My senses finally came back and everything feels exactly like when I'm cultivating. The Qi around me felt rich, my skin felt cold, and more importantly, I can hear the faint sounds of wind somewhere around me. I took in a deep breath and felt Qi filling up my Lungs. I exhaled a mouthful of impurities and repeated the process and continued to do it until I refined my bones 4 times in a row. Only after that did I stop cultivating.

I woke up surrounded by a frozen wasteland. Looking around didn't tell me anything more than "This place became frozen and now it looks like it's been snowing here for years." And to be honest? That description doesn't sound that far off because the only thing around me is snow, there aren't any buildings or corpses, hell, I'd take a mound made out of anything other than pure snow.

As things stand though, there isn't anything for me to find so, hoping that I'd at least get a sign of something- I started walking.

I found something after a while, it wasn't anything special but when I bent down and picked up the sword that I found on the ground, it gave me a glimmer of hope that maybe everything isn't as bad as it seems. Grabbing the sword also reminded me of my own bat and I briefly wondered where it went before I put the thought at the back of my head. There isn't a point in thinking about it now.

There were other things too, like pieces of clothing, and intact accessories, but more importantly, I was soon able to encounter one of the huts that the Outer Sect Disciples live in. I walked closer and touched the leafy, mud wall with my palm, it felt cold to the touch but like what seems to be the norm for me lately; I wasn't really affected by the cold.

I exhaled, puffing out a hot breath that quickly turned to mist because of the cold. "Feels intact enough," I said before finding my way inside the hut.

Unexpectedly, the interior lacked any signs of being frozen by the raging blizzard outside. I expected that much but looking at it from an outside perspective though, it feels pretty weird that no matter how cold it is outside, the inside of the buildings are somehow not frozen. I sighed. Then again, I've only been to two of these things. It was the same as last time and that's why I was partially expecting it to have the same effect but I probably shouldn't base my view of the effects of my blizzard based off of it.

I rummaged through the mattresses of the house to find anything to replace my Ninja outfit and I managed to dig out a pair of black, woolen shorts and a brown shirt that didn't have a hole in the chest. I put them all on and quickly left the building to continue my search for any signs of life. Honestly, save for the occasional loud howls of the wind, I didn't hear anything else. Actually, I felt like an astronaut searching for aliens in some barren, frozen planet.

Well, that's if Astronauts carry swords. Looking at it, the weapon that I'm holding isn't much, just a simple blade with a roaring Chinese dragon carved across its surface. It looked and felt powerful sure, but it somehow lacked the ability to eat Qi. Well, it can take in Qi, the only problem is that the sword is so weak that I can practically hear it crack when I inject my Qi into it.

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Now that I think about it, why does that happen? With nothing better to do, curiosity took over and I checked my status screen to see just how far I've jumped in cultivation-

User: Yu Song

Qi: 1653/20,000

Realm: 10th Stage (Body Refinement)

Techniques:

- Punch

- Run

- Throw

- Palm Strike

*First to Sixth form

- Fist of Danger

* First to Second form

Quests:

*Reach Body Refinement Realm - Completed! Rewards Ready!

*Reach Foundation Establishment Realm - (10/15)

*Help the Sect Defend from the Invaders - (Side Chosen- Deep Running Rivers and Oceans Sect 74% / Invaders 27%)

*Find out what's wrong with the Dogs and the source of the Parasites.

*Find out more about the Ninjas.

*Kill the invading Poison Bandits - (3/???)

'20,000?!' I internally yelled when I saw just how much Qi I needed to jump another Stage in Body Refinement. 'What the fuck?!' pretty much summarizes my thoughts about the matter. The second thing that I noticed is, oddly enough, the part where I've still yet to get the rewards for reaching Body Refinement Realm. I decided to open it right then and there-

A sword weaker than the one I found, black pants, and a T-shirt with an open chest popped into existence right on top of my hands. I stared at the pieces of clothing, discarded the sword, then eventually (after a lot of thought,) decided to wear the T-shirt that looks like something a gigolo would wear as well as the pants on top of my existing clothes. They both felt comfortable.

With clean looking clothes on my back, I continued walking.

Light eventually came, I knew that much would happen at one point but I honestly didn't expect the emotional impact it would have on me. The emotions stirred me so badly that I practically ran to the source of light and eventually found out that yes, it is an artifact but more importantly, the artifact is fuelled by Qi and this one is still glowing. And that means there's someone out here that's using this thing.

I moved my head around and searched the surrounding area with my eyes, the artifact in front of me looked like a kettle, its colors are green with hints of orange spotted here and there. It didn't look like much but I noticed that there's hot water inside of it when I picked it up. The water sloshed around when I shook the kettle and it splashed out of the mouth and into the snow and surprisingly, the boiling water froze first instead of the snow.

What the hell did I do?.. I didn't accidentally create a new ice age did I?

I poked the stick of ice that looked like it grew out of the ground. It shattered under my touch but the way it froze still disturbs me.

I took another look at my surroundings, thinking that whoever owned this kettle might have answers for what just happened. No one came, obviously, so I eventually decided to keep the kettle for myself and continue on my journey out of this wasteland.

It didn't even take me three steps before my feet hit something hard.

I stopped and looked down. My eyes narrowed in suspicion when I saw the blunt, thin piece of ice that popped out of the snow. It looked too much like a finger and fear for the worst, I bent down and started moving the snow out of the way- I took a step back. "What the fuck?" was all I could say to the frozen person in front of me. I broke his hand away from his arm and confirmed that yep, the guy is literally made out of ice.

I tossed the hand away and started walking. "Haaa..." I exhaled. For some reason, the kettle in my hands felt warmer than before.