First came Pakura, with her formidable Taijutsu. Then came Mei Terumi, a master of Water Release. Yongye never even left his room that day.
Ōnoki and the others quietly celebrated, though they waited in nervous anticipation.
Another day dawned.
Sunlight slanted through the windows high in the Meeting Hall, drawing parallel bands of light across the stone floor.
Dust drifted slowly through the beams. The scene looked almost exactly as it had before; even the cold, metallic smell in the air remained unchanged.
When Yongye appeared in the doorway of the Meeting Hall, the Fourth Raikage, Ōnoki, and old Chiyo all turned to look at him.
Their gazes landed first on his face, where the corners of his mouth were still slightly raised. Then their eyes darted down, sweeping over his hands, his waist, and the way he stepped across the threshold.
They seemed to be searching for something that should not have been there, or confirming that something they had hoped for had not happened.
Then, at the very same instant, their faces fell.
Their disappointment was impossible to hide.
They looked like three Crow perched on a branch all night, only to find their intended prey standing before them unharmed and full of energy.
At that same moment, three cold system notifications lit up almost simultaneously in Yongye's Mindscape.
[Ding! The honey-trap poisoning has failed. The Fourth Raikage has suffered a severe mental blow. Reward: Advanced Blind Box ×1.]
Open it, Yongye said inwardly.
[Ding! Advanced Blind Box opened. Congratulations, Host! You have obtained the Heavenly Frost Fist from the world of Storm Riders.]
Knowledge of the Heavenly Frost Fist spread through his mind like a chill rising from the depths of his Mindscape.
The principles of the fist technique, the way its frosty