The air around them shimmered with waves of heat. Su Yang and Lu Ying were surrounded by a sphere of red-gold flame, a blazing halo that pulsed with life as it fought against the freezing cold threatening to consume her. The Heavenly True Fire Art, born from Su Yang's Karma Fire Body, was the only thing keeping the ice-origin blood from overtaking her soul. Within this cocoon of fire, their forms had merged—two fates tightly woven in one desperate struggle for survival.
But beyond this sacred moment, two figures stood quietly in the shadows.
One was a battle-hardened man whose very presence radiated ancient strength. His dark clothes were torn at the edges from countless battles, his broad shoulders carried the burden of a warrior's life. Scars marked his sun-browned arms—reminders of wars fought and victories carved through blood. His weathered face, though worn, did not dull the fire in his eyes. It was the kind of gaze that had seen mountains fall and empires rise.
Beside him stood a woman who exuded power and grace like a silent snowfall before a storm. Dressed in a flowing white robe that danced in the soft wind, she looked like a celestial spirit. Her eyes were distant, cold, and ancient—like a glacier that had endured centuries of storms. Her features, though mature, bore a striking resemblance to Lu Ying. There was strength in her stillness, a quiet defiance that could freeze the heavens.
As they watched the merging of flame and frost, the silence between them shattered.
Her voice lashed out like a blizzard.
> "Why are you here?"
Lu Wei's tone dripped with contempt, and the very air around her turned icy. Her spiritual pressure began to rise, and a layer of frost crept along the ground beneath her feet.
The man met her glare with warmth in his eyes—an odd, aching contrast to her fury.
> "Lu Wei…" he said her name like it was a song from a long-lost spring. "I know I abandoned you when you needed me. When you were pregnant… when everything turned against you. I left. But I didn't do it out of cowardice. I did it… to save you. To save our daughter."
His words were heavy with guilt, and the strength of his voice trembled ever so slightly.
> "Do you know why I had to leave?
Lu Wei's face twisted in pain and rage. She raised her hand, and ice spears began forming around her—sharp, deadly, and beautiful. The environment responded to her emotional storm. Trees groaned as frost overtook their branches. The air cracked as it dropped below freezing.
> "Save us?" Her voice cut through the silence. My family—they had already discovered the awakening of the Extreme Ice Body. They would have used our daughter as a pawn. A political tool. They saw her not as a child—but as a key to power."
"You think disappearing without a word saved us? I stood alone while they hunted me like a criminal! I had to hide my child like she was a curse! And when I finally escaped—I wandered with her across barren lands, through starvation and ambushes, while you were nowhere to be found!"
Each word she spoke froze the ground further, and the ice spears glowed with deadly intent. The strength of her cultivation revealed itself—a chilling might that could freeze time itself. But through it all, the man stood still.
He did not flinch.
He didn't raise a defense.
Even when the ice spears pierced his body.
> CRACK—SHHHH!
The spears shattered upon impact but dug deep, drawing blood. He took the pain in silence, as if it were the penance he owed.
> "I deserved that," he said, blood dripping down his side. "But I didn't return for forgiveness. I returned because I saw the legacy flame activate. I knew… it had to be her."
Lu Wei looked at him, her hands shaking—not from weakness, but from the avalanche of memories crashing inside her. Of loneliness. Of betrayal. Of carrying her child through storms. Of watching Lu Ying cry herself to sleep, wondering why her father never came back.
> "Her life… has been nothing but pain," Lu Wei whispered. "She hides behind a mask because she thinks her face is a curse. She's never once believed she was worthy of her own mother's legacy."
And in that moment, fire and ice met—not in destruction, but in sorrow. A shared pain between two powerful cultivators whose love had been shattered by the greed of others. Around them, the wind slowed. The frost halted. The rage began to melt—just a little.
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