up, muscles locking against the chains.
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
The water around him turned red.
"Confess!" Elder Wang roared. "Confess that you are a demonic spy! Confess that you stole the Forbidden Arts! Give me the cultivation method you used!"
Li Ye panted, hanging limp in the chains. The System was frantically trying to repair the damage, consuming his remaining Spirit Points.
"I confess..." Li Ye whispered.
Elder Wang held up a hand. The whipping stopped. "Speak."
Li Ye lifted his head, blood dripping from his chin. "I confess... that your grandson... squealed like a pig when I broke him."
Elder Wang's eyes bulged. He lost all composure. "DIE!"
He raised his hand. Pure, condensed Spirit Qi gathered in his palm. A Foundation Establishment strike. At this range, it would vaporize Li Ye's head.
Li Ye watched the death blow coming. He couldn't dodge. He couldn't block.
Is this it?
Suddenly, the temperature in the dungeon plummeted. The foul water in the pit froze instantly, trapping the leeches in ice. The torchlight flickered and turned blue.
A voice, cold enough to freeze the soul, echoed from the doorway.
"Stay your hand, Vice-Master Wang."
Elder Wang froze. The Qi in his hand dissipated. He turned around slowly, fear flickering in his eyes.
Standing at the entrance was a woman.
[SYSTEM ALERT] [TARGET DETECTED: YE QINGYU] [IDENTITY: HALL MASTER OF JUSTICE / TRUE ELDER] [TITLE: THE ICE EMPRESS] [CULTIVATION: CORE FORMATION (HALF-STEP)] [ATTRIBUTE: EXTREME YIN / ICE] [APPEARANCE GRADE: DIVINE]
She was breathtaking. Not in the way a flower is beautiful, but in the way a glacier is beautiful—vast, dangerous, and utterly unapproachable.
She wore robes of silver and pale blue, embroidered with falling snow. The fabric was heavy and expensive, yet it draped over a body that defied mortal proportions. She was tall, statuesque, with legs that seemed to go on forever beneath the slit of her skirt.
Her face was a masterpiece of cold indifference. Silver hair cascaded down to her waist like a waterfall of moonlight. Her eyes were pale violet, sharp as diamonds.
But it was her aura that commanded the room. She didn't walk; she glided. The damp air crystallized around her.
She looked at Elder Wang, then at the bloodied Li Ye.
"Hall Master Ye," Elder Wang stammered, bowing low. "This... this is a private interrogation. This disciple is a demonic cultivator. He crippled my—"
"I saw the tournament," Ye Qingyu cut him off. Her voice was melodious but devoid of emotion. "He used an Ice Art. Specifically, a variation of the Frost Palm."
She walked to the edge of the pit. She looked down at Li Ye. Her gaze felt like it was dissecting him.
"That technique," she said, pointing a slender, pale finger at Li Ye, "belongs to my lineage. It is taught only to my direct disciples. Han Ruoxue is one of them."
Li Ye's mind raced. Han Ruoxue. The girl I plundered in Chapter 1. She is Ye Qingyu's disciple. Of course.
"He stole it," Elder Wang insisted. "He must have used a demonic absorption art on Han Ruoxue! He defiled her!"
Ye Qingyu turned her violet eyes to Elder Wang. "If he defiled my disciple, his punishment belongs to me. If he stole my technique, his life belongs to me. In either case, Vice-Master Wang..."
She stepped closer to the old man. She was taller than him. "You are overstepping."
Elder Wang gritted his teeth. He wanted to argue, but he was a Foundation Establishment cultivator. She was half a step into Core Formation. She could kill him with a thought.
"Fine," Elder Wang spat. "Take him. But the Sect Master will hear of this. The boy is dangerous."
"Leave," Ye Qingyu commanded.
Elder Wang signaled his torturers. They scrambled out of the room, leaving the old man to glare one last time before storming out.
Silence returned to the dungeon, heavier than before.
Ye Qingyu turned back to Li Ye. She waved her hand.
Clink.
The Spirit-Suppressing chains unlocked and fell away.
Li Ye collapsed. But he didn't hit the water. An invisible platform of ice formed beneath him, catching him.
He lay there, gasping, his chest a ruin of shredded skin.
Ye Qingyu floated down, landing on the ice platform next to him. She loomed over him, her silver robes rustling.
"You have a strange constitution," she observed. "Your body is broken, yet it is healing at a visible rate. And your Qi... it is messy. Fire, Ice, Wind... and something darker."
She crouched down. Up close, Li Ye could smell her scent—pure, biting winter air and snow lotuses.
"Han Ruoxue came to me," Ye Qingyu said softly. "She told me what you did in the woodshed. She was... incoherent. Ashamed. She said you 'ate' her cultivation."
Li Ye coughed, spitting blood onto the pristine ice. He looked up at her legs, at the curve of her hips hidden beneath the silver silk.
"She tasted good," Li Ye rasped.
Ye Qingyu's eyes narrowed. The temperature dropped another ten degrees. Frost began to form on Li Ye's eyelashes.
"Insolence," she whispered. "I should freeze your heart right now."
But she didn't. Her hand reached out. She touched his chest, right over his heart. Her hand was cold, but sending a soothing stream of high-grade Qi into his body.
"However," she continued, her finger tracing the line of a whip wound. "A man who can derive the Frost Palm from a single encounter... and refine it to shatter a Golden Bell... is not waste."
She stood up, withdrawing her hand.
"The Sect needs weapons. The imminent war with the Blood Soul Sect requires killers, not moralists."
She turned her back to him.
"You are now my personal prisoner, Li Ye. You will be transferred to the Ice Palace. You will serve as a test subject for my experiments."
She glanced back over her shoulder. It was a look of supreme arrogance, yet hidden within it was a spark of curiosity.
"If you survive my training, I might let you live. If you falter, I will turn you into an ice statue for my garden."
She flicked her sleeve.
"Stand up. We are leaving."
Li Ye forced himself to his feet. His legs shook, but he stood. He wiped the blood from his eyes.
He looked at her back.
[SYSTEM ALERT] [NEW QUEST: CONQUER THE ICE EMPRESS] [DIFFICULTY: IMPOSSIBLE] [REWARD: ???]
Li Ye smirked, his bloodied lips cracking.
"Impossible," he whispered. "I like impossible."
He limped after her, out of the darkness and into the cold, blinding light of a new hell.