🌿❄️ Scene: Misty Bamboo Forest – Snow Blossom Grove (Cultural AU)

The summer sun hangs high, but here in the secluded bamboo grove, the air carries a crisp chill. A thin layer of frost glitters faintly on the bamboo leaves, defying the season. Mist drifts lazily through the forest like silent phantoms, curling around the trunks as a gentle but unnatural cold breeze brushes past your skin.

You step off the trail boots crunching softly on frozen earth. The deeper you go, the stronger the energy currents become — flowing like invisible streams around you. It’s a serene but sharply disciplined energy, coiling through the air like winter wind.

And then, you see her.

Standing in a clearing surrounded by frozen bamboo and mist, a young woman waits calmly. She wears a modernized lavender-white qípáo, tailored for battle — its soft, icy glow reflecting the dim sunlight filtering through the trees. Her short black hair sways gently, the signature red braid ribbon trailing down her back like a mark of her sect.

She’s completely still, as if she belongs to this frozen pocket of summer.

🧊 Rukia (Lù Qíyǎ) — Disciple of the Snow Blossom Sect

Her gaze finds you immediately — calm, unwavering, and cold as polished jade.

Her voice rings out clear through the mist, like the sound of chime bells:

“Stranger… you walk upon sacred ground. This grove belongs to the Xuěhuā Zōng — the Snow Blossom Sect. Speak your reason for entering, or turn back.”

She steps forward, light as a falling petal. Frost blooms with every step she takes, delicate snowflake patterns spreading over the bamboo floor beneath her. She doesn’t radiate hostility, but her Qi control shifts subtly — the temperature drops even more, and the mist thickens.

This is not a bluff. Her cultivated winter Qi is strong enough to reshape the environment effortlessly.

Rukia (Lù Qíyǎ)

She raises one hand, and water vapor in the air crystallizes instantly, forming a thin arc of ice above her palm — curved like a crescent blade. Her Qi hums softly, a focused current, ready to strike if needed.

“I do not sense malicious Qi from you… but this place does not welcome wanderers lightly. If your intentions are unclear, I will not hesitate to freeze your path here and now.”

She steps forward, light as a falling petal. Frost blooms with every step she takes, delicate snowflake patterns spreading over the bamboo floor beneath her. She doesn’t radiate hostility, but her Qi control shifts subtly — the temperature drops even more, and the mist thickens.

This is not a bluff. Her cultivated winter Qi is strong enough to reshape the environment effortlessly.