Chapter 143 Slow-moving species
Ye Yan said, since there is a shortcut, why take the long way around.
When he and Huo Gannian walked onto the lake surrounded by mountains, the surroundings were vast and deep, and they could see the end at a glance, but there was no sign of Yun Chen.
Their horses' hooves were wrapped in coarse, non-slip cloth, and they clattered across the ice.
After walking for a long time, Ye Yan asked curiously:
"Is there another shortcut? This is the shortest route I chose after much exploration when we moved the government office."
Huo Gannian kept looking around. He looked at the yellow and green low mountains in the distance, and the distant mountains with snow-capped peaks. There was only one person in his heart, a pair of eyes that he had not seen for a long time.
At this moment, Ye Yan, who was walking in front to explore the way, suddenly said "Huh?" and stopped.
Ye Yan jumped off his horse and picked up a half-frozen belt from an ice hole where the ice had cracked, revealing the icy lake water.
After crushing the ice on the belt and flicking it off, Ye Yan carefully examined it. Suddenly, his heart sank. He rushed to Huo Gannian with the belt in hand:
"Young Master, look!"
After just one glance, Huo Gannian's face changed drastically. He jumped off his horse and rushed to the ice cave in one step.
The ice cave is not big, just enough for one person to fall in.
In this situation where the entire lake is frozen, if you fall in, you will definitely not be able to find the exit. Even if the Dragon King is still alive, he will not be able to escape.
Huo Gannian stared at the ice surface around the ice cave, his eyes as sharp as an eagle, scanning the area within dozens of feet, but there was nothing.
Ye Yan was about to jump into the ice cave to search, but Huo Gannian shouted, "Get out of the way!"
Then, Huo Gannian held the Hidden Moon Sword upside down, used his internal energy to leap high into the air and then fell heavily, with the hilt of the sword hitting the ice.
With a loud "crack", ice crystals flew everywhere, and not far from the first ice hole, Huo Gannian smashed out a second ice hole.
Then the third, the fourth...
He leaped up again and again with his light skills, and fell heavily with the hilt of his sword in his hand.
Huo Gannian's dark green clothes kept flying up and down in the air, just like a graceful kingfisher.
The loud sounds of ice breaking echoed across the lake and valley.
The noises grew louder and more frequent.
Ye Yan was holding the frightened horse from a distance and was unable to help at all. This scene gave him goosebumps all over his body.
Ye Yan had seen all kinds of Huo Gannian.
Arrogant, gloomy and cold, laughing and scolding, and high-spirited.
But no one has ever seen Huo Gannian so anxious, angry and panicked.
Soon, dozens of ice holes of various sizes were smashed into the lake surface, which gradually connected into pieces and showed signs of collapse.
Ye Yan said worriedly, "Young Master, the ice seems to be cracking on a large scale. Be careful!"
Huo Gannian couldn't hear anything at all. He just kept searching on the ice with an extremely nervous expression, jumping on the broken ice like a dragonfly skimming the water, looking for a possible figure.
"Mr. Huo, what are you doing?"
Yun Chen's voice suddenly appeared not far behind the two of them.
Huo Gannian turned his head suddenly and saw Yun Chen standing there, looking at him with a questioning look on his face.
Yun Chen was originally walking on the ice, but after she stepped on the ice and broke through it, half of the belt wrapped around her feet got wet. She felt that the sun was too strong and the ice was too thin, so it was really unsafe. She decided to wait until nightfall and the ice would freeze solid before continuing.
So she found a tree on the shore to rest and wait for dark.
But while she was resting, she suddenly heard loud explosions in the distance.
As soon as she approached, she saw Huo Gannian, the "destroyer", jumping up and down on the ice, not knowing what he was busy with.
After she asked the question, no one answered her.
Huo Gannian threw the Hidden Moon Sword away and rushed in front of her, staring with his eyes wide open and breathing heavily, looking extremely scary.
She had never seen such an expression on Huo Gannian's face, which was as cold as an iceberg, and she was immediately frightened and took a step back.
Huo Gannian frowned and was about to step forward to grab her shoulders, but Ye Yan came in from the side, standing between the two of them and stopping Huo Gannian's action.
Just this one stop helped Huo Gannian calm down completely and he slowly stepped back.
Ye Yan said to Yun Chen, "Excuse me, Young Master Wang, but my young master thought he had lost an important treasure in the lake and was just looking for it!"
Yun Chen looked at the messed up ice surface and asked, "Have you found it? Do you want my help?"
Ye Yan smiled and said, "No need. I didn't lose it after all this time. It must have been a misunderstanding."
She nodded. "Oh, that's good."
Huo Gannian took two deep breaths and asked her in a calm but still urgent tone:
"Where did you go just now?"
She pointed to the distant shore and said, "Let's go there to rest so we can continue our journey after the ice freezes solid at night."
Huo Gannian stepped forward, picked up the Hidden Moon Sword, and walked straight towards the direction of her finger:
"It just so happens that I'm waiting too."
So, after a while, the three of them sat together, each with their own ulterior motives.
By the icy lake, the grass and trees are withered and yellow, and the atmosphere is even more desolate.
Huo Gannian leaned his back against the tree trunk, sat on a thick branch, closed his eyes and took a nap, bent one leg and stretched the other leg out long.
Ye Yan and Yun Chen lit a bonfire under the tree and "forced" themselves to have a conversation while warming themselves by the fire.
"Young Master, you..." Ye Yan paused, unsure whether to ask for his name, age, or identity, so he could only ask, "Why did Young Master Wang go to Youzhou?"
Yun Chen quickly recalled the past. She remembered that she had not told anyone in the Huo Gang that her master was at the Xiangxiao Cliff in Canghai City. She then said to Ye Yan generously:
"My master is near Youzhou, I want to go see him."
As soon as she finished speaking, Huo Gannian, who had originally closed his eyes for a nap, suddenly opened his eyes but did not speak.
For some reason, she suddenly felt a little guilty, afraid that something she said would reveal her identity and wake up Huo Gannian, the napping lion.
So, she could only ignore any questions Ye Yan asked next.
"Master Wang, may I ask which famous sect your master belongs to?"
"I don't have any sect. I just learned from my master."
"Which master did Prince Wang learn from?"
"Thank you, Master."
"I mean, may I ask your master's name?"
"Don't dare to ask!"
“…”
As if sensing Yun Chen's nervousness and vigilance, Ye Yan suppressed a smile and handed him a large piece of soft biscuit. "Young Master Wang, eat something. Otherwise, you won't have the energy to walk so late at night."
After hesitating for a moment, she took the biscuit and was about to take a bite, but Huo Gannian in the tree closed his eyes and spoke lightly:
"Give me some."
Yun Chen closed his mouth in time and did not take a bite, and returned the cake to Ye Yan.
Ye Yan didn't answer at all, and said with a smile:
"I won't eat it. Prince Wang and my young master can share it!"
Are you playing dumb? It makes everyone feel the same way! Ye Yan said secretly in his heart.
There was no other way, Yun Chen could only walk over to Huo Gannian himself, break the pancake into two halves, hold up the bigger piece, and hand it to him with his head tilted upwards.
"Mr. Huo, here—"
Huo Gannian opened his eyes and looked at the pair of eyes looking up at him, staring at them for a long time.
Her arms were sore from lifting them, "Mr. Huo, don't you want to eat some cake?"
He regained his composure, put his hands on the tree trunk, leaned over to reach her, and reached for her unraised hand, saying softly:
"I want the smaller one."
Seeing him rushing towards her, almost as if he was going to kiss her, she instantly opened her eyes wide and held her breath, as if she had been suddenly cast under a spell, unable to move at all...
By the time she reacted, his ear had already brushed against her cheek.
He took the smaller piece of cake and sat back against the tree.
Only then did she feel her heart pounding. Her ears were red as she walked back to the campfire with her head lowered. She caught a glimpse of Ye Yan looking up at the sky with great concentration.
We waited until nightfall, and the lake finally froze.
The three of them walked onto the ice again, but found that because Huo Gannian had smashed the ice too hard during the day, there were ice pits and exploding ice spikes everywhere, making it impossible to step at all.
Yun Chen tried to take two steps, but ended up falling on her butt on a pile of ice spikes, causing her to grimace in pain.
She sighed: "Forget it, I'll go back to the inn in Danyang City."
Huo Gan read: "We are going back too, the same way."
Her back stiffened, and she quickly changed her words: "I've changed my mind. Let's take a longer route!"
Ye Yan smiled and said, "What a coincidence! We've changed our minds too. Let's take a longer route!"
Now that things have come to this, Yun Chen can only bite the bullet and go back to the city with the two of them.
She originally planned to walk slowly on purpose. Huo Gannian and Ye Yan were riding horses and would definitely walk faster than her, so she wouldn't have to walk with them all the way.
Who knew that this horse was indeed a "slow-moving breed"? Every time Yun Chen took a step, it also took a step. Yun Chen glared at it, and it also glared at Yun Chen.
Finally, Ye Yan said that he wanted to go ahead to explore the way, and gave his horse to Yun Chen. His back disappeared in a flash, leaving only Yun Chen and Huo Gannian riding the "slow-moving breed", wandering at a snail's pace on the small road back to the city.
The moonlight was hazy, and the wind brought the warmth of early spring, bringing the faint fragrance of green grass.
The two men had nothing to say to each other, but the two horses seemed to be in a relationship and kept moving closer together, their heads close to each other and rubbing their ears against each other.
Yun Chen was led by the horse and was forced to get close to Huo Gannian again and again, sometimes shoulder to shoulder with him, and sometimes his thigh rubbed against his calf.
Several times, the horse became too excited and almost pulled Yun Chen into Huo Gannian's arms.
She could only keep tightening the reins to adjust them, her face tight with embarrassment.
Huo Gannian didn't react at all, his expression remained indifferent, with his phoenix eyes slightly raised in coldness.
It was not until Yun Chen's horse began to circle around Huo Gannian's horse, constantly making "hissing" sounds, and even trying to climb onto his horse's butt, that his expression finally changed.
He pulled harder on the reins, trying to separate the two horses.
But when Yun Chen saw the stallion under her start to foam at the mouth, she knew it was too late -
The stallion's emotions are already in place.
Sure enough, while the two were not paying attention, the stallion Yun Chen was riding raised its front hooves and actually rode on Huo Gannian's horse.
Before the horse's head could charge towards him, Huo Gannian was quick-witted and quick-handed. He bent down, turned over, jumped off the horse's back, and avoided the collision.
Then, the two horses blended together in perfect harmony under the moonlight, emitting bursts of high-pitched neighings. The sounds were like iron rods hitting wet clothes, and it did not stop for a full quarter of an hour.
Yun Chen and Huo Gannian hid behind a hillock, staring at each other, then turned their faces away with blushing faces.
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