Chapter 16: Flowing leaves of eternal winter

Feng Xin continued heading west through the swamp, showing no signs of stopping despite the unexpected stalkers cautiously tailing him at a distance.

This game of cat and mouse dragged on until Feng Xin finally stopped at a small, round clearing. Unlike the rest of the swamp, this spot lacked the usual vine cover, and the trees here were noticeably thinner.

"This place should do," Feng Xin silently thought as he removed his sheathed sword from his waistband.

The creatures shadowing him froze the moment his hand touched the weapon, their wary eyes locking onto him as they maintained a cautious distance.

"A corroding heron, an iron shot frog, and… oh? A rainbow mist toad. That's an interesting one—the alchemists back at the Order would love to have it. It's practically a walking trove of alchemical ingredients. This swamp really is an alchemist's paradise."

His gaze shifted.

"An iced beak egret, too? Nice. Looks like this trip won't be a waste. That bird will pair well with Yang Qing's vermilion fruit wine. And what's this? A mirage dragonfly? If I can catch it alive, the beast-tamer hall might appreciate the addition. Either that, or I could always feed it to Ellie."

Feng Xin's eyes gleamed at the thought before moving on to another target.

"Now then, what are these two doing so close to each other? A green flash viper and a rapid snapper cottonmouth? I must be a really tempting prize for them to put aside their territorial grudges. Their blood alone should be enough to make a few jars of hundred-potency spirit wine."

His attention finally landed on the most imposing presence of all.

"And last but not least, the real surprise—our green-flowered babirusa. Why is it even bothering to hide? It's huge! Vision might be limited in this swamp, but that thing sticks out like a sore thumb."

Feng Xin licked his lips.

"But that size… slurp… how many tons of meat is that? I could probably trade some of it with a few mess halls and finally get off their blacklist. Those stingy bastards! I don't even eat that much—just a few hundred kilograms of food a day!"

He scoffed, his indignation flaring.

"Where's their chef's Dao heart? Shouldn't it be every chef's dream to find someone who appreciates their cooking as much as I do? They have the audacity to report me, claiming I gave them mental demons because of my appetite. The nerve!"

Feng Xin shook his head.

"If anything, I should be an honored guest. Ever since I started frequenting those mess halls, their cultivation breakthrough rates have skyrocketed! Instead, I get blacklisted and labeled a food fiend and gluttony worm?"

He sighed, his thoughts finally circling back to his surroundings as he scanned the clearing and tightened his grip on his sword.

"They're all within an acceptable range," Feng Xin mused, his sharp eyes scanning the gathering spirit beasts. His gaze lingered on the green flash viper, which was hanging back, its serpentine body coiled in the shadows, observing the scene with cold cunning.

"That one's the smartest of the lot," he thought. "Leaving the encirclement to the others while it waits for an opportunity to strike. By their spacing, they're wary of each other too. Not surprising. In a place as treacherous as this, trust is a liability. To have survived to their level, cunning, and strength must have been key.

"They're all in the core formation realm, and any one of them that successfully devours the others would have a high chance of advancing their cultivation. Opportunistic predators through and through."

Feng Xin smirked. "Their distrust works to my advantage. Dealing with them individually will be far less taxing than if they were united."

"Still, something doesn't add up. Spirit beasts at this level gathering in one place in such a short amount of time? If this were common, the Green Fog Swamp Sect would've been overrun ages ago. Could it be…" Feng Xin's thoughts trailed as realization dawned.

"Ellie's cry must've tipped them off. That damn bird," he muttered, suppressing an irritated sigh.

While the spirit beasts hesitated, their instincts weighing the risk of fighting each other against attacking him, Feng Xin acted. He crouched low and plucked a few leaves from the green, murky water below. The moment the leaves touched his hand, they began to change—fading from their dull green hue to a brilliant white. Their texture shifted, becoming glass-like and translucent, radiating a faint light.

"These should do," he muttered, tossing the transformed leaves into the air.

In one fluid motion, he unsheathed his sword. Its blade, like the leaves, gleamed with a pure, unblemished white, perfectly matching the pristine scabbard it had been housed in. The soft glow of the weapon seemed to challenge the oppressive gloom of the swamp.

Here's a polished version of your text with improved flow and clarity while keeping your tone intact:

"Flowing Leaves of Eternal Winter."

Feng Xin rotated his sword in a slow, gentle counterclockwise motion, the tip of the blade tapping each of the falling leaves with precise, deliberate strikes.

The moment his sword made contact, a thin, misty-white aura coated the leaves, surrounding them in an icy sheen.

As the final leaf was touched, all of them froze midair—still and motionless—before suddenly exploding outward in all directions. Trails of white light streaked behind them as they shot through the air, propelled with terrifying force, as if detonated from a central point.

The stalking creatures reacted instantly, their instincts screaming danger. A deadly aura radiated from each leaf, and the beasts could feel it—cold, sharp, and suffocating—as if death itself had locked onto them.

The iron shot frog, closest to Feng Xin, became the first target. Towering nearly two meters tall, its black metallic sheen glinted menacingly as it sprang into action. Its throat swelled grotesquely, preparing to unleash its innate skill. With a loud croak, it spat a dark, needle-shaped water shot, sharp and hard enough to pierce the body of an early-stage core formation expert or puncture lower-tier sky-grade armor—a skill that had earned it its fearsome moniker.

But despite its strength, the water shot shattered the moment it collided with the leaf, failing to slow it down even slightly.

The glowing leaf reached the frog in the blink of an eye, piercing straight through its open mouth just as it attempted to fire another shot. The impact's force flung the iron shot frog backward, its bulky frame slamming into tree after tree.

The leaf's unyielding trajectory carved a brutal path in its wake even after leaving the iron shot frog's body, piercing every obstacle in its way before it finally shattered into shards of crystal, vanishing into the murky swamp.

The other creatures barely registered the iron shot frog's swift and brutal demise. Their own survival instincts screamed at them as the remaining leaves tore through the air, seeking their marks with the same devastating precision.

The corroding heron found itself targeted by three of the icy leaves. Standing a few meters shorter than the cloud-swallowing kite in height, it was still an imposing presence, larger than most creatures in the swamp. Unlike ordinary herons, this one bore a sinister appearance—its feathers a mix of dark green and black, and a grotesquely swollen gland at the base of its neck with an eerie dark green coloring to it.

With a growling screech, it spewed a massive wave of green-black liquid aimed directly at the approaching leaves. The corrosive wave surged forward, devouring everything in its path. Trees, vines, and even the murky swamp water hissed and dissolved, leaving behind a path of bubbling destruction. The wave swallowed the three leaves, encasing them in its toxic flow.

But the moment the liquid touched the leaves, it froze solid, forming an eerie, green-black block of ice. Two of the remaining leaves pierced through the frozen mass, retaining their deadly momentum.

They struck the heron's wings, nailing them to the ground and shredding them halfway in the process. The force carried the creature backward, pinning it further against a tree. It squawked in pain, its movements jerky as blood mixed with frost seeped from its wounds.

Meanwhile, the ice-beaked egret was targeted by a single leaf. Unlike the others, this leaf was slightly smaller but enveloped by a denser, misty aura.

True to its name, the egret had a pristine white beak with a crystalline texture, resembling sculpted ice. A chilling mist emanated from its beak, spreading outward and freezing everything it touched—even the ground.

The egret screeched, amplifying the mist's spread as it tried to freeze the incoming leaf mid-flight.

The mist reached the leaf, but the outcome was far from what the egret had anticipated.

Instead of freezing, the mist dissipated mere inches away from the leaf, vanishing as if devoured by its aura. A faint blue hue now shimmered along the edge of the leaf, its blade glowing with an even more menacing chill.

The ice-beaked egret, refusing to back down, unleashed an even larger wave of freezing mist. Yet, the result was the same—the mist was absorbed entirely, and the leaf grew even bluer.

The egret's instincts screamed danger as the threat level of the leaf spiked. Without hesitation, it turned and tried to flee, narrowly dodging the now radiant blue leaf that passed just inches below it.

A faint smirk appeared on its beak, a fleeting sense of triumph—until a blinding streak of thin white light shot forth, striking the blue leaf.

The leaf shattered into countless glowing blue particles that scattered through the air, enveloping the area—and the egret.

The egret's pupils constricted in sheer terror as it sensed the overwhelming danger that enveloped it. It desperately tried to ignite its blood essence, hoping to fuel an escape with a sudden burst of speed. But it was too late.

The lethal frost took hold, freezing everything around the egret. Its qi circulation, its blood flow, even its thoughts were abruptly halted, frozen in place as if time itself had stopped.

Within a 200-meter radius, a massive block of ice formed, encasing trees, the swamp's murky waters, and the egret itself at its heart, with its look of horror and desperation perfectly preserved like a masterful sculpture of blue ice.

Feng Xin smirked as he calmly sheathed his sword.

"Too naïve, trying to play with ice in front of me."

Now, only five creatures remained—the green flash viper, the rapid snapper cottonmouth, the mirage dragonfly, the coveted rainbow mist toad, and the green-flowered babirusa.

Each of them had their own deadly leaves to contend with.