In a cave, White Iris held a cloth in her hand. She was kneeling as she slowly and carefully cleaned Rourou’s face.
Her eyes were filled with devotion and respect. She did not dare to rub too hard, afraid of waking Rourou.
For five years, no matter what happened, White Iris had done this daily. The respect White Iris had for Rourou did not diminish, despite Rourou having been asleep for a long time and showing no signs of awakening.
After she finished, she cleaned the cloth. She then kneeled and greeted respectfully, “Apologies for disturbing you, I hope you are not offended.”
A soft cough could be heard from behind her, followed by a loud panting sound, “The lady’s soul is not even here. She cannot awaken. What you are doing is useless.”
White Iris was expressionless and she did not change even after hearing him. She turned to look at him coldly, “It seems like you really want to die.”
Leftover Dog raised an eyebrow and rubbed his nose nonchalantly, “How did you know?”
White Iris replied, “You talk too much.”
Leftover Dog fell silent before he sighed, “I did not know that you are pretty clever. But since you are clever, then why can’t you sense the disgust the lady has with you?”
White Iris’ eyes grew icy and the surrounding temperature dropped significantly. Traces of ice slowly appeared.
The corners of Leftover Dog’s mouth pulled up, “Why? Did I touch a sore spot? Are you going to fight me?” Using his hand to prop himself up, he sat straight and hit his chest, “Come on, don’t be shy. You can just cut me here. If I dodge, I am your son.”
White Iris’ eyes grew colder, “You are really asking to die.”
Leftover Dog’s mouth twisted, “Two years ago, you said this. Yet today, I am still here. Don’t you think this is interesting?”
White Iris said, “Two years ago, you could make two more moves with your sword, but now, you only have one use left.” She paused for a while before continuing, “If you use your sword, you will die.”
Leftover Dog clapped in appreciation, “You are right. Absolutely right. But do you believe me when I say that my last sword move can bring you down with me?”
White Iris nodded slowly before retracting the icy aura that was emitting from her. She sat back down on the floor and closed her eyes to regulate her breathing. She did not say anything, but through her last look, it was clear. It was only because of this that Leftover Dog was able to survive till today.
Under normal circumstances, after the two bickered every day, they would fall into silence until the next day when White Iris helped to clean Rourou’s face.
But today, Leftover Dog felt like saying something more. He frowned, “Eh, White Iris. Aren’t you curious how I can have such a frightening move left even though I am almost on my last breath? To the point that even you do not dare to attack me.”
White Iris opened her eyes, “If I ask, will you tell me?”
Leftover Dog nodded, “Yes.”
“Then tell me.”
Leftover Dog rubbed his chin, “Your attitude is too insincere. But never mind, this is something I want to say, so I will not bother about your attitude.”
He lifted a hand and pointed to himself, “Look at me. That’s right. Look at me. Did you realize that I am a sword?”
Leftover Dog laughed. He had lost his sword cultivation and was suffering every day. Yet, he never exposed that he was from the third generation of the Li Family. Even if he had to kneel and become someone’s dog, he was able to remain calm.
But today, it was the first time that he showed any emotion.
He pointed and pointed again, easily creating a few holes in the ground. He smiled brilliantly, “Look, this is the best evidence.”
White Iris frowned slightly as she stared at Leftover Dog. There was surprise in her eyes as well as a hint of worry.
“Do you understand?” Leftover Dog laughed out loud, “Do you think that it is very strange that there is someone as strange as me in this world? It is actually very simple. My parents were considered to be two of the strongest sword cultivators in the world. All they cared about was the sword and not their family. The only reason why they chose to give birth to me was to use this kind of method to create a sword embryo with natural blood relations to them.
“But later on, they realized that there was a small problem. If they wanted to continue, one of them must die. Neither of my parents wanted to die, so they abandoned me and went into the mountains separately to continue cultivating. That is how I survived and was named the Sword Immortal of the Li Family. Tsk, tsk, isn’t it a joke? If you want to laugh, go ahead. Even I think that my existence is a joke.”
White Iris was expressionless. She thought for a while before speaking slowly, “You’ve told me all this and let me know who you are. What are you trying to get?”
Having spoken so much, Leftover Dog felt slightly tired. There was a faint redness on his pale face. After panting for a few breaths, he smiled, “I can promise you that until my deadline, I will try my best to keep the sword intent within my body and not let it leak out. When you get my body, you will be able to create a perfect sword for yourself. Not only can it solve your flaws, your power can also improve…I believe that you will not doubt this. After all, this was also the lady’s original plan.”
White Iris said, “What do I need to do?”
Leftover Dog held up two fingers.
White Iris frowned.
Leftover Dog smiled and shook his head, “White Iris, you must be patient and let me finish speaking, okay? The first thing is that you cannot do anything to Marquis Chongwu before I die. You have to swear on this. Even if I faint one day, it will still be effective.
“Secondly, after you create a sword out of my body and you have a chance to visit the Central Desolate Li Family…don’t glare at me, I won’t ask you to help me seek revenge. That would be equivalent to asking you to commit suicide. Find my parents and show them the sword. Tell them that I am thankful to their ancestors for letting me live in this world.”
White Iris was silent.
Leftover Dog chuckled coldly, “Don’t go overboard. The terms that I set are very reasonable. The first is just the start and the second is just a quick meeting. I also will not fix a time frame, and you can wait until you are confident enough to do it.”
He narrowed his eyes, “Otherwise, before I die, I will take out the sword within me and you can watch this perfect sword get destroyed.”
White Iris nodded, “Okay.”
She lifted her hand and swore on her sword mind without playing any tricks.
Leftover Dog smiled and nodded. He then lay down and fell into a deep sleep.
White Iris could see that he had reached his limit. As he slept, he could die at any moment.
Was it a trick?
If she did not agree, Leftover Dog could very well retrieve the sword and it would most likely be pointed at her!
She looked at the sleeping Leftover Dog, then she looked at Marquis Chongwu’s soulless body. White Iris closed her eyes to rest.
It was just a while. She could wait.
……
The darkness grew colder. Qin Yu had to sit cross-legged and utilize all the power in his soul to resist it. But this caused his soul energy to circulate faster…that meant the amount of time Qin Yu could hold on for was significantly reduced.
The two trees beside Rourou continued to move forwards, but they were now moving slower. Qin Yu could sense the fear that they were emitting. It seemed like there was a force that was suppressing them in the darkness beyond.
An estimated four hours had passed and a white frost started to appear on the branches of the trees. It quickly accumulated and became thick like ice crystals. It was as if they were wearing clothes made of ice.
Pipa –
Pipa –
Tree branches started to break. They turned into snow as they fell. The movement of the two trees was severely reduced, and it seemed like every step they took was difficult.
Qin Yu opened his eyes and let out a long breath. For them to be able to persist until here and bear with the cold and fear, it was enough to show their loyalty. If they continued forwards, they would suffere irreparable damage.
Bodies and heart were one.
Since the ‘cold’ came from the heart, if one believed it, it became real. But that was not to say that if one didn’t believe it, one would be able to ignore it…it was more like anything that fell within the range would unknowingly ‘believe’ in it.
Unless one could go beyond the limits of the realm and break the illusion to see the truth. If not, one had no choice but to believe in it!
The two trees could not do this, and neither could Qin Yu. But perhaps because Rourou had helped him stabilize his soul or because he was holding the sun, he was able to persevere.
Of course, even though he could withstand it, he still felt the cold and a layer of frost formed over his soul.
The frost seemed to melt and then freeze again. It repeated a few times, causing Qin Yu to be completely drenched. In this cold, it was not a good feeling.
Qin Yu tried to get rid of the wetness around him, but since it came from the frost, it seemed to carry a strange characteristic and nothing worked.
He decided not to waste his energy and allowed it to remain.
“Stop, just wait here. There is no need to continue.” Qin Yu got up and exhaled a cold breath. He rubbed his hands together and turned to look at Rourou. She was sleeping as soundly as before. The cold in the darkness was not affecting her at all. This made Qin Yu extremely jealous, but also slightly scared.
Back then, ‘in the heat of the moment’, he followed Rourou home. Now that he was facing a life and death situation, he started to panic. If he failed, he would really be gone. He would be stuck in this place and eventually his soul would wither.
Lifting a hand to massage his head, Qin Yu waved his sleeve and flew off.
This dark world was a really strange place. Nothing seemed to be of substance, and people could just move around in all directions freely with just a thought.
Like in water.
Sss –
No. As soon as he thought about water, he felt cold.
He had a similar experience when he crossed the Abyss and the deep cold sea to return to the Vast Brightness World.
But now, Qin Yu’s cultivation was more than a hundred times stronger than back then. It was enough to know how frightening and horrifying the cold in this dark world was.
