Chapter 338

Hollow eyes.

A sorrowful smile.

Trembling shoulders.

She tried her best to smile, but every part of her body radiated only grief.

Gray snowflakes drifted onto her armor, brushing against the bandages wrapped around her face, lightly touching the intact side of her cheek. The cold seeped deep into her bones.

Smiling.

Sorrowing.

Broken, helpless, pitiful.

Her emerald eyes rippled with emotion as she looked at Xu Xi and apologized. She said she was too immature, unable to smile and give her blessings, instead showing her grief, failing to bring peace to the departed elders.

Xu Xi stepped forward and gently brushed the snow off her shoulders.

“Sylvia, you’ve already… done enough.”

“In this world, being strong doesn’t mean you have to smile through every farewell.”

His voice was soft, dissolving into the wind and snow.

Simple words, without any extraordinary power, yet they held a weight that anchored her lost heart.

Farewell was always painful.

No matter how much one tried to mask it with blessings, the sadness remained.

Feeling sorrow over parting.

Shedding tears because of it.

That was the most natural thing in the world.

One did not have to smile through goodbyes to be strong.

Those who carried their grief yet still walked forward were just as strong—perhaps even stronger, for they bore the burden of pain.

“Sylvia, you have already done more than enough,” Xu Xi said softly, standing beside the freshly raised grave.

Not just today.

But always.

From ending the suffering of her own parents to facing the darkness alone, surviving in a world filled with malice—she had endured too much, more than anyone should.

She was not some worthless “fake hero.”

She was a warrior, bearing countless scars, yet still pressing forward. Helpless yet steadfast.

“…Master Sorcerer, thank you.”

The emerald eyes of the Crawfield girl still held sorrow.

She could not let go of the elders’ passing.

But this time, she did not feel the same fear and loneliness she once did toward farewells.

There was a figure standing beside her, shielding her from the howling winds and walking alongside her on the road to tomorrow.

“Grandpa Hansen.”

“Grandma Mena.”

Standing before the graves, Sylvia prayed once more.

She wished that their happiness in this life would carry on to the next.

When she finished, she turned to Xu Xi.

“Master Sorcerer, what should we do now?”

The cold wind howled, snow clouds churned.

Xu Xi stood still, gazing at the gravestones for a moment before shifting his eyes toward the old, dilapidated house nearby.

“Let’s tidy up their home.”

The elders were no longer in this world.

Their door stood wide open, creaking against the wind and snow, slamming and groaning.

In a few more days,

The wind would rip it apart.

Then, eventually, the entire house would collapse and rot away.

Xu Xi knew this was inevitable.

But for now, he wanted to preserve it a little longer.

For no other reason than this—

That house was one of the few traces left behind to prove that Grandpa Hansen and Grandma Mena had once lived.

“Let’s go inside, Sylvia.”

Xu Xi took the lead, his staff appearing in his hand.

Using basic zero-ring and first-ring sorcery, he made minor repairs, reinforcing the structure.

“Yes, Master Sorcerer.”

Sylvia followed closely, using her own power to strengthen and fortify the house.

As they worked, they also sorted through the elders’ belongings.

There wasn’t much.

A few scattered fruits.

Old clothes patched countless times.

Simple handmade furniture.

Xu Xi used the Sorcerer’s Hand to gather everything neatly, placing a dust-repelling enchantment over them.

Someday, these things would still decay with time.

But that was enough.

All he wanted was to keep them from being destroyed by the snow for now.

“…”

When it was done, Xu Xi stood inside the house, scanning the room’s simple decorations and the neatly arranged belongings. He gave a small nod.

“Looks like we haven’t missed anything.”

“It’s time to go, Sylvia.”

“Yes, Master Sorcerer.”

They stepped out of the house.

Xu Xi personally closed the door and reinforced it.

Then, he took a few steps back, letting the full view of the house settle into his sight.

Worn-down.

Ordinary.

Exactly as it had been when he first arrived at the mountaintop.

Back then, the two elders had been full of fear, calling him ‘Lord Sorcerer’ over and over.

It had troubled him at the time.

But now, he would never have to worry about that again.

“Farewell… is such a heavy word.”

Xu Xi lifted his head.

In the storm-filled, pitch-black sky, an enormous shadow was swiftly approaching.

Dark flames surged, and skeletal wings stretched wide. The Netherflame Raven, modified by Xu Xi, had now become faster and stronger than ever. It lowered its massive body, clearing the snow beneath it as it bowed its head, waiting for Xu Xi to step forward. The world had already begun to change. It was time to resume their journey.

Xu Xi closed his eyes briefly, collecting his thoughts before walking alongside Sylvia toward the Netherflame Raven. Grandpa Hansen and Grandma Mena had reached the end of their lives. They had passed on in peace, without regret. There was nothing left on this mountain that could hold him back.

“Next, we continue toward the Divine Plateau. With the Netherflame Raven’s speed, we should be able to reach it much sooner than planned,” Xu Xi thought to himself.

As they reached the raven, a faint cracking sound suddenly came from behind them.

“Crack—”

“Crack—”

It was the sound of ice and frozen earth being clawed at, something sharp and relentless digging its way upward.

Xu Xi immediately recognized it. Sylvia recognized it even more.

It was the sound of the undead.

“Undead reanimation!?” Xu Xi spun around sharply. At first, his face showed shock, disbelief, but then—gradually—his expression darkened with suppressed fury.

Farmer Hansen. Grandma Mena.

Their souls had already entered the Netherworld. Their ending had been one of peace, a complete, fulfilling life with no regrets. But now, a gray, deathly aura fell from the Black Sun above, corrupting the remains of the departed elders.

In the end, their bodies were desecrated, twisted into abominations.

“Sylvia… Beautiful Miss Sylvia… Ahhh!!”

“Master Sorcerer… Sylvia!!!”

The voices came from within the graves.

The corpses of the two elders had been stolen.

Flesh-ravaged skeletal hands burst from the soil, and two grotesquely familiar faces emerged from the graves. They twisted and contorted, their monstrous forms now nothing more than puppets of corruption, shrieking hoarsely at Xu Xi and Sylvia in a mockery of their former selves.

“Even after their souls have passed on, their bodies are not allowed to rest.”

“So… this is it.”

“The closer the Netherworld gets, the more this world collapses. Even its laws have become completely warped.”

Xu Xi looked up at the bleak sky, then slowly turned his gaze toward the creatures crawling out of the graves.

The winter cold was unbearable, but the fury in his chest burned too fiercely to be extinguished.

The dead should have been allowed to leave this world in peace.

Yet before his very eyes, their corpses had been defiled, twisted into monstrosities, mocked by the world’s cruel distortions.

Sylvia stood frozen, her emerald eyes trembling violently with grief.

Xu Xi was ready to act, to erase these mockeries of life in an instant. But before he could move, Sylvia stepped forward and unsheathed her knight’s longsword.

“Master Sorcerer…”

“Please… allow me to do this.”