Grand Return System-Chapter 9: Frost on the Cliff

Frost on the Cliff

These last couple of days, a hush began settling into Selena’s bones at Amethyst Summit Division. Quiet slipped in, not with force, but like light fading behind clouds. She didn’t notice it happening - just woke up one morning already inside it. The stillness wasn’t empty; more like something breathing low beneath stone walls. Each step down the hall echoed softer than before. Sounds arrived late, if they came at all. Time stretched without hurry here. Even her thoughts moved slower, shaped by the silence around them.

Silence lived here.

A gust moves through. Birds call far off. Pine tips touch rock, soft sounds trail behind.

Just silence. Empty spaces where voices used to be. Stillness sits heavy in place of movement.

Only cultivation.

Perhaps this explained why she rose fast rather than inching forward.

By dawn on the second day, she touched the third star of Mana Requirement - every morning light peeling back another veil, while evenings smoothed the base Leon first cracked loose.

Strange how it seemed at moments. Sometimes reality slipped away without warning.

Floating became easier once she stopped dragging herself through days.

Frost carried the rhythm inside her veins. A cold pulse moved where silence once stayed.

-

Beneath a dimming night, colors like old bruises painted across the heavens, Selena left her small home. The air held its breath as she moved past the doorway, morning not yet begun.

Frost nipped her skin when she stepped outside, dawn already lifting above the ridge. A damp scent rose - not just wet leaves but something older, hidden under rocks. Fog drifted like smoke between the boulders, thickening near her boots with each step forward.

A shape stood out along the hush of the trail - lean, reaching upward like a shadow stretched by late sun. Quiet followed her steps, each one measured against still air.

Midnight strands of silver fell past her shoulders, glistening as if touched by stars, ends darkened with chill mist. A close-fitting garment, pure white, followed the line of her frame, a soft blue band resting just above the quiet slope of her body. With each step, cloth skimmed across her legs, light as breath, opening slightly at the side where cool air met skin. That small gap let slip moments of still power - calm, unhurried, rooted in motion.

Calm lines. Still air around each shape. Not marked by what passes outside.

A hush of morning light touched her face, revealing a pallor like fine china. The wash had left its mark, giving her features a quiet radiance just before day broke.

Footsteps slowed as she arrived at the edge of the cliff.

Wangduan Cliff.

The edge of the world.

Beneath, the hills stretched on without end, shaped like waves turned still. Mist floated slow through high places, slipping past stone.

She inhaled deeply.

Enlightenment.Mana Requirement.Heart Questioning.

Those were the duties handed down by Leon. One after another, they stacked up without warning. Each task carried its own weight, separate yet tied together somehow.

Over her shoulder, the ridge loomed silent, the place Leon vanished without a word. Behind it all stood still, just wind through pines where he once walked. Distance grew between them when he chose that peak instead of people.

"I don’t know when Teacher will come out," she murmured, voice soft. "I haven’t seen him for days... and suddenly, I miss him."

A small smile touched her lips before it faded. Her head moved slowly from side to side.

"Forget it. Homework first."

Perched on a sun-cracked stone, legs folded tight.

Her breathing steadied.

The world quieted.

Time passed.

-

Faint light crept over the mountain tops just as her eyelids lifted once more.

Light flickered inside their bodies.

"Fourth star of Mana Requirement..."

Out came her voice, soft as stolen breath. A hush shaped each word before release.

Four days.Four breakthroughs.

A quiet strength settled behind her ribs - no pride, just knowing. It showed in how she held her breath before speaking.

Three months stood tall. Enough time passed. At this pace, it ended there.

She would step into the Onyx Realm.

Head high, she faced the Seven Divisions Martial Meeting. Not once did she lower her gaze.

She moved forward, each motion shaped by the quiet power Leon once offered. Knowing this path came from him changed how she stepped into tomorrow.

Out came a slow touch along the cloth tied around her middle.

Thank you, Teacher.

-

A shape moved above, slow and wavy. It floated without sound, stretching wide. Light shifted beneath it, soft then dim.

Floating down through the glow came a pair of shapes, stepping out of brightness like smoke taking form. The air shimmered where they passed, neither rushing nor pausing, just arriving.

A quiet figure touched down on the edge of the rock. Stillness followed close behind.

Suddenly standing, Selena bent low at the waist.

"Student Selena greets the Headmaster."

There he was - Mike - weathered like stone, carrying weight that bent time. Next to him, Shera waited, gaze cutting air, face unreadable.

Mike lifted his hand gently.

"There is no need for formalities."

Yet Shera’s eyes moved fast across the cliff face.

"Where is your Teacher? Why is he not here to greet the Headmaster?"

Selena’s eyes went cold.

Funny how memory works - those taunts in the Emerald Crest Division still echoed. His voice had cut through the air, sharp as a blade, aimed straight at Leon.

Even so, her voice stayed quiet.

"Reporting to Guardian Elder Shera. My Teacher is currently in seclusion."

"Solitude?" Shera grinned while tossing his head sideways.

"That’s funny. With his potential, even if he hides away for ten years, he may not break through a single small realm."

A silence followed the words. Heavy. Unmoving.

A shiver climbed without warning.

A tremor ran through Selena’s hands - the Divine Ice Bones glowed, stirred by what swelled behind her ribs. Though she never planned to let go, something deeper took charge.

Fog crept low over the edge of the stone drop.

A look crossed Mike’s face just as he started to speak, stopping the words before they finished forming. Something in Shera’s stance made him pause, shifted the air between them without a sound.

He turned sharply.

His eyes widened.

"Divine Ice Bones..."

Shera froze.

"What?"

His eyes landed on Selena once more.

Then at Mike.

She turned again toward him before looking away once more.

A sudden jolt washed the hue right out of his skin.

A child nobody believed in. She carried quiet strength beneath thin skin.

A learner once tied to the lost Amethyst Summit Division.

Still, she remained, cloaked in icy mana, gaze quiet, frame unmoving.

A shape rests still at the edge of stone. Quiet waits above empty space.

Far off, the breeze took those words across fields. Wind lifted it beyond trees. Across hills, sound traveled slow yet sure. The air moved what was real through valleys. It slipped past rivers, that knowing, riding gusts. Truth drifted where breath of sky could reach.