The Ice Flowers Domain

The Affairs Pavilion medallion must have been encased in the ice until the fire melted it, allowing it to fall. Shin Sumi looked above, but only a piece of red cloth remained in the ice.

"Thank the Heavens" she thought, not wanting to deal with a whole corpse hanging above her head.

Turning the insignia between her fingers, she wondered how long it had been there. What generation of disciples training here had left this as a souvenir?

It was then that her expression turned unsightly.

"No, that's not right! This dimension is normally used by Liquid Realm disciples in training. Not by red robes Honorary Disciples working for the Affairs Pavilion!"

She thought her eyes couldn't look more shocked, but she was wrong.

"Brother Lan!!"

The cry had been let out completely, not bothered about hiding anymore. Shin Sumi had no way of determining whose insignia it was, but somehow she was convinced it was Lan Hui's.

Sadly, the Affairs Pavilion medallions were not like the identification jades possessed by every disciple. They were just a simple piece of metal embroidered on the disciple's dress. Nothing on them could clarify at first glance who was its owner.

Shin Sumi pocketed the cold metal and blew a wisp of Shinsoo on the fire talisman, prompting it to stop burning. The talisman was half intact and could still be used for a couple hours.

She then crawled out of the ice cave, jumping uncertainly on the largest branch of the ice tree, looking for indications to look for her friend.

Lan Hui had been her first friend in the Dark Sky Starry Sect. He was the first person to talk to her and to seem genuinely interested in her. Every single one of his actions towards her had been full of care and tenderness.

Now that something bad might have happened to him, how could Shin Sumi stay idle?!

She sent her spiritual perception into her identification medallion. The easiest way to find him was to contact him, obviously.

She wasn't sure how the jade worked in this dimension, considering that she had never been able to contact Xiao Yue before. But Bai Xuengen the yellow robed disciple she had met close to the first Vein of Hell Fire had insisted on exchanging jade imprints.

"Somehow the jades must work here. Maybe their range is just a lot more restrictive."

Shin Sumi made several attempts at communication with Lan Hui, all of which failed. But by the reaction of the communication jade, she at least learned something.

"My message was transmitted. Brother Lan is close-by, or at least his jade is."

It was a simple thing to determine really. Every successful use of the transmission device used up a bit of Shinsoo from her dantian. Because Shin Sumi's power level was insane due to her particular cultivation of the complete Shinsoo Gathering Manual, it was only a small bit, but that could still be felt clearly.

It was even Lan Hui who had told her about that at first, when he had taught her how to use the jade to send messages.

Now by a twist of fate, she was using his teachings to try and find him in the wasteland of snow and ice.

In order to find the red robed boy, Shin Sumi unleashed all the powers at her disposal. Unlike Bai Xuengen who had a magical artefact to do that, she had no device that showed her the correct path.

Instead she let out the little nut, like a tiny hound, to sniff any sort of track or direction. It was a dangerous move to do because whoever might be watching back in the sect would temporarily be able to see the little nut, the source of Shin Sumi's powers.

The nut fell down from her sleeve directly into the pure white snow. Shin Sumi was relieved to see the snow being moved around by the nut without showing it openly.

Walking around the ice cave extensively for almost an hour, Shin Sumi met up with the nut after a full circle.

No bites, no information. Shin Sumi was already in a dead end.

Hidden under her cloak, she looked up at the red sky, almost praying to the Heavens for the well being of her friend.

Collecting herself after a moment like that, Shin Sumi forced herself to calm down and think rationally.

"First of all, I'm not a hundred percent sure that it's Brother Lan's insignia. Secondly it could have ended up here by any sort of means."

Now that she was calm and collected once again, Shin Sumi felt her mind clear rapidly, her thinking faster than before.

"Maybe a snow tempest brought it here. That would explain how it was trapped in tons of snow and encased in ice. There was no blood on the piece of cloth so either Brother Lan was still unscathed when he lost it, or it didn't happen here.

It could have been done by another disciple or a beast or simply the bad weather, tearing his robes."

Shin Sumi calculated approximately how long it had been since she arrived on the floating continent. It was a hard thing to do because of the time she had spent in meditation close to the Vein of Hell Fire.

Judging by what she knew of her speed compared to red robed disciples, and the time she had spent to get to this place, she successfully restricted the area in which Lan Hui could be.

"He is not that fast. Unless he was taken by an orange or yellow robed disciple, he shouldn't have been able to leave the ice ring yet. And I don't think any other colored talent would be interested in a red talented boy."

Shin Sumi's conjectures were right. On the map in the Grand Hall, the few dots that were already in the third circle were all yellow and orange colored. In fact all the yellow robes were there apart from Bai Xuengen. And only some red robed disciples were displayed in the ring of ice.

But one problem echoed through her head now. Even if Lan Hui was in the ice environment like her, how would she find him?!

The ice ring encased between two mountain ranges spanned weeks of travel just to cross and made a full circle around the next ring. Searching each and every corner of it meant spending close to a year's worth of time.

And by then, Lan Hui would already have left, or the snow would have covered his body in dozens of meters of white.

Shin Sumi shivered at the thought. No that wasn't how to think. One solution presented itself to her mind.

"If Brother Lan is still alive and well, he will obviously continue on with the trial. He is bound to leave the ice ring at some point. If he was here, then he will probably head straight towards the mountain range. And that is where I'll catch him!"

Of course that didn't take into account the possibility of him being stuck somewhere or in peril.

Shin Sumi suddenly remembered the debt that Bai Xuengen had insisted that he owed her. Or rather Bai Fulong, the male self of Shin Sumi.

Once more sending a message through her identification medallion, Shin Sumi hoped for the best. The jade didn't send a voice message but rather transmitted thoughts, thus Shin Sumi didn't have to worry about her feminine voice being received by the yellow robed disciple.

"Brother Bai. I need your help. If you are able to do this for me, then I'll consider our debt settled. Please help me find and protect a red robed disciple from the Affairs Pavilion. His name is Lan Hui and I suspect danger has befallen him in the icy tundra. Let's keep in touch for that matter."

Almost instantly, Shin Sumi's jade vibrated lightly. It was a simple reply from Bai Xuengen.

"Leave it to me, Brother."

Shin Sumi didn't completely trust Bai Xuengen, having met him only recently, but she wholeheartedly believed to have made a big enough impression on him for him to take the matter seriously.

Through the lack of questions regarding Lan Hui's description, she figured that Bai Xuengen must already know him.

Lan Hui was the intermediary through which Elder Zhu, the Elder in charge of the Affairs Pavilion, contacted disciples and resolved conflicts. Because of that, Lan Hui had had dealings with almost everyone in the lower valley, and yellow robed disciples were no exception.

"Bai Xuengen sounded rather confident, he must have some kind of way to find Brother Lan. Now I'll wait for him near the third ring!"

Without knowing it, Shin Sumi was of course talking about the golden compass that Bai Xuengen possessed. As long as he had enough power and no exterior forces interfered, he was almost certain to find the direction of what he was looking for, a person included.

Shin Sumi focused her attention of the yellow pillar of light once more as she avoided the snaking crevices and advanced through the white landscape. Remembering the towering icicles, she didn't dare getting too close to the ice arcs that pourfended the air, almost in defiance of the Heavens.

On her path, more and more ice flowers covered the ground. They seemed so frail, as if the wind alone would be enough to break them into millions of pieces.

If Shin Sumi hadn't been absorbed by other matters, she would have looked at the scenery with stars in her eyes. But how could she focus on such a futile thing like flowers when her friend was possibly in danger?

Because of her focus, she didn't realize that the flowers soon occupied so much of the ground that she couldn't really avoid stepping on them as she leapt with the enhanced power of her legs.

Because of her focus, she also didn't see the faint blue mist that arose from every flower that had been crushed. That same mist that propagated from flower to flower, like a message from a plant to the next in protection of the intruder.

Shin Sumi's sight was impaired by her cloak and the mist was faint enough to not be discernable at first glance.

Thankfully, Shin Sumi was fast, and the mist was just slow enough in its progress to not catch up to her. But that was when the wind rose.

Tempests were common in the ice tundra, every Liquid Realm disciple that had ever trained there could confirm that fact. In fact most of them would tremble slightly at the recollection of what the storms in the icy environment could do to a person.

And that was coming from the testimony of Liquid Realm cultivators! Each and every one of them was dozens of times stronger than any Honorary Disciple by a large margin! That said a lot.

Apart from the cold that seemed through every fabric and obstacles, and the blocks of ice that could be flung around by the powerful wind, most of the disciples' minds instantly went to something else when thinking about the ice ring.

The Ice Flowers Domain. That was the name given to the blue mist that was currently being blown right into Shin Sumi's face.

The mist was hardly discernible and once it was breathed in by Shin Sumi, she had already been sealed.

Shin Sumi only smelled a very faint flowery perfume. Without realizing yet, her movements had already been slurred down to half her normal speed.

"What are these?! Flower?!!" she exclaimed when she saw the first illusory flower stalks grow from her legs.

Taking out Chao Long's dagger, Shin Sumi didn't waste any time and started severing the growing stalks.

Where the stalks were severed, the flowers stopped blooming, but every petal that fell to the ground instantly transformed into another flower.

Such was the nightmare brought about by the Ice Flowers Domain.

In just a few minutes, Shin Sumi had cut so many invading stalks that tried to slow her down that her surroundings were covered by gentle and frail looking petals. And there was still the mist coming from them.

Soon, the ground was so covered that not even a finger's length of snow was visible. In fact the recently cut flowers fell onto the flower field... and started growing on top of each other!

In five minutes' worth of time, Shin Sumi had been stopped completely, and she was surrounded by walls of flowers that seemed to merge together to form a magical array of mirrors.

From the outside, it only looked like a block of ice had been erected or shaped by the growing wind.

As soon as the block of ice completely closed, the Ice Flowers Domain was complete. The rate at which Shin Sumi started loosing her energy augmented exponentially.

"It is draining me! All my Shinsoo is leaving!"

Tendrils of vapor like Shinsoo formed from all her pores and Shinsoo openings, slowly leaving her body at first but growing faster and faster.

Shin Sumi found herself becoming really disoriented, her senses blocked by a cold numbing feeling. The mist all around was clogging her Shinsoo openings, altering her sight, sense of direction and all around alertness.

Judging by the growing lack of rationality that was invading her, Shin Sumi only estimated herself to be able to last for around five more minutes.

Not even knowing when, her knees found themselves on the ice cold ground. She was kneeling and breathing hard. Even the air felt solid around her and the mirrors all around rendered her surroundings infinite in all directions.

Down to her bones the cold had invaded everything but the numbness had spread to a degree where she couldn't even feel the low temperature anymore.

Her sight was the last sense remaining and even that started to fade into black slowly.

"This is the end. My only hope now is for someone to rescue me" she thought.

She didn't know that the Ice Flowers Domain wouldn't kill her completely. The way the terrifying formation worked was that the mirrors drained her until the last drop of Shinsoo and then she would be trapped in ice, not even knowing that she was alive.

In fact, not many people had ever died from the Ice Flowers Domain. Apart from serious frost bites and a lack of Shinsoo that reverted disciples temporarily to the state of a mortal human, most of them would be rescued once the trial was over.

But Shin Sumi ignored all that and truly believed that she was breathing her last breath. And so did the little nut.

In a last ditch effort, the little nut rolled out from the folds of Shin Sumi's red dress. Shin Sumi was already blinded, deafened, unable to feel or orient herself.

The circular rows of sharp invisible teeth plunged deep into Shin Sumi's flesh, leaving a mark on her white neck before it turned blue.

The bite had effects comparable to a shot of adrenalin. Shin Sumi's eyes opened with a sharp intake of breath, suddenly making her body function once again.

She knew this wasn't going to last, and that the little nut had only given her a leeway of a few seconds.

In one move, Shin Sumi slapped her bag of holding. The Gold Tyrant Flying Sword materialized in her small hand, its warm golden texture flashing briefly for a second before it was dimmed again by the mirrors.

Imbuing the sword in Yang type Shinsoo with one thought to the Copper Bell, Shin Sumi slashed with all her might in the upwards direction.

It was her last effort, all her strength gathered in one move to strike the mirrors formation towards the exterior. Only one strike had to do it, but as soon as the link between the mirrors were broken, Shin Sumi would be able to escape the frightening Ice Flowers Domain.

If she indeed struck the top. But the viciousness of the domain also laid in its disorientation ability.

Without her senses of sight, touch, and her entire body numbed, what Shin Sumi had taken for the up direction was actually straight below!

All the strength of her slash concentrated on the surface of the ice, cracks spreading crazily in concentric bolts. The ground caved in inside the mirrors formation, but not stopping there.

Quickly extending outwards, the ground completely collapsed in a hundred meter radius. A giant crevice was hidden beneath the large portion of the land occupied by the ice flowers.

Shin Sumi still held the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword, partly because of reflex and partly because her fingers seemed frozen solid. The last of her strength, of the second wave of energy given by the strange little grey nut, had finally dissipated.

Her lifeless body plunged into the depth of the ice, accompanied by shining chunks of shattered mirrors, reflecting the red sky above and spinning colorful dots of light all around.

Her body was finally free from the Ice Flowers Domain, her dantian at last retaining its Shinsoo and already gathering some of it from the environment through her breathing. But she was falling quickly to her death and this time the grey nut wouldn't be able to save her.

Her last attempt as freeing herself had been akin to a suicide in the end. Had she been conscious, she would have chuckled dryly at the irony.

Clutching her sword, Shin Sumi plummeted in the abyss that was growing darker and darker. The crevice was really deep and soon the red of the sky had softened into violet, then dark blue, then simply dark.

And then, as she was about to crash to the bottom, a clearer blue appeared in the distance.

Resonating from the pulsating source of light in the distance, the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword hummed.

It slowed Shin Sumi's descent at the last minute. The weapon struggled for a second, unable to free itself from Shin Sumi's grasp. In the end the call from the blue light was too strong, and the sword started carrying its owner with it as it drifted through the air.

The closer the blade got to the source of light, the second Vein of Hell Fire, the more the pulsating strength of the Shinsoo impacted Shin Sumi.

Her countenance that had been unsightly reverted back to normal, and soon her complexion had turned from a dangerous blue white of death to a healthier jade color.

Shin Sumi's eyelashes fluttered for a second before opening.