Frost Giant Tree

Zhou Leng took out his entrenching shovel and followed the direction the wild boar had indicated, hacking through weeds and dead branches as he climbed upward, studying the ground.

After walking for several minutes, Zhou Leng hunched his shoulders and looked around in confusion.

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

Zhou Leng put on his jacket, slowly circulated his true qi, and continued onward.

Before long, Zhou Leng's breathing grew heavier, 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.

Messy paw prints were stamped into the dirt ahead.

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

Zhou Leng cupped a hand to his ear and listened, but heard no bark from Big Yellow.

After calling out several more times, Zhou Leng climbed in the direction of the paw prints.

Parting the trees and weeds, he found a rock crevice more than two people wide ahead, like a tiny cave.

Dog paw prints were clearly visible in the dirt before the crevice.

An even stronger chill wafted from the crevice.

Zhou Leng frowned.

Zhou Leng looked around, called for Big Yellow twice, hesitated for several seconds, then entered the crevice.

After only a few steps, the surroundings became dark and damp. A few steps later, Zhou Leng suddenly struck a layer of water-like film.

Passing through the film, his view abruptly opened up.

A dense forest blotted out the sky and sun, and the ancient, weathered aura of a primeval forest rushed at him.

The trees were so thick that dozens of people would be needed to encircle them, and they rose higher than twenty-story buildings.

Their trunks resembled gigantic pillars. From afar, their leaves looked like pine needles, but up close, each needle was roughly the size of an adult's arm. It was as if he had entered another world.

Zhou Leng's heart gave a violent thump. He quickly realized something and turned around. The rock crevice was still there.

Zhou Leng took half a step back toward the crevice, but unwillingly turned his gaze back to the forest, searching the ground for even the slightest trace.

Clear indentations appeared among the leaves ahead.

Following the traces that Big Yellow might have left behind, Zhou Leng stepped into the forest.

Zhou Leng circulated his true qi, lifting and setting down his feet lightly. The Eight Trigrams Step was hidden within his movements as he constantly watched his surroundings.

After only a few steps, the chill intensified, and his true qi was consumed more and more rapidly.

If it had been an ordinary person without true qi, even wearing the thickest down jacket, they would have frozen stiff within three minutes.

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

His hands were red tinged with purple and slightly swollen.

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

Even at the South Pole or North Pole, it should not have been possible for it to be this cold.

"Just a little farther, just a little farther. I've grown up. I can't keep hiding behind Big Yellow..."

Zhou Leng took out a thermal blanket and wrapped it around himself, then trudged through the forest with slow steps.

White frost gradually formed on Zhou Leng's eyebrows, and his body trembled lightly.

After circling around a black giant tree that required dozens of people to encircle, Zhou Leng swayed and reached out to brace himself against its trunk.

Zhou Leng's legs were numb, his entire body stiff, and his hands had split open in red, raw wounds.

"Is this as far as I go..."

Zhou Leng slowly raised his head and looked ahead.

Through a gap between the trees, Zhou Leng saw the end of the forest.

Beyond the forest's edge lay an open clearing carpeted in white grass. Not far beyond the clearing stood a massive white wall.

A sturdy yellow-furred Chinese rural dog lay beneath the white wall.

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

The next instant, a thunderous roar erupted. Ten thousand trees toppled, the earth split open, and endless darkness surged toward him.

Zhou Leng seemed to see the starry sky collapse, heavenly stars raining down, the entire universe smashing toward him.

The world was crumbling.

He was so small.

Fear erupted.

In the midst of despair, Zhou Leng was left with only one feeling.

He was going to die.

Maybe dying was good. Good...

At the instant darkness surged over him, Zhou Leng vaguely saw Big Yellow look over, then rise to its feet, raise its front paws, and bark wildly at the giant wall of white frost.

Maybe it was an illusion...

Smack... smack...

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

Big Yellow's head hung before his eyes.

Its bright red tongue was stretched out as it vigorously licked Zhou Leng's face.

"Big Yellow!" Zhou Leng reached out to hug it.

"Awoo, awoo..." Big Yellow acted like it had gone mad, burrowing straight into Zhou Leng while its four legs kicked wildly.

Big Yellow was always like this whenever they had been apart for a long time.

At times like this, Big Yellow was practically a spinning dog-meat drill. Zhou Leng could not hold it no matter what.

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

Big Yellow suddenly shot away, running back and forth at high speed, wildly excited.

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

Like a little lunatic.

Zhou Leng stood up, patting the dust from his body as he watched the healthy Big Yellow. His heart finally settled firmly back into place.

He had found it.

Zhou Leng suddenly stared carefully at Big Yellow.

Big Yellow was an old dog. In recent years, its fur had lost its luster, and its movements had grown sluggish.

But now, Big Yellow had not only grown a full size larger, its coat was even sleeker and glossier than it had been years ago, and it ran as nimbly as it had when it was young.

No, even more nimbly.

Zhou Leng first carefully examined himself. There was nothing unusual, and even his frostbitten hands had recovered their fair color. Everything from before seemed like an illusion.

Looking around, one side was a dense forest of pointed leaves, seemingly the place he had come from.

The other side was... at first glance, it looked like a white wall. But looking farther away, the wall curved.

Zhou Leng looked up.

An enormous tree towered before him.

The so-called white wall was the tree's trunk.

The entire tree was white, as though sculpted from frost. Its trunk was so thick that its edges could not be seen at a glance, and its branches were densely packed.

The branches were covered in all manner of snowflake-shaped leaves. The small ones were over ten meters long, while the large ones stretched over a hundred meters.

This tree occupied more land than the entirety of Xiaoru Village.

It was taller than Ruge Mountain.

Its canopy was like a mountain, its grandeur like the heavens.

Zhou Leng looked around. Other than the... temporarily named Frost Giant Tree, the forest, and the grassland, there was nothing here.

There was not even the chirping of insects or the calls of birds.

Thoughts churned within Zhou Leng's heart.

Zhou Leng raised his hand, about to wave Big Yellow over to leave, but slowly lowered it again.

There was not much true qi left in his body.

"Big Yellow, stand guard for me. I'll first cultivate to recover my true qi, then we'll go home."

"Woof!" Big Yellow ran over, sat beside Zhou Leng, and seriously swept its gaze over the surroundings.

Zhou Leng sat down cross-legged on the spot and began circulating the Mystic Tide Art.

The instant the Mystic Tide Art began to circulate, Zhou Leng's eyelid twitched violently.

This circulation of true qi was far faster than before, and it brought forth an indescribable sensation.

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

The feeling was incomparably comfortable, even making him feel as though he were floating toward immortality.

It was a delight unlike anything he had ever experienced.

A quarter of an hour later, Big Yellow got up, wagged its tail as it paced around, then approached Zhou Leng and sniffed him with its nose.

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

Big Yellow walked to the Frost Giant Tree, raised both front paws onto the trunk, lifted its head and stuck out its tongue, narrowed its dog eyes, and wore a fawning smile.

It lifted its left front paw and pointed at Zhou Leng, then withdrew it, brought both paws together, and rocked back and forth, making a pleading gesture toward the giant tree.

Nothing happened.

Big Yellow gave a low whine, flopped onto the ground, curled its front legs, exposed its white belly, and rolled around against the roots, rubbing itself there. It looked exactly like it was acting spoiled and throwing a tantrum at its owner's feet.

There was still no change.

Big Yellow abruptly got up and bared its fangs at the tree. Then it pointed at Zhou Leng, pointed at the tree again, rolled its eyes white, let its tongue hang crookedly from its mouth, and fell to the ground, its four legs twitching as though electrocuted.

Afterward, Big Yellow got up, placed its two front paws against the tree again, once more revealed a fawning smile, and wagged its little butt and tail like mad.

After quite a while, a breeze passed through, and the Frost Giant Tree's snowflake leaves swayed gently.

Tiny specks of white light drifted down from the snowflake leaves, slowly floating toward Zhou Leng and Big Yellow.

A small half landed on Big Yellow, while the larger half fell onto Zhou Leng's head and vanished.

An excited whimper rose from Big Yellow's throat. It rolled and rubbed itself fiercely around the roots of the tree, then crazily shot off, running back and forth.

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

After who knew how long, Zhou Leng slowly opened his eyes, disbelief appearing on his face.

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

Zhou Leng suppressed the hunger, closed his eyes again, looked inward, and examined his true qi.

The Mystic 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 looked around.

Could this be a spiritual land in Demon City?

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

Zhou Leng stood and carefully scrutinized his surroundings, unable to make heads or tails of it. Could it be...

Big Yellow looked happily at Zhou Leng, sitting on the ground with its tongue out, its tail swishing from side to side and making soft crackling sounds as it slapped the ground.

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

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

The hunger did not lessen in the slightest.

This time, the hunger was stronger than during his previous breakthrough.

Big Yellow lay on Zhou Leng and pawed at his hand with its right front paw.

"You still want to eat?"

Big Yellow nodded vigorously.

"There's no more."

"Whine..." Big Yellow gave an annoyed cry, circled the backpack, and kept sniffing it, but did not reach in with its paws to rummage through it.

Zhou Leng thought quietly.

"Come on, we're going home."

Zhou Leng swept a glance around, slung his hiking pack over his back, and strode toward the forest.

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

"Woof, woof..."

A gentle breeze passed by, and the snowflake leaves swayed softly, exquisitely beautiful.

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

Big Yellow hurriedly turned around, wagged its head and tail, shot out, and rushed ahead of Zhou Leng.

When he entered the forest again, Zhou Leng's gaze flickered.

This time, he did not feel cold at all.

The trees along the path had not changed, nor were there any cracks in the ground.

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

Passing through the rock crevice, mist shrouded the area, and Ruge Mountain appeared once more.

He still did not feel cold. He even felt stiflingly hot, so he took off his jacket.

Zhou Leng stood where he was and silently pondered.

In the end, he let out a soft sigh.

"What if it's a Demonic Beast nest..."

As Zhou Leng hesitated, the enormous white shadow of the Frost Giant Tree flashed through the depths of his eyes.

Zhou Leng blinked once, puzzled.

"What was I thinking just now?"

Grrrr...

Zhou Leng rubbed his stomach.

"Come on, let's go home!"

"Woof!" Big Yellow answered loudly.

After taking a few steps, Zhou Leng pulled 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.

They had entered in the evening and come out at dawn, having spent an entire night in the mysterious forest.

After pondering for a moment, Zhou Leng lowered his head and patted Big Yellow's head, then headed all the way down the mountain and returned to Xiaoru Village.

The mountain village was silent in the early morning. The elders who rose early were delighted to see Big Yellow back, and Big Yellow too was so excited he leaped and bounded about.

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

"Mm. Go home and eat." Li Linhan said only one sentence.