Blackwind Caverns, Mountain Interior
The entrance to the Blackwind Caverns was a wound in the mountainside, exhaling a palpable cold that had nothing to do with the air outside.
Gu Xuan activated a Light Talisman, and a soft, golden orb floated above his head, pushing back the oppressive darkness to reveal a tunnel slick with moisture and lined with shimmering, crystalline frost.
Li Wei, trying to reclaim his authority after the Shadow Cat encounter, unrolled a crude map. "Alright, listen up," he announced, his voice echoing unnaturally in the confined space. "The deacon said the first major vein of Frost Iron is about a mile in. We stick to the main path, mine what we need, and get out. No heroics, no wandering off. Simple."
Zhao Feng nodded eagerly, while Su Linyue remained silent, her arms crossed. Her gaze was already fixed on the tunnel's depths, her expression tense.
Gu Xuan gave his usual placid nod. The plan was sensible, which was precisely why he knew he had to derail it.
They proceeded into the mountain's depths. The temperature plummeted with every step.
The air grew thick with a heavy, cloying Yin energy that felt like icy water on the skin.
Gu Xuan circulated his own potent Qi, the Veil of Dust making it seem as if he were struggling slightly, just like the others.
Li Wei and Zhao Feng were shivering, their breath pluming in thick white clouds.
But Su Linyue was suffering the most. Gu Xuan, observing from the back of the group, noted the stiffness in her gait and the almost imperceptible tremor in her hands.
The ambient Yin was resonating with the chaotic Frigid Yin Qi in her meridians, like a tuning fork striking a cracked bell.
"Hurry up, Junior Sister Su," Li Wei grumbled, oblivious. "At this rate, we'll be here all day."
Su Linyue shot him a glare cold enough to freeze fire, but said nothing.
She simply pushed forward, her pride a brittle shield against the agony she was clearly feeling.
After an hour, they reached the location marked on the map.
It was a wider cavern, and a large section of the wall glittered with a dark, metallic ore that seemed to suck the light from Gu Xuan's talisman. Veins of Frost Iron.
"Alright, get to it!" Li Wei ordered, hefting his mining pickaxe. "The sooner we finish, the sooner we can leave this frozen hell."
The four of them began to work, the rhythmic thud of pickaxes against rock echoing through the cavern.
With each strike, a wave of intense cold pulsed from the ore, seeping into their weapons and up their arms.
It was jarring work, and the already potent Yin energy in the air grew thicker, stirred up by their efforts.
Gu Xuan worked at the edge of the group, his movements looking clumsy and inefficient.
While the others were focused on a large, obvious vein, he moved to a section of the wall that looked cracked and unstable. This was the spot he had chosen.
He raised his pickaxe. On the backswing, his other hand, hidden from view, pressed a small, paper talisman flat against the rock. The Tremor Talisman.
"This ore is tough!" he grunted, for show. He brought the pickaxe down in a seemingly powerful, but ultimately clumsy, swing.
The moment the pickaxe struck, he channeled a thread of Qi into the talisman.
It didn't explode. It simply dissolved into the rock, releasing a deep, resonant vibration.
The sound was completely masked by the impact of his pickaxe.
For a second, nothing happened. Then, a low groan echoed from the ceiling above them.
"What was that?" Zhao Feng asked, his eyes wide with fear.
Fine dust began to rain down. Cracks spiderwebbed across the cavern ceiling.
"It's collapsing!" Li Wei screamed, his face draining of all color. "Run!"
He and Zhao Feng scrambled back towards the entrance tunnel. But it was too late.
With a deafening roar, tons of rock and ice cascaded down from the ceiling, completely sealing the path they had come from.
The force of the collapse blasted Gu Xuan and Su Linyue sideways, sending them tumbling into a smaller, adjacent tunnel they hadn't noticed before.
Another tremor shook the cavern, and the entrance to their new tunnel was also sealed by a massive boulder.
The world descended into choking dust and absolute darkness as Gu Xuan's Light Talisman sputtered and died. Then, an unnerving silence.
Gu Xuan pushed himself up, coughing. His plan had worked even better than expected. They were trapped. Alone.
A sharp cry of pain cut through the darkness.
He immediately activated his last Light Talistan. The golden orb flared to life, illuminating their prison—a small, natural tunnel barely wide enough for two people.
And in its light, he saw Su Linyue.
She was on the ground, curled into a ball, her body wracked with violent tremors.
The shock of the collapse and the sudden, intense concentration of Yin energy in the sealed tunnel had been the final straw.
The Frigid Yin Qi in her body had gone berserk.
A terrifyingly thick layer of crystalline frost was spreading rapidly across her robes and skin.
Her lips were turning blue, and her cultivation aura was flaring chaotically, a maelstrom of untamed power that threatened to tear her apart from the inside.
She wasn't just in pain; she was dying. Her meridians were on the verge of shattering completely.
Her fortress of ice, the pride she had guarded so fiercely, was now consuming her.
She looked at Gu Xuan, her eyes wide with a mixture of agony and for the first time, sheer, undiluted terror.
Gu Xuan calmly walked over and knelt beside her shaking form. The air around her was so cold it burned his lungs.
He looked down at the fallen phoenix, now truly broken and helpless at his feet.
This was the moment. The desperation he had so carefully engineered was now absolute.
"Su Linyue," he said, his voice quiet and steady amidst the chaos. "I have a proposition for you."