The cold crept up her spine, slowly sprouting to all parts of her body. It felt as if she were being frozen alive, as a burning sensation and a numbing sensation simultaneously assaulted her body.
Her pain receptors cried in protest, while blood splurted from her nose, immediately freezing before it could even escape.
Unable to breathe through her nose, Jenny opted to inhale and exhale through her mouth, which reduced the amount of pure inhalation while simultaneously reducing the efficiency of breathing.
But she had no choice.
Her erratic breathing was loud, while her face was flushed crimson. Her Yin Qi faded ever so often, resulting in moments in which she believed death would be better than continuing. She hadn't expected this battle to escalate to such a point.
However, she couldn't take credit away from the bear.
It was mighty and unpredictable to have pushed her to such a state.
'The reason I feel this way is because of the lack of Yin Qi in the surroundings,' thought Jenny, observing her surroundings. While attempting to gain a natural advantage, she'd left herself vulnerable, too.
Merging her energy with the surroundings, she didn't consider the possibility that the bear could absorb it. She believed the bear was relying on its physical strength and somewhat lacking magical capabilities.
But it seemed it was much more.
She had underestimated her foe.
Enduring the pain and burying the urge to give up beneath her will to succeed, Jenny slowly trekked forward, pushing her body and mind to their limits. Her nerves compressed, while blood escaped several parts of her body.
To be precise, it simply froze.
'Fuck…'
Somehow swinging Nightshade, she released hundreds, thousands of particles of Yin Qi, attempting to revitalize her surroundings while keeping the bear occupied so that it could not absorb it again.
Nightshade burst into emerald light, and in the next second, a deep gash appeared on the bear's body.
Roar! Boom! Boom!
Releasing a roar, the bear stomped, unleashing shockwaves that disturbed Jenny's balance. However, she held on, shutting her eyes while imagining the paradise that awaited her if she could only pass this obstacle.
'So this is the tribulation to reach Xuanpu, huh?'
Jenny didn't realize it would truly concern life and death. The Mountain Range of Kunlun was said to be a mythical abode of the Three Pure Ones, but Jenny was uncertain how much of that was true.
It was obvious that the Mountain Range held something supernatural, but could it truly be the Three Pure Ones?
She didn't believe it.
What she did believe was that she could discover remnants of her family. The family she was ripped from at an early age… The family for whom she decided to climb the tower… The family she wanted to avenge.
She was ambitious. The obstacles that lay ahead were equivalent to the impossibility of her goals. In order to reach her destination–which was high up on the peak–she would have to undergo obstacles worthy of the reward.
'And this is one of those obstacles.'
Somehow releasing a scream of determination, Jenny swung Nightshade as hard as she possibly could, mustering almost all of her energy into a single blade wave that shot toward the bear.
'A direct hit would have been better… but I can barely move.'
The blade traveled through the harsh winds. The bear raised his claw, but to its surprise, it was sliced easily. The Yin Qi splurted from the blade wave, coating it to reinforce the attack while simultaneously being reinforced by the atmospheric reservoir of the same energy.
'Please… Please…'
Jenny prayed inwardly, hoping for the bear's downfall while barely managing to maintain her balance, preventing her body from collapsing atop the soft, white snow that seemed akin to a blanket at that very moment.
But it was a mere illusion.
Collapsing would equal a guaranteed death.
Slice! Slice!
The blade wave, at the most crucial moment, exploded into a shower of Yin Qi. The emerald particles seemed like ornaments levitating across the ashen sky, beneath which a white sheet lay.
Jenny's eyes lost their luster as she noticed that the blade wave stopped progressing after leaving a few deep gashes on the bear's hide.
'Well… I guess this is the end.'
Her eyelids fluttered, and before long, her vision darkened.
However, instead of the cold, emptiness of death, what awaited her was a world littered with blinding light. The luminescent boundaries were nonexistent as if the world was an endless pool of white.
'What…' Jenny muttered internally, uncertain of what had occurred. She glanced down, shocked by the fact that her body was transparent, only partially visible and fading. Her gaze fell on her surroundings, but she couldn't determine a lot.
She was merely translucent in a world of light.
'I was fighting the bear…' she thought. 'How the fuck did I end up here?'
She continued to glance around, and when she didn't discover anything, she simply stood motionless, waiting for something to happen. And sure enough, something eventually did happen.
A flash of a unique, different-colored light descended, attracting Jenny's eyes.
Her ears throbbed, and her heart raced. Her breathing turned erratic, while an unknown sense of suffocation arose in her chest. Her eyes widened and then narrowed before widening yet again.
Her body underwent several changes due to a single emotion.
Anticipation.
Why did anticipation exist in her mind?
Because of the shadowed silhouette that stood merely a few meters away from her, casting a gentle gaze while bound by shackles.
Tears welled up at the corner of Jenny's eyes, her usually cold demeanor overcome with surprise, joy, and most of all… sorrow. Why was 'he' here? Why did she feel a sense of sorrow?
'It's because he looks smaller than I remember… As if his back has shrunk.'
Tears flooded out of Jenny's eyes as she rushed forward, her mature demeanor turning into that of a child before the shadowed silhouette.
The two held each other in their embrace for a few seconds before reluctantly parting.
"How have you been, Dad?"
