Rumble—
Rumble—
The Extreme North trembled.
The heavens were stained blood-red.
A pressure that transcended the mortal world descended with a thunderous crash.
Skydream Ice Worm, the Snow Empress, the Ice Empress, and little Yazi all felt their minds quake.
"A god!"
"Li Zhexian has ascended to godhood again!"
The familiarity contained within that aura—
Made Skydream and the Snow Empress feel a chill deep in their hearts.
The Ice Empress nearly prostrated herself on the ground.
Only by personally experiencing it—
Could one understand just how terrifying Li Zhexian was at this moment.
Four streaks of light tore through the wind and snow, racing even faster toward the source of the pressure.
A few breaths later—
the sight before them made their pupils shrink abruptly.
They saw—
Li Zhexian's blood-soaked body, from which his blood essence surged like a breached heavenly river, dyeing the sky a shocking crimson.
Space and time rippled around him, as if they could not bear such power that exceeded all bounds.
The Snow Demon King's mountain-like body was kneeling on the ice plain, trembling uncontrollably.
"Zhexian / Brother Zhexian, stop!"
"Yiyiya!"
Three shouts exploded at once.
In a flash—
The Ice Empress hurled the Skydream sword scabbard in her hand.
Whoosh!
A clear light streaked across the crimson sky, precisely sheathing the sword in Li Zhexian's hand into the scabbard.
"You are..."
Li Zhexian forced out a few words with difficulty.
The space-time fluctuations around him gradually calmed.
The time node, forcibly dragged back from eight months ago, snapped back to the present.
The terrifying injuries covering his body reversed and faded.
The vast blood essence that had stained the Extreme North's sky likewise dissipated as the timeline corrected itself.
"Huff… huff…"
Li Zhexian gasped for breath.
Although his body was now unharmed,
the dread of nearly dissolving his own existence still lingered in his heart, refusing to subside.
"Brother Zhexian!"
The sword scabbard trembled slightly.
Skydream Ice Worm's excited voice rang out.
"You… call me 'brother'?"
Li Zhexian frowned as he panted.
"Are you my younger brother?"
Tian Meng: "…"
"I am not your little brother, and you used to call me 'Brother Tian Meng.' We each stick to our own form of address."
At this moment—
the Ice Empress and little Yazi rushed over.
The Ice Empress held a snow-sculpted Spirit Bone in her hands.
From it came the Snow Empress's voice, tinged with restrained anticipation.
"Li Zhexian, do you remember me?"
"I am the Snow Empress."
"Yiyi-yaya!"
Little Yazi ignored everything else.
With a cry, it leapt straight toward Li Zhexian.
Instinctively, Li Zhexian caught it, gently stroking its snow-white fur.
At the same time, he clasped his hands apologetically toward the Snow Demon King and slowly shook his head.
"I'm sorry. I've forgotten many things."
He paused slightly.
His gaze swept across little Yazi in his arms, Skydream Ice Worm emerging from the sword scabbard, and the graceful figure half-hidden in the wind and snow.
With a trace of uncertainty, he said:
"But I feel..."
"We must have known each other before."
The wind and snow between heaven and earth seemed to freeze at that moment, the atmosphere growing heavy.
"Amnesia?!" Skydream Ice Worm couldn't help but wail.
"Is this really the price of coming back?"
"It's not simple amnesia." The Snow Empress spoke.
In her perception—
Li Zhexian was currently shrouded in a layer of mirage fog. His face, form, and even his voice were blurred and indistinct.
If not for her existence as his spirit soul—
and the divine aura Li Zhexian had just revealed—
then even if he stood right before her now, she would not dare to recognize him rashly.
"When we went to the Evildemon Forest together, you once said—after absorbing the Ten Thousand Mirage Beast's Spirit Ring—that you had obtained its Spirit Ability."
The Snow Empress pondered and continued:
"Given the current situation… could this be the Ten Thousand Mirage Beast's 'reincarnation'?"
"Reincarnation is trouble!" Skydream Ice Worm said anxiously.
"That's power close to the level of rules themselves!"
"Brother Zhexian can rewind time—but even time itself can't dispel the mirage fog!"
"Yiya, yiya!"
Little Yazi lightly leapt out of Li Zhexian's arms, shook its head, and used the hilt of its tiny Qinglian Sword to gently tap against Li Zhexian's leg, again and again.
"This is…?"
Li Zhexian looked puzzled.
"Little Yazi was born when you knocked swords," the Snow Empress said softly.
"It shares an extremely deep bond with you. This is its way of inviting you to knock swords together."
Li Zhexian lowered his head, watching Little Yazi grow increasingly eager. He then glanced at the plain wooden sword in his own hand, still showing a trace of hesitation.
"Don't worry!"
Skydream Ice Worm interjected.
"Yazi governs weapons and warfare—it understands sword heart better than anyone. It won't damage your sword."
Then his tone suddenly shifted, tinged with dismay.
"Wait—Brother Zhexian, where's your Qinglian Sword?!"
"How did you even lose your Qinglian Sword?!"
Li Zhexian didn't respond.
He simply bent down slowly, drew the wooden sword from the sword scabbard, and—with a touch of unfamiliar solemnity—raised it to meet the exquisitely delicate little sword held in Little Yazi's mouth.
Amid the vast, pale world of ice and snow—
Li Zhexian and Little Yazi gently tapped swords.
Tip to tip.
Meeting in the drifting snow.
Clang—!
Clang—!
Clang—!
Clear, ringing sounds of metal striking rang out.
Like ice cracking and jade shattering, they echoed across the Extreme North.
Under the incredulous gazes of Skydream Ice Worm, the Snow Empress, and the Ice Empress—
the falling snow across the sky slowly condensed into frost blades, suspended in midair, as though the entire world had transformed into a domain of swords.
Sword light rippled across the snowflakes.
That brilliance was reflected from the wooden sword in Li Zhexian's hand.
With each gentle strike—
the wooden sword began to transform…
Its blade gradually turned clear like crystal, then suffused with a faint golden radiance.
Having tempered his heart through the mortal world,
Li Zhexian's sword had shed some of its aloof transcendence, gaining instead the weight and depth of the human realm.
What now coiled around its edge was an indelible mortal aura—
a sharpness refined by the smoke and fire of human life.
The Qinglian Sword…Returned!
...
Within the frozen world—
the crisp, resonant clangs of sword-on-sword continued to echo leisurely.
Each note stirred the long-silent lake of Li Zhexian's heart.
It was the returning Qinglian Sword speaking with him.
This was not an exchange of words,
but a direct resonance between heart and blade, spanning the sea of forgotten memories.
If one were to ask what had accompanied him the longest—
it was the sword.
From a naïve child using wood as a blade, clumsily forming his first sword stance;
to a youth in bright clothes and fierce spirit, carrying his sword into a vast and turbulent world;
from standing atop the clouds, basking in reverence at the peak of glory, to falling into the abyss, battered and broken in the darkest hour…
Only the sword had always remained at his side, never leaving him for even a moment.
Silently, the sword had borne witness to all of Li Zhexian's honor and disgrace, wordlessly carrying every joy and sorrow he had known.
At this moment—
drawn by the repeated chimes of the blade—
the memories that had been sealed away surged forth like thawing spring tides.
Within his mind—
familiar faces grew clear once more, and scenes of laughter and tears returned to vivid life.
It was as though Li Zhexian walked his life's path anew.
At times, he smiled knowingly at a warm memory.
At others, his heart ached in silence over a searing farewell.
Clang—
Clang—
Clang—
With every gentle chime of the Qinglian Sword,
the mirage fog was driven further away.
Piece by piece—
the selves he had lost
were returned to him.
…
…
A long time passed.
So long that time itself lost all measure in Li Zhexian's perception—
so long that this moment of enlightenment felt like half a lifetime.
Until a single snowflake drifted down and landed softly upon his brow.
Li Zhexian slowly opened his eyes.
In those eyes that had gazed upon the boundless mortal world,
a warm sheen of moisture now glimmered.
He looked at the faces before him—each filled with anticipation—and his throat tightened. For a long while, he said nothing.
Silence spread through the wind and snow.
Then, it was broken by the sound of falling snow.
"Brother Tian Meng…"
His voice was hoarse, yet carried a long-lost familiarity as his gaze passed over each of them in turn.
"Little Yazi, Senior Snow Empress, Senior Ice Empress, Senior Snow Demon King…"
He paused.
Countless emotions condensed into a gentle warmth at the corner of his lips.
"Long time no see."
...
..
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