From the corner of Zhe Zilin’s eye, the team had already disappeared into the wind and snow.
He set his mind at ease, tightly gripped the sword hilt, and charged toward the Ice Demon.
With no one left to worry about, every single one of his sword strikes was extremely sharp.
They sliced through the air and struck directly at the Ice Demon’s vital points like a dragon’s cry.
His techniques were swift and fierce. The Ice Demon was forced to retreat step by step.
After thrusting out his ice spear and driving Zhe Zilin down to the ground, he had originally believed this would be a crushing opening.
Having survived for a thousand years, he had crossed blades with numerous knights and rarely suffered defeat. Even if the other party severed his neck, his flesh and blood would quickly recover.
He had never feared sword knights.
Yet the fellow before his eyes simply did not seem human. His speed was several times that of previous knights.
The sword he swung seemed to roar, and when it chopped into the ground it looked as though it could tear the earth apart.
The Ice Demon continuously retreated backward. Gradually, however, his path of retreat was blocked by a giant boulder. In the air, the sword edge descended without the slightest mercy.
He had originally planned to rely on his undying body to forcibly receive the blow, yet that faint scent of forbidden magic on the sword body was still sharply detected by him.
At the cost of abandoning one shoulder, he avoided the fatal strike.
He turned his head and looked at Zhe Zilin in shock.
This fellow who held a sword yet employed Forbidden Blood Magic completely exceeded the understanding he had accumulated over a thousand years.
A swordsman who had mastered forbidden magic?
Bang!
The giant boulder split into two pieces. As long as there was sufficient strength, the Dragon Slayer could cut through anything.
This made the Ice Demon laugh. He did not know why he was laughing either.
Perhaps it was because the fellow before his eyes seemed even more like a monster than he was.
Zhe Zilin, however, believed the Ice Demon was mocking him.
He raised his sword, chanted magic, and once again added buffs to the blade.
The Ice Demon watched a swordsman holding a flaming longsword charge toward him and felt a little dazed.
This was an impact he had not received in a thousand years.
The corners of his mouth twitched.
Unexpectedly, he no longer thought of killing Zhe Zilin and instead pursued in the direction of the team.
Corpse Slaves continuously harassed Zhe Zilin and obstructed his steps.
Their sticky entanglement like dog-skin plaster truly affected his speed.
Very quickly, the Ice Demon completely disappeared from before his eyes.
Snow submerged his line of sight. The endless Corpse Slaves were cut down by Zhe Zilin until only scattered remnants remained.
He had originally wanted to use fire magic to clean them up thoroughly, thinking that this way they would no longer be able to move.
Yet upon checking the system, he found that almost no magic power remained.
He could only switch to another method of escape—cutting off the Corpse Slaves’ feet.
Over time, a bizarre scene appeared before him: a group of Corpse Slaves crawling slowly across the ground.
Zhe Zilin took a flying leap, flipped onto his horse, and rapidly pursued the team.
Yet it was precisely that tiny bit of delayed time just now that made him feel as though several hours had passed. He actually could not catch up.
He could not even see the Ice Demon’s shadow.
How was this possible?
Zhe Zilin looked at the snow flying across the sky. Facing the mad wind, he galloped another few li, yet still did not see any familiar backs.
***
Griet was the last one to charge out of the corpse group. He followed behind Osha.
The half-orcs obeyed Zhe Zilin’s order and intensified their wild gallop.
Osha turned her head and discovered that Zhe Zilin had not caught up as expected. She decisively turned around and headed back.
“Princess, Sir Ed will catch up. By now he should already be drawing closer to us.”
Griet was afraid Osha would charge back to kill again and reminded her.
Osha’s eyes narrowed. A red light bloomed from her pupils and shot behind them. Unexpectedly, the [Eye of the True God] could not see any image related to Zhe Zilin.
She sensed something was wrong and furrowed her brows multiple times as she activated the [Eye of the True God]. Without exception, there was only pure white snow before her eyes.
Without the slightest hesitation, Osha urged her horse back to search for Zhe Zilin.
“Princess!”
Griet immediately followed, his expression anxious.
When Scar, who was walking at the very front among the half-orcs, turned his head, his face was filled with incredulity.
“One-Eye, am I not fully awake yet? Where is everyone?”
The half-orcs stopped in place and only then discovered that only the five of them remained in the team.
“Crap! Boss told me to charge, and I charged too far!”
Scar made a move as if to head back and rendezvous with Zhe Zilin, yet One-Eye promptly stopped him.
“We cannot turn back!”
One-Eye’s expression was severe as he said in a deep voice, “We have already crossed the boundary line between the eternally frozen polar region and the Northern Territory. This area now belongs to the polar region. Even if someone disappears right before your eyes, it is impossible to catch up. We can only continue forward and wait for them at the canyon exit.”
Scar’s face showed difficulty as he raised his head and looked around.
“It’s this evil!?”
One-Eye explained, “This is a cursed land. If you stay in the canyon for too long, you may even lose yourself and never be able to leave.”
The half-orcs had no choice but to continue forward. Without stopping, they walked until they reached a fork in the path.
Snow covered their line of sight and did not give them a choice.
The five of them lowered their heads and headed left.
When Zhe Zilin arrived at the fork, it was as though a force was pulling him. He headed straight to the right.
As for Osha and Griet, on the road back they unconsciously reversed direction and decisively entered the left path.
Osha lost her composure. In the mere blink of an eye, Zhe Zilin had disappeared from before her eyes.
She had to find Zhe Zilin once more. The reins in her hands produced a taut sound.
The [Eye of the True God] she had always relied upon had failed, allowing Zhe Zilin to once again vanish from her side.
The pain of past separations once more surged into her heart.
Unnoticed, Osha’s silver-white long dress was stained with threads of bright red blood. At this moment her eyes resembled those of a demon.
Yet what she did not know was that she had once brushed past Zhe Zilin. In the end she had taken the left path.
Zhe Zilin walked along the right path and felt an increasingly ominous premonition.
If I continue forward, Osha and the others should be waiting for me at the exit. Or perhaps I will wait for them at the exit.
Unable to catch up with the team, he could only imagine that the Ice Demon had become lost just like him.
Otherwise the half-orcs would not be able to deal with him, and Osha would only coldly observe from the side.
Thinking this way, he walked farther and farther along the right path until the wind and snow gradually lessened and almost showed signs of stopping.
The mountain peaks on both sides of the canyon also grew shorter. His line of sight opened up considerably.
He knew the exit was not far.
The moment the wind and snow gradually ceased, the bone-piercing cold wind of the polar region suddenly softened by a few degrees.
The entire sky shed the chaotic pure white that had covered it.
Zhe Zilin looked up at the sky. It was as though time had stopped.
All was silent.
The eternally frozen polar region that should have been permanently obscured by raging snow and never seen daylight throughout the year had, at this moment, lifted its thick layers of cloud.
A clean night sky inverted overhead.
Fine and brilliant rivers of stars densely filled the dome. Clear, cold starlight poured down, beautiful to an almost unreal degree.
Zhe Zilin was stunned for a long time.
The first thought that arose the moment he saw the river of stars was that it was absurd.
Beneath his feet was the cold snow of the polar region.
Above his head was a vast starry sky. How could it not be absurd…
He came back to himself and looked back into the distance.
The canyon behind him had disappeared. Only a flat road remained.
It was as though the wind, snow, and canyon had never existed.
He had simply stepped onto this path and entered the polar region, arriving here.
Accidents occurred one after another. From the corner of his eye, a petite figure suddenly stood there.
No—it was not out of thin air.
That person seemed to have been standing in place waiting the entire time.
Zhe Zilin turned his head, dismounted, and walked over step by step until he stood before her.
He lowered his eyes, just about to say something.
A familiar voice entered his ears.
“Long time no see, Ed.”
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