After leaving the ruins of the Weston estate, Blanche didn’t go far. She took Snowy to a secluded cave in the wilderness outside Oakvale and set up a basic concealment spell before settling in to plan her next move.
“Narcissa holds grudges. The massacre at the Weston estate must have felt like sweet revenge to her,” she said, sitting cross-legged with cold determination in her eyes. “But she won’t stop there. I need to eliminate this threat.”
Snowy lay beside her, looking up and letting out a soft whine. Blanche stroked its head. “You think we should strike back, too, don’t you? Just hiding won’t solve anything. Besides…” The image of the charred ruins flashed through her mind. “Those innocent people can’t have died for nothing.”
She pulled out the pendant Dustin had given her and ran her fingers over its smooth surface, lost in thought. Dustin might not be able to use his cultivation, but his medical skills were exceptional, and he carried himself with uncommon presence. He’d probably had some unusual encounters in his past.
However, the current situation involved a cultivator family and an extremely dangerous territory. Blanche didn’t want to drag ordinary mortals into this mess.
“But I might be able to use this to my advantage,” she said, her eyes narrowing slightly. She recalled the two distinct energy waves she’d sensed in the park a few days ago Evander and Elowen.
Those two were clearly from another hidden family. Their energy waves ran deep, their cultivation was solid, and they seemed to regard the mortal world with a detached indifference. It was completely unlike Narcissa, who was arrogant and domineering.
They were in Oakvale for a reason. If Blanche could steer Narcissa toward them, she might create some chaos. Maybe even get them to eliminate each other.
Blanche pondered for a long time before finally shaking her head. The safest approach was still to rely on herself and the limited allies she could reach.
She closed her eyes and focused. Her fingertip traced through the air in front of her, her mana weaving into a complex pattern of light
This was a secret communication technique unique to the Frost family. Due to the family’s recent misfortunes, there were few people left she could contact, and the range of those she could contact was limited. But it was worth trying.
The glowing pattern flickered a few times before fading away, with no immediate response. Blanche wasn’t discouraged. She’d known it was a long shot.
“Time to ‘escape,” she said, opening her eyes with a cold smile. She deliberately left faint traces of her energy waves in a small area, directing attention northwest of Oakvale toward the vast mountain range.
The terrain there was treacherous and nearly uninhabited. The area was a common refuge for cultivators seeking to fight or hide. She also let a wisp of her energy wave “accidentally” brush against a low-level wandering cultivator passing through the mountain’s outskirts.
With that done, Blanche and Snowy headed deeper into the northwestern mountains. But she didn’t go straight in. Instead, she found a hidden spot at the edge of a valley surrounded by peaks on three sides and began setting up a formation.
This wasn’t her specialty, but the Frost family archives included a volume on formations, and her natural talent had allowed her to study the basics.
She pulled out the few celestial stones she had left, along with some materials containing spiritual energy, and used the valley’s natural terrain to create a composite trap formation-the Mistbinding Trap.
Once activated, the formation would generate fog to obscure vision and partially block divine sense detection. It would also slow the flow of spiritual energy in anyone who entered.
The limited materials meant it wasn’t strong enough to trap or kill powerful cultivators, but it could create chaos and buy her time
The formation took most of the day to complete and drained the spiritual energy she’d meant to use for healing. But her eyes remained resolute, without hesitation.
“Now I wait,” Blanche said, swallowing a tablet and sitting cross-legged at the formation’s core to meditate.
Snowy crouched on a rock outside the formation, eyes sharp as it kept watch. Two days later, outside the northwestern mountain range near Oakvale. Narcissa’s face darkened as she listened to her subordinate’s report.
“Lady Narcissa, we followed that faint trace of energy waves and found signs of Blanche’s presence about 100 miles to the northwest. There are definite traces of healing and meditation,” Ragnar reported respectfully.
“The northwestern mountains?” Narcissa sneered. “Of course, she’d try to hide in the wilderness to recover. Does she think I won’t find her there?”
“Elder Sevran and the Shadow Guards will arrive in Oakvale tomorrow. Should we wait for him before…” another guard suggested cautiously.
“Wait?” Narcissa shrieked. “By then, that bitch might have recovered and fled! She’s badly wounded now, and this is the perfect time to capture her.
“Plus, Elder Sevran wants her alive. If we catch her first, won’t that be a major achievement? Even if we can’t capture her, we can wound her further and corner her. Once he arrives, taking her will be child’s play.”
Just thinking about Blanche made her teeth grind with hatred. Her son’s wounds hadn’t fully healed, and the cold poison still left him writhing and screaming. Each outburst stoked her rage.
The massacre at the Weston estate had offered some relief, but nothing would satisfy her like finally capturing Blanche.
