Far to the north of the Zhao Kingdom, an immense mountain range rendered a vast swath of land inhospitable to the surrounding Mortal Kingdoms.

  There, far from the eyes of the mundane, Cultivators roam between the Sects and settlements of the Jianghu.

  Qi naturally flows upwards from the earth, coalescing and flowing off mountains and into the sky, precipitating into Purple Qi in the mornings as it trails over the greatest of cloud-splitting peaks.

  In those great mountains, great Sects and Clans enjoy the fastest and most comfortable paths to higher Cultivation.

  Far below these prestigious peaks, however, lesser Cultivators must carve out their own paths, step by step.

  Deep within the coldest reaches of this mountain range, a secluded mountain sat in obscurity, receiving waters that flowed from warmer climates.

  As the water passes into this frozen region, it is rapidly chilled on its journey downstream until the temperature drops so severely that chunks of ice and slush form and break across the surface of the river, flowing down the stream as detritus.

  At that mountain, where the freezing waters pass through, a great waterfall had formed, feeding endlessly into a large lake. There, on the side of that frozen mountain, a permanent haze of frozen mist erupted from the base of the waterfall, billowing out as a dense cloud of ice.

  Far above those ephemeral, crystalline waters, a daily spectacle was taking place. Slowly tilting over the edge of the waterfall, an enormous chunk of ice was giving in to the ceaseless flow of water.

  When the chunk of ice, larger than a carriage, finally slipped from the edge, it was pulled into the center of the falls. Carried into the water by the immense flow, the chunk of ice was sent crashing into the lake bottom before its buoyancy could even begin to lift it.

  There, at the bed of the lake, a young woman sat in meditation, unmoved even as the icefall crashed into the ground beside her, her lower body partially frozen to the lakebed.

  Opening her eyes to the freezing waters, Jun Li turned to watch as the massive chunk of ice began to float to the surface of the lake. 'It's been about an hour, I'll reach my limit soon…'

  Jun Li didn't allow herself to be distracted from her submerged cultivation for long and slipped back into the rhythm she had grown used to.

  Unlike most forms of cultivation that relied on breathing techniques, the method Jun Li was using involved a painstakingly slow form of Qi Circulation that drew in ambient Frost Qi from the surroundings.

  Each completed circuit took minutes, even with Jun Li's extensive familiarity, and the benefits were slight and difficult to perceive. But, after tens of thousands of completed cycles, Jun Li's Internal Qi had become dense, each movement as unstoppable as a shifting ice floe, grinding all impurity to dust.

  As that frosty Qi completed its route and returned to Jun Li's Crimson Palace, a satisfying relief spread through her body, like taking a deep breath. But this time, it felt dulled.

  After so many repetitions in sedentary Cultivation, the effectiveness had worn off. For now, her meridians were fully saturated and conditioned, and further circulations would have little long-term benefit.

  Feeling the tension in her lungs grow, Jun Li tensed her legs, breaking through the ice she had used to ground herself. Regaining her mobility, she stepped off the ground and began to rise towards the edge of the lake, far from the falls.

  Breaching the surface of the water, Jun Li took a deep breath, taking in the frozen air. The pain of her lungs being chilled had become a daily experience, and she no longer flinched, nor did her breath catch in her throat from the shock.

  Rising to her feet, the icy water flowed off of Jun Li, who wore only a thin robe. Though Jun Li had arrived on this mountain as a girl, over the past five years of seclusion, she had grown into a woman, now twenty-two years of age.

  With an expression as frozen as the earth around her, Jun Li walked towards the cave she had made her abode.

  Some days, Jun Li thought she would go mad from loneliness here. But her master's semi-regular visits and the quiet companionship of Little Yun kept her mind from deteriorating.

  Five years.

  It had been an endless loop of Cultivation, study, and practice. Zhu Enlai had visited early on to give Jun Li a manual for the 'Pale Mist Sutra,' a Cultivation Method that had good compatibility with the Ice Lotus Scripture she had hoped to use.

  Since then, Jun Li had spent each day cultivating by the icy waterfall, coalescing and absorbing the frost and water aspected Qi that naturally gathered there.

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  Afterward, she would practice alchemical methods, memorize alchemical theory, refine her Martial Techniques, and study the Ice Lotus Scripture in hopes of understanding more of its secrets.

  In truth, her time here was incredibly fruitful. However, as secluded as she was, it was impossible to measure her progress against her peers, for she had none.

  When Jun Li finished dressing herself, she looked around her cave, scanning for an appropriate patch of stone. The walls of that small cave were unnaturally smooth, with lumps and folds that gave the surfaces a half-melted appearance.

  Ever since her final fight with Ren Liwei, Jun Li had become intimately aware of the 'nature' of melting. Her master, Zhu Enlai, described it as a form of enlightenment into the natural Law of the world.

  'Authority,' he called it. It was a talent greatly valued by many Cultivators. However, the methods for achieving that sort of Authority were so inconsistent and obscure that very few people actively pursued them, instead praying for a moment of incidental enlightenment, as so many Cultivators have traced the origins of their Authorities to.

  Jun Li's 'melting' was a particularly strange Authority, and she had only discovered a few applications as far as combat goes. Even so, she practiced using it diligently, hoping that in time, it would require less and less focus to manipulate.

  Changing the pace of her breathing and twisting her fingers into a hand seal, Jun Li swept her hand over the wall of her cave, a thin layer of ice creeping over the stone where her hand seal passed.

  Jun Li shut her eyes and pressed her hand over the ice, focusing intently. 'All it takes is a bit of warmth, a bit of moisture, a bit of pressure…'

  Lightly opening her eyes, Jun Li pushed her palm through the melting ice, distorting the stone beneath. Even when she pulled her hand away, the stone continued to melt, folding over itself like dough and forming a lumpy dent in the wall.

  "Good…" Jun Li had little reaction to the bizarre sight, having repeated this act hundreds of times.

  Walking out of her cave, Jun Li used the most basic manifestation of the sorcery she had learned from the Ice Lotus Scripture, repeatedly forming and melting a small ice lotus in her palm as a form of daily practice.

  Near the mouth of her home, several strange, wooden mechanisms were braced on the rocky face of the mountain. Their bulk was carved from local trees, with pulleys, rope, and straps attached across their bodies.

  All were designs pulled from her inherited memories.

  The greatest strength and weakness of Jun Li's inherited memories were the eclectic and unsorted nature of what knowledge was passed down.

  Jun Li suspected she knew more trivia and minutiae regarding Spiritual Energy and how celestial objects affect Daoist Cultivation than anyone else in her world.

  Of course, this sort of knowledge was useless to her, and Jun Li was often left with the disappointing experience of discovering a curious and powerful-sounding method or technique from her memories, only to find it was either completely impractical with her current means or was outright impossible in her world.

  Luckily, one particularly bulky category of inherited knowledge remained useful to her. That of alchemical and medical methods.

  These machines that Jun Li had created during her secluded years were pulled from a memory of a book the old Immortal had written, titled 'Procedures for the Medical Rehabilitation of Enlightened Beasts.'

  Jun Li had taken some designs of the devices included for 'muscular rehabilitation,' and adjusted them for her own use as training implements, allowing her to refine muscle groups that were otherwise difficult to train intensively with common methods.

  It was of vital importance to a future breakthrough in the Muscle Refining stage of the Crimson Palace Realm that even the less useful muscular groups were refined equally, as any weak muscle groups in the future could become vulnerable points of failure when attempting a breakthrough.

  'Uncle Zhu's still late…' Jun Li looked south, over the pale horizon, and thought of her old home, indulging in a rare moment of distraction.

  Zhu Enlai was still under an obligation to continue his tenure as the Zhao Kingdom Branch Manager, and only visited Jun Li every few months to drop off supplies and give her a strongly regimented day of training.

  But now, he had been running late for his last visit by over a month, and Jun Li had begun to worry.

  She was certain he wasn't in any real danger, but if he didn't stop by soon, Jun Li would run out of food pellets, and hunting for food in this barren climate would cut into her training time, ruining the carefully-tuned efficiency of her training schedule.

  She had been considering her options for weeks now.

  The original plan was for Jun Li to travel the Jianghu only after reaching the Early Crimson Palace Stage.

  These past few years, Zhu Enlai had repeatedly instructed Jun Li to abstain from trying to complete any of the four bodily refinements that made up the Crimson Palace stage, though she had made strides towards Viscera Tempering during her submerged Cultivation.

  Instead, he requested she focus entirely on solidifying her foundation, not just within the Initial Crimson Palace Stage, but as both a Martialist and a Sorcerer.

  Zhu Enlai had been deliberately vague while discussing when Jun Li should exit her seclusion, and unfortunately, she now had little choice but to judge for herself.

  '...How would that day have gone, if I were as strong as I am now…?'

  As she thought, Jun Li walked across the snow, looking out over the hoary forest below. Out there, Little Yun roamed about, searching for what few creatures they could hunt in this climate.

  "Haha…" Jun Li laughed at herself. 'I didn't even know how to hold a sword back then. I just thought I did, working off talent and intuition.'

  Jun Li couldn't help but cringe at her past self, knowing just how half-baked she truly was.

  Making up her mind, Jun Li returned to her cave, drawing a long blade from her Spatial Ring. 'If he's this late… I suppose Uncle Zhu can't complain if I set off without him.'

  Raising her sword with natural comfort, Jun Li effortlessly carved a message into the half-melted cave wall.

  [Heading north, you'll hear my name.]