Chapter 19: The Frost Sect

Snow slowly fell from the heavens, covering the rooftops with a soft blanket of white. The Celestial Frost Sect stood in this quiet mountain paradise. It had long been a disciplined and silent place, but when Bai Yue returned from the Violet Cloud Summit, she found that something had changed.

Small groups of disciples stood chatting in the courtyard and several elders walked between the main buildings, their faces unusually serious.

Bai Yue slowed as she approached one of the chatty groups. "What happened?"

The first disciple to see her quickly gave a bow. "Senior Sister Bai. Three outer disciples went missing two days ago. They went into the Abandoned Valley to collect spirit herbs but never returned."

"Disappeared?" Bai Yue’s face darkened. "Were they attacked?"

"We don’t know. We recovered their things, but there were no bodies and the valley was completely empty when we searched for traces."

The last sentence caused Bai Yue to release her grip on the woman. She had been returning from the auction on the Violet Cloud Summit and spent the last four days dealing with the frustration of the auction. The sight of three missing disciples from her sect managed to clear any lingering anger with a single glance.

Bai Yue turned her attention towards the main building.

Inside several elders stood glaring at each other.

"We should send a proper search party," muttered Elder Han. He was the one who watched over the outer disciples and had been arguing since morning. "Three of our disciples vanished. We shouldn’t delay any longer as we won’t be able to determine what happened."

"And what good will sending more disciples do?" asked Elder Mei, arms crossed over her chest. "Do we really want to risk more lives just to find out if the careless ones decided to travel inside the valley?"

"And now you know we were careless. The internal selection is approaching and I don’t want to hear of any disciples disappearing within our lands."

Bai Yue quietly entered the building and took a position along the back wall.

The Sect Master immediately took notice of her presence.

"Bai Yue."

The argument between the elders ceased at once.

Bai Yue took a deep breath and bowed to the woman. "Sect Master."

"You have returned. Give your report on the Violet Cloud Summit."

Bai Yue quickly gave a brief summary, specifically mentioning the various major factions present and the more valuable treasures that had appeared. She received no objections to her comments before continuing on with the truly interesting details.

"The ancient dragon bone was purchased by one small cultivator. A young man who appeared to be in his early twenties. He had long silver hair and golden eyes. His name was Ao Kuiba."

"Which clan?" Elder Han finally asked.

"I don’t know."

"Sect?"

"No."

A few of the elders exchanged a doubtful look.

"Foundation Establishment?"

Elder Han repeated. "Yet he spent three hundred thousand mid-grade spirit stones?"

"Not hesitating at all."

A tense pause stretched between the elders before the Sect Master finally asked, "Did he appear to have powerful backing?"

"I couldn’t tell. He came alone."

The Sect Master’s fingers drummed against the arms of her chair. "Interesting."

Bai Yue quickly noted that several of the elders seemed more interested in the dragon bone than the missing disciples. She wasn’t entirely sure why, but she wasn’t given the chance to investigate. The Sect Master spoke once more.

"The dragon bone can wait. The missing disciples take priority."

Her gaze shifted towards Bai Yue.

"Investigate inside the Abandoned Valley. Take two disciples you trust and report directly to me."

Bai Yue bowed. "Understood."

She was already turning away when the Sect Master called out to her once more.

"Afterward, come to my chamber. There is something you need to know."

Bai Yue glanced over her shoulder.

"Yes, Sect Master."

---

That evening, Bai Yue met with Elder Shuang in a chamber located on the outskirts of the northern peak. Bai Yue rarely saw her master involved with the affairs of the sect, but the moment Elder Shuang heard the name ’dragon bone’, her face had hardened.

"You noticed the reaction of the elders," Elder Shuang murmured. Then she led Bai Yue towards a wooden chest and opened it. Inside lay an old scroll that looked as if it was made up of yellowed paper.

"Three hundred years ago our ancestors discovered an artifact buried deep within our mountain," Elder Shuang continued, handing the scroll to Bai Yue. As Bai Yue examined it, Elder Shuang unfurled it.

The scroll depicted some sort of formation, but at it’s center was a strange ring-like object that looked like a bone.

"What kind of artifact was it?" Bai Yue asked.

"We don’t know."

"Then why has our sect been protecting it for three hundred years?"

"Because we don’t know what it is."

Elder shuang’s expression was grim as she pointed to the drawing.

"The artifact has strange reactions to any dragon-related materials. Decades ago, one of our disciples found a low-level drake’s scale and brought it to the sealed chamber where the artifact rests. The whole mountain rumbled as if an earthquake had taken place."

Bai Yue studied the drawing. "Has the artifact done anything lately?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"Several months."

Her master frowned.

"The reaction was weak, but we have had it happen a few times. Spatial disruptions have appeared at random all across the Eastern Wilderness."

Bai Yue studied the drawing. Then the ancient seal.

"And now an ancient dragon bone has appeared at auction."

"Exactly."

"Do you think that the buyer knows the significance of it?"

Elder Shuang was quiet for a moment. "I don’t know."

She gently rolled the scroll back up.

"And that is what worries me."

Elder Shuang was quiet for a moment, then she added, "The next reaction will not hurt an entire mountain. It is why I wish for you to be careful."

---

Bai Yue left the sect just after sunrise with two other disciples in tow. Su Ning was one of the well-known inner disciples of the sect, known for her incredible duel blade mastery and her amazing ability to get herself into trouble. Han Zhi was her complete opposite in many ways. He specialized in formations and rarely talked, unless he was giving a very specific explanation. He seemed offended whenever Su Ning got in trouble because he personally took it upon himself to rescue her.

The three flew over the valley for nearly two hours before the narrow opening between the cliffs became large enough to see the valley below.

The three disciples landed near the opening.

Su Ning gave a strange look at the valley. "Senior Sister, have you been here before?"

"No."

"It feels strange."

Han Zhi carefully removed his formation compass and watched as the needle slowly spun.

"The spiritual energy is unstable."

Bai Yue turned her attention towards the dark valley opening. "Stay alert."

As they slowly entered the valley, it grew silent. The usual birds that nested within the rocky hollows never appeared and the bugs that normally made noise were entirely absent from this place. They all were gone and replaced with the rhythmic sound of their footsteps on the frozen ground.

They found the first belongings nearly an hour into the journey.

A torn backpack rested along with a few other items lying around broken rocks. Afterwards they stumbled upon a broken sword, a cracked jade talisman and a spirit herb basket that was discarded in the snow.

But there were no people.

Han Zhi knelt on the ground and studied the tracks with a strange look on his face. "Here."

Three sets of footprints appeared in the frozen ground.

Bai Yue followed the prints with her eyes.

They slowly grew deeper into the valley before ending abruptly.

All three sets of prints ended in the exact spot.

Su Ning carefully observed the prints. "They just vanished."

Bai Yue knelt on one knee and placed her hand against the frozen ground. A faint ripple of energy ran beneath her fingers.

"Spatial energy," she murmured.

Han Zhi hurried over. "Teleportation?"

"No.

Bai Yue withdrew her hand. "Something was here. Something created a temporary rift."Can we track it?" Han Zhi asked.

"Maybe."

Before they could say anything more, a deep growl echoed from the darkness.

Su Ning quickly drew her sword.

A large beast suddenly stumbled from behind the rocks.

It looked like a wolf but appeared to have its skin replaced by hardened grey scales. Black veins snaked across its body as two pale blue eyes burned from within its skull.

" Frozen Corpse Beast," muttered Han Zhi.

Bai Yue frowned.

Those creatures were usually found in the cold northern wastes and not in the Eastern Wilderness.

The beast lunged forward but Su Ning met it, her blade flashing against the beast’s claws. Unfortunately the strength behind the creature’s attack sent her stumbling backwards. She recovered quickly enough and made another attempt, but the beast twisted its body sideways and slashed across her shoulder.

Blood smeared the snow as she stumbled back. "Su Ning!"

Han Zhi immediately formed a few hand-seals. A wall of ice shot forth between them and their mysterious opponent, forcing it to retreat.

"I’m fine," Su Ning muttered, gripping her shoulder.

Bai Yue moved forward but the beast lunged again. Her sword flashed once more and she narrowly avoided the creature’s claws before cutting across its chest.

The beast roared in pain and swung its other arm, but Bai Yue quickly ducked beneath it and drove her blade upwards, impaling the creature through the throat.

The beast gave one final gurgle before falling to the ground. Bai Yue withdrew her sword as she crouched next to the body.

Something unusual poked from beneath the creature’s ribs.

Bai Yue carefully retrieved a small chunk of black stone from the beast’s side. It was much colder than the nearby ice.

Han Zhi’s eyes widened slightly as he examined the stone from a distance. "That isn’t ordinary stone."

"No," Bai Yue said, studying the deeper recesses of the valley.

"It came from somewhere," she finally muttered.

---

They continued walking for another hour before Han Zhi suddenly stopped.

"Senior Sister."

His formation compass was pointing downwards.

Bai Yue examined the wall, finding nothing unusual at first, but as Han Zhi activated his spiritual sense, thin lines of formation appeared upon the frozen surface.

They followed the lines until they eventually disappeared at the deepest part of the valley.

Bai Yue placed her palm against the ground.

The earth trembled beneath her touch and several deep cracks spread across the frozen surface. Finally, a section of the ground fell away, revealing an ancient staircase leading into darkness.

"There isn’t any doorway marked on any of our valley maps," muttered Su Ning.

"That’s why we’re going down," Bai Yue replied.

"I was actually afraid you’d say that," Su Ning sighed.

The three finally entered the chamber at the bottom of the staircase.

An enormous doorway took up most of one wall. It was taller and wider than Bai Yue had ever seen. The surface of the doorway was strangely unreflective despite the light from their spirit lanterns. Several strange markings decorated the doorway, but Han Zhi took a step forward.

"These formations are exceptionally old," he admitted.

Bai Yue stared at the symbol in the center.

A dragon.

Not the stylized image used by many sects, but this symbol was far more detailed. She had actually seen this before, buried deep within one of the forbidden sections of the Celestial Frost Sect’s records. It wasn’t even a mark used during the current era, it was something even older.

Something from when the dragons still ruled the world.

"Senior Sister?" Su Ning questioned.

Bai Yue slowly raised her hand and brushed her fingers against the strange symbol. Nothing happened for several seconds. Then the whole chamber trembled violently as a pulse of ancient energy erupted from the doorway.

Su Ning stumbled back as Han Zhi’s formation compass cracked in his grip.

Bai Yue remained where she was. She could sense something just beyond the doorway. Not just spiritual energy, but something vast. Something ancient. Something that had existed long before the current era.

The energy pulsed once more, sending another wave through the mountain.

Then, far across the valley and hundreds of miles away, something answered.

Bai Yue didn’t know what it was, but she could feel it nonetheless. The strange markings suddenly glowed one after the other.

"Senior Sister... what is it?" Su Ning whispered.

Bai Yue slowly lowered her hand. For the first time since arriving at the valley, uncertainty filled her expression.

"I don’t know."

The door trembled once more as something beneath the mountain moved. Bai Yue stared at the strange symbol. Then she finally spoke.

"But whatever it is..." Her eyes narrowed, "...it was never supposed to wake up."