CHAPTER 117 — Snowpeak's Last Stand
Snow crunched under Lin Xuan's boots as he and his group crested the last ridge.
Cold wind screamed across the shattered landscape, carrying flakes of ash instead of ice.
Snowpeak Sword Pavilion…
the once-proud fortress of frost and sword intent…
was no longer a shining white mountain.
It was a battlefield of ruin and shadow.
Half the mountain had been devoured.
A black vortex spiraled above it, bleeding abyssal qi into the sky like a cosmic wound.
Sword intent—once sharp enough to cut mountains—now fluttered like torn paper.
Mu's breath caught.
"Spirits… they're… They're consuming the entire peak…"
Lin said nothing.
His eyes were locked ahead—
cold, sharp, and burning with killing intent.
Because he felt life.
Flickering.
Almost extinguished.
The last of Snowpeak's disciples.
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1. The Survivors' Final Stand
They hurried down the ridge and into the remains of the outer courtyard.
The sight was devastating.
Sword disciples lay in the snow like broken statues—
their bodies turning to crystalline ice as abyssal energy hollowed them out.
But at the highest surviving terrace—
the Glacial Sword Hall, split down the middle—
a group of badly wounded disciples and one elder clung to survival inside a flickering barrier of frost.
A massive beast of shadow-ice was hammering against it.
BOOM!
Cracks spidered across the barrier.
The elder—half frozen, one arm missing—forced out a roar:
> "Hold—HOLD! This is the last bastion!"
Another beast rammed the barrier—
"NO—!"
CRACK.
The barrier shattered.
The beasts lunged—
Only for a streak of lightning to crash through the courtyard.
CRACK—BOOOOOM!
Dragon lightning obliterated the pack of beasts in an instant.
Snowpeak disciples stared in shock as Bai—dragon form—descended in a rush of divine thunder.
Then Lin Xuan stepped through the cloud of sizzling ash, spear in hand, eyes glowing with draconic brilliance.
A breath of relief escaped the broken elder.
"Cloudsky…?
No…
Y-you're… Lin Xuan…"
Lin caught the elder as he collapsed.
"You held on well," he said softly, feeding him a healing pill.
The elder's eyes widened at the pill's potency.
"This… this is a peak earth-grade frost healing pill…!"
"Save your strength." Lin rose.
"We'll take it from here."
---
2. Abyssal Forces Attack
The ground trembled.
A wave of abyssal beasts surged down the slope—
a thousand-strong tide of corruption.
Mu stepped beside Lin, face pale but determined.
Wen drew his sword, veins glowing faintly as he circulated his qi.
Shengyuan lifted his blade with calm focus.
Dragon Bai's pressure intensified.
Lin stepped forward.
His spear spun, humming with cosmic resonance.
"Bai, Mu, Wen—protect the survivors. Shengyuan, with me."
The beasts roared and charged.
Lin dashed forward—
Star-Orbit Footwork — Celestial Spiral Dash
His figure blurred into starlight.
The first beast lunged—
Lin reappeared beside it and split its head open with a single thrust.
Two more tried to flank him—
he twisted, lightning surging from his heels, and skewered both in one sweeping arc.
Bai unleashed a column of divine lightning, erasing dozens at once.
Mu and Wen coordinated beautifully—her flame-lightning slashes and his shadow-step swordplay combining to dismantle the flanking attackers.
In seconds—
the entire wave of beasts turned to steam and dust.
But Lin's expression only grew darker.
This was only the first wave.
---
3. Elder Frostwind's Warning
Lin helped Elder Frostwind sit upright.
"What happened here?" he asked.
The elder coughed, blood freezing into ice on his lips.
"The… Shade General," he rasped.
"He descended three hours ago.
He slaughtered our Sect Master.
He… devoured her ice soul…"
Mu gasped.
Wen clenched his fists until they bled.
Elder Frostwind pointed toward the vortex above the mountain.
"He is forging a weapon… an abyssal blade that can pierce even Saint defenses.
He used our spiritual vein as the anchor."
Lin's eyes hardened.
"Then we destroy it."
"No!" Frostwind grabbed his sleeve.
"You don't understand…
The Shade General… is protected by that portal.
Any attack you send… it will absorb, and the portal will grow stronger!"
Lin froze.
He could sense it now—
A structure of abyssal law.
The portal wasn't summoning troops.
It was stabilizing the Abyssal Shadow Gate—
a sub-dimensional maw preparing to swallow Snowpeak into the abyss.
Wen's expression went white.
"Lin… if that portal finishes forming, the entire region will be lost."
Lin didn't blink.
"Then we make sure it doesn't finish."
---
4. Evacuation Into the Inner World
Lin raised his hand.
The air crackled with cosmic energy.
SHUUUUUM—
A radiant gateway opened behind him, swirling with starlight and divine qi.
"This is my world," Lin said.
"All of you—enter."
Snowpeak disciples hesitated—
But the moment they stepped through, their eyes glowed with wonder.
Twin suns.
Rich spiritual qi.
Healing winds.
Trees and mountains made of pure world law.
Saint Shengyuan materialized and bowed to the newcomers.
"This is a sanctuary," he said.
"We will tend to your wounded."
As the last disciple entered, Lin closed the gate.
Only Lin, Bai, Mu, Wen, and Shengyuan remained.
Lin turned toward the vortex.
The Abyssal Shade General had paused his ritual.
Black wings spread like solar eclipses.
His six burning eyes slowly turned toward Lin.
He extended a clawed hand, abyssal energy writhing like living shadows.
> "World-seed child…"
His voice shook the mountain.
> "Aren't you going to run?"
Lin lifted his spear.
"I don't run."
The Shade General smiled—a horrifying grin that stretched far too wide.
> "Good."
> "Because I've been waiting for you."
---
5. The General's First Move — A Probe
A tendril of abyssal law lashed out—
thin, precise, deadly—
trying to slip into Lin's body.
Into his world.
Lin's eyes widened.
"He's trying to mark my inner world…"
Bai roared, releasing a surge of divine lightning that shattered the tendril.
Mu and Wen poured qi into a defensive barrier.
Shengyuan invoked a slice of his Saint realm comprehension to stabilize the space.
But Lin…
Lin felt something else.
The way the abyssal energy reached for his world—
it was like touching a nerve he didn't know he had.
He could feel his fear trembling behind his ribs.
Fear of upgrading his solar system.
Fear of expanding too fast.
Fear of losing control.
Fear of becoming what the abyss wanted him to be.
But the Shade General's attack…
It pushed something inside him.
It forced him to confront that hesitation.
The Shade General laughed.
> "Your world is young.
Small.
Soft."
He spread his arms.
> "Soon… it will be MINE."
Lin's heart trembled.
Not with fear.
With clarity.
---
6. Cliffhanger — The Breaking Point Before Revelation
Lin gripped his spear.
He felt the suns of his inner world pulse.
He felt the orbiting planets tremble.
He felt the sapling reaching for him.
Felt Bai's dragon soul roaring within.
Felt the Saint pushing against the limits of his reborn body.
He felt everything—
And he realized…
He wasn't breathing air.
He was breathing limitation.
And he whispered to himself:
> "Is this… air I'm breathing?"
Mu glanced at him, confused.
Bai froze mid-breath.
Lin raised his spear, and the sky shook.
Because in that moment—
he understood the shackle.
And he knew he would break it.
For now—
he stepped forward, eyes blazing with gold and cosmic fire.
"Shade General."
He lowered his spear.
"Your harvest ends today."
The vortex above the mountain began to crack.
The Shadow General's wings flared.
The entire battlefield held its breath.
END OF CHAPTER 117
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