Chapter 234: Guardian of the Snowfield

At the first moment, Gao De's gaze followed the direction from which the roar came.

In the mist of snow that puffed open, a "big bug" leaped out.

That was a tiger-like creature with snow-white fur.

The fur was as smooth as fine silk, reflecting light in the sun; just looking at its quality from afar, one could imagine how soft it would feel to the touch.

But no matter how bright and beautiful its appearance was, it could not change the fact that this was a tiger-like creature.

And tiger-like creatures have always stood at the top of the food chain, fierce and powerful.

So the moment he saw the other party, Gao De's hair stood on end, and he entered a state of highest alert.

Most of what he encountered on Mount Dandong were dull elemental creatures.

This is because the total food resources of Mount Dandong are limited and cannot accommodate too many carnivorous creatures.

And elemental creatures have a lower demand for food, so they are the most common creatures on Mount Dandong.

But it is different in the Northern Realm; the vast snowfield is enough to accommodate a large number of carnivorous creatures.

Therefore, just after entering the Northern Realm for a short while, Gao De had already encountered an extremely dangerous creature.

And this big bug was clearly aimed at him; after leaping out from the snow mound, it rushed straight in his direction.

"Magic user, don't be afraid."

Gao De looked down at Fu Luo La beside him; she was pulling his clothes with her little hand.

Little Fu Luo La, with a calm and peaceful face, made Gao De subconsciously praise in his heart that she was truly a hero who "remains calm in the face of major events," before reacting the next instant to what was going on.

"It's not a bad person?"

"Not bad."

Although he said so, Gao De's vigilance would not dissipate all at once.

At the first moment, he still cast Mage Armor on himself, just suppressing his instinct and not taking the initiative to launch an attack on the other party.

That big bug galloped toward him, its speed much faster than the first-circle Ice Snow Wolf he had seen at the Duo'erbian Tribe before.

The snow wolf was already a ley-line creature with relatively fast speed, and this big bug was six or seven meters long, with high-rising shoulder blades that seemed to be about to protrude from the skin, much sturdier than the Ice Snow Wolf demon.

With this body size and such speed, it can be imagined that this big bug is likely of a rank above the second circle.

As the big bug approached, Gao De discovered that there was actually a person sitting on the white tiger.

That was a man about forty years old with a full beard, wearing extremely crudely made animal skin clothes, and unremarkable in appearance.

But Gao De did not dare to underestimate him at all.

Just kidding, the other party's mount is a tiger, who would dare to underestimate him? Gao De was not sure about the other party's strength, but it was certain that it was at least second circle, and the upper limit was unknown.

Fortunately, Fu Luo La did not detect any hostility from the other party.

In the two months in the Eryinlaya Range, Fu Luo La's ability had been verified many times and had not yet made a mistake, so Gao De's nerves were actually much more relaxed.

Roar! The giant tiger, carrying the man on its back, came to a "sudden stop" when it was still a few meters away from Gao De, and snow dust flew into the sky.

Gao De's heart stirred, and he cast 【Gust】, gently brushing away the snow dust drifting toward him.

"Sorry, Lai En is always so reckless in doing things, no matter how I teach it, it doesn't remember," a more intense wind rose, blowing the snow dust away, and the man hit the giant tiger's head hard, then gave Gao De an apologetic look.

Roar! The giant tiger named Lai En let out a dissatisfied roar after being hit on the head.

So, the man hit its head again with more force.

Only then did it become honest.

"Didn't expect to meet an outsider here," the man looked Gao De up and down and immediately made an accurate judgment about Gao De's identity, "This is far from the coastline; it seems you shouldn't have come by boat across the border."

He thought for a moment, raised his eyebrows, and said: "Could it be that you crossed the Eryinlaya Range to enter the Northern Realm?"

Gao De nodded and said: "Yes."

A flash of brilliance crossed the man's eyes, "Looking at your age, your magic user rank definitely isn't high, and you are traveling alone, yet you dared to challenge the Eryinlaya Range alone and succeeded, it's truly unbelievable."

Gao De shrugged, "Big guts plus good luck."

"Interesting... Then, why did you work so hard to cross the Eryinlaya Range and enter the Northern Realm? To avoid the pursuit of enemies, or to come to the Northern Realm to make a fortune?"

Hearing this question, many thoughts flashed through Gao De's mind in an instant, and finally, his answer was "tell the truth."

"Neither, in fact, I entered the Northern Realm to plant trees," he said calmly.

Clearly, this was an answer that a man could absolutely not have predicted, so much so that when he heard Gao De's answer, he was surprised and raised his eyebrows, repeating Gao De's answer to confirm: "Plant trees?"

"Yes, plant trees," Gao De nodded, having already confirmed his train of thought in his heart, "I am a believer of the Nature Sect."

"Nature Sect?"

"Yes, Nature Sect. The doctrine of this sect is that those who fill the world with vitality will receive the protection of nature, so I decided to come to the Northern Realm, determined to plant trees and create forests in the Northern Realm," Gao De showed a pious expression on his face.

Then, he said again: "Of course, the magical plant resources in the Northern Realm are also extremely rich. If possible, establishing a branch in the Northern Realm, with the rich resources here, will inevitably be able to obtain enough money, and while planting trees, strengthening the sect is naturally the best."

One cannot be too "divine" in dealing with people, because such people have no humanity, and ordinary people will not believe it, always speculating on the purpose behind his doing this.

Taking the initiative to reveal the "purpose behind it" will instead make others stop letting their imaginations run wild.

Considering this point, Gao De added a utilitarian statement.

Sure enough, when the man heard this, he laughed immediately, because he sensed that Gao De's stated purpose of "planting trees" was actually true, and Gao De's statement could also convince him.

Therefore, his attitude toward Gao De immediately became friendly.

"Although I haven't heard of the Nature Sect, I like your sect, but planting trees in the Northern Realm is not easy," the man said.

"If it were easy, I wouldn't have had the need to specifically rush to the Northern Realm," Gao De said.

Hearing Gao De say this, the expression on the man's face changed again, "Then how are you planning to start?"

"I am now preparing to rush to the Snow Fall Clan two hundred kilometers away, to purchase a map from them, so that I can find the most suitable initial tree-planting point."

Gao De spread his hands and said helplessly: "Just as you said, planting trees in the Northern Realm is not an easy task. Everything is difficult at the beginning, and the choice of this initial tree-planting point is very important."

"Like this..." The man looked at Gao De deeply, thought for a moment, got off the giant tiger, reached out to Gao De, and said: "I think we can officially get to know each other. My name is Chief Shadi, and I am a Guardian of the Snowfield."

"My name is Gao De, a believer of the Nature Sect." Gao De reached out to Chief Shadi and shook hands with him.

He could clearly feel that Chief Shadi's hands were unusually rough, not at all like a magic user, but more like a farmer who often did rough and heavy work. "Guardian of the Snowfield?" Gao De asked curiously.

This was a term he had never heard of.

Chief Shadi explained very calmly: "On the snowfield, many tribes perish every day for one reason or another, and when a tribe perishes, there are always some tribespeople who survive. If these survivors are not rescued, they will soon die on the snowfield."

"Or sometimes, when some small tribes encounter danger, if I happen to run into them, I will also take action."

"These are the things we do."

No wonder they are called Guardians of the Snowfield... Gao De noticed that the other party did not explain his background, but simply introduced his "main responsibilities."

However, since the other party did not take the initiative to explain, it meant he didn't want to say more, and Gao De didn't act tactlessly by taking the initiative to ask.

"Recently, there are signs of a beast tide erupting on the snowfield. My current task is to patrol this area, determine the probability and scale of the beast tide eruption in this area, and give timely reminders to nearby tribes," Chief Shadi said again.

The Northern Realm is truly too big, scattered with many powerful creatures.

And according to natural laws, after every period of time, the population of these creature groups will reach a peak, and then fall into a situation of food shortage.

In this situation, these hungry beasts will frequently attack Northern Realm tribes, which is the so-called beast tide.

And after the beast tide, the population of the creature groups will fall into a trough, and after a very long period of recuperation, they will reach a peak again, repeating like this.

This is a very natural thing, and there is nothing strange about it.

But nature is nature, yet every time a beast tide erupts, it represents the destruction of a large number of Northern Realm tribes, which is also a fact.

What Chief Shadi is doing now is to investigate the specific situation.

If a beast tide is truly about to erupt, giving early reminders to nearby tribes can at least allow them to make preparations in advance.

Being able to let one more person survive the beast tide is a good thing.

This is what Chief Shadi expressed.

"It is still very dangerous on the snowfield now. If you walk all the way there, you might encounter a beast pack."

Chief Shadi thought for a moment and said again: "Recently, the nearby snow wolf pack is unusually active. If you run into them, it won't be easy to deal with. I happen to be passing by the Snow Fall Clan's camp, so why don't I give you a ride, how about that?"

"I'd be happy to." Gao De smiled.

Chief Shadi nodded with satisfaction, jumped onto the back of the giant tiger again, patted the giant tiger's spine, and introduced it to Gao De: "This is my partner, Ice Mane Tiger Lai En."

Then, he reached out to Gao De, "Come up."

Gao De grabbed the hand the other party reached out without hesitation, leaped with the help of the force, and sat steadily on the back of the Ice Mane Tiger.

Chief Shadi looked back at Gao De, confirmed that Gao De was sitting steadily, and then leaned over to the side of the Ice Mane Tiger and said a few words that only they could understand.

The next moment, the Ice Mane Tiger let out a low roar, its four limbs bent slightly, and then it rushed forward like a white lightning bolt.

The cold wind on the snowfield rushed toward them in an instant.

But for Gao De, who had already evolved the primary Ice-Blessed Body, it was not bone-chilling.

He only felt a sense of exhilaration.

"If you feel it's too cold and can't hold on, tell me, and I'll let Lai En slow down." Chief Shadi's voice drifted from the front.

"Okay." Gao De responded.

The faster the speed, the more biting the cold wind, and ordinary people cannot withstand it.

At the beginning, Chief Shadi still wanted to take care of Gao De and deliberately let Lai En slow down a bit.

But later, he found that Gao De was still talking to him without a tremor in his voice, and while surprised, Chief Shadi also became interested, wanting to know Gao De's limit, and slowly let Lai En speed up.

But in the end, even though Lai En had already raised its speed to the fastest, Gao De was still expressionless.

At this moment, while Chief Shadi looked at Gao De with slight admiration, he also determined in his heart that the "Nature Sect" Gao De belonged to must have mastered some unique cold-resistance means.

No wonder Gao De was able to cross the Eryinlaya Range alone.

"Gao De, I need to go to a nearby Snowfield Hyena gathering tribe to take a look first. Don't worry, Snowfield Hyenas are only first-circle ley-line creatures, even the leader is only second-circle. With Lai En's speed, we can easily shake them off."

The word "colony" made Gao De's heart stir; perhaps he could even scrape together a point or two of origin essence?

Regarding this, he naturally had no objections, "My business is not urgent, your business is more important."

Chief Shadi couldn't help but nod slightly upon hearing this, feeling even more satisfied with Gao De in his heart.

Half an hour later.

Lai En carried the two of them and leaped onto a snow mound; below was a small valley.

In the valley, over a hundred Snowfield Hyenas were gathered, and the fishy smell rushed toward them.

These Snowfield Hyenas constantly let out piercing cries.

Chief Shadi subconsciously frowned.

"What's wrong?" Gao De noticed Chief Shadi's micro-expression.

"These Snowfield Hyenas are very hungry, extremely hungry, and have become very irritable because of hunger," Chief Shadi said.

Hunger and irritability mean they are likely to launch attacks on nearby Northern Realm tribes.

"Nearby tribes are all small tribes. If they encounter an attack by this pack of Snowfield Hyenas, I'm afraid none of them will be able to survive," he said again: "I am preparing to try to solve them. I'll take you to a safe place in a moment."

Gao De frowned slightly, and after thinking about it half-truthfully, he said righteously: "Two people's strength is always greater than one. Although I am not as powerful as you, I can still help a little bit. Let me stay."

"This is very dangerous. Although they are not high-rank, the number is there. If we really fight, I might not be able to take care of you." Chief Shadi was very surprised by Gao De's decision.

"Standing by out of cowardice when facing such things does not conform to the doctrine of the Nature Sect," Gao De said righteously.

Chief Shadi was stunned for a moment, then seriously looked at Gao De from head to toe, and a smile appeared on his face.

Before this, even if Gao De spoke eloquently, and even if the spell detection showed that Gao De's words were credible, Chief Shadi still held a certain degree of suspicion toward Gao De's words.

But now, this suspicion had almost completely dissipated.

To understand a person, don't listen to what he said, but look at what he did.

"Then let's fight together," Chief Shadi said.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 235 =====