The north wind howled angrily, and the cold wind swept through everything in the wilderness. A skinny figure was moving with great difficulty in the knee-deep snow. His entire body was covered in a layer of frozen blood, as if he was wearing a blood-red ice suit. Every step he took caused the ice to rustle. He walked like this mechanically for a long time until a river that was nearly a hundred meters wide appeared in front of him. The turbulent river ignored the cold and continued to flow endlessly.
The figure stopped mechanically, and with this stop, it was as if time had stopped as well. He stood motionless on the riverbank, and the goose feather-like snow quickly buried him.
Two days later, the cold wind gradually stopped, and the snow turned into a light snowfall. However, the temperature dropped again, and the flowing river began to slow down. A thin layer of ice appeared on the surface of the river.
A small, shabby fishing boat appeared on the river and stopped. On the boat sat an old man with a Big Beard. He wore tattered clothes and a bamboo hat, and held a fishing rod in his hand. From time to time, he would take a sip of the wine in his hand and hum an unknown song as he leisurely fished in the river.
The wine in the pot was quickly emptied, and he also caught three fat fish. The old man was a little drunk as he put away the fishing rod and prepared to go back to the cabin to sleep. Just as he stood up, he saw a snowman standing not far from the shore. No, it was not a snowman. It was more like an ice sculpture. Under the sunlight, it faintly revealed a red color.
The old man shook his head and went back to his cabin to sleep. He slept all the way until the afternoon, when he finally got up. Seeing that the ice sculpture was still there, he hesitated for a moment before rowing the boat to the riverbank. When he walked over to take a closer look, he was given a fright. It was not an ice sculpture, but a person. A person who had frozen to death!
Cursing his bad luck, he was just about to leave when he suddenly saw that the ice sculpture was holding a weapon in each hand. His heart grew hot and he looked around. How could there be anyone in this cold weather? He stretched out his leg and kicked the ice sculpture over. The ice sculpture was very solid, so he returned to the boat and took a hammer to break it open.
When he saw the face of the ice sculpture, the old man's face changed. He cried out in shock, "Little Luo!"
…
Luo Kai felt as if he had fallen into an endless abyss. His consciousness was constantly wandering between darkness and nothingness. Compared to the eternal nothingness, the darkness gave him a strange feeling of warmth. After an unknown period of time, a sharp pain from his body pulled him back from the darkness.
When he opened his eyes, he saw an old man with a long beard standing in front of him. He looked very familiar. After searching through his memories for a long time, he finally remembered that it was Big Beard, the vagrant from the bridge.
"Little Luo, you're awake. Damn, you're really tough. I was going to bury you!" Big Beard shouted in surprise.
Luo Kai wanted to speak, but his throat didn't seem to belong to him. His lips moved for a long time, but no words came out.
"Sigh, Little Luo, you have to hold on. Don't be discouraged. Look, I'm still alive."
Luo Kai didn't understand what he meant. He looked around blankly. He was in a simple thatched hut. Other than Big Beard, there were a few other vagrants in ragged clothes. They were all looking at him strangely.
Luo Kai looked down in confusion. He saw that his chest, arms, and all the muscles in his body were tightly wrinkled together. It was as if he had polio. His hair kept flying in front of his eyes. He reached out and touched it. Immediately, he pulled out a handful of white hair from his head.
He couldn't help but breathe heavily. The scary thing was that when the air entered his lungs, his failing lungs couldn't hold so much air. Like a bellows leaking, the air spread into his chest. Then, it leaked out from a long and narrow wound in his chest. He had to keep breathing heavily. Only a little bit of oxygen was filtered into his blood. His dazed mind gradually became clear.
He carefully sensed his body. It wasn't just his appearance. Most of his internal organs were in a state of atrophy. Only his heart was still beating tenaciously, barely keeping his body running.
Big Beard looked at him pitifully and asked, "Little Luo, did you climb out of a mountain of knives?"
Luo Kai smiled bitterly. He struggled to sit up. He felt like a baby now. Every little movement took all his strength. After a long time, he finally said, "Big … Big Beard, did you save me?"
Big Beard began to talk non-stop, "Yes, you didn't know. You were frozen into an ice sculpture. I brought you back to warm you up … There wasn't a single part of your body that was intact. Your intestines were all over the floor. I was scared to death at that time. I wanted to bury you, but I found that you actually had a heartbeat. I tried to feed you some food. I didn't expect that you would really come back to life!"
Luo Kai saw a mirror by the bedside. What entered his eyes was a somewhat terrifying face. His hair was white, his cheeks were sunken, and his skin was full of wrinkles covering the bones of his face. There wasn't even a little bit of flesh inside. He looked like a dried corpse.
What happened that night flashed across his mind. He was already at the end of his rope, but he forced himself to mobilize his Qi and blood. In the end, he even started to burn his Qi and blood. Everything in the world had to follow the law of conservation of energy. No energy could be created out of nothing. The price of burning Qi and blood was overdrawing his vitality. Now, almost all of his organs were in a state of failure. His body cells were also dying on a large scale. He was like an old man who was about to die of illness.
After a long time, Luo Kai looked away and said softly, "Big Beard, thank you. Where is this?"
"This is my home. I couldn't survive in Longyang City, so I found a small village by the Dragon Rebel River with a group of old fellows. The village chief here is not bad. He didn't despise us old fellows. Instead, he built a house for us."
Luo Kai nodded. He glanced around and said, "Big Beard, have you seen my things?"
Big Beard scratched his head and forced a smile. "Well … Little Luo, you know we old fellows don't have the ability to feed you. Moreover, this small village is very poor …
Luo Kai was startled. He hurriedly asked, "You sold them?"
"No, I didn't."
Big Beard slowly took out a small bag from his pocket and handed it over. He said embarrassedly, "Little Luo, to save you, I spent a lot of money. I only used one." There were several gold coins in the bag, which were the ones Luo Kai had casually taken from the Dragon Shark Camp.
Of course, Luo Kai didn't care about the money. Instead, he cared about his two weapons. When he burned his Qi and blood, the two weapons resonated with his spirit at the same time, which gave him a deeper understanding of what a murderous weapon was. Murderous weapons could absorb the resentment, hatred, despair, and other negative emotions of the dead before they died. As more and more creatures were killed, the weapons would have a thick murderous aura. If an ordinary person held one, his mind would be affected, and he could turn into a homicidal maniac overnight.
"Not this. Take the money. These are my weapons. Those two weapons are a little strange. It's not good for ordinary people to hold them."
"Oh, those two swords. I was wondering why I felt so creepy. I buried them. I'll go find them for you. Dawei, Niu Dan, let's go and dig something out."
The bearded man excitedly kept the pouch and called the few vagrants to leave in a hurry. One must know that one gold coin was equivalent to ten thousand star dollars, which was enough for them to live lavishly for half a year. If they were frugal with these ten gold coins, they would be able to live without worries for the rest of their lives.