Way of the Knights

Chapter 351 - Snow

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*Woosh* *Woosh*

Cold winds blew past Raven's face as he traveled towards a mountain slope. 

Despite the coldness of his environment, Raven paid no attention to it and continued walking forward with nothing but his pants on. 

He endured the chill of the snow and cold winds with his bare upper body. His hair, face and chest are covered in snow dusts but it did nothing to stop him in his tracks. Even in this cold environment, Raven's breath didn't turn white. His breathing was stable and even, as if this coldness is nothing but a mere breeze to him. 

Raven's facial expression was as placid as a still lake. His eyes were dull but weren't completely lifeless. Anyone who studies him closely can tell that he's in a special state, and he had been like this since he started walking by foot. 

This state is the 3rd Stage of the Breath of Flowing Water, Motion. 

Raven might appear to be sleep walking right now but in fact, he's extremely focused. His listless expression is just a side effect of his concentrated mind, he's in a wonderful state of deep meditation that cannot be disturbed even while he's moving. 

It had been at least 3 months since Raven saw Luna and his friends. 

In this short period of time, he managed to get his bearings back and continue his journey towards the North. He didn't have any breakthroughs in his cultivation nor any recoveries on his soul power but he did make some improvements on his techniques. 

Most of his arsenal had been ironed out through his unceasing training, he even managed to enter the 3rd Stage of the Breath of Flowing Water, which helped him even more with that. His understanding of his own laws are deepening each day, but the more he gain understanding the more profound Destruction Law gets, so his progress are evidently slowing down. 

*Roar!*

Raven stopped on his tracks as soon as he heard that roar. He listlessly glanced at the direction of the roar and saw a hulking mass charging towards him with a raging fury. 

The figure was at least 20 meters tall with a bulky body. It had bright red eyes, snow white fur, sharp fangs and claws, and an aura that indicates a Tier 5 Demonic Beast. This creature is a Glacial Snow Bear, natives of the north and extremely territorial and aggressive. 

As the bear charged towards Raven, he did nothing to prepare himself nor dodge the incoming beast. He stood still with a dull look on his face, seemingly unaware of the danger going towards him. 

A few meters away from him, the bear surprisingly made a giant leap that swiftly crossed the distance. The winds howled and ice materialized on the claws of the bear. The ice covered majority of it's arm and followed the shape of long and deadly claw. The bear then fell onto the ground along with it's sharp ice claws in attempt to rip Raven to shreds. 

*Boom*

White dust kicked as the bear fell into the bed of snow, as the dust settled down. The bear looked down and to it's shock, it saw Raven standing completely still and unharmed by its attack. 

It opened it's maws wide and let out a angry roar. Icicles suddenly materialized around it's body and shot towards Raven at a blinding speed, but even those didn't cause any harm to him. The bear was confused, it could've sworn that those attacks should've hit him but for some reason he's still standing and unharmed. It never saw him dodge or even make any kind of movement. The human just literally stood there and looked up. 

'If I bite, then I won't miss.' 

That's the idea that came across it's mind. And that's precisely what the bear did. It opened its jaws wide and attempted to bite Raven's head off. Unfortunately, something happened before its mouth reached Raven. 

The bear froze with its fangs inches away from Raven's head. Its eyes held incredulous look on them, the bear met Raven's dull eyes and became confused on what's happening. Its gaze then left Raven's eyes and roamed towards his back, and now that the bear had a closer look, it finally realized the blunder it made. 

A set of arms were restricting the bear's whole body. There's one was gripping it's neck in chokehold, while two held its upper and lower jaw. Two arms held both of its legs in place, preventing any kind of movement while the same thing happened on its arms and sides. The bear's surprise had proven to be too much that it totally missed the hammer being held by Raven, which wasn't there before. 

"Rip."

A single word, sounding like an order, escaped from his lips. All of a sudden, the hands restricting the bear spurred into motion. The arms holding its jaws pulled it on opposite directions, a strong grip crushed its neck, the hand on its sides shaved the flesh on its body, the bears arms were severed so as the legs. 

It only took one order from this little human, and the life of Tier 5 Demonic Beast ended just like that. There were no fluctuations on Raven's face, he remained listless as if what he did just now was nothing worthy of concern. 

After dealing with the Glacial Snow Bear, Raven continued on his path towards his next destination. And due to the coldness of this place, the corpse of this bear will solidify in less than an hour.

***

A couple of hours passed and Raven eventually reached the mountain top. 

His bare chested body stood tall on the peak and his listless eyes feasted on the scenery below. No normal human should be able to find a proper footing on where he currently is but Raven is everything but normal so he's an exception. 

The peak is surrounded with bed of thick snow that reached his waist. Raven is literally standing in a smooth ice as he gazed below. The cold blew past his face and made a mess out of his hair but he was unbothered. He calmly gazed at the direction where he should be going, which also the reason why he climbed this mountain. 

What's beneath him, is similar to what's around him. Snow. 

Fields of snow as far as the eyes could see. The farther one goes to the north, the colder and harsher the north gets. 

Raven's eyes didn't stay long to gaze at what's beneath him. He wanted to be on a higher ground to gain a wider vantage point, this is so that he could make a mental map of what path he should take towards his next objective. 

Past the raging hail, Raven managed to get a peak of what's beyond. 

A vast field of smooth ice and frozen objects. This place is closer to where he's destination. If he goes north and past this field of ice and hail, he'll arrive there. 

"The Frozen Tomb of the North." Raven murmured in a soft voice. 

After making a mental map of the path he should take, Raven jumped from where he was and landed on the bed of snow. He then began his descent from the mountain. 

As he descended the mountain, Raven also decided to raise the level of the Restriction Seal on his body. A very risky move since this seal is already limiting his movement freedom, plus he's also descending from the mountain. Though he could vaguely sense his surroundings, he's making it more difficult for himself to go down safely. The mountain has an uneven ground and one wrong step will cause him to roll down the mountain while sustaining grave injuries.

Nevertheless, it's training for him. He didn't want to miss a chance to strengthen himself at any given moment, else he would fall behind. 

His life could've been much easier if he decided to use the Spatial Abode but he refrained from using it and decided to go on foot, and there's two reasons for that. 

First is because it's training and two, he can't. 

Something's watching him, and Raven knows what it was. This entity is one of the first to be born on this plane and it's as old as the plane itself. It lives here in the north, and is responsible for many things in this plane. This entity is something that Raven can't go against since one move from this thing, would cause the whole north to boil in activity. 

This entity is strong and is practically immortal. Had Raven decided to use the Spatial Abode right now, this entity will call upon a massive hail that is backed with the power of Ice Laws, which will completely decimate the Spatial Abode in no time. 

This is the unwritten rule of the North. Everything goes by foot. Defy this rule and the entity living here will be pissed and send a raging storm of ice headed towards your way. 

Raven leaned this lesson the hard way during his previous life, and he didn't intend to the same in his current one.. Therefore, if he wants to reach the Frozen Tomb, he had to do so by foot.