Ten Years of Wind and Snow

To get a taste of something fresh, Ye Xuan would drag Ye Jiuzhou along to poke a hornet's nest.

Not the spirit bees of the cultivation world, but the most ordinary, largest, and deadliest wild hornets found in mortal mountains.

"Ye Jiuzhou! Run! They are catching up!!"

Ye Xuan sprinted wildly through the forest, clutching a dripping honeycomb. Behind him was a massive, buzzing army of hornets, swarming so thickly they blotted out the sun, chasing him as he leaped and bounded away.

"Are you crazy?" Ye Jiuzhou watched this scene in absolute disbelief.

He was a mighty cultivator at the Soul Formation stage. A single strand of his sword aura could reduce these mortal insects, along with the entire mountain forest, to ashes.

But Ye Xuan refused to let him attack.

"No! This is a mortal mountain! If you strike, the whole mountain will be gone, and the hunters in the village below depend on these woods to survive!"

And so, the dignified Young Master of the Sword God Palace, the peerless genius of the Soul Formation stage, Ye Jiuzhou, did the most absurd thing of his life that day: he scooped up Ye Xuan and fled at top speed using wind-riding arts, looking as wretched as if he were running for his life.

They finally stopped by a small stream.

Ye Xuan's face was swollen like a pig's head. His left eye was completely swollen shut into a slit, and a lump the size of an egg bulged on his right cheek.

He lay on the grass, cradling that honeycomb, grinning while bearing the pain.

"Totally worth it! Look at this honey, it is so golden. It will be absolutely amazing for roasting meat!"

Ye Jiuzhou squatted beside him, looking at his face that was swollen beyond recognition, not knowing whether to be angry or to laugh.

He took out a bottle of top-tier healing pills from his storage ring. Such pills could sell for thousands of spirit stones in the cultivation world, and using them to treat bee stings was a reckless waste of heavenly treasures. But he said nothing. He merely crushed the pill into powder and gently applied it bit by bit to the swollen wounds on Ye Xuan's face.

His movements were very gentle.

So gentle that even Ye Xuan was stunned, his mouth hanging slightly open as he forgot the pain.

The firelight flickered across Ye Jiuzhou's profile, clearly illuminating his focused, slightly frowning expression.

It was a look Ye Xuan had never seen on Ye Jiuzhou's face before, devoid of cold arrogance, aloofness, or even impatience. There was only an extremely restrained gentleness that perhaps he himself had not realized.

Ye Xuan stared at him for a long time, then suddenly broke into a grin.

"Big brother, you are really good to me."

Ye Jiuzhou's fingers paused, and then, completely expressionless, he smeared the last bit of medicinal powder onto Ye Xuan's largest lump, pressing down just a bit harder.

"Shut up."

In a bamboo forest in the Southern Border.

It had just cleared up after a rain. The bamboo leaves were hung with round water droplets, and the sunlight filtered through the gaps in the bamboo canopy, shattering into golden fragments across the ground.

Ye Xuan squatted on the ground, gripping a chicken tightly wrapped in lotus leaves and yellow mud. His face was smeared with mud, making him look exactly like a little mud monkey playing in the fields.

A patch of yellow mud was stuck to the tip of his nose, and a trail of drool hung from the corner of his mouth, but his eyes were startlingly bright.

"Come on, come on, watch this. This is my family's ancestral craft!"

He dug a shallow pit in the ground, laid down dry wood and dead leaves, buried the wrapped beggar's chicken inside, and lit a fire.

The charcoal fire smoldered beneath the soil, its heat slowly and evenly seeping through. He squatted by the fire, resting his chin in his hand, staring at the pile of dirt with a reverent expression, as if waiting for a rare treasure to emerge from the kiln.

Ye Jiuzhou leaned against a bamboo stalk, arms crossed over his chest, his face bearing its usual indifference.

"Such mortal things, this seat—"

"Alright, alright, alright!"

Two hours later, Ye Xuan impatiently dug open the dirt and pulled out the completely blackened mud ball.

He broke it open with force. The cracked mud shell shattered at the sound, and a rich, almost tangible aroma of meat burst forth.

The fresh scent of lotus leaves enveloped the savory chicken. The fat had been forced out by the high heat, frying the skin crisp and golden, leaving an enticing layer of oil glistening on the surface. The meat was so tender that it fell off the bone with a gentle tear, and clear juices seeped between the white muscle fibers.

Ye Jiuzhou's nostrils flared slightly.

"Smell it! Smell it!" Ye Xuan held the beggar's chicken right under his nose, his face full of triumph. "Tell me, do you want some?"

"..."

"Say it."

"...Give it to me."

Ye Jiuzhou snatched it away, turned his head aside, and took a bite.

Delicious.

It was so delicious that his brow unconsciously relaxed; so delicious that the speed of his chewing unknowingly grew faster and faster.

Ye Xuan watched him, and as he smiled, his gaze softened.

This person.

He was clearly someone from the heavens, suspended high in a place no one could reach.

Yet that moment his brow relaxed when eating something delicious was no different from any greedy child at the village entrance.

There were too many such days over these ten years.

So many that when Ye Jiuzhou later recalled them, he realized he actually remembered every single detail.

He remembered when they were crossing a river in the Western Wasteland, Ye Xuan did not know how to swim. A dignified cultivator, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, actually could not swim.

He was like a landlubber thrown into the water, flailing with all his limbs, swallowing a bellyful of river water, and clinging desperately to Ye Jiuzhou's waist, refusing to let go.

"Let go! You are strangling me!"

"I will not! I am going to drown! Big brother, save me!!"

In the end, Ye Jiuzhou could only support his lower back with one hand and take him across the river using water-controlling arts.

Ye Xuan hung onto him like a frightened monkey, his legs wrapped around his waist, his face buried in the crook of his neck, trembling all over.

Ye Jiuzhou could feel Ye Xuan's heartbeat.

That heart was pressed tightly against his chest through two thin layers of clothing, thumping rapidly and fiercely.

The hot breath Ye Xuan exhaled sprayed against his neck, carrying a hint of wine and the smoky scent of roasted meat.

Ye Jiuzhou's ears grew hot.

But he did not push him away.

He attributed it to the other party being too heavy, leaving him no free hand.

He remembered on the snowy mountains of the Northern Territory, Ye Xuan caught a cold.

That blizzard came without warning, the temperature plunging overnight to a degree where mortals could not survive. Ye Xuan's cultivation was too low, his protective spiritual aura as thin as a piece of paper, completely unable to withstand such extreme weather.

He was delirious with fever, huddled in the snow cave, his whole body burning hot, his lips cracked and bleeding, constantly muttering nonsense.

"Mother... cold... Mother, I am so cold..."

He was calling for his mother.

Ye Jiuzhou sat beside him, his expression heavy. He repeatedly scanned Ye Xuan's body with his divine sense, confirming it was just a mortal cold and his life was not in danger.

But Ye Xuan's fever was too severe. His forehead was hot enough to fry an egg, his consciousness was completely blurred, and his body trembled uncontrollably.

Ye Jiuzhou hesitated for a long time.

A very, very long time.

Then, he undid his outer robe.

He pulled Ye Xuan into his arms, wrapping them both together in his outer robe.

He mobilized the spiritual energy in his body, turning it into a gentle, warm current, and passed it bit by bit into Ye Xuan's meridians through his palm, driving away the cold within him.

Ye Xuan gradually quieted down in his arms.

His trembling stopped, his muttering stopped, and his tightly knitted brows slowly relaxed.

He subconsciously leaned toward the source of warmth, pressing his face against Ye Jiuzhou's chest, his fingers unconsciously clutching the man's inner robes.

That hand gripped tightly. It was as if he were holding onto something he never wanted to let go of.

Ye Jiuzhou looked down at the person in his arms.

The campfire had long since died out, and outside the cave, the wind and snow howled.

Yet, amidst this boundless expanse of white, nestled in his embrace was a warm, soft, and evenly breathing life.

Ye Jiuzhou's hand hovered just above the crown of Ye Xuan's head.

He wanted to stroke that slightly messy black hair, dampened by the wind and snow.

His fingers were a mere inch away from Ye Xuan's hair.

Just an inch.

He stopped.

His fingers froze in midair for a long time before he finally withdrew them.

He rested his chin on top of Ye Xuan's head and closed his eyes.

"You troublesome thing."

His voice was very soft, completely masked by the sound of the blizzard.

But in the darkness, the corners of his lips curled up into a faint smile.