Chapter 11: The Solar Finger & The Mountain Trap.
The Next Morning.
The Frost Mist Mountain Path.
A luxurious carriage, bearing the shimmering Golden Dragon insignia, carved its way through the winding mountain trails.
Inside, the air was thick with a different kind of energy.
Jiang Yi sat cross-legged, his eyes closed. Following his "initiation" of Zi Ling, his Primal Chaos Yang Body had stabilized into something terrifying.
His Spirit Sea was no longer a storm; it was a vast, golden ocean. Beside him, Zi Ling—now radiating a healthy, rosy glow—carefully peeled a spirit grape, her silver eyes never leaving her husband's face.
"Husband,"
she said softly, pressing the fruit to his lips. "The Celestial Spirit Pool opens at noon.
Historically, the City Lord's Estate, the Blood Sect, and the Liu Clan split the essence.
But the Blood Sect has been eerily silent since our wedding."
Jiang Yi opened his eyes, his golden pupils flashing. He caught her fingers with his lips, a playful yet dominant spark in his gaze. "A dog that stops barking is either dead or waiting to jump your throat.
Young Master Xue thinks that by leaving the city walls, I've left my protection behind."
Zi Ling's hand tightened around the hilt of her frost-etched blade.
"He thinks the City Lord's daughter is a trophy. He forgets I am a Spirit Core cultivator."
"Let him come," Jiang Yi smiled, leaning back. "I need a few more souls to temper my new realm."
The Base of Frost Mist Mountain.
The carriage groaned to a halt. The mist here was so thick it tasted of cold iron. As Jiang Yi and Zi Ling stepped out, the usual chatter of rogue cultivators was absent.
The silence was absolute—the kind of silence that precedes a slaughter.
Blocking the narrow ascent stood fifty men in jagged, blood-stained black armor. The Black Wind Bandits.
At their front stood a mountain of a man, scarred and filthy, resting a massive spiked iron club on his shoulder.
He leered at Zi Ling with a look that made her skin crawl.
"Road's closed, pretty boy!" the Bandit Leader roared, his voice echoing off the cliffs. "Young Master Xue has 'leased' the mountain today.
No entry for Su family trash."
Zi Ling stepped forward, a blizzard beginning to swirl around her feet. "Since when does the Blood Sect rely on gutter-trash like the Black Wind to do their talking?
Move, or I'll turn this path into a graveyard."
"Ooh, the Ice Princess has claws!"
The leader laughed, his men joining in with crude jeers. "I heard you got hitched to this merchant.
Why waste that Peerless Yin Body on a twig?
Come play with a real man, and I might let the boy live as my stable slave!"
Jiang Yi stepped in front of his wife. He wasn't reaching for a sword. He looked like a man bored by a repetitive play.
"You have three seconds to vanish from my sight," Jiang Yi said, his voice a low, lethal vibration.
"Or what, little—"
SNAP.
Jiang Yi didn't move his feet. He simply raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
[Nine Suns Scripture: Solar Finger.]
PFFT.
A beam of concentrated, white-hot golden fire—no thicker than a needle—streaked from his index finger.
It was too fast for the eye to track, too hot for the air to contain.
The Bandit Leader's laughter froze. A tiny, cauterized hole appeared perfectly in the center of his forehead.
There was no blood; the heat had vaporized the brain matter instantly.
The giant stood for a heartbeat, his eyes wide and vacant. Then, he toppled over like a felled oak. Thud.
"Boss?!"
the bandits shrieked, their bravado evaporating into the mist.
"One second,"
Jiang Yi checked his nails casually. "Anyone else want to offer my wife a career change?"
The remaining forty-nine men looked at their dead leader, then at the smiling demon in white robes. They didn't wait for "three."
They dropped their weapons and scrambled into the brush, screaming about "The Golden-Eyed Reaper."
"Let's go, Ling-er," Jiang Yi said, stepping over the smoking corpse. "The main course is waiting at the summit."
Zi Ling stared at the hole in the leader's skull, her heart hammering against her ribs. One finger. He killed a Late Earth Spirit expert with a flick of his wrist.
A shiver of pure, unadulterated pride raced down her spine. That is my man.
The Summit. The Celestial Spirit Pool.
The peak was a jagged plateau surrounding a swirling vortex of red and blue spiritual water.
The air was heavy with the scent of ancient energy—and the stench of an ambush.
Young Master Xue stood by the pool, flanked by two hunched, ancient figures in tattered black robes. Their auras were suffocating—Spirit Core Realm Elders.
"Jiang Yi," Xue drawled, clapping his hands in a mocking rhythm. "I see you made it past the appetizers.
I hope you didn't exhaust yourself on those peasants."
"Xue," Jiang Yi walked onto the plateau, his hands tucked behind his back. "Bringing two Elders to a pool opening? You're more terrified of me than I thought."
"Terrified?"
Xue's face contorted, his voice rising to a shriek. "I am going to flay you in front of your bride!
And then... I'm going to use her as my personal furnace until her Ice Spirit Body breaks! I've waited years to hear the Iceberg Goddess scream!"
Zi Ling's aura exploded.
The ground beneath her feet shattered into frost.
"You will die for that thought alone."
"Elders!" Xue commanded. "Kill the brat. Capture the woman. Break her spirit—I want her compliant by tonight!"
The two old men moved like shadows. "Boy," the Left Elder rasped, his hand forming a claw of bloody Qi. "Prepare for your reincarnation."
Jiang Yi didn't even draw a breath. He looked at Zi Ling.
"Wife, do you trust me?"
"With my life," she replied, her silver blade humming with lethal intent.
"Good. Take the one on the right. I'll handle the trash and his shadow."
BOOM.
Jiang Yi vanished. He didn't use a movement technique; he used pure, raw physical power. He reappeared inches from the Left Elder's face, his fist already glowing with the intensity of a dying sun.
[Primal Chaos Yang Body: Full Overdrive!]
His fist smashed through the Elder's protective barrier like it was wet parchment.
CRACK.
The Elder's ribs turned to powder as Jiang Yi's fist buried itself in his midsection. The old man was launched backward, skipping across the stone floor like a pebble across a pond, vomiting chunks of internal organs.
"One down," Jiang Yi said, his golden eyes fixing on the trembling Young Master Xue.
"Now... about that 'furnace' comment. Let's see how much heat you can handle."
[Author Note]
Thanks for reading!
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