Chapter 70: Frozen Judgment: A Mother’s Frozen Grief
The winds howled atop the Broken Moon Ridge, slicing across the treetops like blades. Snow did not belong here, not in the middle of a southern forest, but the land had turned white, eerily silent, as if it sensed the storm that was coming.
A group of cultivators moved cautiously through the ridge’s shadowed paths, their Spirit Beast Hall insignias glinting on their robes.
"Are you sure the Spirit-Eyed Thunder Tiger is still in this region?" asked a young man in blue robes, his expression filled with barely concealed greed. His name was Hao Fei, one of the four Inner Disciples sent on this mission.
"We need its core. Elder Lian said he can refine it into a Soul Tempering Pill," another Inner Disciple chimed in. This one, named Chen Yu, had sharp eyes and an even sharper tongue. "Besides, these rogue spirit beasts are becoming a nuisance. They need to be put down."
Behind them marched eight Outer Disciples, young, brash, and barely into the Foundation Realm. They joked with each other, speaking of spirit cores and merit points.
At the center of the group walked an old man, no taller than a child, hunched but radiating strength like a drawn blade.
Outer Elder Mu Lian. Opening Realm cultivator
Elder Mu Lian paused mid-step.
His thick, bushy eyebrows furrowed as a strange sensation prickled against the back of his neck. The heat that had clung to the southern forest all day, the sticky humidity that soaked even the hardiest cultivators, had vanished.
In its place came a creeping chill, Soft, Silent. And unnatural.
His breath curled into mist before him.