After Death

He had to defeat the monster in front of him.

The Guide tightly grasped the icy long sword in his hand and pointed it at the blood-red monster in front of him.

The delicate frost patterns on the sword's blade seemed to pulsate slowly as if they were alive, resonating with his rapid gasps.

"Stay calm, I must stay calm..." The Guide silently recited the battle prayer, trying to suppress the strange restlessness in his chest. However, the air here seemed to be inherently poisonous. With each breath he took, he felt a layer of his rationality being peeled away. Flickering shadows began to appear at the edge of his vision, and non-existent whispers echoed in his ears.

Although the creature resembled a wriggling humanoid mass of flesh, its movements were almost indistinguishable from those of an ordinary person.

It seemed to be playing with him on purpose or simply didn't take him seriously. Even after such a long confrontation, it hadn't launched an active attack.

Maybe it was just an illusion, but the Guide even felt that there was an almost elegant, aristocratic demeanor in its every gesture.

Impossible. It was just a monster.

"Die!"

The Guide executed a wide and powerful horizontal slash.

The icy long sword cut through the air, creating not a sword wind but a solid ice blade instead.

This sword technique combined his power to control ice and snow. It was a unique skill he had developed himself. He had once used this move to sever the bodies of three snow demons on the border snowfield with a single strike.

But the monster merely leaned back slightly, deftly took a step back, and slowly sidestepped to easily dodge the attack.

Damn it!

The momentum of his charge had dissipated, and his center of gravity had shifted forward. His entire right side was now completely exposed and unprotected.

His rich combat experience made the Guide realize what this meant. He had been too impulsive just now and had now exposed a significant flaw.

Although he tried his best to twist his waist and retract his sword to shift into a defensive stance, it was too late.

Sure enough, the monster didn't let this opportunity slip by. Its fleshy hand shot out at an incredible speed. Before he could retract his sword, it neatly knocked the long sword out of his hand and grabbed him by the neck.

...

"Calm down. I'm not your enemy," Xia Lun said as he restrained the other person and tried to pat the guy's cheek. However, the other party seemed not to hear a word and struggled even more violently.

Xia Lun didn't want to kill innocent beings. Although this person wasn't human, neither was he a demon.

Of course, this was only the case when Xia Lun still had the strength to do so.

Although this person might even be dead, which was why he had entered the spiritual realm in this state, Xia Lun didn't want to continue hurting an innocent person.

If he could wake him up, he might be able to get some clues about this place.

...

The monster didn't kill him immediately. Instead, it actually patted his cheek. This human - like gesture made the Guide feel a momentary daze.

Then, he saw the monster open its hideous, blood - filled mouth full of sharp teeth.

But the monster didn't bite. It just maintained this ferocious pose and let out indistinct syllables from its throat.

Despair flashed in the Guide's eyes and then turned into determination.

He took a final deep breath and tightly grasped the monster's forearms with both hands. The surface of his skin quickly turned a pale blue, and a layer of frost covered his hands. Fine ice crystals began to spread from his fingertips and climb up the monster's arms. An astonishingly cold chill rushed into the monster's body.

Even if he died, he would freeze this creature into an ice sculpture.

But to the Guide's surprise, even after he did all this, the other creature showed no reaction at all.

The cold air he injected into the monster's body seemed to cause no harm.

The Guide's expression gradually turned to shock. Was this monster really a living being? Even among the Ice and Snow Clan, very few could forcibly withstand the primordial cold air... What on earth was he fighting against?

A trace of despair couldn't help but appear in the Guide's eyes.

He had used all his tricks, but he still couldn't do anything to the monster in front of him.

The primordial cold air was as important as the life of the Ice and Snow Clan. His attack that exhausted his life force couldn't even harm the other party in the slightest...

Was it all over?

But suddenly, the Guide was even more shocked.

A rich and pure cold air actually flowed back from the monster!

How could this be possible!

As the cold air rushed into his body, the redness in his eyes began to gradually fade.

And the flesh on the monster's face gradually faded and disappeared, replaced by normal human facial features: a high - bridged nose, a well - defined jaw, and finally, a pair of deep blue eyes.

The hand that was gripping his throat loosened.

The Guide staggered back and knelt on the ground, coughing violently. After he caught his breath and looked up, he saw a complete human man.

...

Xia Lun also didn't expect that the ice sword Aina gave him would react at this time.

When the other person's cold air invaded Xia Lun's body, it was directly absorbed by the ice sword. Xia Lun himself didn't feel any strange sensations.

This ice sword... Xia Lun didn't know where Aina got it from. She only said that it might be from another world.

This weapon was indeed different from the weapons in this world. Even without Xia Lun infusing it with magic power, it could directly cause powerful damage and produce an effect similar to ice spells.

Moreover, Xia Lun knew that this sword actually had usage conditions. He wasn't the rightful owner of the ice sword... Every time he used it, he had to rely on his powerful physical body to resist the cold air on the sword.

Since it was a bit freezing to hold, Xia Lun rarely used it after trying it once.

However, it was unexpected for Xia Lun that this sword could make this guy regain his senses.

"Are you awake?" Xia Lun asked the Guide.

"Who are you..." At this moment, the Guide also realized that his previous state had been abnormal, and he had mistaken the person in front of him for a monster.

The Guide sized Xia Lun up. Obviously, the other person wasn't of his clan.

Then the Guide looked at the sword in Xia Lun's hand. "The lost sacred sword of our Ice and Snow Clan... Why is it in your hand?"

"It's mine now. I can't return it to you." Xia Lun shook his head. This sword was given to him by Aina, and he had no right to make his own decisions.

"Sorry... It was my rudeness. I don't intend to take it back..." The Guide waved his hands repeatedly. Suddenly, a pained expression appeared on his face, and he covered his forehead.

Fragmented memories emerged in his mind.

Finally, the monster's blood - filled mouth appeared in front of his eyes. Then he lost consciousness, and he could faintly still hear the screams of the villagers.

"Am I... already dead?" The Guide murmured to himself.

"This is the spiritual realm. Since you're here, it means you're in a soul state now and should be dead in reality." Xia Lun directly told him the truth.

But the fact that his soul hadn't directly dissipated really surprised Xia Lun.