The air in the Special Operations Ninth Division safe house was cold, as if the harsh smell of gunpowder from Qin Bing's departure still lingered.
Lin Xiao sat back in the medical chair, unconsciously rolling his fingertips together. In his mind, he repeatedly replayed the fleeting, ghostly blue glow on Qin Bing's wristwatch, as well as the extremely faint resemblance between it and the residual fluctuations of the Shadow Alliance's mark detected by the modifier.
The glow of Source Energy Points: +0.12 steadily flickered deep in his consciousness, giving him a little confidence, yet it could not dispel the layer of gloom that had suddenly thickened in his heart.
Special Operations Ninth Division... Qin Bing... Shadow Alliance... Was there some unknown connection between the three?
The theft of the Body Tempering Fluid was only the beginning, or a sign of an even greater whirlpool?
Knock, knock, knock.
The knocking sounded again, but its rhythm was completely different from Qin Bing's cold, formulaic tapping.
It was light and brisk, carrying a cautious probe, as well as a hint of impatience that could not be concealed.
Lin Xiao's brows lifted slightly. He swiftly reined in every outward emotion, and his face resumed the fatigue of someone newly recovered from severe injuries, along with an almost imperceptible roguish air. "Come in."
The door opened a crack, and Fatty Wang's shiny, oily head poked inside. His small eyes rapidly swept around the room. Only after confirming that Lin Xiao was alone did he squeeze in like a slippery eel and shut the door behind him.
"Brother Xiao! Brother Xiao!" Fatty Wang darted over to Lin Xiao in a few strides. The fat on his face bunched together from excitement and nervousness as he lowered his voice, his spittle almost spraying onto Lin Xiao's face. "Su... Goddess Su! A note! Some little girl just slipped it to me all sneakily. She specifically told me to give it to you!"
He cautiously pulled a neatly folded, plain white note from his trouser pocket. It carried a faint, chilly fragrance of wintersweet.
Lin Xiao took the note. It felt cool and smooth in his hand.
He unfolded it. There was only one line of graceful yet cold handwriting, unmistakably Su Qingxue's: "West City, rooftop of the abandoned meteorological observation water tower. Before sunset. Urgent."
The writing seemed to pierce through the paper. The single word "urgent" especially carried a trace of anxiety that was difficult to conceal.
Lin Xiao's gaze narrowed slightly.
Su Qingxue had taken the initiative to arrange a meeting? And in such a remote place?
Using such a secretive method?
It seemed the trouble she had encountered was no small matter.
"Where's the messenger?" Lin Xiao crushed the note. A faint thread of True Qi left his fingertips, and the scraps instantly turned into fine powder that drifted down with a rustle.
"She ran off! That little girl was slippery as hell. She gave it to me and vanished. From her school uniform, she looked like one of the Su family's servants." Fatty Wang rubbed his hands together, his little eyes shining. "Brother Xiao, Goddess Su needs your help, huh? Heh heh, what an opportunity!"
Lin Xiao glanced at him without bothering with his gossip and asked, "Anything happening around Wild Dog Mine? I told you to keep an eye on it."
At the mention of business, Fatty Wang immediately sobered and lowered his voice. "There is! Brother Xiao, you really are a brilliant strategist! The mine has indeed been unsettled these past two days! Skinny Monkey saw people from the Blood Wolf Gang sneaking around nearby, apparently scouting the place! And... there seems to be another group. They're even more secretive, and their methods are even more... sinister. Skinny Monkey nearly got discovered! He says those people carry the same gloomy, cold aura as the Shadow Alliance!"
The Blood Wolf Gang... the Shadow Alliance...
A chill entered Lin Xiao's eyes. As expected, they had their sights on it!
The mining rights he had just obtained were a piece of juicy meat giving off an irresistible scent.
"Got it. Keep watching. Tell Skinny Monkey to stay sharp and not get too close. Staying alive comes first." Lin Xiao spoke in a deep voice. "Also, get ready. Come out with me later."
"Where? Brother Xiao, your injuries haven't fully healed..."
Fatty Wang looked worried.
"I'm going to collect some interest." Lin Xiao stood up and stretched his muscles and bones. The True Qi of the Surging Waves Art flowed smoothly through his body, and the power of a peak Martial Disciple filled him from head to toe. The wound behind his right shoulder only tingled faintly and was no longer a problem.
"And while I'm at it, I'll see what kind of 'urgent matter' Miss Su has encountered."
At the edge of West City's industrial district, an abandoned meteorological observation water tower stood alone amid the weeds.
Under the blood-red sunset, its rusted steel framework resembled the skeleton of a giant beast, casting long, twisted shadows.
Lin Xiao climbed silently and swiftly up the creaking, rust-covered iron ladder on the outside.
The physical abilities of a peak Martial Disciple made his movements light and powerful.
When he pushed open the rooftop's iron door, which had long since lost its latch, the last strand of golden sunlight shone through the enormous, dust-covered observation windows and spilled across the empty platform inside the water tower.
Su Qingxue stood with her back to the entrance before the enormous floor-to-ceiling window.
The sunset painted the outline of her cold, peerless profile with a warm golden edge, while her black hair drifted gently in the breeze.
She wore a simple white training outfit, her figure straight as a green pine in the snow. Yet Lin Xiao keenly noticed that the knuckles of her tightly clenched hands had gone faintly white, while her shoulders held a barely perceptible tension.
The air was filled with the smells of rust and dust, along with the unique, crisp fragrance on her body, cold as wintersweet.
Hearing movement behind her, Su Qingxue slowly turned around.
A layer of icy frost covered that beautiful face, one capable of making every flower pale by comparison.
Her willow brows were slightly furrowed. Her clear, cold eyes no longer held their usual aloofness. In its place was deep worry, suppressed anger, and a trace of helplessness born from being driven into a dead end.
Her gaze fell on Lin Xiao. When she saw his visibly improved complexion and steady aura, a trace of extremely faint surprise flashed through her eyes before being covered by even deeper worry.
"You came." Su Qingxue's voice was as cold as ever, but it carried more hoarseness and weariness than usual.
"Since Classmate Su summoned me, how could I not come?" Lin Xiao walked to the middle of the platform, keeping several steps between them. A habitual, slightly roguish smile hung on his face, but his eyes calmly observed her. "Judging from your appearance, Classmate Su, it seems you've run into a bit of trouble?"
Su Qingxue did not answer immediately. She drew in a deep breath as if calming the turmoil in her heart.
The afterglow of the sunset danced across her long eyelashes, casting small shadows.
"The family's internal assessment has been moved up." She finally spoke. Her voice was like ice beads falling onto a jade plate, yet it carried heavy weight. "It's next week."
Lin Xiao's brows lifted slightly.
As an ancient martial family, the Su family's internal assessment was crucial in determining the young disciples' status and the distribution of resources.
Moved up? That alone was unusual.
"And," Su Qingxue continued, her voice turning several degrees colder as suppressed anger entered it, "the format has changed too. It's no longer simply martial demonstrations and sparring. Instead... it will be a real combat hunt! The location will be the outskirts of Cold Mist Valley, which is controlled by the family!"
Cold Mist Valley? Lin Xiao's heart stirred.
He had heard Fatty Wang mention the place. It was a dangerous valley in the outskirts of the city, shrouded year-round in white mist containing a faint cold poison. Exotic beasts ran rampant inside, and danger lurked everywhere.
Holding the assessment there would sharply increase the danger!
"This was pushed by Su Zhenshan and his son!"
Su Qingxue's voice carried undisguised hatred. "They used the excuse that 'with the Spiritual Tide reviving, we should temper our blades through real combat' to deceive some of the clan elders! Their purpose is obvious—they want to use the exotic beasts and complicated terrain in the valley to eliminate me, or at least leave me seriously injured and unable to threaten Su Hao's qualification to inherit the Main Branch!"
She paused, then looked sharply at Lin Xiao. "They know I broke through to Martial Artist, and that my Jade Balance Hidden Meridian has been opened. They know my potential is enormous. So they can't wait any longer! That good-for-nothing Su Hao is merely a peak One-Star Martial Artist piled up with pills. He can't withstand a real combat test! They're afraid!"
Lin Xiao listened quietly. The roguish smile on his face faded, and his gaze deepened.
The infighting within an ancient family was indeed more sinister and lethal than gang warfare—killing without spilling blood.
"So what do you need me to do?" Lin Xiao asked directly.
Su Qingxue had sought him out so urgently for more than simply venting her grievances.
Su Qingxue pressed her lips together. An extremely complicated struggle flashed across her cold face.
Asking this lecherous, roguish man whom she had once looked down on for help was humiliating in itself.
But circumstances overruled pride.
After hesitating for a moment, she finally took a scroll from an extremely hidden pocket inside her training outfit. It was dark in color and cold to the touch, as if made from the hide of some ancient beast.
The edges of the scroll were already worn. It gave off a faint chill carrying the weight of time.
"This is the original cultivation diagram for one of the Su family's core techniques, the Cold Python Art." Su Qingxue lowered her voice to a near whisper, resolve in her tone. "Su Hao mainly cultivates this technique!"
Lin Xiao's gaze instantly sharpened like a blade.
The original copy of one of the Su family's core techniques!
This was the foundation that every ancient family regarded as dearly as its life and never passed on to outsiders!
Su Qingxue had actually stolen it?
The risk was far too great!
If she were exposed, she would have nowhere left to stand in the Su family!
"You want me to modify it?" Lin Xiao's voice also lowered, carrying a trace of gravity.
Modifying an ancient family's core technique? That was a hundred times more dangerous than modifying Liu Meng's old injury!
If the Su family noticed, it would bring a catastrophic disaster ending only with death.
"Not the technique itself!"
Su Qingxue immediately shook her head. A ruthless resolve flashed in her eyes. "Su Hao has cultivated the Cold Python Art for years and already mastered its fundamentals. Forcibly modifying the technique would cause too much commotion and inevitably alert the clan elders. Besides, it might not produce immediate results."
She took a step forward and held the beast-hide scroll out to Lin Xiao, her cold eyes fixed on him. "I want you to find the flaw! The flaw in Su Hao's personal cultivation route, one that belongs only to him! Just like... just like what you did to Liu Meng!"
Her voice carried a trace of desperate madness. "The True Qi of the Cold Python Art is sinister and chilling. When circulating it, it exerts tremendous pressure on the hidden acupoints around Quchi and Tian Zong. Su Hao was too eager for quick success in his early years and had an unstable foundation. He once forcefully attempted a breakthrough, leaving a hidden injury near the Tian Zong acupoint. Although his father forcibly suppressed it with medicine, it will ache faintly whenever he circulates his True Qi at full strength or is exposed to intense cold! I want you to find that point! Find the node that will make his True Qi reverse, cause the hidden injury to erupt, and make him instantly lose his combat strength! Then modify it! Turn it into a timed bomb buried inside his body! Detonate it at the critical moment of the Cold Mist Valley assessment!"
Lin Xiao looked at the beast-hide scroll radiating ancient cold and then at Su Qingxue's eyes, which burned with icy fire.
This woman was usually as cold as ice, but when she turned ruthless, she was like an unparalleled vicious weapon drawn from its sheath, her edge fully exposed!
The risk was enormous. But so was the reward...
It would not only solve Su Qingxue's immediate crisis and strengthen his relationship as her "ally," but also allow him to study the secrets of the Su family's core technique. He might even be able to analyze a higher-quality method of energy circulation and convert it into Source Energy Points!
Besides... Lin Xiao's gaze swept over Su Qingxue's chest, which rose and fell slightly from excitement and tension.
This trust itself was a bargaining chip.
"What's the payment?" Lin Xiao did not agree immediately. His voice remained calm and emotionless. "Modifying the Su family's core technique and peering into Su Hao's cultivation weakness is a deal where I'm risking my head. Classmate Su, the Jade Marrow Muscle Growth Powder from last time won't be enough to cover the price this time."
Su Qingxue seemed to have prepared for this. She drew in a deep breath, forcing down the humiliation brought by his bargaining, and said coldly, "As long as you can do it and guarantee that no one will detect any trace, after the Cold Mist Valley assessment, regardless of the outcome, I'll ensure you receive three months of stable mining proceeds from the Wild Dog Mine share. In addition..."
She paused, apparently making a tremendous decision, and lowered her voice further. "I'll tell you a secret about the Su family's Jade Balance Hidden Meridian. This secret may be related to the Spiritual Tide, and to the recovery of your 'special ability.'"
The Jade Balance Hidden Meridian! The Spiritual Tide!
Lin Xiao's heart jolted.
He had forcibly opened Su Qingxue's Jade Balance Hidden Meridian, allowing her to break through to Martial Artist, but the source and nature of that energy had always been a mystery in his heart.
Su Qingxue actually knew a secret related to it?
And it was connected to the Spiritual Tide and his recovery?
That bargaining chip was heavy enough!
A sharp glint flashed through Lin Xiao's eyes, and the corners of his lips slowly curved into a meaningful smile.
He reached out and took the cold, heavy beast-hide scroll.
"Deal."
The sunset's final afterglow sank completely below the horizon, and darkness filled the abandoned water tower.
Only the scattered lights of the distant city shone through the dust-covered observation windows, casting faint patches of light.
Lin Xiao sat cross-legged on the ground and slowly unfurled the ancient Cold Python Art diagram across his knees.
A denser chill mixed with the aura of passing years rushed toward him.
The diagram had been drawn with a special dark-golden pigment. Its intricate, profound lines outlined the complex routes and key nodes of True Qi circulation. Beside them were dense annotations written in archaic script.
Target locked: Technique diagram "Cold Python Art" (Su family core inheritance · Yellow Rank, Premium Grade) Status: 98% complete, contains faint martial intent of the cold attribute... Deep analysis initiated... (Source Energy Points required: 0.1!)... Continue?
0.1 points! That was exactly all his surplus!
Lin Xiao did not hesitate. "Analyze!"
Command received! Source Energy Points deducted: 0.1! Source Energy Points: +0.12 - 0.1 = +0.02! Analyzing... (The ghostly blue light screen circulates, its core pulsing steadily)... Extracting diagram information... Constructing energy circulation model... Deducting key nodes...
A massive stream of cold, profound information instantly surged into Lin Xiao's mind!
It was the complete route of True Qi circulation for the Cold Python Art!
It was like a cold, crafty ice python waiting for its chance, winding through his consciousness!
Every turn, every point where power was stored, and every possible point of explosive force appeared with perfect clarity!
Lin Xiao focused his entire mind. His will became the most precise probe. Combining it with the information Su Qingxue had provided about Su Hao's hidden injury at the Tian Zong acupoint, he began frantically searching and deducing through the meridian network of that "cold python"!
Time passed second by second.
The rooftop of the water tower was silent. Only Lin Xiao's long, faint breaths and Su Qingxue's slightly tense gaze disturbed the quiet.
Suddenly!
Lin Xiao's tightly closed eyes flew open!
A ghostly blue light flashed deep within them and vanished!
His left index finger shot out like lightning, landing precisely on an apparently ordinary, tiny True Qi branch on the beast-hide diagram that connected Jian Jing and Tian Zong!
A nearly imperceptible strand of cold, condensed True Qi from the Surging Waves Art curled around his fingertip!
"Found it!"
Lin Xiao's voice carried a trace of fatigue, yet it was filled with certainty. "To achieve success quickly, Su Hao forcefully stores power at the Jian Jing acupoint while circulating his True Qi. This causes the force striking the Tian Zong acupoint to deviate 3.7 degrees from the normal route! That tiny deviation constantly stimulates the congested point of his old injury! Medicine suppresses it under normal circumstances, so it causes no trouble. But at the instant he fully activates the seventh form of the Cold Python Art, 'Cold Python Flicks Its Tongue,' if we enlarge this deviation by another five degrees—"
The strand of True Qi at his fingertip was like the most precise carving knife. It brushed across the tiny branch on the beast-hide diagram as lightly as if wiping away dust, leaving behind a mark carrying a strange fluctuation that was almost impossible to see with the naked eye.
Buzz!
The place touched by Lin Xiao's fingertip flickered extremely faintly, then returned to normal.
There was not even the slightest change in the ink.
Parameter modification complete! Target: Su Hao's personal cultivation route node (Jian Jing–Tian Zong branch deviation angle +5 degrees)... Modification trace: none (microscopic disturbance at the energy level)... Activation condition: when target fully executes the seventh form of the Cold Python Art... Estimated effect: instantly detonates the old injury's congestion at Tian Zong, reverses True Qi, causes severe meridian pain, and removes combat ability for 3–5 seconds... Source Energy Points required: 0.01! Source Energy Points: +0.02 - 0.01 = +0.01!
"Done." Lin Xiao withdrew his finger and let out a long breath. His face was slightly pale.
Continuous deep analysis and microscopic modification had consumed a considerable amount of mental energy.
He rolled up the beast-hide scroll and handed it back to Su Qingxue.
Su Qingxue took the scroll. It was still cold in her hand.
Her cold eyes stared fixedly at Lin Xiao, as if trying to see through him. "Are you sure no one will discover it?"
"Unless the Su family has the ability to trace microscopic disturbances at the energy level."
Lin Xiao tugged at the corner of his mouth, revealing a slightly weary, roguish smile. "Otherwise, no one will find a trace. What detonates will only be his old injury and the bitter fruit of being too eager for quick success."
He paused, then added, "Remember, it will only detonate when he unleashes 'Cold Python Flicks Its Tongue' at full strength. It won't cause any problems normally."
Su Qingxue gripped the scroll tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force.
She looked at Lin Xiao with an extraordinarily complicated expression—icy satisfaction at the coming revenge, deep wariness of Lin Xiao's bizarre ability, and a trace of indescribable shuddering, as if she had made a deal with the devil.
"I'll arrange the mining share as soon as possible. As for that secret..."
Su Qingxue's voice returned to its usual coldness. "Come back alive from Cold Mist Valley first."
She did not linger. After carefully hiding the scroll, she turned toward the door, and her figure soon vanished down the dark iron staircase.
Lin Xiao stood alone on the empty rooftop of the water tower, gazing at the night that had completely enveloped the land beyond the windows.
The city's light pollution formed a hazy glow in the distance.
The faint and steady light of Source Energy Points: +0.01 flickered in his mind.
He spread open his left hand. His palm seemed to retain the ancient beast-hide scroll's cold touch, along with the lingering aftertaste of the Cold Python Art's sinister, chilling martial intent.
"Cold Mist Valley... Su Hao... the secret of the Jade Balance Hidden Meridian..." Lin Xiao muttered under his breath. The roguish curve at the corner of his lips slowly flattened, and his eyes grew as deep as a frigid pool.
"The interest has been collected. As for the principal... it's time to move it a little, too."
His gaze turned toward the depths of the industrial district west of the city. That was where his mining vein lay—and where a pack of jackals was beginning to stir.
His figure blurred, like a bat merging into the night. Without making a sound, he slipped through the broken window on the other side of the water tower and vanished into the thick shadows below after just a few leaps.
Not long after he left.
Among the dense, waist-high weeds beneath the water tower, a black shadow that had nearly blended into its surroundings slowly rose to its feet.
The shadow wore a metal mask covering half its face. Its patterns were twisted and bizarre, reflecting a cold, eerie glimmer beneath the moonlight.
It looked up in the direction Lin Xiao had disappeared, then toward the path Su Qingxue had taken. From beneath the mask came an extremely soft whisper, like metal scraping against metal:
"Target contact... information exchange confirmed... 'Corrosive Seed' resonance slightly increased... internal node within the Su family... exploitable... report."
The shadow seemed to melt, sinking silently into the weeds before vanishing without a trace.
Only the rustling of the weeds in the night wind remained, along with the enormous, silent shadow cast by the water tower beneath the moonlight.
Before you continue