Three days have passed since the Lotus Blooming Rite.

  An edict signed by the Four Great Sects was delivered to the Twin Lotus Clan. Lian Fengyu was in her office looking out toward the dais where the ceremony was held. Thinking upon the contents of the edict. It declared the Twin Lotus Clan guilty of soul heresy, karmic violation, and harboring demonic potential. The clan was ordered to sever the bond and surrender the twins for purification.

  Fengyu scoffed. She thought to herself, “{those idiots have no idea of the true meaning of this bond. It’s unbreakable even to the Heavens.}” She replied to the edict with a single word.

  “NO!”

  But she knew what was coming.

  She sent messages to old allies. She sealed the deeper sanctums. She prepared for the battle ahead.

  And on the seventh night, beneath a blood moon, the Four Great Sects: Cold Sun Sect, Starfire Pavilion, Veiled Serpent Sect, and Jade Sky Temple joined hands to annihilate the Twin Lotus Clan.

  ?

  The gates of the Twin Lotus Sanctuary cracked open with the sound of shattering ice.

  They struck with flame and lightning, spiritual light and poison. All crashed into the once serene courtyard with the fury of JUDGEMENT! Elders of Cold Sun and Starfire Pavilion led the charge, righteous banners blazing. Veiled Serpent agents slipped through shadows, binding voices before screams could echo. From the sky, Jade Sky cultivators sang melodies that shattered spirit barriers.

  The Twin Lotus disciples fought bravely, but they were outnumbered. One by one, their lights went out.

  Jade was scorched black. Spirit gardens collapsed into smoking craters.

  At the heart of it all, the twins fought.

  Xue wielded a chipped training sword, its edge dulled from years of silent drills. Yue carried a mismatched pair of crescent blades, scavenged from fallen disciples. Their moves were raw, unrefined—but they fought as one, heart to heart.

  When Yue fell, Xue caught her.

  When Xue faltered, Yue laughed and pushed her forward.

  They were chaos and calm, storm and stillness—inseparable, unstoppable.

  But even together, they could not turn the tide.

  ?

  The temperature slowly dropped. Everyone stopped for just a breath. At the heart of the setting cold, there she stood.

  Lian Fengyu.

  Robes trailing like mist, her silver hair lifted and swirling by wind and spiritual static, blood slowly dripping from the corner of her mouth.

  As she began walking, crystalline lotus patterns appeared with each step. The lotus patterns killing all those who come near.

  Her steps were silent, all you can hear are the screams of her enemies.

  An arrogant Core Formation cultivator from the Cold Sun sect lunged forward, blade drawn, sheathed in flames, ready to pierce Fengyu in the heart. “Your clan dies tonight, heretic!”

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  Fengyu raised a single hand.

  “Be silent.” [Lotus Petal Silence]

  The sword sheathed in flames at the moment froze mid motion, shattering into harmless glitter.

  Before the cultivator can register what happened to his weapon, she was in front of him.

  Pressing two fingers to his chest, she muttered: “you should not have come.”

  “[Frozen Bloom Touch!]”

  His body turned into ice. Leaving behind a frozen statue to adorn the battlefield.

  More cultivators surged in from every direction. One was armed with thunder talismans, another with a chained scythe and one weaving spirit silk to bind her.

  Fengyu’s stance didn’t shift.

  She closed her eyes and whispered.

  “[Moon Lotus Burial]”

  The air around her bloomed with moon pale lotus petals, spinning like blades in a frozen spiral. Each petal pulsed with soul force drawn from the deepest echoes of her cultivation.

  The petals exploded outward.

  They were disarmed, weapons freezing and shattering into ice particles. Silent screams can be seen as the petals slowly sliced through skin and bone to only be frozen over the next moment.

  All that was left were the bodies of about five core formation cultivators who looked like they were glued together with ice.

  ?

  WHOOSH!

  A poison needle whizzed through the air. It was no ordinary poison needle, it was a soul corroding needle. Once struck, it will start eating away at one’s spiritual core until nothing is left. The result is death.

  The needle struck Lian Fengyu as she finished off her previous attackers.

  She was exhausted from the previous battle, and now the effects of the poison can be felt. She didn’t have long.

  A sharp, clapping sound can be heard from above, clad in golden flame robes, Elder Wei Long of the Starfire Pavilion descended. His face carved in hatred as he stated.

  “I had to wait quite a while to have that poison needle hit you.”

  Fengyu did not answer.

  She was getting weaker and slower by the second.

  Before Wei Long burst from fury of being ignored, the air around him solidified. He took a closer look at Fengyu and noticed a single hand raised at him. He paled as realization dawned on him.

  Fengyu whispered through ragged breath.

  “[Frost Lotus Domain]”

  Everything stilled around them at this moment. Wei Long was being held, like a child throwing a tantrum in the palm of eternity.

  Fengyu exhaled slowly.

  The domain flared.

  Wei Long screamed as ice wrapped around his legs, racing up his spine, freezing every meridian. He could no longer speak.

  She left him at death’s door. Leaving it up to fate.

  She walked past him as he collapsed in a frostbitten heap.

  ?

  Fengyu stood at the sanctuary’s inner gate, breath shallow, robes stained with blood. Her body trembled—not from fear, but from the poison. She had slain many elite cultivators, crippled an Elder of the Starfire Pavilion, and still, it wasn’t enough.

  She knew it was only a matter of time. She rushed toward the twins and embraced them for one final time. “Go! Run! Don’t look back! Survive!” Fengyu pushed her daughters toward the mountain’s edge. She smiled at them before pushing them off the cliff. “SURVIVE!” She yelled to them one final time. Then she turned away, her vision flickering. Every breath seared, burning her alive. Her cultivation was unraveling.

  Lian Xue and Lian Yue cried helplessly as they fell from the mountain. Their home destroyed. Everyone dead. They watched their mother disappear in the distance as they fell.

  Darkness soon engulfed their vision as they crashed into the snow.

  Not to be seen again.

  ?

  Below the sanctuary lay the Frozen Lotus Chamber—a secret known only by Fengyu and the Elders of the sect. It was created by the founder of the Twin Lotus clan; Lian Qingyuan, and only his bloodline can enter. The seal inscribed upon the floor was one she had never dared use: the Frozen Lotus Stasis Seal. A forbidden technique that slowed time within the soul, sealing life at the edge of death.

  She had one breath left.

  “Forgive me ancestor,” she whispered. “But I will not leave them alone.”

  The moment she activated the seal, she collapsed. The seal flared to life. Frost bloomed. Her breath stilled. Her wounds halted mid-failure. Encapsulated in a Frozen Lotus.

  She did not die.

  She waited.

  She will heal.

  And above her, the Twin Lotus Clan was consumed by light, fire, and silence.

  ?

  The world said the twins died in the massacre.

  That the bond had been broken.

  That the heresy had been erased.

  But legends whispered otherwise.

  That in the deepest snows of Xueyao, two figures lingered.

  One, who cultivated in silence beneath frozen stars.

  One, who laughed in the dark as she dreamed of vengeance and kisses.

  And when they return…

  The Heavens will Tremble!