r18novel Chapter 1275 Snow's Acquaintance
Chapter 1275 Snow's Acquaintance
Lin Yi looked at the Frost Guardians around him and couldn't help but swallow hard.
There's no way around it; if you were surrounded by these five enormous men, you'd feel numb too.
They stood there, their pale skin gleaming sickly in the dim light, fine ice crystals condensing around the edges of their gray ice armor, and the cold light on their arm blades was biting and piercing.
Five pairs of dark blue eyes stared at him in unison, two cold flames flickering in their sockets, showing no anger, no hostility, only a chilling scrutiny.
Lin Yi's hand rested on the hilt of the Black and White Rose sword, his fingers slightly curled.
He didn't draw his sword because the assessment information clearly stated that the Frost Guardians were not dangerous as long as he didn't provoke them.
The question is whether his sword strike just now could be considered as a provocation in the eyes of the other party, a question he hasn't yet answered.
Five Frost Guardians spread out in a fan shape, surrounding Lin Yi in the center.
Their positioning was very deliberate, with equal distances between them, so that no matter which direction Lin Yi broke through, at least two Frost Guardians would intercept him at the same time.
The most imposing guard in the middle took a step forward, his boots slamming into the snow with a dull thud that echoed across the open space.
Lin Yi's back was pressed against a thick, gray-black tree trunk. The snow on the bark melted from his body heat, and the icy snow water dripped down his collar, but he didn't care.
His gaze swept quickly across the five Frost Guardians, from left to right and back again, searching for a possible opening.
There is no breakthrough.
The encirclement by the five Frost Guardians was too tight, as tight as a net without any loopholes.
Their size was too large and their arm blades too long. No matter which direction Lin Yi charged in, he would face the simultaneous attack of at least two guards.
With their Axe-like combat strength, if both of them attacked at the same time, Lin Yi would have to pay a considerable price even if he could block them.
Lin Yi took a deep breath and cleared those messy thoughts from his mind.
He removed his hand from the hilt of the sword, letting it hang at his side with his palm facing outward and his fingers spread.
This is a gesture of weakness. In the body language of many races in the void, palms facing outwards signify that I have no weapons, no hostility, and that we can talk.
The Frost Guardians remained standing there, their dark blue eyes fixed on Lin Yi, like five statues frozen in time.
The guard in the very center tilted its head slightly, its gaze shifting from Lin Yi's hand back to his face. The two cold flames flickered, as if confirming something.
Just as the two sides were locked in a stalemate, a semi-transparent figure rushed out from behind Lin Yi.
Snowflakes drifted to Lin Yi's front, spreading their arms to shield him.
Her body became even more transparent in the sunlight, her skirt fluttered in the wind, and the ice crystals at the ends of her hair shimmered with tiny sparkles.
"Get out of my way." Xue's voice was soft, trembling slightly, but there was an undeniable firmness in her tone.
“The doctor is a good person. He’s not like those bad people. He’s never hurt me. He’s given me food and even brought me to see the sunshine. You can’t hurt him.”
The open space fell silent.
The five Frost Guardians looked at Snow, and in their dark blue eyes, the two cold flames flickered simultaneously.
It wasn't anger, nor hostility, but an indescribable emotion.
That feeling is hard to describe; it's like bumping into an old friend you haven't seen in years on the street, like hearing a familiar accent on a foreign street, like waking up in the middle of the night to see the familiar moonlight outside the window.
The guard in the very center raised its head slightly, its dark blue eyes fixed on Xue's face, two cold flames flickering slowly in its eye sockets.
Its right arm slowly lowered, the cold light on the blade dimmed, and the energy that had locked onto Lin Yi dissipated.
It looked at the snow, as if confirming something, or as if recalling something.
The other four guards reacted in the same way.
Their bodies leaned back slightly, shifting their weight from their toes to their heels, changing from an offensive posture to a defensive one.
The cold light on the arm blade dimmed, and the rate at which ice crystals condensed at the edge of the ice armor also slowed down.
This was the first time Lin Yi had seen a sparkle in the other person's eyes.
When they looked at Lin Yi before, their eyes were full of emptiness, like two dried-up ancient wells, with no bottom and no reflection.
But now, when they look at the snow, there is a light in their dark blue eyes, though it is very faint, so faint that you can hardly notice it if you don't look closely, but it is definitely there.
That light wasn't hostile or angry, but something almost gentle.
Snow seemed to notice the change in the Frost Guardian as well. Her body stopped trembling, and she lowered her arms that had been blocking Lin Yi, letting them hang down at her sides.
She tilted her head and looked at the guard in the middle, her icy blue eyes filled with confusion.
Do you... know me?
The guard in the very center did not answer. It raised its right arm, its blade pointing towards the snow, but this time it was not an attack; it seemed to be greeting someone.
Xue blinked, seemingly trying to recall something.
After a long while, a look of realization finally appeared on Xue's translucent face.
“Oh, I remember now. You are the guardians of frost. I came here with frost before. You weren’t so tall or so silent back then. You would talk to me, play with me, and even shield me from the wind.”
"But you've all changed so much. I remember you weren't this tall before. And why have you become so unresponsive? You were all much more talkative than me when I came here before."
Perhaps because they had encountered acquaintances, the snow now looked very lively. The elf kept drifting around the group of frost guardians, looking like a female ghost clinging to them.
The guard in the very center lowered its head slightly, and the two cold flames in its eye sockets flickered a few times, as if avoiding Xue's gaze.
Its right arm was lowered, its blade hanging by its side, the edge pointing towards the ground, leaving a shallow scratch on the snow.
"Are you regretting it? Regretting not protecting Shuang?"
The guard in the very center did not answer, but its body trembled slightly.
The snowflakes drifted to the guard in the very center, raised their hands, and gently pressed their translucent fingers onto its ice armor.
"Don't worry, you've done a great job. Shuang won't blame you."
After being soothed by the snow, the threatening aura emanating from these frost guards weakened, and it seemed that, thanks to the snow, Lin Yi had been identified as an ally.
Xue turned her head and looked at Lin Yi, her icy blue eyes filled with smugness.
"Doctor, they are all my friends, don't worry."
Lin Yi looked at her and gestured for an explanation.
Xue scratched her head and then began to explain to Lin Yi.
The grave that Lin Yi had just attacked was none other than Frost, the former leader of the Ice Elves.
As the leader of the Ice Spirits, Frost is the only Ice Spirit with a name, but her name is inherited, as every leader of the Ice Spirits can call herself Frost.
Xue didn't know what had happened to Shuang. She only knew that after the incident, Shuang told her to leave immediately. When Xue returned several hundred years later, there was a tomb there, and she could sense Shuang's energy fluctuations emanating from it.
Therefore, this is most likely Frost's tomb.
These frost guardians were frost's former protectors. Normally, they would disappear when frost dies, but it's unknown what frost did to keep them alive.
After explaining, Xue Piao returned to Lin Yi's side and stood next to him.
She looked up at the guard in the middle, her voice much louder than before.
"You can go now. The doctor isn't a bad person."
The guard in the very center looked at her, remained silent for a few seconds, and then took a step back.
The boots made a dull thud as they stepped on the snow, the sound echoing across the open ground like a heavy hammer striking the ground.
The other four guards also took a step back, their movements perfectly synchronized, like five sophisticated machines executing the same command.
They retreated to the front of the tombstone and stood on either side of it, like five guardian statues.
Seeing that the conflict was resolved, Lin Yi withdrew his gaze and was about to leave when something unexpected happened.
Suddenly, a black passage appeared on the ground beside the tomb, leading straight down into a deep underground place.
However, Lin Yi could not see the end. The passage was extremely deep, but the energy fluctuations surging from within it caused Lin Yi's pupils to contract slightly.
The power of the abyss.
However, the abyssal power that dissipated was very weak, so weak that it could not be detected at all without careful perception, but it did exist.
He was all too familiar with that kind of atmosphere that made him instinctively uncomfortable.
The five Frost Guardians turned around at the same time to face the suddenly appearing passage.
Their bodies leaned slightly forward, the cold light on their arm blades suddenly shone brightly, and the ice crystals on the edges of their ice armor condensed at an accelerated rate.
They were on guard, not against Lin Yi, but against the abyssal power surging from the temple gates.
Just then, a figure emerged from the passage that had just appeared.
He was much smaller than the Frost Guardian, but still bigger than Lin Yi.
He was about 2.2 meters tall, with broad shoulders and a wide back, and stood there like a low wall.
He wore a dark robe, simple in style and without any superfluous decorations. The hem of the robe dragged on the ground, leaving a shallow trail in the snow.
His skin was grayish-white, not the sickly pale of the Frost Guardians, but a color closer to that of rocks.
His hair was dark gray, very long, and draped over his shoulders, with a few strands of silver-white hair at the ends that gleamed with a cold luster in the dim light.
However, his eyes were deep blue, with pupils, luster, and spirit.
This is clearly different from other Frost Guardians.
His gaze swept over Lin Yi and landed on Xue, a hint of a smile flashing in his deep blue eyes.
"Why did you, you chatterbox, come here?"
Xue was stunned when she heard the voice.
His steps were slow, but each step was large, and in a few strides he crossed the distance between the tombstone and the temple gate, standing in front of Xue.
He looked down at the snow, his deep blue eyes full of smiles.
"What, don't you recognize me? Back then, you chased after me and asked me three hundred questions, giving me a headache for three days."
An embarrassed expression appeared on Xue's translucent face. She lowered her head and twisted her fingers together in front of her.
"I...I didn't, of course I remember you."
The figure chuckled, but there was no malice in his voice.
"Remember me? You can't even remember the time, yet you remember me?"
Xue raised her head, a hint of grievance flashing in her icy blue eyes.
"Of course I remember you, you're the bastard who dragged us brothers and sisters away."
The figure's smile froze.
The other person's lips twitched. He looked at Xue, remained silent for a few seconds, and then sighed softly.
“That wasn’t my decision alone; we had no other choice at the time. For the safety of this world, Frost voluntarily led the other elves to stay behind.”
“You are stronger than them. You have lived here alone for so long and the spirit has not dissipated.”
Xue puffed out her chest, a smug expression appearing on her translucent face.
"Of course, I'm the best."
The figure chuckled and shook its head.
His gaze shifted from Xue to Lin Yi.
Those deep blue eyes lit up the moment they met Lin Yi's gaze.
They shone like two burning stars.
Before Lin Yi could react, the other person was already in front of him.
His speed was unbelievable, so fast that before Lin Yi's senses could even catch his movement, he was already standing less than half a meter away from Lin Yi.
Lin Yi took a deep breath and forcibly controlled his right hand to prevent himself from stabbing out with his sword.
The moment the other party approached, Lin Yi's instinctive reaction was almost activated. After all, in this kind of place, Lin Yi's early warning ability was at its maximum. If someone suddenly rushed into his side, Lin Yi's first reaction would definitely be to fight back.
His fingers pressed on the hilt of the sword and then released it, a fine layer of cold sweat seeping from his palms.
The figure looked down at Lin Yi, its deep blue eyes scanning his face repeatedly.
His gaze was so focused, as if he were looking at a priceless work of art, scrutinizing every single detail.
His nostrils flared slightly, as if he were sniffing Lin Yi's scent or sensing the energy fluctuations emanating from him.
“Perfect.” His voice was soft, with an almost reverent admiration. “Too perfect.”
He circled around Lin Yi, moving from Lin Yi's left side to behind him, from behind him to his right side, and from his right side back to the front, his eyes always fixed on Lin Yi, as if admiring the most perfect work of art.
Lin Yi involuntarily took a step back.
There was nothing he could do; the other party's current reaction made him seem like a complete psychopath, and Lin Yi didn't want to get involved with this guy. (End of Chapter)