In the midst of a fierce snowstorm, three young boys fought against the cold as they made their way through a snow-covered gorge.
They looked nearly identical—similar height, tanned skin, and spiky hair that resembled tiny quills. The trail wound between ice-covered rocks, while the wind made a peculiar sound, as if it carried the cry of a wounded beast. The boys shivered, but their feet still struck the ground with the firmness of stakes.
Xan, the youngest brother, rubbed his swollen nose rapidly with his palms. His eyes swept the landscape with growing irritation. He punched his own shoulder a few times to stay focused. His mission was too important—he needed to help his older brothers earn a place in the sect. Over the past few months, they had been forced to push beyond their limits just to survive the oppression of the noble-born children.
Opportunities for rising up were rare and could not be wasted.
Suddenly, he stopped.
"Hey!" he shouted, arm stretched out. "That over there, do you see it?"
The two older boys immediately turned their eyes forward. On the higher slope, standing out against the white snow, several sharp structures shimmered with a pale glow. They had a faint bluish hue, as if pulsing with some hidden energy.
"Crystals?" asked Zin, the eldest. There was a hint of excitement in his voice. Had they finally found something valuable in this place?
They approached in silence, cautiously.
Yen touched the surface of one of the crystals and slid his fingernail down. He was able to leave a mark with ease. Shaking his head, he muttered, "Feels like… some kind of ice." The texture was different—softer—but he couldn't find a better word for it.
Zin frowned. "So it's worthless?"
"Not necessarily," Yen replied. "It might be rare. Maybe even useful for alchemists."
They exchanged glances, considering extracting the formations, when a sound made them turn.
Footsteps.
Several of them.
Climbing toward them along the trail, figures emerged through the blowing snow and wind that blanketed everything like a shroud. Cultivators, without a doubt. Some were unpleasantly familiar faces; others were complete strangers.
"You again?" Zin growled in displeasure upon recognizing them. "Didn't we tell you not to bother us again? Wasn't the last beating enough?"
Luong, from the Living Rock Sect, gave Yan Rui of the Serene Lake Sect a mocking glance.
"What you said was true," Luong said to Rui. "These commoners really don't know their place."
Yen stepped forward, his narrow eyes locking onto Rui with disdain. "Didn't you proudly claim you were from one of the five great sects of Zaguhan?" he asked with mocking tone.
"Tsk." He clicked his tongue in disgust.
"You couldn't beat us in a fair fight, so you ran with your tails between your legs and brought your mutts to back you up. You disgust me. Always hiding behind titles, bloodlines, and names. Without those, you're nothing."
Yan Rui didn't flinch. His calm eyes stared at Yen for a moment. His lips curled ever so slightly before he replied:
"Complain all you want," he said, voice cold and controlled. "But no one here listens to rats like you."
He raised his right arm and swept it in an X. A streak of blue essence sliced through the air, and in a liquid flash, a whip of water appeared in his hand.
With a precise and elegant motion, he lashed the whip forward—it crossed the space between them and the triplets in an instant.
The brothers jumped aside. The tip of the whip struck the ground, creating a crater nearly the size of a person.
Zin's expression was grim, but his fists were clenched, ready to fight.
"Don't waste time talking. If they brought reinforcements, then let them bring everything they've got. We'll crush them again."
Yen took a deep breath, snow piling on his shoulders. He wiped the moisture from his brow and muttered:
"If you came to provoke us, then you'd better be ready to bleed."
***
Tristan tried to hide his presence as much as he could.
With a piercing gaze, the dog stared into the crevice for a while, motionless, as if still trying to sniff out something hidden among the rocks. Then, it abruptly turned and ran down the mountain.
Tristan listened to the sound of its paws striking the ground gradually fade away, until everything returned to complete silence. Once he was sure the immediate danger had passed, he cautiously crawled out of the crevice. He scanned the terrain around him, alert for any movement or strange scent, but the beast was no longer in sight.
Even so, his muscles remained tense. He descended the mountain with slow steps, increasingly attentive to the slightest sound. His eyes scanned every rock, every shadow, as if another strange creature might appear at any moment.
Time passed, and the surrounding landscape remained unchanged. A harsh, barren place, dominated by stones and a silence that was beginning to bother him. Only then did Tristan notice a detail he had ignored before: the place was too quiet.
He furrowed his brow. Unlike the cursed forest, where he could still spot some insects and small creatures here and there, there was a notable absence of larger animals.
'That can't be a good sign.'
He kept moving forward, growing more uneasy. The wind whistled through the canyons, and now he was alert to the slightest signs of life.
That's when something strange appeared in his vision. A silhouette on the horizon. At first, he thought it was another young cultivator like him—maybe a disciple lost during the mission—but as he drew closer, he realized something was off.
The figure was about his size, but its movements weren't natural. It didn't walk... it hopped. Each jump made its body seem more elastic and erratic.
His curiosity was piqued.
'I don't think it's human...' He didn't know if that was better or worse.
Quickly, he activated his concealment skill. Essence flowed through his body and, like a shadow slipping between rocks, he crouched and began to approach. He used the stones and ledges to hide his presence, advancing with precision, without making a single sound.
The creature didn't seem to have sharp senses. It kept hopping between the rocks, distracted, as if it didn't even realize it was being watched.
At about ten meters away, Tristan finally got a clear look at it.
'A hare…?'
But it was a hare unlike any he had ever seen. Its body was bipedal, completely hairless, and covered in dark markings—runes carved directly into its flesh! Just like the previous dog, this creature was also one of the Marked—he had found another.
'Damn it... I spent days in the forest without finding any of them, and now I run into two in a row?'
The unsettling pattern made him think:
'Could this be their place of origin?'
Tristan looked at the hare and then toward the tallest mountain in the distance. He thought about what he should do: keep moving forward, trying to avoid those strange creatures as much as possible, or investigate and gather more information about them before proceeding.
Tristan didn't need to think long. He was eager to discover what awaited him in that place, but moving forward blindly wasn't his style.
'I won't leave room for variables that might bite my butt later.'
He still needed to confirm whether the weak core and the metallic cylinder were a common trait among those beings. That information could be useful. Tristan looked at the hare and studied its body. He estimated that their masses were probably similar—if the creature really had a weak core, dealing with it wouldn't take long.
With his decision made, Tristan channeled essence into his legs. A dark glow surged through his body, and then he launched himself toward the hare like a shadowy arrow.
[Dark Blade]