The Journey of Immortal Cultivation-Chapter 331 - 198: The Youth on the Snowy Night
At the foot of Kunlong Mountain.
That night, the strong pines swayed gently, and the silver light spread across the ground, rendering the snow-white Mortal World with pure flawlessness. Ever since Emperor’s Fluid had flourished, the first snowflake between Heaven and Earth had finally fallen. Over the past three months, the Kunlong Mountain area on the border of Yunzhou had welcomed more than a dozen heavy snowfalls.
In the dead silence, an unusually harsh creaking sound came from the snowy ground—it was a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy frantically running. In this weather where breath turns to mist and water droplets to ice, he was wearing only a worn cotton garment. Probably because he was running too fast, a trace of sweat appeared on his forehead and froze into thin ice in the blink of an eye with a gust of wind.
He obviously wasn’t too familiar with the terrain here, having to stop every once in a while to recognize the surrounding environment and look back fearfully at the dark path he came from. A heavy snow three days ago left the snow on the ground over a foot thick. He stepped deeply and shallowly, slipping many times. The worst part was that the footprints left on the snowy ground were too clear, even a child of tender years could easily track him.
He hugged his arms and rubbed them quickly, hoping to generate a little more heat. The harsh coldness of the outdoors was terrifying, almost completely draining his strength. He had only been running for a short while, but he already felt that his knees could hardly bend.
A gust of cold wind blew past, nearly taking away the last bit of warmth in his body, but instead of being alarmed, he was overjoyed. The gentle but dense snowflakes descended from Heaven—it seemed another heavy snow was coming. This snow could cover his tracks, buying him a bit more time to escape.
When it rains, it pours. Amidst the fluttering snowflakes, he finally saw faint glimmers of light ahead. His mouth split into a smile at the sight, only to have the wind stuff his mouth with snow. He remembered there was a small village at the foot of the mountain; the pale yellow light seemed so warm, coaxing out a bit more strength from his tired body. Run faster!
Half a moment later, he finally rushed into the small valley, only a dozen or so steps away from the largest, brightest lit house in the village. But at this time, his legs had lost all sensation, shakily with each step he took. Stumbling twice, his stiff body finally disobeyed and collapsed straight onto the snowy ground.
Just five steps away, just five steps to reach the door, a lift of the curtain would reveal a warm world inside! But he couldn’t move another inch. The wind in the valley was no longer howling, but the chill of the falling snow was no less harsh. In the few breaths since he had lain down, he felt the life force being drawn out of his body by the ice and snow beneath him.
Was he, after all, unable to escape? He was so reluctant. Tears welled up in the boy’s eyes, freezing before they could trickle down his cheeks, and he didn’t even have the strength to raise his hand to wipe them.
His vision was gradually blurring...
So he didn’t notice that just as he closed his eyes, the curtain of the large house was lifted, and a man came out—it was a young man in his early twenties. Once out of the house, he didn’t even look around and went straight to the boy in the snow, grabbed the back of his garment, and hoisted him up. Though the boy was thin and weak, he was nearly a hundred pounds, yet in the man’s hands, he seemed to weigh no more than a chicken.
The young man entered the house, threw the boy to the ground, and said coldly: "I have brought the person in. He’s fainted from the cold, but he’s not going to die."
The girl sitting by the table comforted him: "You’ve worked hard." She then walked over and felt the unconscious boy’s carotid artery, finding his heart was indeed still beating faintly but stubbornly. "This child is very resilient, it’s worth my intention to save him." She wore a plain velvet embroidered coat with frilled edges, with her black hair simply held up by a treasure blue jadeite peacock hairpin, looking refreshingly cool in the drab indoor atmosphere.
The shopkeeper was peering behind the counter, and saw the girl turn and smile at him: "Shopkeeper, please help me revive this boy." With a flip of her hand, two taels of silver lay in her palm.
The Shopkeeper’s eyes lit up with a smile, and he dispatched the clerks in the inn: "You rascals, always daydreaming, why are you not hurrying up to save the person?" He reached out for the ingot of silver, but under the dim light, the girl’s delicate and luminous palm outshone the glare of the silver. "To have such a beautiful girl lodge in my inn on a snowy day." But the man who came with the girl wore a stern face, and with the shopkeeper’s experienced eyes, he knew better than to provoke someone who had seen blood on his hands.
