Chapter 21

Chapter 21: I’ll slap myself twice when I get back

“Cough cough…”

Sang Nian woke up from the cold.

Goose feather-like snowflakes drifted down with the wind, landing on her eyelashes, and didn’t melt for a long time.

She hugged her arms tightly, shivering uncontrollably, and a familiar sweet and bloody taste filled her mouth.

Xie Chenzhou stood beside her, using his sword to chop wood.

“Cough cough, what are you doing?” she nearly coughed up her heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys.

He squatted down and drilled into the wood: “Making a fire.”

Sang Nian said weakly: “Don’t you know fire spells?”

“I can’t use spiritual energy here.”

Here?

Sang Nian looked up into the distance, only then did she realize that they were no longer on the ice lake.

She saw a flat plain, with snow piled up to her knees.

Further away, there was a small forest, dark and gloomy, only a few scattered reflections of snow could be seen.

She asked Liu Liu in her heart: “Where are we?”

Liu Liu quickly said: “I’m not sure yet, but the data shows that this place has a danger level of S+.”

“S+?!”

Sang Nian sat up straight: “Then how do we get out?”

“I’m still looking for a way, but there seems to be a force interfering with me,” Liu Liu said, “Wait a minute, I’ll go check.”

It left and never came back.

Sang Nian didn’t want to freeze to death here, so she shivered and opened her storage pouch, taking out a plant seed the size of a walnut.

She dug a hole in the snow in front of her and dropped the seed.

The seed took root, and in a few breaths, it grew into a plant that was half a person tall. Lanterns-like translucent fruits grew on the branches, each containing a blazing fire.

The temperature suddenly rose.

Xie Chenzhou, who was still trying to drill wood: “…”

“What is this?”

Sang Nian picked a fruit and hugged it to warm herself, marveling at how she hadn’t died yet, and replied:

“Fire.”

Xie Chenzhou: “I’m asking what kind of tree this is.”

Sang Nian: “It’s called the Don’t-Look-At-The-Small-Fire-But-It’s-Really-Hot Tree. It’s worth 2,000 spirit stones.”

Xie Chenzhou: “… You made up the name yourself?”

Sang Nian: “Yep.”

Xie Chenzhou threw away the wooden stick in his hand and sat down next to the fire tree to warm himself.

Only then did she realize that his face wasn’t looking good, it was slightly pale.

He must have used a lot of energy to save her.

“What’s wrong with you?” Sang Nian felt both guilty and grateful, “Thank you for saving me. I’ll give you 30 million spirit stones as a thank you gift when we get out of here.”

Xie Chenzhou turned his head away and snorted:

“Be healthy, be happy, be joyful?”

Sang Nian was startled: “How do you know that?”

“You already gave me 30 million when you were drunk.”

Sang Nian was embarrassed: “I was talking nonsense after drinking, don’t take it to heart.”

“But rest assured, the 30 million spirit stones I’m talking about today are real.” She said again, “Or if there’s anything else you want, I’ll give it to you.”

Xie Chenzhou warmed up his body and strode towards the forest:

“Miss Sang is indeed a generous person.”

Sang Nian hurriedly carried the small tree and followed him: “You saved me several times, you’re the good person.”

“Good person?” He sneered, “No one has ever called me that.”

“Well, now you do.”

She stepped on the footprints he left in the snow, following closely behind him, making sure he was illuminated by the firelight, and said cheerfully:

“To me, you’re a good person, a great person, a really, really great person. There’s no one better than you in the world except for my brother.”

Xie Chenzhou suddenly stopped.

She didn’t notice and bumped into his back, holding her nose and wailing:

“Xie Chenzhou, my nose bridge is going to break!!”

He turned his face slightly, reached out and pulled her to the other side:

“Stay back.”

Sang Nian was puzzled.

There was a rustling sound in the wind.

She felt a chill in her heart and turned to look towards the forest.

All the dead branches stood still in the wind and snow, motionless.

Only the drooping vines seemed to come alive, constantly wriggling towards them, like hundreds of tentacles.

Sang Nian got goosebumps all over, and she carried the tree and ran to the side.

Xie Chenzhou drew his sword, his figure tall and straight.

Suddenly, all the vines charged at him at the same time, trying to strangle him.

He swung his sword casually.

The sword light suddenly tore through the dense snow curtain, falling with thunderous force, and the vines instantly turned to dust, scattering in the wind.

Sang Nian was amazed.

He’s so powerful without spiritual energy…

If he had spiritual energy, wouldn’t chopping her be as easy as chopping vegetables?

She touched her neck, feeling a chill.

The vines seemed endless, as soon as one batch was destroyed, another rushed in. They became stronger and tougher each time, and when they finally met the blade, they made a clanging sound like metal hitting stone.

Sang Nian made a quick decision, dropping the tree she was carrying. She rushed to Xie Chenzhou’s side while the fire spread and the vines burned to ashes:

“Let’s go, there’s something strange about this forest. Be careful, we might be worn down here!”

As soon as she finished speaking, a chain of ice flew out from the side, wrapping around their ankles in a flash.

They instantly lost their balance and were dragged into the forest at high speed.

The newly grown vines tried to stop them, but they had already disappeared without a trace.

When everything calmed down, the surroundings had changed.

It was a huge tree hole, larger than anyone could imagine.

Light blue ice covered the cave walls, its thickness unknown. Countless golden runes floated inside.

Hundreds of wrist-thick chains of ice extended from the ceiling, all the way down to the giant ice pillar below. They were also covered in golden runes.

A bone-chilling coldness swept over them.

In just a few breaths, Sang Nian’s hair and eyelashes were covered in frost, her heart in her chest ached violently, and she couldn’t move.

The ice was climbing up her body at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Just as she was about to be frozen, a hand pulled her hard.

She stumbled into the person’s arms and looked up. It was Xie Chenzhou.

His condition wasn’t much better than hers. His skin was almost transparently white, making his jet-black pupils seem even darker.

Like amber dropped into snow water.

Sang Nian covered her chest, her lips trembling, and she managed to squeeze out a breathy voice:

“Xie Chenzhou, I think I’m having a relapse.”

Xie Chenzhou glanced down at her, bit his fingertip, and gently wiped it on her pale lips.

It was the familiar sweet and bloody taste.

Sang Nian pursed her lips and swallowed the drop of blood.

The pain in her chest gradually subsided.

She instantly understood:

“You gave me your blood after I fell into the water?”

He let go of her hand, his face cold:

“Your life or death is none of my business. I just don’t want your brother to punish me.”

Sang Nian said seriously:

“A gentleman looks at deeds, not intentions.”

Xie Chenzhou didn’t deny it: “I’m not a gentleman.”

Suddenly, the chains above their heads all shook at the same time.

With a loud bang, a dim spark ignited in the ice pillar in front of them.

It rose slowly, piercing through the ice, and flew in front of Sang Nian and Xie Chenzhou.

The coldness around them instantly dissipated.

Sang Nian and Xie Chenzhou looked at each other, and tentatively asked the spark:

“Did you bring us here?”

The spark remained motionless.

But there were a few hoarse coughs from inside the ice pillar.

Sang Nian followed the sound and gasped.

A strange bird had appeared in the ice pillar, she didn’t know what kind. It was naked and white-haired, with three eyes and six claws, and its tail feathers were as bright as clouds.

At this moment, it was lying on the ground, countless chains piercing its wings, countless ice spikes constantly drilling into the wounds along the chains, but they were quickly vaporized by the blazing fire burning on its feathers.

Sang Nian and Xie Chenzhou looked at each other and nodded slightly.

The one who brought them here must be this bird.

Seeing that it didn’t seem to have any ill intentions, she took a step forward and asked cautiously:

“May I know your name, Senior?”

The strange bird looked at her weakly, transforming into a white-haired woman in red, with a bright red demon mark on her collarbone.

She waved her hand, hiding the chains, and staggered to her feet:

“My name is Qian Zhi.”

There was no such character in the original book, so Sang Nian became even more cautious:

“May I know why Senior brought us here?”

Qian Zhi’s gaze swept across her face, paused on Xie Chenzhou for a few seconds, and she lowered her head and coughed twice, her expression unreadable.

“I had no choice but to bring you here. There’s something I need to ask you.”

Sang Nian: “What?”

Qian Zhi looked up, her expression sorrowful:

“I am the guardian spirit beast of the Zhuyu clan, the Red Hen Bird. The Wan Xian Alliance lured me out of the mountains, used the Ten Thousand Year black ice as a cage, and used the Great Sealing Technique to imprison me here for five hundred years.”

Hearing this, Sang Nian subconsciously looked at Xie Chenzhou, and sure enough, his face wasn’t looking good.

She knew that he was reminded of the seven years he was imprisoned.

There are so many perverts in the cultivation world, they always lock people up.

Sang Nian sighed inwardly.

“You want us to save you?” she said.

Qian Zhi shook her head and gave a bitter smile:

“I’m at the end of my life, my lifespan is coming to an end. Whether I go out or not doesn’t matter.”

Sang Nian: “…”

I’ll slap myself twice when I get back.