Night fell hard over Dawnmist Peak.
The mountain was silent, save for the occasional creak of shifting wood or the distant cry of a spirit hawk circling far above. Clouds clung to the treetops like half-forgotten memories. Even the wind seemed cautious, afraid to disturb what was building in the shadows.
Inside the hut, Bai Xueyin sat at the edge of her bedroll, posture straight as a blade.
She hadn't spoken much since their return from the Wellspring. A-Yan had fallen asleep almost immediately, curled around her new scroll like a cat guarding treasure.
Luo Feng sat outside, meditating under the open sky.
Bai stared at the flickering candle in front of her, watching how it danced—uncertain, silent, beautiful.
Then she felt it.
A chill—not from the air, but from within.
It crawled up her spine, settled at the base of her skull, and pulsed.
Softly.
Then again.
Her eyes widened.
The frost in her veins answered.
Ding! Unknown resonance detected. Source: Ancestral Bloodline trigger – Glacial Veins of the Northern Wind.Origin Beacon identified: [Silent Palace of Frozen Light]. Signal strength: Weak, locked to genetic lineage.Do you wish to respond?
Bai hesitated.
She didn't speak the word.
But the system heard her heartbeat.
Connection established. Anchoring mind-thread...
The world around her shifted.
The flickering candle disappeared. The wooden walls dissolved into mist.
Bai stood alone in a field of ice, endless and blinding, beneath a sky that shimmered with aurora-like streams of light. The silence was absolute—so profound that her own breath felt sacrilegious.
Before her stood a woman.
Dressed in silks of white and blue, her hair falling in waves of frost down her back. Her face was ageless. Her eyes were storm-gray—familiar, yet impossible.
"You carry the blood," the woman said, her voice layered—echoing as though multiple versions of herself were speaking in unison.
Bai instinctively knelt, not out of submission, but recognition.
"Who are you?"
"I am the First," the woman said. "The Glacial Matron. Founder of the Silent Palace. Your ancestor."
A beat passed.
"You called to me," Bai said.
"No. You awoke me. Your cultivation passed the threshold. Your heart stood unbroken. The blood answered."
The Matron stepped forward.
Her footsteps did not touch the ice. She floated—weightless, like snow upon glass.
"Your family was cast down. Betrayed. Slaughtered. You survived. And now… you have a choice."
"What choice?"
"To inherit all that was denied to you," the Matron said. "The full legacy of the Frozen Light."
She raised a hand, and in it, a delicate shard of ice appeared—hovering between her fingers, refracting the starlight in perfect, prismatic lines.
"This is the Fracture Seed," she said. "A conduit of memory, power, and sacrifice. If you take it, you will walk the path that I once walked. You will master ice not as element, but as absolute law."
Bai stared at the shard.
"And the cost?"
The Matron's smile was subtle—and cold.
"You will no longer be Bai Xueyin."
The words landed like frost on fire.
"You will belong to the legacy. Every step forward will be one away from the world you knew. You will be loved as a symbol. But not as a person."
Bai was silent.
"You cannot be both," the Matron said gently. "A sword and a daughter. A palace and a peak."
"…If I refuse?" Bai asked.
"You remain strong. You remain yours. But you will never touch the deepest wells of your power."
The Matron stepped closer.
"You have two days to decide. The shard will seek you three times. If you accept, the path opens. If you reject it thrice—it vanishes forever."
Then the world faded.
Bai woke with a start.
The candle was still burning. Her breath misted in the air. Her pulse thundered in her ears.
She looked down—and there it was.
The Fracture Seed hovered above her palm.
It was real.
Outside, Luo Feng opened his eyes.
He'd felt the temperature drop—only slightly. Not enough to be threatening.
But different.
He turned toward the hut.
Something had changed.
And not just in the girl.
The next morning, Bai trained in silence.
Her movements were sharper. Colder. More controlled.
She said nothing about the shard. Not yet. But Luo Feng could feel it hanging in the air between them like a dagger drawn but hidden.
He said nothing either.
But he watched her more closely.
A-Yan noticed, of course.
"Master, are you mad at Sister Bai?"
"No," Luo Feng said.
"She looks... scarier today."
"She's making a hard choice."
A-Yan furrowed her brow. "About what?"
"…About who she wants to be."
That evening, as the last light died and the stars began to rise, Bai approached Luo Feng where he sat sharpening a blade near the fire.
"May I speak with you?"
He nodded.
She sat.
And said nothing.
For nearly a minute.
"I received a message," she said finally.
"From your bloodline?"
"Yes."
He didn't interrupt.
"They offered me their legacy. All of it. Power beyond what I can reach here."
"And the cost?"
"My name. My path. I'd no longer be Bai Xueyin. I'd become… a vessel."
She looked at him, and for the first time in days, her eyes were uncertain.
"I don't know what to do."
Luo Feng didn't answer right away.
Instead, he asked, "Do you want to become stronger?"
"Yes."
"Do you want revenge?"
"…Yes."
"Do you want to protect those who stand beside you?"
She blinked.
That had not been part of the Matron's offer.
"…Yes," she said again, softer.
"Then don't pick power that erases who you are," Luo Feng said. "Pick power that amplifies it."
She swallowed.
"But what if I'm not enough?"
He met her gaze.
"You already are. You just haven't accepted it yet."
The words hit harder than she expected.
She stood to leave, but paused.
"…Thank you."
"Make your choice," he said. "But whatever it is—don't hide it. You don't have to."
She nodded.
That night, the Fracture Seed returned.
Once.
Twice.
And on the third time—it hovered over her heart.
Bai held it in her hand, staring into its impossible depths.
Then she spoke:
"I will take your strength. But I will keep my name."
The shard glowed—once.
Then sank into her chest.
Pain surged—brief and white-hot. Then vanished.
Ding! Bloodline evolution complete.Glacial Veins: Stage 2 unlocked — "Crystalline Law."Passive acquired: "Frozen Identity" — spiritual suppressions and illusion-based attacks reduced by 60%.Host receives shared reward: Glacial Lotus Manual (Unique – Forbidden Ice Type).
Bai exhaled.
And smiled—for the first time in weeks.