“They’re here again.”
A gorgeous sky loomed above, its beautiful tint of blue clear like a mirror surface. Frozen God Domain continued to stretch limitlessly into the horizon, cold streams of air dancing about in this seemingly lifeless terrain. However, after Lucky cried out and Lin Xi’s quiet voice sounded, endless rapidly moving sword shadows appeared from all directions, dull pale light flickering from their bodies.
It was currently daytime, their field of vision still clear. By the time the giant sword shaped fiend beasts in the lead arrived within a few hundred feet of their group, there were already so many of these monsters that nothing else could be seen.
Two flying swords flew out from their party again, weaving into a net of death. All of the White Sword Fiends that approached within a hundred steps of them completely stopped, turning into dead statues.
If one looked down from above, it would seem as if it was only a matter of time before Lin Xi’s party was completely devoured. However, as several hundred of these White Sword Fiends turned into towering sculptures, all of the other White Sword Fiends began to pull back like a tide, disappearing into the cold. Frozen God Domain once again became frigid and lifeless.
Lin Xi adjusted his breathing, calming down the soul force raging within his body.
He looked at the forest of White Sword Fiend corpses around him and the horrifying number of White Sword Fiends in the distance. Suddenly, he realized why he felt like he was in an ocean, surrounded by endless jellyfish.
In the deepest parts of his subconscious laid a science fiction story he had read in his past world.
When he put away his flying sword, he couldn’t help but slowly ask, “Want to hear a story?”
“What kind of story?” Nangong Weiyang replied expressionlessly. Her face was flushed with a bit of an unnatural purple-red color, the temperature of her breaths also hotter than Lin Xi’s. Even though her soul force cultivation was a bit higher than Lin Xi’s and she even merged with the power of a Sea Fiend King, in this type of place, her body was much weaker than Lin Xi’s. That was why she had an even harder time in this type of environment.
“Underneath a frozen sea was a Human Kingdom, as well as a Jellyfish Kingdom. The Human Kingdom didn’t have a large population, but the Jellyfish Kingdom instead numbered in the millions, tens of millions, or even more. If these jellyfish decided to invade the Human Kingdom, then they would have easily annihilated that Human Kingdom. However, the king of the Jellyfish Kingdom and all of the other jellyfish were extremely timid. Eventually, the Human Kingdom threatened the Jellyfish Kingdom into helping them push a large ship through the frozen sea. Most of the jellyfish froze to death under this endeavor, their corpses piled up into giant glaciers. In the end, the Jellyfish Kingdom didn’t have many jellyfish left. Only when the Jellyfish Kingdom was about to be destroyed did the Jellyfish King and the surviving jellyfish feel regret. They realized that their casualties shouldn’t have even exceeded the number who froze to death.”
Their ability to think was much worse in the depths of Frozen God Domain. However, Lin Xi spoke slowly, and this story wasn’t that hard to understand either. The corresponding scenes immediately appeared in Nangong Weiyang’s head.
Her brows furrowed slightly. After mumbling to herself for a bit, she slowly said, “What you are saying is that these White Sword Fiends are just like those jellyfish. Even though their numbers are great, they are extremely timid?”
Lin Xi nodded.
“Yunqin’s citizens are not like these jellyfish… Our Green Luan Academy’s greatest achievement these years was to prevent our people from becoming this type of jellyfish.” Qin Xiyue said quietly, “This is why you’ve always had faith that even if we cannot go back, there is no way Zhang Ping can enslave this entire world.”
Lin Xi looked at Qin Xiyue. He nodded his head again.
The same story can have all different types of interpretations.
But when he saw Qin Xiyue nod her head, a trace of indetectable deep worry flashed past the depths of his eyes.
The appearance of that first White Sword Fiend was indeed a certain omen.
After that, they would fight against this type of fiend beast almost every day. However, the surrounding temperature no longer continued to drop, instead always remaining above a certain baseline.
After a few hundred of them were killed, the remaining White Sword Fiends would feel fear and run away. A while later, these White Sword Fiends would forget their fear and return, repeating this process.
This type of process didn’t even seem to make them suffer much losses. However, there was something Lin Xi understood clearly: Only a place as massive as an ocean had a chance of holding such a massive race.
That was why Frozen God Domain was definitely massive, massive to an unfathomable degree.
Even though the temperature no longer dropped, it was already at an unbearable level. The three of them could only spend six hours walking each day. They had to spend the rest of their time recovering their stamina and soul force.
Even so, every day, fatigue and cold continued to accumulate within their bones.
Qin Xiyue’s will was just as firm as before, but since yesterday, he could already hear her suppressed cough.
Qin Xiyue’s face was purplish red just like Nangong Weiyang’s yesterday, but it already became a bit pale today. Her breathing carried a bit of muffled noises. Lin Xi understood clearly what this voice meant. He also understood clearly what becoming sick in this type of place meant.
“Let me carry you.”
Lin Xi turned around and bent down, saying this to Qin Xiyue. “We will set up camp after walking another hour today.”
There was no such thing as a woman’s shyness in this type of place, nor were there any ambiguous thoughts between the sexes. Nangong Weiyang and Qin Xiyue were already taking turns on Lin Xi’s back previously. Yet for some reason, Qin Xiyue remained mysteriously silent today, not getting on his back this time.
She didn’t detect the hidden expression in Lin Xi’s eyes, but she could sense Lin Xi’s worry.
But for her, this wasn’t the most important point at all… they didn’t find a single signal from Gu Xinyin after the White Sword Fiends appeared.
This meant that even if Gu Xinyin was still alive, they were already completely separated. In this type of vast and deathly silent world of ice, even just a few dozen li of distance might already represent eternal parting.
“Let’s go.”
Lin Xi sensed Qin Xiyue’s sluggishness, leaving him with no choice but to move slightly backwards. He knelt in front of Qin Xiyue and carried her up. With his head slightly turned, he said to the two of them, “Regardless of what happens, since we already decided to continue onward, even if we end up failing… I don’t want to ever reach a situation where the two of you die and I am the only one alive. So if we fail, then we fail together. If we die, we die together. Don’t let me die after you two.”
Human thoughts might become slower, even the mind turning sluggish in this type of place where death loomed, but all emotions became more real. It became easier for them to speak the first thoughts that appeared in their heads. This was precisely what was happening to Lin Xi right now. He was almost subconsciously speaking his thoughts out loud, not adding any additional thoughts or feelings to them.
Nangong Weiyang raised her head slightly, feeling a bit proud. After all, the world she had ventured into was the Frozen God Domain none of the world’s powerful cultivators dared enter. She had the privilege of seeing this gorgeous sky, seeing many scenes other cultivators would never see.
She moved a bit closer to Lin Xi and Qin Xiyue, calmly saying, “If we really cannot hold on anymore, dying here together wouldn’t be too bad either.”
Qin Xiyue relaxed, starting to lean against Lin Xi’s back.
She suddenly felt a bit happy. She felt like there wasn’t a single choice she regretted making ever since she joined the academy.
She couldn’t help but think of death as well.
She understood clearly that even though these White Sword Fiends were just like the Jellyfish Kingdom Lin Xi told them about, killing hundreds of them each time, their journey ahead was still going to become more and more difficult.
“I want to die together with you too.”
She suppressed a light cough, and then gently rested her cheek on Lin Xi’s back. Her actions were extremely gentle, but also extremely sincere. “Sorry.” She quietly apologized to this beloved man in her heart. Just like how she planned from the very start, she didn’t wish to become Lin Xi’s burden. Even if she could only increase his chances of survival extremely slightly, she would still feel like it was worth it.
