The Snowfield was Shang Qingzheng's homeland. Though she had lived there only briefly, she had always held it close to her heart.
Jiang Yang was willing to let her take a longer look, rather than rush past like someone admiring flowers from horseback.
The bitter wind whipped up flurries of white snow. The conditions were harsh indeed; without shelter, mortals would have struggled to survive here.
Yet the plain did not lack life. Looking down, they frequently spotted all manner of living creatures. Long Camel Caravans occasionally appeared on the ground, trudging along snowy paths. In the distance, several cities stood nailed to the earth like fortresses, their high walls raised against the wind and snow, together forming a veritable City District.
Perhaps because she had returned to her homeland, Shang Qingzheng seemed quite at ease as she stood quietly in midair. Images from her memories flashed rapidly through her mind. She calmed herself and savored them, cherishing the experience, before saying:
"Let's head south. Home... the Shang family is over there."
"Mm."
Jiang Yang nodded gently. The two swept past the City District and crossed several low hills, beyond which lay another vast plain covered in ice and snow. Unlike Northern Defense Pass all those years ago, this place bore abundant traces of bustling cities and human activity.
The plain stretched so far that its edges lay beyond sight, but for someone at the Purple Mansion stage, crossing it took only a moment.
Strangely, the farther south they traveled, the warmer the weather grew. The wind and snow were nowhere near as fierce as when they had first arrived.
Here and there, the hard crust of ice and snow on the ground had melted, exposing blackish-gray rock formations, bare and without a blade of grass.
In the distance, a