After several days of preparation, Meng Zhao, Duan Hong, and Yan Congke arranged for their families and made sure they had no lingering worries. Then, at ease, they set foot on the path Meng Zhao had spent a fortune clearing, heading straight for Flying Cold Waterfall and Mysterious Abyss deep within Little Cold Mountain.
It was the depths of winter. A heavy snowfall had fallen several days earlier, and ordinary hunters would have found it nearly impossible to travel or survive amid the vast white mountains.
The three were different. Carrying water, dry rations, and weapons, they traveled light and fast, fixed on their direction without the slightest deviation.
There was little worth mentioning about the scenery along the way. Though the snowy mountain vistas were fairly moving, there was nothing especially extraordinary about them.
Yet snakes and pythons were everywhere, launching attacks on the trio every so often. That was indeed unusual.
The snakes and pythons of Little Cold Mountain seemed to contain some peculiar power. They were unaffected by cold or heat, had no need to hibernate, and brimmed with vitality.
Not long after entering Little Cold Mountain, they mostly encountered small snakes around its outskirts. The deeper they went, the larger the snakes and pythons they found. Some carried terrifying venom—it was practically a massive snake den.
Yan Congke was equally astonished. With a casual burst of sword qi, he slew a green little python over a zhang long, then asked suspiciously, "There are so many snakes and pythons in these mountains that there should be no way to sustain them all. Why are snakes and pythons so rarely seen at the foot of the mountain?"
Every place had its own ecosystem. If that ecosystem were damaged, the local natural environment would suffer immense devastation and might