Chapter 13

The Demon Hunter (13)

"Huff."

The misty breath dispersed before his eyes.

Beyond it, a dazzlingly white snowfield stretched out.

Fan Jiawei wanted to escape from this damn cold as soon as possible. But he couldn't.

Because his goal was right in front of him.

"Why the hell do you live in a place like this?"

Muttering to himself, Fan Jiawei didn't stop walking. He continued to push through the bone-chilling cold.

How long had he walked?

The snowfield seemed endless.

At its edge, a forest appeared. It was amazing how trees could grow in such a place.

Crack.

Fan Jiawei broke through the frozen branches and entered the forest. Soon, he discovered a small pond.

Next to it was a wooden pavilion, with a sign swaying in the breeze.

'Snow Ice Palace (修氷宮)?'

To call a shack like this a palace.

Everything about it was insane.

As he approached the pavilion, passing the pond, a gust of wind brushed against Fan Jiawei's face. At that moment, a blizzard with bone-chilling cold swept in.

Crack.

Fan Jiawei's beard seemed to freeze and then shatter.

It was a cold far more intense than anything he had experienced before.

Fan Jiawei quickly gathered his inner strength.

The wind grew even stronger.

Only then did Fan Jiawei realize that this wind was not a natural phenomenon. There was only one person in the entire martial world who could wield such powerful Yin Cold True Qi.

"Hey! You crazy woman!"

Fan Jiawei roared and swung his saber at the direction the wind was coming from.

Zing!

A shockwave distorted the surroundings.

The air around Fan Jiawei became a vacuum due to his strike.

The center of the blizzard split like a receding tide.

At the end of it stood a woman. She wore a snow-white robe, and her jet-black hair fluttered in the wind. Upon seeing her, Fan Jiawei growled.

"Are you trying to fight me? Is this a challenge?"

The woman brushed her wind-tousled hair aside with her hand.

Then her appearance became clear.

She was in her mid-twenties, perhaps.

Her skin was so pale it seemed almost transparent.

Her black hair and red lips, in stark contrast, were incredibly alluring.

Her deep, clear eyes, like a cup of tea, made all the flowery compliments about beauty lose their meaning.

She was a beauty that could topple a nation.

How many men could resist the allure of her beauty?

But Fan Jiawei was an exception. He knew better than anyone that many had been deceived by her beauty and ended up on the boat to the underworld.

—Fight?

The woman sent a telepathic message with a indifferent expression.

—Just you?

Her face, cold and indifferent like carved ice, showed no emotion.

Fan Jiawei felt a surge of annoyance. The fact that she communicated via telepathy clearly meant she didn't even want to speak to him.

But Fan Jiawei, unusually, showed incredible patience.

'Hold on. I have to. For Dr. Duan!'

After repeating this to himself several times, he finally managed to suppress his anger.

Another telepathic message came to him.

—Why are you here?

"Oh, right!"

Fan Jiawei exclaimed and smiled.

"Wait and see. I brought a gift."

Han Xuehua flinched at Fan Jiawei's actions.

As soon as he finished speaking, he reached into his pants and pulled something out from near his groin.

—Such a shameless person...

"What? What's so shameless about it?"

Han Xuehua, who had turned away from Fan Jiawei, turned her head back. Their eyes met, and Fan Jiawei grinned.

"You loved seafood dumplings, didn't you?"

—...

"Here, catch it. I'll throw it to you."

Fan Jiawei threw the paper-wrapped dumpling to her. However, Han Xuehua took a step back instead.

Thud.

The paper tore, and the dumpling rolled on the snow.

Fan Jiawei's eyebrows twitched.

"What are you doing? When someone shows you their sincerity, you should at least pretend to accept it, right?"

—It's dirty.

"What?"

—Why did you take it out from there?

"It's the warmest place! If I just carried it, it would have frozen solid in this cold."

—Dare to tease me?

"Living so long, and you still... "

Fan Jiawei laughed, finding it absurd.

"Am I crazy? Teasing an old woman whose age I can't even guess? I have my tastes."

—...I'll kill you!

Boom.

Han Xuehua stomped her foot.

At the same time, the snow on the pavilion roof and the icicles hanging from the eaves fell. The icicles didn't hit the ground but floated in the air, held by an invisible force.

The overt hostility.

The clear killing intent in it made Fan Jiawei's lips curl.

"Confident, are you?"

Han Xuehua pointed at Fan Jiawei with her hand as a response.

Swoosh!

Fan Jiawei's shirt was torn, and blood splattered.

"..."

Fan Jiawei lowered his head to look at his shoulder.

A thin line of blood was visible on his skin. It was where the icicle, flying like an arrow, had grazed him. There was no warning, no prelude.

A distance of over fifty feet.

She had covered it in an instant.

Fan Jiawei had only seen a flash of light before the icicle struck.

He only realized the presence of the hidden weapon after feeling the sharp qi pierce his shoulder.

If he hadn't instinctively dodged, he would have been in serious trouble.

Fan Jiawei's patience had its limits.

"You crazy woman!"

Fan Jiawei kicked off the snow and charged, while Han Xuehua extended her hand and struck a point in the air almost simultaneously.

Flash.

Fan Jiawei instinctively tilted his head.

A burning sensation made him raise his hand to his cheek.

A long, deep cut on his cheek was bleeding profusely. A fierce light of anger surged in Fan Jiawei's eyes.

'You crazy bitch!'

Despite the blood, Han Xuehua found it absurd that Fan Jiawei continued to close the distance.

Fan Jiawei had always been known to be insane.

But there was a limit to recklessness.

A master at the peak of their art could control a certain area of space perfectly. It was an absolute space where they had complete control over life and death, without any conditions or restrictions.

She herself was such a master, as were the Five Greats of the world.

It was a difficult realm to reach.

Of course, Fan Jiawei was also a formidable master.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have survived as one of the Ten Great Evils.

He had his own absolute space, where he was the ruler of life and death.

'But...'

Han Xuehua was confident in her superiority.

Even now, the space within ten feet of her was like a massive barrier.

Yet, Fan Jiawei charged in recklessly.

It was like diving into a fire with a straw in hand.

—Hmph!

The qi beneath her feet rose like blades.

At that moment, the saber in Fan Jiawei's hand seemed to come alive, writhing. At the same time, a thick, misty shadow filled the space between them.

Zing!

A massive shockwave engulfed the area.

Time seemed to stop, and space split for a moment.

—You...

Han Xuehua's eyes widened.

Fan Jiawei, who had closed the distance, suddenly reached out.

He had pushed through the layers of intense qi and managed to deliver his attack.

This was not the Fan Jiawei she knew.

'How can you still be fine after bleeding?'

Their eyes met at that moment.

His eyes were still bloodshot, but the look in them was different.

Clear rationality had replaced the madness.

'What happened?'

Her surprise was brief.

—Hmph!

Han Xuehua swung her hand to deflect Fan Jiawei's attack.

Boom!

The sound of their hands colliding was deafening. The shockwave from their clash engulfed the surroundings.

"Damn!"

Fan Jiawei, pushed back, cursed.

At that moment, Han Xuehua's eyes flickered.

It was because of Fan Jiawei.

Han Xuehua, stepping back, extended her palm.

"Now what? Are you surrendering?"

A telepathic message came to Fan Jiawei.

—No?

"What?"

—The hand we just clashed.

"..."

—It's the one that touched your groin earlier!

"What? I don't know."

Fan Jiawei raised his hand to his nose and sniffed.

"It might be?"

—You...

Han Xuehua couldn't continue her telepathic message, overwhelmed by absurdity and anger.

Han Xuehua took out a handkerchief from her pocket and began to wipe her hand.

Fan Jiawei was flabbergasted.

"Why are you doing this in the middle of a fight?"

—It's dirty.

Han Xuehua shuddered as if something terrible had touched her.

Unable to bear it, Fan Jiawei lunged forward. But Han Xuehua had already retreated.

"Huh?"

He hadn't expected her to dodge, and Fan Jiawei was momentarily taken aback.

But he soon started chasing her again.

Han Xuehua didn't allow him to close the distance.

She retreated exactly the same distance Fan Jiawei closed.

"Stop there!"

—With those dirty hands, where do you think you're going?

This cat-and-mouse game, with the pond in between, continued for a while.

Eventually, Fan Jiawei was the first to tire.

He couldn't compete with her