IRM Chapter 127

After all, they had been separated for three years. Although feelings wouldn’t fade away so quickly, with the deep chasm of time between them, they didn’t know where to start chatting for the moment.

Brandon saw that it was getting late, stood up, and strapped the broadsword behind his back. “There are still some remaining berserk beasts in the snowy mountains. I will resolve them together with the Expeditionary Army. You can return home with peace of mind. Leave the snow plains to us.”

Ji Chi nodded and saw him out of the tent.

Tonight’s night sky was as clear as if washed by water. Unusually, there was no blizzard today, and the bright, round moon hung on the horizon, illuminating the Beast God’s corpse clearly.

After the final wave of tides, only bleached white bones remained to support the Beast God’s corpse. The winding white bones were already covered with a layer of snow. Except for being shorter, it was no different from the original Beast God Mountain.

He was alone in the tent again.

Ji Chi pulled back the chair and sat down at the table again, quietly gazing at the demon sword.

Regarding this sword, he vaguely had some ideas, but he needed to return to Saint Trilley to search for more clues…

I’ll go back tomorrow.

Ji Chi suppressed a trace of inexplicable nervousness in his heart, blew out the kerosene lamp at the corner of the table, lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and fell into a deep sleep.

Early the next morning, he went to the military tent to bid farewell to Silvia and the others. Silvia called out to him and handed him a simple but very heavy sword sheath.

She said, “Once again, thank you for saving the entire snow plains. I don’t know how to repay you, so I could only prepare this for you.”

“Originally, I wanted to select a precious treasure sword for you.” Silvia’s gaze moved behind him, “But it seems you already have a choice—it must be very important to you, right?”

Looking at the tattered demon sword, there was no contempt in Silvia’s eyes either. She looked directly into Ji Chi’s eyes again. “Long swords are like people—appearances cannot represent everything. Only the will of the one who wields the sword can make it shine brilliantly, which is why they are also called the soul of warriors.”

Silvia curved her eyes and smiled. “Your soul will surely be extremely dazzling.”

Ji Chi was stunned, seeming to understand something. He removed the sword from his back, stroked the red crack in the middle, and slowly inserted it into the brand new sheath.

“Thank you for your gift. I happen to need it very much.” Ji Chi smiled at Silvia. Before leaving, he suddenly remembered something and turned back to say, “Oh right, there’s something I need your help with.”

Silvia gripped her sword tightly and said solemnly, “Please speak. The Expeditionary Army is willing to offer our lives for you at any time.”

Ji Chi laughed. “It’s not anything major. It’s just that there’s still a group of people in the snowy mountains. They call themselves the Snow Wolf Tribe and have been steadfastly guarding the rift valley below Beast God Mountain to protect the snow plains. If you encounter them, please take good care of them. After all… they’ve never seen the world outside the fortress either.”

Silvia didn’t quite understand. “Outside the fortress?”

“That’s another group of people’s story. If you meet them and are interested, you can listen to them talk about life ‘inside the fortress.'” Ji Chi waved at her. “There’s nothing else. I’m leaving now. May the Beast God protect the Expeditionary Army.”

Silvia opened her mouth and said softly, “Yes, the Beast God will protect you too.”

The Wolf King sent Ji Chi on his return journey.

The Wolf King carried Ji Chi, galloping through the world of ice and snow, crossing over the snow rabbits’ small mounds, crossing over the desolate white birch forest, and also crossing over camps in the wilderness one after another.

The Wolf King was the ruler of ice and snow. The blizzard wouldn’t affect their journey; instead, it became assistance for traveling with the wind.

Ji Chi appreciated the magnificent Ice Demon Dragon’s dance several times from the Wolf King’s back, and the royal city of the North Empire was now right before his eyes.

The Wolf King stopped not far from the city wall. If it went into the royal city, it would cause a commotion and instead hinder Ji Chi’s return journey.

Ji Chi slid down from the Wolf King’s smooth fur. He raised his hand and touched the Wolf King’s nose. “Goodbye. I’ll come to the Northland to see you again.”

The Wolf King let out a soft huff, its silver-white pupils full of reluctance.

“Don’t worry, others’ misunderstandings about you will disappear soon. They actually all love and respect you very much.” Ji Chi said, curving his eyebrows and eyes in a smile. “Also, wait a little longer. I think I know how to bring Them back.”

Hearing this, the Wolf King widened its eyes and looked at him with pleasant surprise.

However, Ji Chi didn’t explain further. He placed his index finger in front of his lips, made a gesture of secrecy, waved at the Wolf King, and walked toward the teleportation array inside the city.

The light of the teleportation array flickered on and off. After a brief dizziness, when he opened his eyes again, a colorful world completely different from the pale snow plains came into view.

The central street of Saint Trilley’s royal city was much more prosperous than three years ago. Various races and professions shuttled through the street. Although the layout of the shops was no different from three years ago, the pedestrians coming and going had changed a lot.

Ji Chi saw quite a few plainly dressed commoners shuttling through various professional shops, and there were also many dark creatures swaggering through the morning streets. No one would stop them, nor did anyone cast strange looks at them.

Ji Chi gazed at this familiar yet strange scene and stepped out of the teleportation array. The moist, slightly warm wind brushed against his face like a warm ball of cotton wool.

The wind season in the Northland corresponded to summer in Saint Trilley. Before walking out of the teleportation array, Ji Chi had already taken off his thick windproof clothing and tucked his shirt hem into his waist.

He had grown much taller over these three years. Under high-intensity combat training, his height had even exceeded one meter eighty from his previous world, and now he was working toward one meter eighty-five.

His suddenly increased height made his previous pants somewhat short, exposing his slender ankles and half of his slim calves. His skin, which had been covered for three years, was smooth and fair, like a piece of warm, flawless jade.

Walking along the central street, Ji Chi passed by Bard’s wand shop. He saw that there were vaguely a few customers in the shop, but he didn’t see Bard or Chloe’s figures. He hesitated for a moment but ultimately didn’t go in.

He went straight to the entrance of the Magic Academy. Before stepping through the gate, a vertical magic wind wall suddenly rose up in front of him.

Ji Chi was startled, then dug out a small matter from his memories and looked down at his chest with understanding.

The Magic Academy badge on his chest had lost its luster at some point. The magic power inside was nearly depleted, leaving only a dull metal shell.

To prevent others from entering, the Magic Academy required students to re-infuse their magic badges with magic power every year, allowing students to enter and exit the academy smoothly.

However, fortunately, this barrier’s level wasn’t high—it was just within Ji Chi’s magic immunity range. He looked left and right, saw that no one was paying attention to him, and directly passed through the wind wall quickly.

The instant he passed through the wind wall, Harvey’s fingers paused while reviewing documents. He looked up toward the academy gate, and the corners of his mouth lifted in a pleased arc.

“What did you say? I look stupid when I smile?” Harvey heard movement nearby and narrowed his eyes at the owl on the shelf.

The owl hooted innocently.

“That must be your illusion. Where did I smile? Why would I smile? I’d have a headache before I’d be happy about that troublemaker coming back.” Harvey was stubborn, then glanced at the owl. “Go, go, go! Hurry up and clean up your feathers that fell on the floor. He’s about to arrive.”

When Ji Chi knocked on Harvey’s office door, the headmaster’s office looked neat and bright. It was just that the owl was somehow looking at Harvey with a face full of disdain.

“Long time no see, Headmaster Harvey.” Ji Chi greeted him naturally and sat down in the chair in front of his desk.

Harvey was still reviewing documents, pretending to be very calm. “Mm, you’re back.”

Ji Chi looked at him suspiciously as he reviewed a blank parchment for quite a while, but didn’t pay too much attention and said directly, “The Wolf King’s fate has already changed. It won’t die anymore, and the snow plains will be free from disaster.”

Harvey’s eyes paused, and the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but lift again. “Mm.”

Perhaps realizing his reaction was too cold, he added a compliment. “You did very well.”

Ji Chi wasn’t here to show off his achievements. He was silent for a moment, then asked, “What do you think a divine authority actually is?”

Harvey looked up at him, a trace of surprise flashing through his gaze. He finally put down the blank document in his hand, leaned back in his chair, placed his gaze on the bookshelf full of tomes in front of him, and said softly, “I think it’s more like a kind of authority, and also a kind of law. It’s part of what constitutes this world.”

“I’m sorry, this is really difficult to define. I also can’t describe it well.” Harvey said helplessly. Even as the God of Knowledge, he would encounter questions that were difficult to find answers to.

Ji Chi shook his head, indicating it was fine. He continued to ask, “Then when a god falls, where do they go?”

Harvey thought for a moment. “Actually, gods transcend the laws of life and death. In principle, they are eternal. They coexist with their divine authority. As long as the divine authority doesn’t perish and the authority remains, the god will one day return to the world.”

Ji Chi seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. His heavy mood seemed to brighten up, and he finally revealed a relaxed smile.

He turned around and removed the demon sword from his back, placed it in front of Harvey, and asked him, “Can you help me take a look? Does this red crack contain the [Strength] divine authority?”

Harvey showed a surprised expression. He slowly removed the sword sheath, revealing the demon sword covered in rust.

He stroked the crack on it, and the more he touched, the more alarmed he became. He widened his eyes and said, “I think I have to take back what I just said. Gods can be killed… You’re right in your observation. This sword indeed contains divine authority power that hasn’t yet dissipated. This kind of power’s attack is sufficient to make another divine authority collapse.”

Harvey looked more carefully. “However, its current power is still too weak. It’s not enough to contend with a complete divine authority. If it could become a bit stronger…”

“I understand.” Ji Chi interrupted him. “I know what to do now.”

He stepped forward and retrieved the demon sword, saying to Harvey, who still wanted to continue researching, “Let me go back and do an experiment. I’ll come find you if it succeeds.”

“However.” Ji Chi suddenly frowned. “There’s still a very serious problem.”

Harvey withdrew his reluctant gaze, startled by his serious expression, and asked nervously, “What?”

Ji Chi said: “What about my student status? I won’t have to repeat another year, will I?”

Harvey suddenly gasped heavily and looked at him speechlessly, then bent down to retrieve a magic bag from the cabinet beside the desk and threw it to him. “Take it, take it! I prepared it for you two years ago… I just didn’t expect that I’d wait until today to give it to you.”

Ji Chi opened the magic bag and looked inside. It contained a set of soft, resilient dark blue uniform. Lying on the uniform was a gold-red badge. The small badge gathered the patterns of seven professions, looking sacred and solemn.

It symbolized Saint Trilley’s most elite institution, the school directly under the seven profession academies—Saint Trilley Combat Academy.

Harvey smiled slightly at him. “Oh, I forgot to mention—your class has never changed, and the people you want to find are all still there. Also… they all miss you very much.”