The Northern Garrison fortress was an intimidating sight, a colossal structure carved from black obsidian and embedded deep within the perpetual permafrost of the Northern Wastes. The air crackled with a low, disruptive energy—the signature of the Qi-Disruptor Barrier that surrounded the perimeter.
General Lei had ensured the Garrison was impervious to any conventional Origin King assault. The barrier did not simply block Qi; it instantly introduced elemental chaos into any foreign spiritual energy that came into contact with it, violently destabilizing the attacker's Origin Domain.
Lin Feng and his companions halted two miles from the fortress, concealed within a frozen ravine by a dense layering of Yin Xiu's Shadow Arts. The environment was silent save for the howl of the wind and the faint, menacing hum of the barrier.
"The Qi-Disruptor Barrier is operating at peak efficiency," Xia Qingwu confirmed, using a specialized crystalline scope. "Any attempt to power through will result in a violent reversal of our own Qi. It's a defense against brute force."
"Which is why we won't use brute force," Lin Feng stated, his gaze fixed on the fortress. He turned to Siku, who was nestled in his robes, and Wanying, who stood ready, radiating calm and control.
"Wanying, your Primordial Ice Law must maintain a constant, absolute shield around the Astral Jade Caskets," Lin Feng instructed. "We cannot risk the purity of the Jade being corrupted by the chaotic Qi of the barrier."
Wanying nodded. "I will maintain the Ice Empress: Purity Shield. No external chaos will penetrate."
Lin Feng then looked to Siku, channeling the complex instruction through the Essence of Transcendent Insight. The plan was a risky gamble, relying entirely on the perfect synchronization of the Void Law and Spatial Manipulation.
"We use the Void to create a stable, neutral path through the chaos," Lin Feng explained to the group. "The Void is the absence of Law; the disruptor cannot destabilize what does not possess conventional elemental Qi."
Lin Feng began to channel his most demanding, refined technique: Void Sovereign: Dimensional Thread. He focused his Void Domain not to create a shield, but to weave a single, incredibly fine, invisible thread of pure, neutralized space directly toward the barrier. This thread was the anti-path—a corridor where no elemental Law, neither the chaotic disruptor nor their own, could exist.
The effort was agonizing. Lin Feng felt the barrier's counter-force pushing against his Void Thread, trying to tear his spatial construction apart and infect his core with chaos. One moment of distraction, and the chaotic energy floods my entire Domain.
Lin Feng finally reached the wall of the barrier with his Void Thread. The Thread held firm, but it was too thin to pass through. It was merely the anchor.
Now came the critical step—the spatial bypass.
"Siku, focus on the anchor," Lin Feng projected, his voice strained. "We need to widen the neutral path into a doorway. A brief, stable spatial shunt across the plane of the barrier."
Siku, sensing the absolute concentration required, purred and unleashed his nascent spatial power. Guided by the stable Void Thread, the Infant Chronos Dragon performed a Controlled Spatial Shunt—not moving them, but shifting the Barrier itself around the Void Thread.
"Chronos Shunt: Temporal Aperture!"
The effect was silent, beautiful, and utterly terrifying. Where the Void Thread touched the barrier, the barrier's wall seemed to momentarily ripple and flicker, creating a small, perfectly stable Dimensional Aperture—a doorway just wide enough for one person. It was not a hole in the barrier, but a temporary geometric circumvention of it.
"Go! Yin Xiu, lead! Move quickly before the barrier's self-repair mechanism registers the anomaly!" Lin Feng commanded.
Yin Xiu, true to her nature, flowed instantly into her Shadow Stream form, slipping through the Dimensional Aperture with the Jade Caskets phased into her shadow dimension.
Xia Qingwu followed next, moving with focused speed, her mind already calculating the energy expenditure required to stabilize the aperture if Siku faltered.
Lin Feng and Wanying were last. Wanying passed through, maintaining her Purity Shield with serene focus.
As Lin Feng prepared to follow, the Dimensional Aperture began to flicker violently. The barrier's high-level Origin King Array had registered the impossible geometric bypass and was aggressively fighting back.
Lin Feng felt the chaos of the barrier tear at his Void Thread. He knew he couldn't pull the anchor back without sealing the aperture instantly. He was risking his core for the stability of his companions.
He took a deep breath, clutching Siku, and surged forward, using his last reserve of energy to push himself through the shrinking, unstable doorway.
CRACK!
The Dimensional Aperture slammed shut the instant Lin Feng's heel cleared the space. The backlash was immense. The residual chaotic Qi of the barrier violently slammed into Lin Feng's back. He staggered, narrowly maintaining the Void Sovereign Nexus around Siku.
They were inside the Garrison walls, concealed, but exposed. The air inside the fortress was now stable, but the internal patrols were everywhere.
"Success," Lin Feng whispered, wiping the blood from his lip, a fierce sense of triumph overriding the pain. "We are inside. Now, Yin Xiu, the path to the Heart of Black Frost."