Chapter 19 Let's keep to ourselves, everyone. You can pretend you didn't see me...
She pushed Shen Zhengyuan's hand away, but then heard him say, "I have a secret method to find the thousand-year-old snow lotus, but I need to forcibly activate my spiritual power to set up an array, which will inevitably aggravate my injuries."
"Besides, the formation might attract snow demons from the vicinity, and I'll be having trouble even walking at that time, only slowing you down. Then, on this snowy mountain, we'll face a life-or-death predicament. Are you sure you still want to come with me?"
Li Chen said, "Even if it's a nine-out-of-ten chance of death, there's still one life left, isn't there? What's wrong with taking a gamble?"
Seeing that Shen Zhengyuan was about to say something, Li Chenjin immediately spoke up and preemptively said, "Alright, stop thinking about those things and go to sleep. Otherwise, if you fall asleep halfway up the mountain tomorrow, I'll have to carry you up the mountain. Go to sleep, go to sleep."
Shen Zhengyuan: "..."
Since Li Chen had already said so much, he naturally had nothing to say. The two of them stood close together. Although the night in the snowy mountains was colder than the daytime, he inexplicably felt a faint warmth, which made the harsh cold of the place seem less unbearable.
When Li Chen woke up the next day, Shen Zhengyuan explained the specific plan to her. In short, in order to save as much energy as possible when climbing the mountain and to make the area covered by the magic array larger, they had to climb to the top of the mountain.
When this method was mentioned, Shen Zhengyuan once again tried to persuade her to go down the mountain, saying that he could manage on his own and that he had a way to prevent the snow demon and snow wolf from hurting him.
Even so, Shen Zhengyuan's injuries worsened, making it difficult for him to even walk. How could he possibly find the Thousand-Year Snow Lotus?
Are you suggesting we crawl on the ground to look for it?
Presumably, if she hadn't been there, Shen Zhengyuan would have done the same. In other words, when Shen Zhengyuan was alone, he spent five years begging his way to Xue Mang Mountain. After finally reaching the top and finding the direction of the Thousand-Year Snow Lotus, he had to crawl and half-walk to find it all by himself in the snow.
Just thinking about it makes you realize it must not be a pleasant experience, which explains why Shen Zhengyuan's personality changed as he did later.
However, things were different before. Now that she was here, she couldn't let Shen Zhengyuan do that. So no matter what he said, Li Chen refused to go down the mountain. In the end, Shen Zhengyuan had no choice but to continue up the mountain with her until they reached the top of the snow mountain.
When they reached the mountain, it was early morning. The wind and snow had subsided considerably compared to the previous day. As the sun rose, the sky turned a pale blue, blending beautifully with the white snow as far as the eye could see.
Even more coincidentally, they weren't the only ones watching the sunrise; there was also a snow demon and five snow wolves.
Li Chenjin: "..."
Shen Zhengyuan: "..."
Snow Fairy: "..."
Snow Wolf: "..."
The two sides remained silent for a long time before Li Chen finally broke the silence.
She clasped her hands together, bowed respectfully to the people opposite her, and cautiously asked, "Gentlemen, could you please pretend you didn't see us and leave each other alone?"
Although this snow demon looks like a human, it is completely white from head to toe, even its pupils are silver-white. From a distance, it looks like a snow mountain goddess living in this snowy mountain.
Some people who don't know the Snow Demon might want to get closer to see, until the Snow Demon opens its mouth, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth and hands that look like claws, and then they realize that it is not a goddess, but a vicious monster from this mountain.
Those who only realize this at that point are destined to perish, their chests ripped open by the snow demon, their hearts ripped out and their flesh eaten, while the remains are left for the snow wolf to dispose of.
Moreover, the snow demon looked like a human but couldn't speak human language, so after realizing what was happening, it immediately rushed over with the snow wolf and surrounded them.
This snow demon, though called a demon, is not actually a demon race. It is a spiritual creature born from the spiritual energy of Snow Mountain. Although it is born with spiritual power, its cultivation is difficult to improve due to its excessive ferocity. When it fights, it charges around recklessly and goes straight for the kill. It complements the snow wolf, which is good at surrounding and ambushing.
They clearly didn't take the dry, easily broken branch in Li Chen's hand seriously. Even some cultivators carrying swords and knives could easily become their prey if they came up the mountain, let alone these two people who looked like no threat at all.
But as soon as they rushed over, Li Chen suddenly lowered his wrist, and the seemingly harmless branch was instantly enveloped by a spiritual force. With each swing of the branch, it left a trail in the air like a shooting star. In a single moment, it sent a snow wolf flying, plummeting off the cliff and disappearing into the vast white snow.
Li Chenjin's movements were incredibly skillful; even when protecting someone, he was not at a disadvantage. Just as he was about to imitate Li Chenjin and send the snow demon flying, Shen Zhengyuan suddenly said, "Keep its corpse; it will be useful."
Upon hearing this, Li Chen paused, his sword strike, which was originally intended to knock the snow demon away, was reversed, and he instead beheaded the snow demon.
As the last snow wolf fell, she unconsciously twirled the branch behind her back, and Shen Zhengyuan watched from the side, confirming that this was indeed the sword technique of the sword cultivator world.
However, Li Chenjin's expression was rather unpleasant. Although she hadn't used much spiritual power this time, which was enough to prevent her old injuries from flaring up, when that spiritual power circulated in her spiritual veins, it was as if it were carrying the wind and snow of the place. Waves of coldness traveled through her meridians throughout her body, accompanied by a slight pain, which almost made her lose her balance.
Shen Zhengyuan supported her arm, and Li Chen lowered her head, frowning as she tried to calm the spiritual energy within her body.
Once the chill and pain subsided and returned to a level she could bear, she looked up at Shen Zhengyuan, smiled slightly to indicate that she was alright, and at the same time pulled her arm away, raised an eyebrow and glanced in the direction of the snow demon's corpse, signaling him to go do his own thing.
Seeing that she was alright, Shen Zhengyuan bent down and took out a dagger from his Qiankun bag.
This dagger must be some kind of magical artifact, but Li Chen had no idea what its specific effects were. He only knew that the dagger looked quite sharp and could easily cut open the snow demon's chest.
This snow demon was born from the spiritual energy of Snow Mountain, so after an hour of its death, it would gradually turn into a pool of snow water and dissipate into the world. Now is the freshest time for the snow demon's corpse.
Li Chenjin approached slightly and saw Shen Zhengyuan expressionlessly pull a still-beating, red crystal-like snow demon heart from its chest.
This is truly amazing. The blood of this snow demon is clearly the color of clear water, but its heart is red, like a sparkling, top-quality ruby.
This was the first time Li Chenjin had seen the Snow Demon's heart, but before she could examine it closely, she heard Shen Zhengyuan say, "Eat it."
Li Chenjin looked at him with a strange and surprised expression, "You want me to eat this kind of thing?"
Shen Zhengyuan said, "After consuming the Snow Demon's Heart, you will be regarded as one of the same kind by the other Snow Demons on the mountain for three days, and the Snow Wolves will not attack you."
Li Chen asked in astonishment, "The snow demon's heart actually has this kind of effect?"
This was the first time she had heard of this matter, but from it, she understood how Shen Zhengyuan had survived on the snowy mountain when he was all alone.
Although the snow demon's heart was beautiful, it was still raw. Li Chen tried her best to heat it up to make it ripe, but Shen Zhengyuan said that the snow demon's heart would turn into blood once it was heated, and she really couldn't accept eating the snow demon's heart raw.
Seeing that she was really unwilling, Shen Zhengyuan did not force her. He opened his mouth expressionlessly and swallowed the snow demon's heart bit by bit, as if he were eating white rice. He wondered what the snow demon's heart would taste like.
When he ate the snow demon's heart, Li Chenjin stood aside with a frown and watched quietly.
After he swallowed the last bite, he wiped the blood from his mouth with his sleeve and subconsciously turned to look at the person next to him.
But after meeting Li Chenjin's gaze, he quickly turned his head away, lowered his eyes, and wiped his already clean lips heavily with his sleeve, as if he could still feel the scent of the Snow Demon's heart.
He wiped and wiped until he felt a stinging pain, then slowly stopped wiping. He then slowly lowered his head and bent over, so that Li Chen could not see his face or the emotions on his face.
He knelt beside the disemboweled corpse of the snow demon, pausing for a long time before speaking: "After this, if you get too close to me, the other snow demons will think you are my prey. The snow demon race has always lived alone, and will not easily set foot in the territory of other snow demons, nor will they steal the prey of other snow demons, you..."
Before he could finish speaking, a hand reached out in front of him. He paused for a moment, and just as he grasped the hand, he felt himself being embraced.
He felt the warmth of the person holding him, a stark contrast to the surrounding cold, as if he had found a small paradise of his own in this desolate, snow-covered land.
Before he could react, he felt a hand gently patting his back, as if to dispel the chill from behind. Then, he heard the person holding him say, "Believe me, everything will get better and better from now on. No one will bully you anymore, and no one will force you to do things you don't want to do."
Shen Zhengyuan was stunned. He felt as if he was still dreaming and hadn't woken up yet, and the warmth around him felt like an illusion that could disappear at any moment.
Before he could determine whether this was reality or an illusion, the person beside him released him, and then cupped his face in their hands, using some force to make him turn his head to look in Li Chenjin's direction.
He saw no trace of disgust or aversion in the eyes of the person before him, nor any sympathy or pity. It was no different from when the two of them were together. It was a relaxed, pleasant, and warm feeling, as if spring had arrived on the snow-covered mountain that was usually in the dead of winter.
Seeing that the person in front of him hadn't come back to his senses for a long time, and that his eyes were still somewhat dazed and confused, Li Chen couldn't help but wonder if the snow demon's heart was too unpalatable, or too cold, even colder than the snow here, as if it had frozen people senseless.
A note from the author:
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com