This was the fifth Sword Intent that Li Zhexian comprehended—the Sword Intent of Death.
Who else could be like him?
To master the Fourth Realm of the Sword Dao and yet still walk through the threshold of life and death?
In howling Yin winds, amidst ghostly wails—he truly took a round trip between life and death!
At the brink of death!
Every torment gnawed into bone and heart—
The agony of a body unraveling, the hollow weightlessness of spirit torn away, the icy plunge of sinking consciousness, the desolation of senses extinguished…
All of it, layered atop the sword intents he had once grasped—
Starlight, Blazing Frost, Formless Wind, Thunder Ash Rebirth—in the face of that devouring silence, all were but dying candles flickering in the storm, on the verge of extinguishing in an instant.
That feeling…
It was cold. It was void. It was silence without end.
It was the terror of even one's own existence about to be erased!
Upon Li Zhexian's brow—
The pitch-black imprint of the Qinglian Sword flickered unsteadily.
Clang—
Clang—
The sword's cry echoed low and mournful, as if from the deepest abyss.
The Qinglian Sword rested across his knees where he sat in meditation.
Yet now, that blade once as pure as white jade marrow was quietly suffused with a spreading shade of funereal black.
Li Zhexian's breathing grew ever fainter, until at last it stilled.
He clearly remained seated, yet seemed to have become no more than a lifeless corpse.
"The lower sword cuts others, the middle sword cuts the self, the higher sword cuts through the night."
"The sword of the Fourth Realm cuts the Dao itself—severing the rigid obsessions and shallow understanding of swordsmanship, returning to a near-primal state of origin."
"The Fourth Realm is cutting the Dao; all things can be a sword."
"Therefore..."
"Death can also become a sword."
At that thought—
The terror of his near-death shattered like a burst of thunder.
No more fear. No more cold.
Only the Intent remained—one that annihilated all things.
Li Zhexian slowly opened his eyes.
In that instant—
Though the moonstones still shed their glow, the tavern itself was swallowed by utter darkness.
He made no movement at all.
Yet the five corpses beside him, still warm moments ago, silently crumbled into dust and drifted away.
Not slain by blade or external force—but by the erasure of all inner vitality, wiped out by the power of Death itself.
This was the Sword Intent of Death.
Not the keen edge of the stars.
Not the formless breath of the wind.
Not the violent fury of thunder.
It was the end. It was extinction.
It was the final sigh before all things return to the void.
"Sword crossing the Underworld River, its blossoms mirrored in blood—life and death alike have no farther shore."
"Qinglian Sword Song, Fifth Form—Underworld's Far Shore."
"It is complete."
Li Zhexian gathered what meat remained edible, took a few untainted jars of Burning Knife liquor, wrapped himself in his thick black fur cloak—
And stepped once more into the storm.
Heading towards the extreme north.
He walked without looking back.
His figure dwindled along faint winding paths—
Until even his footprints were swallowed whole by the whirling snow.
...
Two days later.
Whoosh, whoosh—
Whoosh, whoosh—
Li Zhexian skimmed across the snow on northern snowboards.
Spirit Power roared behind him, propelling him forward across the endless white like an arrow loosed.
A pair of black goggles clung to his face—special wares of the northern cities, made to guard against the piercing glare of snowfields and the blindness they brought.
Even with the extraordinary physique of a Spirit Master, enduring this endless wasteland of white strained the eyes to their limit.
As far as Li Zhexian could see, snow forts piled up with ice blocks lined the sides of the street. Looking out, semicircular ice crystal buildings were spread along the ice road, exuding a strange beauty amid the severity.
This was a characteristic of a city created by the harsh climate.
Li Zhexian had stayed in snow-forts before.
Within, there was another world—aged ice capable of withstanding moderate heat.
Walls several feet thick, narrow windows, and domed forms that gathered warmth made these places far less frigid than one might imagine.
A mouthful of scalding burn-knife liquor, a bite of fatty meat from a northern Spirit Beast—and warmth would flood up from the belly.
Following the landmarks, Li Zhexian finally stopped in front of a magnificent complex of buildings surrounded by many snow forts.
This was the Skywater Academy.
Looking at the continuous ice crystal pavilions, his steps paused. His lips were slightly pursed, and a trace of solemnity flashed across the bottom of his eyes.
The accompanying teacher of the Skywater Battle team perished because of him.
Before that day, he had not even known her name.
Her shattered ice crystal spear had already been brought back by Shui Bing'er, laid to rest here beneath the snow.
"Teacher…"
"Li Zhexian comes to send you off."
He poured burning liquor onto the snow.
Li Zhexian bowed deeply and did not rise for a long time.
After steadying his emotions, he slid into Skywater Academy.
He stopped before its most majestic ice-crystal main hall.
With a wave of his sleeve—
Dozens of wine jars appeared out of thin air, hovering in the air.
All of them were immortal brews he had long prepared, produced by his Wine Martial Spirit.
This debt of kindness—
He could never repay in his lifetime.
These jars of wine could only serve as a token of his meager tribute.
With a gesture, the jars floated through the window.
Li Zhexian turned and departed into the snow without pause, his figure melting into the storm.
A dozen breaths later—
Several graceful figures burst from the hall.
Wine jars in hand, they searched anxiously in every direction.
"This wine…" Shui Yue'er pulled a stopper.
Just one sniff, and two flushes of crimson rose on her snow-white cheeks.
"There's no mistake! This is wine from Li Zhexian's Wine Martial Soul!"
She stomped her foot and said petulantly:
"Hmph! He promised that once he came north he'd come find us!"
"He's far too unfriendly!"
Shui Bing'er's gaze fell upon the two fresh trails left by snowboards, extending toward the depths of the wind and snow in the distance.
"Perhaps…"
"He feels guilty."
She paused.
"Keep an ear to the north's news."
"If word of Ten-thousand-year Ice Marrow arises, we'll go and lend him a hand."
...
After leaving Skywater Academy—
The following two months, Li Zhexian joined a mercenary group known as Snow Bear.
In the north, traveling alone was nearly impossible—
Especially for newcomers.
All the more so for those newly arrived.
Hunting Spirit Beasts in the Icebound Forest was utterly different from in Star Dou Forest.
Veteran mercenaries had their own ways of tracking and trapping prey in the snow.
And since Li Zhexian's ultimate goal was to find Ten-thousand-year Ice Marrow, he needed the intelligence networks of such a mercenary group.
In just a month—
His alias, Li Ji, spread throughout the Snow Bear Mercenary Group and the nearby town of Sharp Blade, bordering the Icebound Forest.
Of course—
In this place teeming with rogues and cutthroats—
He never revealed the Qinglian Sword.
By relying only on the physical strength of his Molten Frost Spirit Veins, and the five kinds of Sword Intent condensed into his fists yet never unleashed, he had already earned the title of "prodigy."
And had been named a captain of Snow Bear Mercenary Group.
On this day—
Li Zhexian sat in a tavern of the town, listening as mercenaries loudly swapped story of their forest adventures.
When suddenly—
From outside came the bustle of shouted cries.
"Snow Bear Mercenary Group is recruiting!"
"New blood in town! Come take your pick!"
Li Zhexian drank the last drop of wine in his cup and stepped out.
The moment he appeared—
The burly mercenaries greeted him warmly.
"Captain Ji! You pick first!"
"Come on, get over here, take a look—this is our Captain Ji from Snow Bear!"
"Tsk, Captain Ji, this batch doesn't look very promising!"
Li Zhexian glanced idly over—then his brow lifted slightly.
For among them, he saw a face he recognized.
The youth's cheeks were flushed red from the cold, his camouflage winter cloak stuffed with weapons. His expression carried poorly-hidden fear, though he tried to act composed.
Sensing Li Zhexian's gaze, the man bit his cracked lips and stammered nervously:
"C-Captain Ji… hello!"
"M-my name is Oscar!"