Overdraw the future and become a peerless martial god

Chapter 157 The Bone-Piercing Wind and Snow, the Unquenchable Flame of Life
The far northern wilderness remains as desolate as ever.

Between heaven and earth, it seemed that only one color remained—not snow white, but deathly white.

That's the color of light being frozen, the color of time standing still and life being extinguished.

The wind blows from the far north, without howling or clamoring, without making a sound, yet it can peel away skin and gnaw bones, pierce the soul and sever thoughts.

It was covered in ice shards, bone powder, and animal blood that had not decayed for countless years, and with each breath it seemed to swallow the frost and cold of an entire wilderness.

And at the ends of the earth, there is a person, walking forward step by step.

Chu Ning, draped in a wind-blown fur coat, with a faint aura of thunder swirling around him, walked with steady steps as usual. Yet, his figure appeared so lonely, silent, and resolute in the world, as if he were not a living person, but a broken monument carrying snow.

He had been walking across this endless ice field for two whole months.

From the moment he stepped out of the Thunder Altar, Thunder Heart fell silent and ceased to resonate; the lightning within Thunder Bone seemed to be imprisoned by the extreme cold, as if this world was rejecting him, a person who defied fate.

He tried to circulate his cultivation technique and activate his thunder meridians, but with each breath, the cold air penetrated his body, stabbing against his internal organs, and even causing a layer of frost to rise in his sea of ​​consciousness.

He gritted his teeth and persevered, day after day, using his willpower to guide the lightning energy to entwine his heart meridians, as if draped in a veil of ethereal lightning, protecting the deepest part of his chest—the lightning heart that beat for her.

But he was, after all, a human being, not a god.

Sometimes he would use his thunder blade to pry open the frozen ground, dig out a piece of animal bone, and set it on fire, just to get through the night; sometimes he would stick his palm into the snow, using thunderous intent and flesh to fight against the cold, just to awaken his gradually numbing consciousness.

Even when his internal energy was in disarray and his soul fire flowed backward like wax tears, he gritted his teeth and refused to kneel down.

He once thought, "It would be better to die here on this snowy plain..."

But every time this thought arose, the fox head pendant on his chest would feel slightly warm.

Just like her, using her last bit of soul power to respond to him: "No, you promised me you would take me... home."

So he stood up again.

again and again.

The extreme cold of the far north is not just cold; it is like an invisible judgment, stripping away flesh and blood, extinguishing the soul, and attempting to polish everything into a "blank space".

That kind of cold is the kind of cold that makes you fall asleep and never wake up again, the kind of cold that freezes your remains into icy crystals when you die.

But he wasn't afraid.

What he feared was never death.

What he feared was that he would fall, while she would still be waiting.

Her remnant soul was already on the verge of extinction, and each flicker of the fox flame in the pendant was weaker than the last.

He knew she couldn't hold on much longer.

Even before the Blood Refining Hall was destroyed, the twelve evil spirits had already revealed themselves, and murderous intent was brewing in the far north.

But Qingli couldn't wait any longer.

"Hurry up..." he vaguely heard her say, "I can't hold on much longer..."

So he had to move forward.

Even if the wind and snow blind him, even if his bones are frozen and broken, even if the world becomes a grave, he must—take her back.

Returning to our ancestral homeland.

Go back to the place where she wants to be resurrected.

But on this day, he still collapsed.

His last breath turned into a wisp of white mist that floated before his lips, and before it could dissipate, it formed frost crystals.

His knees sank into the snow, his heart calmed, and the world began to spin.

In the instant he fell, he seemed to hear the cracking sound of his bones breaking, and he seemed to see a pale blue flower blooming in the snow a few dozen steps ahead, the very flower she loved most.

"You're still walking, Chu Ning..."

Her voice, coming from the wind, was not a hallucination, but the manifestation of his unwavering will to live.

Where are you going?

"Take me home..."

His eyelids drooped slightly, and his eyelashes were frosty.

The world began to distort in his eyes, and the wind and snow turned into low thunder in his ears. He tried to reach out and cover the pendant on his chest, but he couldn't even move his fingers.

He slowly closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking like a boat into the deep sea, plunging into a dark abyss.

—But in that darkness, the fox flame flickered faintly.

—She has not completely disappeared.

……

When I woke up again, the icy blue lightning was not before my eyes.

Instead, it was a very faint orange-yellow.

That was a lamp, a small oil lamp made of animal fat, flickering as if burning shiveringly in the gaps of the wind and snow.

As the faint light flickered, a gentle warmth slowly dispelled the deathly stillness in his limbs, like the dim candle in the hand of a vigilant in the night, protecting him from the lurking death in the wind and snow.

Chu Ning moved her fingertips.

He subconsciously tried to activate his lightning energy, but found that his meridians were frozen, his lightning veins were unresponsive, and his lightning heart was like a deep, icy pool, with only a slight pulsation remaining.

The familiar violence and clarity were gone, replaced by a damp, cold, and exhausting feeling, as if I had been asleep for a century.

He slowly turned his head. Beneath him was a thick snow leopard skin, and a bear fur coat covered his shoulders. At his feet, the fire crackled and rose in wisps of white steam.

Outside the tent, the wind and snow continued to howl, but inside this small tent, there was an incredible sense of peace.

"you're awake."

A clear yet somewhat cool girl's voice came from the corner of the tent, like an icicle falling into a spring, making a crisp sound.

Chu Ning turned around and saw the girl scooping water by the stove.

She was dressed in Arctic hunting attire, with fox fur embellishing her outer robe. Her eyes were bright, her nose was straight and delicate, and her skin was as white as snow, yet she possessed the sharp and capable air of a nomadic hunting woman.

However, the ends of her hair were slightly curled, and in the firelight, they shone with a faint grayish-blue hue, like the tail of a snow fox.

She handed over the hot water, muttering casually:

“You were unconscious for two whole days. When I found you on the snowy mountain, your face was blue from the cold, your lips were cracked, and you were clutching a pendant tightly, refusing to let go.”

Chu Ning silently took the wooden bowl, lowered her head slightly, and felt the heat rushing towards her face. Only then did she slowly regain a trace of feeling in her lips and teeth.

"Thank you." His voice was low and hoarse, like a piece of thunderstone sculpted by the wind under snow.

The girl sat down opposite him and smiled:

"My name is Dong'er. What's yours?"

"Chun Ning."

He lowered his head and drank a few sips of hot water. After a long silence, he raised his eyes and looked around.

It was a small tent with rough animal hides inside, covered with cloth curtains sewn with bone needles, and a small bed made of icefield hemlock wood placed in the corner.

At the foot of the bed were several cleaned animal hides, including those of snow wolves and mountain rabbits, as well as a few pieces of bones that had not yet dried, hanging on a makeshift fire stand, faintly exuding the smell of wild blood.

The most eye-catching thing is a tattered animal hide map hanging on the wall, with several special snow coordinates marked with dye, densely packed, like the accumulation of years of tracking traces.

Beside the fire, a small earthenware pot held hot water, and a row of sharpened wooden arrows sat beside the stove.

Chu Ning withdrew her gaze and asked calmly, "You... have you been living here alone all this time?"

Dong'er nodded: "Yes. It is now."

She paused, her expression gentle yet somewhat distant: "I grew up with my grandfather. He taught me to read the wind, to hunt, and to make traps... This tent was a temporary shelter we used to build during winter hunts."

As she spoke, she looked down at the bear fur coat she was wearing.

"This... is what he brought back from his last trip."

Chu Ning's brow twitched slightly, but he did not interrupt.

Dong'er was quiet for a while, as if those memories were buried in the wind and snow, and whispered:
"That year, my grandfather found a brown bear. Logically speaking, with my grandfather's skills, hunting it shouldn't have been difficult. But something was wrong with that bear."

"It went mad, rushing from the mountaintop all the way to the edge of the snow lake, its eyes red and spewing black smoke... Grandpa didn't come back that time."

She spoke calmly, but every word was like a line of blood frozen into ice.

"When I found its body, its claws had been worn down, and its flesh was torn apart, as if... it had torn itself apart."

Chu Ning listened in silence.

Looking at the fire in the stove, Dong'er added another sentence:
“I suspect it wasn’t just that bear. Later, snow foxes also became extremely rare to see, the wolf packs in the North Mountain started tearing each other apart, and even snow eagles crashed into the mountains and died. My grandfather said... this was ‘the night before the snow.’”

"Snow Eve?"

Dong'er nodded and whispered:
"It's an ancient legend—before a great calamity, the winds of the far north will be chaotic, the beasts will go mad, and the snow will fall against the heavens... as if even the heavens no longer wish to cover this hell."

The tent suddenly fell silent, with only the soft crackling of the fire crackling in the stove.

Chu Ning remained silent, her fingertips caressing the pendant, a premonition she had never felt before slowly settling into her heart.

—The beast tide is raging, the snow fox has disappeared, and the blood-eyed creature has awakened…

The far northern ice sheet may be "coming alive" sooner than he imagined.

“Aren’t you afraid?” he asked.

Dong'er looked back at him, her eyes clear yet exceptionally firm:
"Don't be afraid, this is the fate of people who live on the ice fields."

At that moment, Chu Ningjing gazed at her quietly.

The girl before me was slender and lonely, yet her eyes shone with light and her words carried conviction, like the only undying lamp in the extreme northern snowstorm.

His gaze swept over her left wrist; the silver ring clung tightly to her wrist bone, adorned with a flowing fox tail pattern that flickered in the firelight.

Chu Ning's expression hardened slightly, and he asked:

Have you ever heard of... Cangque Mountain?

Dong'er blinked, then nodded:
“I’ve not only heard of it, I’ve been there. It’s the ancestral home of the snow fox. When I was a child, I got lost and was almost killed by a snow wolf, but a snow fox saved me.”

Her tone was calm, yet it carried a deep-seated reverence from her childhood.

"Later, I would go there every winter solstice to offer a piece of ice orchid as a way of repaying the kindness."

Chu Ning paused, then lowered her eyes:
"Then do you know... where the 'New Moon Ice Soul' is?"

"You came here for that?" Dong'er was slightly taken aback, then thought about it seriously for a moment. "I did see a blue crystal behind the icefall, it felt like moonlight freezing into my bones - but it was hidden very deep, I couldn't get it."

"But if you want, I can take you to try it."

Chu Ning stared at her, remained silent for a moment, and then asked in a low voice:

"Why are you helping me?"

Dong'er's eyes were calm and bright. She pointed to the pendant on Chu Ning's chest and spoke gently:
"Because... the snow fox is my benefactor."

“I don’t know what your relationship is with the Snow Fox Clan, but I do know… that pendant of yours is from the Snow Fox Clan, and it’s very important to you.”

The firelight reflected in her eyes, like the gentlest candlelight in the winter night.

Chu Ning was stunned for a moment and couldn't say a word.

She added softly:
“I don’t know what you want that thing for, but I know you’re not a bad person. I’m a hunter, and hunters are best at reading people’s eyes.”

He lowered his head and smiled, a smile tinged with bitterness, yet also one of relief.

At that moment, it felt as if a small blank space in his heart had been quietly filled.

The wind and snow outside continued to howl, but the camp was as quiet as a cave, as if a barrier kept the cold air out.

As night deepened, the fire in the stove gradually died down.

Chu Ning pushed open the curtain and stepped out of the tent alone.

The snow-covered hills were silent, the ice plains were like a mirror, and even the stars seemed frozen in the sky, with nothing but endless frost and snow falling instead of light.

He looked up at the sky and remained silent for a long time.

After a long silence, he spoke softly:
"Qingli... are you still watching?"

“You said you wanted to go back to your ancestral homeland…to see the beautiful scenery there.”

He smiled, a smile tinged with the bitterness of wind and snow:

"But I always thought that only killing, becoming stronger, and taking revenge were worthy of your waiting."

"Only today have I realized... what you wanted was never a 'gravekeeper'."

"But rather—someone who can accompany you through spring planting and autumn harvest, herding horses and weaving cloth..."

Snowflakes fell on his hair, rustling down and clinging to his temples, yet he felt no chill.

He slowly grasped the fox head pendant on his chest, and the light that had been as still as a dead flame began to flicker slightly.

The remnant soul of Qingli seemed to respond to his call.

At this moment, for the first time, Chu Ning truly wanted to live.

It's not for fighting.

Rather, it was to truly live with her.

……

Over the next few days, Chu Ning followed Dong'er, traversing an unnamed valley.

The distant mountains are shrouded in mist, the snow-capped cliffs are pale, and occasionally a gust of wind sweeps across the cliff mouth, bringing an unnatural wailing, as if heaven and earth are also whispering some kind of buried cruelty.

The two walked to the bottom of the valley, where an abandoned village suddenly appeared before them.

Amidst the ruins, the snow had not yet completely covered the bloodstains. A broken wind chime hung from a shattered wooden pillar, its tinkling sound like a mournful cry in the cold wind.

Dong'er's expression tightened: "I've seen this place on the map before. It's called 'Snow Porcelain Village,' and it's one of the few hunter settlements deep in the ice plains."

Chu Ning gazed at the still-damp blood on the ground and walked forward slowly.

The snow underfoot wasn't thick, but it was incredibly slippery.

He crouched down and brushed away the snow, vaguely revealing a complex blood-patterned array—but a ring was missing at the center, the runes were broken, and the blood vessels were not closed, as if the sacrifice had been forcibly terminated midway.

“It wasn’t a beast attack.” He said in a low voice.

"It's a blood array." Dong'er gripped the bow tightly.

Suddenly, a gray figure darted out from behind the ruins.

"Oh!"

The snow cracked open, and a cold glint flashed across the sky like lightning. The newcomer moved with incredible agility, his toes barely touching the ground as he leaped using the momentum of the snow, like a serpent suddenly rising. A flash of cold light appeared in his left sleeve, and a ring-shaped cursed blade transformed into a spinning dagger, aimed straight at Chu Ning's throat with lightning speed.

"Watch out!" Dong'er exclaimed, already about to pull the bowstring.

But the next moment, her pupils contracted.

Chu Ning didn't move an inch, but merely shifted his body slightly to the side, dodging the sharp edge in an instant. His left foot slammed into the ground and spun around, like wind cutting through snow, leaving a semi-circular footprint. Thunderous energy gathered beneath his feet, its sound like frost sealing the earth's veins.

"Snapped."

With a flick of his wrist, he precisely grabbed the attacker's wrist, and a shockwave erupted along his arm, causing his bones and joints to instantly dislocate and explode!

"Ugh!"

The young man in gray roared in pain and was forced to retreat three steps before staggering away.

With a flick of his wrist, the curse seal was released, and he spat out a mouthful of blood essence, which transformed into a blood-patterned lock blade that detached from his fingertips, coiling like a snake and wrapping around Chu Ning's legs.

"Clang!" A flash of light appeared!
It was drawn an inch from its sheath, the blade not yet fully revealed, yet it seemed like a thunderbolt crashing down, majestic as a mountain, freezing the air and stopping the snowflakes.

The gray-clad youth's expression changed drastically, as if his mind had been suddenly shaken, as if a tremendous weight had been pressed down on his soul platform. He groaned and staggered back five steps, his body swaying like a candle flickering in the wind.

Dong'er stood frozen in place, her eyes filled with horror. That inch of blade light hadn't even broken the wind, yet it seemed like a sea of ​​thunder breaking its banks, its terrifying force like a mountain collapsing.

Amidst the wind and snow, Chu Ning stood alone atop the icy peak.

His severed arm was covered in snow, his thunderous intent as deep as frozen sea, his eyes calm as iron and cold as frost. He stood motionless, like a solitary warrior emerging from the realm of thunder, making people dare not look directly at him.

This was the first time Dong'er had truly witnessed him in action—there was no anger, no killing intent, only composure and absolute suppression, like an ancient war god rising from the cold frontier.

The young man in gray collapsed into the snow, his kneecap embedded in the ice, blood seeping from the corner of his lips.

He coughed a few times, then suddenly looked up and stared intently at the figure that trudged through the snow like a mountain.

"You are... Chu Ning?" he asked in a low voice, his tone weak, yet still concealing a bloodthirsty ruthlessness.

Chu Ning lowered his eyes, his voice low and deep, like thunder under the snow:

"who are you?"

The young man in gray remained silent for a moment, his expression complex, as if he was hesitating about some secret.

After a long pause, he finally said, "...Ji Yufeng."

"People from the Blood Refining Hall?" Chu Ning asked again.

Ji Yufeng chuckled lightly, a laugh as cruel as an ice blade slicing through his throat, yet self-mocking:

"If it weren't for that, your knife... would have already fallen."

Dong'er's face suddenly turned cold, the bowstring tightened, and a cold glint trembled at her fingertips:
"You admit it."

"I didn't admit it, I just didn't deny it." Ji Yufeng slowly raised his hands, indicating that he was harmless, but his tone was deliberately calm. "These days, how many people who are targeted by you can still speak in their own lives?"

Chu Ning said in a low voice:
"You think that just because you don't kill people, you're not a member of the Blood Refining Hall?"

Ji Yufeng's throat moved, his expression complex, as if he was being pushed to the brink of collapse, yet stubbornly holding on to his last breath.

He gritted his teeth, his eyes fixed on Chu Ning: "You don't understand...you'll never understand what we people are living on."

Chu Ning remained silent, and the thunderous intent spread silently, causing the surrounding snow to crack and fissure, as if the heavens and earth were holding their breath.

Ji Yufeng froze, his forced composure crumbling instantly. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead, he gasped for breath, and his face paled.

“You didn’t have to kill me,” he said in a low voice. “I didn’t do it.”

"The Blood Refining Hall... is not just about 'killing'."

Chu Ning's tone was icy: "Speak."

Ji Yufeng suddenly laughed, a bitter laugh, as if blood was stuck in his throat. "Do you know? There are two kinds of people in the Blood Refining Hall: one is called the Sacrifice, the executioner you talk about, which is my current identity; the other... is called the Nurturing Sacrifice."

Chu Ning frowned slightly: "The one who raises the sacrifices?"

Ji Yufeng said in a low voice:

“The vessel for nurturing the spirit—the so-called ‘preparation of the divine body’.”

“Those people didn’t come to kill; they were… chosen to ‘nurture the gods.’”

“The high priest in the church selects children from birth, choosing those with pure souls and special constitutions… They raise them, infuse them with medicinal power, teach them spells, and temper their will. When they mature, they peel off their skin and slowly extract their souls and blood.”

"Do you know what that's called? It's called the 'God's Replacement Furnace'—refining a person's physical body and soul into the shell of a god, allowing the old god to return."

Chu Ning's voice was cold and stern: "Are you saying... you were originally a 'Sacrificial Bearer'?"

Ji Yufeng remained silent for several breaths.

“I was a ‘reserve’. I wasn’t the most suitable… so they sent me to kill first.”

"Kill enough people, and your soul will become pure enough to become a formal priest."

"At that time, they will stop hunting you down, and they will give you clean robes, offerings, and honorary titles..."

"Then... one day, you will be sent to the 'Priest's Chamber'."

"From that time on, God awoke through your body."

Chu Ning gazed at him quietly, the lightning reflecting his cold, stern eyes on the back of the blade.

"You've made it very clear, but you still haven't said whether you killed these people or not."

Ji Yufeng's pupils contracted, and he suddenly roared:

"Killed! I've killed! I've fucking killed!"

"But I also saved them! I modified that blood array myself. I knew I would suffer a backlash, but I still ruined their plan!"

"I couldn't save everyone, but at least... I took action!"

Chu Ning slowly approached, placing a finger between his collarbones, the lightning energy seeping in silently, carrying the coldness of an interrogator.

Ji Yufeng remained silent for a moment, then a bitter smile appeared on his lips.

“...It was me.” He lowered his head, his voice sounding like it was being squeezed out from between his teeth. “I tampered with the Blood Rune Curse. Originally, twenty people were supposed to die in that battle, but I broke the ‘Four-Guiding Array,’ and only three people died.”

Dong'er's expression changed slightly as she looked at Chu Ning: "You believe what he said?"

"I believe in traces." Chu Ning said calmly, loosening his grip, but his gaze was icy.

Ji Yufeng knelt in the snow, as if all his strength had been drained away in an instant.

“I’m not one of them…” he murmured softly, “but… I can’t escape either.”

He pointed to the brand under his collarbone, a blood-refining rune that was not yet fully formed, with unsealed edges, clearly not yet fully "recognized by the High Priest".

“My sister… died on their altar. I originally wanted to stab the priest to death, but they discovered me, captured me alive, and put me on the ‘pre-sacrifice list.’” Ji Yufeng looked up at Chu Ning, his voice dry. “If I didn’t obey, every time I ran away, a corpse would be sent back to my village… They killed the evidence that I was alive.”

He smiled bitterly: "If you kill me, it will only create another vacancy for a 'prepared divine body.' They've already lined up the next one."

Chu Ning frowned slightly. "You mean there are many people like that?"

“They not only select powerful demonic beasts, but also people—those with unbroken souls, extremely high talent, and preferably with strong obsessions.”

He stared at Chu Ning, his tone suddenly becoming subtle:
"Such as you."

Chu Ning's thunderous breath caused the entire air to freeze like a mirror, and Ji Yufeng's hair stood on end, almost suffocating him.

The wind and snow blew open a line, and Dong'er's eyes trembled slightly. She couldn't bear to see that person kneeling in the snow, pounding the ice with his fists and roaring in a low voice.

"I don't want to live like a ghost!"

"But I don't even deserve to die!"

"They said I didn't deserve to die, that I wasn't worth a human's skin... but I'm not reconciled!"

He slowly raised his head and looked into Chu Ning's eyes.

"Kill me. But don't say I didn't struggle."

Chu Ning slowly sheathed his sword and exhaled a long breath.

"Ji Yufeng".

"The Blood Refining Hall's 'Nurturing God' method doesn't create a shell for a god; it turns a person into a ghost."

"They chose you not because you're strong, but because you still want to live. You're still afraid of dying."

"What they need is that obsession."

Ji Yufeng paused for a moment, his eyes darting around. After a long while, he suddenly let out a sneer.

The smile wasn't pleasant; it was like blood seeping from a cracked frostbite, cold, painful, and with an indescribable mockery.

He gritted his teeth and spoke in a low, hoarse voice:

Do you think... I don't hate you?

Chu Ning remained silent, the thunderous intent lingering, the cold wind carrying the aura of a blade pressing down on his bones.

Ji Yufeng's breathing was disordered, but he still gritted his teeth: "If you die, I...maybe I can be removed from that damned 'list'."

He raised his head, the wisps of hair on his forehead blown aside by the wind and snow, revealing the unformed blood curse mark on his shoulder. A complex emotion floated in his eyes, like anger, or like the weariness of someone suffering the same fate.

He stared at the pendant on Chu Ning's left palm, then suddenly whispered:
Do you know where you rank in the 'bloodline'?

Chu Ning's eyes sharpened, but she didn't answer.

“You’re third on the bloodline,” Ji Yufeng sneered.

Chu Ning's pupils constricted sharply, and a burst of lightning exploded, blasting a deep crater in the snow: "Explain yourself!"

In that instant, the wind and snow seemed to freeze.

The world was so quiet that only the crackling of the flames and the sound of snowflakes hitting one's face sounded harsh.

"First, there's your older sister—Chu Yun."

"Secondly, it's a fox." He paused, pointing his finger at the pendant, his voice almost hoarse, "A... the snow fox you've always protected."

Dong'er's expression changed drastically. She opened her mouth, but her throat tightened, and she couldn't utter a single word.

“They are ‘Double Blood Guides,’ one is a human spirit blood guide, and the other is a demon spirit blood guide.” Ji Yufeng’s hands trembled slightly, but he forced himself not to bow his head.

"And you are the 'Thunderous Body'—the most suitable 'core' to bear the soul sacrifice."

He raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth, grinned, and laughed as if he were crying: "Isn't it ridiculous? The people you risked your life to protect are all on their death list."

"You practice asceticism to save people—they raise you to wait for you to become useful."

Chu Ning looked at him quietly, and the thunderous energy slowly surged back from between her bones, causing a barely perceptible heat to rise in the air.

“They are waiting for you to mature so they can ignite you.” Ji Yufeng gritted his teeth and spoke faster. “Your thunderous aura is the wick, and your soul is the ignition. They want to use you to become a god.”

"By then, you won't even be able to resist."

Chu Ning's fingers slowly tightened, her knuckles turning white.

He finally spoke, his voice as sharp as frost: "Are you saying all this now in an attempt to survive?"

The tone was extremely calm, yet it startled Dong'er, who nearly drew the bowstring taut again.

Ji Yufeng did not dodge the question. He paused slightly, then chuckled softly, a laugh tinged with weariness and a broken pride:
"No."

"I just want to see how you 'prepared divine bodies,' nurtured by fate like jade sculptures, struggle to climb out of this mud."

His eyes were slightly red, like burning wax, burning with anger, yet flowing with hatred.

"Whether you choose to break free from fate or slaughter the high priests—"

“I really want to see if you can survive the moment when they use you as a ‘sacrifice’ to the heavens.”

He chuckled softly, a chuckle like broken bones slowly rubbing against the wall of souls, carrying both decay and the dignity of the living.

Chu Ning simply gazed at him quietly.

The thunderous breath no longer roared, but it was as cold as heavenly punishment.

—The wind and snow continued, yet it seemed as if one could hear the sound of fate slowly turning the pages of the divine register.

Chu Ning gazed at him silently for a long time, then suddenly and slowly sheathed her sword, her voice as calm as iron, like a cold blade buried beneath the snow:

"If you're still breathing, don't live in this 'human skin' next time."

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned and walked away. Snow fell on his shoulders without melting, and his back was like an ice sculpture, resolute, silent, and unshakable.

Dong'er stared blankly at his retreating figure, a complex mix of emotions surfacing in her eyes.

"Why...why didn't you kill him?" she asked softly.

Chu Ning did not stop walking, but his voice traveled through the wind and snow like a distant rumble of thunder:
"Because he... isn't completely dead yet."

A single sentence, like a sharp blade, cleaved through the lingering silence of the ruins.

The wind and snow swirled, the snow banners fluttered, and everything fell silent.

Only at the end of that abandoned village where the blood sacrifice had not yet been cleansed, on an unbroken bone pillar, a dark red rune quietly appeared.

Deep within the runes, a blurry blood-red pupil slowly opened. The vertical pupil was cold, and blood vessels intertwined, as if some will from the abyss was awakening.

It gazed at the departing figure through the snow, like a silent magic lamp, waiting for the next opportunity to be lit.

That fire, it does not burn itself, but it specifically burns the soul—burning the heart and corroding the bones.

……

The wind and snow had not yet stopped, and the snow underfoot was so thick that it seemed to bury bones that had been buried for thousands of years. Every step seemed to step into some kind of silent echo.

Chu Ning walked forward against the wind, but her steps were not as firm as usual.

He walked through endless wind and snow, but his heart remained in front of that abandoned village.

Ji Yufeng's last words were like a thorn, deeply embedded in his soul:

“You are third in their ‘bloodline’.”

Who is on the list?

Who is writing the bloodline?
Who is it that uses the lives of thousands as fuel, all for their so-called "immortality"?
Thunderous breath rose and fell in his chest, as if it too was aching from those words. This wasn't the first time he had faced the gaze of so-called fate, but this time—in the eyes of that boy, he saw another version of himself.

Struggle, anger, and a lucid awareness bordering on despair.

He thought he had gone far enough and cut down hard enough, but now he realized that the deepest shackles were not bound to his hands and feet, but were secretly put into his bones and blood.

His soul, bloodline, Thunder Body, Primordial Chaos Token… none of these seemed to belong to him. Fate seemed to have been predetermined the moment he entered this body. All he could do was struggle a little longer in the torrent of destiny.

His brows were furrowed, and the lightning aura around him flashed and disappeared in an instant, as if he did not want to disturb the wind and snow with these distracting thoughts.

Not far ahead, Dong'er turned around and glanced at him, her eyes filled with unconcealed worry.

"You...shouldn't you have let him go?" she asked tentatively, her voice as soft as a falling snowflake.

Chu Ning did not answer immediately. He simply stopped and looked up at the gradually emerging outline of the forest in the distance.

The sound of the wind passed by my ears.

Dong'er walked ahead, then suddenly turned back to look at Chu Ning. She wanted to speak, but in the end she just took a deep breath, as if she was suppressing a thousand words into her heart.

"Next, we'll be heading to the 'Ghost Bone Spirit Forest'."

She whispered, "That was the last habitat of the snow fox, and the oldest forest in my memory."

"There... lies the 'New Moon Ice Soul' you're looking for."

……

The extreme north wind and snow continue, the world is painted like ink, only a pale white.

The wind, carrying snow, was silent, as if it had long forgotten how to howl; the sunlight was crushed by the thick cloud cover, and the remaining light fell on the ice field like shattered silver and sand.

Heaven and earth were one, and it was impossible to distinguish which was heaven and which was earth.

The two walked through the snow, crossing seven wind-eroded ice slopes and bypassing three snow-fallen rift valleys.

The wind and snow whipped at his face like knives, but Chu Ning did not retreat an inch. In his eyes was an unwavering determination to burn across ten thousand miles.

That wisp of silvery remnant soul is leading him toward the deepest part of destiny.

—This is also Qingli's final destination.

They came to a white forest where bones were buried.

Here, there is no wind, no birds, no beasts; only ancient trees, their branches laden with snow, stand solemnly in the snow, like thousands of silent mourners. Their trunks, frozen for many years, seem to gleam with a silvery-white light, while their roots, winding like veins, lie beneath the snow, their ancient veins faintly visible.

Chu Ning's gaze fell upon a half-buried stone tablet in the heart of the forest. The tablet was damaged, yet it still stood tall, like an ancient guardian spirit. The surface of the tablet was inscribed with mottled and strange patterns, in the ancient language of the fox clan—a language that only those with a shared bloodline could softly read.

Dong'er traced the inscription with her fingertips: "This is an ancient fox language, meaning 'the soul returns to its homeland, and the cold lamp guides the way.'"

Her voice trembled slightly, and at that moment, heaven and earth seemed to understand the incantation; the speed at which the snow fell slowed down.

Chu Ning slowly raised his eyes and looked around.

This is the ancestral forest of the fox clan.

Legend has it that every Snow Fox Clan member who dies, if their soul does not return to heaven, will return to this place on the "New Moon Cold Night" to await the awakening of the clan spirits, hoping for a reunion and a return of their soul. This place is the only remaining remnant of the Fox Clan's ancestral land, and the last place where the clan's language can be heard after their extermination.

Snow falls deep into the forest, the wind subsides for a moment.

While Chu Ning and Dong'er were traversing the snow-capped mountains, they suddenly heard a faint sound.

"stop."

Dong'er suddenly raised her hand, and Chu Ning, standing behind her, looked in the direction she pointed.

Not far away, on the snow-covered forest floor, a row of fine hoofprints stretched eastward, the tracks still fresh, the snow unmelted. The remaining snow on the branches trembled, and in the distance, a faint sound of snow collapsing could be heard.

"Snow Horned Deer," Dong'er whispered, "traveling alone, not in a herd, and injured."

"How did you figure that out?" Chu Ning asked in a low voice.

Dong'er bent down and pointed to a patch of snow: "Look here, the edges of the footprints are sunken and the snow patterns are broken. This is the trace of it turning around to look for warning—cautious, but not fast. The hind hoof landed harder than the front hoof, which means it had an injury to its hind leg."

Chu Ning paused for a moment, then said in a low voice, "You've hunted it?"

“I’ve never successfully hunted it.” Dong’er smiled, as if she had suddenly felt a little relieved. “But my grandfather taught me how to find it.”

"When I was a child, I always thought the snow deer was silly, always running back in circles whenever it was chased. Later I realized that it was waiting for the wind, waiting for the snow, waiting for the right time to cover its tracks."

As she spoke, she gently tugged at Chu Ning: "Come on, I'll teach you a little trick for winter hunting."

She tucked a pinch of dried moss into her palm, blew a wisp of warm air into it, then dusted her fingertips with snow powder, crouched down, and circled around the edge of the forest. Although Chu Ning was not skilled in hunting, her steps were extremely steady, and she did not break a single twig.

A dozen or so breaths later, the snow antler deer appeared in the forest hollow ahead, its fur as white as ice, with a hint of blue amidst the silvery white.

Chu Ning suddenly realized that many lives on this snowfield had never been tainted by killing—they simply lived, struggled, and hid silently, just like... Dong'er.

The wind and snow howled, and Chu Ning slightly raised his hand, indicating that there was no need to take action.

Dong'er glanced at him, her eyes flickered slightly, but she did not raise the bow again.

The two stood amidst the snow-covered forest, watching the snow deer waddle through the shadows cast by the setting sun and gradually disappear into the distance.

In the wind and snow, Dong'er said softly, "Actually, living doesn't have to be about killing."

Chu Ning's gaze remained unchanged as he replied softly, "I will remember."

"You taught me something different."

At that moment, the heavy pressure weighing on Chu Ninglei's heart seemed to finally ease a little.

He didn't speak, but stood in the wind and snow, watching the snow antler deer slowly disappear into the depths of the silver forest.

Between heaven and earth, it seemed that only the silent falling snow and the gentle breathing of two people remained.

Chu Ning withdrew his gaze and turned to look at Dong'er.

"You look at the deer, you look at the snow... it's like you're looking for something."

Dong'er paused slightly, then smiled and gently brushed her fingertips across the fox tail pattern on her sleeve: "You're right."

She looked up at the snow-covered edge of the forest in the distance, where a lone tree trembled slightly, as if a small figure had passed by behind it, but the wind and snow were too thick to tell the truth.

“I first saw that snow fox when I was a child, right outside this forest…” she said softly, as if afraid of disturbing something. “That day the wind and snow were particularly strong, I got lost, and I was so cold that I was almost losing consciousness. Suddenly it appeared.”

She slowly extended her palm, as if still recalling the warm touch of that time.

"It didn't say anything, it just walked quietly in front of me, looking back at me from time to time. When I was about to give up, it led me into a cave and licked my wounds clean."

She paused for a moment, her voice a little hoarse: "I was too young then, and I thought I was seeing elves."

Chu Ning's gaze shifted slightly as he quietly looked at her.

Dong'er looked up at the ancient forest ruins half-hidden by ice and snow in the distance: "It saved me again later, so I come back every year. Not for a reunion, but... to remember that kindness."

She turned to look at Chu Ning and chuckled softly, "Maybe it's still here, hidden deep in the forest, waiting for someone to find it."

Upon hearing this, Chu Ning looked towards the depths of the forest ahead—the snow-covered forest was serene, the branches hung like white snakes entwined with clouds, and the wind passed without a sound, as if some ancient will was slumbering within.

He knew that that was their true destination.

She looked up at the ancient tree shadows, tears welling in her eyes: "I once heard my grandfather say that this forest is actually the bone forest of the fox clan—under each tree, perhaps the soul of an ancestor is buried."

As she finished speaking, Chu Ning's gaze sharpened slightly.

He suddenly sensed an extremely ancient fluctuation—not the tremor of thunder, nor the surge of spiritual energy, but the echo of some pure existence. An indescribable stillness, as if the entire forest were watching him, as if some higher being was secretly measuring his soul and blood essence.

And in this silence, the fox head pendant slowly emitted a warm glow.

It was as if the souls sleeping beneath the forest of bones heard the footsteps of those returning home.

Dong'er whispered, "The Moonlit Ice Soul... is at the bottom of the forest."

She glanced back at Chu Ning, her eyes flashing with an unprecedented seriousness: "But before we go down, I must remind you—even my grandfather said that place is a dead zone that even snow foxes do not want to stay in for long."

Chu Ning didn't speak, but simply nodded.

Dong'er led him around three withered, ghostly old trees and stood before a slanted, cracked cliff. Between the cliff's crevices, there was a stone staircase sealed off by snow, almost completely obscured by wind and frost, showing no trace of human presence.

She drew her dagger and slashed away the snow. A wisp of cold air shot out like a venomous snake, piercing straight to the bone.

“Every winter solstice, the low murmur of foxes can be heard in the forest. Grandpa said that it was our ancestors guiding the Heart of the Moon back to its place.” She paused, her eyes filled with complex emotions. “The Ice Soul of the New Moon is hidden beneath this icy abyss.”

(End of this chapter)