The girl stood in the rain like a sculpture of winter.
Her flowing robes shimmered in the downpour, woven with patterns of frost and starlight. The sword on her back gave off a chilling aura that froze the rain mid-air. And her face—calm, proud, and utterly devoid of warmth—was a portrait Ling Tian would not soon forget.
She narrowed her eyes.
"You are trespassing on Frost Moon Sect land."
Ling Tian sat up slowly, ignoring the throbbing pain in his chest. "Forgive me. I didn't exactly plan my landing."
Her gaze didn't change. "Then plan your death. Outsiders are not welcome."
A pulse of spiritual pressure rolled off her like a wave, slamming into his weakened body. Ling Tian clenched his jaw, resisting the urge to collapse. She wasn't trying to kill him—but she could have, effortlessly.
> [Karmic Thread Detected: Xiao Lan — Ice Petal Sword Maiden]
[Thread Strength: Weak but Reactive]
[Note: Emotional pressure can trigger bond formation or break it entirely]
"She's testing me," Ling Tian thought, teeth gritted. "If I falter now, the thread may break."
He smiled.
Not mockingly. Not arrogantly.
Softly.
"Even ice melts under moonlight, doesn't it?"
For the first time, Xiao Lan blinked.
"…You are either brave or very foolish," she said after a moment. "Most men bow the moment they sense my frost aura."
"I'm not most men," Ling Tian replied.
She stepped closer, sword humming softly on her back. "Then tell me your name, stranger. And your reason for being here. Lie, and I'll sever your spine."
"Ling Tian," he said honestly. "I awoke here after… a strange event. I don't know why I was chosen, or what force brought me here, but I do know this—if I die again, I want it to be while looking into eyes like yours."
Xiao Lan stiffened. For a cultivator raised in the Frost Moon Sect, such direct words were foreign. Forbidden.
> [Heart Thread Reaction: +1 Affection]
[Emotional Qi Registered: Curiosity, Mild Annoyance, Subtle Warmth]
"You speak like a romantic fool," she muttered, turning slightly. "But... you are interesting."
Then she tossed him a pill wrapped in a silk pouch.
"Take it. You're poisoned from the rain. That mountain is soaked in toxic mist this time of year."
Ling Tian caught it mid-air. "Saving me already?"
"I'm saving myself the trouble of finding your corpse tomorrow," she snapped.
But as she walked away, her steps slowed. Just once, she glanced back at him.
"You have no cultivation. No Qi. No root. No sect. No background. And yet… you smiled in my killing aura."
"Remember this, Ling Tian—if you want to survive in this world, earn your place with strength. Charm will only take you so far."
Then she vanished into the fog, her presence like a fading snowflake on the wind.
Ling Tian collapsed back, the pill dissolving on his tongue. Warmth spread through his meridians. The pain faded.
And then, the Cauldron spoke again.
> [Karmic Thread Strengthened: Xiao Lan — Status: Distant Interest]
[Eternal Cauldron is now absorbing Emotional Qi]
[Cultivation Level: Qi Awakening, Layer 1 — Achieved]
He felt it.
A pulse of energy in his dantian. Weak, but real. His path had begun—not with a sword, but with a thread.