Yun Che’s gaze was as cold as ice as he spoke slowly,

  “I am cultivating here and have no intention of making enemies. If you retreat now and do not disturb me in the future, today’s matter can end here.”

  A look of confusion crossed the blue-skinned creature’s face. It opened its mouth and emitted a series of shrill, piercing sounds with strange, ancient syllables.

  Yun Che frowned slightly—there was no shared language.

  Without revealing any intent, he shifted a few steps to the side, backing against a fractured ice-crystal pillar. The creature immediately locked its gaze onto him, alert.

  Yun Che raised two fingers and rapidly traced lines across the pillar’s icy surface.

  The creature froze for a moment, then stared intently at Yun Che’s fingertips. Gradually, realization dawned on its face.

  With swift movements, Yun Che sketched a simplified outline of the ruins on the ice. He then looked up at the creature and slashed a decisive line down the center of the drawing, splitting it into left and right halves.

  He pointed at the creature, placing his finger on the right side. Then he pointed at himself, placing his finger on the left.

  Finally, his finger slowly dragged from right to left, carving a deep groove into the ice. At the same time, he lifted his gaze to meet the creature’s eyes—killing intent blazing cold and sharp.

  The meaning was unmistakable:

  This line is the boundary. Cross it, and you die.

  Understanding flashed across the creature’s face. It hesitantly touched the scar on its chest—the burn left by the Profound Yang talisman had healed, but the pain lingered. It cast a wary glance at the pitch-black sword sheath and the dark-red flying sword hovering before Yun Che, then opened its mouth again, uttering another string of rapid, strange sounds.

  Yun Che’s brows knit tighter.

  Seeing his confusion, the creature grew agitated. It flailed its arms for a while, then suddenly slapped its forehead and leapt toward another ice pillar nearby, throwing a punch!

  The instant the fist moved, all the runes across its body flared to life!

  “Boom—!!”

  The ice pillar exploded, shards scattering everywhere!

  The creature picked up several large chunks of ice, a nostalgic look crossing its face. It arranged them on the ground in a crude circle, then looked up at Yun Che with hopeful eyes, letting out several excited cries.

  Yun Che’s eyebrows lifted slightly. He reached out with an empty grasp—

  The ice fragments floated up, rearranging themselves according to the formation pattern of the Small Ice Fog Formation recorded in Introductory Ice Rune Restrictions. With a seal and a tap of his finger, frost mist rose and enveloped the ice array.

  “Is this what you mean?” Yun Che asked calmly, watching the creature.

  The creature immediately burst into excited movements, practically dancing with joy. It let out a deep roar as all its runes lit up again, then slammed both palms into the ground!

  “Rumble—rumble—rumble—”

  The ground beneath the Small Ice Fog Formation began to rise! Along with the frost mist and the ice fragments forming the array, it was forcibly lifted up like a miniature iceberg!

  Supporting the “ice mountain” with one arm, the creature nodded at Yun Che and turned to leave. After taking a few steps, it stopped, turned back, and looked deeply at Yun Che. Letting out a loud roar, it raised the “mountain” with one hand while the other formed several complex gestures—then it accelerated and vanished into the depths of the ruins.

  Yun Che watched it go, his gaze deep and contemplative. It wasn’t that he hadn’t considered killing it—but those nine scorched talismans were far too strange. Unless absolutely necessary, a life-and-death struggle was not worth the risk. Communication had been the wiser choice.

  Just as he was thinking—

  His expression suddenly changed!

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The Blood Fiend Sword hummed as it leapt from its sheath, pointing coldly into the distance—the creature had returned!

  “You seek death,” Yun Che said, his voice colder than frozen steel.

  The creature hurriedly stopped. Holding a spherical object in both hands, it waved frantically, its face full of anxious explanation. Seeing Yun Che’s gaze remain icy, it quickly tossed the object over.

  The throw was gentle. The sphere rolled to a stop several zhang in front of Yun Che.

  After throwing it, the creature forced a stiff but unmistakably “friendly” grin, then turned and disappeared once more into the frost mist.

  By then, dawn was breaking.

  Yun Che stared cautiously in the direction it vanished for a long while before slowly stepping forward to examine the object.

  It was an ice-blue bead about the size of a pigeon’s egg, coated in dust. Its surface was riddled with fine cracks, with several obvious chips along the edges—it looked badly damaged.

  Picking up a shard of ice, Yun Che gently nudged the bead. As it rolled, an extremely faint, almost imperceptible fluctuation of spiritual energy leaked out.

  “A fragment of a magical artifact?” he murmured, surprised.

  He grasped it from afar, drawing it closer, and examined it carefully. After a long moment, resolve flashed in his eyes. He reached out and held it.

  Spiritual energy surged in!

  “Hiss—”

  A wisp of milky-white smoke rose from the bead, rapidly condensing in the air into the illusory figure of an elderly man clad in moon-white Daoist robes!

  The old man had crane-white hair and a youthful face, eyes sharp as lightning. An imposing, mountain-like aura radiated from him. He casually swept his gaze over Yun Che, a profound smile curling at his lips.

  “Young friend, would you dare to discuss the Dao with this old man?”

  Yun Che stiffened slightly and retreated half a step, carefully sensing the illusion—its aura was roughly at early Foundation Establishment.

  His heart stirred. He increased the flow of spiritual energy.

  The old man’s presence surged instantly! His hair and beard fluttered without wind, robes billowing as pressure rose to mid-stage Foundation Establishment. He clasped his hands behind his back, eyes blazing with battle intent.

  “You, do you have the courage to face this old man in battle?”

  Yun Che’s eyes gleamed strangely as he once more injected energy.

  Light exploded around the illusion. Its aura soared skyward, gestures carrying faint wind and thunder. The pressure rose in layers, reaching a realm so overwhelming that even Yun Che felt his heart tremble.

  The old man slowly exhaled, assuming the posture of a peerless expert gazing down upon the world, lonely as falling snow.

  “Below the Golden Core, all are ants. You… are not worthy to discuss the Dao with this old man.”

  As the words faded, Yun Che withdrew his spiritual energy.

  The illusion instantly collapsed, dispersing into white smoke that shrank back into the bead.

  Crack.

  Another fracture appeared on the bead’s surface.

  Yun Che stood there in silence, holding the ice-blue bead.

  This was an illusion-type artifact—designed purely to bluff.

  The manifested elder was vivid in form and spirit, his bearing and pressure convincing enough to deceive most cultivators. Especially that final line—“Below Core Formation, all are ants”—paired with the aura of lonely invincibility, it could frighten off nearly any Foundation Establishment cultivator.

  Even better, the illusion’s “strength” scaled with the amount of spiritual energy infused—essentially a tailor-made artifact for intimidation.

  “That blue-skinned creature… is rather interesting,” Yun Che said with a faint smile as he put the bead away.

  “It took the Ice Fog Formation and paid with this in exchange. It clearly doesn’t understand artifact control—and this ice ruin likely hides other treasures.”

  At this moment, the once-silent ice ruins had transformed in his eyes into a mysterious trove of opportunity.

  “Healing light pillars, illusion artifacts, bizarre creatures… just how many secrets does this place still hide?”

  With daylight fully breaking, Yun Che reset the outer formations, swallowed a drop of cold dew, and closed his eyes to cultivate.

  Two months passed in the blink of an eye.

  On this day, Yun Che sat cross-legged within the ice hall. The Nine Nether dark force within his body had reached saturation. The azure vortex in his dantian was dense like liquid mercury, rotating slowly and emitting bone-piercing cold.

  “It’s time… the first aperture breakthrough, the condensation of the first Nine Nether Cold Core!”

  His gaze was steady. He had long since mastered the first three layers of The Nine Nether Cold Prison Art. The methods, dangers, and deadly bottlenecks of the three major yin apertures—dantian, qi sea, and ancestral aperture—were etched clearly in his mind.

  The essence of this art lay in one phrase:

  “Break, then rebuild. Die at the extreme, and be reborn.”

  Each Cold Core required its corresponding aperture to undergo a brutal cycle of opening → shattering → reopening. Every destruction and rebirth was an extreme tempering of both body and soul.

  Yun Che calmed his breath and guided the dantian vortex to initiate the first aperture breakthrough!

  The vortex’s rotation speed skyrocketed!

  Agonizing pain like icy blades carving flesh exploded from his lower abdomen. Beads of sweat instantly poured from his forehead, soaking his robes.

  The vortex transformed into a deep-blue whirlpool, cold energy surging violently. From the outside, his abdomen had already turned bluish-black as frost spread rapidly.

  Gritting his teeth, Yun Che endured pain that felt as though his body were being torn apart. The vortex spun faster and faster—until, at the very center of the dantian, an almost imperceptible nether aperture silently opened!

  In that instant, the vortex rushed into it like rivers returning to the sea! Even more shockingly, the previously calm Foundation Establishment ice-type spiritual energy within his body suddenly lost control, surging out from his limbs and organs to pour into the aperture as well!

  Within the nether aperture, a drastic transformation began—

  Nine Nether dark force and ice spiritual energy clashed like opposing armies, colliding, devouring, and fusing… until they condensed into an even purer, more frigid, nether-tinged power:

  True Nine Nether Cold Force, slowly spiraling within.

  2?? A sentient lifeform born from the ice ruins themselves

  3?? A former cultivator mutated and preserved by Nine Nether power

  Illusion Orb become Yun Che’s key trump card for intimidating stronger foes—

  or does it still conceal an even deeper secret?