The instant the blue light surged, it felt as though Chen Wuya's hand had been viciously pierced by something. He instinctively jerked it back, but the crystal token had already stuck to his palm. The red mark gave a violent throb and raced up his arm along his veins.
The ground began to shake.
Not the faint tremor brought by wind and snow, but a violent quake from the depths of the far north, as though some colossal beast were turning beneath the ice. Fine cracks split open in the snow beneath their feet, and beams of blue light erupted from them, shooting straight into the sky.
"System!" Chen Wuya growled.
[Warning! The spacetime node has activated ahead of schedule due to high-dimensional energy resonance. Passage opening countdown: ten minutes.]
Mo Feng's expression changed. He immediately pulled out the star-chart compass. After the needle spun wildly several times, it stopped, and a line appeared on the screen: Coordinates unchanged. Structure unstable. Estimated duration: less than ten minutes.
"There's no time to prepare." Bai Zhi rose to her feet, one hand pressing against her abdomen while the other drew her flexible sword.
Mo Feng put away the compass. "We need to go now."
The three of them rushed toward the edge of the camp. The three Frostspine Beasts gifted by the snow demons stood amid the blizzard, their four hooves treading over thin frost. Sensing the disturbance, they pawed uneasily at the ground.
Chen Wuya swung himself onto a beast's back. The moment he settled in, a thunderous crash sounded overhead. A massive icicle broke loose from above and smashed into the spot where they had just been standing, sending shards of ice flying everywhere.
"Go!" he shouted, clamping his legs around the beast's belly.
The Frostspine Beast let