On the fifth day after departing from Frostsnow Castle, the weather suddenly changed.
At first, the clouds hung low.
Jin stopped and looked up at the sky, the leaden gray clouds weighing down over the entire wasteland.
“The weather is about to change. We need to hurry and find a temporary place to rest.”
The group quickened their pace, but before noon, the world suddenly closed in.
A blizzard struck in an instant.
Snowflakes were whipped into a white blur by the gale, sweeping across the wasteland.
Where it passed, visibility shrank to within two steps, and the air turned bitingly cold.
The map froze inside his jacket.
With the current visibility, it was impossible to examine it carefully.
The three completely lost their way in the blizzard.
They could only move forward by instinct, hand in hand, struggling with every step.
“Give me your hand!”
Jin roared, his voice immediately torn apart by the wind.
“Ailia! Don’t let go!”
Xue Yin gritted her teeth and chanted, “Quiet Domain—Constant Temperature!”
Silver light surged from the tip of her staff, barely managing to expand a three-meter protective barrier.
The barrier’s edge flickered unsteadily.
Their cloaks were already crusted with ice, and icicles hung from their eyelashes, making even blinking difficult.
Through the threads of the Quiet Domain, Xue Yin could sense the warmth in Jin’s palm and Ailia’s weakening breath, but she couldn’t perceive the right direction.
In such harsh conditions, there was no hope of natural guidance.
The world had become nothing but chaotic white.
After walking for an unknown time, Ailia’s breathing grew more ragged, her lips turned blue, and her hands became colder and colder.
As a human, she had neither the high elf’s affinity for nature nor the fallen angel’s resistance to cold.
She relied solely on her willpower to endure.
But human strength had its limits.
By now, Ailia had no mana left to burn, and her body heat was slowly draining away.
Suddenly, a fierce gust of wind howled past.
Ailia’s foot slipped, and she was thrown to the ground, rolling several feet away.
“Ailia!”
Xue Yin instinctively turned to help her.
The moment she lost focus, the barrier shattered.
The wind and snow poured in, nearly knocking Xue Yin over as well.
She staggered two steps and only managed to steady herself by thrusting her staff into the snow.
“…I can still walk…”
Ailia struggled to get up, her teeth chattering, her words fragmented, and her voice carrying a sob she herself hadn’t noticed.
“Don’t talk!”
Jin grabbed Ailia and helped her up.
“Conserve your strength.”
Xue Yin gathered mana again to reopen the barrier.
The silver light flickered back to life, but it was dimmer than before.
“Let’s go.”
Her voice was hoarse as she followed close behind Jin, her left hand pressed against Ailia’s back, continuously channeling mana to maintain Ailia’s body temperature.
With Xue Yin maintaining the barrier against the wind and snow while also diverting mana to warm Ailia, the dual expenditure made her face look even paler in the storm.
Even her fingertips began trembling uncontrollably.
“Teacher?”
Jin suddenly turned back, his voice tightening.
“You don’t look well.”
“I’m fine.”
Her voice was weak, but she forced herself not to let go.
“Keep moving… This snow won’t stop.”
But Jin keenly noticed that Xue Yin’s steps had slowed significantly.
The edge of the barrier began to flicker wildly, and the wind and snow slipped through the gaps, stinging the three faces.
A thin cut appeared on Xue Yin’s cheek from an ice particle, and the blood froze as soon as it seeped out.
Without arguing, Jin grabbed her wrist.
It was icy cold—a sign of hypothermia.
“I’m fine!”
Xue Yin tried to pull away, but her voice trembled uncontrollably.
“Ailia needs it more…”
Jin cut her off harshly, his golden vertical pupils blazing.
“If you keep transferring mana, you’re going to collapse yourself!”
Without another word, he tore off the scarf from his own neck, wrapped it around Xue Yin’s shoulders, and then forcibly stuffed her cold hands into the front of his own clothes.
The scorching heat of his body flooded into her like a torrent.
Xue Yin shuddered and nearly lost her footing.
“Jin! Let go!”
She struggled violently, but her hands had no strength.
“I can’t.”
His voice was low, his arms tightening.
“Your body temperature is below the critical threshold. If you keep this up, you’ll damage your foundation.”
“I know my limits!”
She pushed against his chest, but she was too weak to exert any force.
Instead, he pulled her closer, and she stumbled into his embrace.
Xue Yin’s mind went blank.
His body heat was too warm.
Through the fabric, it made her stiff, cold body instinctively want to draw closer.
She shouldn’t be doing this.
She was the teacher.
She was supposed to be the one standing firm, not the one seeking warmth in someone else’s arms.
She didn’t want to admit her weakness, didn’t want to become his burden.
But the coldness in her body and the exhaustion of her mana forced her to face reality.
A small voice whispered in the depths of her heart:
‘Just a little longer… just a little longer…’
This lingering attachment, this urge to surrender, made her uneasy.
‘Wait—what am I thinking? Suspension bridge effect. This is definitely the suspension bridge effect. In extreme environments, people easily develop dependence on those nearby. It has nothing to do with feelings. It’s purely a physiological reaction. I’m the teacher. I’m perfectly clearheaded. I’m just too cold. It’s not… not that kind of meaning.’
‘Xue Yin, Xue Yin. You’re almost frozen to death, and you still have the energy to analyze your own psychological state. Are you sick?’
She scolded herself internally, but after doing so, she found herself unconsciously pressing a little closer.
“You don’t understand!”
Jin looked down and interrupted her thoughts.
His eyes were fierce, as if he wanted to devour her.
The golden flames in his pupils surged, and his Adam’s apple bobbed, as if he was suppressing something.
“Jin… the barrier…”
Xue Yin tried to maintain the spell, but the barrier had mostly shattered.
Wind and snow poured in from all directions, stinging their faces.
“Let it break!”
He roared, his voice filled with unprecedented panic.
“If the teacher falls here, I swear I’ll burn this entire wasteland to ash!”
Xue Yin froze.
She had never heard him curse like that.
What she sensed was raw terror—the fear of losing something that could never be recovered.
Ailia spoke weakly, “…I can… hold on a little longer…”
“Don’t be stubborn!” they both said in unison.
Jin took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
He quickly scanned the surroundings.
His golden pupils contracted and expanded in the snow, and finally, a hundred paces away, he made out a blurred line of rock.
“There!”
He shouted.
“Hold on! Just a hundred more steps!”
Jin directly hoisted Ailia onto his left shoulder, then reached his right arm under Xue Yin’s armpit and pulled her to his side, using his body to shield her from the oncoming wind and snow.
He sprinted through the knee-deep snow.
Finally, the outline of a rocky wall emerged in the storm.
Jin kicked open the shallow cave that had been sealed by snow.
Inside, it was deeper than expected, barely enough for the three to curl up in.
Jin carefully set the two women down in a dry spot, then lit a fire.
He placed Xue Yin in his arms, letting her lean against his chest.
“You—”
Xue Yin tried to resist, but he pressed down on her shoulder.
“Don’t move.”
His voice was low, carrying an undeniable force, but it sounded more like a plea.
“…Jin.”
“Mm.”
“Your heartbeat is too fast.”
Jin was silent for a moment.
“I get scared too,” he said.
“Just now, when you almost collapsed, I thought—”
His Adam’s apple bobbed, swallowing the rest of the sentence.
Xue Yin didn’t ask.
Some things didn’t need to be said to be understood.
“Feeling better?”
Jin’s voice came from above, still carrying a hint of tension.
“…Mm.”
She replied, her voice no longer trembling.
By then, Ailia had recovered a little.
She silently took a small copper kettle from her bag, carefully placed it by the fire, and brought out ginger tea bags.
After pouring hot water into a cup, she first handed it to Xue Yin’s lips.
“Xue Yin… drink something warm.”
Her voice was gentle, her eyes full of apology.
“I’m sorry… it’s all because of me that you…”
Xue Yin took the cup and sipped the warm tea.
The heat slid down her throat, bringing warmth straight to her stomach.
“Don’t say foolish things among companions.”
She set down the cup, her tone carrying her usual coolness.
“Laine is still waiting for you. I promised him I’d take good care of you along the way.”
Ailia paused, then her eyes grew warm.
She lowered her head and smiled.
She brewed another cup and handed it to Jin, her movements quiet and meticulous.
Xue Yin leaned against Jin’s chest, feeling the steady warmth behind her.
She secretly clutched the hem of her clothes, but ultimately stopped struggling and slowly relaxed.
Outside the cave, the wind and snow continued to howl, battering the rock walls.
Inside, the flames burned quietly, and the tea’s fragrance lingered faintly in the air.