Frost Giant Tree

Chapter 3 Frost Giant Tree

Zhou Leng took out a folding shovel, hacked through the weeds and dead branches along the wild boar's indicated direction, climbed upward, and observed the ground.

After walking for several minutes, Zhou Leng hunched his body and glanced around in confusion.

The cold here was strange. It was unlike the bitter cold of winter; it was a chill that pierced straight into his bones and blood.

Zhou Leng put on his windbreaker, slowly circulated his True Qi, and continued forward.

Before long, Zhou Leng's breathing grew labored, and every step became difficult.

It was getting colder and colder ahead. What if his True Qi ran out...

Suddenly, Zhou Leng's eyes lit up.

In the mud ahead, disorderly claw prints were stamped into the ground.

Zhou Leng shouted loudly, "Big Yellow! Big Yellow!"

Zhou Leng cocked his ear and listened, but heard no bark from Big Yellow.

After calling a few more times, Zhou Leng climbed along the direction of the paw prints.

Parting the trees and weeds, he saw a gap in the rocks ahead, more than wide enough for two people, like a tiny mountain cave.

Clear dog paw prints could be seen in the mud before the gap.

An even stronger chill radiated from the gap.

Zhou Leng furrowed his brows.

Zhou Leng glanced around, called Big Yellow twice, hesitated for a few seconds, and walked into the gap.

He had only taken a few steps when the place became dark and damp. After a few more steps, Zhou Leng suddenly collided with a layer of water membrane.

Passing through the water membrane, the view before him suddenly opened wide.

Dense forests blotted out the sky and covered the earth. The ancient, weathered aura of a primeval forest rushed toward him.

The trees were so thick that dozens of people could have joined hands around them, and they rose higher than twenty-story buildings.

The trunks resembled gigantic pillars. From afar, the leaves looked like pine needles, but up close, those "pine needles" were almost as large as an adult's arm. It was as though he had entered another world.

Zhou Leng's heart gave a violent leap. He quickly realized something, then turned his head. The rocky gap was still there.

Zhou Leng took half a step back toward the gap, but he was unwilling to give up. He looked toward the forest and searched the ground for the slightest clue.

Among the leaves ahead, clear impressions appeared.

Following what might have been traces left by Big Yellow, Zhou Leng stepped into the forest.

Zhou Leng circulated his True Qi, lifting and lowering his feet lightly while secretly employing the Eight Trigrams Steps and constantly observing his surroundings.

After walking a few steps, the chill intensified, and his True Qi was consumed more and more violently.

If an ordinary person without True Qi had come here, even wearing the thickest down jacket, they would have frozen stiff within three minutes.

After walking for who knew how long, Zhou Leng suddenly raised his hands.

Both hands were red tinged with purple and slightly swollen.

The toes of his left foot were numb and unbearably itchy.

Even in the Antarctic or Arctic, it was impossible for it to be this cold.

"Let's look a little farther ahead. Just a little farther. I've grown up. I can't hide behind Big Yellow forever..."

Zhou Leng took out a thermal blanket and draped it over his body, then walked through the forest with sluggish steps.

White frost slowly formed on Zhou Leng's eyebrows, and his body trembled faintly.

After circling a black giant tree thick enough for dozens of people to join hands around, Zhou Leng's body swayed, and he reached out to steady himself against the trunk.

Zhou Leng's legs were numb, his entire body rigid, and his hands had split open with countless raw-red wounds.

"Is this where it ends..."

Zhou Leng slowly raised his head and looked ahead.

Through the gaps between the trees, Zhou Leng saw that the forest ended ahead.

Beyond the forest's edge lay a stretch of white grassland, and not far away stood a white giant wall.

A sturdy, yellow-haired Chinese Rural Dog lay beneath the white giant wall.

"Big Yellow..." Zhou Leng was overjoyed.

The next instant, a thunderous boom rang out. Myriad trees toppled, the earth split apart, and endless darkness surged toward him.

Zhou Leng seemed to see the starry sky collapse, celestial bodies raining down, and the entire universe smashing into him.

The world perished.

He himself was so tiny.

Fear erupted.

Amid despair, only one feeling remained to Zhou Leng.

He was going to die.

It's fine to die. It's fine...

At the instant the darkness surged in, Zhou Leng vaguely saw Big Yellow look over, then stand up and raise its forepaws, barking furiously at the frost-white giant wall.

Maybe it was an illusion...

Smack... smack...

Zhou Leng dreamed that he had plunged headfirst into a pond. When he opened his eyes, a bright white light filled his vision.

Big Yellow's dog head hung before him.

It stretched out its bright-red tongue and vigorously licked Zhou Leng's face.

"Big Yellow!" Zhou Leng reached out and hugged Big Yellow.

"Arf, arf..." Big Yellow burrowed straight into Zhou Leng like it had gone mad, kicking wildly with all four legs.

Whenever they went a long time without seeing each other, Big Yellow acted like this.

At times like this, Big Yellow was practically a dog-meat rotary drill. No matter what, Zhou Leng couldn't hold on to it.

"All right, all right..." Zhou Leng said.

Big Yellow suddenly shot away and raced back and forth, so excited it could barely contain itself.

Big Yellow stopped and glanced at Zhou Leng again, barked once, then excitedly ran back and forth once more.

Like a little maniac.

Zhou Leng stood up, dusted the dirt from his body, and looked at the healthy Big Yellow. His heart finally settled.

He had found it.

Zhou Leng suddenly stared closely at Big Yellow.

Big Yellow was an old dog. Its coat had lost its luster over the past few years, and its movements had grown sluggish.

Yet now, Big Yellow was not only a whole size larger, its coat was even smoother and shinier than it had been several years ago. When it ran, it was as agile as it had been when it was young.

No, it was even more agile.

Zhou Leng first carefully examined his own body. There was nothing unusual, and even his frost-damaged hands had returned to their fair color. Everything before this seemed to have been an illusion.

He looked around. On one side was the dense forest of pointed leaves, seemingly the place he had come from.

On the other side was... at first glance, it looked like a white wall. But when he looked into the distance, he saw that the wall had a curve.

Zhou Leng raised his head.

A super-giant tree stood before him.

The so-called white wall was the trunk of the giant tree.

The entire tree was white, as though carved from frost. Its trunk was so thick that he couldn't see its edges at a glance, and its branches were densely packed.

The branches were covered with all kinds of snowflake-shaped leaves. The small ones were more than ten meters long, while the large ones were over a hundred meters long.

This giant tree occupied an area larger than the entire Xiaoru Village.

It rose higher than Rugao Mountain.

Its crown was like a mountain, its towering form reaching the heavens.

Zhou Leng examined the surroundings. Aside from what he could tentatively call the Frost Giant Tree, the forest, and the grassland, there was nothing here.

There wasn't even the chirping of insects or birds.

Zhou Leng's thoughts churned.

Zhou Leng raised his hand and was just about to wave for Big Yellow to leave when he slowly lowered it again.

There wasn't much True Qi left in his body.

"Big Yellow, guard me. I'll circulate my cultivation technique to recover my True Qi first, then we'll go home."

"Woof!" Big Yellow ran over, sat down beside Zhou Leng, and seriously surveyed the surroundings.

Zhou Leng sat cross-legged on the spot and circulated the Mysterious Tide Art.

The instant the Mysterious Tide Art began circulating, Zhou Leng's eyelid jerked violently.

This time, his True Qi circulated far faster than before and produced a feeling that was difficult to describe.

He seemed to have become a black hole, absorbing the power around him.

The sensation was incomparably comfortable, making him feel as though he were floating among the clouds.

It was a wonder unlike anything he had ever experienced.

After a quarter of an hour, Big Yellow stood up, wagged its tail as it walked around, then approached Zhou Leng and sniffed.

It bared its teeth in a grin, its tail wagging rapidly.

Big Yellow walked to the Frost Giant Tree, raised both forepaws onto its trunk, lifted its head and stuck out its tongue, then narrowed its doggy eyes and revealed a fawning smile.

It separated its left forepaw, pointed toward Zhou Leng, then drew it back and brought both paws together. It rocked them back and forth, making a pleading gesture toward the giant tree.

Nothing happened.

Big Yellow let out a low whine, fell onto the ground, curled up its forelegs, exposed its white belly, and rolled and rubbed itself against the tree roots, looking exactly like a pet dog acting spoiled beneath its master's feet.

Still, nothing changed.

Big Yellow abruptly rose, bared its teeth at the giant tree, then pointed at Zhou Leng and pointed at the tree. It rolled its eyes, let its tongue loll crookedly out of its mouth, fell to the ground, and trembled with all four legs as though electrocuted.

Afterward, Big Yellow stood up, placed both forepaws against the giant tree again, and once more revealed a fawning smile. Its little rump and tail wagged furiously.

After quite some time, a breeze swept past, and the snowflake leaves of the Frost Giant Tree swayed gently.

Specks of white light drifted down from the snowflake leaves and slowly floated toward Zhou Leng and Big Yellow.

A small portion landed on Big Yellow, while most of it fell onto Zhou Leng's head and vanished without a trace.

Excited whimpering came from Big Yellow's throat. It rolled and rubbed itself vigorously against the tree roots, then shot away wildly and raced back and forth.

After running for a while, it would stand upright, press its two forepaws together, rock them back and forth, and bow to the Frost Giant Tree.

After who knew how long, Zhou Leng slowly opened his eyes, his face filled with disbelief.

He lowered his head and glanced at his abdomen. His stomach felt as though someone had clenched it in a fist, and a powerful hunger rose within him.

Zhou Leng suppressed his hunger, closed his eyes again, looked inward, and examined his True Qi.

The Mysterious Tide True Qi, which had not changed for half a year, had broken through two levels in succession from its original Minor Accomplishment First Heaven.

Minor Accomplishment Third Heaven.

Zhou Leng surveyed the surroundings.

Could this place be a spiritual land in Demon City?

But why was there none of the spiritual radiance described in the books?

Zhou Leng stood up and examined the surroundings carefully, but found no clues. Could it be...

Big Yellow watched Zhou Leng happily, sat on the ground with its tongue hanging out, and wagged its tail from side to side, smacking the ground with light pattering sounds.

Zhou Leng thought for a moment, opened his backpack, took out compressed biscuits and meat sausages, and gave Big Yellow one meat sausage and half a bottle of water.

In three bites and two chews, Zhou Leng finished all the food he had brought and drank all the water.

His hunger did not lessen in the slightest.

This time, the hunger was even stronger than it had been during his previous breakthrough.

Big Yellow lay on Zhou Leng's body and pawed at his hand with its right forepaw.

"Still want to eat?"

Big Yellow nodded vigorously.

"There's nothing left."

"Whine..." Big Yellow barked angrily, circled around the backpack, and kept sniffing it without reaching inside and rummaging.

Zhou Leng silently pondered.

"Let's go. We're going home."

Zhou Leng swept his eyes across the surroundings, shouldered his hiking pack, and strode toward the forest.

Big Yellow turned its head toward the Frost Giant Tree and gave two soft calls.

"Woof, woof..."

A gentle breeze swept past, and the snowflake leaves swayed lightly, creating a breathtakingly beautiful sight.

Zhou Leng looked at Big Yellow in confusion, then glanced at the Frost Giant Tree.

Big Yellow hurriedly turned around, shook its head and tail, and shot away, rushing ahead of Zhou Leng.

Walking into the forest once again, Zhou Leng's gaze shifted slightly.

This time, he did not feel any cold at all.

The trees along the path had not changed, and there were no cracks in the ground.

What he had seen before losing consciousness seemed more like an illusion.

Passing through the rocky gap, he was enveloped by mist and once again saw Rugao Mountain.

He still did not feel cold. He even felt stifled by the heat and took off his windbreaker.

Zhou Leng stood where he was and pondered silently.

In the end, he let out a soft sigh.

"What if it's a demonic beast's nest..."

Zhou Leng was hesitating when, deep in his eyes, the enormous white shadow of the Frost Giant Tree flashed past.

Zhou Leng blinked once, puzzled.

"What was I thinking about just now?"

Gurgle, gurgle...

Zhou Leng rubbed his stomach.

"Let's go home!"

"Woof!" Big Yellow barked loudly in reply.

After walking a few steps, Zhou Leng took out his phone. There was no signal, and he suddenly stopped.

Big Yellow raised his head, his watery eyes looking at Zhou Leng.

The time was displayed on the phone screen.

5:23.

July 8.

He had gone in at dusk and come out at dawn, actually spending the entire night in the mysterious forest.

After pondering for a moment, Zhou Leng lowered his head and rubbed Big Yellow's head. Then he went all the way down the mountain and returned to Xiaoru Village.

The mountain village was quiet in the early morning. When the old folks who had risen early saw Big Yellow return, they were overjoyed, and Big Yellow was excited too, leaping up and down.

There was a signal in the village, so Zhou Leng sent Li Linhan a voice message to let him know he was safe.

"Mm, come home and eat."

Li Linhan said only that one sentence.