Northern Exit of Frost Severance Valley.

  Yun Che stood at the base of the cliff, looking up at the leaden sky. A faint golden light curtain arched a thousand zhang above the valley mouth like an inverted glass bowl, sealing Frost Severance Valley away from the outside world.

  That was the Northern Nether Domain Suppression Seal—laid three thousand years ago by a Divine Transformation–stage formation master from a fourth-level cultivation nation.

  The formation did not bar mortals.

  It did not bar Qi Condensation or Foundation Establishment.

  But any Golden Core or higher who attempted to pass through would suffer the formation’s backlash—serious injury at best, death at worst.

  Teng Huayuan could not enter.

  That was why he slaughtered the entire Yun clan, imprisoned a hundred souls within the Soul-Locking Banner, and branded Yun Che’s sea of consciousness.

  If he could not come in—

  He would force Yun Che to go out.

  Yun Che looked at the pale golden curtain, eyes like stagnant water.

  He understood the hierarchy of the cultivation world.

  A first-level nation required Foundation Establishment cultivators.

  Second-level required Golden Core.

  Third-level required Nascent Soul.

  Fourth-level required Divine Transformation.

  Fifth-level required Infant Transformation.

  Each level was a chasm across heaven.

  The State of Zhao had stood for three thousand years. It had produced twelve Nascent Soul cultivators—but not one had ever stepped into Divine Transformation. Thus it remained a third-level nation, insignificant among the 3,600 members of the Northern Nether Alliance.

  Teng Huayuan was one of those twelve.

  Ancestor of the Teng clan. Early Nascent Soul. Three hundred years ago, he rose to fame after slaying the Nether beast “Ice Chi” outside the Profound Nether Passage.

  A veteran powerhouse of Zhao.

  The pillar of the Teng clan.

  The executioner of the Yun clan.

  Yun Che had no mind to dwell on any of this.

  He knew only that Teng Huayuan waited outside the valley.

  He knew only that the black banner held his father, mother, uncles, cousins—

  And a hundred faces he had not had time to remember.

  He had to go.

  Even if it meant death.

  A long-silent sigh echoed within his sea of consciousness.

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  “…Haa.”

  Yun Che paused slightly.

  “When did you wake?”

  Not how are you.

  Not why are you awake.

  Just a statement.

  Li Han was silent for a moment.

  “Three days ago.”

  The night Yun Che slaughtered twenty-seven cultivators and his Extremity fully erupted.

  “I heard Teng Huayuan’s message,” Li Han said, voice weaker than before but steady. “The Soul-Locking Banner is a Nascent Soul–grade Nether artifact. But if the souls have not scattered, there remains a thread of hope.”

  He softened his voice.

  “When I recover my cultivation… I will have a way to restore them.”

  Yun Che said nothing.

  He looked down at his hands. These hands had killed twenty-seven people three days ago. Now they rested calmly on his sword sheath, pale, steady.

  After a long while—

  “…Mm.”

  Only that.

  Li Han understood. Yun Che did not need comfort.

  He needed direction.

  “My remaining Nascent Soul essence can support at most three spatial shifts,” Li Han said gravely.

  “Three times.”

  “Use them carefully.”

  Yun Che nodded.

  “And one more thing,” Li Han continued. “Enter the Nether Battlefield.”

  The Nether Battlefield.

  Once every hundred years, under the Northern Nether Alliance, third-level cultivation nations competed for “cleansing rights.” Through the Profound Nether Passage, they entered a fragment of the ancient Nether Domain to clear remnants and search for lost materials.

  They called it cleansing.

  It was slaughter.

  Nascent Soul and above were forbidden to enter—an iron rule set by a sixth-level cultivation nation.

  But inside, there existed something nearly impossible to find elsewhere:

  Nether Vein Origin Crystals.

  The key to Li Han’s recovery.

  “With your current Extremity, within three years you may fight early Nascent Soul,” Li Han said. “But to stand above Teng Huayuan—above the Teng clan—above the retaliation of the entire Zhao cultivation world—you need greater strength.”

  “Enter the Nether Battlefield. There lies the Nether Vein Origin Crystal.”

  “When I recover to mid-Nascent Soul—”

  “I will kill our way back with you.”

  Silence.

  Yun Che did not ask what if you fail.

  He did not ask what if I die inside.

  He did not ask how do I enter with Teng Huayuan waiting outside.

  Three breaths.

  “How.”

  Just that.

  Li Han sank back into slumber.

  Yun Che stood alone beneath the golden seal.

  Outside the valley, Teng Huayuan waited.

  Inside, sect disciples fought over the Cold Abyss Token—the sole key to the Nether Battlefield.

  He could not exit—the moment he did, he would die.

  He could not remain—if he stayed, he would wait fifty years for the next transfer.

  Fifty years.

  The faces on that black banner did not have fifty years.

  Yun Che closed his eyes.

  Within his sea of consciousness, the three spatial shift imprints hovered like three Azure cold stars.

  Three chances.

  One—to seize a Cold Abyss Token.

  One—to escape Teng Huayuan.

  One—for whatever the future demanded.

  He opened his eyes.

  And walked back north into the valley.

  Elsewhere, within a concealed cavern.

  Du Ling, leader of the Nine Nether Ruins, sat cross-legged before a Cold Abyss Token. Of the twenty-plus puppet corpses Yun Che had destroyed, only two late Foundation Establishment cultivators remained beside him.

  “Senior Brother Du, Yun Che has completely lost control. If we let him continue slaughtering, the Nine Nether Ruins will become the target of all,” one whispered.

  Du Ling sneered. “Lost control? You think he has days left?”

  He glanced at the token.

  “The Teng ancestor personally promised: whoever takes Yun Che’s head may select three Nascent Soul–grade treasures from the Teng vault.”

  “That head—belongs to me.”

  He tapped the token.

  “Transmit to all surviving disciples: abandon token competition. Hunt Yun Che.”

  “Alive—bring him.”

  “Dead—bring the corpse.”

  Northern Frostwood.

  Yun Che paused.

  He felt it.

  Divine senses probing from multiple directions.

  Not one.

  Not two.

  More than ten.

  He did not turn.

  He simply tightened his grip on the sword hilt.

  (Teng Huayuan blocks the valley exit. Li Han awakens, leaving three spatial shifts. The Cold Abyss Token is the key to the Nether Battlefield; the Nether Vein Origin Crystal is Li Han’s hope of recovery. The Nine Nether Ruins turns against Yun Che. The Teng clan offers a bounty.)

  (Before him: a Nascent Soul waiting.)

  (Behind him: sectmates hunting.)

  (How does he break this deadlock?)

  This chapter sets the deadlock.

  Nascent Soul ahead. Hunters behind. A sealed valley between.

  would you seize the Cold Abyss Token first, or lure Teng Huayuan into a trap?

  How would you spend them?

  or carve a path through his own sect first?