CHAPTER 357: THE THICK OF IT

Author’s Note: Do Not Unlock Yet. Chapter Is Still Under Construction.

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Chapter — THE SIN BURIED IN ICE

The air thickened as they walked deeper into the eastern forbidden corridor. Even the Kahr’uun warriors—hardened by a lifetime in killing cold—shivered as frost condensed on their lashes. The walls here were ancient, carved long before the younger generations were born. Symbols etched in an unknown script pulsed weakly, like dying veins of light struggling to hold back the dark history sealed inside.

Victor followed, arms folded behind his back, expression unreadable. His boots echoed softly across the frozen stone. The faint hum of the massive door ahead grew louder the closer they approached.

This was the door he had seen half-open before. The one Rhozan had tried so hard to keep him away from.

The door was easily thirty feet tall, crafted of a strange metal that shimmered like liquid mercury yet felt older than the ice itself. It wasn’t fully shut—the same narrow gap from Victor’s first encounter still remained, letting a line of pale white light spill across the floor.

Rhozan stopped. His hands trembled as he pressed both palms against the door.

He looked back at Victor once, as though asking for silent permission.

Victor said nothing.

Rhozan pushed.

With a deep, ancient groan, the door slid open. A wave of frigid air rushed out—far colder than the rest of the under-ice city. Even Victor felt a slight sting on his skin.

Inside was a cavernous chamber unlike anything else Victor had seen beneath the ice.

The ceiling soared hundreds of feet high. Massive pillars of translucent crystal spiraled upward like frozen trees. Strange geometric lines ran across the walls—shifting, rotating, realigning themselves with every pulse of mana.

But the most striking thing...

Was the pillar of light in the center of the room.

A column of radiant white energy descended from the ceiling to the floor, humming with steady power. And suspended inside it—floating as though trapped in time—was a person.

A young man. Human in appearance. Drifting unconsciously, limbs loose, eyes closed.

Victor stiffened.

"Who the hell is that?"

Rhozan bowed his head. "That... Great Iruhun... is the last who walked through our doors. Five years ago."

Victor blinked. "The last... Iruhun? What does that even mean? You all keep calling me that, but you’re saying someone else came before me?"

"Yes." Rhozan’s voice was soft, heavy. "Before you, there was another."

Victor stepped closer to the light pillar, examining the young man inside. His clothes were tattered, patched with blood. His skin was pale but unblemished. His body was frozen in a suspended state—alive, yet unmoving.

"What happened to him?" Victor asked. "Why is he here?"

Rhozan inhaled sharply. "That... is part of the story you must finally hear."

Victor shot him a glare. "Then start talking. From the beginning."

And so Rhozan did.

Rhozan began pacing slowly around the chamber, his voice echoing faintly off the crystal walls.

"You already know a fragment of our past... that our world collapsed into ruin, and we fled here to survive."

Victor nodded impatiently.

"But what you do not know," Rhozan continued, "is the cost. The price that spell demanded. The price we paid. The price... we buried."

He clenched his staff tightly.

"Sending our people to Earth was not the hard part. The real difficulty was transforming this region—making a place cold enough for us to live. A world like yours has no natural climate fit for our survival."

---sss

Victor narrowed his eyes. "So what did you do?"

Rhozan swallowed hard.

"To alter Earth’s environment, to create a land resembling our old world... the forbidden spell demanded a sacrifice. Not of mana. Not of resources. But of life."

Victor felt something cold crawl down his spine.

"Whose life?" he asked, though he already dreaded the answer.

Rhozan’s voice broke.

"Ten pregnant Kahr’uun."

Victor’s face froze.

Rhozan continued, voice trembling as the truth spilled out.

"No pregnant woman willingly agrees to die... to give up the child in her womb. Our leaders knew this. They also knew that without the sacrifice, the fleeing remnants of our race would perish almost as soon as we arrived here."

Victor’s fists clenched.

"The ten chosen... they begged for mercy. Pleaded for another way. But the leaders refused. Our survival was all that mattered. Everything else—morality, dignity, life—was secondary."

Victor looked sick.

Rhozan bowed his head deeply, voice just above a whisper.

"They dragged the women to the ritual altar. Their screams could be heard across the capital. They cried for their unborn children... begged for anyone to help."

He paused—long enough for his trembling breath to steady.

"But no one did. No one dared challenge our leaders."

Victor’s jaw tightened until his teeth ached.

"And as their lives were taken," Rhozan said, "the spell activated. It reshaped this entire region of Earth into the frigid land you see today. Our people were saved."

He looked up, eyes hollow.

"But something else was born from that ritual. Something twisted. Something vengeful. A remnant of the sacrificed lives—a malformed echo of suffering and agony."

Victor’s eyes widened. "...the corrupt entity."

"Yes. That abomination is the collective resentment of the sacrificed mothers and unborn children, twisted by forbidden magic. It arrived on Earth alongside us. And from the moment it first opened its eyes—it hunted us."

Rhozan’s voice cracked.

"It hunts us still."

---

Victor’s Reaction — A Line Crossed

Silence fell.

Victor felt his heartbeat hammering in his chest. For a moment, he couldn’t speak. Couldn’t think. All he could picture...

...was his mother back home.

Pregnant.

Vulnerable.

Human.

He imagined her dragged to an altar.

Begging.

Screaming.

No one helping.

His vision blurred with rage.

He spoke, voice low and cold.

"So all this time... the corrupted entity wasn’t lying."

Rhozan flinched as though struck.

Victor laughed—but it wasn’t humorous. It was bitter, sharp, furious.

"You sacrificed pregnant women," he said slowly. "For what? Some twisted idea of survival? And now you’re shocked the consequences came back to haunt you?"

Rhozan whispered, "It was forty years ago... none of us here were involved..."

"Doesn’t matter," Victor snapped. "Your civilization did it. And you hid it. You lied to me."

Rhozan lowered his head, shame flooding his eyes.

Victor took a step back, exhaling hard through his nose.

"I have a pregnant mom back home," he said quietly. "I have a baby sibling probably born by now. Do you think I’d ever forgive anybody who tried to sacrifice them?"

The chamber fell dead silent.

Rhozan’s voice came out barely audible.

"I... understand your disgust, Great Iruhun."

Victor turned away, expression dark.

"I’m not your savior. Not after hearing this."

----sss

Victor carefully placed his palm against the cool, smooth surface of the obelisk and immediately channeled a thread of restrained Qi into it.

He deliberately held back, only revealing precise control and refined quality, matching what someone at the third stage of Qi Refining Realm would display, albeit at an exceptional level.

Instantly, the obelisk let out a buzz as a blue light rose steadily from faint illumination into a brilliant, deep azure glow that danced gracefully within the crystal’s core.

Unlike others who displayed raw, overpowering Qi, Victor’s Qi was calm, pure, and intricately controlled, impressing even Elder Qin Mu.

The elder raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued. "Remarkable," he praised cautiously. "Fang Chen, was it? You have an excellent grasp of Qi for your age and stage."

Victor bowed humbly. "Thank you, Elder Qin."

With a satisfied look, the elder nodded. "You pass."

Victor quietly stepped away, maintaining a modest demeanor despite his exemplary performance. Bai Heng greeted him excitedly, slapping his back. "Haha! I knew you had talent. Seems we’ll both make it!"

Victor smiled faintly. "Let’s hope the next stages go just as smoothly."

As the rest of the participants finished their tests, roughly half of them were eliminated and forced to leave the platform in disappointment.

Elder Qin Mu stepped forward once more to address the remaining participants.

"Good work to those who’ve passed. But remember, this is merely the beginning. Our family doesn’t accept average or mediocre talent. Be prepared; the next tests will only grow more challenging."

A wave of murmurs rose from the crowd. Victor narrowed his eyes slighly. To truly infiltrate and bring justice to Lingyun Town, he needed to get closer to the heart of the annexed Qin-Bai family, especially to key figures like Qin Fei and Bai Ting Ting.

With the first objective accomplished, a quiet notification chimed gently in Victor’s line of sight.

[ Hidden Objective Complete: Successfully pass the initial Qi control test.]

[Rewards: 15,000 wisps of Qi, +1% Bloodline Integration.]

Victor’s lips curled slightly into a smile.

They had passed the Qi control test, but the elders made it clear that what lay ahead would be far more grueling.

Victor stood quietly at the side with his arms folded beneath his loose robe as his white hair fluttered softly.

His expression remained calm, indifferent even, as if none of this truly concerned him.

But inwardly, he was already running calculations.