Swordman

Gale put the last piece of stone onto a lonely grave in the cave and moved on. Leaving the dimly lit cave, Gale touched the bone sword his father had given him before he died, with a complicated look on his face. Gale Thornblade, the last of the Thornblade family – a cursed name on the Gaulke Mountains. Gale's ancestors were responsible for digging caves to store resources during the war. They dug to find a prison used by the legendary Underworld Lord to imprison the rebels. The souls of those destined for eternal torment suddenly dissipated, causing the unknown being to look upon Thornblade and cast a curse. The souls of the Thornblade family grew stronger as the curse took hold of them, but they were also killed by the wandering souls of the curse. The pervasive and widespread wandering souls caused the decline of the Thornblades. After witnessing the death of his father, Gale decided to end the curse and go in search of the rumored residence of the supreme wandering souls, the Path of the Underworld. Thanks to the Thornblade family's mastery of the Soul Sword, Gale was able to overcome the great pain of losing his magic ashes. He left the Gaulke Mountain and went to the place where his ancestors had recorded the Path of the Underworld, the end of the far northern ocean.

It's a beautiful day, I hope there's no blizzard tomorrow either. Gale could not find an object to communicate on the endless ice field, and thus developed the habit of talking to himself. With only a few words circled in a tattered book, it was an almost impossible task to find the world's most secretive lost kingdom. Gale had turned to the land's leading scholars, who sympathized with Gale's story, but remained powerless. The only good news was that Gale's soul has undergone the trials of the Far North and was close to reaching the point where he could pull the Soul Sword from his heart. According to the ancient scrolls, only a member of the Thornblade who could draw the Soul Sword was worthy to be called a swordman. But the ancestors did not mention a word about what the Soul Sword actually was. Gale's father once told him: everyone's Soul Sword is different, that is the soul's deepest true belief. Only strong belief can cut through all things. Tomorrow, we will go to the last place. If it was not there, we will have to leave. Gale rested behind a small hill in the snowy plains, took out from his arms a worn sheepskin map which was marked with hundreds of locations. Most of them were marked with a big cross in charcoal. Now there was only one last place left unexplored, at the end of the Far North Icefield – the Sky Ice Crown.

The soul force that poured out from under the Sky Ice Crown confirmed Gale's suspicions that there was indeed something beneath this crown shaped structure. When the bone sword pierced the ice, Gale's eyes went black, as if he had fallen into an endless abyss. When he opened his eyes again, there was an endless road of dead souls traveling under his feet. The Path of the Underworld. The departed wandering souls had long since fallen into madness in the eternal silence. The breath of the living was enough to make them lose any sense, and Gale could only fight. Surrounded by endless wandering souls, a pair of eyes gazed at Gale with interest. "Interesting soul." This cold and ethereal voice came from the owner of the sight, the mysterious being who called himself the "Lord of the Dead", who wanted to take this weak soul like a mole. The swordman also noticed the distant gaze. The unknown powerful presence made him tremble, and the fear that welled up in his soul could hardly be suppressed. Got to get out of here first. Gale's gaze was firm, even if the fierce wandering souls around him did not intend to let him go. The sword in Gale's hand was blunt, and the leather armor on his body was torn apart, but the battle spirit in his heart remained unchanged. He was intimidated by the strength of the unknown presence, but there was no way back behind him. In the desperate situation, the battle spirit was sharpened. Although the sword in the hand has been blunted, the sword in the heart was still sharp. At that moment, Gale became the purest swordman in the world, he "pulled out" the sword in his heart. There was no Gale Thornblade here, only a pure swordman and his sword, who was entering "the realm of no-self". Pure battle and unyielding spirit were held in Gale's hands. The sword in the heart and the sword in the hand became one. The surrounding wandering souls were dispersed, the Lord of the Dead was nowhere to be found. The swordman was silent for a long time, pointing his sword at the unknown presence in the distance. "We will meet again." He thought silently in his mind.