Three days after the destruction of the Heavenly Sword Sect.
The wind and snow of the Northern Region seemed even fiercer, cutting like knives.
In the past, Li Zhaoye thought such a description was just a metaphor; now he knew it was a statement of fact.
The wind blowing on his face really could cut through flesh, even though his face was now covered in thick wolf fur, tougher than cowhide.
"Huff... huff..."
Li Zhaoye lay prone on an ice cliff, panting heavily.
His hands, which had once held a sword, had turned into two wolf claws. His nails dug deep into the hard ice; only by doing this could he suppress the inexplicable urge in his heart to howl madly at the moon.
He had become a wolf.
Or rather, a monster that was half-man, half-wolf.
On that day amidst the ruins of the Heavenly Sword Sect, he had personally pressed the 【Seed of Resentment】 bestowed by Chen Zhou into his chest.
Resentment scorched his soul at every moment, keeping him in a state of constant, lucid agony so that he would not descend into a beast that knew only slaughter.
'I am Li Zhaoye... I am the chief disciple of the Heavenly Sword Sect... I am human...'
He repeated these words in his heart over and over, yet what reached his ears was a series of low, whimpering sounds.
These past few days, he had wandered through the mountains in a daze.
He did not dare to see humans, nor did he want to see demons.
He knew the truth now—a truth so cruel it made him want to vomit.
For the past ten years, the demons and fiends he had slain were actually his own kind. The spiritual meat he had consumed was actually the flesh and blood of his fellow disciples.
Whenever he thought of this, his stomach cramped in spasms.
"Awoooo—"
A few genuine wolf howls echoed from the distance. It was a patrol team from the Wolf Court.
Li Zhaoye shrunk his neck, burying his body deeper into the snow.
He was still too weak. Although he possessed a demon body, he had lost his sword and his spiritual energy. With only a single Seed of Resentment, he could not yet confront a pack of true wolf demons.
Just then, a strange wailing sound drifted over with the wind and snow.
It was not violent like a wolf's howl; instead, it carried a bone-chilling sorrow, like a mother weeping at her child's grave.
Li Zhaoye lifted his wolf head and peered through the blizzard.
In the ice valley ahead, a dozen white shadows were drifting about.
They were snow demons.
They were eerie creatures unique to the Northern Region. Lacking physical forms and flickering in and out of existence, they were known for luring living souls.
Back when Li Zhaoye used to descend the mountain for training, he had slain many of these creatures. In his memory, snow demons were like emotionless ghosts—pests that had to be eliminated.
However, they were extremely difficult to truly kill; as long as a handful of snow remained, they could slowly revive. Much like the living dead of the Northern Region, they existed in a state between life and death.
Now, looking through his wolf pupils, Li Zhaoye sensed an emotion he had never felt from them before.
Sorrow.
A sorrow so thick it was impossible to dispel.
'Is it because I’ve become a demon too that I can understand their feelings?' Li Zhaoye thought self-mockingly.
The snow demons were holding chains condensed from extreme cold ice and snow. At the other end of the chains, they led rows of dead souls.
There were elderly people, strong men, and even infants who had not yet been weaned.
Most of these dead souls were incomplete, clearly having suffered great pain before death—likely bitten to death by wolf demons. However, under the guidance of the snow demons, they appeared exceptionally quiet, even leaning against the snow demons with a sense of attachment.
A small snow demon bent down and gently patted the soul of a still-crying infant as if coaxing it to sleep.
Even the wind and snow seemed to soften slightly because of this eerie scene.
Doubts began to sprout in Li Zhaoye's mind.
What were they doing?
Wasn't it said that snow demons fed on souls? Why did they seem far less brutal than they had in the past?
"Whimper..."
The lead snow demon seemed to notice Li Zhaoye's observation. it turned its head and shot him a glance, letting out a low growl as if in warning.
Seeing that Li Zhaoye made no move, it led the procession further into the blizzard.
As if possessed, Li Zhaoye crawled out of the snow.
Dragging his heavy wolf body, he followed far behind the snow demon procession.
He wanted to see where these monsters were going.
The wind and snow grew even heavier, making visibility extremely low.
Li Zhaoye followed the snow demons over one treacherous ice peak after another, crossing stretches of deathly silent ice fields.
Finally, deep within the blizzard ahead, a massive black fortress loomed into view.
Frost-Snow Fortress.
The moment he saw this fortress, Li Zhaoye's pupils constricted.
That was a famous ghost fort in the Northern Region and a mortal enemy of the Heavenly Sword Sect. There was a madwoman in that fort who was said to be undying, specifically hunting down Heavenly Sword Sect disciples to steal their bodies.
Over the past ten years, whenever Li Zhaoye led teams out, he had often been intercepted by the madwoman of Frost-Snow Fortress. Fortunately, they had always escaped without serious incident.
But he had also heard that several junior brothers and sisters who had only recently joined the sect had died at her hands.
'Are the snow demons... raised by Frost-Snow Fortress?'
Li Zhaoye's heart sank.
Sensing the return of the snow demons, the heavy fortress gates slowly creaked open, revealing a narrow gap.
A gust of yin wind, even colder than the outside air, blew out. The snow demons filed in one by one, and the dead souls followed as if they were returning home.
Li Zhaoye hesitated for a moment.
Entering might mean death.
That madwoman hated the people of the Heavenly Sword Sect most, and she hated wolf demons as well. As he was now—both a member of the Heavenly Sword Sect and a wolf demon—he was essentially carrying every possible death flag.
However, a surge of inexplicable agitation drove Li Zhaoye forward.
It was the same inexplicable irritation and stinging pain he felt every time he had previously stabbed that madwoman with his sword. He felt that if he did not go in, he might regret it for the rest of his life.
'If I die, I die,' Li Zhaoye laughed at himself. 'Living like this as a monster isn't worth much anyway.'
Staying low and using the blizzard as cover, he slipped inside at the very last moment before the fortress gates closed.
Once inside, all he could see was ice. Rather than a fortress, it was more like a giant frozen graveyard.
Within the thick ice walls, thousands upon thousands of corpses were entombed. These bodies had not rotted; they were frozen in a lifelike state.
Li Zhaoye's eyes widened. He walked along, looking at them.
Among them were ordinary villagers, traveling merchants, hunters...
And even more of them were disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect!
"Junior Brother Wang, Junior Sister Zhao..."
Li Zhaoye felt his mind reeling.
According to the sect's records, these people had all been brutally murdered by that madwoman, their bodies lost forever. So why were their corpses perfectly preserved here?
And looking at their peaceful expressions, it seemed more as if they had been given a proper burial.
"Whimper..."
The snow demons ahead came to a halt.
Li Zhaoye looked up toward the deepest part of the fortress.
There was an ice cave with a massive ice furnace standing in the center. In front of the furnace stood a hunched figure.
Her back was to Li Zhaoye. She wore a tattered wolf-skin cloak that was losing its fur, over a sword robe whose color had long faded. Her messy white hair hung loosely over her shoulders. Holding a hammer in her hand, she was limping around the ice furnace, hammering away at something.
Clang—
Rate on N.U.
