The ridge was silent again.
Hundreds of bodies lay scattered across the snow indigo robes torn, silver masks cracked, void mist dissipating into harmless wisps. Elder Huo Tian's corpse lay at the center, face frozen in a final rictus of disbelief, his rank-nine aperture already crumbling to dust under the golden threads that had drained it dry.
Lin Xuan stood over the body only as long as it took to search it.
Storage ring. Rank-nine void-path gu tokens. Grand elder command seal. A final map showing the Shadow Veil Clan's last hidden fortress five hundred li north guarded by a rank-nine sovereign and what remained of their elite reserves.
He stored everything without ceremony.
Hong Lian stepped over a rank-eight corpse without looking down. Thorn blood still dripped from her fingertips, freezing into red beads on the snow.
She spoke quietly.
"They committed their main force. Huo Tian personally led it. And they're all dead."
Lin Xuan nodded once.
"For now."
He turned north toward the higher peaks.
Hong Lian fell into step beside him.
They left the ridge behind hundreds of corpses slowly being buried by fresh snow.
No graves. No markers. Only wind. Only dust. Only the next step.
The pass ahead narrowed further granite walls closing in until the path was barely wide enough for two to walk abreast. Overhead, the sky was a thin ribbon of gray; the light weak and cold. Snow lay in drifts against the walls, hiding fissures deep enough to swallow a man whole.
They moved in single file now Lin Xuan leading, Hong Lian a step behind. The wind funneled through the pass like breath from a dying giant, carrying ice crystals that stung exposed skin.
Halfway through, Lin Xuan stopped.
Hong Lian stopped behind him.
He extended his spiritual sense.
A faint qi ripple rank-eight initial waited at the far end of the pass. Not a trap. Not an ambush. A single cultivator, standing openly, waiting.
Lin Xuan spoke without turning.
"One more."
Hong Lian's vines twitched faintly at her fingertips.
"Shadow Veil remnant?"
"Likely."
They continued.
The pass opened into a small bowl-shaped clearing ringed by overhangs. Snow lay thick here, undisturbed except for a single set of footprints leading to the center.
A man stood waiting.
Rank-eight initial. Shadow Veil. Black robes. Silver mask. Short black blade resting point-down in the snow.
He spoke without turning.
"You killed the vanguard. You killed the main force. You killed Huo Tian."
Lin Xuan and Hong Lian stopped ten paces away.
The man turned slowly.
"You are the Cicada Thief."
Lin Xuan's voice was flat.
"You are the last."
The man laughed low, mechanical.
"I am the last of the first wave. The sovereign has already dispatched the second. Rank-nine peak. Fifty rank-eight elites. They will arrive in three days. You cannot outrun them forever."
Lin Xuan stepped forward.
"You talk too much."
The man raised his blade.
Void mist exploded devouring light, sound, space.
Rank-eight void domain formed two hundred paces across, swallowing the clearing.
Darkness closed.
Inside the domain, gravity twisted. Time stuttered. Blades of pure void slashed from every direction.
Lin Xuan moved.
Time Acceleration thirty seconds forward on the man's own body.
The rank-eight aged skin tightening, qi collapsing, meridians crumbling.
He staggered.
Hong Lian struck.
Crimson vines erupted hundreds wrapping limbs, piercing armor, tearing flesh.
The man snarled void qi surging to shred the vines.
Lin Xuan closed the distance.
Devourer Gu absorbed the void qi.
Thunderheart Gu arced violet lightning through the aperture.
The man screamed hallucinations flooding his mind.
Golden Cicada threads drank soul, qi, life.
The man convulsed once.
Then stilled.
Rank-eight corpse hit the snow.
Silence returned.
Lin Xuan searched the body quick, efficient. Storage ring, rank-eight void-path gu tokens, Shadow Veil command token, a final message jade slip from the sovereign.
He crushed the slip.
The contents imprinted in his mind:
"The Cicada Thief has eliminated the first wave. Second wave dispatched. Rank-nine peak leading. Fifty rank-eight elites. Converge at the Frosted Pass. Do not underestimate. Kill on sight."
Lin Xuan stored the ring and tokens.
Hong Lian wiped thorn blood from her hands.
She looked at the corpse.
Then at Lin Xuan.
"They're sending rank-nine peak next. Fifty rank-eight elites. Three days."
Lin Xuan looked north toward the alpine valley.
"We don't fight them in open terrain."
He remounted the panther.
Hong Lian remounted her lotus beast.
They rode north through the pass, into the valley beyond.
The corpse lay in the snow slowly being buried by fresh powder.
No grave.
No marker.
Only wind.
Only dust.
Only the next step.
The second wave would arrive soon.
They would find a dead rank-eight.
They would find rumors.
They would find nothing.
Lin Xuan and Hong Lian would already be gone.
Stronger.
Colder.
Closer.
To be continued...