Chapter 18: The Demon from the Snow Province

One Week Later — Nine Gates Sect, Council Hall

The sect has now recovered.

The walls had been rebuilt, the wards renewed, and the disciples returned to their training schedules — bruised, but stronger. Yet despite the peace on the surface, a strange stillness had crept into the halls.

Something… unsettled.

Something waiting.

At the council table, Elder Xun stood with a sealed scroll in his hand. Snow-dusted. Stiff with frost.

"It arrived this morning," he said. "Carried by a falcon from Yubai Province."

Shen Yun tilted his head. "The Snow Province?"

Li Feng, seated at the head, looked up sharply. "No one's used the falcon courier route in over ten years."

"Because no one survived long enough to send one," Xun murmured. "Until now."

He unrolled the scroll.

There were only four words:

"The Demon walks again."

And beneath it, pressed in blood-red wax: the ancient sigil of the White Warden Temple — a long-fallen stronghold buried in the ice.

Li Feng's gaze darkened.

He knew that name.

Long ago, before Nine Gates even rose to power, the White Warden Temple was the northernmost guardian of the cultivation realm. It fell mysteriously, wiped out in a single winter with no survivors.

Until now.

A Day Later — Northern Border Outpost

Snow howled like a living thing.

Li Feng wrapped his cloak tighter as he stepped off the teleportation platform onto hard-packed ice. Shen Yun followed close behind, breath frosting in the cold. Wei Lan was behind them, teeth already chattering.

"I told you this was cursed," Wei Lan muttered. "Nothing should be this cold unless the Heavens are punishing it."

"They probably are," Shen Yun said, eyes scanning the white horizon. "Look."

Beyond the outpost lay a stretch of barren valley… and then the mountains rose.

Tall. Jagged. Iced over with time.

And nestled between the cliffs like a scar — the ruins of the White Warden Temple.

Or what was left of it.

Inside the Temple Ruins

The first thing they noticed was silence.

Not just normal silence.

Dead silence.

No birds. No wind. Not even the crunch of their footsteps echoed. It felt… wrong.

Then they saw the statues.

Lining the entrance, shattered guardian figures, faces scratched out and bodies cracked down the middle. Ice had formed over them like tears.

Then something moved.

Not snow. Not mist.

A shadow. Quick. Darting between the columns of the courtyard.

Wei Lan froze. "Did you see—"

But before he could finish, a scream echoed through the valley — not from a beast.

From a human.

The team ran into the main hall.

Inside they found a single surviving monk — old, frostbitten, robes torn — clutching a broken staff and covered in blood.

He looked up with wild eyes.

"The Demon…" he croaked. "He walks on two legs. He wears no mask. And he smiles."

Then the man went still.

Frozen mid-breath.

Dead.

The Legend

That night, huddled around a low-burning flame inside the outpost, Elder Xun unrolled an old scroll brought from the archive.

"The Demon of the North," he read aloud. "He has no name. No face. But those who see him are marked."

Shen Yun frowned. "Marked?"

Wei Lan blinked. "With what?"

Xun pointed at a rough drawing — a curved red slash over the heart, not unlike a sword wound.

Shen Yun and Li Feng exchanged a glance.

Because it looked too much like the poison mark Li Feng had… except older.

Cruder.

Deeper.

That Same Night

Li Feng couldn't sleep.

The cold didn't bother him — it was the hum. The way his spiritual core had been vibrating ever since they arrived.

Something here was old.

Familiar.

And then… he heard the footsteps.

Soft. Barefoot.

He opened his eyes.

A boy stood at the edge of the clearing — pale skin, long silver-white hair, no coat despite the blizzard. He looked young. Delicate. Almost fragile.

Except for the eyes.

Red.

Smiling.

And on his chest, visible through thin robes — a scar shaped like a sword's kiss.

Li Feng stood slowly. "Who are you?"

The boy tilted his head. "You have it, too."

Li Feng tensed. "What?"

"The thing inside," the boy said. "The serpent scale. The one that whispers."

His voice was soft. Too soft for the snow to carry.

But Li Feng heard every word.

"It's waking, you know," the boy continued. "You'll be just like me soon. Except…"

He grinned wider.

"I'm not waiting anymore."

Then he turned.

And vanished into the snow.

Chapter End Scene

By the time the others came running, the boy was gone. No tracks. No signs.

But in the ice where he had stood — a deep symbol had been burned into the snow:

Ancient.

Forgotten.

Except now, returned.

Li Feng stared down at it.

And whispered, "So… you're not the only one."

End of Chapter 18