Morning sunlight scattered across the Frost Pavilion's courtyards, refracting through the ice walls into soft rainbows. The calm felt unnatural — a stillness before the next storm.
Lin Xuan stood at the pavilion's southern terrace, refining pills from melted frost essence. Each pill pulsed faintly with blue-green light, humming in harmony with the Glacial Flame coiling within his dantian.
But even as he worked, he sensed unease.
Whispers floated through the corridors: a diplomatic envoy had arrived from the lower sects — bearing a peace gift for the Frost Pavilion.
It should have been routine. It wasn't.
The Envoy
When the Frost Matron received them, Lin Xuan and Yue Shuang were present at her side.
The envoy was led by none other than Meng Zhao, his usual arrogance hidden beneath layers of silk courtesy. He bowed with impeccable grace.
"Honored Matron of Frost," he said, voice smooth as oil on glass. "The Inner Council sends respect — and a token of goodwill to ensure unity among the sect's divisions."
Behind him, two disciples carried a long ebony box, engraved with shifting silver runes.
Even before it opened, Lin Xuan felt it: the faint hum of foreign qi — too dense, too quiet, like power meant to be unseen.
The box opened.
Inside lay a feather.
Not black, not white — but both. Each vane shimmered like twilight, alternating between darkness and light, as though unable to decide what it was.
The Frost Matron's eyes narrowed. "A… feather?"
Meng Zhao smiled. "Forged from spiritual condensate deep within the sect's oldest mines. The elders wish it displayed as a symbol of balance — fire and frost united."
Lin Xuan's jaw tightened. "Balance or corruption?" he murmured.
Yue Shuang shot him a warning glance.
But the damage was done — Meng Zhao's smile only widened.
"Sharp ears, young disciple," he said softly. "May that sharpness not cut what it cannot see."
Protocol demanded courtesy. Declining a peace gift before witnesses was tantamount to a declaration of rebellion.
The Frost Matron extended her hand, fingers glowing faintly with cold light. "The Frost Pavilion thanks the Council for their generosity."
Her qi wrapped the feather, freezing it gently before sealing it within a prism of ice.
But Lin Xuan saw what the others did not.
When frost touched it, the feather pulsed — ever so slightly — and the ice flickered with a faint black vein before going still.
It moved, he thought. It reacted.
The Matron dismissed the envoy with formal pleasantries, and Meng Zhao bowed again, all smiles and perfect composure.
As he turned to leave, his eyes met Lin Xuan's — and for an instant, something ancient stared back.
After the envoy departed, the Frost Pavilion seemed to breathe again.
But the Matron did not rest. "Yue Shuang. Lin Xuan. The feather will be placed in the central hall for three days. During that time, it must be observed. No disciple is to approach without sanction."
"Yes, Matron," Yue Shuang replied.
Lin Xuan hesitated. "Matron… there's something wrong with that object."
Her gaze turned toward him — unreadable. "Of course there is."
He blinked.
She smiled faintly. "But if we reject the serpent's gift, it simply coils elsewhere. Let us see which direction it slithers first."
That evening, Lin Xuan could not sleep.
The frost itself seemed restless — mist curling where it should not, lights flickering across the lake.
He followed the disturbance to the grand hall where the feather had been placed upon an altar of translucent ice.
It glowed faintly, light and dark chasing each other across its surface like a heartbeat made visible.
The air near it was… wrong. It didn't feel cold or warm. It felt hungry.
He approached, but the Omni-Talent System blazed a warning.
[Anomaly detected.][Corruption Signature — Spiritual Parasitism Type.][Source: Darkfeather Pavilion Construct.]
[Warning: Entity within the object attempting resonance with Pavilion Formation Core.]
Lin Xuan's heart clenched. "They're not just watching us… they're infecting the sect."
A faint hum filled the air. The feather rose from the altar, black and white light swirling faster until they merged into gray.
Runes spread across the hall's walls, slithering like serpents of shadow.
Yue Shuang appeared beside him in a flash of frostlight, her palm raised. "You couldn't sleep either."
"It's resonating with the sect's frost qi," Lin Xuan said. "If it syncs fully—"
"The Pavilion's defensive formation will invert," she finished grimly. "Frost will turn against itself."
They moved in unison. Lin Xuan struck with spear and fire; Yue Shuang countered with frost seals.
Each hit splintered the darkness but also fed it — the feather absorbing both elements as if learning.
The System chimed.[Adaptive Construct detected. Countermeasure unavailable — assimilation threshold exceeded.]
"Then we stop the source," Lin Xuan said. "Together."
He thrust. Yue Shuang mirrored.Fire and frost crossed.
The feather shrieked — not sound, but vibration that cut through bone and thought. The world blurred.
Lin Xuan found himself standing in a void of gray mist.
Beside him, Yue Shuang's form flickered faintly, as though half-trapped between dreams.
And ahead — a figure.
Meng Zhao.
Or rather, something wearing his shape.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" the false Meng Zhao said, his voice echoing from everywhere. "Balance. Such a fragile thing. All it takes is one breath of darkness, and even the purest frost begins to crack."
Lin Xuan raised his spear. "You hide behind tricks because you fear facing me."
"I don't fear you, Lin Xuan," the shade whispered. "I envy you. The Omni Root recognizes you — but not me. You'll burn yourself proving you deserve it."
The mist writhed, forming countless ravens that circled them like shadows of thought.
Yue Shuang's hand trembled. "This isn't real. He's projecting through the artifact."
Lin Xuan's fire blazed brighter. "Then let's make it real enough to burn."
He drove his spear into the mist. The void cracked.
Every shadowed raven screamed, their forms twisting into black frost that tried to burrow into his skin.
But his Glacial Flame erupted — blue-green fire spiraling outward, consuming darkness without light, melting frost without heat.
Yue Shuang unleashed her frost domain, freezing the fragments of the illusion into stillness. Together, they formed a vortex — harmony forged in chaos.
The false Meng Zhao's smile faltered. "Impossible… you cannot wield opposites without destroying yourself!"
Lin Xuan stepped forward, voice steady. "Opposites only destroy when one forgets the other exists."
He pierced the illusion.
The world shattered.
He awoke to Yue Shuang shaking him. Frost petals swirled around them; the hall was in ruins. The altar had collapsed, and the feather hovered in the air, flickering weakly.
The Frost Matron stood at the doorway, veil fluttering in the residual energy. Her gaze swept the wreckage.
"So the serpent bites," she said quietly.
The feather pulsed once more — then split into two halves: one black, one white.
They drifted down like dying embers, landing before Lin Xuan.
The System pulsed.
[Partial Assimilation Successful.][New Ability Unlocked: Duality Insight — perceive corruption and purity within qi flows.]
He exhaled slowly. "So that's what it was after — resonance."
The Matron nodded. "And you denied it… but not before it learned something from you."
Yue Shuang looked sharply. "Meaning?"
"Meaning," the Matron said, "that somewhere, its twin now holds your reflection."
Far from the Frost Pavilion, deep within the Darkfeather's sanctum, Meng Zhao stood before the same feather — its twin half glowing faintly with emerald light.
He touched it gently, and the air rippled with Lin Xuan's voice echoing faintly through it: Opposites only destroy when one forgets the other exists.
Meng Zhao smiled. "Then let's make sure you never remember."
The black feather flared once — and the darkness spread.
At dawn, the Frost Pavilion rebuilt its defenses. The formation masters sealed the altar, but the cold air still carried whispers that didn't belong.
Yue Shuang approached Lin Xuan at the lake once more.
"You've changed again," she said softly. "Your qi… it's heavier. Like something's watching from within."
He nodded. "It is. The feather left a trace — a connection."
"Can you sever it?"
He shook his head. "No. But I can trace it."
Her eyes widened slightly. "You'd risk another link to the Darkfeather Pavilion?"
He smiled faintly. "Risk is the only coin I've ever had to spend."
That night, Lin Xuan sat in meditation. The world within his mind split — one side glowing emerald and frost, the other dark and whispering.
[Duality Link Detected.][Connection: Remote — Darkfeather Core Network.][Option: Trace or Seal.]
He hesitated only a moment.
"Trace."
The world went black.
And somewhere far beyond the mountains, a thousand eyes opened — ravens of shadow turning toward the Frost Pavilion, drawn by the one spark brave enough to stare back.