Yong Province.
This province lay right beside Qi Province, across the sea.
A man, an ox, and a cat had set sail from Wangjiao, spending a year and eight months on the journey.
At last, they crossed the sea and set foot in Yong Province.
Yong Province's strangest sight was its south, where ice and snow filled the skies above boundless snowy mountains and frozen plains.
Its north, however, was unbearably hot and dotted with volcanoes.
They seemed like two different worlds.
Now, wind and snow lashed at them.
Mountain followed mountain, as though they would never reach the end.
After finally making it over one mountain, they faced bend after bend in the trail.
The path wound and twisted, and a single step into the snow sank deep.
It nearly swallowed half their bodies, stretching as far as the eye could see.
The snow around them lay several feet deep, its surface covered in a thick layer of ice.
Orange Cat wore thick clothes, small but just the right size for her.
Yet as she walked, she would suddenly leave an imprint in the snow.
And the little cat would vanish.
Whenever this happened, Old Ox would reach out a hoof and fish her out of the snow.
There was no helping it. The snow on the ground was simply too deep.
Orange Cat never tired of it, pushing off the snow with her toes as though plowing a furrow through it.
The next instant, her body would disappear into the snow again.
Old Ox simply put her on his back.
They had already traveled hundreds of li without seeing a single animal, let alone a person.
Night fell.
They dug a snow cave.
In a place like this, there was no way to find firewood to burn.
Li