The black ice spread at a blistering speed, engulfing everything in its path. His eyes, already a deep black, became frozen abysses. The pupil and iris merged into a single entity, a polished black mirror reflecting everything around him, but distorted, as if reality itself bent under his gaze. Around his eyes, frost patterns spread, etching designs onto his pale skin.
His skin, once of a normal hue, took on a pallid, almost translucent tone, revealing veins of dark bluish-black snaking beneath the surface. Black ice crystals gradually emerged from his skin, forming a natural armor with metallic reflections. These crystals grew slowly, spreading along his arms, torso, and legs. Each crystal emitted a faint, icy vapor.
His hands transformed into sharp claws, coated in a thin layer of black ice. His nails lengthened and hardened.
PanGu rose slowly, an icy aura emanating from him, a cold so intense it froze the air around his body. Black flakes, like frozen ashes, swirled around him.
Sijin, standing before him, furrowed her brows, her piercing gaze scanning the sky as if seeking an answer in the stars.
"You even planned for this situation..." she murmured, her voice tinged with rare irritation. It was one of the few times Sijin was in a foul mood, and it showed in the tension coursing through her body. She extended her hand, and one of the silver pillars abruptly shrank, transforming into a slender lance vibrating with energy.
Black, feline, and sinuous marks began to appear on her body, tracing wild and primal patterns. The symbol on her forehead glowed intensely, emitting a pale light that contrasted with the surrounding darkness. She opened her mouth, revealing sharp canines, those of a tiger ready to tear into its prey.
*"Anarchy!"* she screamed, charging at PanGu with blistering speed.
PanGu, despite the instability of his body, managed to block her lance with his black ice claws. The clash sent dark sparks flying, and the air vibrated with the force of the impact. Sijin pivoted with agility, swinging her lance in a deadly arc. PanGu narrowly dodged, but where the blade had passed, it left a tear in space, a gaping portal from which Void Walkers emerged—spectral figures with empty eyes, ready to join the chaos.
"I'd like to see how far the Tao is willing to go to save one of its sons," Sijin taunted, swinging her lance with deadly grace.
PanGu sighed, grabbing the blade with his bare hand, his black ice claws grinding against the metal.
"A Blessed of the Tao who hates the will of the universe, who kills other Blessed for pleasure..."
He fixed her with a dark, determined gaze.
"You're truly worse than the Devourer," he said, his voice calm despite the storm raging around them.
***
Two days in the Eternal Ruins.
BaiShe currently stood in the Celestial Mountains, floating mountain ranges bathed in Qi so dense it seemed to pulse in the air. These lands, once the heart of the ancient Qilin Empire, were now ruins hidden by formations.
Rumors spoke of powerful relics and hidden legacies, but BaiShe paid them little mind. He merely feigned hunting monsters while discreetly searching for clues about the hypothetical Forbidden City.
*Roar*
BaiShe dodged to the left, narrowly avoiding the gaping jaws of a massive creature. The monster resembled a buffalo, but its body was covered in iridescent scales, and its wings were composed of thousands of metallic, blade-like feathers.
It was a level three monster, and it wasn't alone. An entire troupe of these beasts, some level four, stood before him.
BaiShe drew his sword without hesitation. With a fluid motion, he ran toward the first creature, his blade easily slicing off a foreleg before the beast collapsed. He leaped onto its back, decapitating it with a precise strike, then executed an acrobatic flip to avoid the metallic feathers launched like arrows. He landed gracefully, one hand behind his back, and with an elegant gesture, shook his sword to let blood droplets fall.
"Seven level four and ten level five… a few seconds at most," he murmured, his tone as calm as his pupils gleamed.
In an instant, he vanished, reappearing before another buffalo. With a casual motion, he ripped out its throat, leaving behind a residual image, dodging the spray of blood with precision. His sword blurred, almost untraceable, and the buffaloes around him were suddenly marked with silver traces across their bodies.
As BaiShe reappeared before another group, the other creatures exploded into a mass of perfectly sliced flesh, each piece symmetrical.
He threw his sword, which easily pierced a monster's eye, and with a simple gesture, manipulated his Qi to make it spin in the air. The blade became a silver flash, slicing through the wings of the flying buffaloes with deadly precision. The metallic feathers fell like a deadly rain, clattering against the ground.
Weaponless, BaiShe rushed into the fray. With a punch, he struck a level four buffalo squarely in the chest. The impact was so violent the creature literally exploded, its iridescent scales flying apart, its flesh projected in all directions. BaiShe dodged the debris.
Another buffalo charged, its sharp horns aimed at BaiShe. With a fluid motion, he seized one of the horns, twisting the beast's neck with brutal force. The sharp crack of the spine echoed in the air, and the buffalo collapsed, lifeless.
He caught his sword mid-flight, spinning it in his hand before throwing it again. This time, the blade pierced three buffaloes in a single strike, skewering them through and through before returning to him.
He looked around, his cold eyes sweeping over the monsters' corpses. "A useless distraction," he murmured, drawing the corpses into his personal space.
"Come out..." he said suddenly, followed by silence.