Snow had not fallen in the Azure Flame Sect for ten thousand years.
But on the morning after Feixue's initiation, the skies wept white.
Flakes drifted gently over the azure mountains, each one glowing faintly with immortal qi. What should have been a realm of pure flame now shimmered in tranquil frost — half burning, half frozen, yet impossibly harmonious.
The disciples woke in awe.
> "The flames… they're alive, but cold."
"How can fire and frost exist together?"
"It's her — that snow-haired girl! She changed the mountain itself!"
Within hours, her name spread across the sect like wildfire:
"Snowblade Feixue — the Frost who Silenced the Phoenix."
---
In the Flame Courtyard, where disciples usually trained in heat so fierce it melted steel, a quiet chill lingered.
Several disciples stood in a circle, their expressions twisted with envy.
Luo Han, still nursing his pride after his defeat, slammed his fist into a pillar of ice.
"That witch humiliated me before the entire sect! Now the phoenix bows to her? What next — the Sect Master himself?"
Another disciple scoffed, "She's just lucky. That thing she did during the trial — that wasn't cultivation, it was trickery. She probably used a forbidden art!"
"But the phoenix bowed to her—"
"Then the phoenix was deceived!" Luo Han snapped. "I'll prove it. I'll show everyone that frost melts before flame!"
His voice trembled not with confidence, but desperation. His pride — the only thing he had — was already half-consumed by jealousy.
---
Meanwhile, in the secluded Frost Courtyard, Feixue sat cross-legged upon a lotus of ice, surrounded by stillness.
Her cultivation base pulsed quietly, threads of Origin Qi intertwining with the frozen air.
Each breath she took turned the world slightly slower — snowflakes hanging in suspension before gently resuming their fall.
Suddenly, a knock echoed on the icy gate.
"Feixue of the Northern Snows," came a woman's voice. Calm, mature, but sharp as a blade.
"I am Elder Mei Lian. The Sect Master wishes to see you."
Feixue rose gracefully.
The frost beneath her feet cracked like fragile glass as she walked toward the door.
---
Inside the Hall of Eternal Flame, the Sect Master awaited, his aura restrained yet heavy with worry.
When Feixue entered, the flames in the room dimmed, yielding to her quiet presence.
Yan Lie studied her for a long moment.
"You've done what none in our sect's history ever have. The Azure Phoenix itself bowed to you. Tell me, child—did you compel it?"
Feixue met his gaze calmly. "I did not. The phoenix saw truth. Fire is not meant to destroy ice. They coexist, just as creation and stillness coexist."
The Sect Master's expression hardened.
"And yet, heaven trembled when it bowed."
He turned toward the window, looking out at the burning mountains now laced with snow.
"The heavens do not forgive anomalies, Feixue. You've awakened their attention. The Celestial Eye has already opened — I felt its gaze last night."
Feixue's eyes flickered with silver light.
"Then let it watch. I owe heaven nothing."
Yan Lie sighed. Such words... as if she truly stands above the law of heaven itself.
"Then remember my warning. Power invites envy, and envy breeds blades in the dark. You will not be welcomed easily here."
Feixue inclined her head. "I have no need for welcome. Only peace."
She turned to leave, her footsteps whispering softly over the marble floor, leaving faint frost in her wake.
---
That night, as Feixue meditated within her courtyard, faint footsteps crept closer.
Four disciples cloaked in shadow approached — led by Luo Han.
"Now," he whispered, summoning a ring of crimson flame around her residence. "We'll melt that cursed frost and see what she truly is."
They chanted a formation spell, flames roaring to life. The air burned, warping space itself — a barrier meant to trap even a mid-tier immortal.
But before the fire could close in, everything stopped.
The flames froze mid-motion.
The wind ceased to move.
Even the sound of their own breath vanished.
Feixue opened her eyes.
A faint light flickered within her pupils — not mortal light, but something older, something that remembered the birth of stars.
> "You disturb my silence," she said softly. "Why?"
Luo Han tried to speak, but his throat locked. He could feel the blood in his veins crystallizing.
Feixue rose to her feet. Her voice did not rise, yet the night itself seemed to bow before her words.
"Leave, and I will forget this. Remain, and you will learn what silence truly means."
Terror filled their eyes.
The flames around them shattered like glass. The four fled, stumbling down the mountain in panic.
Feixue watched them go, her expression unreadable.
But as she turned back toward the courtyard, she whispered to herself:
> "So this is what fear looks like in mortals…
The heavens taught them well."
---
Far above, beyond the clouds of the Immortal Realm, a radiant palace loomed.
Within its endless halls, golden-armored celestials knelt before a vast throne of jade light.
Upon it sat the Immortal Emperor, his eyes burning with divine fire.
"The anomaly has manifested, " he said coldly. " A mortal girl who freezes divine flame. Prepare the decree. The Heavens shall test her. "
A woman in white armor stepped forward, kneeling. Her hair flowed like molten silver.
"As you command, Your Majesty. "
And with that, a Heavenly Envoy descended from the skies—her task:to investigate the "Snowblade anomaly. "