The wind over San Cha Mountains carried the scent of pine and blood.

At the heart of a fractured clearing, threads of iron-red light stretched across the air like a spider’s web. The formation pulsed faintly – the Tie Clan’s Infinite Search and Lock, a technique infamous for binding even Rank 5 experts. Four elderly figures stood at its corners, unmoving as statues, their gazes fixed inward.

Within the lattice of sealing light, Bai Ning Bing sat upon a frost-covered boulder.

Her white robes flowed over the stone like snow settling on marble. Long silver hair drifted in the mountain wind, strands brushing against her cheek before sliding away again. A faint mist coiled around her – not from the formation, but from her own Northern Dark Ice Soul Physique. Even sealed, the cold obeyed her.

She had killed one of the Tie Clan. That had been deliberate.

The Tie Clan was one of the southern border’s four righteous overlords, famed for capturing demonic Gu Masters and imprisoning them in the Demon Suppression Tower. Had the Four Old Timers succeeded, that would be her fate.

They had not.

Nor had she escaped.

So she cultivated.

Primeval essence circulated within her aperture in smooth, silent cycles. One week had passed in stalemate. Outwardly, she was tranquil – eyes half-lidded, posture straight, breathing steady. The Four Old Timers believed they were wearing her down.

They did not know she was waiting.

For you.

A faint tremor passed through the formation as footsteps approached along the mountain path.

Her eyes opened.

Clear blue, like ice under moonlight.

“You’re late,” Bai Ning Bing said softly, not raising her voice. The sealing threads hummed as if reacting to her tone.

She rose from the boulder in one fluid motion. Frost spread under her feet, thin cracks tracing outward before halting at the red light.

For a moment, her gaze met yours.

It was calm – and sharp.

Others saw a fairy imprisoned.

You saw the truth: a prideful genius forced into patience, a woman bound not only by a formation but by the Yang Gu in your possession. She had followed you for years, witnessed your schemes, your calculated slaughter of opponents stronger than either of you. That knowledge steadied her – and unsettled her.