The snow had been falling off and on for five or six days, and the accumulation on the ground was already up to the knees.
With snow this deep, although Chasing the Wind was no longer as excited about it as he was in the beginning when it was still a novelty and he would go crazy playing in it every day, he still loved the snow very much. Taking advantage of his thick fur that kept him warm, he would roll around happily in the snow, having a wonderful time.
Compared to him, Long Qiqi had a much harder time with the snow. Not only was she afraid of the cold, she was also...
When she first arrived at Dan Peak, Chasing the Wind was still just a small cub, not even as big as her. But in the blink of an eye, after five or six months, Chasing the Wind had already grown as tall as a big buffalo, while she was still a little girl of six or seven, not even as tall as Chasing the Wind's legs.
Chasing the Wind was often curious why she wasn't growing.
So with snow this thick, it was very easy for her to sink into it and then not be able to find her way out.
After all...she really wasn't that much taller than the snow.
Li Shiyin was very diligent. Even in weather this cold she never stopped practicing her swordwork for a single day. Although, she did seem to quite like the snow.
For example, right now she was practicing her sword high up in the midair. The swirling snowflakes gathered at the command of her sword strokes, finally forming into a giant snowball about the size to wrap one's arms around. Then...
"Chasing the Wind! Look at the snowball!" She yelled loudly at Chasing the Wind who was napping by the Sword Washing Lake memorial.
"A snowball?" Chasing the Wind jerked up vigilantly, his eyes lighting up as the instincts of a feline made him get to his feet to go look for the little ball. Then he raised his head and saw the "little snowball" Li Shiyin had lobbed his way.
"Snowball?!!!" Chasing the Wind let out a wretched shriek as the snowball struck him square in the head. Snow spilled all over him and the entire tiger was jolted awake in an instant.
"Rwaaar~~" He tumbled two rolls on the ground after being hit by the snowball. Then he gathered up his own giant snowball with his paws and held it up with both front legs, hurling it back at Li Shiyin.
Li Shiyin flashed out of the way nimbly, giggling as she dodged it.
"Ahhh....!" Chasing the Wind was furious. "You dodged, unfair!"
When she threw snowballs at him he never dodged. Why did she get to dodge when he threw them back?
"Hahaha! Stupid tiger!" Li Shiyin kept taunting him, lobbing yet another giant snowball his way.
Chasing the Wind leaped up and batted the snowball away with one slap. It burst open, dousing him with another coating of snow.
"You're cheating!" He bellowed in helpless fury. A wild gale whipped up as he fiercely pounced upwards from the ground into the air.
He was going to bite that nasty woman into eighteen pieces!
Although the deep snow had buried over half of the charred black trunk of the Thunder Strike - Devouring Demon Willow, scorched black by lightning strikes, amongst that snow-covered black trunk, a tender yellow bud had broken through the accumulated snow on top of the tree and sprouted leaves.
With such tenacious vitality and exuberant life force, next spring a whole new Thunder Strike - Devouring Demon Willow would surely grow out from this old demon willow tree. That would be a Thunder Strike - Devouring Demon Willow with 9th grade demonic beast bloodline that would call itself Liu Xiaoji.
And right next to this willow tree, Qin Ran brought over a small stool, arranging a whole set of fishing gear. He smashed open a hole in the frozen surface of the lake before finally sitting down on the stool by the bank, closing his eyes just like an old fisherman as he started fishing amidst the ice and snow.
As he fished, he also mobilized his spirit to head into the heart of the Thunder Strike - Devouring Demon Willow tree, entering the pitch-black cavern within and finding the baby named Liu Xiaoji. Using his spiritual sense he soothed the child, employing beast control techniques to brainwash the primal spirit of this devouring demon willow. He told it that its name was Liu Xiaoji and that he, Qin Ran, was its master...
Just as he was brainwashing it, Qin Ran suddenly sensed great movement in the fishing rod he held in hand. He quickly opened his eyes, suspecting that he had hooked some big fish. But when he opened his eyes, what he saw was instead a glimpse of a white figure flashing by, followed swiftly by a violent gale blowing his fishing rod wildly askew and his hair into disarray.
"Chasing the Wind!" He bellowed angrily. "You've frightened all my fish away!"
After chasing Li Shiyin around Dan Peak in circles, Chasing the Wind had come back around to Qin Ran. He hung his big head low in aggrieved manner. Raising a big paw, he pointed accusingly at Li Shiyin gloating on the lake surface before tattling plaintively to Qin Ran, "Daddy, she cheated and bullied me!"
"Tsk, tsk!" Qin Ran directly smacked him upside the head. "You're a grown up now, aren't you? If she bullies you, don't you know to retaliate?"
"Can't catch her..." Chasing the Wind looked just about ready to cry.
"Shameful, useless!" Qin Ran shook his head. "When I was your age...the nervous system wasn't fully developed yet. Physiological needs couldn't even be controlled on my own yet."
"Huh?" Chasing the Wind didn't get it at all.
"Told you to read more books but you wouldn't listen. Now when Shiyin scolds you, you won't even know what she's saying." Qin Ran slanted a look his way. "Come, sit by daddy's side nicely and be a good boy. Then she won't dare come bully you."
Chasing the Wind didn't care about anything else, but he definitely couldn't pass up a chance to be the good boy. He promptly hunkered down obediently by Qin Ran's side.
After all, with the master right there, Li Shiyin didn't dare act recklessly for the time being either. She walked over the frozen lake surface to Qin Ran's other side, making a taunting face at Chasing the Wind, "Daddy's good widdle boy..."
Chasing the Wind glanced her way before pretending tigers couldn't understand human speech. Lowering his head, he licked at the fur on his shoulder blades.
After playing around wildly for half the day, even Li Shiyin was getting a little tired now. Using the snow for cushion, she sat down cross-legged next to Qin Ran.
"Master, if you want to catch fish, why not use magic instead of fishing like this? This is too slow." She asked, puzzled.
Qin Ran slanted a mysterious look her way, "Fishing can also be a kind of cultivation."
"How's fishing considered any kind of cultivation training?"
"Fishing can cultivate the self and nourish one's nature, bringing peace of mind." Qin Ran said. "Alright, Master will tell you a little fishing story then."
"Yay, yay!" Li Shiyin nodded rapidly.
She didn't know if fishing could count as cultivation training, but the stories Master told were always fascinating.
"The legendary Jiang Taigong said, 'one who wishes to catch fish must cater to one's prey.' Many years ago lived an elder with exceptional knowledge named Jiang Shang...that day as he fished by the river banks, the hooks he used were straight hooks..."
The land was filled with a vast stretch of whiteness that day, the mountains were white, the lake was white, buildings were white, the ground was white, trees were white. The only spots of color by the lake banks were a young lady in pink clothing, a youth in pristine white robes, and a Spirit Beast White Tiger with fur the color of blackest night.
Occasionally the frigid winds would blow past, stirring the young lady's clothes, stirring the young lady's hair, blowing her lapels and sashes onto the white-robed youth's clothes. Blowing her hair across the white-robed youth's face.
Listening to her master talk, she felt blissful.
The Spirit Beast White Tiger finished licking its fur and looked sideways. Seeing the messy windswept hair of the white-robed youth, he kindly leaned over and extended a tongue, benevolently helping groom the other's hair.
Upon seeing the Spirit Beast White Tiger act this way, the young lady in pink felt unhappy. She slowly leaned into the white-robed youth, embracing his arm...
She couldn't let that stupid tiger hog the master all to himself!
Amidst the snow and ice, Qin Ran sat fishing by the lake side. On his left was a beloved female disciple...disciple. On his right was...was the silly child he had raised from young. He felt as if immersed in familial bliss and suddenly thought to himself that this was enough in life, with a good spouse what more was there to ask for?
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
