Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

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A training ground located somewhere in Venice's canals...

"With these, you shouldn't lose so easily in the World College Tournament. You should understand that the old clan master personally stepped forth to acquire this full set of magic equipment. You must not let us down," Zhou Yilin said with great anticipation, fondling her daughter's hair.

"I won't. Not many people can defeat me with my current strength," Mu Tingying replied confidently.

"Speaking of which, is that girl Mu Ningxue still on the team?" Zhou Yilin asked.

"Yeah, it's so annoying to see her around. I've never seen such a shameless woman before, still bothering showing herself around despite her stinky reputation. Won't she just bring more shame to our clan?" Mu Tingying said.

"She kept competing with you in the past, but what does she even have to compete with you now?" Zhou Yilin said.

Mu Tingying grinned upon hearing this. It was something she liked to hear now.

In the clan, Mu Ningxue's name had been a great pressure to Mu Tingying for many years due to her outstanding talents, and now, Mu Tingying finally had a chance to return the favor. The sense of being surrounded and looked up at by the clan felt better than she had imagined. She had been taking almost all of the resources that were available!

"That's why I'm going to take everything from her!" Mu Tingying smiled. Compared to the fake smile she had been wearing all the time, her smile actually looked sincere for the first time!

------

The breeze of the Mediterranean Sea swept past. The wind fondled Mu Ningxue's hair like a pair of gentle hands.

Her silver hair was drifting in the gentle wind. Mu Ningxue turned sideways and glanced at her hair being lifted by the wind...

Her hair was no longer snowy-white. It seemed to be mixed with a hint of black, which she had not had until recently. She could clearly see a few strands of black hair among her snowy-white locks.

Her hair used to be black, the same color that her mother had; a beautiful, silky black, unlike the snowy-white that kept on bringing her unwanted attention. Somehow, she felt sad and depressed looking at her white hair.

When the color of your hair recovers, you will no longer be tortured by the Ice Incubus. It will submit to your will, echoed in Mu Ningxue's mind.

The change of her hair's color was a sign that she was starting to assert control over the power!

---

"Mu Ningxue, so this is where you are, I've been looking for you," a man's voice came from behind her.

Mu Ningxue turned around and glanced at the man bearing a gentle smile. He was seemingly in his thirties. Her expression was complicated on seeing him.

"Fate really likes to deal some people a rotten hand. Ten years ago, I promised you that if you were willing to put in the effort, you would surely become the strongest Ice Mage of our clan, yet no one thought something like that would happen to your family.`` The man walked up on the bridge and leaned against the rails as he spoke.

Mu Ningxue did not reply. She did not understand why this person had shown up here.

This man was the main reason her talents were able to stand out. It was he who had selected her from among the side branches of the clan. He had arranged for her to live in the enormous Mu Clan like a princess, with access to the best resources she needed for her cultivation.

Even now, Mu Ningxue still had no idea about his position in the Mu Clan. It felt like he could alter the decisions of the whole clan with just a single sentence. Even though she was not really a direct family member of the clan, he was able to give her an outstanding status there...

"Didn't you always want to know who I am?" The man smiled when he saw the twinkle in Mu Ningxue's eyes.

"Mmm," Mu Ningxue nodded.

"It's unnecessary to call me mister anymore, that sounds like I'm your master You can just call me Pan Xi," the man told her.

"Pan Xi... your surname isn't Mu?" Mu Ningxue asked in surprise.

She had assumed the man was at least some kind of elder in the clan, who had a say in the directions the clan was supposed to go.

Pan Xi shook his head. He wore a lazy, bored expression and replied, "I'm more like a ghost in this clan."

"What are you trying to say?" Mu Ningxue asked calmly.

The man was supposed to show up long ago, when their family was greatly affected by Mu He's involvement in the Black Vatican, and yet, this man with great influence in the clan did not appear. Mu Ningxue was only able to gain a foothold in the Mu Clan because of her outstanding talents, and the support she received from him.

Mu Ningxue never expected the man to provide her with any help. He was more like a teacher to her, as he had guided her along the path of becoming an Ice Mage. That being said, Mu Ningxue had never thought of him as a particularly trustworthy person, as Mu Ningxue believed that he had selected many people like her. She would be replaced immediately if she was no longer the strongest Mage of her generation.

However, Mu Ningxue did not understand; if the man had already given up on her because of the Black Vatican's incident, why would he show up now? Wasn't he supposed to be seeing Mu Tingying instead?

"You know the Ice Element is our clan's foundation. Even though there are a few other clans in China that are comparable to us, none of them can possibly overtake us in terms of strength, and no clan is able to train more Advanced Mages and Super Mages than our clan. Do you know the reason behind it?" Pan Xi asked.

How could Mu Ningxue possibly know the reason?

The Mu Clan had always been huge. Even a side branch like her family was well respected in a little city, and there were countless families just like hers across the country. Most of them possessed the highest authority in the cities they resided in.

However, apart from how old the clan was, Mu Ningxue could not think of any reason why her clan was able to grow into such a large kingdom-like existence!

"The truth is, during our peak, the brilliance of our clan wasn't the Ice Element, but a bow, a bow that looked like it was made of crystal," Pan Xi said.

Mu Ningxue was startled. She immediately thought of the Ice Crystal Bow that she had signed a contract with!

"Yes, that bow," Pan Xi smiled as if he could read Mu Ningxue's mind.

"I don't understand," Mu Ningxue said.

"Oh, there are many things you don't understand, but allow me to tell you a cruel truth," Pan Xi slowly replaced his smile with a stern face.

"What is it?"

"You're not the only person that signed the contract," Pan Xi walked up to Mu Ningxue and said in a soft voice, "Remember what I told you right at the start: the path you took is like a flight of stairs made of other people's bodies, leading to the throne of the clan. I bet you must have thought of it as an analogy, but that's not what it is."

Mu Ningxue looked at the man. For some reason, she could sense a dangerous aura approaching, and the man in front of her was the source of it.

"There are many people like you in the clan. You aren't unique," Pan Xi said.

"But I never saw anyone else using it," Mu Ningxue said.

"We rarely let disciples from the direct line participate in it. At the current stage, you are the strongest among those that have signed the contract with the bow. Its power lies in your hands," Pan Xi said.

Before Mu Ningxue could ask about the Ice Crystal Bow, Pan Xi added, "The day the bow was refined, we smashed it into pieces and distributed them to talented Mages like you. The bow is only entry-level, thus it only suits the souls that are clean, like a blank piece of paper. Don't you remember how I gave you similar pieces every once in a while?"

Mu Ningxue did remember receiving ice crystals every few months. Mu Ningxue never asked about them, but simply placed them on her palm and waited until they melted, as she was instructed.

Every time she melted a piece, she would feel her cultivation improving, and the Ice Crystal Bow in her soul would grow stronger, too. The same happened to the chill she had to suffer, thus she had to keep improving to ease the pain she would feel!

"The color of your hair is slowly recovering. This means you are coming to better terms with the Ice Crystal Bow," Pan Xi reached out his hand and touched Mu Ningxue's hair.

Mu Ningxue felt uncomfortable. She immediately took a few steps back.

"Why are you telling me this now?" Mu Ningxue was even more suspicious. She strongly believed that the man would not show up without a reason, and would not bother telling her these secrets, which many core members of the family were unaware of.

"You will understand once I finish explaining to you. The ice bow requires energy to recover, and the only way to do it is by smashing it into pieces and merging them with the souls of Ice Mages. In order to guarantee the energy is of the purest form, the candidates must be Ice Mages that have just Awakened the Ice Element. When the pieces recover to a certain degree, we'll start collecting the pieces and gathering them on a single person, to try and complete the bow," Pan Xi said coldly.

"So that's why my cultivation improves every time I was given a piece of the bow!"

"Exactly, you can think of yourself as the queen of ants. The other ants are preparing the pieces for you before presenting them to you, in order to build the perfect nest!" Pan Xi said.

Mu Ningxue's heart started burning in rage upon hearing this. "So, what happens to the people that lost their pieces?" Mu Ningxue asked seriously.