Five-Colored World had only just entered winter, yet a goose-feather snowfall had already drifted across the vast, desolate lands in the north. The accumulated snow was like jade, turning the world into glazed crystal.
Mountains, rivers, grass, and trees were all white—a world truly like a blank sheet of paper.
The cities and settlements they had seen along the way were all crudely built. There were few places with dense populations and tens of thousands of households gathered together. Even those immortal families that had seized scenic mountains and rivers to establish sects were far heavier with the earthy scent of soil than immortal aura. Their mountain gate archways were often shoddily made, while their plaques boasted outrageous claims—either some Sect or some Cult. It was a scene utterly different from Vast Heaven and Earth.
Xie Gou was delighted beyond measure. Good heavens, there were scarcely any Middle Five Realms cultivators, yet every last one of them was founding cults and calling themselves patriarchs.
It was currently the season when the snow began to melt. They followed a river whose icy surface had only just thawed, their boots rustling through thick snow. Passing a rural village by the water, they saw a group of children crouching beside the river with fishing rods, shivering like quails. Their little bamboo fish baskets still held no catch. Not far away, women with hands full of chilblains pounded laundry by the river, while a group of woodcutters leaving the mountains carried two great sacks of charcoal on shoulder poles bowed beneath the weight.
They were heading for the capital of the Heavenly Fish Dynasty. Chen Ping'an said he wanted to find an acquaintance there, while Qi Tingji suggested they take in more of the snowy scenery along the road. Xie Gou naturally welcomed the