The wind and snow still raged as Chen Wuya trudged forward through the snow beneath his feet. Every step was heavy, but he did not stop. The wound on his knee was still seeping blood, numbed by the icy wind, yet he knew he could not fall now.
Ahead was the Snow Demon Queen's retreating figure. She was no longer gliding through the air, but walking solidly upon the snow, leaving behind a clear trail of footprints. That change made Chen Wuya understand that her kneeling just now had not been an act. She had truly wavered.
His right hand still rested on his sword hilt, though his grip had loosened somewhat. The short sword could neither be sheathed nor drawn. This was not the time for a fight to the death, but the time to negotiate terms.
"What do you want, bringing me here?" the woman suddenly asked. Her voice was lower than before, though it remained cold.
Chen Wuya did not answer immediately. He drew a jade pendant from his robes and held it up amid the wind and snow. The pendant was shaped like a dragon, its surface glimmering with faint golden light, especially eye-catching against the vast white snow.
"A token from the South Sea Dragon God," he said. "Is it enough to trade for a Mystic Ice Lotus?"
The woman halted and turned around. Her fox-fur collar concealed half her face, revealing only a pair of deep blue eyes. Those eyes fixed upon the jade pendant, and her pupils suddenly contracted.
"You say this was... bestowed by the Dragon God?"
"It gave it to me." Chen Wuya tightened his grip on the pendant. "That day, in an undersea rift, it asked whether I dared wager my life on a path to survival. I took the