All the cultivators of Zaguhan raised their eyes in shock as they saw an immense tide of white snow descending from the mountain like a furious beast.
There was nowhere to run, no place to hide. The force of nature was relentless. All they could do was reinforce their bodies with essence and pray to the spirits.
The avalanche hit them head-on, sweeping them down the mountain as if they were mere ants. The snow dragged them for dozens of meters until, at last, everything stopped.
Minutes passed.
One of the first to emerge, digging his way out of the thick layer of snow, was Shan Luong. His impressive physique had withstood the impact—he himself was surprised by how well his body had performed. Though he had never been tested this intensely before and was at his limit, he was still standing. Soon after, other disciples of the Living Rock Sect also began to appear, with one notable exception: Laoyin Yuse, knocked out by Xan during the battle, was still missing.
Laoyin Piao, his younger brother, began digging desperately, searching in several spots for his sibling.
Jin appeared shortly after, followed by the disciples of the Serene Lake Sect. Their special constitution had granted them greater resistance to cold and pressure, and if not for their limited strength, they might have been the first to escape.
Groans and moans filled the air.
Chen Bo, from the Flying Sword Sect, rose with difficulty. His legs were weak, his body trembling. He had used every drop of essence to survive. Even staggering, he dragged himself in search of his companions.
Liang Wei already had one arm sticking out of the snow, so finding him hadn't taken long. Chen Bo approached and helped pull him out. The boy was pale as a ghost—he had never felt death so closely before. His breathing gradually calmed.
The Xiao twins, on the other hand, had still not been found. There was no sign of them. Liang Wei and Chen Bo began digging urgently in multiple places, trying to use their enhanced hearing and other senses. After some time, they located the two girls—unconscious, covered in bruises, and nearly frozen. Despite their critical condition, they were still alive—a small miracle. Perhaps the spirits were being merciful.
"They managed to hold on… just barely," Chen Bo murmured, relieved.
Only one member of the sect remained to be found.
Mei Lian.
The search for her took longer. When they finally found her, she was far from the others. Her body looked like a broken doll—limbs twisted at impossible angles, neck nearly torn. The scene was brutal.
Before her lifeless body, her companions fell silent.
Liang Wei, blood dripping from his mouth due to the teeth broken by Yen, felt his hatred for the Steelblood triplets grow in his chest. There was no room left for any other emotion.
And the Steelblood triplets?
No sign of them. Had they died in the avalanche? Few believed that. If Earth cultivators had survived, why would those with bodies like steel have perished?
The mood among the survivors was grim—defeated, injured, and traumatized.
While Laoyin Piao was still digging through the snow in search of his brother, something strange happened. The ground began to tremble.
Rumble. Rumble.
The earth shook, growing stronger with each passing second. From the ground emerged giant worm-like creatures made of rock and soil. They coiled around the disciples, trapping them.
"Is this your doing?!" shouted Yan Rui furiously, looking at the disciples of the Living Rock Sect.
But then his eyes widened as he saw even Shan Luong and the others being captured.
"We didn't do anything!" shouted the Earth cultivators, just as confused as the rest.
The ground beneath everyone's feet began to soften. Slowly, they started to sink. They tried to resist, to channel essence, to attack... all in vain. That power was superior—dense vital energy filled the entire area.
Within seconds, all the disciples had vanished into the earth.
***
Pointing his hand at the hare's leg as if wielding a spear, Tristan sliced through the creature's thigh with surgical precision. The blade of Darkness cut through the flesh like butter, and purple blood sprayed—though not as much as he expected. He had deliberately avoided the vital points. He wanted to see how the creature would react. He was more interested in observing its behavior than killing it outright.
Fear flashed for an instant in the beast's eyes. Tristan thought it would run. But then, as if it had slammed into an invisible wall, its body froze. A moment later, with a sudden jerk, it turned to him with an animalistic expression of rage.
The beast lunged at Tristan, who dodged with ease.
'This thing doesn't seem able to control its essence.'
Tristan found that odd. Unlike humans who needed to study and train, he knew magical beasts with cores learned to use their powers by instinct.
'Maybe it doesn't have a core?'
He kept dodging the hare's attacks, studying its behavior, and began to find it stranger by the second.
Its movements froze abruptly for several seconds at a time.
Something was clearly wrong.
Madness? Disease? Those were some of the possibilities that crossed his mind.
Tristan examined every detail of the hare carefully. Aside from its abnormal size and the runes on its body, there seemed to be nothing out of place.
'Wait…' He finally noticed something else.
'Those eyes… are normal?'
Monsters were usually so insane that many practiced cannibalism to increase their power, which often caused an energy imbalance reflected in a peculiar gleam in their eyes.
But all he saw in this creature's eyes was conflict.
Even when it attacked, he didn't feel killing intent.
As if its body and mind were out of sync.
The hare charged again. It tried to strike him with one of its powerful hind legs, launching itself like a slingshot. But to Tristan, its movements were slow, almost like slow motion.
The attack missed, yet the creature didn't retreat. It tried again. This time, its mouth was wide open, crooked, long teeth gleaming in the faint light. It lunged as if trying to bite his head.
'Nothing… there's no intent in these attacks.'
He frowned. With his hand once again cloaked in Darkness, he sliced a piece off the hare's arm.
His opponent didn't seem to care at all and tried to bite him again. However, for a brief moment, Tristan noticed something—the creature's eyes had reacted to his strike.
'Interesting,' Tristan thought, leaning slightly back to dodge the teeth by a narrow margin. 'It feels pain… but its body keeps moving…'
A thought struck him.
He raised his right hand, drawing more essence from his core. The Darkness on his fingers grew denser, more alive. When he looked into the creature's eyes, for a second, he saw them tremble—likely in fear.
Tristan didn't hesitate. In a quick, clean motion, he drove his black blade into the hare's chest. The flesh opened with a dry sound, and the creature collapsed to the ground.
Silence.
The hare didn't make a sound—no cry, no whimper. Its body fell to the side, unmoving. It didn't tremble, didn't convulse. It didn't seem like a living being had died—more like someone had taken the batteries out of a toy. Tristan crouched and watched the light of life slowly fade from its eyes.
Now, its eyes seemed strangely calm and peaceful, as if death had brought relief. Peace for a life of torment—something Tristan couldn't fully understand, at least not yet.
And then, for one terrifying moment, he saw himself lying there, in the hare's place.