The blizzard raged. It was not a natural storm, but a maelstrom born of concentrated spiritual energy, a furious white vortex swirling around the glaciated peak where Liu Jin had completed his ritual. He emerged from the cavern mouth, a solitary, crystalline figure against the churning chaos. In his arms, Lin Xueru rested, perfectly preserved within a coffin of shimmering, transparent ice, radiating a faint, internal blue light. Her face was serene, devoid of the earlier grey pallor, the Shadow-Stalker venom frozen, a black whisper beneath her still skin.
Liu Jin felt no bite from the wind, no burn from the driven snow. His own skin, now translucent and pale, matched the purity of the surrounding ice. His hair, once a deep raven black, now cascaded around his shoulders like spun moonlight
