The air seemed to freeze instantly. Misaki Ikegami felt a chill creep up her spine from her feet—this wasn't a metaphor, but a real, icy cold! She looked down and saw a thin layer of frost forming on the hem of her kimono, spreading upwards at a visible speed.
"You..." Misaki Ikegami tried to mobilize her spiritual power to resist, but found that her meridians were as if frozen and sluggish.
Aya Ikegami took a step back, and the frost immediately stopped. She tilted her head, a childlike innocence on her face: "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. But the others..." The red light in her right eye flickered, "Especially those who collude with other families, none of them will live."
Hurried footsteps and shouts came from afar, as if someone had discovered the unconscious patrolling disciple. Aya Ikegami turned and walked to the window, the moonlight gilding her with a silvery glow.
"I will attend the family meeting in three days." She turned and gave her mentor one last look. "Teacher, you'd better find a reason to be absent."
"Wait!" Misaki Ikegami, fighting off the piercing chill running through her veins, grabbed Aya Ikegami's sleeve. "Where have you been all this time?"
The fabric crackled softly in her palm, like tiny ice crystals. Aya Ikegami stopped, the red light in her right eye flickering like a candle flame, casting an eerie glow in the dimly lit Japanese-style room.
"Country M, the Luna Organization." She answered briefly, her voice carrying a metallic resonance, completely unlike the soft, sweet girl of yesteryear. "Mu Xiaoxiao took me there."
"The Moon Goddess... Organization?" Ikegami Misaki had never heard of this name before, but instinctively felt uneasy. She tried to mobilize more spiritual energy to resist the cold, only to find that even her fingertips were beginning to lose sensation. "What is that place? Why—"
"Teacher, you're asking too many questions." Aya Ikegami flicked her sleeve, instantly repelling Misaki Ikegami's hand, her fingers covered in glistening icicles. "Three days from now, if no one opposes me at the family meeting, or if I eliminate those dissenting voices, then the Ikegami family can fully join the Moon Goddess. Otherwise… I don't mind personally annihilating the entire Ikegami family."
She didn't finish speaking, but the room temperature plummeted. The scroll on the wall was instantly covered in frost, and the water in the teapot froze and expanded, making a cracking sound.
Misaki Ikegami gasped – this was beyond the scope of traditional eye techniques. The Ikegami family's eye techniques could at most freeze water vapor within a few meters, but this former star pupil was actually able to affect the temperature of the entire space!
"How can your eyes... have such a powerful influence?"
"The mystery of the Moon Eye is beyond the reach of any secret technique of the Ikegami family." Ikegami Aya tapped her right eye, its red light intensifying. "Awakened in the Moon Goddess Temple. These things on Blue Star..." She smiled dismissively, "The so-called ancient martial arts families combined can't compare to the power behind this organization."
A jumble of footsteps and shouts drifted from afar, suggesting that more people had noticed the anomaly. Aya Ikegami turned to look in the direction of the sound. Moonlight streamed through the window, casting a pale glow on half of her face, while the other half remained hidden in shadow.
Suppressing her fear, Misaki Ikegami tentatively asked, "What exactly is this organization—?"
"Teacher." Aya Ikegami suddenly leaned closer, her breath on Misaki's face as cold as liquid nitrogen. "You're not part of the organization yet. The more you know, the faster you'll die." She tilted her head, revealing a smile that was both innocent and chilling. "If you're really curious... I don't mind sending you on your way."
Misaki Ikegami felt as if an invisible hand was gripping her throat. She had no doubt that her former disciple would kill her—those heterochromatic eyes no longer held any trace of humanity.
"Why... did you come back at this time?" Misaki Ikegami squeezed out the question through gritted teeth.
Aya Ikegami took a step back, her chill slightly lessening: "Because the organization needs the Ikegami family's resources to unify the ancient martial arts world of Japan, and I..." She touched her right eye, "happily, have the surname Ikegami."
A rapid knocking came from outside the courtyard: "Lady Misaki! Something's happened! All the patrol members are unconscious!"
Aya Ikegami silently walked to the window and pushed open the lattice window. The night wind, carrying cherry blossom petals, rushed in, but eerily stopped half a meter away from her, as if blocked by an invisible barrier.
"Remember, three days." She stepped onto the windowsill, turning back for one last look at her mentor. "Oh, and please give my regards to my father."
Before she finished speaking, her figure transformed into a wisp of silver light and vanished into the night. The still petals suddenly lost their support and scattered all over the ground.
"Lady Misaki!" The door was suddenly flung open, and several disciples rushed in in a panic. "Are you alright? One of the disciples just saw a suspicious figure—"
Misaki Ikegami slowly raised her hand, stopping her disciple's report. She looked down at the frosted hem of her kimono, where the ice crystals were slowly melting at room temperature, spreading dark watermarks on the tatami mat.
"Pass down the order." Her voice was unusually calm. "Convene an emergency meeting of elders tomorrow morning. All disciples currently on training missions must return."
"What...what happened?"
Misaki Ikegami looked out the window. The moonlight was still cold and clear, and the cherry blossoms were still fluttering in the air, as if everything that had just happened was just an illusion. But she knew that something more chilling than the coldest winter was approaching the Ikegami family home.
"A blizzard is coming," she whispered.
After all the disciples left, Misaki Ikegami staggered and collapsed to the ground. Startled birds in the courtyard fluttered away, and there wasn't even a single footprint on the sand under the moonlight.
She slumped onto the tatami mat and discovered that a blood-red jade pendant had appeared in her hand—it was a talisman that Ikegami Aya had given her when she was a child. The once pure white jade was now stained dark red and felt cold to the touch.
In the distance, alarm bells rang throughout the night. Misaki Ikegami gripped the jade pendant tightly, her nails digging deep into her palms. No matter what Aya became, she was still the child she had raised from childhood. And now, this child was walking alone towards an abyss of no return...
(Something has to be done.)
She struggled to her feet, the numbness from the frost not yet fully subsided. Deep within the wardrobe lay a small box containing forbidden scrolls known only to the family's successors.
---This is the dividing line---
At this moment, in a certain sea area of Country R, the allied families of China, under the secret guidance of the Chinese military, have all landed on a small island.
Moreover, all signals here have been blocked by special means. At this moment, some points of light appeared on the sea surface, which startled everyone on the island. Then Chen Feng said, "Don't worry, everyone. These are fishing boats that are here to pick us up. We will board the boats according to the standard of 10 people per boat. We will all land in R country in batches before noon tomorrow."
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