The wind had just died down when a faint pale-blue glow spread across the snow outside the tent. Chen Wuya was still seated by the fire, the red mark on his palm continuing to creep upward, as though something were burrowing from beneath his skin into his arm. He neither moved nor made a sound, merely slowly tucked his left hand into his sleeve and suppressed that surge of heat.
Bai Zhi leaned against the ice wall. Her eyes had barely closed before opening again. She glanced at him. "What happened to your hand?"
"Nothing," he said. "Just a reaction from circulating qi earlier. It'll fade soon."
Mo Feng was crouched at the tent entrance, inspecting the Clockwork Spider. Hearing that, he looked up. "Don't hide it. The energy in this place isn't right. Even snow demons don't dare walk barefoot on the ground, yet you used Misaligned Force to force open your Ren Meridian just now. You've already touched the origin of extreme cold."
Chen Wuya smiled. "That's exactly why I didn't stop it."
Before his words had faded, an extremely faint sound came from outside, like something stepping hard enough to crack the ice. All three tensed at once. Mo Feng swiftly put away his tools, while Bai Zhi pushed herself to her feet, one hand resting on her sword hilt.
A silver-white figure emerged from the snowstorm.
She did not walk quickly. With every step she took, a ring of frost patterns formed around her feet, while six-petaled ice crystals floated above her head, slowly revolving. Her face was cold as a frozen lake, silver hair spilling to her waist. A dim blue mark glimmered faintly between her brows with each breath.
"The Snow Demon Queen," Mo Feng said in a low voice.
Chen Wuya rose to