Overdraw the future and become a peerless martial god

Chapter 144 First Steps into the Far North
A chill spread, and even the flames in the medicine furnace were lowered by a third.

Feng Ye's eyes widened suddenly, and his body trembled violently:
"This is... the true cold marrow! A hundred-year-old true bone cold marrow."

Zhao Tianyu's eyes also froze for a moment:
"Where did you get such a sacred object?"

Chu Ning smiled and said in a low voice:

"It was given to me by the Marquis."

"I have spent my whole life guarding against thunder, but I never thought that today... I would have to risk my life for you."

Feng Ye suddenly turned around, waved his hand to rekindle the fire in the furnace, and shouted sharply:
"Bring me the Blazing Sun Wood! The Icy Stream Water! And three ounces of Thunder Crystal Powder!"

The remaining soldiers of Zhenwu quickly got to work, while he himself lifted the furnace lid and took out an ancient bronze talisman plate from the bottom of the furnace, with three ancient seal characters for thunder engraved in the center.

"My method is called 'Thunder Breath Bone Returning Technique'. It uses century-old cold marrow to seal the thunder poison, uses a thunder array to connect the broken bones, and then uses the 'Bone-Activating Needle Array' to reshape the severed thunder veins."

As he spoke, he used his lightning-patterned silver needles to apply pressure to the meridians of Chu Ning's shoulders and neck. There were a total of ninety-nine needles. As soon as the lightning needles fell, cold sweat broke out on Chu Ning's forehead.

"Hold on, next I need to integrate the Cold Marrow into the Bone-Breaking Root Meridian to 'Build a Platform by Shattering Bones'. If you faint halfway through... your Thunder Bone will be ruined."

Chu Ning calmly closed his eyes and said softly:
"Just do it."

In an instant, the entire small house was engulfed in lightning.

The century-old marrow melted in the furnace, turning into drops of dark blue medicinal liquid, which were then guided into the broken bones along the acupuncture points.

Meanwhile, Feng Ye's hand array had already covered the ground, with three layers of lightning array and a broken bone lightning pattern. Each step and each imprint was connected by Chu Ning's own lightning aura.

Feng Ye's lightning rods pierced Chu Ning's shoulders and neck like a torrential rain, and Chu Ning's consciousness fluctuated between excruciating pain and lucidity.

In a daze, he heard a low roar from the depths of his bone marrow. The explosion of the clash between the cold marrow and the thunderous bones shattered the medicine furnace, and the green smoke turned into thunderclouds that enveloped the hut.

During the treatment, the thunder pattern on Chu Ning's sternum suddenly glowed brightly, and streaks of azure blue lines emerged from the bone.

Fengye's pupils suddenly contracted:

"It's actually a remnant of the Thunder Spirit of the North. No wonder you survived."

All night long, thunder roared incessantly, and the cold stars hung low in the sky.

Feng Ye, covered in sweat, slumped by the stove and smiled slightly:

"It's saved."

Zhao Tianyu gazed at the newly formed lightning patterns on Chu Ning's shoulder:

"Dr. Feng is truly a miracle worker."

Feng Ye simply said softly, "I didn't save his life."

Everyone was stunned.

Fengye murmured:

“I am just a healer… but what truly stopped the collapse of his Thunder Bone was the Ancient Thunder Spirit Seal that was wrapped around it.”

He paused, his voice as fiery as snow:
“This child… harbors a god within him.”

As dawn broke, the wind on the snow-covered plains was still as cold as a knife.

The lightning aura on Chu Ning's body had subsided, and the muscles reconstructed by lightning patterns on his severed arm were slightly warm, pulsating gently with his breath.

As the first rays of dawn pierced through the snow and fell upon the courtyard, Chu Ning frowned and slowly opened her eyes.

Zhao Tianyu stood in front of the courtyard gate, watching him awaken from his coma, his expression filled with undisguised shock:
"You...have recovered your full cultivation? Upper-grade Eighth Rank?"

The people in the courtyard, who had been whispering and talking, all stopped what they were doing at once.

The former subordinates of the Marquis of Wu's mansion, their blades still in hand and their whisks still unswept, froze in mid-air, their gazes all fixed on him. Their expressions showed both disbelief and shock, as well as a sense of clarity awakened by an invisible pressure.

They gazed at the young man's figure, his aura subdued.

That solitary figure, standing amidst the wind and snow, yet forming its own unique realm.

For a moment, no one dared to speak.

Some people's eyes were filled with a sense of disbelief, as if they could see the young man from more than a month ago, who had fought against Feng Li of the Fire Palace in the Wuhou Mansion and remained undefeated in the Qingyun Arena; others' eyes showed respect and fear, as they felt that this person was no longer the same as before, and that he seemed to have the potential to reforge the "Zhenbei Thunder Spirit" into his body.

Chu Ning simply nodded.

There were no words, and no explanation.

His expression was calm and composed, his gaze as still as frost and falling snow, seemingly quiet and unadorned, yet making people afraid to look directly at him.

It was as if, at this moment, he was not returning, but returning to his rightful place.

No announcement or explanation is needed.

That is the place one should return to after cutting through suffering and shattering fate.

“Almost there.” He spoke calmly, his eyes like the night sea, “but enough for the battle ahead.” “You have already fully demonstrated your worth.” There was a hint of hesitation in his voice, as if the person before him overlapped with an old friend from his memory, yet they couldn’t quite match.

Chu Ning's expression remained unchanged; he simply nodded slightly.

“…You’ve changed.” Zhao Tianyu said in a low voice, his voice a little hoarse, “Even your eyes are different.”

He slowly composed himself, squinting as he scrutinized Chu Ning, as if he were getting to know someone new. After a long while, he sighed.
“When you first joined the Zhenwu Division, you were a young man who needed my protection; now—I dare not speak casually.”

Zhao Tianyu opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing more.

He knew that this young man had fought his way through life and death, and should not be judged by ordinary standards.

The ground was covered with lingering snow, and the wind stirred up the scorched earth and the stench of blood. In the distance, the roars of the fleeing beasts could be faintly heard, like the mournful cries of lingering souls.

With the Broken Snow Blade on his back, Chu Ning's thunderous intent had not yet subsided, and his silver hair cascaded down his shoulders, making him resemble a solitary monument in the snow.

He bowed to Feng Ye and the others in thanks, and then took a step to leave.

Zhao Tianyu quickly caught up at this moment, holding a piece of paper that glowed with a faint light, its surface covered with battle patterns that flickered on and off.

"Wait a moment."

The moment Chu Ning grasped the stone, he heard the bugle call of ten thousand troops charging into battle, as if the war spirits of a thousand years ago had possessed him.

Zhao Tianyu spoke in a low voice:
"This is a keepsake left by one of my former comrades. He... died in the Battle of the Great Wall. Before he died, he said that if anyone ever dared to venture into the far north, please give him this 'Soul Stone of the North'."

"The mountains and rivers are gone, the souls have returned to the earth. Perhaps all we can defend is the last pass."

His voice was already hoarse as he spoke.

Chu Ning gripped the Soul Stone tightly, a slight surge of lightning emanating from his palm, as if the will sealed within the stone resonated with his bloodline, responding with a gentle tremor. He solemnly placed the stone seal into his robes and whispered in response:

"If I can come back alive."

“I will defend our land once again in his stead.”

Zhao Tianyu gazed at him quietly. The white-haired, one-armed figure was stepping into the dawn, his silhouette stretched long and far by the snowlight.

……

Far North.

This is a forgotten world, a frozen wasteland that even the gods are unwilling to look back upon.

Chu Ning walked slowly forward; the snow was knee-deep, and the cold wind was like a knife.

The snow beneath our feet was not pure white, but shimmered with a cold, eerie blue light. Beneath the ice, we could vaguely see sections of twisted and grotesque bones embedded within.

Those are the remains of ancient demonic beasts that died in battle. After being tempered by wind and snow for millions of years, they turned into cold crystal spines, buried under the snow, bearing witness to bloody battles and lamentations.

With each step he took, the cold crystals shattered and the icy veins hummed.

The sound was like the groan of an ancient beast king, or the whisper of a clan spirit underground.

This icy plain is awakening.

The world was silent, the sky was gray and cold, and the clouds were as heavy as lead, pressing down on the mountains and rivers so much that they almost bowed their heads.

Ahead, massive ice ridges, like collapsed pillars of heaven, stretched across the earth, cliffs lay like wounds, and cold mist rose from the rift valleys, as if the remnants of souls lingered within.

Chu Ning walked to the edge of a rift valley and suddenly felt a bone-chilling cold, and heard a faint sobbing sound in his ear.

He looked down and saw wisps of azure fireflies slowly rising from the depths of the crack, like the spirits of the dead, drifting with the wind and snow, and condensing into semi-transparent afterimages of the fox clan.

Some of them were laughing and frolicking, some were chasing snow butterflies, and some were lying on the ice, silently moaning.

These afterimages are formless and intangible, like the mottled memories of time, or the last moments before a lost soul is scattered.

A tiny white fox phantom gently reached out its paw and touched the pendant on Chu Ning's chest.

The fox head pendant suddenly trembled.

Qingli's voice, like a ghost piercing through the snow, suddenly rang in his ears:

"Ancestral land..."

Chu Ning's eyes suddenly narrowed.

He stood amidst the wind and snow, as if beneath his feet lay not only ice, but a burial ground that held a thousand years of clan history.

At the end of the icy rift valley, a faint light appeared, like the remnants of some ancient magic array, or perhaps a directional beacon guiding the clan's spirits.

The wind and snow parted into a narrow crevice, like a rift leading to the true "ancestral realm of the fox clan".

That was the place Qingli once protected. It was also the path Chu Ning was about to embark on.

(End of this chapter)