Chapter 7: The End (3)
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Outside Sky Sword City,
The snow just wouldn’t let up.
The whole city looked like it was wrapped in a thick, fluffy blanket, all bloated and cozy-looking.
Suddenly, one of the snow piles shook as if it had a mind of its own and then, “Wah!” A fountain of bl**d burst forth from it.
Lo and behold, there was a person hidden underneath the snow! Apparently, they had been there so long that they were completely covered by snowflakes.
“You okay?”
From another nearby snow pile, a shadow sprang out, rushing to support the bl**d-spitting, wobbling individual, worry etched all over their face.
“I’m fine, heh, just a little break in my powers.”
Evil Shiyuan casually wiped the bl**d from the corner of his mouth and then shoved Shiyuan away, “Quick! That d*mn guy has to be in there! We’ve got to get in and save Frost North Snow!”
Shiyuan took a couple of steps back, not even angry, “How do we get in?”
“Are you stupid or what? Ugh, forget it, between the two of us, we’re not even half of that guy!”
Evil Shiyuan was all too aware of his injuries. Trying to match up against the third Shiyuan in his current state was like trying to win a race with one foot tied.
Previously, the two had been ordered by the Witch to join the troops attacking the Monster Race’s former capital, Black Stone City.
They thought, with the full force of Cold Wind City behind them, they would just bulldoze through.
But surprise, surprise! What they got instead was a drawn-out battle of attrition.
Black Stone City had somehow summoned more than twenty ridiculously strong Stone Man guardians from who-knows-where. They became a massive thorn in Cold Wind City’s side.
Even Evil Shiyuan had shown up and, after two solid weeks, had only managed to take down four or five Stone Men.
But those guardians were as emotionless as a rock—literally! They didn’t flinch at all when their buddies kicked the bucket, not a shred of fear on their solid faces.
With these guardians blocking the way, Cold Wind City was practically stuck, unable to make any forward progress until they took down the last of them.
When the two met, they immediately sensed something was off from their fragmented memories.
The Stone Man guardians seemed out of place in this world, yet here they were. What did that mean?
Their eyes practically synchronized, glancing in the direction of Sky Sword City.
After bidding farewell to the Celestial General, Tiger Demon, leading the Cold Wind City troops, the two charged toward Sky Sword City.
They rushed day and night without stopping, only to find—what a twist!—the entire city was enveloped in an unbreakable membrane.
They were anxious as heck but had no way through.
Frost North Snow had been on her own trip to Sky Sword City for nearly a month now, and not a peep had come from her. That could only mean she was facing some headache-inducing trouble inside the city, and even with her skills, she couldn’t handle it for the time being.
Besides, anyone powerful enough to create a forbidden zone was definitely no ordinary character; they might be stronger than the combined might of both of them!
But just the thought of Frost North Snow possibly facing a life-and-d*ath situation made them burn with urgency the moment they hit the city’s base, desperate to find a way inside.
They tried every trick in the book, sky, ground, you name it, they gave it a shot. But alas, a forbidden zone is a forbidden zone—no amount of sidestepping was going to let them sneak in.
Just as they were about to drive themselves mad out of frustration, the barrier suddenly vanished!
The two immediately bolted toward the teleportation circle located in the town center.
With their urgency clouding their minds, they barely paid attention to the situation inside the city; it was only the lingering scent of Frost North Snow that caught their attention.
In front of the collapsed City Lord’s Mansion, they stopped, sensing the traces she had left behind.
They even caught a blurry glimpse of Frost North Snow being held captive by something odd.
“Wait a second, sis seems to be stuck even in the spiritual world!”
Shiyuan sat cross-legged, rapidly picking up on a metaphysical vibe that felt off with Frost North Snow.
Even though the Lotus Seat had been whisked away by the Man in Black Robe into the Small Thousand World, the entrance to the pseudo Sighs Temple still resided within Sky Sword City.
Not only was Shiyuan physically tough, he was also top-notch when it came to spiritual perception.
If it weren’t for that, he wouldn’t have raced from Cold Wind City to where Evil Shiyuan was just to prove who the true Shiyuan was when he first appeared in Thousand Bird City.
The two sat close together, teaming up to probe what exactly was ailing Frost North Snow’s spiritual world.
Why was her essence fading like a drowning person sinking below the surface?
After battling through obstacles, Shiyuan finally managed to create a small breach in Frost North Snow’s spiritual world, and the duo merged into it.
To their shock, they found that sis’s soul had turned into a guy!
d*mn it! Was this the enemy’s dirty trick?
To throw sis off by playing such a sleazy gender-switching stunt?
Bastards! They just wanted to scream at her, “Hey! You’re a woman, the most beautifully stunning woman in existence! That dude shell is just a temporary holding space, don’t you dare lose sight of who you are!”
But reason forced them to stifle their indignation and impulsive impulses.
They had to help sis escape this wretched place.
But they had to take it slow—no rash moves. If they blurted out the truth, it might make sis resentful and on guard, ruining any chance for deeper interactions later.
The enemy’s counterattacks were relentless.
Especially when Shiyuan keenly noticed that the dream world’s entrance was tied to the lingering remnants of the game server, the police hunting him never let up. He and Evil Shiyuan took turns controlling their body, constantly changing routes to escape, all in hopes of someday luring sis to the entrance.
But this whole thing was just plain tough.
Even if they managed to ‘kidnap’ sis, if her own will resisted, they would face the backlash from the entire spiritual world, leading to a complete rejection from this place.
They couldn’t take that risk.
Fortunately, a little wooden sculpture appeared, gradually guiding sis’s thoughts back to the right track.
They might not know where it came from, but that didn’t stop the two from collaborating with it.
At long last, their patience started paying off.
The enemy could no longer tolerate sis’s relentless probing into the world’s limits. Once the world’s rules were revealed, she could wake up at any moment.
So, in a hasty decision, they tossed her into a kind of isolation room within the mental hospital, prepping to keep her imprisoned until she aged and dropped dead—surely that fulfilled the definition of ‘naturally passing away’!
However, the enemy’s plan backfired, making sis deeply suspicious of this world, strengthening her resolve to uncover the truth.
So, Shiyuan seized the opportunity. With the little wooden carving’s help, they managed to rescue her and whisk her away to the entrance.
Sis narrowly escaped.
While Evil Shiyuan paid a hefty price to keep the enemy at bay, his original strength had been blasted down to a mere fraction, allowing him to barely return to Sky Sword City.
But wait! The road ahead was still riddled with harsher trials.
Because, at last, they realized who their enemy truly was.
Good Shiyuan—the guy who always wore a smile on the surface but was actually a total nutcase!
