At dawn in the morning, Qin Tiexin put on a black coarse cloth, put Edgeless on his back, and put the rest of his things into Storage Bag. Before going out, he touched the piece of mithril in the bag. It was cold and stuck to the inner bag.
When they arrived at the Feng family's house, Li Yun had already arrived.
She was wearing a light blue outfit, with cuffs and trousers tightly tied, her hair tied into a high ponytail, and a sword hanging from her waist. She was similar to Xiao Bi that day, clean and tidy.
There were five carriages parked in front of Feng's house. The carriages were made of hardwood, with iron wheels, and each carriage was pulled by two horses. There were four large boxes on each carriage. The boxes were not tightly covered, and warmth came from the gaps. As I got closer, the warmth became more obvious, as if I were standing next to a stove that had just been turned off.
There are also two large baggage trucks carrying food, tents, and cooking utensils.
The head of the Feng family came out to welcome him. He was about forty years old, with a medium build and a smile on his face. When he saw Li Yun first, his eyes lit up - she was a fifteen-year-old girl, nourished by water Spirit Root, and she was indeed pretty. When she saw Qin Tiexin again, her smile froze.
Nearly two meters tall, with broad shoulders and an unsheathed sword on his back, he stood there like a wall.
"Two immortal masters." The head of the Feng family handed over his hand, "The car is ready, should we rest for a while or should we set off now?"
Qin Tiexin looked at Li Yun.
Li Yun thought for a moment, "Let's just go."
"Okay." The head of the Feng family turned around and shouted, "Load the car! Let's go!"
The convoy started to move. In addition to the five jade carts and two baggage carts, there were also twelve coachmen - two people in each jade cart took turns to drive the carts, and ten guards accompanied them on horseback. The younger brother and nephew of the head of the Feng family were also in the team. The nephew was eighteen or nineteen years old, wearing a silk shirt, and his eyes kept looking at Li Yun.
The head of the Feng family brought over two horses, one maroon and one black, with well-proportioned frames. "Two immortal masters, please mount the horses."
Li Yun was not polite. She grabbed the saddle of the maroon horse and turned it over. Her movements were light and skillful. She sat firmly on the horse and looked at Qin Tiexin.
Qin Tiexin stared at the dark horse in front of him.
The coat was shiny and the breath was heavy. He thought of the war horses Black Cloud--Ink City at home, and wondered what was happening now. There were also teachers Zhou Cang, Tu Dazhu, Zhou Nan... He hadn't been back for almost a year.
"Hey, big guy." Li Yun shouted from the horse, "You can't ride a horse, can you?"
Qin Tiexin didn't reply and said to the Feng family leader, "No need for horses, I'll walk."
The head of the Feng family was stunned. "Master Immortal, this way..."
"Can keep up."
The head of the Feng family looked at his size, then at the black horse, and nodded as if in a daze. "Okay, I'll hold the horse first. You can tell me when you're tired."
Qin Tiexin knew that he had misunderstood - it was not that he couldn't ride, but that the horse couldn't bear his weight. Edgeless plus himself weighed more than 2,000 kilograms. No horse could carry him.
The convoy set off, heading north.
The plains we walked on in the first two days were smooth and smooth, with farmland and villages on both sides. Liuyun Sect's boundaries were in good order and the road was peaceful.
Qin Tiexin trotted beside the convoy.
The steps were not fast, but steady. The Edgeless on his back swayed slightly as he ran, and the weight was on his shoulders. He adjusted his breathing, Hunyuan spiritual power flowed through the meridians of his legs, his muscles contracted and relaxed, and every step on the ground was carried out with deliberate control.
After running for a long time, you can feel the silver light echoing deep in the leg bones. After tempering, the bones bear more weight, and the muscle endurance also increases slightly.
A little adds up to a lot.
At first, the head of the Feng family was worried that he would not be able to keep up, so he deliberately asked the team to slow down. After half a day, he found that the big man's face was not red and out of breath, and his speed had not slowed down at all, so he let him go.
Li Yun rode ahead and looked back occasionally.
The next afternoon, she reined in her horse and waited for Qin Tiexin to come closer, and asked, "Aren't you really tired?"
"Not tired."
"Are you someone who can... train your body?"
"Hmm."
Li Yun didn't ask any more questions and urged her horse forward. After a while, she turned back and said, "Why do you always carry this knife? Storage Bag can't fit it?"
"Exercise."
"Running with a knife on your back for exercise?"
"Hmm."
Li Yun curled her lips and stopped asking.
The nephew of the Feng family, named Feng Ming, always looked for opportunities to talk to Li Yun. Li Yun ignored him, and he just talked about his business and what he had seen in the world. On the morning of the third day, he came over again, and Qin Tiexin happened to run up to Li Yun's side.
Halfway through Feng Ming's words, when he saw Qin Tiexin's expressionless face and the big black knife behind his back, his throat tightened and he swallowed back the rest of his words.
He retreated shyly.
Li Yun's mouth curved.
On the evening of the third day, we arrived at the outskirts of the Frost Ridge Mountains.
The climate has obviously changed.
It was still warm in the morning, but there was a chill in the wind in the afternoon. The further north you went, the colder it became, and by the time you reached the foot of the mountain, the air was already so cold that it stung your nose.
In front of us are continuous mountains. The mountains are gray and black, and the tops are covered with white - not snow, but frost that never melts all year round. The trees are still green, but the green is dark, and the surface of the leaves seems to be coated with wax.
There was a roar coming from the mountain, it was muffled, and I couldn't tell what kind of beast it was.
The motorcade stopped.
The Feng family leader asked everyone to rest on the spot for half an hour. The guards checked the weapons, and the coachman fed the horses and added water. The Feng family leader walked to Li Yun and Qin Tiexin.
"Two immortal masters, we are heading into the mountains. We have to get to the first camping spot tonight, which is a cave. We stayed there in previous years." He rubbed his hands. "The convoy is arranged like this: one baggage car at the head, five jade cars in the middle, and another baggage car at the rear. The escort is divided into three teams, five in front and five in the back, with two people left in the middle to maneuver. My brother will lead the way."
He looked at the two of them. "We will deal with ordinary beast bandits ourselves. If we encounter Demon Beast or... an immortal cultivator, we will have to trouble you two to take action."
Li Yun nodded. "Okay."
Qin Tiexin:"Yeah."
"That's OK." The head of the Feng family smiled, "It's cold in the mountains, so you two should wear more clothes. It's warm near the Nuanyu Car, but don't get too close - it's easy to sweat, and the wind will make it even cooler."
He turned around to make arrangements.
Li Yun dismounted, took out a cloak from Storage Bag and wrapped it around him. Qin Tiexin was still wearing single clothes, and he didn't feel cold - his body temperature was already high after bone quenching, and with the heat radiating from the warm jade car, it was just right.
He walked to the side of the motorcade and reached out to touch the box of the nearest car.
The wooden box is hot, and the warmth coming out of the gaps is even stronger. No wonder Patriarch Feng said that Demon Beast would be interested in this - in a cold zone, such an obvious heat source is like a torch in the night.
"What do you see?" Li Yun came over.
"Too conspicuous."
"Nuanyang Jade has such characteristics, there is nothing we can do about it." Li Yun lowered her voice, "Actually, this task has gone smoothly in the past years, it is just a formality. If I didn't want to gain some practical experience, I wouldn't take this kind of task."
Qin Tiexin looked at her. "Have you never been into the mountains?"
"I've been there before, but not like this." Li Yun looked at the mountains. "The elders in the family took them to the enclosed hunting ground. Demon Beast had cleaned it in advance. This kind of wilderness... this is the first time."
After she finished speaking, she was stunned for a moment, as if she had unexpectedly said this.
Qin Tiexin didn't answer the call.
Half an hour later, the motorcade set off.
Feng Ming rode on a horse and walked next to the Nuanyu carriage. He held a long knife in his hand, and the blade was shiny, as if it had been newly struck. The guard captain, a middle-aged man with scars on his face, looked at him without saying a word.
The road into the mountain is a trodden dirt road, which is not wide and can barely accommodate two cars traveling side by side. The trees on the side of the road are getting denser and the light is getting darker.
A cold wind blew through the forest, carrying the smell of moisture and rotten leaves.
Qin Tiexin slowed down and followed the middle of the motorcade. He listened to the movement around him.
Birds chirp, insects chirp, and the wind rustles the leaves.
There was also the sound of wheels rolling over gravel, the sound of horse hooves, and the low voices of guards chatting.
Everything is business as usual.
After walking for about an hour, the voice of the Feng Family Master's brother came from the front. "Turn around! Slow down!"
The convoy slowly turned a corner.
What suddenly opened up in front of us was a flat land between valleys, surrounded by mountains on three sides, with a dark cave entrance under the cliff on the east side.
"We're here!" The head of the Feng family shouted, "Stay here tonight!"
The guards dispersed their alert, and the coachman stopped to unload the horses. The head of the Feng family ordered people to remove the cooking utensils from the tent and set up a pot near the entrance of the cave to light a fire.
Qin Tiexin stood at the edge of the clearing and looked towards the way.
The mountains and forests are silent except for the sound of wind.
Li Yun came over and followed his gaze. "What's wrong?"
"Too quiet."
"Isn't this the case in the mountains?"
Qin Tiexin shook his head without explaining. He walked to the entrance of the cave and looked inside.
The cave is not deep, about five or six feet, and the ground is flat, as if it has been artificially repaired. There are traces of smoke on the walls of the cave, which seems to have been often lived in in the past.
"Don't worry, Master Immortal, this cave is safe." The head of the Feng family came over and said, "We have lived here every year and nothing has ever happened to us."
Qin Tiexin nodded and walked out of the cave.
It's getting dark. There is still a hint of dark red on the top of the mountain in the west.
He walked around the camp and finally stopped next to the Nuanyu cart. The boxes had been unloaded and stacked together, and the heat was gathering, and the ground around him was warm.
Feng Mingzheng was directing people to set up the tent. When he saw Qin Tiexin, he shrank his neck and moved away.
Li Yun was wiping her long sword not far away, her movements careful.
Qin Tiexin found a piece of Shitou and sat down, took off Edgeless and placed it at his feet. He reached into his arms and touched the piece of mithril.
Still cold.
He looked towards the darkening forest.
The first night begins.