The Journey of Immortal Cultivation-Chapter 332 - 198: Snow Night Youth_2

He stealthily swallowed his saliva, not daring to look any further, and quickly accepted the silver. The person rescued was stiff in the joints, his body faintly turning blue, and even his hair was studded with ice. The clerks and servants of the inn, long residing at the foot of the Snow Mountain, had seen countless travelers suffer frostbite and naturally knew how to treat it. They promptly carried the unconscious youth into a guest room upstairs. Someone poured a few mouthfuls of strong liquor into the mouth of the comatose youth, and then brought in several basins of snow, undressed him, and rubbed his body repeatedly with snow until his skin turned red.

The young girl had been watching with keen interest, but suddenly she pursed her lips and looked away. That’s because someone was chastising in her ear: "Turn your head! What’s there to stare at?"

This young girl was naturally Ning Xiaoxian. "If I don’t look at him, are you going to show me something?" she thought to herself, and her face flushed a bit. After spending so much time together, she knew that Changtian’s body was very impressive, nothing like this skinny boy’s could compare.

Both she and Tu Jin had excellent hearing. The sounds of the youth staggering outside the window, falling into the snow, she heard them all. If the person had fallen in the Great Snow Mountain, she would be powerless to help. But he collapsed right at the inn’s doorway, how could Ning Xiaoxian stand idly by? And so, she sent Tu Jin out to bring the young man back in.

As she was pondering, those busy saving the youth suddenly gasped in a low voice and stood up. It turned out that the back of the youth’s hand was branded with a small ghost face pattern. He might have rubbed it himself, and now that it was smeared with melted snow, the pattern was somewhat blurred, but one could still make out the sinister expression of the Evil Ghost sticking out its tongue.

Seeing this, the color drained from the clerks’ faces, none of them willing to approach the youth anymore, let alone continue the treatment.

"Shopkeeper?" She turned towards the proprietor.

The innkeeper, who had been watching the excitement on the side, evidently saw the mark as well. His previously beaming face turned grim: "Miss, this young man was the one named by the Mountain God. Had we known, no amount of money would have tempted us to treat him!"

Named by the Mountain God? Right now, a human life mattered the most. She lightly touched the youth’s chest and found his body was warming up, so she pulled a quilt from the bed to cover him, and said to the shopkeeper: "Bring another quilt."

The shopkeeper was still hesitating, but she impatiently said: "Just fetching a quilt, not like you’re going one-on-one with the Mountain God. What are you scared for?"

Her face had always been gentle, but now suddenly it turned stern, perhaps due to the long time spent with Changtian – she was unconsciously influenced by him.

The shopkeeper was taken aback but still instructed the clerk to bring in another quilt. However, he followed up hesitatingly: "Miss, once this person wakes up, we cannot keep him here any longer."

The smiling innkeeper, whose livelihood depended on guests, actually intended to drive the sick out into the icy and snowy wilderness? Tu Jin, who had been persuaded by Ning Xiaoxian to rescue the person and was already displeased, stepped up from downstairs just in time to hear this remark and coldly said: "Such great authority this Mountain God has!" He was not so much filled with a sense of justice as he despised the shopkeeper’s detachment and panic in his tone. He himself, a Great Cultivator, could hardly believe that a mortal would dare to speak to him this way. If it hadn’t been for Ning Xiaoxian beside him, he would have taken the shopkeeper’s soul with a flick of his hand.

The shopkeeper felt the faint Evil Qi emanating from him and recalled the Snow Mink Fur Coat Ning Xiaoxian had carelessly hung up when she entered, realizing that these two were neither rich nor lowly, with backgrounds and powerful connections; it would not be wise to offend them easily. With a pained expression, he said: "You are unaware, but the Mountain God of Kunlong Snow Mountain often takes named individuals. Those taken away never reappear."

"Is that so?" Tu Jin folded his arms and leaned against the doorpost, giving the shopkeeper a sidelong glance, "If the Mountain God snatches people at will, how come you’re still running this inn here?"

The innkeeper’s face showed a hint of embarrassment: "Indeed, the Mountain God only takes away outsiders, never touching the local residents. And under the Mountain God’s jurisdiction, the demons of the Snow Mountain never disturb us as well... So... So..."

Ning Xiaoxian finished his sentence for him: "So when you encounter someone named by the Mountain God, you send them back to the Snow Mountain as an offering to the Mountain God?"

The shopkeeper lowered his head, tacitly admitting it.

So cold-blooded towards their own kind!

Perhaps feeling a pang of conscience, the shopkeeper tried to justify himself: "In our village, there were some who were soft-hearted and sheltered those chosen by the Mountain God, only to have the entire family perish on the third day. We...we are all afraid."

"When did the Mountain God start taking people?"

"In the past thirty years, the Mountain God occasionally captures travelers and solitary figures during this time."

"Only during this time?" It was mid-February, and the cold was biting. Kunlong Snow Mountain would not melt its snow and ice until early March, so those travelers waiting to cross the mountains typically started heading to the base of the mountain around this time.

If it weren’t for these travelers, would their small village even need this inn? This shopkeeper truly betrayed those he owed his livelihood to. She was about to speak with furrowed brows when Changtian from the God Demon Prison softly intervened: "Don’t meddle in excess affairs."

"Got it." She pouted; the shopkeeper thought she was responding to him. Seeing that she had no further questions, he found an excuse to go downstairs. Just as he made it halfway, the crisp voice of the girl upstairs rang out, "Shopkeeper, bring up a bowl of piping hot porridge; this man is about to wake up."

He hesitated for a moment, but seeing Tu Jin’s sharp gaze sweep over, he forced a smile, nodded, and went to prepare. He hoped that these two ignorant folks wouldn’t attract disaster to his place. As soon as the young man awoke, he was determined to have the clerks throw him out no matter what! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it with a recommendation ticket or a monthly ticket at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)