Morning.
The frost was thick in the air.
Sharp Blade Town was bustling with noise.
Mercenary groups, large and small, gathered like tides, pushing through the Icebound Forest toward the forbidden lands of the Extreme North.
The hiss of snowboards slicing across the ice and the occasional clang of weapons were quickly swallowed by the vast, roaring blizzard.
But when this mighty host of over a thousand people—
—finally crossed into the endless white expanse of the Extreme North—
A suffocating sense of insignificance seized every heart.
The thousand-meter snow peaks were no longer distant scenery. They loomed like the spines of giants that held up the heavens, silent and immovable at the world's end.
The roar of the wind and snow was like the wrath of gods. Beneath their feet, the frozen ground groaned ominously, while far away, glaciers crumbled with thunderous rumbles that rolled through the frozen earth.
Even after marching for just one hour—
Even with hundreds, thousands moving together—
The endless whiteness still bred an indescribable dread.
Li Zhexian drew his black cloak tighter.
His hood hung low, shadowing all but a pair of cold, razor-edged eyes—
eyes that swept across this deathly, silent world of ice and snow.
"The place where the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow is most likely to appear…"
Snow Bear, hand gripping the battleaxe at his waist, scanned their surroundings warily as he spoke:
"The temperature must be abnormally low."
"Ordinary ice and snow can't nurture such a thing."
"Where it appears, the density of ice-element Spirit Power is incredibly high—it might even give rise to an ice-element vein."
Li Zhexian's gaze turned toward the few survivors leading at the front.
"The few survivors from the Ice Edge Mercenary Group said…"
"That the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow lies beneath the mountain where the avalanche struck."
"But that hardly fits the conditions for its formation."
A flicker of doubt passed over Snow Bear's frost-stiffened face.
"I've wondered the same—how could the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow just lie bare on the snow?"
"And according to the Ice Edge survivors, there was no warning at all—no Spirit Beast attack—just a sudden avalanche."
"Their Spirit Sage captain and over ninety men were buried alive."
Li Zhexian's expression grew even darker.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
This Ice Marrow had appeared far too conveniently.
So convenient… it felt like bait—
deliberately placed to lure the greedy into the trap.
He looked up.
Through the storm, beneath the rugged faces of the mercenaries, he could see the unmistakable gleam of madness and desire.
The foolish had already died long ago.
Those who had made it here were no fools.
Many of them had probably sensed the same danger.
But—
"A life is worth a thousand gold coins, yet death comes cheaper than paper."
"Even in the halls of the King of Hell, men still fight to outdo each other."
The temptation of the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow was simply too great.
Even Li Zhexian could not deny it.
"The Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow—I must have it."
"Within five years, both the Ice Marrow and the Yellow Springs Dew will be mine."
The raging snow could not bend the youth's spine. His gaze—sharp as a blade—cut through the blizzard itself.
The saying goes: You can see the mountain, but you'll die before you reach it.
The avalanche mountain seemed close at hand,
yet wary of the hidden dangers buried in the storm,
the thousand-man party spent nearly half a day struggling forward.
Along the way, they slew three thousand-year Spirit Beasts and one ten-thousand-year Spirit Beast
before finally reaching the foot of the avalanche mountain.
The avalanche from the previous night
had left the snow here deep and treacherously soft.
Everyone had to channel Spirit Power into their steps just to keep from sinking.
"Where exactly did you see the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow?!"
Snow Bear, alongside Frost Fang and the two captains of Ever Frost Rose,
pressed in on the few surviving members of the Ice Edge Mercenary Groups.
Shame and fear twisted the survivors' faces.
They had planned to exploit the strength of others to reap the spoils in chaos—
but now, it was clear that in the eyes of these wolves and tigers,
they themselves were merely bait yet to be discarded.
Teeth clenched, one of them pointed toward the southeastern base of the mountain.
"Roughly in that direction."
"Before we could approach, the avalanche struck."
"The exact location—we don't know."
The three commanders—
The strongest people present—
Exchanged glances through the blinding snow.
And in that moment—
Amid the howling blizzard—
An invisible wave of killing intent quietly spread through the air.
"Gentlemen…"
The commander of the Frost Fang Mercenary Group—a thin man missing his right ear—spoke with a grin that never reached his eyes:
"We all agreed beforehand, didn't we?"
"Whoever finds it first, the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow belongs to them."
The female leader of the Ever Frost Rose Mercenary Group, with her short, spiky silver hair, gave a cold snort.
"Let's hope Commander Frostfang keeps his word."
Snow Bear chuckled inwardly but kept his expression polite as he cupped his fists.
"Whatever happens, I, Snow Bear, will keep my promise."
The verbal pact was made.
At once, the three Commander signaled their respective mercenary groups to begin searching the area frantically.
Li Zhexian led his own men, glancing subtly toward the cluster of independent Spirit Masters nearby, before quietly moving closer to where Shui Bing'er and her six companions were.
As he searched, he kept turning over the conditions for the formation of Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow in his mind.
With a surge of Spirit Power, his palm sent waves through the air, scattering several meters of packed snow aside.
Nearly a thousand Spirit Masters dug through the snow like plowmen tilling frozen fields—inch by inch.
The progress looked quick—
yet they had to avoid alerting any Extreme North Spirit Beasts,
and the endless expanse sapped both manpower and morale.
That search—three feet into the ground and deeper—
dragged from dawn until nightfall.
The night sky over the Extreme North split open with a faint green crack.
Auroras shimmered like living things,
washing the snowfield in flowing jade light.
It was beautiful—
and terrifying.
Li Zhexian tilted his head back.
Tonight, the aurora was unnaturally vivid—
so vivid that within its green bands
he could see faint streaks of violet light,
like serpents slithering through the heavens.
The mercenaries dug on, tireless.
Li Zhexian's gaze swept over the crowd once more—then he too resumed searching.
Time slipped away silently.
At some point…
The temperature began to drop even lower.
A muffled cracking echoed from beneath their feet,
as though the entire snowfield were shifting, tilting.
The breath Li Zhexian exhaled crystallized instantly,
freezing to his lashes.
In that moment—
The Qinglian Sword within him trembled,
its dormant Sword Intent surging awake in warning.
Li Zhexian's head snapped up.
Across the distance, in the Frost Fang Mercenary Group's area—
A beam of brilliant, intoxicating blue light burst skyward.
It was so dazzling it drowned out even the aurora overhead.
A surge of vast elemental energy erupted, the very air thickening with condensed power.
"The Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow!"
"It's the Ice Marrow!"
"Kill!!"
In an instant, all promises were forgotten.
The mercenaries' eyes went blood-red as they screamed and charged toward the light.
But—
Li Zhexian's brow twitched violently.
His voice exploded like thunder in the ears of Shui Bing'er, her six companions, Oscar, and his own men:
"Retreat!"
"Get back—now!"
Shui Bing'er's group and Oscar paled instantly but didn't hesitate—they followed Li Zhexian as he leapt back at full speed.
But the mercenaries under his command… were already lost to greed.
Eyes wide, roaring like beasts, they surged forward.
And the moment those countless figures reached the Ice Marrow's glow—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The snowfield erupted for hundreds of meters around.
A massive, hill-sized hand—
covered in thick white fur, more than ten meters long—
burst from beneath the snow, clawing toward the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow.
CRASH!
SPLAT!
The giant hand clutched the Ten-thousand-year Ice Marrow. And at the same time, it squeezed dozens of mercenaries.
Amidst the teeth-grating sound of bone crushing and flesh squeezing, great gushes of hot blood spurted from between the fingers, splattering tragic and brilliant blood flowers onto the snow.
Li Zhexian's pupils contracted sharply as he pushed his speed even further.
But the ground beneath them began to quake—rising, heaving—
The mercenaries screamed in terror as the "ground" tilted, sending them sliding down its side.
"Oscar!" Li Zhexian shouted.
Several spirit-forged ropes shot from his hands, wrapping around Shui Bing'er, her six companions, and Oscar.
Oscar, already prepared, swallowed a Swift Flight Mushroom Sausage,
and with a flare of Spirit Power, carried the eight of them upward through the storm.
As they rose higher and higher,
the scene below grew clear—
And when they finally saw the truth of what had emerged from the snow,
a chill exploded from the depths of their souls,
freezing their blood solid.
All this time—
They had been digging atop the back
of that unimaginably colossal beast.