02. Love, The End(2)

On the roof of a skyscraper building.

123 Runeswords float in the air around; forming a barrier formation that throws anyone or anything within the barrier disappears in the vision of the outside world.

Zhongmei frowned as she turned around and looked at the white-haired handsome man who had brought her to this place.

"You deceived me! No one is hurt here!"

The young man chuckled in response.

"That's right... I deceived you!"

Zhongmei looked very surprised.

"But, why?"

The young man thought to himself: Why could this girl be so stupid?

The young man glanced behind him.

There, an old man in blue clothes was hovering and watching them in silence.

The middle-aged man dressed in light blue clothes hooked his hands behind his back as he watched Zhongmei and the young man's conversation.

Seeing how stupid Zhongmei was, the middle-aged man shook his head.

"The Crow... He must have chosen the wrong disciple."

The middle-aged man also harbored a fear of Zen, but he couldn't help but feel sorry for Zen for having to take care of a disciple as stupid as Zhongmei.

In addition to her talent in cultivation and her stunning beauty, it seemed that Zhongmei was severely lacking in too many other aspects. She even lacked common sense.

The middle-aged man looked at the white-haired young man before smiling.

"It seems that you will be able to defeat the Ice Crow easily, young master."

***

The young man drew his sword.

The dark blue blade of the sword reflected sunlight and gave the impression of transparency.

"I, the son of the Head Sect of Golden Glacier Sect, Wei Huan, challenge you, Ice Crow, to a duel!"

That's right, this young master's goal to attract Zhongmei into this Formation Array was so that he could force Zhongmei to duel with him without the interference of the legendary The Crow.

Recently, since The Crow's identity was revealed, Zhongmei's talent in the ice element was also revealed.

As a result, this Zhongmei was often predicted to be the most talented ice element cultivator in this era.

That made himself, Wei Huan, a head sect's son of the sect with the most powerful cultivation arts, meditation techniques, martial techniques, and even the most powerful ice elemental magic arts on the entire Earth, extremely angry!

Within his sect, many sect elders had confirmed that Wei Huan possessed an ice elemental mutated spiritual root with purity that surpassed what was once flawed existing.

He was an ice elemental genius, but his name was unknown to the world. Because of the appearance of this Ice Crow!

Wei Huan was furious every time he remembered this fact.

His anger even multiplied after he saw how stupid this girl was.

However, Zhongmei was no less angry.

From her point of view, Wei Huan suddenly appeared, telling her that he needed help, only to bring her into the Formation Array and make fun of her. Not only that, but he even wanted to defeat her!

How shameless is this man?

Snorting angrily, Zhongmei took out a bluish-white glove and put it on.

The glove was her beloved Master's own handmade magic tool!

When Zhongmei remembers how Zen knitted the glove using a rare Winter Spider thread, she felt like her beloved Master was by her side and helping her; make her confidence recover!

Without further ado, Zhongmei took the first move before Wei Huan could move or babble again.

She used the magical art that her Master taught her.

[Six Snowy Land, Gone Zero]~!

In an instant, the ambient temperature drops below 0° Celsius.

Ice sheets grow on the roof floor of the building.

Wei Huan was aware of Zhongmei's actions, so he also prepared himself.

Cold Qi Blood enveloped Wei Huan's body as he stepped forward with the intention of slashing at Zhongmei.

Zhongmei smiled at that. It seemed that she was planning something.

Zhongmei's slender fingers covered in white gloves lifted up in a movement as if grabbing something.

Zhongmei's stupid and reckless look disappeared, replaced by graceful movements reminiscent of a snow fairy dance.

[Six Snowy Land, Blizzard Storm]~!

Just when Wei Huan was within 3 meters of where Zhongmei was standing, a blizzard grew under his footing.

The storm grew extremely fast and drowned Wei Huan's figure in an instant.

Wei Huan was naturally aware of the situation, so he immediately enveloped his sword with cold Qi Blood. With just one swing, he destroyed the blizzard that trapped him.

[Six Snowy Land, Icy Mist]~!

"!?"

However, when Wei Huan managed to get out of the blizzard, the place had been shrouded in a cold fog.

Wei Huan could even see the shards of ice flowers floating around calmly.

And of course, Zhongmei's figure had disappeared from his vision.

"Damn, she's stupid, but so cunning!"

Wei Huan felt a bad premonition of this fog, so he enveloped his entire body with a thick barrier using his talismans and magical arts.

Wei Huan wandered around for a while. He continuing to keep his guard up, but he couldn't find Zhongmei anywhere.

Wei Huan didn't realize. That above his head, just at a height of 39 meters above him, the beautiful figure of Zhongmei appeared with an ice hammer the size of a truck.

A cruel cold glint flashed in Zhongmei's obsidian eyes as she let gravity bring her down right towards Wei Huan.

***

The middle-aged man realized the situation was bad for his young master, so he reached out one of his Runeswords to help him.

However, he soon realized that his body had suddenly become immovable.

A hand patted his left shoulder with a slump.

"Alright, alright, let's let the youngs settle their affairs among themselves, shall we?"

The middle-aged man was extremely frightened when he heard the voice.

He recognized the voice!

Yes, the owner of that voice is, who else if not Zen, the legendary The Crow!

Although the middle-aged man was a fellow Spiritual King like Zen, he couldn't put up any resistance at all in front of Zen.

'Could this be the power of The Crow's famous special magical art!?'

The middle-aged man felt that his blood and Spiritual energy had turned into a lazy snake that chose to sleep rather than respond to his commands.

'How scary!'

The middle-aged man's fear of Zen had grown expotentially.

Originally, he was only scared because of Zen's rumors and fame. Now, he was scared because he had felt the horror of the Crow firsthand.

Down there, Zhongmei had destroyed Wei Huan along with his thick barrier using a huge ice hammer.

Zen watched it with a faint smile as he turned his head towards the middle-aged man beside him.

"You guys are from the Golden Glacier Sect, aren't you? You guys look interestin. It looks like I should try to visit you guys and ask for some gifts..."

Zen's smile looked very terrifying in the eyes of the middle-aged man at that moment.

His pupils trembled when he realized the true meaning of Zen's words. Even his face had turned pale because of it.

Zhongmei almost killed Wei Huan, but Zen stopped her before that.

After a 'warm' conversation between him and the middle-aged man, the two sides managed to reconcile with smiles on each other's faces.

The smile of one of the parties was a little forced... But it wasn't something that Zen and Zhongmei needed to worry about.

Seeing the arrival of her beloved Master, Zhongmei immediately hugged him.

"Master!"

***

Even at that moment, Zen still underestimated Zhongmei's strange illness too much.

Zhongmei had indeed become more and more involved with the problem of deception and cheap tricks since then, but Zen thought it was just a trivial matter because most of the time, the two of them were able to solve the problem quickly.

He remained focused on training Zhongmei as well as finding a way to deal with her strange illness.

Unconsciously, a 'distance' has been created between the two.

The 'distance' generated by the vague guilt that began to grow within Zhongmei without even realizing it herself was not something trivial.

This 'distance' was very small, and the two were not even aware of the existence of the 'distance' between the two.

However, this 'distance' continues to grow invisibly as Zhongmei is often involved in problems.

The 'distance' created by the discontinuity of the mindset of the two brings estrangement in the romantic relationship between the two.

There is a group of people who realize the 'distance' between the two, and then they take advantage of it for their own benefit.

They began to plant indirect suggestions to Zhongmei through various means, such as negligible light conversation, while Zen was caught off guard.

All of these suggestions continued to accumulate in the depths of the 'distance' that kept Zen and Zhongmei apart.

Until finally, one day, the accumulated suggestions exploded and completely separated the two .

By the time Zen realized it, it was already too late.

***

Somewhere in the Pasific Oceaon.

"M-Mei'er..."

Surrounded by 5 Spiritual Kings and 1 Spiritual Emperor, Zen, who was severely injured and running out of spiritual energy, turned his gaze towards Zhongmei who was standing beside a man named Lou Xianming.

Looking at the icy gaze that Zhongmei directed at him, Zen could only endure the pain that attacked both his physical and mental in helplessness.

Zhongmei only said one sentence before leaving with Lou Xianming and leaving himself killed at the hands of other cultivators.

"I hate you... Zen."

It was at that moment that Zen realized that his love had ended.

His cold body sank into the deep, dark Pacific Ocean.

***

What is love?

In the darkness of death, the light of the soul flickered as he wondered to himself.

Isn't that something that can make you suffer?

'Maybe, but maybe not.'

Then why did I have to suffer – be killed – like this?

'That's right... Why?'

The flickering soul continued to fall and let the currents of death carry it.

'... It is because my 'love' has ended.'

That's right, his love is over.

It is a very simple thing and very easy to understand. Especially for him who is a Spiritual King with more than 500 years of life experience.

Even so, he still wondered.

'Why?'

'Why don't you trust me?'

Shared memories for more than 40 years seem like a joke now.

A harmonious Master-Disciple relationship, a sweet love relationship between a man and a woman who are both inexperienced... Everything was destroyed just by the arrival of another man.

Although he realized that it was most likely that she did this only because of the manipulation that the other party did, he was still unable to accept it.

Does that even make sense?

It may not make sense. In fact, it was completely unacceptable.

But now, after death came to him, the soul didn't care about any of it.

The feeling. Be it anger, disappointment, and despair. Everything was swept away by the unstoppable tide of death.

Perhaps he will also disappear with the feelings that have now disappeared from him.

Carried away by the current of death. Buried in the utopia of death. Forever.

The soul stopped being carried away by the current suddenly.

'I don't want to die.'

After many feelings disappeared from him, the essence of his personality - the reason why he chose to cultivate, the desire to attain immortality - rose to the surface once again after being buried for a long time among the many other desires that arose as time went on.

'I want immortality!'

The soul that had originally flickered now began to emit a bright light.

The light that rose from it made a new path for that soul.

Perhaps this path is the right or wrong path. It is also possible that it is actually the path to infinite suffer.

However, the soul without hesitation stepped on that path.

No matter what happened, wherever he got to the end, he vowed to cultivate, then attain immortality!

***

-In another universe far from Earth.

A boy, who looked like he was about 8-9 years old, staggering in a shabby room.

A reddened and dried bite wound can be seen on the boy's arm.

The boy was pale-skinned, with a kitchen knife stuck in his stomach.

He was a Zombie.

For years, the boy continued to walk around the shabby room aimlessly.

But now, the boy stopped walking.

Eyes, mouth, arms, fingers, head... His whole body began to twitch.

Because he was constantly twitching, the boy lost his balance. He crashed into a closet, then fell to the floor.

The boy's dull green eyes began to regain his vitality.