Blue light kept slashing across the sky, like cold comets stitching the clouds. Their clash dragged on for hours, two storms grinding against each other.

To the eye, neither side had the edge, a stalemate in the rain. In truth, Tangxue was toyed with like a monkey on a string; between exchanges, Qing Feng Yuelian still had breath to point out her flaws.

“Looks like most of your swordwork came from Dreamsound,” she said, voice like silk over steel. “She’s a bit half-baked herself. Keep your center grounded, or you’ll never cut me.”

“Shut up!” Tangxue snapped, cheeks flushed like heated porcelain.

She never did favor a greatsword; for her, it was a mountain of iron. Worse, she wasn’t even wearing a breastplate; every full swing hit like a wave, knocking her balance off a drifting boat.

Qing Feng Yuelian’s shape slithered like a sea serpent in deep water. That eerie scythe slid past Tangxue’s strikes like moonlight slipping through reeds.

Overwhelmed and bristling, Tangxue ditched the greatsword. Frostwhisper answered her will and flowed into a long spear, a winter river freezing into a blade.

Relief swelled first, like dawn easing out of night. A spear—this, she knew. Tangxue weighed Frostwhisper in her palm, cold gleam blooming like ice-petal light.

Yes. Whether in old memories or now, the spear felt familiar, second only to the sword. The feeling burned steady, like an ember under snow.

So… no way I let you keep laughing.

Her gaze sharpened, a hawk fixing the prey. Tangxue shot forward in a white flare—whoosh—an arrow tearing the wind.

Unlike with the greatsword, her spearwork ran clean, each motion a tide that breaks armies, thrust after thrust hammering like surf against cliffs.

“Not bad,” Qing Feng Yuelian smiled, a crescent of calm in the storm. “It’s not quite what they taught in my memory, but it’s strong. Strong enough I should take you seriously.”

Tangxue didn’t answer. She just sped up, spear singing like a winter reed in the gale.

“The spear kills with its tip,” Qing Feng Yuelian said, smile like a lantern under fog. “At the moment of extension, there’s a big window. My scythe punishes that. If you want to kill me, don’t lean on tradition.”

Tangxue’s face darkened, storm-grey. She logged the words like carving on stone, then shifted her rhythm, the spear’s breath changing like a river turning.

A thumb-sized void blossomed beside Dreamsound, a black lotus of space. A little white head popped out, shook like a wet kitten, and revealed a delicate face.

“I’m here, Sister Dreamsound! What’s the situation?” Xuanxiao’s voice rushed like a stream over rocks.

“It’s stabilized,” Dreamsound said, calm over worry, like a bell under rain. “Little Shengsheng isn’t badly hurt. And… she’s already summoned Frostwhisper. Only—” She paused; her eyes dimmed like dusk. “She’s losing control. She’s fighting my aunt.”

“Ah???” Xuanxiao’s jaw dropped, a carp flashing in a pond.

“Why are you so shocked…”

“What are you all even doing…”

“Why do you two act like you know everything?” Qingyu Mengyin’s gaze held a quiet ache, like mist on a lake. “Frostwhisper knows. You know. Are you hiding things from me?”

“Not the time, Sister Dreamsound!” Xuanxiao cut in, urgency flaring like a torch. “Tell me why they’re fighting!”

Dreamsound’s face tightened, a taut bowstring. She explained everything, one thread at a time, like unwinding silk from a cocoon.

“This is insane,” Xuanxiao muttered, mouth twitching like a frayed line.

“No. We have to stop them now,” she said, tone cold as snow. “Trying to drain Tangxue’s stamina to calm her? Impossible. Her stamina’s boundless, like a sea without shore. And her power—beyond anything we can imagine. Stop her, or we’re in real trouble. Keep this up, and she won’t even be able to control herself.”

“Ah?” Dreamsound blinked, a ripple across still water.

“Good sister… I can’t tell you much,” Xuanxiao sighed, like wind over empty fields. “But I can tell you this—Tangxue can end the world.”

Dreamsound went quiet, silence deep as winter. Then she said, steady as a lamp in the storm, “And?”

“How do I stop her? If there was a way, my aunt wouldn’t push something this extreme.”

“Good sister, shouldn’t you ask why Tangxue can end the world?”

“I don’t care,” Dreamsound said. “I already knew. Even if she can end the world, I believe in her.”

Two riddlers. Damn.

“Then… Sister Dreamsound, go up and bait her. But listen—do not make her angrier. If she gets any hotter, it’ll be bad. Very bad.”

“Okay.” Dreamsound nodded without hesitation, like a blade answering a hand. “I’m going now!”

“Hey, wait—why are you running so fast, good sister? I haven’t finished—” Xuanxiao sighed, helpless as a falling leaf. “Watch out for the ice…”

“Heh… I haven’t fought this freely in a long time,” Qing Feng Yuelian said, stroking her left shoulder, smiling like frost cracking under sun.

A red line scored her shoulder where the spear-tip grazed, sharp light carving open skin like paper to a knife. The wound cut by Frostwhisper didn’t close; ice sealed it, a glassy lock on flesh.

Frozen didn’t mean healed. Pain bit on, a thin wolf’s tooth. Qing Feng Yuelian ignored it, calm as winter water.

Tangxue wore her own marks; the scythe had written thin scars across her body like ink. Most had already knit shut, but her school uniform told the tale—shredded again and again, proof of how fierce the waves had been.

The hard part was the first cut. Now she could wound Qing Feng Yuelian—no mercy, no holding back.

Keep this pace, and soon, she won’t be my match…

“Then let’s continue,” Qing Feng Yuelian laughed, bright as a bell. “I’m very curious—my niece’s daughter, how far can you go? Mmm-hmm.”

“Laugh. Keep laughing,” Tangxue said, voice cold as snow under moon. “When my spear goes through your chest, we’ll see if you can smile.”

“If that moment comes,” Qing Feng Yuelian murmured, the smile soft as winter light, “I’ll be happy.”

If that moment comes, then I’ll ask you, Tangxue—grant my wish. Destroy this continent.

She kept smiling, but her eyes sank deep, a lake at midnight, as she held Tangxue in her gaze.

“Wait! Stop! Don’t fight! Both of you, stop!” Dreamsound burst between them, breath ragged like winded bellows, shouting under their stunned stares.

“Out of the way!”

“Damn woman, don’t bother me!”

Dreamsound found herself rejected by both, a lone crane in a storm.

“How can you be like this! Auntie, Shengsheng—both of you, stop!”

She grit her teeth and forced vast magic into a net, pinning them for a heartbeat, like frost catching falling rain.

“Don’t… block me!”

“Dreamsound, I’m bonding with my adorable junior,” Qing Feng Yuelian said, patience like snow dusting pine. “Don’t come ruin the mood…”