Chapter 246: Millennium Snow Lotus

Night had fallen, and a huge bright moon hung in the sky.

Behind them was a dilapidated village with a village temple that could shelter them from the wind and rain, but they didn't go there, just sat on the top of the sand dune, quietly enjoying the moonlight at this time.

"Third Shixiong brother, has your gathering method reached perfection?"

"I don't know either. It's just that I suddenly felt a connection with heaven and earth, and with a casual pinch, I gathered the sunset glow."

"Has senior brother's attainment in the gathering method surpassed second senior brother's?"

"Perhaps."

Lin Jue was also a bit surprised.

Chasing the enemy all the way, although mostly on horseback, most magical arts were still inconvenient to practice. Only the gathering method was not only convenient to practice, but also because the distance spanned was very large—high mountains, grasslands, deserts, Gobi, Danxia, lakes—the variety of landscapes seen along the way was more than in his entire life before, and the climate was also unpredictable, with various different spiritual charms available for gathering, which was actually very suitable for practicing the gathering method.

Therefore, Lin Jue practiced the gathering method more.

Walking all the way, he naturally improved.

However, he was still a bit short of perfection.

Originally, Lin Jue could already use the gathering method to gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the essence of the sun and moon, and could even gather the energy of wind and sand and the energy of the seasons, but he still didn't know how to gather the so-called cloud and mist debris or the sunset glow.

Just now, his body was one with heaven and earth, and he suddenly had an epiphany.

This was a natural realization, just like when he first arrived at Fuqiu Peak and realized "Wind Calling."

At this time, his gathering method should have truly surpassed second senior brother's.

Strictly speaking, it surpassed the second senior brother before they parted ways.

However, this could not prove that his talent in the gathering method surpassed second senior brother's; even if it were true, it couldn't be proven from this.

The main reason was that second senior brother didn't put his main energy into this, nor did he practice and realize it as frequently as he did. The gathering method was not an important magical art, but an auxiliary magical art in alchemy, serving alchemy. Previously, second senior brother didn't have any alchemy recipes that required a perfect gathering method, so he naturally didn't pursue it.

Someone walked up from behind.

A long saber was thrown onto the sand pile.

"That yaoguai rat really had something worthy of admiration. If you didn't kill it, it would definitely become a major threat in the future." Luo Seng also walked over and sat down. "I buried it."

"Thank you, Lord Luo."

"Is tonight Mid-Autumn?"

"It is Mid-Autumn."

"It would be good to have some wine." Luo Seng shook his head and smacked his thirsty lips.

"There is no wine."

Lin Jue looked up at the surroundings and reached out his hand. As the temperature dropped sharply at night, he noticed the air around him gradually becoming moist and soft:

"But there is dew."

So he untied his bundle, took out a bowl, placed it on the ground, and fixed it with sand.

Pinching a spell, he pointed his finger.

The moisture in the air descended, condensing into water vapor, and the water vapor gathered toward the Daoist and the small bowl, slowly condensing into water droplets and gathering into dew.

The other two also took out bowls. After catching the dew, Lin Jue took a small bottle of heaven and earth spiritual energy and poured it in, instantly emitting a refreshing fragrance.

"Substitute dew for wine to celebrate Mid-Autumn!"

"Substitute dew for wine!"

Not knowing where this was, only knowing that the moon was full at this time, and being in this strange place, none of the three felt panic or confusion. On the contrary, because a grudge had been settled, they were lighthearted. In this freedom, just drinking dew and chatting about trivial matters while facing the moon felt somewhat leisurely, and somewhat similar to being drunk.

The saying that wine doesn't intoxicate people, people intoxicate themselves, is probably like this.

The night grew deeper, and heaven and earth were silent.

Lin Jue was here and couldn't help but think of his several senior brothers, wondering if they were spending it alone at this time.

Especially third senior brother, wondering where he was.

He shouldn't have run further than him, right?

"By the way—"

Lin Jue suddenly took out a pen from his bundle, intending to ask for advice from the senior who refuted him, but then turned his head and stroked the fox's head: "Good Fuyao, go to the village below and pick some dry wild grass for me."

"Ying!"

The fox shouted, jumped down lightly, and its whole body rode the wind down the slope of the sand dune.

With one jump, it reached the bottom of the sand dune.

It picked some weeds and rode the wind up again.

Lin Jue then rubbed the grass into incense, used the desert beneath his feet as a spirit-writing board, inserted the pen into the sand, and took out the spirit-writing talisman given to him by the "refuting senior," holding it in his hand.

"Spirit-writing immortal, please come.

"Spirit-writing immortal, please come.

"Third Shixiong, long time no see.

"Please come."

He shouted for a long time, but there was no movement.

Lin Jue was not in a hurry, maintaining patience and continuing to call.

This place was too far from Huizhou.

It was probably over ten thousand miles away.

After a long time, a cool breeze rose around them.

A voice came intermittently in the breeze, and he could tell it was the voice of the "refuting senior":

"Hard... so long... didn't call... turns out... ran... so far..."

Lin Jue carefully identified it, half-listening and half-guessing, before he knew what it was saying.

For a moment, he couldn't help but laugh.

He didn't know if it was complaining that he had run too far, or complaining that he hadn't asked it for advice for too long.

"Today is Mid-Autumn, is senior well?"

"What... qiu?"

"Mid-Autumn."

"How could I... this kind of... solar term..."

After hearing this, Lin Jue didn't know if it was because it had no friends or relatives that it didn't celebrate such a festival, or if it had lived too long and had already forgotten the years, naturally not caring about any festival.

"Just paying my respects to senior," Lin Jue said. "At the same time, there is something I would like to ask senior."

"I knew it..."

At this time, the people beside him couldn't help their curiosity and came to his side to watch, and the fox and the colorful civet cat also sat upright to the side, staring intently.

However, they couldn't hear the refuting senior's words and could only hear Lin Jue's words, guessing the meaning from them.

He heard Lin Jue ask very naturally:

"This junior has now arrived in the Western Regions and heard that there are snow lotuses on the snow mountains here. Snow lotuses live for one year, but there are snow lotuses that can grow for a millennium, which is a rare treasure in the world. I wonder where I can find one?"

"..."

The refuting senior hesitated for a long time, not knowing if it was pondering, asking others, or struggling to think about how to write a poem.

After a long time, the pen on the ground moved.

"Wind and sand are heavy on the road south,

"Jade water outside the pass reflects the snow-capped peaks.

"Visiting friends and seeking seclusion for a thousand miles,

"Arriving a step too early, the scenery becomes empty."

The desert was flat, showing a few lines of words.

"Hmm..."

Lin Jue frowned.

Looking at the first two lines, it seemed to say that the millennium snow lotus he was looking for was to his south, which was the road he came from.

That was the road to return to the capital.

However, the Western Regions were too big and the world too vast, so it was obviously not easy to find.

And looking at the last two lines, it seemed to say that he had arrived early and might not get what he wanted.

Could it be that the millennium snow lotus hadn't bloomed yet?

Just as Lin Jue was thinking, he saw the cool breeze around him getting weaker and weaker, showing signs of being unable to continue. Feeling that the refuting senior was about to leave, he hurriedly added:

"Please, senior, convey a message for me and my junior sister to the spirit-writing immortal of my senior brother, asking it to convey our greetings to senior brother."

The cool breeze left quickly.

*Pat! * The pen also fell into the sand.

Lin Jue and his junior sister looked at each other and had no choice but to pick up the pen and continue to study these two lines of poetry by the moonlight. ===== CHAPTER 247 =====