No Years Pass in the Mountains, Cold Ends Without Knowing the Year

Chapter 20: In the Mountains, No Calendar; Winter Ends, the Year Unknown

The cave was pitch-black, without distinction of seasons, let alone any sense of day or night.

Ye Qin, deep in meditative absorption, had sealed off his five senses. External changes could not affect him; only a threat to his life would rouse him from his trance.

The surroundings remained utterly unchanged, as if they formed a world unto themselves. Yet outside, the four seasons cycled and shifted without cease.

As the weather gradually turned cold, the leaves shifted from tender green to deep, then yellowed, and at last drifted slowly down.

The fall of a single leaf heralds autumn across the land.

This mountain, too, had welcomed its autumn. The maple leaves on the northern slopes had blazed fully red, covering the hills and fields, reflecting against the entire sky like a sea of fire—a magnificent and dazzling sight.

The branches were heavy with fruit. In this season of harvest, countless squirrels darted among them, preparing for the coming winter, while Field Mice and rabbits gathered fallen nuts from the ground.

Time continued to race onward.

Until the cold wind howled, the temperature dropped steadily, and traces of life on the ground grew scarce. Most creatures had retreated into their warm burrows, ready to endure the long winter.

With the first snowfall, silence reigned. Unbeknownst to all, the earth wrapped itself in silver, as if made anew.

This winter seemed to have arrived especially early. Between heaven and earth, a vast expanse of white snow stretched in solitude, as though only this pure color remained.

And this was Ye Qin's first winter after being reborn as a snake.

At this point, less than two years remained before his lifespan ran out.

Bang!

Yet when a gunshot rang out, it was starkly clear in the silent mountain forest—a sign that this winter would not be peaceful.

In the mountains, no calendar marks the days; when the cold ends, the year is unknown.

When the second heavy snow fell, Ye Qin finally opened his eyes. A faint, elusive light flickered in his serpentine pupils, and his entire aura had transformed.

If before he had carried a hint of restlessness, now he had settled, deeply grounded.

Like a rough jade constantly polished and carved, he had at last begun to emit a light uniquely his own.

Perhaps this light was not yet strong, but it grew and advanced in its own way—who could say it might not one day rival the sun and moon?

Winter was, after all, the season for snakes to hibernate. And Ye Qin, having been immersed in his contemplation all this while, had only now awakened.

He crawled down from the white bones, stretched lazily, and extended his body as far as it would go. It felt as though he had slept a long, deep sleep—or perhaps merely dozed off.

Far from feeling tired, he was brimming with energy.

As his serpentine body shifted, something seemed to fall off, rustling softly.

"Huh."

Ye Qin was puzzled. His gaze dropped to the ground, and he saw that what had fallen were all charred black scales.

He quickly lifted his tail, a look of surprise on his face. His entire body had grown considerably longer. Before, he could see from one end to the other at a glance, but now when he looked back, he only saw a winding length of torso—likely over a meter long.

Most importantly, about a third of his body had grown new scales. They were a vivid emerald green, brimming with life, forming a stark contrast with the black scales on the rest of his body.

This trendy black-and-green color clash was, in the entire snake world, a fashion-forward statement.

"Not exactly good-looking, but not ugly either. Pretty distinctive, actually—just a bit alternative."

Ye Qin couldn't help but comment. For now, he only hoped the scales on the rest of his body would grow out soon. At this rate, it shouldn't take long.

This was through his own eyes. He had grown used to his snake form, so he couldn't help but view it through a filter.

To an ordinary person, a snake this long, with its black-and-green mottled pattern, would still look rather fierce and terrifying.

"The White Bone Contemplation method should be complete now. I can move on to the second stage."

His visualization object was now vivid and lifelike, indistinguishable from reality, having reached a point where it could pass for the real thing.

When immersed in contemplation, Ye Qin could no longer tell how to distinguish the illusory bones from the real ones.

Grrrrr—

His stomach protested loudly.

Earlier, caught up in excitement and the rush of awakening from meditation, Ye Qin hadn't felt hunger. Now that he had calmed down, he was ravenous, his stomach burning as if on fire.

"So hungry. I wonder how long it's been. Is it almost New Year's?"

Ye Qin crawled out of the cave, intending to find something to eat outside. A blast of cold wind hit him head-on.

The world was draped in silver. As far as the eye could see, everything was pure white.

The monotony of color was almost blinding. Not far away, the branches of a large tree were bent low under the weight of snow, swaying precariously—nothing like the lush, leafy canopy he remembered.

A cold snowflake drifted down slowly, landing right on Ye Qin's forehead. The chill jolted him back to his senses.

"How is it already winter?!"

Ye Qin was dumbfounded. He clearly remembered that when he had entered his meditation, it was still summer. And now, in the blink of an eye, it was winter!

He had thought he would be in meditation for at most ten days or half a month. Who would have guessed so much time had passed!

No wonder he was so hungry.

If not for the fact that Ye Qin cultivated and had true qi circulating in his body, any ordinary snake that went without food or water for this long would have long since dried into jerky.

The white snow stretched endlessly, with hardly any trace of small animals.

It had been snowing for several days, and a thick layer had accumulated on the ground. Ye Qin's entire serpent body was nearly buried by the heavy snow. Fortunately, he had been lucky enough to find a field mouse burrow.

The only pity was the field mouse family, which Ye Qin had wiped out completely.

Perhaps it was because he was so hungry that everything tasted good, but the field mouse meat actually gave off a flavor reminiscent of grilled chicken.

In the past, with his former appetite, Ye Qin might have been full by now. But for his current, much larger appetite, this was barely enough to take the edge off. The burning sensation of hunger had finally lessened, but it was far from sufficient.

He continued crawling, not noticing the steep slope ahead. Because the snow was thick, the original incline had been completely covered, making it look like flat ground.

By the time Ye Qin crawled over, the snow suddenly gave way beneath him, like a castle in the air. He was instantly airborne. By the time he realized something was wrong, it was already too late.

Under the force of inertia, his entire serpent body tumbled straight down the slope. There were no branches around that he could latch onto.

"Damn, this is going to be trouble."

Ye Qin remembered that this place had been a steep slope before, but the heavy snowfall had changed the terrain, causing him to overlook it.

"Bam!"

With a dull thud, Ye Qin crashed heavily onto the ground. Along the way, he had slammed into quite a few branches, but the pain he had imagined never came.

"It doesn't seem to hurt at all."

Ye Qin checked himself over. There wasn't even a white mark left on his body. This completely surprised him; it felt as if he had just rolled around on flat ground.

He looked up at the steep slope. The drop was still significant. If any other animal had accidentally fallen from here, even if they didn't die, they would be crippled.

Yet he was as fine as could be.

"It seems that this seclusion training, constantly visualizing the White Bone, has caused a qualitative change in my own physique. My bones and flesh have become stronger. The White Bone Contemplation is truly formidable!"

Ye Qin was overjoyed. He hadn't expected the White Bone Contemplation to bring him such a huge change.

Back when he first created the Contemplation Method, he had chosen to visualize the white bones of ancient people. He had noticed that his body was continuously growing stronger with each visualization. This was the feedback effect brought about by visualizing the white bones.

And now, after a long seclusion spanning two seasons, his physical body seemed to have reached a certain level of strength, perfectly embodying the method of the White Bone Contemplation!

Since his body was now so strong, did that also mean his strength had increased?

Looking at a small tree beside him, half a person tall and as thick as an arm, Ye Qin felt eager to try it out.

He lashed his tail directly at it.

"Crack—"

The entire tree was snapped in half. All the snow on the tree fell down, completely covering Ye Qin, instantly forming a small snow pile.

Soon, a pointed snake head emerged from the snow pile. Ye Qin spat out quite a bit of snow residue, quickly pulled his body free, and looked at the fallen tree beside him.

"Damn, that tail strike of mine was pretty powerful."

End of this chapter