Yun Ya awoke from the biting wind. As a cultivator at the Soul Transformation stage, he should have been impervious to the cold, but his spiritual energy felt sealed, leaving his body stiff with frost. It had been a long time since he'd felt temperature extremes, and now he was experiencing it keenly. He twisted his stiff neck and looked around at the vast expanse of white snow. Fierce winds, laden with snowflakes, stung his face. Yun Ya felt his mind going numb from the cold; he couldn't recall what had happened or how he had ended up here.
Huh? Who was beside him, half-buried in snow, their head also covered? Yun Ya dragged his frozen body towards them. He brushed the snow from the person’s face, revealing a familiar face – Yun Yi? How had he ended up here too? Yun Ya tentatively felt Yun Yi’s pulse; his spiritual energy was also sealed.
Yun Ya tried to recall how they had gotten here. He only remembered that he, Yun Yi, and Yun He had descended the mountain on a mission from their sect. But as he tried to recall the details of the mission, a violent pain erupted in his head. He sat up and attempted to regulate his breathing. After a moment, he wasn't sure whether to be grateful. His cultivation was only temporarily sealed; he could restore it by circulating his energy to break through the blockage, though it would take time. Clearly, his captors hadn't intended to kill them outright, but abandoning them to freeze in the icy wilderness was a cruel fate.
He patted Yun Yi, trying to wake him. Yun Yi didn't react, obviously frozen and unconscious. The wilderness in winter was perilous; snow beasts could appear at any moment. Without his cultivation, he only had his martial arts, which would be like mere tickles to the thick hides of snow beasts. He needed to quickly break through the sealed acupoints to restore his spiritual energy, or he and Yun Yi would perish here if they encountered any snow beasts.
He had already checked himself. His storage ring was gone, preventing him from sending any signals. All his possessions were stored within his ring. Fortunately, his sword was still with him. This baffled Yun Ya. If he had been robbed, why only take the storage ring? And why abandon his Yun Yang Sword, which was already a semi-divine artifact? What kind of person was this, to disdain a divine sword that cultivators yearned for?
Unbeknownst to Yun Ya, his assailant didn't recognize the sword at all. Furthermore, when Steward Zhu abandoned them, he had considered that cultivators at the Soul Transformation stage wouldn't wield nameless weapons. Stealing it would be useless without a recognized bond. And even if they used it, it would be like attaching a tag, effectively announcing their identity as the robber.
If Yun Yi remained unconscious, the situation would be dire; he might freeze to death. It would be a disgrace – the first person in history to cultivate to the Soul Transformation stage, only to freeze to death…
"Yun Yi, wake up, wake up!" Yun Ya called out, patting Yun Yi’s face.
"Senior brother, what are you doing hitting me?" Yun Yi opened his eyes to see his senior brother's raised left hand, poised to strike… His face felt numb, clearly from his senior brother's blows.
"Yun Yi, you’re finally awake! You were frozen unconscious!" Yun Ya was overjoyed to see Yun Yi awake. If he hadn’t woken up soon, Yun Ya would have had to carry him away, even if he had to crawl, to seek help.
"So~so~so cold, Senior~Senior brother, where are we? Why am I so cold?" Yun Yi shivered uncontrollably, his lips trembling.
"Yun Yi, do you remember anything? Check your cultivation, see if you can break open your acupoints. Our spiritual energy has been sealed, and without our protective spiritual energy, we feel so cold." Yun Ya hoped Yun Yi could recall something. He was determined to exact revenge on whoever had abandoned them in the freezing wilderness. Yun Ya rubbed Yun Yi’s hands and feet vigorously to help him recover. The two senior brothers huddled together for warmth.
"Senior brother, I don't remember anything. It's so cold here, we need to leave quickly." Yun Yi felt a bit better; his hands and feet had regained some sensation. After all, they were cultivators at the Soul Transformation stage. Even with their spiritual energy sealed, now that they were awake, this light snow and wind wouldn't be enough to kill them.
The two of them helped each other up and left, needing to find a cave to shelter from the wind and snow and quickly break through their acupoints to restore their spiritual energy. They walked for a long distance without encountering any snow beasts. Yun Ya felt a sense of relief, knowing that if they met one now, their chances would be slim.
They were unaware that the area they had been abandoned in was precisely the region that Ye Ju and his companions had recently cleared. They had been using the snow beasts as practice targets, beating them so badly that the beasts fled in disarray at the mere whiff of danger.
The absence of snow beasts didn't mean the absence of other demonic beasts. Yun Ya felt their good fortune had run out; they were surrounded by snow wolves. These were second-tier wolves, with their pack leader, a third-tier combatant, lurking behind.
The two drew their swords and stood back-to-back, facing the wolf pack. Yun Yi was incredibly frustrated. Normally, a single palm strike could send this pack of snow wolves flying. Now, they could only fight these beasts hand-to-hand.
At this moment, he bitterly hated the person who had abandoned them in the freezing wilderness. Killing someone honorably was one thing. To humiliate him and his senior brother in such a manner, only for them to perish by beastly jaws… even dying this way would relieve their persecutors of responsibility and allow them to evade the sect's reckoning. Brilliant! Truly brilliant! This scheme was not merely vicious… it was soul-crushing!
Yun Ya was thinking the same. Having narrowly survived, he was determined to find out who had orchestrated their predicament.
Snow wolves were extremely intelligent demonic beasts, adept at coordinated attacks and ambushes. The wolf king stood on a protruding boulder. With a howl, the pack immediately surged forward, enveloping the two in the center. The pair unleashed their swordsmanship. Without spiritual energy, a sword strike against a snow wolf's paw produced the sound of metal clashing. Demonic beasts possessed robust physiques; their paws were like iron claws, capable of ripping through large rocks with a single swipe!
The sect’s Cloud Piercing Sword Technique was employed by the two…
With their superior martial skills, they managed to hold the snow wolves at bay. More than a dozen wolf corpses lay on the ground, each killed with a single sword thrust to the throat. However, they paid a price. Yun Yi’s chest was torn open, revealing bone, and his bloody flesh made him stagger precariously. The sight of blood only intensified the wolves' attacks!
Yun Ya’s left shoulder had a piece of flesh ripped away by a snow wolf. The pain almost made him cry out. Of course, the wolf didn't fare any better; it was run through the heart by Yun Ya's counter-stroke and died. The snow was splattered with blood everywhere. The two had no time to bandage their wounds, only to urgently seal the acupoints to stop the bleeding.
The wolf king paced back and forth anxiously. It hadn't expected these two cultivators to be so formidable! Yet, the flesh and blood of cultivators were too tempting; consuming them would allow it to advance immediately. The wolf king let out another howl, commanding the pack to attack once more.
The two moved increasingly sluggishly. Their clothes were torn to shreds by the wolves' claws, leaving them in a sorry state. Yun Ya knew that if this continued, they would surely die. The key was to eliminate the leader; he needed to find a way to kill the wolf king to break the stalemate.
Yun Ya signaled to Yun Yi behind him. Yun Yi understood immediately, swinging his sword to fend off a charging snow wolf. Seizing the opening, he allowed Yun Ya to step onto his palm. With a powerful push, Yun Yi propelled Yun Ya out of the wolf pack’s encirclement, his sword aimed at the wolf king…