Chapter 18 As long as I'm here, you won't die. I think about us...
She sighed deeply again and turned to look at the person behind her.
Although Shen Zhengyuan's face was expressionless at the moment, showing neither anger nor dissatisfaction, his quiet gaze made her feel a chill run down her spine for no apparent reason.
She thought for a moment and said, "No one can predict what will happen in the future. But if possible, I won't leave. Is that an acceptable answer?"
After she said that, Shen Zhengyuan seemed to relax a lot, but he didn't say whether it was okay or not. He just stared at Li Chenjin for a while before slowly saying, "Let's go to bed. I'll make breakfast tomorrow."
Even if he didn't say anything, he would still make breakfast, since the kitchen was on the first floor and it would be convenient for him to make breakfast whenever he got up in the morning. As for the other two meals, Li Chenjin would make them.
After all, this guy's cooking skills were really limited. He could make porridge to get by, and while he could make other things that were edible, that was about it. Life was already so hard, and she really didn't want to mistreat her own palate any further.
However, she didn't want to take it seriously at the moment. She nodded haphazardly, didn't say anything more, turned her head, and went up the stairs to the second floor.
What happened tonight seems to have been just a fleeting interlude. The two continued their lives as usual afterward, and nothing too intimate happened again. Looking back, they must have been really drunk at the time.
When they arrived at the foot of Xuemang Mountain, the snow there was even more astonishing. Large snowflakes, like goose feathers, poured down from the sky, turning the world before them into a pure white expanse.
The snow may look beautiful, but it hides poisonous insects that are already accustomed to this environment. These insects are all white and blend into the snow, making them difficult to spot with the naked eye.
When no living creatures set foot there, the poisonous insects will curl up and slumber in the snow. Once they sense the approach of a living creature, they will emerge from the snow and take the opportunity to climb onto the creature's body and suck its blood.
When this insect bites, there is no pain until it is full and its body turns from snow-white to bright red, at which point the wound will start to feel hot and painful.
Li Chenjin had initially forgotten about the insects until the two of them felt something was wrong with their bodies while having lunch. When she pulled up her sleeves and found poisonous insects clinging to her skin, already satiated with blood, she suddenly remembered that there were insects in this place.
At this point, applying some deworming medicine to their bodies wasn't too late, but the poison from the insects had already entered their bodies. One of them was lying upstairs, and the other was lying downstairs. Even after taking the medicine, they still had a high fever for three whole days because of the poisonous insects.
After their fever subsided, they rested for three days before they finally had the strength to start climbing the mountain.
The reason why Xuemang Mountain is called Xuemang Mountain is not only because it is a vast expanse of white snow, but also because it is a series of mountains of different sizes connected together. Even when you fly into the air, you will see a vast mountain range that stretches as far as the eye can see.
If one were to search for snow lotus in such a place, who knows how long it would take.
At that moment, they happened to be at the foot of the highest mountain in the Snowy Mountains. Looking up, they could see the majestic snow-capped mountains in front of them, with peaks soaring into the clouds, making it difficult to see the whole mountain. Climbing up would be a difficult task.
Moreover, the mountain is rather steep, and there is no place to put the small building after they go up. After they go up the mountain, they will have to find a sheltered place to stay at night, and they can only eat some snow to fill their stomachs.
If they were lucky, they might be able to hunt a snow wolf, but it was difficult to start a fire here, and Li Chen had no habit of eating raw meat and drinking blood. After thinking it over, he decided that it would be better to eat some snow to fill their stomachs.
Li Chen rubbed his hands together, ready to climb the mountain, but Shen Zhengyuan suddenly said, "I'll go find it myself. You wait here for me."
"Huh?" Li Chen looked at Shen Zhengyuan in surprise. "Go find it yourself. Are you going to feed the snow wolves or the snow demons?"
Shen Zhengyuan: "..."
He glanced indifferently at Li Chenjin, whose face was also deathly pale, and said slowly, "I have my own way."
Shen Zhengyuan would not make a boast. If he could say that, it meant that he really had a way. However, Li Chenjin was not very at ease at the moment. After all, although Shen Zhengyuan seemed to be tough, nothing is absolute. What if he accidentally died right now?
She thought for a moment and said, "I'll go with you. Didn't we agree that I'd see what the thousand-year-old snow lotus looks like? You're not still worried that I'll steal your thousand-year-old snow lotus, are you?"
Shen Zhengyuan said, "After I find it, I will bring the snow lotus down for you to see."
Shen Zhengyuan had already said so much, and according to common sense, she should have reluctantly agreed at this point. However, she had appeared hundreds of years ago, and she hadn't even been born yet. This was already quite illogical, so she didn't need to act according to common sense.
She didn't argue with Shen Zhengyuan about who should go up and who should stay; she simply reached out her hand to him and said, "Let's go up together."
Shen Zhengyuan looked at her outstretched hand, took a deep breath as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say anything. He took her hand and they slowly walked up the mountain together.
Climbing a mountain with two people is less strenuous than climbing alone. If one person falls, the other can quickly reach out and help them up. Moreover, having someone by your side during the climb makes you feel less lonely, and even when you occasionally hear the howling of snow wolves in the mountains, you don't feel any fear.
They kept climbing up the mountain, drinking the wind from who-knows-where when they were hungry, and nibbling on the snow along the way. When they were thirsty, it was much easier; they could just grab a handful of snow.
The journey was tiring, but thankfully we didn't encounter any snow wolves or snow demons. In fact, we were incredibly lucky to find a cave as darkness fell.
It's unclear whether this cave was left by a snow wolf or a snow demon from the mountains. Deep inside the cave, several skeletons can be seen, one of which is clearly human. Presumably, it was attracted by the fame of the snow lotus nurtured by spiritual energy in this snow mountain, but unfortunately, it came with the life to come but did not return.
They rested temporarily near the pile of bones that night. Li Chen held a pleasing and handy branch that she had found on the way and sat on the outer side so that she could take action in time if the true owner of the cave returned.
Shen Zhengyuan then took out something that looked like a luminous pearl from his Qiankun bag. As soon as he took it out, the silver light emitted by the object instantly illuminated the dark cave.
The light was not dazzling, but soft like the bright moon in the sky, yet it was also very bright, making the tinderbox in her hand seem rather useless.
After she turned off the tinderbox, she took a closer look at what Shen Zhengyuan was holding and discovered that it was a spirit stone that had been polished into a spherical shape. Abundant spiritual energy surrounded the spirit stone. If it were to be sold, it would definitely be a priceless treasure.
It's unbelievable that although the cultivation world has experienced periods of decline, it has never been poor. Whether it's hundreds of years ago or hundreds of years later, it remains just as wealthy, using such large spirit stones for lighting. No wonder there are always people trying to snatch things from Shen Zhengyuan's hands.
It seems that if it weren't for the help from fellow cultivators in the sword cultivation world, and their reckless pursuit of this place, there would probably have been many more people trying to rob them.
After Shen Zhengyuan took out the spirit stone, his gaze did not linger on the priceless stone for even a moment. Instead, he looked at her and suddenly asked, "Why do you insist on coming up the mountain with me?"
Li Chen sighed. "What? Do you think I'm trying to trick you out of something again?"
Shen Zhengyuan remained silent for a long time, until Li Chen was starting to feel drowsy, before finally speaking: "Aren't you afraid of dying on the mountain with me if you come up with me?"
Li Chen replied, "What's there to be afraid of? We're here to live, not to die. If we're not careful and lose our lives here, it'll just be bad luck."
"Besides, if we both accidentally die here, at least we can keep each other company, and we won't be lonely on the way, right?"
Shen Zhengyuan stared at the person in front of him quietly for a long time. Just when Li Chen thought he was about to say something, he simply smiled at her with an ambiguous expression and then said, "If I die, you can take the things and do whatever you want with them."
Li Chen glanced at Shen Zhengyuan, seemingly surprised that he could say such a thing, but then she smiled slightly and said, "I don't need those things. I'm not a disciple of the Dharma Cultivation World. You should shoulder the heavy responsibility of rebuilding the Dharma Cultivation World yourself."
"Besides, with me here, you won't die. I think our luck isn't that bad yet."
Shen Zhengyuan was startled. When he turned to look at Li Chenjin, she had already leaned against the stone wall, closed her eyes, and wrapped her cloak tightly around herself, as if she was about to fall asleep. She seemed completely unaware of what she had just said, and also unaware of the uproar her words would cause in other people's hearts.
She was so calm, as if such a guarantee was just a daily occurrence for her, as simple as drinking water or eating. But thinking about it carefully, it seems quite normal for people in the sword cultivation world to have this kind of arrogance and say such things.
Li Chen was about to fall asleep when he suddenly felt an itch on his face.
Her first thought was that some insects had crawled onto her face, but then she thought that the effects of the insect-repelling powder should not have worn off yet, so there shouldn't be any insects crawling onto her.
She opened her eyes and found that it was indeed not an insect, but Shen Zhengyuan's hand.
He gently brushed the stray hairs from her forehead behind her ear, then looked at her as if she were lost in thought, his hand slowly moving from her earlobe to the corner of her mouth.
Just as she was feeling something was off, she suddenly heard him say, "Your lip is cut."
Li Chenjin: "..."
Given the living conditions here, it's quite normal for her lip to be cracked.
Not only her mouth, but even the skin on her face felt like it was about to crack from the relentless, biting winds that blew it away day and night.
A note from the author:
Hehehe, breakfast is safe! I ate my bird's expired food. I was worried about food poisoning while I was eating it, but thankfully it didn't, hahaha. It's just that the bird food wasn't very tasty...
Okay, the birdseed wasn't tasty at all. It was a bit rough on the throat, and I could vaguely taste sand in it. I wouldn't recommend it.
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