Ice crystals condensed at Leng Ningxue's fingertips as she touched the residual law fluctuations on the ground, her icy eyes turning cold:

"It's a large-scale, indiscriminate law strike with extremely mixed attributes, but the core fluctuation... carries the annihilation characteristics of the World-Purifying Tide."

Zi Yuan's long blade was unsheathed by three inches: "Enforcement Officers?"

"More than that." Bai Cheng leaned down and took a half-shattered jade pendant from the tightly clenched palm of a young man's corpse.

The jade pendant was made of ordinary material, but it was engraved with a crude Constellation totem—Gemini.

Her silver eyes narrowed slightly: "The Constellation forces have also been here... and they seemed to want to warn of something."

Suddenly, a pure heart vine seedling in Yu Nian's arms trembled violently, its tip pointing toward the center of the island, as dark red blood-tears seeped from the silver-white flower bud.

"There... is the aura of a living being there!" Yu Nian's face was pale. "But it's very weak, and... filled with despair and pain."

Bai Cheng stood up and looked into the depths of the blizzard at the ice peak that loomed like the skeletal remains of a giant beast.

The warning from the Stardust Imprint reached its peak at this moment, and the hundreds of belief threads connected to her soul wailed simultaneously.

"To the center." She clenched her fists, her silver hair flying like a flag in the wind and snow. "Let's see who committed such a slaughter here, and if that survivor can tell us the truth."

The group dashed out, rushing toward the ice peak.

Footprints were quickly covered by fresh snow; only the aura of death lingered on the Island of Winter's Wail for a long time.

The group braved the blizzard, approaching the ice peak at the center of the island.

The closer they got, the more intense the residual law turbulence in the air became. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Scorch marks from thunder and fire intertwined with frost cracks; shattered Constellation rune fragments and metal scraps from Enforcement Officer standard weapons were visible everywhere on the ground.

Clearly, a tragic melee had taken place here.

At the foot of the ice peak, inside a half-collapsed ice cave, a weak life aura flickered like a candle in the wind.

Yu Nian's pure heart vine was the first to probe inside, followed by a raspy exclamation: "...Is it you?"

Deep inside the ice cave, an old man with white hair and a withered face sat leaning against the ice wall.

He was enveloped in a very faint blue light shield, but the shield was already covered in cracks, and his aura was extremely withered.

Seeing Bai Cheng's group, a flicker of hope suddenly lit up in the old man's cloudy eyes:

"Silver hair... scion of the gate... I've heard of you in the legends of nearby islands... It was you who left the Belief Statues in the archipelago..."

Bai Cheng raised her hand to stop her companions' defensive stance and took a step forward, her silver eyes calmly watching the old man: "Are you the master of this island?"

"Yes... I am the Lord of Winter, guarding this island for generations." The old man coughed, and his shield dimmed a bit more.

"Three days ago, an elite squad of Enforcement Officers raided this place, claiming they wanted to 'purify the residual pollution of the ancient law experimental site'... but their true target was the Eye of the Tide hidden deep within the ice peak."

"Eye of the Tide?" Leng Ningxue's icy eyes narrowed. "The ancient relic mentioned in old records that can observe the flow of the Emerald Sea's law tides?"

"Exactly..." the Lord of Winter panted. "The Constellation forces have been monitoring this object in secret. The Enforcement Officers' actions triggered the Constellation's defense line, and a warband under Gemini arrived first; the two sides fought a bloody battle here."

He pointed tremblingly at a frozen pool of blood outside the ice cave, where a few fragments of dark blue Constellation robes were scattered, along with a completely shattered Gemini runestone:

"Gemini... has fallen. The Enforcement Officers also paid a heavy price and were eventually forced back by Constellation reinforcements, but before they retreated... they unleashed the Annihilation Pulse of the World-Purifying Tide."

Grief and indignation welled up in the Lord of Winter's eyes: "That pulse indiscriminately wiped out all living beings on the island... I managed to survive by a thread thanks to my ancestral Ice Soul Substitute Secret Technique, but I can only linger on now."

Qingniao gripped her Thunder Spear: "Why did the Enforcement Officers suddenly strike at the Constellation forces with such lethal intent? Haven't they been in a covert standoff all this time?"

"Because the balance has been broken," Bai Cheng suddenly spoke, a flash of realization crossing her silver eyes.

"The Constellation Leader is breaking through to the Emperor Realm. The repair of the Annihilation Star Reef's anchor points temporarily stabilized the law network, but it also exposed the Leader's intentions.

The existence behind the Enforcement Officers will never allow an Emperor to be born."

The Lord of Winter nodded with difficulty: "That's right... I read from the residual thoughts of Gemini before they fell that the Enforcement Officers have mobilized forces from all regions to gather in the northern Emerald Sea, within the Constellation's sphere of influence.

This was originally the heart of the Constellation's territory, and the Enforcement Officers didn't have many troops here, but now... they are drawing manpower on a large scale from other regions. Total war is inevitable."

Zi Yuan's scabbard hummed softly: "The Constellation forces, having lost a Constellation, will surely retaliate madly. This sea region is about to fall into complete chaos."

"Not only that." Bai Cheng looked at the swirling blizzard outside the ice cave, her voice low.

"The Leader needs time to break through to the Emperor Realm, and a full-scale war by the Enforcement Officers will tie up a lot of the Constellation's energy.

For us, this is both a crisis and an opportunity."

She turned to the Lord of Winter: "Are you willing to leave with us? There is a treatment pod on the train that might be able to stabilize your injuries."

The Lord of Winter shook his head with a bitter smile: "My source is already shattered; if I leave the island, I will surely die.

But... the Eye of the Tide has not been taken by the Enforcement Officers.

It is hidden in the core of the ice peak, and only the bloodline of the successive island lords can briefly awaken it. If you need to observe the tide's flow and predict the changes in the war... I can open it for you once."

He struggled to form a hand ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) seal, and a thread of ice-blue blood seeped from his palm, sinking deep into the ice wall.

The entire ice peak vibrated slightly, and a hazy phantom, seemingly composed of thousands of law streamlets, appeared on the ice wall.

It was a real-time map of the Emerald Sea's law tides, where a patch of crimson turbulence was surging in the northern sea, representing the points of light of the Enforcement Officers' forces gathering toward the Constellation's sphere of influence like a tide.

"The war has begun..." The Lord of Winter's aura faded rapidly as he spoke his final words, "Be careful... the Enforcement Officers' 'World Tide'... it's not just a weapon, but a ritual... they... want to reshape the law and order of this sea region..."

Before he could finish, the shield completely shattered, and the old man's body turned into ice dust and dissipated.

The ice cave fell into silence, with only the phantom of the Eye of the Tide flowing silently on the wall.

Bai Cheng stood still for a moment, her silver eyes reflecting the two torrents crashing violently in the map.

She slowly clenched her palm, the Stardust Imprint transmitting a faint warmth.

It was a network of belief formed by the connection of hundreds of island Belief Statues, which at this moment seemed to turn into a heavy anchor.

"Let's go." She turned and walked out of the cave, the wind and snow lifting her silver hair.

"This war will sweep through the entire Emerald Sea. We must find the key to breaking the deadlock before both sides lose control completely."

"Back to the train. Full speed toward the central Emerald Sea; that's the intersection of the tide networks and the best position to observe the war."

"The storm has arrived, but we... still have a glimmer of light that we must protect."