The hooded man’s robes fluttered lightly in the misty wind, and a strip of dark cloth concealed most of his face.

Even from such a vast distance, his gaze followed Lin Mu’s retreating form with quiet disdain.

"A failure," he muttered under his breath, his tone filled with disappointment. "Such a waste of resources. It was supposed to last longer... to wipe them out."

He reached into his sleeve, pulling out a thick jade talisman marked with intricate violet sigils. The faint glow of the runes illuminated his masked features for a moment, revealing sharp eyes devoid of empathy.

"I’ll have to report this," he said flatly. "The others will not be pleased."

With a flick of his wrist, the talisman glowed in a burst of light, surrounding him in a haze of distortion. The mountain wind howled as the figure vanished into thin air, leaving behind only a few drifting snowflakes that melted as they touched the scorched ground below.

Unseen by all, the echo of his departure lingered in the silence, a whisper of schemes yet unfinished.

The journey back to Pale Dusk City was quiet, the kind of silence that carried the weight of unspoken tension.

Lin Mu sat at the front of the group, his sharp eyes scanning the rapidly moving landscape, though his mind was elsewhere. The others sat behind him, each lost in their own thoughts after the battle.

The snow that had blanketed the forest earlier had already melted, leaving behind soft puddles that reflected the pale light of the setting sun. The world seemed calm again, but Lin Mu could not shake the feeling that something was still wrong.

He had no idea that far beyond the horizon, beyond even the reach of his Immortal Sense, a hooded man had been watching them the entire time. The one responsible for the Great Ice Elemental’s creation had seen everything from the moment the elemental was born to its violent end.

The distance between them was immense, yet even if Lin Mu had tried, it was unlikely that he would have sensed the watcher. The man’s concealment was not ordinary stealth. His presence was so carefully folded into the world around him that he seemed to vanish entirely, leaving behind no trace of life or qi.

Unaware of this silent observer, Lin Mu continued to think, while Little Srhubby took all of them back to the city. The clouds swam by and the trees under them turned into a blurry sea of green.

Eventually, Lin Mu glanced over his shoulder to address the group. "We’ll stay in Pale Dusk City for now," he said. "We need to regroup and share what we’ve learned. There’s still too much we don’t know."

Daoist Chu nodded in agreement. "If they truly used some kind of catalyst to create that Greater Elemental, we can’t let it go unchecked. The amount of qi that thing absorbed before materializing was immense. It wasn’t something that could happen naturally."

Cattaleya adjusted her belt, her expression cold but thoughtful. "And if they have more of these catalysts, then we’ll be seeing more of those monsters soon. Perhaps even stronger ones."

Lin Mu’s gaze hardened. "That’s what worries me."

The group pressed onward, their pace rapid and steady.

As they flew, their earlier theories began to weave together into something more substantial. The Ephemera Sect’s strange silence over the past few years, the unusual weather shifts, and now this... an artificially created Greater Elemental.

Each piece seemed to fit into a larger puzzle, one that was far from complete but beginning to take shape.

By the time they reached the edge of the forest, the sky had dimmed into twilight. The walls of Pale Dusk City loomed in the distance, faintly illuminated by giant crystal spire that illuminated the city.

The sight of civilization brought a small measure of comfort after the chaos of the frozen battlefield.

Little Shrubby landed near a rocky outcrop overlooking the city under Lin Mu’s command.

His gaze contemplative. "They are using Elementals to spread death," he said quietly. "That much we know. And the catalyst they used to create that Ice Elemental might be the same source responsible for these unnatural blizzards we’ve been seeing. It explains why the snowfields have been expanding."

Monk Hushu, who had been sitting in silence until now, finally spoke. "Then the catalyst is not just powerful... it is unnatural. To create a Greater Elemental, it must contain a condensed form of elemental essence beyond what any cultivator can normally control."

Lin Mu nodded slowly. "Something like that would be rare. There can’t be many such treasures in the Silent Lotus World. Anything that can alter the weather and create life out of pure qi must have immense power."

Daoist Chu crossed his arms. "Which means it can’t be hidden forever. If someone used it, others must have noticed. These treasures would leave traces when used... residual fluctuations, shifts in ambient qi, even records in sect archives."

"That’s our path then," Lin Mu replied. "We find out who in the Darkhan Dynasty holds strong Ice Elemental treasures. Weapons, artifacts, metals, or even plants... anything that fits the description."

He looked toward Elyon, who had been listening quietly up to this point. "Elyon, I’ll leave that task to you. You have contacts across the region. Find out what you can. Anything unusual involving Ice Essence or Elemental Energy, I want to know about it."

Elyon gave a curt nod. "I can do that. Give me a few days to send messages to my network. I’ll have answers by then."

Lin Mu had complete confidence in him. Elyon’s intelligence network was vast and effective, capable of uncovering information that even official channels might overlook.

For now, though, Lin Mu and Monk Hushu had another responsibility: to inform their allies.

As soon as they entered the city, they split up briefly, Elyon went to meet his contacts, while the others went to the inn. Lin Mu activated a talisman rather than his own jade slip, infusing it with a steady stream of qi until the image of a familiar, aged face appeared above it.