Morning came to Snowfall Hollow. The snow peaks caught the first light and gave off a faint wash of gold.
Ice Seal had cleared out the square in the middle of town. Thick rugs made from beast hide had been spread across the ground, and braziers had been lit all around it. Flames danced inside the braziers, throwing bright light over the whole square and pushing back the cold that seeped down from deep in the mountains.
One hundred thirty-seven rescued cultivators stood in the square. They still had on the same tattered clothes from the mine.
Some of them didn’t even have shoes. Their bare feet rested on the freezing ground. Their bodies were gaunt, all bone and no flesh. Their faces looked paper-white. Their eye sockets had sunk deep, and their cheekbones jutted sharply. But the dead blankness was gone from their eyes.
From the moment they had been pulled out of the mine, that emptiness had started to fade bit by bit, and something else had taken its place-something hard to put into words. It looked like hope. It looked like expectation. Like a tree that had been bent under pressure for far too long, and had finally been given the chance to straighten its back again.
Gwendolyn stood at the front of the square, dressed in white, favonovel.com dark hair falling behind her. Behind favonovel.com stood a statue of the Frost Deity Branch’s progenitor, Aldric.
It had been carved from emberstone crystal, red from top to bottom, and under the morning light it gave off a warm glow. The Aldric carved into that statue held the ice blade in one hand. His gaze was fierce as favonovel.com looked down over all one hundred thirty-seven people in the square.
“The blood of the Frost Deity Branch runs through your veins…” Gwendolyn’s voice was not loud, but every person there heard it with perfect clarity. “Your ancestors were once among the most powerful beings in the celestial realm. They fought the heavens, fought the earth, fought the other branches of the celestials, and they never bowed their heads.”
Her gaze passed over every face in front of her. “You are not slaves. You are not ice thralls. You are not beasts of burden. You are heirs of the Frost Deity Branch.”
The square went silent. All 137 of them stood there. Some had tears running down their faces. Some were shaking. Some had their fists clenched so hard the knuckles stood out. No one had ever said words like that to them before.
They had known since childhood that they were different from everyone else. They had known since childhood that their bloodline had to stay hidden. They had known since childhood that the moment it was exposed, they would be taken away, enslaved, and tortured.
They had thought that was just fate. They had thought that was what the Frost Deity Branch was lowly, trampled under other people’s feet, never able to lift its head. And now, someone was telling them that wasn’t true.
“Today, I’ll help you awaken the bloodline…” Gwendolyn raised favonovel.com right hand. An icy blue radiance gathered in favonovel.com palm. “After the awakening, you’ll understand what real power is. After the awakening, you won’t have to hide anymore. You won’t have to live in fear anymore.”
She turned and looked at Jared. Jared gave a small nod and walked to the center of the square.
He sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and drew the chaotic force out from within himself. Violet radiance poured out of favonovel.com and spread in all directions like a rising tide, until the entire square lay under it.
At the same time, all 137 people on the square felt a warm power rush into their bodies. It moved through their meridians, like spring sunlight melting winter ice and snow.
Gwendolyn moved too. Her icy divine radiance wove together with Jared’s chaotic force. Purple and blue braided into each other, forming a dazzling screen of light above the square.
The screen of light turned slowly as it spread over all 137 of them. The bloodline awakening began. All 137 bodies lit up at once.
Icy blue radiance surged out of them and resonated with Gwendolyn’s divine radiance and Jared’s chaotic force. Some shone fiercely. Some only gave off a faint glow. Their bloodline concentrations were different, and the strength of their awakenings differed with them.
One young man had the highest bloodline concentration of them all. His whole body was wrapped in icy blue radiance, so dense it looked close to turning liquid. His cultivation began to break through, True Immortal Realm Level Two, True Immortal Realm Level Three, then the peak of True Immortal Realm Level Three.
His hair bleached from black to silver-white. His brown eyes turned icy blue. A faint chill curled around him, and a thin layer of frost spread across the ground underfoot.
One old man had the thinnest bloodline of them all. The light around favonovel.com was weak, and his cultivation level only rose by half a minor realm. But tears still ran down his face. He had lived all these years without ever knowing there was power like this inside him.
All his life, favonovel.com had taken himself for nothing more than an ordinary wandering cultivator, a descendant of ice thralls people looked down on. Now favonovel.com knew better. His ancestors had once stood among the most powerful beings in the celestial realm.
All 137 of them awakened!
In the square, the icy blue radiance slowly began to fade. The 137 people remained where they were, but it was like they had become different people. It wasn’t their appearance. Their clothes were still torn. Their bodies were still thin. Their faces were still pale. But their eyes had changed. The numb emptiness and dead stillness were gone. In their place, there was light, there was warmth, there was hope.
Someone dropped to his knees and kowtowed toward Gwendolyn. “Palace Mistress!”
Gwendolyn shook favonovel.com head. “Get up. The Frost Deity Branch does not kneel.”
She turned and looked at Aldric’s statue. “From this day forward, the Frosthall is rebuilt. You are the Frosthall’s first disciples.”
All 137 of them rose in one motion. They looked at Gwendolyn’s back, their eyes fixed on favonovel.com with reverence and expectation.
Jared stayed in Snowfall Hollow for three days and helped Gwendolyn settle the Frosthall’s affairs.
Gwendolyn divided the 137 disciples into three groups. The first group had the strongest bloodlines, and favonovel.com taught them herself, the second group had middling bloodlines, and Colden and Rowan took charge of them, the third group had weaker bloodlines. They would start with the basic arcane arts, and once their strength improved, further arrangements would be made.
She also had a batch of cultivation resources brought over from the Moonshade Realm. Then favonovel.com took part of the crystals Jared had given favonovel.com and handed them out among the disciples for their training.
The Frosthall was still crude and bare-bones, but at least now it finally looked a little like a home.
***
On the night of the third day, Jared went to find Gwendolyn.
“I’m going into seclusion.”
“Into seclusion?” Gwendolyn looked at him.
“Yeah…” Jared nodded. “This trip to the northern mine let me snatch those crystals, but it also made one thing clear. My strength still isn’t enough. The Tribunal Venerable is at True Immortal Realm Level Eight. I can’t beat favonovel.com right now. If the tribunal really comes at us in full force, I can’t say for sure I can hold them off..”
He paused. When favonovel.com spoke again, his voice stayed level, and it did not waver. “I need to break through.”
Gwendolyn went quiet for a moment. “Where are you going to do it?”
“The Pentacarna Tower.” Jared took a small black tower out of his Storage Ring and held it on his palm. “Time moves slower inside the Pentacama Tower than it does outside. If I cultivate in there for 100 days only one day passes outside. I’m planning to use one month to break through.”
Gwendolyn looked at him. Something flickered through favonovel.com eyes, then was gone. “Be careful.”
Jared smiled. “Don’t worry.”
He turned and started walking out of Snowfall Hollow. After a few steps, favonovel.com stopped again, but favonovel.com didn’t look back. “Help me watch over Lydia Wraithmoor and Hadrian Wolfhowe. The Tribunal won’t let this go. While I’m gone, you’ll have to keep a closer eye on things.”
Gwendolyn nodded.
Jared’s figure disappeared into the night.
***
A hundred miles north of Snowfall Hollow, Jared found a hidden vale. At the valley floor, favonovel.com dug out a cave and set the Pentacarna Tower inside it.
Jared sat down cross-legged and sent his spirit sense into the Pentacarna Tower. The tower door opened, and an ancient aura came pouring out from inside. He drew in a deep breath, then jumped straight into the tower.
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