Snowfield Hunter
When Sang Ying returned to her rented room covered in snow, the landlord had already prepared hot water, waiting for her to come back so he could warm her up.
Even though she had enjoyed this treatment for quite some time, Sang Ying was still somewhat flattered.
"You must have saved someone again today, Fairy?" She asked the woman, who looked to be in her early thirties, with a smile. Seemingly not needing Sang Ying's answer, she took the bowl Sang Ying handed her and said to herself, "I bet you did! The fairy came back so late this time; that Snow Beast must have been incredibly troublesome!"
Sang Ying simply smiled upon hearing this, but did not reply.
She exchanged a few pleasantries with the woman named Zhang Niang, then went straight back to her room, untied the thick cloak wrapped around her, and revealed a strange face that she had recently sculpted.
Sang Ying arrived at this snowfield two months ago. Earlier, she had followed Jiulian's advice to travel and escape the pursuit of the Mara Gate.
During this time, she visited several other cities in Qing Zhou and changed her identity many times, but she still didn't know where to go.
Fortunately, Sang Ying remembered that Cang Lian had said before he left that he wanted to find a place with abundant Ice Spiritual Qi to cultivate in seclusion and try to condense Dragon Pearl.
Sang Ying realized that condensing the Dragon Pearl was no small matter, and she was also worried that Green Vine might encounter an accident while following Cang Lian, so she woke up Gu Shu and discussed it with him. After changing her appearance and identity again, she headed straight for the wasteland in the northern part of Qing Zhou.
The wasteland is the coldest place in the entire Immortal Spirit Realm. The glaciers here have been formed for tens of millions of years and are hundreds of feet thick. Even if you build tall buildings and cities on these glaciers, there will be no problem.
Because of the thick ice, the people here are not bothered by sea monsters.
Even so, their lives were threatened by extreme cold and elusive Devil Beast.
Snow Beast are a type of Devil Beast, and they are the most numerous Devil Beast living on the snowfields.
They built their nests in the glaciers beneath people's feet, creating a network of interconnected underground palaces. With their tough white scales, the Snow Beast could break through the ice at any time and attack people on the ground.
When Sang Ying first arrived in the snowfield, she was unaware of the dangers there. She was attacked by Snow Beast several times and almost had her Floating River Sword stolen by them.
However, the consequence of angering the sword cultivator was that Sang Ying stormed into their lair with her sword and wiped out the Snow Beast one by one.
Because of Sang Ying's fierce behavior, the locals who learned of it gave her the strange title of "Snowfield Hunter".
Later, when Sang Ying learned that the Snow Crystal inside the Snow Beast could be used as Spirit Stone in this place, she became completely interested in these numerous magical Devil Beast.
Hunting Devil Beast, and rescuing people along the way.
After several such incidents, many ordinary people struggling to survive there began to lavish praise on this female cultivator who had never even shown her face.
The landlady Zhang Niang, was also influenced by these rumors and regarded Sang Ying as her guardian angel.
The idea of erecting a monument for the "Snowfield Hunter" originated from her village.
After revisiting the past, Sang Ying sighed helplessly.
She truly hadn't expected things to turn out this way.
Having been in the snowy plains for several months, Sang Ying has been battling various Devil Beast while searching for Cang Lian's secluded cultivation location.
In the message he sent, he only told Sang Ying that he had found a completely safe place, and that once the Dragon Pearl was formed, he might be able to take revenge.
Perhaps fearing that Sang Ying would worry, Cang Lian didn't reveal any more information. But it was precisely because of this that Sang Ying was even more afraid that something might happen to him.
After much deliberation, Sang Ying decided to wake Gu Shu and discuss the matter further with him.
"Tsk, I just can't stand your face." Gu Shu had just woken up and couldn't help but nitpick at Sang Ying's current appearance.
It's not that Sang Ying looks ugly now; the face she sculpted is just average, definitely not ugly.
But the Cultivation World is full of handsome men and beautiful women, and someone as ordinary as her is still considered unbearable to look at.
"How about this, from now on, when you meet me, you should change back to your original appearance?" Gu Shu suggested again.
He had mentioned this more than once before Sang Ying went to the snowfield. Now that the old story has been brought up again, it finally makes Sang Ying realize how deep Gu Shu's obsession with her face is.
Sang Ying, who already harbored some affection for Gu Shu, readily agreed after seeing that he seemed genuinely concerned about the matter.
The ordinary face gradually faded, revealing another side of him. Gu Shu felt as if the entire room had instantly brightened, and his mood lightened considerably.
Gu Shu's words were full of satisfaction. "Not bad, not bad, this face is still the most pleasing to the eye!"
Upon hearing this, Sang Ying shook her head helplessly. "Alright, this matter has been resolved as you wished, so let's not continue this topic. Quickly help me think of somewhere where Cang Lian has gone into seclusion? I've searched all the places in this snowfield with the densest Ice Spiritual Qi, but I still can't find any trace of him."
Hearing this, Gu Shu sighed helplessly, "How could I, with just Sword Qi aura, know what the dragons are thinking? You should ask the dragons!"
"Jiang Zhuoxue is still fast asleep. Where am I supposed to find a dragon to ask?" Sang Ying sighed again, thinking of Jiang Zhuoxue who hadn't woken up yet.
Jiang Zhuoxue has never woken up since the incident in the Rizhao City mine. His injuries were too severe, and he didn't know how much he could heal on his own.
"Ahem!" Gu Shu coughed lightly, seemingly a little embarrassed. "Didn't I tell you that the Earth Spirit Pearl Rong Ji gave you was very beneficial to Jiang Zhuoxue?"
Sang Ying smiled, "Now you've told me."
Seeing Sang Ying's forced smile, Gu Shu silently shrank into the innermost part of the pendant, pretending that nothing had just happened...
The Earth Spirit Pearl was no ordinary treasure, Sang Ying dared not take it out lightly.
She set up almost all the array plates she had carved in the room, and then interlocked several layers of isolation arrays to ensure that not a single Spiritual Qi would leak out. Only then did she carefully take out the Earth Spirit Pearl.
After leaving the specially made jade box, in the blink of an eye, a thin layer of earth formed on Sang Ying's hand holding the Earth Spirit Pearl.
Even the well-informed Gu Shu couldn't help but sigh upon seeing this, "Truly a treasure formed from a Spirit Crystal mine! This should be considered a Heavenly-grade spiritual object!"
Seeing that the crust of earth on her hands was getting thicker and thicker, Sang Ying dared not delay any longer and quickly placed the Earth Spirit Pearl next to the dark little dragon.
The dragon, now asleep, had lost its arrogance from when it was awake, and in Sang Ying's eyes, it was full of vulnerability.
The brownish-brown Spirit Pearl, almost the size of an adult's fist, seemed to be drawn to the little dragon the moment it touched it. Its Spiritual Qi was suddenly sucked away, and the fist-sized Spirit Pearl seemed to shrink, becoming smaller and smaller.
The soil appeared out of thin air around the little dragon, and in the blink of an eye, it formed a cocoon, completely enveloping the black dragon.
A few breaths later, the Earth Spirit Pearl was completely absorbed by Jiang Zhuoxue, turning into residue that adhered to the earth cocoon.
The heavy, solid cocoon trembled violently a few times, then fell silent instantly, as quiet as if it were just an ordinary lump of mud, as if this could conceal the enormous changes within the cocoon.
Little did they know, the mind of the person inside the cocoon was not as calm as it appeared from the outside.