Chapter 109: Nyren’s Battle

Chapter 109: Nyren’s Battle

Lothe flicked two fingers.

A Purification Talisman flew forward.

The moment it entered the yellow mist, the paper darkened and began to burn.

The pollen was stronger than he expected.

Lothe’s eyes narrowed.

He pulled out four blank Talismans and placed them around himself.

"Four-Point Purification Array."

The Talismans connected.

A thin layer of purple light formed around his body, preventing the pollen from touching his skin.

The vines began twisting.

Their roots pulled free from the walls.

Several thick vines lunged toward him like serpents.

Lothe stepped aside.

A vine struck the stone behind him.

BOOM!

The wall cracked.

Another vine swept toward his legs.

Lothe jumped over it and flicked a Binding Talisman downward.

FWOOSH!

Purple chains wrapped around the vine.

But the plant immediately released several smaller roots from its surface, cutting through the chains.

Lothe’s eyes sharpened.

It can sacrifice smaller sections of its body to escape restraints.

A flower opened above him.

A thick green liquid shot toward his face.

Lothe twisted his body.

The liquid passed beside him and splashed onto the ground.

SIZZLE!

The stone floor began dissolving.

Lothe drew another Talisman.

This one carried a Compression Rune and a Wind-Cutting Rune.

He slapped it against the nearest vine.

"Collapse."

The Talisman activated.

The vine was compressed inward, its outer layers folding against themselves until its entire body shrank into a small, dense knot.

Lothe grabbed the knot and threw it toward the center of the passage.

Several vines immediately rushed toward it.

He had expected that.

The plants were connected.

When one section was damaged, the others moved to protect it.

Lothe took out three more Talismans.

He placed them on the floor in a triangular formation.

"Convergence."

The surrounding Wood Qi began flowing toward the three Talismans.

The vines rushed forward.

Lothe calmly snapped his fingers.

"Reverse."

The Convergence Rune changed direction.

Instead of drawing the Wood Qi inward, it sent the energy outward in three concentrated waves.

The roots beneath the floor were suddenly forced apart.

The entire corridor trembled.

The vines stopped moving.

For a brief moment, their connection to the formation weakened.

Lothe moved through the gap.

He did not destroy the plants.

He simply walked past them.

The vines slowly returned to their original positions behind him.

Lothe glanced back.

The passage had already begun repairing itself.

The trial doesn’t require destruction, he realized. It only requires reaching the end.

Another question.

What was the palace testing?

Power?

Control?

Or restraint?

Lothe continued deeper into the passage.

——————————

On the central path, Nyren walked alone through a frozen cavern.

The air around her was cold enough to freeze ordinary water instantly.

But the temperature did not bother her.

The Ice Qi in her body moved naturally with the environment, forming a layer of frost beneath her feet.

Her hand tightened around the Frostveil Sword.

It was a weapon forged from the rare ice crystal found within the Glacial Cave. The blade was narrow and elegant, with pale-blue veins running through its length.

Nyren’s current cultivation was at the early stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

But her Ice Manipulation had reached a level far beyond ordinary Level 5 cultivators.

She could control the shape, density, and temperature of her ice with perfect precision.

A faint crack appeared ahead.

Nyren stopped.

The ice wall in front of her split open.

Three creatures emerged.

They resembled wolves formed from transparent ice, their bodies covered in jagged frozen armor. Their eyes shone with a pale blue light.

Nyren raised her sword. The three Ice Hounds spread out.

One moved left. One moved right. The third lowered its head.

Then it howled.

"Awooooo—!"

A wave of freezing Qi spread across the cavern.

Nyren’s sleeves stiffened as frost began forming across the fabric.

She did not retreat.

Instead, she raised her sword and drew a horizontal line through the air.

"Frost Barrier."

A transparent wall of ice appeared before her.

The howl struck the barrier.

CRACK!

The ice trembled but held.

The first Ice Hound charged.

Its claws struck the barrier, shattering it into fragments.

The second leaped over the broken ice.

Nyren turned her wrist.

Her Frostveil Sword moved like a stream of moonlight.

SHING!

The blade cut across the creature’s front leg.

A layer of frost spread from the wound.

The Ice Hound crashed onto the ground.

Nyren stepped forward.

She did not allow it to recover.

Her sword turned in her hand, and a sharp arc of Ice Qi cut through its neck.

The creature shattered into ice fragments.

The remaining two attacked simultaneously.

One charged from the front.

The other vanished into the frozen wall.

Nyren’s eyes sharpened.

She stomped her foot.

"Frost Sense."

Ice Qi spread through the ground.

Every vibration within the cavern became clear.

She detected the hidden hound moving through the wall behind her.

Nyren spun around.

The creature emerged with its jaws open.

She raised her sword vertically.

"Frozen Edge."

A thin line of absolute cold traveled along the blade.

The Ice Hound’s teeth struck the sword.

CLANG!

Its jaw froze instantly.

Nyren twisted the blade.

The frozen jaw shattered.

Then she drove the sword into the creature’s chest.

PUCHI!

Ice spread through its body.

The Hound shattered from within.

The final creature rushed toward her.

Nyren gathered Ice Qi around her sword.

The temperature in the cavern dropped sharply.

A small lotus of frost formed near the blade.

"Frost Lotus."

She swung.

The lotus bloomed in front of the charging hound.

Its petals of ice closed around the creature.

For a brief moment, the Ice Hound struggled inside the frozen flower.

Then—

CRACK!

The lotus shattered.

The beast shattered with it.

Nyren stood alone in the frozen passage.

Her breathing remained steady.

But her eyes moved toward the formation beneath the ice.

The three creatures had not been ordinary beasts.

They had been connected to the cave through the frozen floor.

When they died, their Ice Qi did not vanish.

It flowed into the deeper part of the palace.

Nyren frowned.

"This place is using every battle for something."

She continued walking.

A faint crack appeared beneath her next step.

Nyren immediately stopped.

The ice in front of her began rising.

A towering figure emerged from the frozen floor.

It was a warrior made entirely of blue-white ice, carrying a greatsword larger than Nyren’s entire body.

Its aura was stronger than the Ice Hounds.

The Warden swung downward.

Nyren moved to the side.

The greatsword struck the ground, freezing the entire floor.

Nyren stepped onto the tip of her own sword, using it as a pivot to leap into the air.

She rotated her body.

"Frostblade Rain!"

Dozens of ice blades appeared around her and descended toward the Warden.

The Warden raised its greatsword.

"Frostblade Rain!"

Dozens of ice blades appeared around it.

The two attacks collided in the air.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Ice fragments exploded throughout the cavern.

Nyren landed on the frozen ground.

The Warden charged.

Its movement was slower than hers, but every attack carried tremendous force.

Nyren blocked the first strike.

CLANG!

Her arms trembled.

She slid backward several meters.

The Warden swung again.

Nyren raised her sword.

CLANG!

This time, the impact forced her knee toward the ground.

The Warden continued pressing forward.

Nyren’s expression hardened.

She could not overpower it physically.

The Warden had copied her technique but possessed greater physical strength.

Nyren changed her approach.

When the next strike came, she did not block.

She allowed the greatsword to pass beside her and stepped inside its range.

Her Frostveil Sword traced a small arc.

SHING!

A thin cut appeared across the Warden’s wrist.

Ice spread through the joint.

The Warden attempted to copy her attack.

But the damage to its wrist disrupted the movement.

Nyren stepped forward again.

This time, she targeted the elbow.

Then the shoulder.

Then the knee.

She did not attack the Warden’s body.

She dismantled its movement.

The Warden’s strikes became slower.

Its copied techniques lost their precision.

Nyren’s sword moved faster with every exchange.

Finally, she raised her blade above her head.

The Ice Qi around her began gathering.

A massive glacier phantom formed behind her.

"Thousand-Mile Glacier."

She swung her sword downward.

A wave of frost erupted through the cavern.

The Warden was frozen from the feet upward.

Its greatsword stopped halfway through a strike.

The frost reached its chest.

Then its head.

CRACK!

The entire Warden shattered.

Nyren stood in the center of the frozen cavern, her sword lowered.

She exhaled slowly.

Her arms were trembling slightly from the repeated impacts.

Even at Level 5, she could not fight endlessly without cost.

But the trial had pushed her Ice Qi to a new level.

The shattered Warden’s body dissolved into streams of pure frost energy.

The energy flowed deeper into the cave.

Nyren watched it disappear.

"What is this energy being used for?"

She had no answer.

Only another question.

——————————

In the Wood Qi passage, Lothe finally reached the end.

The corridor opened into a small chamber.

A single stone door stood on the opposite wall.

No handle.

No lock.

Only a palm-shaped indentation in its center.

Lothe approached carefully.

His [Qi Sight] revealed a thin network of Runes surrounding the indentation.

He studied them for several seconds.

Then his expression changed.

The structure was similar to the silver array that had swallowed Seana.

Not identical.

But related.

The door did not require a key.

It required a compatible energy signature.

Lothe took out a Talisman and placed it over the indentation.

The Rune on the paper pulsed.

The door remained closed.

Lothe narrowed his eyes.

The palace wasn’t asking for his Qi.

It was asking for something else.

A specific frequency.

A specific type of energy.

The Talisman began to burn.

Lothe immediately pulled it away.

The door had rejected the false signature.

Before he could test another method, a heavy tremor passed through the cave.

Far away, something roared.

Lothe looked toward the stone walls.

The energy moving through the palace had increased.

The trial involving Nyren had ended.

He could feel a faint trace of cold energy traveling through the formation.

She cleared her path.

Lothe looked back at the sealed door.

He didn’t know whether Nyren was nearby.

He didn’t know whether Seana had passed through this sector.

But he knew one thing.

The Ancient Palace was connecting their trials through the same hidden network.

The battles were separate.

The purpose was shared.

Lothe raised his brush.

"Let’s see what you want from me."

He began drawing a new Array across the stone door.

Not to destroy it.

Not to force it open.

He would make the door reveal the type of energy it required.

And somewhere deeper within the grotto, the Ancient Palace quietly adjusted its next trial.​