Harem Link Cultivation System-Chapter 55: Contribution Trial: Snowfield Hunt [3]
The moment his foot hit the bridge, cold pressure brushed his skin like a hand.
The air ahead glittered faintly with suspended frost particles, as if the mist itself had been sharpened.
They walked.
Stone beneath their boots turned slick with thin ice.
The bridge stretched longer than it looked, fading into a white haze that swallowed sound.
After several minutes, the mist thinned.
And the snowfield opened.
It wasn’t a simple field.
It was a sloped basin carved between ridges, filled with knee-deep snow in some areas and bare froststone in others. Ice-slick boulders jutted out like teeth. Thin frost trees stood scattered, branches glittering with crystals that chimed softly when wind passed.
Formation lines shimmered faintly under the snow in places—blue threads like veins beneath pale skin.
Teams spread out quickly, each choosing a direction.
A horn sounded once, low and distant.
The trial began.
Xu Wen held up a hand.
"Stay within sight," he said calmly. "At least until we find our first node or beast." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
Zhao Yuming scoffed.
"Sight slows us down," he said. "We aren’t children."
He started walking toward the left ridge, where the snow looked thinner and the terrain more rocky.
He Lian immediately moved after him.
"Senior Brother Zhao," He Lian said smoothly, "that path looks like it leads to a formation cluster. Good tokens."
Zhao Yuming didn’t reply, but he didn’t stop either.
Xu Wen glanced back at Lin Tian.
Lin Tian nodded once.
No argument.
He didn’t need to pick a fight before the trial even warmed his blood.
They followed.
The cold density grew heavier as they moved deeper. Lin Tian could feel it pressing against his dantian like a constant weight. His breathing anchor held, but he had to maintain it consciously.
They encountered their first frostbeast within fifteen minutes.
A creature like a wolf, but larger, its fur glittering with ice crystals, eyes pale and empty. Frost mist puffed from its nostrils as it prowled near a half-buried formation node—an upright stone pillar with a faint glow at its base.
Tokens could come from either.
He Lian’s eyes brightened.
"Frostwolf," he said softly. "Token and node."
Zhao Yuming stepped forward, blade already drawn.
"Don’t get in my way," he said.
Xu Wen’s voice was calm. "Coordinate. One distracts, one stabilizes the node, one flanks."
Zhao Yuming ignored him and lunged.
Fast, clean strikes.
He wasn’t sloppy. His sword arcs were sharp and practiced, frost qi layering subtly along the blade.
The frostwolf snapped and moved with surprising speed, claws scraping froststone.
Zhao Yuming fought with sect polish. He used the slick terrain naturally, sliding into angles, turning cuts into pressure.
He Lian circled wide and didn’t engage immediately.
Xu Wen stepped toward the node and placed his palm against the stone pillar, eyes narrowing as he guided qi into the formation lines.
Stabilization.
Lin Tian remained still for half a second, then moved—quietly—toward the frostwolf’s blind side.
Not interfering with Zhao Yuming’s pride.
Preparing.
The frostwolf lunged suddenly, its body low and explosive.
Zhao Yuming dodged, but the beast’s tail swept wide and clipped his shin.
He staggered half a step.
The beast snapped toward him again.
Lin Tian stepped in and struck—not with a flashy slash, but with a short, controlled arc that redirected the beast’s head away from Zhao Yuming’s throat.
The blade didn’t hit deep.
It didn’t need to.
It created space.
Zhao Yuming’s eyes flicked toward Lin Tian, irritation flashing.
"Don’t—" he started.
Lin Tian didn’t answer.
He pivoted back out of range, letting Zhao Yuming reclaim the lead.
Xu Wen’s hand remained on the node.
A faint glow flared at its base.
A token—a small frost crystal—rose out of the snow and floated briefly before being pulled into Xu Wen’s band with a soft chime.
One token.
Zhao Yuming, perhaps feeling challenged, pressed harder.
He cut the frostwolf down in a rapid sequence.
The beast collapsed into the snow, dissolving into frost mist.
Another token formed and drifted toward Zhao Yuming’s band.
Two tokens.
He Lian finally stepped in at the last moment, stabbing the dissolving mist in a way that looked like contribution.
His band chimed faintly too.
Perhaps the formation credited him with minor participation.
He smiled.
Zhao Yuming wiped his blade on the snow, not looking at anyone.
"Move," he said.
They moved.
For the next hour, the pattern repeated.
Zhao Yuming chose aggressive paths toward beast territory.
He Lian lingered slightly behind him, ready to "assist" when victory was certain and risk was low.
Xu Wen stabilized nodes when he could, calm and methodical, collecting tokens without drama.
Lin Tian stayed quiet and efficient.
He stepped in only when necessary.
He conserved breath.
He maintained control.
And through it all, he felt the cold density gradually digging in.
Not harming him.
Testing endurance.
The trace stirred once when a frostbeast’s howl spiked the cold pressure.
Lin Tian steadied his breathing.
It settled.
He wasn’t reckless enough to think that meant he was safe.
The snowfield wasn’t meant to kill them.
It was meant to push them until something inside them revealed itself.
By mid-afternoon, their bands had accumulated a modest count.
Competitive.
Zhao Yuming’s irritation had grown sharper, not because they were losing, but because Lin Tian had not given him anything to strike at.
He Lian’s smile had become slightly more cautious, as if he couldn’t decide whether Lin Tian was easy prey or a quiet problem.
Xu Wen remained neutral.
But his eyes observed everything.
They reached a narrow pass between two ridges where the wind cut harder, snow whipping in thin sheets. Formation lines glimmered faintly beneath the surface, denser here.
Xu Wen slowed.
"This area has heavier formation layering," he said. "We should be careful."
Zhao Yuming scoffed again.
"Careful," he repeated. "You say that like it’s wisdom."
Xu Wen didn’t react.
He simply looked at the snow ahead, eyes narrowing.
"There may be pockets," he said. "Cold density spikes. If we trigger one—"
He Lian cut in smoothly.
"Senior Brother Zhao," he said, pointing toward a dip in the snowfield to the left. "I saw a node glow there earlier. It’s likely untouched. Easy tokens."
Zhao Yuming’s eyes flicked toward it.
Then toward Lin Tian.
A faint smile touched Zhao Yuming’s mouth, not warm.
"We’ll take it," he said.
Xu Wen frowned slightly.
"That depression could be—"
Zhao Yuming stepped forward anyway.
He Lian followed eagerly.
Lin Tian watched them go for half a breath.
The dip in the snow looked wrong.
Wind avoided it as if something below absorbed motion.
Lin Tian’s fingers tightened slightly at his side.
He didn’t stop them.
Stopping them would require authority he didn’t have.
It would also reveal caution they could mock.
Instead, he moved after them, steps measured, eyes scanning the ground.
Xu Wen walked beside him now, voice lowered.
"They’re leading us into something," Xu Wen murmured.
Lin Tian didn’t look at him. "Yes."
Xu Wen’s eyes flicked to Lin Tian’s wrist band.
"You know?"
"I can feel the formation density," Lin Tian said. "It’s not natural."
Xu Wen’s jaw tightened.
"Should we pull back?"
Lin Tian exhaled slowly.
"If we pull back, Zhao Yuming will call it cowardice. He Lian will frame it as you doubting your own assessment. And the trial records everything."
Xu Wen stared at him, then nodded once.
"So we go in prepared."
Lin Tian’s gaze stayed ahead.
Prepared.
That was all he could offer.
They reached the edge of the depression.
Zhao Yuming stood at the rim, looking down at a faint glow beneath the snow.
"There," he said. "Formation node."
He Lian smiled.
"Told you," he said.
Xu Wen didn’t answer.
Lin Tian felt the cold density shift.
Like the air inhaled.
The trace under his bracer twitched.
Zhao Yuming stepped forward.
His boot sank slightly into the snow.
Nothing happened.
He smirked.
"See?" he said, looking back at Xu Wen. "Always afraid of shadows."
He took another step.
The snow beneath his foot shimmered faintly.
A formation line lit up.
Then another.
A web.
Lin Tian’s breath tightened.
The entire depression flared with blue light under the surface—beautiful, thin, deadly.
Cold pressure surged upward like a burst of winter from a sealed cavern.
It slammed into Lin Tian’s chest.
Not physical impact.
Spiritual.
Dense, cold-aligned qi spiking so sharply it made his meridians prickle.
The trace reacted instantly.
A hard pulse under his skin.
The urge brushed his mind like instinct again, stronger than before.
This wasn’t a duel.
This was a formation pocket designed to compress and provoke.
Zhao Yuming’s eyes widened as his breath fogged thickly.
"What—"
He Lian stumbled back half a step, fake surprise too slow.
Xu Wen’s hand snapped up, forming a quick stabilizing seal.
"Formation pocket!" Xu Wen barked.
Lin Tian’s vision sharpened.
The snow around them glittered as if filled with tiny blades.
Cold density pressed down like a mountain.
The trace surged again, trying to answer with something unknown.
Lin Tian’s jaw clenched.
He drew in one breath.
He forced the cold qi down into his dantian without letting it flood his limbs.
He felt the trace claw at the edge of his control.
He held it.
But the pressure kept rising.
And their teammates—Zhao Yuming and He Lian—were already moving in ways that made one thing clear:
This wasn’t an accident.
Lin Tian’s gaze hardened as the formation pocket brightened beneath the snow, cold pressure tightening around his bones like a tightening fist.
The trial had begun testing them.
And the first test wasn’t frostbeasts.
It was each other.
End of Chapter 55
