“Even the Ice Emperor’s lands have them now?” Shock rippled like frost across steel. These invaders dared step onto her snowbound territory—were they courting a blizzard’s death?

“Heh. Mere ants, gone with a flick.” The Ice Emperor’s lips curved, half-smile, half-ice. Her beauty bloomed like a snow lotus opening in a whiteout, and many rulers stared, spellbound.

“Heh… the Ice Emperor stands mighty…” Their voices drifted like warm breath in winter air.

She was stunning, yet, like the woman from Chronos City, there was an eerie tilt to that grace, a moon behind thin clouds.

Still, her words held. Those making trouble on her grounds were swept away by one finger, like snow brushed off a sleeve.

“But tell me,” the King of Shengyang Kingdom said, Spirit Energy pulling back like a tide from shore, “is this the one who slaughtered three thousand elites of Xuanyang Ancient Pool? They feel like regular folk.”

It was strange, a quiet hole in the ice.

“So,” the Ice Emperor tilted slightly, a swan moving through frost, “this doesn’t smell like any empire’s hand.” Thousandwise, behind her, caught the cue at once.

Whoosh. A clean crackle of ice rang, like glass under winter sun. Thousandwise struck like lightning, a black iron chain already in hand, whipping into the invader frozen inside the block.

“Please look.” Her voice was calm, cool water over stone.

The black chain bit like a sharp ice-blade, and with a precise slice she lifted out a severed forearm from the block, clean as a split icicle. “Here lies their secret.”

Heads turned. Along the side of the taken forearm, a strange black sigil crawled like ink frost. It climbed from the back of the hand upward, nearly covering the limb. No one knew its shape, yet hearts recoiled like beasts in deep snow.

“This horror isn’t some simple tattoo…” The King of Shengyang, attuned to Spirit Energy’s hum, spoke first. The Master of Xuanyang Ancient Pool, seated to his left, wore a heavy storm-dark face.

“Indeed. That sigil isn’t common.” Xuan Tianjun’s cheek twitched, memory like cold rain. “The ones I met at Xuanyang Ancient Pool wore the same marks, but the pattern and placement were different.”

It wasn’t a pleasant recall—more a thorn under winter skin.

“City Lord Nana, your take?” Thousandwise suddenly lobbed the topic at Nana Shi, who was head-down, thumbing her phone like raindrops.

“Huh? You asking me?” She’d drifted off, mind a kite in the wind. Several rulers stared, lips twitching at her blank look.

“Focus in a meeting, will you?” Qi Luo of the Pan Mountain Empire scowled, storm-shadowed. Even arrogance should watch the room.

“Haha, just messing, just messing. No need to get heated.” Nana waved, slid her phone away. “From what I see, their ability to wield Spirit Energy comes from those sigils.”

Silence. Obvious, like snow being cold.

“But.” She let the word hang, a blade in fog.

But?

“The sigils likely do more. We’ll need deeper study.”

Silence again. Hoping for straight answers from her was like fishing moonlight from a lake.

“Heh. City Lord Nana’s not wrong—but that’s only part.” Thousandwise smiled, fingers plucking a scroll like a crane unfurling wings, then spread it on the table. “Yes, their powers derive from the sigils. But the sigils don’t stop at absorbing and shaping our world’s Spirit Energy. Researchers in the Northland found the marks also pump direct physical gains into the bearer.”

“Think boosted stamina, amplified speed, heightened life activity—easy as a wind at your back.”

“Wait—what did you just say?” Nana Shi’s head snapped up. In those dark eyes, a rare ripple of emotion flashed like ink dropping in water.

“Heightened life activity? Is that confirmed?”

“The reports I hold are solid,” the Ice Emperor said first, voice crisp as hoarfrost. “Don’t question them.” Her gaze sharpened. “What—caught your interest?”

“Heh. A little.” Nana’s expression flickered and smoothed, a cat back to stillness on a wall. “Go on.”

The others traded glances, puzzled by Nana’s slip, yet they tucked away the detail: Chronos City’s lord cared about elevating life’s spark. A six-month coma leaves roots under snow.

“Back to it,” Xuan Tianjun leaned in, mind like a blade. “Thousandwise, can these sigils be transplanted with tech?”

“In theory, yes,” she said, a winter stream kept steady. “But the limits bite hard.”

“Oh?” The Shengyang King warmed to it, a sun peeking through cloud. “What limits?”

Thousandwise glanced at her sovereign, seeking the nod, a crane waiting for wind.

“No matter, Thousandwise,” the Ice Emperor said. “Anyone can learn this with effort. No need to hoard.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Thousandwise bowed like bamboo in snow, then laid it bare. “The sigils bring gains without immediate harm. But they only suit ordinary people—those who can’t sense Spirit Energy. Those of us who hold law-force, or who can wield Spirit Energy, cannot be implanted.”

“Now that’s an interesting twist…” Feng Zhen’s voice stretched, a hawk circling.

“Got a view to share?” Qi Luo asked, drawn by that tone like a fish to a flicker.

“Not a ‘view.’ More a warning.” Feng Zhen’s eyes narrowed, a mountain shadow. “You’ve all seen how strong these sigils are. Some bearers rival or surpass us Spirit Energy wielders. In the wrong hands, they could shake our foundations.”

“Agreed.” The Shengyang King nodded, sun tempered by cloud. “If they only fit ordinary people, best not spread them. Otherwise, who knows what waves we’d stir. Our tech isn’t primitive anymore. To suppress this kind of threat, united hands should do.”

“I’m in.”

“Me too.” Pan Mountain Empire and Xuanyang Ancient Pool chimed in, like cliffs speaking across a valley.

Now all eyes went to Chronos City and the Ice Emperor of the Northland, snow and clockwork poised.

“I oppose.” Nana Shi’s words cut like a cold bell, too sharp for the room. The Ice Emperor’s lovely eyes rested on her, and a smile’s curve grew clearer, like moonlight gaining edge.

“What do you mean by that?” The Master of Xuanyang Ancient Pool, nearest to Nana, frowned, thunder brewing.

“Exactly what I said. What—you don’t understand plain speech?” Nana’s glance slid over him like a knife-touch. No killing intent, yet hearts skipped.

“You’ll shatter the continent’s balance!”

“I don’t care.” Her calm fell like snow, muffling noise. From the day she took Chronos City, nothing on the continent tugged at her care.

“Nana, you’re too selfish!” Someone rose, finger jabbing like a spear in wind.

She didn’t flinch.

“Heh. Look who’s talking.” Nana’s smile was cool, dew on blade. “You want to suppress sigils so your countries don’t wobble on their thrones, right?”

“Only the weak cling to the status quo. I’m not.”

“So you’d fight the whole continent? Like Moragus did?” The Shengyang King’s face darkened like a storm front, and sweat pricked his brow, a rain before it breaks.

“If you want that, I won’t say no.” Nana’s smile turned a shade frightening, a night wind through pines. “I wasn’t raised on fear. If you think this scares me, try it.”

Pulling down Moragus back then wasn’t these men’s glory. Nana knew their weight, stone by stone.

Silence fell, a heavy snow.

The other rulers stayed quiet. Tugging her aggro now would be unwise, like shouting on thin ice.

They chose silence.

Day one of the summit ended in this warped chill, a rough closure like a door pushed by wind.

Each ruler drifted back to their hotel, lights glowing like lanterns in fog, and the chamber soon held only Nana Shi and the Ice Emperor.

“What now? You here to try scaring me too?” Nana rose. She stood eye to eye with the Ice Emperor, two peaks against the sky.

Years had passed; the little snow-lily had grown tall, clear lines under moonlight.

But Nana’s mind was elsewhere, a compass pointing to a different star.

“Speak. What game are you playing?” Nana never believed the Ice Emperor came without purpose. And the timing—this United Summit—smelled of design, not chance.

“Heh. Sharp mind.” The Ice Emperor’s words floated like frost fog. “Yet if you press so hard, you make me sound small.”

She sent Spirit Energy with a flick, sealing the door, ice-blue force sliding like a silent glacier. Her face, usually winter-cold, wore a slyness, a fox-print in fresh snow.

Nana didn’t know what the Northland had taught her. Compared to the old high-cold girl who’d start with a snow-burial, this version was trickier, a maze under ice.

“I came not only to share the sigil news,” the Ice Emperor said, voice smooth as a frost stream. “I do have a personal reason. Not sure if I should say.”

“Oh?” An emperor with private motives? Nana’s interest rose like steam from tea. “Need me to do a favor?”

“Hardly.”

“Fair.” Nana snorted softly. If her hand couldn’t solve it, a harder hand likely could.

“Then why cross half the world to make the sigils public?” Nana asked, honestly puzzled, her gaze a blade reflecting starlight.

“For fun, of course.” The Ice Emperor’s smile was snow drifting on a midnight wind.

“?”