The wind and snow had weakened considerably.
The herdsman's family rose early to feed the elk. Bai Yujun stuffed a chunk of fatty meat into the mouth of the herdsman's seven- or eight-year-old boy and discovered that feeding other creatures was quite entertaining—it felt a little like keeping a pet. She patted the sturdy, tiger-headed little boy on the head.
The boy had quite the personality; he stubbornly refused to let her touch his head.
"What an interesting little fellow. He's grown so strong."
They smiled at the herdsman's family in farewell. Once outside the tent, they turned into streaks of light and continued north. The family stood outside waving goodbye, while the little boy chattered away, who knew what he was saying.
In truth, the little boy was shouting after Bai Yujun, praising her as the most beautiful girl and saying that when he grew up in a few years, he would go find Bai Yujun and ask for her hand...
The adults of the herdsman's household chuckled happily, deeply pleased that their son had already begun making arrangements to find himself a wife at such a young age.
Twenty-one sword lights skimmed low through the air, continuing northward.
Several days later.
Bai Yujun discovered that the forest had become a coniferous woodland and the environment had grown even harsher. The sun no longer hung high in the sky, instead appearing far off in the distance. She guessed they were nearing the place where the dragon bones lay. Their flight slowed as Bai Yujun did her best to sense the dragon bones' location, searching with difficulty through the boundless white of ice and snow.
After crossing vast forests and wilderness to reach this place, a careful search revealed that it actually possessed an entirely separate ecosystem, like something out