Su Xuanwu narrowed his eyes, staring intently at Yang Kai as he was being beaten. "It seems like he's comprehending something," he remarked, sounding curious.
"What do you mean?" Su Mu couldn't make it out.
Su Xuanwu slowly shook his head without elaborating.
In his view, although Yang Kai's current situation looked brutal, it was obvious that he was using this fight to gain some kind of insight—perhaps a state of mind, or maybe a martial technique. Inside that trembling, cold-wrapped body, a tiny seed of scorching fire was slowly spreading. Once that flame fully ignited, Yang Kai would be reborn and ascend to an entirely new level.
If he could succeed, his future accomplishments would surely be extraordinary! Su Xuanwu had never seen any martial artist enter such a deep state of comprehension while still this weak—it was nothing short of a miracle.
"Grandpa, if sister keeps beating him like this, Senior Brother Yang is going to die!" Su Mu said in a panic.
Su Xuanwu shook his head. "Yan'er knows how to hold back. There's no killing intent in her moves—she's not trying to take Yang Kai's life."
After saying that, he muttered to himself, "Strange… why would Yan'er hit him in the first place?"
Even as shrewd and experienced as Su Xuanwu was, he couldn't imagine what had just happened to make Su Yan so furious.
The howling snow suddenly withdrew, and Su Yan's figure hovered gracefully in midair. Yang Kai, meanwhile, had been flung toward the ground, looking utterly wretched—his clothes torn to shreds, the exposed skin a bruised bluish-purple from frostbite.
Just before hitting the ground, Yang Kai tumbled through the air and landed steadily. He opened his eyes and looked upward.
Beneath the starlit sky, Su Yan floated in her billowing white robes like a celestial maiden descended to the mortal world. Behind her hung a full moon, and the night breeze swayed her garments gracefully.
Her ethereal, noble bearing made one feel inherently humble in her presence.
Crack, crack—a series of sounds rang out as a layer of frost rapidly spread across Yang Kai's entire body. Moments later, a massive block of ice encased him completely.
The ice was sharply defined, crystal clear—through its frozen layers, every strand of Yang Kai's hair was visible in sharp detail, and even his expression had been frozen onto his face.
Su Yan said nothing. She only gave Yang Kai one long, deep look, then turned and drifted back inside the house.
All that remained was the breathtaking scene she had left behind, frozen in Yang Kai's vision.
"Guard him. The moment the ice breaks, that will be the day he succeeds!" Su Xuanwu instructed Su Mu in a solemn tone.
Su Mu's forehead was slick with nervous sweat. "Grandpa, won't Senior Brother Yang freeze to death in there?"
Su Xuanwu chuckled. "He won't. This is his fortune!"
With that, he turned and walked away.
Only then did Su Mu's group cautiously step forward, surrounding the enormous ice block and tapping at it from all sides. But this ice had been condensed by Su Yan using her Cold Ice Force—how could they possibly break through it?
"This is bad, this is bad! Senior Brother Yang was already injured and hasn't healed, and now he's frozen in there. His little brother is probably going to freeze right off! What are we going to do?" Zheng Yuan shot his mouth off as usual. The words had barely left his lips when Su Mu glared at him. "Didn't you hear my grandpa say this is Senior Brother Yang's fortune? Nobody touch anything. If you crack the ice, you might hurt him. We'll just stand guard here."
"Oh." The group nodded in acknowledgment.
They kept watch until the fifth watch of the night, but the ice showed no signs of change. Yang Kai, frozen inside, remained like a living corpse—his breathing barely perceptible, his eyes wide open and fixed on the spot where Su Yan had disappeared.
After some discussion, Su Mu and the others decided to leave two people behind to keep watch while the rest went about their business.
This situation persisted for three full days straight. In front of the small pavilion, a living man encased in an ice sculpture—the scene was as eerie as anything could possibly be.