The mist surrounding Crimson Peak wasn't natural fog. It was Blood Mist—a toxic vapor infused with the sect's dark cultivation techniques, designed to drain the vitality of anyone who breathed it in.
To a normal cultivator, entering this mist would be suicide. Their Qi would stagnate, their senses would dull, and their blood would begin to boil.
But Kelser didn't breathe like a normal cultivator.
As he stepped into the red haze, the frost aura around him expanded instantly. The cold didn't just push the mist away; it froze the toxic particles mid-air, turning the red vapor into harmless crimson snow that drifted harmlessly to the ground.
Elara walked beside him, her Yin energy forming a protective barrier that repelled the remaining heat. Behind them, Jian and Mina moved like shadows, their footsteps silenced by talismans.
They reached the Red Gate—a massive structure of black iron and bone, standing fifty meters tall. It was guarded by two stone golems animated by blood souls, each wielding a giant cleaver.
"Halt!" one golem roared, its voice grinding like stones. "Intruders will be flayed!"
The golems raised their cleavers, preparing to strike.
Kelser didn't even slow down. He simply flicked his wrist.
"Asura Frost Art: Silent Shatter."
A wave of invisible cold hit the golems. They froze instantly, not on the surface, but internally. The blood souls animating them screamed silently as their connection was severed by the paradox chill.
Then, with a soft crack, both golems crumbled into piles of dust and rusted scrap metal.
The gate remained closed, sealed by a complex formation glowing with red light.
"Mina," Kelser said without looking back.
Mina was already moving. She sprinted past Kelser, leaped onto the gate, and slapped three explosive tags onto the formation nodes.
"Three seconds," she whispered.
BOOM.
The explosion wasn't loud—it was precise. The formation shattered, the red light dying instantly. The massive iron gates groaned, their locking mechanisms freezing and snapping under the thermal shock.
With a deafening screech, the Red Gate swung open.
Inside, the courtyard of Crimson Peak was in chaos.
Dozens of Blood Moon disciples were running around, shouting orders. Some were trying to reinforce the walls; others were dragging crates of supplies toward the inner sanctum.
When they saw the gate open and the four figures standing there, silence fell for a heartbeat.
Then, panic erupted.
"It's them! The Frozen Pair!"
"The thieves are here!"
"Kill them! For Elder Mo!"
A wave of cultivators surged forward, swords and spells flying.
"Jian, Mina—go left!" Kelser ordered. "To the mines!"
"On it!" Jian laughed, throwing a smoke bomb that exploded into a cloud of glittering, blinding powder. "Catch me if you can, uglies!"
While the disciples were distracted by the chaos, Jian and Mina slipped into the shadows of the side corridors, vanishing toward the lower levels.
Kelser and Elara stood their ground.
"Elara," Kelser said softly.
"Ready," she replied.
They moved together.
Kelser became a whirlwind of ice. His sword cut through the air, leaving trails of frost that froze enemies in place before shattering them. He didn't fight with rage this time; he fought with precision. Every strike was calculated to disable, disarm, or destroy with maximum efficiency.
Elara danced beside him, her movements fluid and graceful. She didn't kill unless necessary. Instead, she used her Lotus Seal to bind enemies, trapping them in spheres of Yin energy, rendering them unconscious. She was the shield to his sword, protecting his blind spots and stabilizing his flow.
Together, they were unstoppable.
Within minutes, the courtyard was cleared. Dozens of disciples lay frozen or bound, but alive. Kelser had made a silent decision: these were pawns, not the enemy. The true target was at the top.
They marched toward the central staircase leading to the Grand Hall.
But as they reached the first step, the ground shook.
A deep, rhythmic thumping echoed from within the mountain. Thump. Thump. Thump.
From the main doors of the Grand Hall, a figure emerged.
It wasn't Elder Mo.
It was a monstrosity.
Standing three meters tall, stitched together from the bodies of multiple cultivators and reinforced with iron bones, it was a Blood Puppet. Its eyes glowed with a mindless, hungry red light. In its hands, it held a massive hammer made of solidified blood.
Behind the puppet, standing on the balcony above, Elder Mo watched with a cruel smile.
"I knew you would come," Mo's voice boomed, amplified by his Qi. "And I prepared a welcome gift."
He gestured to the puppet.
"This is my War-Blood Construct. It feels no pain. It has no soul to freeze. And it grows stronger with every drop of blood it spills."
The puppet roared, a sound that shattered the remaining windows, and charged.
It moved faster than something so large should be able to, slamming its hammer down where Kelser had been standing a split second before.
KRA-KOOM.
The stone staircase exploded. Debris flew everywhere.
Kelser and Elara dodged, landing on opposite sides of the courtyard.
"It's fast!" Elara shouted, dodging a swipe that nearly took her head off.
"And strong!" Kelser added, parrying a blow that sent a shockwave through his arms. "Its skin is hardened blood-iron. My frost isn't penetrating."
Elder Mo laughed from above. "Give up! You cannot break what has no life! Surrender, and I might let your friends live!"
Kelser looked up at Mo, then at the rampaging puppet.
"No life?" Kelser murmured.
He remembered Mina's report. Sabotage the fuel reserves.
He remembered Jian's words. Fear makes people chatty.
And he remembered the corrupted crystals.
Kelser's eyes narrowed. A plan formed in his mind, cold and sharp.
"Elara!" Kelser called out. "Don't attack the body! Attack the connection!"
Elara understood instantly. "The blood link!"
She closed her eyes, extending her spiritual sense. She ignored the massive physical form of the puppet and searched for the thin, invisible thread of Qi connecting it to Elder Mo on the balcony.
There it was—a pulsing red line feeding the construct power.
"I see it!" Elara cried.
"Hold it!" Kelser commanded.
Elara raised her hand. "Lotus Seal: Soul Bind!"
A beam of silver light shot from her palm, striking the air where the invisible thread was. The puppet stumbled, its movements jerking violently as its connection was disrupted.
"Now!" Kelser shouted.
He didn't aim for the puppet.
He aimed for the ground beneath it.
"Asura Frost Art: Deep Freeze!"
He slammed his sword into the earth. Ice spread rapidly, not just on the surface, but deep underground, seeking the pipes and channels that carried the liquid blood-fuel to the construct.
The corrupted residue from the earlier crystal sabotage was still in the system. When Kelser's extreme cold hit the tainted fuel lines, it triggered a reaction.
CRACK.
A fissure opened beneath the puppet. Instead of water or oil, a geyser of unstable, grey-red sludge erupted upward.
The puppet roared as the sludge touched its joints. The corrupted energy ate through the blood-iron stitching.
"What is happening?!" Elder Mo screamed from the balcony, his face twisting in horror. "Stop it! Stop it!"
The puppet began to convulse. Its own blood-fuel was turning against it, freezing and expanding inside its veins.
"Run!" Kelser grabbed Elara and pulled her back.
BOOM!
The Blood Puppet exploded from the inside out. Shards of frozen blood and iron shrapnel flew in all directions, shredding the courtyard but missing Kelser and Elara thanks to their timely retreat.
When the dust settled, the courtyard was a wreck. The puppet was gone, reduced to a pile of useless scrap.
Silence returned to the peak.
Elder Mo stood on the balcony, staring at the destruction. His face was pale, his hands trembling not with rage now, but with genuine fear.
His ultimate defense... destroyed in seconds.
Kelser looked up, his sword pointing directly at Mo.
"Your toys are broken, Elder," Kelser said, his voice cutting through the silence like a blade. "Now come down and face us yourself."
Mo backed away slightly, his eyes darting toward the inner sanctum.
"You think you've won?" Mo stammered. "I... I have more! The formation! The ancestors!"
"There are no ancestors here," Elara said, stepping forward, her silver hair blowing in the wind. "Only a tyrant hiding behind lies."
Suddenly, alarms blared from the lower levels.
Smoke began to rise from the mines.
Jian's voice echoed up from the depths, amplified by a spirit trumpet.
"Hey! Up there! We found the fuel storage! Oops, looks like it's on fire! Sorry, not sorry!"
Another explosion rocked the mountain, this time from below. The ground shook violently.
Mo's eyes widened in despair. "No... the mines... the resources..."
He looked at Kelser and Elara, then at the burning smoke rising from his own sect.
The Blood Moon Sect was crumbling. Not from an external siege, but from within.
Kelser took a step forward, his aura flaring with cold intent.
"It's over, Mo," Kelser said. "Surrender."
Mo gritted his teeth, his fear turning into desperate madness.
"Never!" he screamed. "If I die, I'll take this whole mountain with me! Blood Sacrifice: Self-Detonation!"
Red light began to engulf Mo's body. He was preparing to blow up the entire peak, killing everyone including himself.
Elara gasped. "He's going to destroy everything!"
Kelser's eyes narrowed. He knew he couldn't stop an explosion of that magnitude with frost alone.
But he had an idea. A risky one.
"Elara," Kelser said quickly. "Link with me. Full synchronization. We're going to freeze time itself."
Elara didn't hesitate. She grabbed his hand.
Their marks burned. Silver and red light merged into a blinding pillar.
"Celestial Asura: Time-Burial Field!"
The world turned white.
And for a single, suspended moment, the explosion halted.