The legend begins with becoming a white deer.

On the ice, the sika deer that had just been rescued were shivering, soaking wet, but they didn't care about the cold. They all stared blankly at the white deer in front of them.

They couldn't understand it.

They're both deer, so why can one stand steadily on the water's surface instead of falling in? This strange phenomenon completely overturns their instinctive understanding.

And then there's that enormous size that makes them tremble.

The group of adult sika deer stood in front of Qi Ji, their heads not even reaching his chest, even including the height of the antlers of the male deer.

Looking around, they stood next to Qi Ji, like adults standing among a group of young children—the disparity was so stark it was almost unsettling.

The stags suppressed their usual aggressive nature, and the doe lowered her head obediently. All the deer looked at Qi Ji with undisguised awe, and even their breathing became lighter.

"Yo"

Qi Ji had no time to ponder the deer's thoughts. He let out a low neigh and tilted his head towards the shore, signaling them to leave quickly and go to the bank.

Without caring whether the deer understood or not, Qi Ji lightly pushed off the ice with all four hooves, and his body glided out like an arrow.

The antlers cut through the biting wind, and the snow-white fur shimmered softly in the winter sun. The gliding posture was graceful and elegant, even more agile than when running in the mountains and forests.

Among the herd of deer, a spotted fawn stared wide-eyed.

It imitated Qi Ji, cautiously raising its front hoof to probe forward...

With a "swoosh" sound.

The fawn did a split on its four legs, fell and was dizzy, let out two pitiful "yoyo" sounds, and quickly crawled back under its mother's belly, only peeking out with half its head sticking out.

Seeing this, the other adult deer could only obediently start moving their hooves, inching their way toward the shore step by step.

The ice was too slippery; they had to slip every three steps, and occasionally a deer would stumble and almost fall. Their wobbly appearance was indescribably comical compared to Qi Ji's smooth and effortless skating.

... ... ...

Qi Ji had already slid to the other side of the lake.

It put its hooves on the ground and gently shook its head.

"Phew, this is still the most practical way."

Qi Ji thought to himself, ice skating is certainly novel and exhilarating, but as a beast of the land, a deer ultimately feels more at ease on the ground.

The snow-covered mountains and forests were a blanket of white. Qi Ji had no particular direction, so he simply strolled along the gentle slope of the mountains, taking it as an opportunity to enjoy the scenery.

The mountains and forests are quiet in winter, and everything in sight is covered with white snow. Walking among them, you can hear the soft rustling of snow being blown away by the wind from time to time, which brings a unique sense of peace.

As Qi Ji passed by an ancient pine tree that took three people to encircle, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Um?"

My keen senses detected the faint scent emanating from the tree trunk, along with the soft rustling sound of fur rubbing against wood chips.

Qi Ji looked up at the middle section of the tree trunk, where a dark hole was hidden, from which the breath of life was slowly emanating.

"It must be a squirrel."

Qi Ji's eyes flickered slightly.

Most squirrels living in trees store enough food in their tree holes. Qi Ji sniffed lightly and immediately smelled a lot of food aromas from the tree hole above.

"Hehe, let's go up and take a look."

Qi Ji raised his deer hoof, activated the [Spirit Foot] skill, and his hoof tip firmly adhered to the rough bark. He then easily climbed up the tree trunk, his movements so light that they didn't seem like those of a huge creature weighing hundreds of kilograms.

Arriving at the tree hole, Qi Ji peeked inside.

The burrow was lined with soft moss and hay, and a reddish-brown, long-haired squirrel was fast asleep, its body curled up in a ball, its bushy tail tucked in.

The corner of the tree hollow was piled high with plump pine cones, hazelnuts, and various nuts, like a small mountain, which made Qi Ji's eyes light up instantly.

(*￣ω￣)

Nuts are a great food.

In winter, when food is scarce, nuts are rich in oil and nutrients, which can not only stave off hunger but also replenish energy, making them far more valuable than grass and withered leaves.

Most importantly, Qi Ji happened to be craving something sweet.

I've been eating all sorts of green plants lately, so it's nice to change things up once in a while.

Qi Ji didn't stand on ceremony with the squirrel at all. A faint golden-green glow appeared between his antlers as he activated the power of [All Trees Pay Homage].

"——"

On the rough inner wall of the tree hole, two slender twigs emerged out of thin air, like two agile little snakes, spiraling and intertwining with each other as they reached into the pile of nuts. With a gentle roll, they gathered up a large handful of nuts and steadily delivered them to Qi Ji through the opening.

"Click"

He opened his mouth and bit.

The hazelnut shells shattered with a crackling sound, and the crunchy kernels burst open in the mouth, carrying the refreshing aroma of pine resin.

"squeak--!"

A sharp scream rang out from inside the cave.

The squirrel was awakened from its sleep by the noise. It opened its eyes in a daze and saw that two branches had inexplicably grown on the wall of its burrow, and were carrying out all the treasures it had accumulated over the autumn.

It couldn't quite grasp the situation; it couldn't understand how branches could grow from a perfectly good tree hole. But one thing it was absolutely certain of was that someone was stealing its food!

The squirrel was so angry that its fur stood on end. Completely forgetting how big the other party was, it bared its teeth and charged out of the hole, ready to fight the grain thief to the death.

But just as it pounced halfway, a tender branch sprouted from the tree hole, wrapped around its body precisely, and gently coiled around it, trapping it in place.

"Squeak squeak squeak!"

The squirrel thrashed about, its sharp teeth gnawing at the branch, but the branch, though slender, was incredibly resilient; even as its teeth ached from biting, it didn't budge.

It could only watch helplessly as its mountain of nuts grew smaller and smaller, feeling both angry and anxious, squeaking incessantly with a sobbing tone in its voice.

Qi Ji chewed on the nuts, looked down at the furious little furball in the hole, winked mischievously, and finally swallowed all the nuts that the branch had brought him.

Seeing the squirrel struggling desperately but unable to do anything to him, Qi Ji couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"Yo yo yo~~~~"

The feeling of "openly robbing" someone else's stored food and watching them anxiously waiting is strangely amusing, much more interesting than finding food yourself.

However, seeing that the squirrel was about to cry from anger, Qi Ji decided to stop.

He gently touched the tree hole with his antlers and hissed softly, meaning that he would only eat so much and would give the rest back to him.

Most of the nuts were still left in the burrow, enough for the squirrel to survive the winter.

Just as Qi Ji turned around to jump down from the tree trunk, his ear twitched suddenly.

"what?"

From the snow below, one could hear more than a dozen heavy breathing sounds, and the soft thud of claws crunching through the snow.

Qi Ji looked down.

Under the ancient pine tree, more than a dozen gray wolves had gathered, seemingly out of nowhere.

They were all so thin that their ribs were clearly visible, their green eyes were fixed on him in the tree, their tongues were hanging out, and saliva dripped down their fangs. Their eyes clearly showed that they were looking at a feast that was being delivered to their mouths.

They probably couldn't understand how a deer could climb up a tree, but in the dead of winter, prey was hard to find, and such a big deer was enough for the entire wolf pack to feast on for several days.

"Awooo—"

The low howls of wolves rose and fell, sounding particularly jarring in the silent mountain forest.

Inside the tree hole, the squirrel that had been struggling just moments before froze instantly, too frightened to even breathe, shrinking into the branches and too afraid to move, even swallowing its scream.

"In the dead of winter, a group of hungry friends have finally arrived!"

Qi Ji glanced down at the eager wolf pack, and with a flash of light from the antlers, the twig binding the squirrel was silently retracted.

The next second, Qi Ji stepped on the tree trunk and slowly walked down.

The lower they went, the more restless the wolves became, emitting excited growls as if they could already see the tender venison falling into their mouths...