The Vampire’s silhouette shot back like a meteor, and I spun through the sky like a leaf whipped by a gale.

“Ugh!” Ye Muhan hopped and caught me, but inertia shoved her like a tide. Good thing we’d reinforced our bodies with magic, a thin armor against chaos.

“Phew… we’re fine…” The relief slid over me like a cool breeze after a squall.

“Hahahaha, you fell for it! Doesn’t this route look familiar? It’s my escape line!” Yanfengle grinned like a fox with its tail up.

“…” We stared at Yanfengle like watching a scarecrow, all straw and no brain.

Yanfengle flushed and tucked his neck like a turtle. “Sorry, my DNA kicked in. Couldn’t help it…”

“Holy Maiden… when we get back, take him to the best hospital. Get his head checked.” My voice was flat, like frost on glass.

“Mm.”

“Hey… I’m right here.”

Instinct tugged me toward that warm chest like a bird seeking a hearth. I remembered it wasn’t that person, blushed, and drew away like dusk retreating.

“Ugh, it hurts…”

Resignation pricked me like sleet. My hand’s broken after all… and we layered so many protections.

“Little Tangxue! Your hand—if it hurts, don’t force it. Don’t move, I’ll heal you.” Her tone was gentle, like spring rain on stone.

A quiet certainty settled like snow. No need; it’ll fix itself soon… I didn’t say it. Ordinary people don’t mend like winter ice knitting shut.

Escape route, huh…

Dread knifed through me; the path felt wrong, like a river flowing backward. “Qianya!!!”

I ignored their looks and blinked along the trail of his flight, riding water essence like a fish darting upstream. Still no shadow. We’d stared too long, lost precious sand.

“Hey, hey, Little Tangxue, you—”

“He got away… No. We follow! You, idiot, stop daydreaming! Move!”

“Okay, okay!”

So this is a superpowered one? Treading the void—terrifying like thunder behind clouds, Yanfengle thought.

System, can I learn that someday?

[Learn my ass. Watch the road, idiot!]

“Waaah!” Yanfengle’s skull smacked a branch, and he windmilled a full 720° like a leaf caught in a whirlwind.

The relentless high-speed jumps starved my lungs; stars flickered in my eyes like frost sparks.

Faster. He’s just ahead… No, faster still.

He’s ahead… Push harder.

On the final blink I poured out everything, riding the river-call. The water around him rippled in my senses; if I wanted, I could water-phase through vapor and land at his side.

I can’t—won’t—let him hurt Qianya.

But after all this delay… do I still have time?

“Qi… anya?”

Inside the warded forest, shattered trunks ringed the clearing like broken spears. A white-haired, red-eyed youth grinned, strange and thrilled, his hand clamped on the girl’s throat like an iron trap. Claws stabbed deep; no blood flowed—wrongness like winter without frost. Her pain, her dangling feet, hit him like a drug. He wouldn’t kill her fast. He craved despair—the deepest, blackest well.

“Water Prison, modified.”

“Two-handed Sword—Mountain-Cleaver!”

I bound him in a rising water bubble, lifted and sealed by vapor like a glass moon. To a strength-type creature, this airborne prison was a lock without a key.

A great ice blade fell without pause, cleaving the Vampire’s iron body like an avalanche. Even as he split, his hand still clutched Qianya’s neck like a frozen hook.

Edgar Warren frowned. “You’re a nuisance.”

“Shut up.”

I froze him with the bubble, then hammered the ice like a comet strike, knocking the massive block away.

In the same breath, I blinked and caught Qianya. “Qianya! Hold on. I know a bit of healing.”

“Cough… I’m fine. Just lost some mana…” Her voice trembled like a thin reed in wind.

“I’ll feed you mine! Rest, I—”

Qianya grabbed my hand, her grip a lifeline in snow.

“It’s okay. I’m not dying so easily, Xiaoxue… Save your mana. That man—Edgar Warren—just grew stronger. He’s… ‘fed.’ Be careful…”

“Stuffed or not, it’s useless. I’ll make him spit out what he ate.” Qingsheng Tangxue’s voice fell like black frost, and the air grew colder by degrees.

“Don’t go… I already breached an unrepairable ward… Let’s retreat and fight later… This place… is—cough!” Her breath frayed like torn silk.

“Qianya! What’s wrong? You’re fading, like a candle guttering…” Panic beat in my chest like wings.

“His blood. He’s affecting me through blood… cough. I need to expel what he injected…”

“Do you think you can escape me?” Edgar’s voice slid in like oil on water.

“Heh…”

“You don’t even know you’re in ‘quicksand.’ Struggle more—die faster. Hahaha… hahahaha…” His laughter rolled like a hot wind over dunes.

Edgar Warren is easy to enrage, yes—but first, he’s sharp as a blade hidden in silk. He never bares all. Even when many powerhouses sieged him in Starfate City, he didn’t unleash triple Bloodrage. He felt no need. He wears masks like winter layers.

Now his aim nears its end. Their only true threat has lost combat power. If he wishes, he can net them like fish in a jar.

“Seems even ice can’t freeze your mouth.”

“Then I’ll freeze all your blood.”

“Oh? Go ahead. Try.”

“I’m not a nice-tempered Vampire.”

Bloodrage, fourth phase: Burning Blood.

Invisible fire climbed Edgar Warren’s body like a heat mirage. He strode like a walking pyre; snow hissed and melted in widening rings.

“Show me what you’ve got now!”

“What? My foundation.” My voice was steady, like a still lake before a storm. “Detonate three Sacred Relics and one quasi Divine Artifact. That should do.”

Netherfrost Shadow Stab: Snowfinger.

A white lance of killing cold pierced Edgar Warren like midnight ice, freezing through marrow. His body burned, yet the frost spread like winter eating a field. In the end, everything froze into a sculpture—save the hollow carved in his chest.

That “self-detonation” quasi Divine Artifact is a leeching device, draining the magic offered by sacrificed tools. One-use, with a cap on offerings—an ugly bargain.

But it’s enough to kill him.

“Die.”

Ice Burst bloomed like a winter star, and Edgar Warren’s statue shattered into a storm of shards, a blizzard of glittering knives.