NOVEL NEXT Chapter 122: Mount Lianxu
Kael exhaled, his breath clouding in the cold, the Lotus Flame calming within his dantian. He studied the fallen, noting the black robes with twin crimson spirals on their chests—marks of the Ghost Lotus Sect, a rogue faction infamous for hunting ancient legacies.
They knew of the Lotus, drawn by the scroll's primal qi, a beacon to those who craved its secrets. Kael resumed his trek, his steps slower, eyes scanning the storm for more threats.
The Sect's presence meant others would follow, their greed a flame that burned brighter than fear.
Three days later, the mountains turned crueler, their peaks shrouded in relentless blizzards. Kael abandoned the high paths, descending into a ravine where ice-crusted roots twisted through jagged rocks like frozen veins.
The wind fell silent, muffled by steep cliffs, but the quiet offered no safety—only a sense of being watched. No beasts roamed, no birds called, the ravine devoid of life, its stillness heavy with ancient menace.
The Silver Lotus Flame stirred in Kael's dantian, no longer passive but defensive, its light pulsing with unease. The ravine walls shimmered faintly, their surfaces etched with fractured runes, remnants of an old formation still clinging to life.
Kael crouched, brushing snow from the ground, revealing a red rune glowing faintly beneath the frost. "Blood Seal," he muttered, recognizing the warding formation, its qi broken but not dead.
He pressed two fingers to the rune, feeding it a wisp of Silver Lotus Flame. The earth groaned, a low rumble shaking the ravine. Snow exploded upward, and a blackened claw burst from the ice, long and twisted, wrapped in shadow like charred wood.
Kael leapt back, narrowly dodging as the ground split, revealing a corpse beast—a decayed bear, its massive frame towering, its skull cracked from ancient battles, its flesh half-rotted, pulsing with blackened qi.
Its eyes burned with dark flame, a guardian of the Lotus Path awakened by Kael's presence, its aura rivaling a Soul Flame Realm cultivator. Kael stepped forward, Abyssal Fang igniting with Silver Lotus Flame, its silver-violet light a beacon in the ravine's gloom. The beast lunged, its claw raking through the air, corrupted qi surging with primal fury.
Kael ducked low, driving his blade into its ribs, the Lotus Flame spreading like wildfire, charring its decayed flesh. The beast didn't flinch, its other paw slamming into Kael, sending him crashing into the cliff wall.
Pain seared through his back, his vision flickering, snow cushioning his fall but not the impact. He staggered upright, wiping blood from his lips, his breath steadying as the beast advanced, smoke pouring from its charred ribs.
The Silver Lotus Flame alone wasn't enough. Kael closed his eyes, letting his dantian connect with his Daos—Silent Eclipse's shadow, Crescent Requiem's rhythm, and the new seed born from the Silverhorned Wolf's purified essence. It stirred, sharp and calm, a relentless force still unnamed but alive. His dantian flared, a third pulse emerging, young but potent.
Abyssal Fang lit up, not with silver fire but a muted, pale gray edge—stillness, not flame. The corpse beast charged, its roar shaking the ravine. Kael's footwork shifted, fluid and near-invisible, guided by the new Dao's quiet power.
His blade met the beast's blackened flesh, and silence fell, the corrupted qi unraveling like a thread pulled loose. The beast's form dissolved, its roar silenced, its eyes fading as it crumbled into ash, the ravine still once more.
Kael stood frozen, the gray flame flickering at his fingertips, its nullifying power a revelation. Not just purification, but erasure—a Dao of stillness, awakened in the crucible of battle. He exhaled, the Lotus Flame calming, the crimson mark pulsing with approval, its rhythm a quiet vow to continue.
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By nightfall, Kael reached a frozen lake at the foot of Mount Lianxu, its surface a mirror of ice reflecting the clouded sky. The air was thinner, charged with a subtle qi that made his meridians hum. The mountain loomed ahead, its peak lost in mist, its slopes a labyrinth of cliffs and ancient ruins buried beneath snow and time.
Kael set up camp by the lake's edge, igniting a single Silver Lotus Flame that cast long shadows across the ice, its warmth a ward against the biting cold.
The scroll rested in his lap, its runes glowing faintly, their primal qi resonating with the crimson mark, a guide to the Lotus Path hidden within the mountain's heart.
He stared at Mount Lianxu, its presence a silent challenge, its secrets guarded by trials that had claimed countless cultivators. The Silver Lotus Flame within him pulsed, no longer just a weapon but a guide, a legacy etched into his spirit core.
Kael, Warden of the Forbidden Lotus, felt the weight of his path, his resolve burning brighter than the flame at his side.
The mountain would remember his steps, and the Lotus Path would test his worth. Kael gripped Abyssal Fang, his silver eyes fixed on the peak, ready to face whatever destiny demanded.
Kael trudged through the snow-dusted ridges of the Howling Spine Mountains, his boots sinking into the icy ground with each determined step. The sun dipped low, casting long shadows across the jagged peaks, while clouds clung to the cliffs like restless spirits.
The air was still, unnaturally so, carrying a weight that pressed against his chest. Inside his robes, the scroll pulsed faintly, its ancient qi humming in rhythm with the crimson mark on his forearm.
The Silver Lotus Flame flickered within his dantian, no longer dormant but alive, guiding him toward Mount Lianxu's hidden heart.
The path twisted through hidden valleys, where jagged rocks jutted like broken bones. Fewer beasts roamed here, their absence not a sign of safety but a warning—something ancient and fearsome slumbered beneath the earth, its presence a shadow that even spirit beasts fled.
Kael's silver eyes scanned the horizon, his senses sharp, attuned to the subtle shifts in the mountain's qi. His body ached from battles past—the gash on his ribs, the bruise on his shoulder—but the Lotus Flame steadied his meridians, sealing the pain with threads of purified qi.