The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

There were no footsteps outside the door.

There was no knocking.

There wasn't even a sound of breathing.

That thing, whether human or ghost, was right outside the door.

So quiet it seemed not to exist, yet it was undeniably there.

It was pasted on the outside of the door, separated from the people inside by only a thin wooden board.

"Is anyone there?"

Tang Xixue mouthed a question to him.

The two words fell silently into the air, without alerting anyone, except for Chu Qiao.

Chu Qiao slowly shook his head.

His lips moved silently, uttering only a few words.

"Don't worry, it's not human."

Tangxi Xue saw it.

As he spoke, his grip on the bone knife tightened, the thick hemp rope on the hilt digging deep into the lines of his palm. He joked, but his eyes held a serious expression.

His gaze shifted to the tightly closed wooden door, his eyes reflecting the darkness seeping through the crack.

The flames in the furnace suddenly flickered, as if they had been pushed down by an unseen wind.

The wick shook violently, and the shadow on the wall distorted as if its shape had been disrupted by an invisible hand.

Mu Liang had already opened her eyes.

He gripped the sword at his waist, rose silently, and pressed himself against the window.

His footsteps were so light that they made no sound, and the animal hide beneath his feet was not even wrinkled.

"What could be outside? There's no heartbeat or breathing at all."

The window was sealed with animal hides, so he couldn't see outside, but his hand was already on the hilt of his sword.

This is not ordinary vigilance, but preparation before drawing one's sword.

He can use things beyond his five senses to explore.

There was something standing outside, but it didn't have any of the signs of life that a living creature should have.

But it's right there.

A heavy sense of presence, as if the ice wall itself had a pulse.

"Enemy attack?"

Feng Zhuo also opened his eyes warily.

His body went from deep sleep to full wakefulness in less than a breath. His bright eyes showed no trace of the drowsiness of just waking up, only the instinct honed by countless battles.

His hand had already reached for the Crimson Flame Sword beside his pillow.

Without hesitation, he turned over and knelt down, shielding Tang Xixue behind him.

"I knew it would be too quiet tonight, unbelievably quiet. Sure enough, what was bound to happen has happened."

The little white cat Yin Kong in Tang Xixue's arms suddenly bristled.

Its back arched, its tail became bushy, and it let out a very low growl from its throat.

Those azure eyes were fixed on the direction of the door, the pupils shrinking to a thin slit.

But they did not act rashly.

Chu Qiao was the host here, and he told everyone to keep quiet, so they didn't make any big fuss.

They simply held their breath, gripped their weapons tightly, and flexed their bodies like bowstrings ready to be released.

"Creak..."

Suddenly, the sound of fingernails scratching a wooden board came from outside the door.

The sound was high-pitched and thin, as if someone were scraping the door panel inch by inch with frozen fingertips, the fingernails digging into the grooves of the wood grain, making a teeth-grinding friction sound.

Tang Xixue stood up, holding the Snow Soul Fan.

Her breathing remained steady, and her peach blossom eyes held no fear, only a calm, scrutinizing light.

"This uninvited guest is quite hospitable; it seems you are very charming."

She glanced at Chu Qiao, then spoke into her voice, her tone teasing.

"Sister, you're mistaken. They were clearly attracted by you."

Chu Qiao replied verbally, but his hands moved without hesitation.

His technique was extremely fast; he simultaneously placed three pine logs into the furnace, stacking them in an alternating pattern to leave the largest possible ventilation gap.

The flames leaped up again, illuminating the room a bit brighter.

But at that very moment, everyone sensed it.

A terrifying, eerie chill swept over us.

The chill didn't seep in through the crack in the door, but rather surged in from all directions simultaneously, as if the entire icy abyss was exhaling into the small house.

The flames in the furnace shook violently; if Chu Qiao hadn't added firewood in time, the flames might have gone out instantly.

"Some unclean things have come."

Chu Qiao spoke to them silently.

His lips were pressed into a thin line, his expression almost cold, yet he still managed to add a sentence.

"Quite a few. It seems the news of our distinguished guests has spread far and wide; they've come in a group for a visit."

"More and more things are coming in."

Tangxi Xue transmitted her voice to the group.

Her senses spread out like a tide, over the walls of the cabin, and into the darkness outside.

Then she felt it.

Outside, amidst the icy snow, the sound of stiff, dragging footsteps grew louder and louder.

From all directions, from the dark crevices of the icy abyss, from the depths of that icy abyss, countless things are crawling out.

Their movements were stiff and slow, as if they hadn't used their limbs in a long time.

But there were so many of them that the dragging footsteps on the snow merged together into a low, continuous friction sound, as if the entire icy abyss was trembling.

"They are afraid of fire and light."

Chuqiao carefully protected the fire in the stove.

He stood in front of the furnace, using his back to block the cold air rushing in from all directions.

But the cold grew stronger, and a thin layer of white frost formed on his eyebrows, while fine ice beads clung to his eyelashes.

He kept adding firewood, stuffing pine logs into the furnace one after another, but the flames were slowly shrinking.

Cold sweat beaded on his forehead, freezing into ice beads as soon as the sweat appeared on his skin and hanging on his temples.

"The guests tonight are a little too enthusiastic."

He forced a smile through gritted teeth.

"My place is too small to hold so many people."

Mu Liang had already reached the door and placed her hand on the latch.

Feng Zhuo followed closely behind, and with a flick of his wrist, took his sword from behind the door.

The two exchanged a glance and silently reached an agreement.

Instead of waiting here for the fire to go out, we should fight our way out.

They are warriors, and a warrior's destiny is not to wait for death in a corner.

But Chuqiao nimbly blocked the doorway.

He stood in front of Mu Liang and Feng Zhuo, arms outstretched, back pressed against the door panel.

For the first time, an undeniable seriousness appeared on that usually playful face.

He shook his head at them, his movements slow but resolute.

"I can't go."

His lip movements were so clear that no interpretation was needed.

"I know you guys are good at fighting, but those guys outside don't have any sportsmanship. They don't follow any rules when they fight. You slash them once, they shatter into pieces, then they piece themselves back together and keep fighting you."

"Who could stand that? I tried it, and I almost died from exhaustion."

Those things outside are impervious to swords and spears; they can't be killed at all.

If they swarm in, it will be a terrible disaster.

He has lived here for so many years and tried countless times, slashing with a knife, burning with fire, and smashing with ice.

They will be pieced back together if they break, rejoined if they snap, and even if they are burned to ashes, they will stand on the snow again the next night.

"They are prisoners of this burial ground, and prisoners are not allowed to be released. They have to work even after they are dead, which is worse than my situation."

This house is the only safe house.

"As long as they don't go out and the fire is still burning, they won't easily break down the door."

Chu Qiao pointed to a small spot on the door.

It was a specially made hole, about the size of a thumb, covered by a small piece of wood that could rotate.

He turned the wooden piece aside, indicating that Mu Liang and Feng Zhuo could look outside.

"Come on, free to visit. Those guys outside may look shabby, but there are so many of them, it's quite a sight. You can brag to people after you go out that you were surrounded by hundreds of ice corpses."

"I'd like to see what kind of trickery this is putting on."

Feng Zhuo leaned closer and pressed his eyes against the small hole.

He had prepared himself mentally, but what he saw when he actually looked out stunned him.

All he saw was complete darkness.

It wasn't night, nor was it wind and snow; it was a pure, unadulterated black.

The blackness was slowly writhing, like something swimming in a lump of solidified ink.

"Ah Qiao, is this hole blocked? I can't see anything, it's all black."

He asked telepathically.

Chu Qiao's expression changed instantly.

He pulled Feng Zhuo away from the door and leaned in to take a look.

Then he turned his head, his face darkening.

Even at this moment, his tone still carried an absurd sense of humor.

"Congratulations, Brother Feng. You just shared a deep, loving gaze with that person outside."

"Could it be that something outside is also looking inside...?"

Feng Zhuo realized that what he had just seen might have been the thing's eyeballs.

That slowly writhing mass of darkness was a pupil.

He felt completely numb, a chill ran from his tailbone straight to the top of his head, and the hairs on his arms stood on end.

"Wow! This is really too eerie!"

He is not afraid of thousands of troops.

On the battlefield in the northern frontier, he never retreated a single step in the face of the enemy's iron cavalry.

But he was still somewhat intimidated by these inanimate objects, by these beings that would crawl out of the ice after death.

But he did not back down.

Instead, he took half a step forward, shielding Tang Xixue even more completely behind him.

He holds the sword in his hand to protect her.

I was afraid, but what I feared most was not my own death, but the fear of not being able to protect her.