Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 227 The Little White Hair's Guidance
Lu Xingzhou discovered the blind spot in this statement: "Does the master mean that the two of us should just stay here on our own, and you're not coming with us?"

"If I come along, what's the point of your trial?" Ye Tinglan said matter-of-factly, "You'll need to find usable materials here on your own and try to start a fire and refine pills in this extremely cold climate, which is different from normal conditions. Also, the days are short and the nights are long here, so the requirements for time of day and yin and yang are different. What you can refine in normal times may not be possible in this place... By the way, Lu Nuonuo's talent for regulating medicinal properties is prohibited."

Lu Xingzhou: “…”

"Why, any comments?"

"I was thinking, if that's all there is to it, why didn't you just let me come by myself? Why did you come all this way through wind, frost, snow, and rain?"

"Of course, there are different requirements at different stages, and I will appear from time to time." Ye Tinglan rarely showed a mischievous smile: "Then you can stay here and head north on your own, approaching the center of the ice field, and see what tricks you can come up with along the way. I will only appear when you have refined a third-grade pill or reached a certain special point."

After saying that, he disappeared without a trace.

The master and apprentice were dumbfounded as they stared at the endless ice field.

"This is exile!" Ah Nuo waved the cold bun in her hand. "She's taking revenge on you!"

Lu Xingzhou pinched her cheek: "Why not take revenge on you?"

"I didn't steal her veil."

"I... what do you know? That old woman must have come here on her own. Otherwise, there are trial grounds everywhere, why would she choose Frozen Moon Cold River?"

High in the sky, Ye Tinglan crossed her arms and looked down coldly.

Aside from his gossiping about the old woman behind her back, his analysis was always accurate enough. He did indeed have other business to attend to here, and the trial ground originally arranged was not here.

However, it doesn't affect the trial; it's still very suitable for this master and apprentice pair.

"Forget it, even Little White Hair can survive here for ten years, how could he possibly stump us, master and disciple?" Lu Xingzhou took out a talisman.

With a "poof," the flame that had just started to ignite went out.

Anuo was dumbfounded: "Is this a fourth-grade talisman?"

The master and apprentice stood with their hands in their pockets, looking up at the sky. Lu Xingzhou suddenly felt like he had traveled back in time. The app he was using was working perfectly fine when suddenly an advertisement for Endless Winter popped up, starting with a Nuo.

Lu Xingzhou squatted down in front of the Ice Crystal Fruit tree: "Forget it, let's study this fruit first. I now suspect that it's only for looking at and not for eating. The old woman deliberately put us here."

Ah Nu sniffed: "I can't eat it. If I eat it, my stomach will freeze."

Lu Xingzhou ate a little bit: "The taste is surprisingly good, and it's a bit sticky... but I can't eat too much. Hmm, it's not very suitable for alchemy either, unless it's for some special burn-related internal injuries, or for targeted medicinal use. Oh, it has a beneficial effect on ice-type cultivation, and the energy it contains is not bad."

He picked a few fruits and some tender branches, then stood up speechlessly: "How about we roast this ice snake and eat it first?"

Ah Nu cried loudly, "I won't eat it!"

Lu Xingzhou: “…”

Ah Nuo walked back tearfully, saying, "I want to go back. I don't want to participate in the trial anymore. Anyway, I'm just a child, so it doesn't matter how well I learn alchemy."

Lu Xingzhou quickly said, "Don't worry, Master will make something for you to eat."

Ah Nuo turned around, her tears frozen on her face, making her look particularly comical.

High in the sky, an old man appeared beside Ye Tinglan. After watching for a while, he said somewhat speechlessly, "Sect Master, are you reminiscing about raising Qingli ten years ago? Why did you bring a child here again..."

"Qingli was much better behaved than her. She didn't cry or make a fuss at all from beginning to end, and she was very quiet."

"Back then, you even scolded her for being dull, saying that none of the other children would cry."

Ye Tinglan: "...You have a perfectly good head, so why do you have a mouth?"

The old man coughed lightly: "Now that everyone is here, there's no need to keep an eye on them anymore, right? The outer area of ​​Hanchuan is far from dangerous. Qingli could live for ten years here."

"Wait a minute," Ye Tinglan said, "Aren't you curious to see how he coaxes Anuo?"

Old man: "..."

I'm really not curious. Haven't you had enough of taking care of your granddaughter at home? Why are you coming to see someone else do it?

Has the sect leader taken the wrong medicine?

But then Lu Xingzhou squatted there, took out a few pieces of candy and cheese from his pocket, and took out a mild medicinal pill. He then crushed all the ingredients together with the ice crystal fruit and kneaded them together.

Before long, it turned into a bowl of icy mush.

Lu Xingzhou took a small spoon and stuck it inside: "You can eat it now, it's delicious." A'nuo scooped up a tiny bit distrustfully, licked it, and the next moment her little face lit up: "Master, pick all of these fruits!"

The old man in the sky was scratching his head: "Why do I feel a little hungry?"

Ye Tinglan glanced at him sideways; in fact, she also wanted to eat it.

The little baby is licking it so sweetly.

When will this fruit be available as a snack...?

The old man said, "Did the sect leader stay here to see what new ideas this person has?"

In fact, Ye Tinglan herself didn't know why she had to stay here to see how these two lived their lives. Hearing this, she found a way out and nodded, saying, "Yes, there are many people who only stick to the old ways when it comes to alchemy, but few who can innovate. This person is not bound by conventions, has a flexible mind, and is a good prospect."

The old man thought to himself, "It's over. The sect leader thinks Qingli is stupid."

"Alright." Seeing Ah Nuo skipping and hopping on to continue looking for fruit trees, Ye Tinglan finally smiled brightly: "Any progress on the dragon bone matter over there?"

The old man took out a piece of bone fragment: "Sect Master, please take a look."

Ye Tinglan took it and sniffed it lightly: "Sure enough... there's a little bit of vitality."

"Several bone fragments were auctioned in Coldwind City before. At first, no one paid attention to them, but later it was discovered that they had a little bit of vitality, which caused a sensation. The owner could not withstand the coercion and enticement of a group of people and finally revealed that he had obtained them near the center of the ice field. This led to the suspicion that a severely injured ancient dragon might be sleeping in the middle of the ice field. Some people even went so far as to say that the formation of the ice field was related to it."

“I’ve explored at least several dozen feet down in the center of the ice plains, and there’s nothing unusual. Unless it’s a spatial shift that caused the teleportation.” Ye Tinglan’s expression was grim: “These cultivators are truly ignorant. How can they just reveal something like this so openly! If there really is an ancient dragon that isn’t quite dead yet, the Demon Emperor will surely come upon hearing the news. Don’t they care about their lives?”

"Some people have realized this, so not many people dare to go. Those who really dare to go are all top-tier experts, especially those at the first or second rank."

"First and second rank cultivators are nothing but a flick of the finger in front of the Demon Emperor. They don't really think they can bully her just because she and Gu Zhanting are both seriously injured, do they? Her injuries are much lighter than Gu Zhanting's..."

"Then..." the old man hesitated, "If that's the case, why should Lu Xingzhou and Lu Nuonuo go that way?"

"The icy plains stretch for thousands of miles, a great distance away. Their strength isn't even enough to enter the central area; if they're only training on the outer perimeter, it's essentially a completely different world, so it doesn't matter much. Let's go, take me to the location where the owner discovered the dragon bones."

Lu Xingzhou led A Nuo northwards. A Nuo, wanting to eat ice cream, only followed the direction of the ice crystal fruit trees. As a result, they walked until dark, and the master and apprentice found nothing else that could be used for alchemy.

As night fell, the cold wind howled, and the wind was so fierce that the two of them had to activate their protective qi shields before realizing that they had almost wasted a whole day on the road.

Ah Nuo, looking weary, hugged her knees and curled up, saying, "How did White-Haired Sister survive in a place like this for ten years? I'm so bored every day."

It was really boring. All I could see were snow-covered glaciers, nothing fun at all, and I even had snow blindness, so everything looked the same.

Dry, cold, and dangerous.

Staying alone in a place like this for a long time, I feel like I might lose my language skills and my brain might react slower than others.

Lu Xingzhou looked up at the moon. The bright moon shone on the glacier, and it seemed as if he could see that it had once reflected a white-haired little girl, holding a sword, walking alone with hesitation.

Little Whitey's language skills haven't deteriorated, mostly because he's always with the old lady; he can still exchange a few words. If he were truly alone, how would he manage...?

"This way." Lu Xingzhou pulled A Nuo towards a small iceberg: "At least it'll protect us from the wind."

As soon as we reached the mountainside, we saw a small, cramped house made of ice bricks.

The two exchanged a glance, realizing that this was Bai Mao's former residence, and perhaps they could still find traces of her life inside.

Ah Nuo eagerly went inside to take a look, but as soon as she stepped through the door, sword energy suddenly arose.

A fierce and unparalleled sword light pierced straight out of the house, like a little girl huddled inside who had encountered an attack by a strange beast and suddenly rose up in resistance.

The sword energy was only around fifth or sixth rank, a sword formation that Little White Hair had originally set up at home. It was quite weak against the master and disciple now, and A'Nuo easily deflected it. But this place was uninhabitable…

Lu Xingzhou held up a sachet and extended it into the room.

Ah Nuo watched in astonishment as her master took out a few tufts of white hair from the sachet, and the flurry of swordplay in the room suddenly fell silent.

The master's scent...

"Let's stay here for now." Lu Xingzhou sat down on the small bed, stroking his chin in thought. "Qingli lives in the Ice Plains for a long time. It's impossible for her to build a house wherever she goes. There must be something nearby that requires her to stay for a long time, so she would build a house here temporarily. Therefore, since Qingli would choose to build a house here, there must be something special nearby. It's either an ancient tomb or a secret realm."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

P.S.: There will be more tonight, please give me some monthly votes~ I've fallen out of the top ten, sob sob.

(End of this chapter)