The moment Hao Xuan pulled the blanket away breaking it in the process, a wave of extreme Ying Qi started spreading outwards with Ma Jiang as the center. The flame of the campfire flickered and froze in the blink of an eye.
Since Ceni was sitting right beside her she was too close to react in time. The ground beneath her feet froze as well, along with her boots. She tried to get up but the Ying Qi made her even slower.
Hao Xuan was the closest to her so his legs from the knee down had already become popsicles but when it reached his abdomen, the Chaos Qi suddenly burst out in fury keeping him from turning into an ice sculpture.
With gritted teeth, Hao Xuan saw Ceni's condition on the side so he gathered all his strength to push her out of the way. She was sent flying away, just in the nick of time.
The area within 4 meters of Ma Jiang was completely frozen. The only thing still moving was Hao Xuan and even that barely. The Chaos Qi was grinding against the intruding Ying Qi, trying to keep it at bay but if it continued at this rate then he would be out of Chaos Qi in less than 3 minutes.
"Ma Jiang! Wake up!" he shouted but there was no reaction.
Ma Jiang herself was ice cold but her body wasn't frozen. She was just acting as the source of it.
"Hey, you need to wake up, right now!" Hao Xuan yelled right at her face but obviously, there was no reaction. Her mind was elsewhere. He could still hear fragments of her thoughts as she struggled inwardly.
'No...please...I don't...want to...papa...'
Hao Xuan fought against the waves of Ying Qi, pushing it as far back as possible until he could reach Ma Jiang. He placed both his hands along the side of her head and tried to insert some Chaos Qi but it felt like there was an invisible wall there.
No matter how hard he tried to push the Qi through it simply would not enter her body. Meanwhile, his hands had already frozen in place.
"Ma...Jiang!" he muttered weakly, on the verge of losing consciousness. The chill had invaded his very bones and before he could even think about devouring it using his physique, his mind was starting to get hazy.
"You...dumbass...wake...up..."
A layer of permafrost had stopped him from moving. Hao Xuan's vision went dark and he lost consciousness, or at least he thought he did.
The next moment he opened his eyes and found himself in a land cacked in nothing but the purest of whites. A blizzard blew overhead, deafeningly loud as it threatened to sweep Hao Xuan away at any moment.
'Where is this?'
Hao Xuan spoke inwardly but his thoughts echoed loudly in the outside world, or whatever world this was. He looked around him but couldn't see anything. Just then, carried on a peculiarly chilling gust of wind, Ma Jiang's voice reached his ears.
'No...please don't hurt them...I'll do...what you say...papa please...'
Not only was her voice much louder and clearer, but he instinctively knew where it was coming from. Bewildered, Hao Xuan inspected his surroundings once again trying to find a clue.
'Is this...her Mind Palace?'
He didn't have any proof of this other than a simple feeling. And it made sense. Previously he could hear her thoughts which were repeating something along the same lines and now he was hearing it loud and clear and even knew where it was coming from.
This could only mean he had somehow entered her inner world, her Mind Palace.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried to see there was nothing visible through the tempest. So Hao Xuan did all what he could and followed the voice.
She kept repeating the same few lines over and over again, sobbing ever so quietly as she did so.
'I'll do what you want, please don't hurt them.'
'If you let her go I'll do it.'
'Papa please don't hurt me. I'll be good from now on.'
It was pretty obvious she talking to her father. Her voice got louder and louder as Hao Xuan got closer to the source.
The billowing wind was scraping against his sanity. It was so strong that if not for Ma Jiang's voice that was keeping him grounded, he would have already lost his mind.
But after what felt like a lifetime Hao Xuan finally came to a stop in front of a mountain. The winds let up, allowing Hao Xuan to raise his head and be awed by its majesty. It was too big. Far too big to even be real.
There was a giant gaping hole right in front of him from where the voice was coming from.
Hao Xuan took in a deep breath to steel his mind before taking a step forward. The moment his foot passed over the threshold, the howling winds came to an abrupt stop. As if they could not or perhaps, dared not trespass into this domain.