Chapter Content
The cut Lin Xuan had committed to crossed her perimeter and lost its edge halfway down.
The frost flower under her boots was not decoration. The Qi rising through Plain Steel slowed by a grade the moment the blade entered the cold radius. The descent reached Su Qingyue a heartbeat late. Frostmoon caught it with the angle of a fencer who had read the line three beats ago, and she rode the contact into Crystal Edge.
The blue of her blade brightened along its length, and a translucent extension of crystallized Qi grew two fingers past the steel tip. The ice prolongation carved a horizontal line across Lin Xuan’s left ribs. Robe parted. Skin not yet. The cold of the cut burrowed into the muscle and refused to leave.
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