The sound of crushed stones underfoot rang with exceptional clarity through the empty ruins.
Chen Wuya immediately raised his hand, pressing his palm against the metal shard he had just picked up. Misaligned Force shot from his fingertips into the iron fragment, and the system trembled.
[Original imprint detected. Source: Ancient Battlefield Guard Token.]
Before he could think further, a frigid current surged from behind the rock formation ahead, as though something were sucking all the heat from the surroundings.
"Don't move," he said softly. "Something's wrong up ahead."
Bai Zhi stopped at once, her fingers settling on her sword hilt. Mo Feng swiftly unfolded his mechanism instrument. A ripple flashed across its screen, pointing deep into the rock wall to their right. "The energy source is over there. Its density is rising—it wasn't naturally formed."
The three stood still, holding their breath. The air grew viscous, and even each breath carried the sensation of ice chips.
Then a black shadow sprang from a crack in the rock wall, kicking up a ring of frost as it landed. The man wore a dark-red robe, twisted runes carved across his face. In his right hand, he gripped a pitch-black short blade wreathed in ghostly blue mist.
"Just the likes of you?" he sneered, his voice scraping like sand against stone. "And you dare approach the sacred artifact?"
Chen Wuya did not answer. Misaligned Force was already circulating quietly through his meridians. A system prompt appeared:
[High-density extreme-cold demonic qi detected. Recommendation: reverse circulation of Canglang Art.]
Without betraying anything, he adjusted his breathing rhythm. The Canglang Art was originally a frigid technique, its true qi traveling along cold meridian routes. Yet he had memorized its formula backward, reversing his breath and sending his force in the opposite