Zhao Yingkong felt a booming sound in her mind as that towering murderous intent surged forth once more. Yet, suddenly, she recalled the scene she had witnessed in the Undead Grotto—the gently smiling man, the former him, who had sincerely cherished her and also cherished his younger brothers and sisters. That man was the very man before her now.

The one who had arrived was the long-haired, handsome Zhao Zhuikong. He looked at Zhao Yingkong with slight surprise, then broke into a smile. "Not bad. You know how to conceal your killing intent, assassin. We are all assassins, so you must remember this: never reveal your killing intent until your enemy is dead." With that, he slowly walked toward Zhao Yingkong.

Zhao Yingkong gritted her teeth. The little girl watched silently as Zhao Zhuikong walked slowly past her. The moment he passed, she asked, "What are you going to do?"

"Kill all your companions here, of course. Is there any doubt about that?" Zhao Zhuikong continued without turning back, a smile playing on his lips.

Without thinking, Zhao Yingkong brought down her sword. The transparent Sword of Truth and Vows sliced across Zhao Zhuikong's upper body, but it felt like striking nothingness. A second later, Zhao Yingkong realized two fingers were resting on her neck. Zhao Zhuikong had appeared behind her at some unknown moment, and the previous attack had only struck an afterimage.

"It's not the good child who stops me. Although I cannot afford to provoke the person on the other side, this person here is at their most vulnerable right now and hasn't grown into the robust, flawless person I hoped for. It's best if he dies, otherwise, it truly sullies that greatest potential," Zhao Zhuikong said with a smile.

Zhao Yingkong stared coldly at him. "If you want to kill them, you must step over my corpse first! Haven't you wanted to kill me for a long time? Wouldn't it be better to do it now?"

Zhao Zhuikong gently lifted Zhao Yingkong's jaw, then flashed in front of her and sealed her red lips with a kiss. Strangely, this time Zhao Yingkong didn't bite him nor did she put on a false front. Instead, two tear tracks appeared on her face, as white and flawless as jade. She simply stood there, crying ceaselessly under his kiss.

"Brother Zhuikong, and everyone else. Though we have always suffered, and we always knew we couldn't escape the fate of assassins, we still looked at each other and laughed loudly, hoping this smile would cheer the other on, so you wouldn't worry about your brother. You must have your reasons, right? The gentle you, the one who always protected me and everyone else—you must have your reasons?" Zhao Yingkong said calmly, tears still flowing, after Zhao Zhuikong pulled away from her lips. Though her expression was placid, the despair in her eyes was unmistakable.

The smile on Zhao Zhuikong's face gradually faded. A change occurred in his usually icy gaze—it became complex, indescribable. A hint of weakness even surfaced in the eyes of this assassin famous for his depravity.

"Yingkong, I—"

As such a human expression appeared in his eyes, Zhao Zhuikong’s body began to tremble, as if enduring an extreme, terrifying agony. He spoke word by word to Zhao Yingkong, but he had only uttered three syllables when a vast expanse of snow-white frost suddenly erupted from behind him. Then, several ice spears shot out from the white frost, aimed at the two of them. Judging by the force of the spears, they intended to pierce both of them through!

Zhao Zhuikong’s gaze instantly sharpened and turned cold again. Without turning back, he held Zhao Yingkong with one arm and drew a dagger with the other to guard his back. As the ice spears struck him, the dagger deflected them slightly, and Zhao Zhuikong used that momentum to leap forward with Zhao Yingkong in his arms.

They were both halfway down the mountainside. This jump meant plunging hundreds of zhang down a sheer cliff. Yet, Zhao Zhuikong seemed unaffected, letting himself fall with the wind. Only after two or three seconds of falling did he realize the secret to his descent. For some reason, even though he was still holding Zhao Yingkong, he drifted like a piece of paper in the wind, completely unrestrained by gravity's acceleration. He descended at a perfectly uniform speed; at this rate, landing at the bottom of the cliff would cause him no harm, as if he had only jumped down from a height of one or two meters.

After they fell from the cliff, the sheet of frost showed no sign of stopping. Ganier's voice roared madly: "Come on! Come and kill me! Didn't you subdue me and my teammates with a sneak attack? Didn't you peel their skin off in front of my eyes? Didn't you castrate me and bury me alive in a swamp? I’m right here now! Come and kill me!"

It was indeed Ganier's voice, Captain Ganier of the Northern Ice Continent. He had unleashed the Age of Frost. Although this was a skill that couldn't be sustained, just like Zheng Zha’s "Annihilation," its area-of-effect power even surpassed "Annihilation." This vast expanse of frost, hundreds of square meters wide, rapidly expanded outward. By the time Zhao Zhuikong and Zhao Yingkong reached the bottom of the cliff, the mountainside had been frozen into a massive block of ice. The most intense roar of frost was descending upon them from less than twenty meters above their heads; it was relentlessly pressing down on them.

"Damn it! I’ve used every bit of hidden frost energy I had! I don't care about sustainment or survival anymore! Zhao Zhuikong, I swear I’ll kill you even if I become a ghost! This is the true, strongest power of the Natural Fruit! I am nature! Who can resist nature? Ah!"

Ganier's state had clearly devolved into madness. His voice echoed within the most violent snow and ice. As he continuously vented in all directions, the ground within a meter radius had accumulated a thick layer of frost, even though this was the fiery land of Mordor, so close to Mount Doom.

Zhao Zhuikong paid the pursuing frost no heed. On the contrary, he appeared quite leisurely, walking on the ground while holding Zhao Yingkong. This seemingly relaxed stroll was actually much faster than the speed at which the frost was chasing them. In this game of pursuit, Zhao Zhuikong suddenly stopped after stepping onto a rock. He smiled as he looked at the ice mass approaching rapidly and said, "I'm very curious about one thing. Didn't you mention an energy stone earlier?"

The mass of frost didn't immediately pounce on Zhao Zhuikong. Instead, it dispersed to surround the two of them, and then Ganier's voice came through: "That's right! I admit I don't yet have the qualification to unleash the true strength of the Natural Fruit. This is the true power of nature, capable of rivaling nature itself, a power only beings who have unlocked the fifth stage of the Gene Lock and can freely control energy possess. I am using energy to wield this power!"

Zhao Zhuikong nodded and smiled. "Oh, then that solves the problem." With that, he stomped down hard on the ground beneath his feet. Each stomp was full of force, and after a few steps, the rock he stood on shattered into dust. Simultaneously, the fierce mass of frost began to swirl rapidly toward them.

But before the frost mass could reach them, several meters of scalding hot water and even hotter water vapor suddenly erupted from the ground around Zhao Zhuikong. Though it was instantly frozen upon contact with the frost mass, the steam and boiling water seemed inexhaustible, constantly rising from the ground. After only a couple of seconds of being drenched, Ganier's howl of pain came from within the ice mass.

"It’s quite unfortunate. In the fourth stage, there’s an ability called Finesse. Every time I step on the ground, I can sense what’s underneath—the rebound force of the rock, the rebound force of the water flow, the rebound force of the magma. That must be a volcano over there, meaning the groundwater here is all hot springs, very high temperature," Zhao Zhuikong said with a smile.

The few steps he had taken since arriving weren't just the few visible steps. At his speed, each footfall represented dozens of seconds of continuous stomping. Combined, he had stomped over a hundred times, effectively using Cai Zhen to shatter the surrounding bedrock. Consequently, hot springs and water vapor erupted from everywhere except the center where he stood. Zhao Zhuikong's control over Finesse was astonishingly precise.

"And then? How much time did you spend traveling here? How much energy do you have left? I think you could freeze this entire area. I’ll stay right here in the center. If my feet get frozen, I won't be able to run," Zhao Zhuikong said with a smile.

The layer of frost that Ganier had transformed into collided violently between the boiling water and the steam. Each collision made the cold air of the frost mass seem less intense, but the temperature of the steam far exceeded the hundred degrees of boiling water, and the temperature of the bedrock beneath, unable to erupt, only grew stronger. When it finally burst forth, the endless steam rushed upward wildly. Forget standing directly against the frost mass amid the steam; even the two standing in the middle found the heat unbearable.

After breaking through the resistance of the steam and boiling water, the frost mass could no longer maintain its completely frozen state. Ganier’s upper body was humanoid, but his lower half remained frosty, appearing bizarrely before the two. Zhao Zhuikong didn't even have the leisure to speak to him. He flashed past Ganier, and Zhao Yingkong was already holding the decapitated head in her palm.

"Truly a powerful ability. A pity you lack potential; you are not that lovely, unripe apple. Well then, Cousin Yingkong, I will spare your companions this time. But you must tell him: if he doesn't want to die, he needs to get stronger quickly. He is still too weak, too weak right now."

Zhao Zhuikong held Zhao Yingkong with one arm and carried Ganier's headless corpse in the other. He tossed the body toward the area with the least amount of steam. The moment the body blocked the steam, he stepped hard on it and immediately leaped away, far from the area of the exploding hot spring vapor.

Zhao Zhuikong landed on open ground and immediately let go of Zhao Yingkong. He no longer looked at her, leaving only this message before flashing away. Zhao Yingkong could no longer see his figure.

"Work hard, Cousin Yingkong. When you become stronger, I will come again to kill you."