Joy of Life

Chapter 723: Sudden Chaos In The Snow

Wind and snow sent spring back. In this land, spring was still gathering strength in the south, whereas the wind and snow in the north had long strangled any hint of spring in its cradle. In the north of the land, blades of wind and swords of frost covered the land 360 days of the year. There was no spring to speak of. The wind and snow dissolved into bone-piercing blades, a slash to the left and a slash to the right.

In three days, it was rare to catch a glimpse of black mountain rock peeping through the snow. It was these cold and heartless sculptures that gave off a deathly silent atmosphere. This was an icy wasteland, a dead land. However, there was a row of black dots moving across the long deserted snowy plains. They were moving silently and resolutely forward.

Occasionally, a number of howls pierced through the whistling of the wind and traveled into the distance, bringing with it a sense of life. There were only three people in this group but there were more than 60 snow hounds pulling long sleighs carrying food and equipment as they moved endlessly north.

It was said that these snow hounds in the extreme north were descendants of snow wolves. Only the Man people, who could endure the bitter cold, were able to tame them into becoming helpers of mankind. However, the land became colder and colder these few years. Once beyond the northern border, the temperature dropped abruptly. The Man and Hu people, who once fought naked to the waist in the snow, had long done everything they could to move south to the western grasslands. The snowy plains recovered their peace. So, whose snow hounds were these?

Fan Xian was wrapped in thick, warm fox fur, which covered his head and face. He wore leather boots on his feet and thick gloves on his hands. He was wrapped up like a sticky rice bun. Pale-faced, Fan Xian huffed out a breath of air and discovered that the hot air was frozen into shards of snow by the extreme cold not long after it left his lips. Although he had been preparing for years since he learned the general direction of the Temple in the fifth year of the Qing calendar, it was only once he was truly in this snowy land did he feel that the power of the earth was not something that could be endured through mental preparation.

It had been quite a while since he left Northern Qi’s Shangjing. It had been seven or eight days since they passed the Northern border that was no longer stationed by that many soldiers. Thinking of the soldiers on the snow-covered city wall looking at them as if they were dead men, Fan Xian couldn’t help a bitter smile rising to the corners of his lips. It looked like there was still no one who looked favorably on them.

He extended his fingers between his lips and whistled. Around him, the ears of 60 odd snow hounds perked up agilely. They shook their heads spiritedly, shaking the icy and snow from their bodies. Standing in the snow with their thick fur and four legs, it was as if they did not fear the cold at all. Their long red tongues hung out of their mouths as they waited for their master’s next order.

At this time, the wind and snow seemed to have lessened. From the simple snow carriages in front and behind Fan Xian, two people came out. Haitang and Thirteenth Wang were also wrapped up like buns. They approached Fan Xian with confusion on their faces.

“Let’s move quickly while the snow isn’t as heavy.” Thirteenth Wang’s voice came through the layer of fur with a buzzing sound. Fan Xian breathed heavily and replied as he coughed, “Are those people still following us?”

Haitang took off the earmuffs on the side of her leather hat, revealing two cute ears, and listened quietly in the wind and snow for a moment. She then shook her head and said, “It looks like they got lost.”

Although the wind and snow had died down a little, it was still difficult to hear each other clearly when they huddled together to talk. Fan Xian pulled the corners of his lips into a smile and said, “That’s good. I wouldn’t want the men your little Emperor sent to freeze to death in this snowy land.”

Haitang didn’t say anything. She just narrowed her eyes slightly and looked into the depths of the snowy plains in the north, only seeing whiteness. Other than snow, there was nothing else. It was such a dry and boring journey, yet it was also particularly dangerous because of the severe cold. A complicated expression rose in her eyes. They had been out of the Northern border for seven or eight days now and Fan Xian had not needed to scout the path. Instead, he had just given orders. They had wound around the snowy mountains and glaciers, moving silently. It was as if he knew exactly how to get to the Temple.

Fan Xian’s injury was too severe. It was impossible for him to scout the path. Thirteenth Wang’s right arm was not completely better yet. Of the three of them, although Haitang’s body was also slightly weak, if the path needed to be scouted, it would certainly be her who did it. She did not understand where Fan Xian’s confidence came from to not lose their way in this wasteland where the sun and curves of the mountain couldn’t be seen, and where there was nothing other than ice and snow.

Fan Xian pulled out a bamboo knife from the sleigh behind him and carefully scraped at the ice on his leather boot. Everything was in the details. Only by being adequately prepared and having considered all the details could one reach the illusory Temple. In the few days since they left the Northern border, he had led the group of snow sleighed around the snowy plains for the sake of losing the group secretly following behind them.

Regardless of whether the Northern Qi Emperor wanted to ensure their safety or find the hidden and unknown Temple by following behind Fan Xian, Fan Xian would not allow it. First, he didn’t want too many people to die in this coldness. Second, Fan Xian himself was not sure of what things existed in the Temple. Ku He had carefully hidden the position of the Temple because he was worried that the affairs of the Temple would leak into the world and bring unknown danger to it. Since this was so, Fan Xian would have to be very careful.

“Although it’s a bit cold, do we need to wear so much?” Thirteenth Wang stood in front of Fan Xian and sighed. The thick coat and shoes on his body were quite bothersome. Fan Xian had been heavily injured and could not use his zhenqi to protect himself against the cold, but Thirteenth Wang and Haitang were still filled with zhenqi. For warriors at the superior ninth-level, they could be said to be unafraid of heat or cold under most conditions.

Fan Xian smiled and said, “It’s best to conserve what energy and zhenqi you have. Even if you can resist the cold here, we are still heading north. Who knows how low the temperature will be there?”

As he said these words, he lowered his head slightly to hide the faint worry in his eyes. In the cave in Xi Mountain in the fifth year of the Qing calendar, he had memorized every one of Xiao En’s last words as preparation for this trip to the Temple. He still had not thought that the cold would already be at this level less than 10 days from the border.

It looked like the temperature now was a few degrees colder than when Xiao En and Ku He had gone to the Temple a few decades ago.

“Since the biggest difficulty is the extreme cold, why didn’t we chose summer to leave?” Haitang discovered this problem acutely. Fan Xian’s attitude was not very urgent. Since this was so, leaving in the summer would have been the best choice. Fan Xian was silent for a moment. He then said, “It’s about 2 months of traveling, but I don’t know how long it will take to find the Temple. Leaving at the end of winter and arriving at the beginning of summer seemed the safest. Furthermore, I don’t want half the year to be spent in darkness.”

“I heard that at the Temple, the sky and earth are inversed, so half the year is night and half the year is dawn.” Thirteenth Wang nodded.

“Neither of you know more about this world than I do ,so just listen to me.” Fan Xian spoke calmly but his words were filled with a confidence that did not tolerate doubt. He had long confirmed that this was Earth when he watched the stars with Da Bao. Since this was Earth, then the North Pole would have extreme dawns and nights.

The north in this world was severely cold. Very few people could step into the depths of the snowy plains. Even fewer people could come back alive. Thus, in legends, the location of the Temple had a mysterious and unknown atmosphere. However, such a mystery in front of Fan Xian had no effect.

Fan Xian took out three sets of strange things from a cloth bag by his side and handed two of them to Haitang and Thirteenth Wang. “From this moment on, the only thing in our vision will probably be snow. Such a monotonous color will cause problems for the eyes. Regardless of whether you are used to it or not, you must wear these things.”

After saying that, Fan Xian put the item on his nose. It was a pair of glass glasses. However, the lens’ were painted black with some substance, although it still let through light.

Haitang narrowed her eyes and looked at Fan Xian for a moment without saying anything. She increasingly felt that she could not understand him. Moreover, she had no idea what the thing in her hands did. It was good for the eyes? She didn’t ask anything. Instead, she copied Fan Xian and put on the sunglasses, which appeared for the first time in this world, onto her perky nose.

They had seen crystal glasses before, but they had never seen black ones. Thirteenth Wang glanced at Haitang and hesitantly put on the glasses. Immediately, the three of them became fortune-telling blind youths. They looked a bit funny. When the three of them looked at each other, they couldn’t help but laugh.

“Let’s get going, we’ll have to make camp in two hours,” Fan Xian said as he took out a carefully protected pocket watch. He then narrowed his eyes at the sky through the wind and snow. As they headed north, it was probably inaccurate to judge the time by the sky, but he didn’t know how long this pocket watch could last in this severe cold.

A whistling rang out. The 60 odd snow hounds, which had rested for a while, perked up and howled. Happily, they rushed into the depths of the snowy plains as the silvery-white fur on their bodies flowed beautifully.

Fan Xian half leaned against the leather chest on the sleigh and narrowed his eyes slightly, feeling the ice on his eyelashes freezing his thin skin. He couldn’t help but sniff and tighten the drawstrings at his collar and sleeves, not wanting to let a single snowflake burrow into his body.

Since learning the direction and roadmap of the Temple in the fifth year of the Qing calendar, Fan Xian had hidden this secret in his heart for six years. He knew that he was destined to eventually make a trip to the Temple. He had just not thought that, in the end, it would be to find Uncle Wu Zhu because of the split between him and the Emperor.

An adventurous journey… Once he had such a straightforward goal, it seemed to lose some of its sense of beauty. The sleighs slid quickly along the smooth snowy plains. All around him came the sounds of the snow hounds’ panting breaths and rustling of the wind and snow. Accompanied by these sounds, Fan Xian seemed to almost fall asleep.

It was impossible for him to fall asleep. He was listening closely to the breathing of the snow hounds, judging their level of tiredness. During the past six years, Fan Sizhe had prepared everything needed to conquer the severe cold according to his brother’s orders. This included the food, fire starters, and special snow tents on the sleighs around him. The snow hounds, which had been trained for three years at the Northern border, were one of the most important things Fan Xian relied on during this expedition.

From all this, one could see that Fan Xian was a meticulous person. He never fought a battle without preparation. In the eyes of the world, visiting the Temple was as difficult as ascending to the heavens. In his perspective, as long as there was adequate preparation, the Temple was nothing more than a distant and isolated travel destination.

The only thing he was wary off was the severe cold. Presently, the cold was more intense than when Xiao En and Ku He had made the trip. Back then, the Wei Kingdom had sent hundreds of people on the expedition. In the end, Xiao En and Ku He, two powerful figures, had to eat human flesh to survive until the appearance of the Temple. Presently, there were only three people in their group. Could they make it there?

Fan Xian closed his eyes but was not worried that he would be frozen to death. The meridians in his body had been pretty much destroyed. It was impossible for him to summon zhenqi to protect his body. Strangely, the moment he entered this desolate and empty wasteland, this incredibly cold snowy plains, he acutely sensed that there was far more yuanqi amidst the wind and snow than anywhere in the South.

This acute sense could be credited to the small notebook Master Ku He gave him before his death. If he didn’t have that little notebook, Fan Xian probably wouldn’t have sensed any change at all. Why was there more and more yuanqi the further north they went? This was a phenomenon Fan Xian could not understand. In the end, it was a good thing. He half lay on the sleigh and slowly absorbed the yuanqi ripples in the air. If the yuanqi in the north was even stronger, perhaps he would only need two or three years of time before the meridians in his body were as good as before.

The sleigh bumped slightly over the ice and snow. It awoke Fan Xian from that empty state. He narrowed his eyes slightly and calmly observed the land in front of him through the sunglasses. He suddenly understood something. In the past, the Wei Kingdom ruled the world. The Emperor, who had everything, sought to seek a path to longevity and had dispatched an envoy with a tribute to the Temple. All of this was because of Ku He’s suggestion.

Xiao En controlled the Red Riders and had a faint idea of the general direction of the Temple, but what mortal in the world dared to risk their lives to investigate? If Ku He had not forcefully pushed the matter and used immortal life to seduce the Wei Emperor, the expedition to the Temple decades ago would not have happened.

Why did Ku He have such a great interest in the Temple, to the point of going regardless of the cost? Was it merely because he was an Ascetic Monk of Tianyi Dao and had sworn his life in service to the Temple? No, Ku He was a realist. One only had to look at the agreement he came to in an instant outside the Temple with his mother, Ye Qingmei, who was trapped within, to know that Master Ku He did not have much respect for the Temple.

Fan Xian’s eyes grew even narrower beneath his sunglasses. He didn’t know when Master Ku He had come into possession of that small notebook. Perhaps, at that time, he had already sensed the difference in yuanqi in the north, so he wanted to take a look at the Temple, the source of all these ripples and the truth?

The wind and snow grew heavier and heavier. The temperature dropped lower and lower. The white goats and snow foxes that could occasionally be seen initially had all run off somewhere to hide from the severe cold. In the entire desolate snowy plains, there was only this group pulled by the snow hounds moving with difficulty through the wind and snow.

Two suppressed coughs came from the sleigh Fan Xian was on. Such low temperatures could not be endured by common people. Plus, his injuries had not yet healed. It was indeed tiring.

In the sleigh in front, Thirteenth Wang seemed to not have heard Fan Xian’s cough as he kept his eyes focused warily in front. Suddenly, his body dissolved into a streak of sword light. He broke through the air wearing the bloated leather coat. He shot directly in front of the group of snow hounds and stabbed ruthlessly into a patch of slightly risen ice and snow.

The snow hounds broke into a clamor and only calmed down after a moment or two. A few daring and curious snow hounds gathered around. They stood by Thirteenth Wang’s side and lowered their heads to have a sniff. Then, they let out a few sharp and delighted barks.

Thirteenth Wang held the sword in his left hand and returned it to its sheath. He looked at the pure white bear the snow bounds dug out from the snow in a daze. This was the task Fan Xian had given him, to hunt along the way in case they needed it in later.

The snow hounds were obedient. After they pulled the white bear from the snow, they did not do anything else. Instead, they just licked their bloody muzzles happily because they knew their masters would give most of the blood and flesh to them to eat.

“We can have baked bear paws for dinner.” Fan Xian did not climb down from his sleigh. He watched as Haitang and Thirteenth Wang tied the white bear to an empty sleigh. He couldn’t help but smile happily.

This was just an interlude. The group of sleighs moved off once again. Under Fan Xian’s whistled orders, they moved quickly alongside icy rivers in a northwestern direction.

Haitang sat on the sleigh and looked at Fan Xian’s back in front of her. A glimmer of worry flashed through her eyes. She didn’t know if Fan Xian’s body could go on until the end. The worry in her eyes quickly turned into confusion and deep admiration. It was rare for Haitang to admire anyone in her life. Now, watching Fan Xian calmly, confidently, and firmly directing their path, seemingly to have everything within his grasp, she finally felt some admiration.

Why did Fan Xian have such powerful confidence in reaching the Temple? Why did he look like he had absolutely no fear or respect of the Temple? Was it truly as her teacher had said that Lady Ye was an immortal who had escaped from the Temple, so Fan Xian going to the temple was just returning home?

Very few people know what the Temple was. Fan Xian half closed his eyes and burrowed into his clothes, conserving his strength. Faint ripples floated in his heart. He knew his mother had once gone to the Temple to steal something and that Uncle Wu Zhu was someone from inside the Temple. Logically speaking, he was the most closely connected person in the world to the Temple. Thus, on this journey, his mood was strange. It seemed that he could discover the truth of everything, even the truth of his life, this time.

Of course, this could be nothing more than extravagant hope. The most important matter was finding the temple. Back then, Ku He and Xiao En had been the most powerful people in the land, and their age and strength had been at their prime. Yet, even they had searched with hardship. Compared to them, Fan Xian had no advantages. So, where exactly did his confidence come from?

Knowledge was power. Compared to everyone else in this world, Fan Xian had the benefit of knowledge from his previous life. Thus, many miraculous things only appeared to be natural phenomenon in his eyes. Precisely because of this knowledge and the roadmap he had obtained from Xiao En, he was not worried that he would lose his way.

On the sleigh, Fan Xian carefully replaced the palace treasury’s newest model of the compass back into his sleeve pocket. He sighed and extended a finger, drawing two half-circles one above the other in the snow-filled air. Quietly, he muttered to himself, “What does ‘do not’ mean?”