"Friendly" Inquiry

Zhang Sanxian stood amid the wreckage with his hands behind his back, his back to the townsfolk and merchant caravans still frozen in shock. He said coldly, "The pass is open. The road lies beneath your feet. How you walk it from here on out is your own decision."

Having said that, he took a single step without looking back, transforming into a streak of light that tore through the sky. Accompanied by a piercing sonic boom, he shot straight toward the distant horizon.

All he left behind was the mighty pass, more than half of it cracked and nearly collapsed, along with a crowd of bewildered, panicked people.

Iron Gate Pass, which had stood in Great Yi's northern borderlands for centuries, had been forcibly breached by Zhang Sanxian alone in the most violent manner possible.

As for what would happen afterward, whether Northern Di would use this chance to invade—

Strictly speaking, Zhang Sanxian did not care.

All he cared about was whether those who deserved to die before him had been thoroughly killed, and whether he had vented his anger to his heart's content.

As for anything else, he did not give a damn.

Still, out of a faint trace of pity—

Before flying away, Zhang Sanxian left behind a final contingency within the nearly crumbled pass: an invisible mass of frigid air.

After some time had passed, once all those who still wished to head for the grasslands had departed—

That vortex of cold air would immediately reveal itself and turn into a "key."

It would trigger the ancient chill buried deep within Mystic Ridge Mountain, an icy force that had lain there for who knew how many ages.

It would burst forth like floodwaters breaking through a dam, transforming into a sky-supporting iceberg and completely freezing