Snowy Mountains

Stepping into a region whose boundaries are difficult to define, this place is sparsely populated, with only a few small tribes remaining.

These tribes are small in number and lack communication with the outside world. Their survival is extremely Savage Wilderness and their level of civilization is far inferior to that of Xiniuhe Prefecture.

The simple huts sheltered them from the wind and rain, and the carefully preserved embers sustained the development of the tribal civilization. The tribe, with only a few dozen people, looked more like a small Lineage.

"I always said our area is really well-developed. The further east you go, the more backward it becomes; it's even hard to find a place to eat!"

The Buddha Son Shigong found this small tribe, beat them up, and then chained them to the side with vines. He also killed two sheep and used the fire there to roast the mutton.

After glancing at the tribesmen who were still angrily cursing, Buddha Son Shigong shrugged, indicating that if they wanted to eat something, they would have to fend for themselves.

"That's true," Zhang Xuezhou nodded casually in agreement. "It's a pity their language is so difficult to understand. If we could ask them, maybe we could find a tribe with horses!"

"These damned tribesmen only know how to raise these ibex all day long, they can't even find two horses, it's really disappointing," Buddha Son Shigong nodded and said, "But don't worry, once you find these people, it will be easy to find the others!"

"You understand their language?" Zhang Xuezhou asked in surprise.

Their language is the simplest!

The Buddha Son Shigong took a stone, smeared it with paint, and then drew a horse on it.

He threw the stone in front of the many tribesmen, then pointed to himself.

"Find what's on this stone, and I'll untie the vines and release you," the Buddha Son Shigong shouted to the tribesmen, then gestured threateningly, "Otherwise, I'll eat all your sheep!"

"This works?"

"It will definitely work! That's the way to deal with these simple-minded tribes!"

After roaring fiercely at the tribesmen again, Buddha Son Shigong continued roasting the mutton.

"Once we've eaten our fill, these people should be able to give us directions!"

The Buddha Son Shigong's guess was not wrong.

After Zhang Xuezhou had eaten some of the half-cooked mutton, Buddha Son Shigong had already negotiated with the tribesmen again and retrieved the stone with the horse drawn on it.

There were a few more lines on the stone than before, and the Buddha Son Shigong pointed to the lines.

"This is a mountain, this is the direction, this should be the distance, it's not too far from us," said the Buddha Son Shigong.

I love hiking!

Zhang Xuezhou nodded in agreement, leaving Buddha Son Shigong speechless.

In flat areas, Zhang Xuezhou's leaping ability is not as good as his walking ability, but when crossing mountains and valleys, his Zhang Xuezhou and bounding can outperform others who spend most of the day climbing mountains and wading through rivers.

"To hell with your quicksand monster, to hell with your raging wind demon!"

Thinking of Qianlixue, who died in the quicksand, and Qianlihong, who perished under the claws of the raging wind, and then recalling the long journey he had traversed on foot, Buddha Son Shigong couldn't help but mutter a curse.

Without the great fortuitous opportunity presented by the purple-gold gourd, he felt that this journey to the east was nothing short of torture.

After a quick pack, Buddha Son Shigong followed the tribespeople's directions and sped off, while Zhang Xuezhou followed leisurely behind.

The two were moving at different speeds, but Buddha Son Shigong was not worried at all, because he needed to cross the mountain ridge, while Zhang Xuezhou was crossing it directly. As long as they were going in the same direction, they would not get separated.

I hate the wind, I hate the snow!

Heading towards the high mountains, the climate changed completely; damp winds, icy rain, and snow as fine as sand would occasionally blow out from somewhere.

This is an area unsuitable for human habitation, but it is a safe haven sought by some to escape ferocious beasts and Demon Beast.

The herdsmen tribe that the Buddha Son Shigong were seeking lived in these snow-capped mountains.

He cursed intermittently while wringing out his dripping clothes.

Occasionally, the Buddha Son Shigong would glance upwards again, trying to find Zhang Xuezhou's whereabouts and to see how he managed to fly so high in such harsh conditions.

But he didn't see Zhang Xuezhou Zhang Xuezhou above, nor behind, and he couldn't see him at all ahead.

"Hey, Dongfang Shuo!"

After traversing mountains and valleys for a long time, the Buddha Son Shigong saw a figure in the distance, drifting back and forth in the wind and snow.

This made him shout out loud, and he waved vigorously.

"If you can't fly anymore, let's go together! The snow and wind here are too strong!"

The Buddha Son Shigong shouted, and his legs quickened their pace considerably.

Lacking sufficient warm clothing and not possessing the physique of someone skilled in martial arts, Buddha Son Shigong believed that even with his mastery of flying and leaping techniques, Zhang Xuezhou would not be able to withstand the mixture of biting wind, ice, snow, and rain, and that his journey must be extremely difficult.

Upon seeing a figure in the distance turn around and look, Buddha Son Shigong took off his soaking wet coat, which he had wrung out again and again, and then twirled around in circles, trying to make Zhang Xuezhou see him in the wind and snow.

"Don't move, wait for me to come and carry you!"

Upon seeing a figure standing still in the wind and snow, the Buddha Son Shigong couldn't help but exclaim.

He wasn't afraid of Zhang Xuezhou being in a good situation; he was afraid that Zhang Xuezhou would be in a difficult situation and might accidentally lose his life, which would make everything he had in the Kunlun Sacred Land go down the drain.

Under such circumstances, let alone carrying Zhang Xuezhou on his back, he could even run in a princess carry without any problem.

"Hey, are you frozen stiff?"

As they drew closer, the Buddha Son Shigong realized that the figure in front of him was covered in snowflakes, almost burying him completely.

"I told you not to take advantage of your flying map skills to save trouble. You can hike and traverse the mountain with me at a slower pace!"

The Buddha Son Shigong muttered something, approached the figure, patted it, and then quickly reached out to grab it, only to find his palm was icy cold.

"If your body can't handle it, take one Blood Essence Pill. This stuff invigorates your Qi and Blood and warms your body, it's pretty good!"

He took out a blood essence from his robe, touched his Buddha Son Shigong, and then inserted the blood essence into his head.

The wind and snow pelted down with a crackling sound, and the cold wind howled wildly as it shielded his eyes. After inserting the blood essence, he didn't care about anything else and simply picked up the person and left.

But as they continued their journey, the Buddha Son Shigong felt his body growing increasingly cold.

He took out a blood essence and put it in his mouth; his body felt warm for only a moment before the warmth subsided.

"This coldness is a bit abnormal, Dongfang Shuo, don't you think?"

The Buddha Son Shigong chanted a prayer and then looked back once more.

At this moment, there was no trace of Dongfang Shuo in him.

The Buddha Son Shigong saw a figure on his back dressed in white with long, snow-white hair.

Upon seeing Buddha Son Shigong turn around, the figure exhaled a breath of icy air, and a bone-chilling cold instantly surged into Buddha Son Shigong's heart.

"You... you... you are..."

His mouth opened, his face filled with astonishment and disbelief. His body stiffened rapidly in a short time, and then was covered by a sheet of solid ice, like a beetle encased in amber.

"What a rare, clean-cut, handsome, and robust man! This must be the marriage my goddess has been foretold for me!"

The faint voice drifted on and on, followed by a heavy sigh.

As he exhaled, the ice on the body of the Buddha Son Shigong thickened by three degrees.