Chapter 300 “The man from the Snowy Mountain”

The entire room was encased with a powerful murderous intent as a bone piercing cold shook the very core of Du Wei’s entire body. Though the servant behind Mr. Blue Ocean remains unemotionally quiet, but those eyes are like an eagle’s, sharp and inequivalently dangerous. To Du Wei, he’s like helpless frog being gazed down at by a preying cobra ready to strike.

The guy was clearly dressed like any other servant out there, but that face, that expression, the only time Du Wei ever felt such dominating aura was from Hussein and Rodriguez. So why? Why does a servant have such might about him?

Peng!

At that crashing sound, the cup in Du Wei’s hand shattered into numerous pieces on the ground.

Du Wei may not be feeling all that well in front of this grey robed servant, but he’s not going to let himself be pushed around like a toy. Turning his head like he felt nothing, Du Wei unreservedly faces the servant’s dangerous gaze and then turns to smile at Blue Ocean: “Mr. Blue Ocean, it seems you’ve already made a decision,” he sighs to make himself look tougher than he appears.

Huddled in his chair against the biting cold, Blue Ocean looks like nothing more than a frail old man with his tightly wrapped blanket. Trembling in his hand as he sips from the tea cup, he makes a long deep sigh before answering in a whispering tone: “Lord Duke Tulip, if I had wanted to make you my enemy, then why would I send you my disciples?”

Making a faint laugh, Du Wei flashes a glimmer of light in his eyes: “Mr. Blue Ocean, as I just said, your original intentions may not be as pure as you make it out to be. I fear your reasons in helping me quell the chaos in the Northwest isn’t necessarily without selfish reasons. Like your invitation today…. As the saying goes, murder is best done at night when the moon is high above the head….” Speaking up to here, Du Wei inexplicably turns to look at the sky out the window. Making a indifferent smile, he faces Blue Ocean and stares directly into the old man’s eye and continues to speak in a dignified voice: “Though the sky is no longer dark and the moon is long gone, but this place is quite secluded. Don’t you think it would be quite elegant to kill someone in this beautiful place with fresh breeze and a beautiful patch of water? Once done, you can easily bury the body under your feet and no one will ever notice. I must say, to be able to die here where there’s the soothing sound of water flowing isn’t so bad.”

Hearing this, Blue Ocean fell into a hard laugh before raising a dismissive hand, indicating the gray robe servant to leave. The man in grey at first refused and showed hesitation in his eyes, but Blue Ocean’s persuasive words changed that: “Although you’ve been with me all these years, but the present you isn’t enough. While in that person’s presence, you won’t last even one exchange. So, you staying won’t make a difference. Don’t worry. Since I’m willing to stay here, it means I got some confidence.”

Unwilling still, the grey robed servant can only do as ordered after seeing his master’s resolute face. Slowly walking out, he closes the door behind the two.

When the room was only left with them, Blue Ocean chuckles before continuing: “Now do you feel more comfortable? Or can it be that the great grand Duke of Tulip is afraid of a frail old man like I?”

Making a bitter smile: “There are no useless people in the Snowy Mountain Sect.” Pausing to rethink his words, he continues: “What do you mean by ‘that person’? Is there someone else coming aside from me today?”

“Not exactly an outsider, just an old friend.” Du Wei’s face twitched so slightly at the mention of “old friend”.

Looking out the window, Blue Ocean inhales deeply: “There are many types of old friends, and this old friend is one of those that wants me dead.” After stating this, he turns to face Du Wei with a frank expression: “Duke, do you feel relieved now? The truth is, I invited you here today to be a witness, that’s all.”

Du Wei makes a disregarding face: “Witness? I usually don’t have the hobby of being someone’s witness. Whether it’s you doing the killing or someone is killing you, I can’t say I’m fond of either scenario happening in front of me. Or is it that you sir here has such a hobby of watching someone being murdered?”

Smiling at that accusation: “I of course don’t have that type of hobby, it’s just that the witness today must be you. I think your grace would be quite pleased with the guest I’m having today, after all, the visitor in question is from the Snowy Mountain.”

Although Du Wei’s stomach was full of questions, but against that inscrutable face on Blue Ocean, he didn’t know how to ask. For a time, the atmosphere in the room became awkwardly silent as the two went about with their own thoughts.

Finally after who knows how long, the last remaining shadow of the night had receded and out came the rays of the morning sun. Looking out into this beautiful sunrise, Blue Ocean was the first to break their silence with a whisper: “The time is almost here, that person should be coming. I’ve had this appointment with him many times already, never once was he ever late, and today will be no exception.”

In the next second Du Wei felt something. As a magician, his spirit will of course be higher than an ordinary person’s. His ear may not have heard anything from the outside just now, but his spirit field had encased the entire tea house like a cage, thus allowing him to notice any peculiarity within his extended range. It may have been momentary and light, but it was definitely there. However, Du Wei can tell the new arrival was way more capable than himself in terms of control because he lost track of the intruder right away.

Just when Du Wei wanted to bring up his findings, Blue Ocean had already spoke up, “He has come.”

Following this sigh from the old man, Du Wei’s heart instantly turned vigilant like it was resonating with an alarm in his soul. Raising his head towards the entrance of the room, the wind screen that should’ve been devoid of a presence stood a silhouette of a man. Like a ghost, this freaky person began to speak: “Even after all these years, your ear is still very good.”

The voice was very soft and easy on the ears. When heard, one might even grow fond of it out of misguided feelings, which was what’s happening here with Du Wei. Strangely attracted to that voice, Du Wei’s concentration was shattered like a puddle being smashed by a rock. The turbulent waves in his heart making it impossible for him to refocus.

Meanwhile Blue Ocean remains disturbingly unfazed by all this as he sat there in his chair. Not bothering to look at the figure behind the screen at the entrance, he just smiles with his back facing the person: “You indeed never disappoint me, nor have you ever been late.”

“But you’ve let me down instead.” Before his words ended, the man had come forth from behind the screen.

Now Du Wei finally got a clearer picture of the man’s appearance. Donning the same type of white robe used by a shaman, the man’s silvery gray hair was a little disorderly as several loose strands hung over his forehead. Despite the eyes being covered by his hair, the twinkling light radiating from it was as bright as the starry sky in a winter’s night. Though there are strong similarities with the man’s getup with the other White Robe Shaman he met back in Anglia City, there are some differences. Like that golden belt on the waist, there’s a typical scimitar used by the prairie natives holstered to the side. The design of that scimitar may be very common, but its shorter and had a pearl inlaid on the hilt.

Du Wei may not be a specialist in martial art, but his intuitions are telling him that the short little scimitar was by no means an ornament. It’s just that according to his knowledge of the Snowy Mountain, limited but still enough, there aren’t anyone in the sect who’s a dual wielder of magic and martial art. Moreover, as a shaman who openly wears a weapon on his waist, it’s a certainty this shaman’s fighting capability are very high.

Even more strange, according to Du Wei’s estimate this man should be no older than forty years of age. Blue Ocean mentioned the man was an “old friend”, so shouldn’t they be similar their years? No matter how Du Wei looked at it, that pale white skin with barely any wrinkles could hardly be called old.

After coming out from behind the wind screen, the man only stared at Blue Ocean’s ocean back for a while, his voice calm as he spoke: “These years you have grown old. I remember the last time I was here you didn’t have so many wrinkles on your face. Did your injuries not heal from our last meeting?” Then the man turns to look at Du Wei. As soon as those razor-sharp eyes swept over Du Wei, our poor boy here instantly felt like he’s been seen through right down to his soul, very unnerving. Showing some surprise and applauding light in his eyes, the man continues: “It seems you haven’ t been idle all these years either to be able to take in an excellent disciple like so. Along the way here I heard the people talking about an individual famed for their use of the Ice Dou Qi. The name should be Rodriguez if I’m not mistaken. You should be proud for your disciple for reaching the Saint Class at that young age. Though our own Snowy Mountain has a lot of disciples, there isn’t many in this generation capable of reaching the same height.”

“Don’t misunderstand, he is not my disciple.” Blue Ocean shot Du Wei a glance: “This is the famed Duke Tulip of the mainland, and the direct disciple of Lord Gandalf, also known as the number one magician on these lands. All things considered, you can say this young man here has some ties with our Snowy Mountain. I asked him to come today so that he can be our witness, and if I die, there will be someone to bury me in the end.”

At the mention of the name “Gandalf”, the man’s eye flickered a gleam of dangerous light. Curling his mouth into a grin: “Oh? Gandalf, the self-proclaimed number one magician on the mainland? So this kid here is that person’s disciple, I see, no wonder.” At that, he nods and turns his attention away from Du Wei.

Du Wei didn’t miss it. At the mention of Gandalf being the strongest mage on the continent, this person not only didn’t show a spec of respect, there were a clear taste of disdain on that tongue.

“Well then, you and I have been waiting for this day for far too long. Since it’s like so, we might as well begin.” The man wrinkled his forehead after assessing the old man: “But can you even stand right now?”

Blue Ocean gently makes a sigh: “What difference is there if I can stand or not. Since you waited so long for this day, you might as well make your move.” That sigh may be soft and gentle, but there were so many emotions contained in there: regret, hate, refusal to accept, and many more.

Before the sound of the sigh could even come to an end, the man had already disappeared in a flash. For someone like Du Wei that has exceptional awareness, even he couldn’t keep up and could only realize when the man was standing in front of Blue Ocean. With his hand raised, that dangerous hand radiating heat in the middle of his palm came striking down at the old man’s forehead.

Still wrapped in his blanket, Blue Ocean’s appearance remains exactly like before, frail and weak. Yet in a quick turn of event, the blanket blew apart like it had just been shredded to pieces. Bits and pieces of cloth fluttering in the air, a silvery-white light enveloped that frail old body and changed him into an entity of someone that cannot be touched without retribution. Raising a finger of his own, Blue Ocean retaliates by shooting a tiny little beam of condensed cold at his attacker’s chest in an attempt to freeze it.

Making a smile, the shaman slides back instantly to avoid being hit and then completely dissolved the beam of ice with a wave of his hand. In return, the man launches another attack with his palm, but this time the strike was a blast of red light radiating searing heat as it whistled towards its target. Not waiting, Blue Ocean met the blast with his own using that dejected and scrawny arm of his and shot out two sets of deep chilling white mist using his own hands. Red and white, fiery hot and chilling cold, the two-natural opposing forces should’ve made a devastating explosion upon impact, yet there wasn’t the slightest bit of commotion. It’s as if the very life of the air around their exchange was sucked out of existence.

Blue Ocean’s hair was completely raised by now as both his sleeves became torn by his own strength, it’s obvious the old man had went all out just now. Meanwhile on the opposing side, the shaman remains completely unfazed, only taking a step back to make some distance. With one hand behind his back, he nods and smiled: “Seems you haven’t aged to the point of being unable to move yet.”

Du Wei’s distance wasn’t far so he can tell, Blue Ocean was having trouble fending off this attack of pure power based on that heaving chest. The white mists shot out by the old man continues to wrap around the ball of searing heat, but despite his every effort to extinguish it, the red energy just won’t let up and continues to inch closer. In the end, Blue Ocean can only pull one of his hand back to aim at the water inside the silver pot on the table. Immediately, the water inside was sucked out like a whip.

If that ball of searing heat can overwhelm even ice, how can a mere pot of water be enough to stop it? But that’s not the point of it. Using the water whip as a release vent and a guide, the trajectory of the heat blast was redirected with the water line and flew towards the table. Instantly upon impact, both the water and silver pot was vaporized, leaving nothing behind, not even steam.

Watching the two entities exchange blows, Du Wei felt dizzyingly numb by the fast and short moves used in this bout. This was especially true for that flame used by the white robe shaman. Just recalling the image of the flame incinerating the silver pot and even the water steam made him shiver from fright. Du Wei can honestly say he’s quite the expert when it came to fire magic, but that surge of heat expelled from the man’s palm was astoundingly terrifying. How hot must the flames be to achieve that result? The magic of the Snowy Mountain is truly mysterious and powerful.

Just at this moment, a figure from the outside suddenly charged into the room. It’s the gray robe servant from before. Covered in a silver coat of Dou Qi, the man was making a murderous face as he shouted: “Don’t you dare hurt him!”

As soon he finished his words, the gray robe servant stretches out his palm and released a highly concentrated beam of Ice Dou Qi to create a real sword made of ice. Without another word, he charges at the assailant and makes a swing at the enemy with unrelenting force. From the tip of that ice sword, a vortex of ice particles became wrapped around the body of the blade, making it like an ice tornado from first gaze.

Seeing this, Du Wei’s eyebrow pricked up. Based on his assessment of the Ice Dou Qi used here, this unimpressive looking servant was comparable to that young general Cybuster from the Northwest Army. At the very least, this servant should be at least of the eighth level from what’s showcased here.

Chuckling, the white robe shaman faintly whispers at the servant: “Ice Dou Qi isn’t supposed to be used like that.”

While the shaman’s word was very slow, the sword from the servant was moving at immense speed. But just when the sword was about to land, the space around the two seems to distort. Next thing the gray robe servant knew, he had missed his attack despite seeing his sword slicing into the shaman’s face.

This wasn’t the first time Du Wei had seen this distortion of time and space. The first word that jumped out of his mouth was this:

Saint Class!!!