Snow Fire

"I'm so angry! That bastard! That bastard!"

With a powerful strike, Dandelion blasted the snow-capped mountain in front of her flat. The falling snow made her look even more disheveled and exhausted.

She tried her best to catch up with the strange snow mountain, but after several days, the snow mountain was still a mountain away from her.

At this moment, she finally realized the unusual nature of the snow mountain, but apart from the overwhelming snow, there was nothing there. Could it be that the snow mountain was alive?

The Gu woman trembled with rage, yet she was helpless against it, so she could only vent her anger on the snow-capped mountain in front of her.

"Damn it, damn it—"

She let out a furious roar, which drew a glance from the Thunder God on Snowdrift Mountain.

He had sensed something approaching long ago, but the taboo of Snowdew Mountain was that demonic power could never reach it, so he only glanced at it and didn't care what it was.

Hearing the commotion behind the treehouse, Lei Gong remained silent for a moment, sighed softly, and walked towards the red palm tree.

The anthurium tree was covered with bright red anthurium fruits. Most of the tree roots had been dug out, and Ren Xiangxiang, with her petite figure, managed to squeeze into the root system.

As soon as she entered, she felt that it was very warm inside. She thought that if she slept here, she probably wouldn't be woken up by the cold. Then, she saw the red palm fruit hanging above her, emitting a soft light.

"Xiangxiang, how are you?"

"I found it." Ren Xiangxiang said without turning her head, "I'll pick it and take it out right now."

She reached out to grab the bright red fruit, and the moment her palm touched it, a man's rough cry suddenly echoed in her mind:

"Aaaaaah—I killed the tree! I knew that snow doll was up to no good. She was taking such good care of me because of my Dan, waaaaah..."

Ren Xiangxiang was so startled that her hand trembled, and the red palm fruit fell into her hand with a thud. The voice in her mind stopped abruptly.

Almost simultaneously, all the roots began to wriggle gently, and a visible red line converged from all directions at the top where the red palm fruit had just fallen.

Then, a child's tender voice echoed in Ren Xiangxiang's mind again:

"That damned snow doll, shameless!"

Ren Xiangxiang was startled, only then did she hear Mo You's urgent shouts from outside the cave.

"Xiangxiang, did you get it? If you did, I'll split this tree root and rescue you!"

"Aww—"

Ren Xiangxiang instinctively covered her ears and hurriedly said, "No, Moyou, I'm coming out now, please don't hurt it."

After saying that, she quickly crawled out through the small hole, afraid that if she didn't get out soon, her head would explode from all the noise.

"Xiangxiang".

Mo You pulled Ren Xiangxiang out of the tree hole. "What happened? I called you from outside for a long time but there was no response."

“I heard this tree crying.” Ren Xiangxiang glanced at the hole at the base of the tree and added, “It feels… it feels like it’s had a tough time too…”

"Where are the red palm fruits?" Blood Soul rushed forward.

Ren Xiangxiang immediately put away the red palm fruit. "Let's go, Moyou, and find Lei Gong."

"Tch..." Blood Soul missed its target, and with a swift movement, it went to Thunder God's side first.

As Lei Gong passed by the treehouse, he sensed the faint vitality of the red palm fruit, smiled unconsciously, and then retreated back to the front of the treehouse.

Sure enough, not long after, Ren Xiangxiang came to him with the red palm fruit.

Lei Gong picked up the red palm fruit that emitted a soft glow and examined it carefully for a while before revealing a satisfied smile.

"Not bad, not a single bit damaged."

"What about the Snow Fire?" Ren Xiangxiang asked impatiently.

As soon as she finished speaking, Blood Soul, whose gaze had been fixed on the red palm fruit, involuntarily tensed up. He moved from behind Thunder God to the front, hesitant to speak.

Lei Gong smiled, reached into his robes, and pulled out a red bead. A tiny flame seemed to burn inside the bead, and at such close range, it actually produced a slight warmth.

When the bead landed in Ren Xiangxiang's hand, she was slightly lost in thought. When she realized what it was, she immediately became excited and gave Lei Gong a surprise hug.

"Thank you, Thunder God!"

Lei Gong stumbled, his face turning grim. "Don't be too happy yet. This fire is not something you can control, so I'm putting it into the bead first. You can open it when you need it. As for whether it will help you or harm you, I'm not responsible."

"Mmm-hmm." Ren Xiangxiang nodded vigorously, put away the beads, and was about to leave.

"So soon?" Lei Gong seemed a little reluctant.

Ren Xiangxiang seemed to remember something, stepped back and asked, "Why don't you come with us? What I said before about taking you to the Other Demon Valley still counts."

"No need." Lei Gong suddenly flicked his sleeve indifferently. "Let's go, let's go. I'll go by myself when I have time."

Ren Xiangxiang didn't force him. Seeing that Lei Gong had turned his back, she thought for a moment and said, "Okay, if you haven't come by the time we finish dealing with the Qiling Mountain matter, I'll come to pick you up."

"No need!" Lei Gong suddenly became irritated. With a flick of his sleeve, a gust of wind and snow swept through the air. When Ren Xiangxiang came to her senses, the two of them were already at the foot of Snowy Mountain.

"What's going on? Why are they suddenly kicking people out?" Ren Xiangxiang was completely baffled, but Mo You gave Xue Wushan a meaningful look and said, "Let's leave here first."

"Okay, sure."

Blood Soul desperately wanted to break free from Lei Gong's control, but also considered Lei Gong his only friend. So when Lei Gong promised to give Ren Xiangxiang Xue Gong Huo, he thought Lei Gong was just teasing them.

"Snow God Fire!" Once Blood Soul started talking, he couldn't stop. He had only told half of what Mo You had said about Snow God Fire before, and this time, seemingly to make Mo give up, Blood Soul told Mo directly, "That's where Thunder God was born. He himself is the essence of snow, cultivated and formed with the help of the fire seed in the earth's core. However, he can't stray too far from the fire seed. And Snow God Fire, simply put, is his heart. How could he possibly give his heart to you? Does he want to die?"

However, the truth is that Blood Soul was quickly proven wrong. When Lei Gong directly sent Ren Xiangxiang and Mo You away, Blood Soul was so angry that he jumped up and down.

"You're crazy! You really gave it to them! I thought you were just tricking them into doing your hard labor! You, you, you..."

Lei Gong ignored him, reached out and brushed the red palm fruit, finally tossing it to Xue Hun, "This is the pill cultivated by that tree. If you eat it, you can break free from my control and won't have to die with me."

Blood Soul was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly caught the fragile red palm fruit, gritting his teeth as he said, "So... you're serious?"

"Haven't you been saying you wanted to leave this place all the time?" Lei Gong retorted. "Anyway, once I disappear, with the power of this fruit, you can leave. Outside—"

"Are you serious? You really don't want to live anymore?" Blood Soul interrupted him, grabbing Thunder God's arm, his eyes suddenly reddening. "What are you thinking? Can't I go and snatch Snowfire back right now? I'll go right now!"

"What's wrong with you?!" Lei Gong flung Xue Hun away, and Xue Hun's body flashed red light, transforming back into the shape of a spear.

When Lei Gong saw his dead state, he became furious. "Are you going to eat it or not? If not, throw it away and die with me."

The crimson spear bounced around him, finally managing to shout through gritted teeth, "Are you really going to die? Is there no other way?"

Lei Gong was taken aback upon hearing this. "What do you mean?"

"I've been with you for so long, I'm not used to not having you all of a sudden, okay! I thought you could leave with me. Is this root fruit useful to you?" Blood Soul in his Crimson Spear form handed the root fruit to Lei Gong.

If he weren't in the form of a gun, Lei Gong would have loved to slap him across the face. But then he thought, Xue Hun was someone he had raised himself. He had thought that Xue Hun really wanted to leave, and that at least he could go and see the beautiful places Ren Xiangxiang had mentioned.

"Why……"

Lei Gong found a tree to lean against and sat down, while Xue Hun hurriedly circled around him, "Speak! Hey! You don't have much time left, speak up!"

"Are you going to eat the root fruit or not?" Lei Gong asked expressionlessly, raising his eyelids.

"I won't eat!" Blood Soul blurted out without thinking, "If you don't give me a clear explanation, I won't eat, I won't eat, I won't eat, I won't eat..."

"Eat it or not, it's up to you. Just wait to die!" Lei Gong was also furious and turned his head away, ignoring him.

Blood Soul was so angry he wanted to kill him.

I don't know how much time passed, but suddenly a heavy snow fell on Xuewu Mountain. The snow was so heavy that it covered Xuewu Mountain in a white coat.

"See? My power is almost gone." Lei Gong glanced at the Blood Soul, who had finally calmed down.

"Then I'll die with you." After a long silence, the Blood Soul tossed a fruit and stood right next to the Thunder God. "What's there to be afraid of? I was just a lump of iron buried underground before..."

"Hehe...yes..." Lei Gong chuckled, bent down to pick up the root fruit that Xue Hun had thrown away, and turned around to smear the root fruit onto the red spear.

"Ahhh! What are you doing—"

Lei Gong laughed heartily, his figure gradually becoming transparent. "The fusion of root and fruit will take some time, so get some sleep!"

After saying that, the red spear flashed red light and turned into a block of iron. Lei Gong struck down with his palm, burying the iron block into the Snow-Stained Mountain.

boom--

A sudden earthquake caused an avalanche, which enraged the Gu woman to the point of madness. She destroyed the snow mountain as she charged toward Snowdrift Mountain.

However, this time, Xuewushan did not run away; she suddenly appeared on the top of Xuewushan.

There are traces of life here...

The Gu woman quickly detected a familiar yet unfamiliar scent in the air. The fox demon had been here, as had Ren Xiangxiang, and—

She rushed up the mountain peak and saw a treehouse built in the sparse woods under the heavy snow, with a pool of blue water under a low tree in front of the treehouse.

"What is this thing?" The Gu woman glanced at the strange liquid, then ran to the back of the treehouse. The red palm tree, which took three people to encircle, withered overnight. She angrily rushed out again, and only left after confirming that there were no fox demons there.

At this moment, Ren Xiangxiang was lying on Mo You's back, feeling the cold wind whistling past her head. She felt Mo You running very fast, but the image of Lei Gong was in her mind.

She was a little worried.

“Mo You…” Ren Xiangxiang gently squeezed Mo You’s shoulder, and Mo You paused. “What’s wrong, Xiangxiang?”

“Come with me here again after everything is settled!” Ren Xiangxiang replied.

Mo understood and simply replied, "Okay."

It took them three days to reach the far north when they came, but only two days to leave. Mo You carried her on his back through the night.

Once the two were completely free from the extreme cold of the far north, Mo You finally put Ren Xiangxiang down.

"You've had a hard time these past few days. Let's find a place to rest and then get something to eat!" Ren Xiangxiang suggested.

Mo You paused for a moment, then said, "Okay."

It was late autumn, and the sun seemed to set much earlier than usual, instantly shrouding the depths of the woods in a thin mist.

Ren Xiangxiang and Mo You arrived at the edge of a lake. The lake water rippled and shimmered as it hit the shore.

Mo You caught a pheasant, while Ren Xiangxiang picked some ripe fruit. Both of them were busy with their own things and neither of them spoke.

"Mo You, are you hiding something from me?" Ren Xiangxiang asked casually as she poked at the fire with a stick.

Mo You was taken aback and didn't know how to answer for a moment.

“You’ve seemed distracted ever since we left Xuewu Mountain,” Ren Xiangxiang added.

Mo You opened her mouth, but changed her mind before asking, "Where are we going next?"