Chapter 225: Bai Mao's Guidance

Lu Xingzhou spotted the blind spot in those words: "Mr., your meaning is to let the two of us muddle along here on our own, and you won't follow?"

"If I followed, what trial effect would you have?" Ye Tinglan said matter-of-factly: "You need to find usable materials here on your own, and attempt to start a fire and refine pills under this extreme cold climate; this is different from general conditions. Also, here the days are short and the nights are long, so the requirements for the time and yin-yang are different. What you can refine daily might not work in this place... By the way, Lu Nuonuo's talent for regulating medicinal properties is forbidden."

Lu Xingzhou: "..."

"What, do you have any objections?"

"I was just thinking, if it's only this, wouldn't it be fine for Mr. to just let me come alone? Why did you follow all the way through wind, frost, and snow?"

"Of course, there are different requirements at different stages; I will appear from time to time." Ye Tinglan rarely showed a hint of teasing smile: "So you two go north on your own first, approaching the center of the ice plain, and see what tricks you can refine along the way. I will only appear when you must refine a third-grade pill, or when you have advanced to a certain special node."

Having spoken, she vanished directly.

The master and disciple looked at the boundless ice plain, both stunned.

"This is exile!" A-Nuo waved the cold bun in her hand: "She is taking revenge on you!"

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

"I didn't snatch anyone's veil."

"I... what do you know? The old woman must have come here for her own business. Otherwise, trial grounds are everywhere; why specifically choose the Frozen Moon Cold River?"

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

Putting aside the fact that he was cursing the old woman behind her back, his analysis was always precise enough; she indeed had other business to come here, and the trial ground originally arranged was not this place.

However, it did not affect the trial; it was equally suitable for this master and disciple pair to use.

"Forget it, Bai Mao could survive here for ten years; can this master and disciple pair be stumped?" Lu Xingzhou took out a talisman.

With a "puff," a flame flickered up and then vanished.

A-Nuo was stunned: "This is a fourth-grade talisman, right?"

The master and disciple clasped their hands and looked at the sky; Lu Xingzhou suddenly felt he had traveled back, the app working perfectly fine when suddenly an endless winter advertisement popped up, starting with just one A-Nuo.

Lu Xingzhou squatted before the ice crystal fruit tree: "Forget it, let's study this fruit first; I now strongly suspect it is something you can look at but not eat; the old woman deliberately put us here."

A-Nuo sniffled: "It can't be eaten. Eating it will freeze even the stomach."

Lu Xingzhou ate a tiny bit: "Surprisingly, the taste is okay, and it's a bit chewy... just can't eat much. Hmm, refining medicine isn't very suitable either, unless for some special burning-type internal injuries, for targeted medicinal use. Oh, yes, it has a beneficial effect on Ice-Bound cultivation, and the contained energy is decent."

Saying this, he collected a few fruits, also gathered some tender branches, and stood up speechlessly: "How about we roast and eat this ice snake first?"

A-Nuo burst into tears: "I won't eat it."

Lu Xingzhou: "..."

A-Nuo walked back crying: "I want to go back, no more trial; anyway, I'm a child, it doesn't matter how well I learn pill refining."

Lu Xingzhou hurriedly said: "Don't rush, Master will make something good for you to eat."

A-Nuo turned back, tears hanging on her face had frozen, the sight being especially 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 the process of raising Miss Qingli ten years ago? Why bring another child here..."

"Miss Qingli was much more obedient than her; from start to finish, she didn't cry or make a fuss, quiet and still."

"Didn't you scold her as dull back then, saying she couldn't cry like other children?"

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

The old man coughed dryly: "Since everyone is here, no need to keep watching, right? This outer area of the Cold River is far from dangerous; Miss Qingli could survive here for ten years."

"Wait." Ye Tinglan said: "See how he coaxes A-Nuo; aren't you curious?"

The old man: "..."

I am truly not curious; haven't I coaxed my granddaughter enough at home, to come watch someone else coax?

Has the Sect Master taken some wrong medicine?

Yet they saw Lu Xingzhou squatting there, taking out a few pieces of candy and cheese from his pocket, then taking a pill with mild medicinal properties, smashing them all together with the ice crystal fruit, and kneading them into one.

Before long, it became a bowl of icy paste.

Lu Xingzhou stuck a small spoon into it: "Now it can be eaten, it's delicious." A-Nuo scooped a tiny bit distrustfully, licked it, and the next moment her small face was glowing: "Master, pick all these fruits!"

The old man above was scratching his head: "Why do I kind of want to eat it?"

Ye Tinglan glanced at him sideways; actually, she also looked like she wanted to eat it.

The little kid was licking it so sweetly.

Since when could this fruit be used as a snack...

The old man said: "Is the Sect Master staying here to see this person's novelty?"

Actually, Ye Tinglan herself didn't know why she stayed here to watch how these two lived; hearing this, she found an excuse and nodded: "Yes, there are many who only stick to conventions in pill refining; those who can innovate are always few. This person is not bound by established methods, with flexible thinking; he is a good seedling."

The old man thought to himself: It's over; the Sect Master dislikes Miss Qingli for being dull.

"Alright." Seeing A-Nuo hopping forward to find more fruit trees, Ye Tinglan finally smiled brightly: "What progress is there on the dragon bone matter over there?"

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

Ye Tinglan took it and lightly sniffed at her nose: "Indeed... there is a bit of vitality in it."

"Previously, several bone fragments appeared at auction in Hanlan City; at first no one cared, but later it was discovered they had a bit of vitality, causing a sensation at once. The owner couldn't withstand the group's threats and inducements, and finally revealed they were obtained near the center of the ice plain, thus sparking the suspicion that a severely injured ancient dragon might be sleeping beneath the center of the ice plain. Some even expanded their imagination, saying the formation of the ice plain was related to it."

"Beneath the center of the ice plain, I have descended at least dozens of zhang; there is nothing special. Unless spatial changes have occurred, causing displacement." Ye Tinglan's expression was grim: "These cultivators are truly ignorant; can such matters be publicly disclosed like this! If there really is an ancient dragon not yet fully dead, the Demon Emperor will surely come upon hearing the news; do they not want their lives?"

"Some also realized this, so few dare to go; truly those who dare are all third-grade and above strong ones, especially only first and second grade dare."

"First and second grade, before the Demon Emperor, is just a snap of the fingers; do they really think she and Gu Zhanting are both badly injured and can be bullied? Her injuries are much lighter than Gu Zhanting's..."

"Then..." The old man hesitated: "Since that is so, still let Lu Xingzhou and Lu Nuonuo go that way?"

"The ice plain is a thousand li; the distance is far. Their strength cannot even enter the central zone; if they only trial in the outer area, it basically belongs to two different worlds, little relation. Let's go, first take me to see the place where the owner found the dragon bone."

Lu Xingzhou led A-Nuo northward; A-Nuo, for the sake of eating ice cream, only followed the direction of the ice crystal fruit trees. The result was that they walked until dark, and the master and disciple pair found no second thing usable for pill refining.

By night, the cold wind howled; the wind blades blew so hard the two had to activate a qi shield to protect their bodies, only then realizing they had almost wasted a whole day on the road.

A-Nuo, with a weathered face, hugged her knees and curled up: "How did Sister Bai Mao live in this place for ten years? I feel bored to death after just one day."

Indeed boring; everywhere were white glaciers; not only was there nothing fun, but also snow blindness; everything looked the same.

Dull, icy, and treacherous.

Staying alone in such a place for too long, wouldn't one feel like losing the ability to speak, with the mind reacting half a beat slower than others?

Lu Xingzhou looked up at the moon; the bright moonlight reflected off the glacier, lingering as if it could still see it once illuminating a white-haired little girl, holding a sword, hesitating and walking alone.

Little Bai Mao's ability to speak hadn't atrophied, mostly because she always accompanied the old lady, so she could still communicate and say a few words. If she were truly alone, how would she get by...

"This way." Lu Xingzhou pulled A Nuo and ran toward a small iceberg: "At least it blocks the wind."

Just reaching the mountain's edge, they saw a small hut built of ice bricks, crude and narrow.

The two exchanged a glance, knowing this was Bai Mao's former residence; perhaps traces of her life could still be found inside.

A Nuo eagerly scrambled inside to look, but the moment she stepped through the door, sword qi erupted.

A piercing, peerless sword light shot straight out from the hut, as if the little girl curled up inside had encountered a beast's attack and sprang up in violent resistance.

The sword qi was merely fifth or sixth grade, a sword array Little Bai Mao had pre-buried in her home back then; for the master and disciple of today, it was very weak, and A Nuo casually blocked it aside. But even so, no one could live here...

Lu Xingzhou raised a sachet and thrust it into the hut.

A Nuo watched in awe as her master took a few tufts of white hair from the sachet; the bristling sword array inside the hut suddenly fell silent.

The master's aura...

"Let's stay here for now." Lu Xingzhou sat beside the small bed, stroking his chin in thought: "Qingli has lived on the ice plains for a long time; she wouldn't build a hut wherever she went. There must be something nearby requiring her long-term presence, prompting her to build this hut for temporary stay. So since Qingli chose to build a hut here, there must be something special nearby, either an ancient tomb or a secret realm."

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PS: There's more tonight, give some monthly tickets~ Dropped out of the top ten, boo hoo hoo.

(End of this chapter)