Whose Ice!?

"Did Qiyue do this?"

Xiao's hand smashed the tree frozen in ice. How did Qiyue even know her connection with Liuming!?

The entire forest now an emporium of ice. From every blade of grass, to the leaves that will never fall, all has now been frozen solid.

The mask manifested itself on Xiao's face. Its voice echoed not only in Xiao's mind, but out loud to assure the other members of Xiao's harem.

< Compose yourself. It is not Qiyue that did this. Aside from Taolao, the other corpses remain intact. I know her appetite for violence, being frozen alive is a method too merciful for the likes of her. And trust me, if she was the one that took Qiyue, she will make sure you know. >

The sordid memory of their first encounter made Xiao's already healed scars sting a little. Qiyue's sadistic ego the size of a giant boulder, it was imperative that Qiyue MUST make Xiao know if it was Qiyue that struck her beloved.

"THEN WHO COULD HAVE TAKEN LIUMING!?"

The frustration elevated Xiao's timbre. Such tone asked for a scolding. And yet her master's compassion reigned. For Zhen too, had experienced the losing a lover.

< You are agitated. Letting your anger reign will offer no aid in our search for Liuming. Take a deep breath, Xiao. >

Take a deep breath!? Xiao was once again ready to punch the frozen tree when she caught herself, fist stopping shy from obliterating the tree.

No matter how hard of a tantrum she throws, even if she destroyed this forest of ice, Liuming will not manifest before them. Simple it may be, her master's advice holds merit.

"Are you done with your little outburst, Xiao?"

Yanmei questioned alongside Luqing. Both seeming unperturbed by one of their beloved snatched from right under their noses.

"How can you both remain this calm!?" It was Lin that scratched the question Xiao's been wanting to ask.

Luqing chuckcled, "Have you forgotten? We are Divine beasts, wherever she maybe in Jiangshan, we can track Liuming. Taking it out on these trees will do us no good. Let the perpetrator taste our fury down to the last drop, until they are but a mess of blood and tears."

Now that was a murderous pledge Xiao will gladly abide by.

"Then both of you lead the way." Xiao reigned in her murderous aura...for the meantime. She did not want to immediately alert this mysterious captor of her desire to beat them into a bloody pulp. Battered unto death by her tonfas.

Yanmei and Luqing unsleashed their bestial forms. In this arctic forest, few cultivator will dare tread in fear of offending someone powerful enough to freeze an entire land.

Fangs bared in anticipation of the kill, Luqing cannot contain her lust for murder. Her claws, aching to dig into whoever kidnapped her favorite brat.

Leading the search for Liuming, the hellcat jumped into the icy fray.

Riding her ice blade alongside Lin. The divine beasts below kept pace by running alone, testimony to their unnatural agility.

As the wind blitzed past them, Xiao's focus had been broken by her Master's voice inside her head.

< Xiao, the one who kidnapped Liuming, this one is no ordinary foe. You can discern it from the qi that enveloped this forest. It loathes me to admit it, but their ice is close to the purity, to the power of mine. You are outmatched. Do you wish to swap places? >

"Their mastery over ice might cannot hold a candle to the fury I harbor. I have to do this master, they dare to go after Liuming, their deaths must come by my hand."

< Such stubbornness will get you killed. >

"Is that so, then why do you sound...approving?"

<Because I am. It is a tactic employed since time immemorial, but their is no greater low than targeting your foe's loved ones. Get them for me. >

If the situation became dire, Zhen can always switch with Xiao. For her tolerance of Xiao's stubbornness, this information she will keep to herself as equal trade.

Down below, Yanmei and Luqing jumped from one icy tree into another, striding with insane speed. The scent of Liuming, the scent of their mate getting closer and closer. Although Luqing found it a extremely odd that...

"How can this cultivator hide their presence? No limiter works this well, we should have sensed them by now!"

Jumping into the air, Yanmei twirled gracefully with all seven of her tails. Unlike humans, no invisibility pill can fool their noses. Yanmei answered her lover upon landing and continuing their run.

"A rare qi technique perhaps? Whatever it may be, we must all be on guard. Who they are does not matter combined to the might of all 4 of us combined."

Deeper into the heart of the frozen forest, Xiao and her harem abruptly stopped.

In what appears to be a bed made out from ice, the unconscious Liuming laid at the center. All of them prayed that she was only such, and that the worst has not come to pass.

The worry too great to resist, the flying Xiao rushed to the sleeping redhead's aid.

< Xiao! Do not proceed, this is but a trap! >

The warning of her master falling into deaf ears as well as the shouts of her harem members below.

"Xiao! Damn it, can't you see that it's a trap!" Luqing shouted.

True to their warning, the moment Xiao closed in on Liuming

From Xiao's blindside, Ice blades and spears of majestic quality flew to impale Xiao. Her tonfa at the ready, the gravity of the situation only hit Xiao now. How could she have fallen for a bait this obvious?

Can she make ice blades of her own? No, the blades are now inches away from her doom. Then Xiao resigned to blocking her vitals, let these ice pierce her, she will shatter the one that dared use Liuming against her right after.

The tonfa blocked the strike coming into her head, heart and lungs. A spear penetrated her thigh, one sword in her shoulder and another grazed her neck.

The twin ice weapons lodged in her flesh were hostile, fierce in their hatred for Xiao as they knock her down from her flying sword. The trauma from her fight with Qiyue now replaying in her mind.

With a loud thud, Xiao squirmed as her back smashed onto the ground.

The footsteps of the perpetrator, light. Ladylike in her stride. Without a sound almost. And the most baffling of all, they had no trace of qi emission, making it harder to detect the attack that shot Xiao out of the sky. Who was this!? Xiao stood in pain...and soon in shock at the identity of the culprit.

"You...! How...how is this possible!?"