"Everyone in the Icefield knows the name of the Snow Demon, but she is nowhere to be found. I'm afraid we'll spend our whole lives searching without ever finding her trace," said Egret as he turned around to close the tent and sat down on the ground beside Azure Stone. "What's your name?"
"My name is Yaohua," Yaohua replied, curling her cold fingers. She was a bit incredulous. "I heard that there are tens of thousands of exiled immortal sinners here. Isn't there even one who has seen the Snow Demon?"
"Yes," Egret took a wooden stick, lit it with fire, and gradually the tent became a bit warmer.
"The Icefield is divided into the north and the south, separated by a river in the middle. The north and the south are inhabited by the good and the evil respectively."
"Good and evil?" Yaohua frowned slightly. "What does that mean?"
"The good refers to the exiled immortal sinners who don't want to start any more conflicts. The south is peaceful and serene. You're new here. If you don't like killing and fighting, you can just stay in the south."
"Then the north is the opposite?"
"Right. The north is filled with sin, even in the air. If you go there, you might turn into a pile of bones in less than half a day."
At this, Yaohua immediately pictured herself turning into a pile of bones and shivered.
Egret moved the wooden stick a bit closer to her.
"You can't use your spiritual power in the Icefield. What can you do?"
"Martial arts?" Yaohua tilted her head.
The Icefield was full of wind and snow. So far, she couldn't think of any other way for these exiled immortal sinners to make a living except hunting.
"The south is relatively warm. They grow highland barley there and there are rivers where they can catch fish. If you know some martial arts, that would be great."
"Don't worry. I do know a bit," Yaohua said, making a fist and waving it in front of Egret with a smile. "Were you hunting just now?"
"No," Azure Stone shook his head, looking a bit dejected. "We were left behind by our teammates."
Under Yaohua's surprised gaze, Egret began to tell her the whole story.
It turned out that Egret's mother was an exiled immortal sinner from the south, while his father was from the north. The south had always regarded the north as a place full of sin.
Because his father was from the north, the family of four was always ostracized. Their parents had just passed away. This was the first time for Egret and Azure Stone to go hunting with the team. They didn't know there would be snow wolves here. Their teammates told them to lie in ambush here and wait for the opportunity, but what they waited for was a group of snow wolves coming out to worship the moon.
And those teammates who told them to lie in ambush here had already disappeared.
Yaohua didn't expect things to be like this. Thinking of the howls of the snow wolves just now, she felt a bit scared.
"How did you manage to escape just now?"
"We hid in the snow," Azure Stone shrugged. "I was freezing cold."
No wonder their clothes were all wet.
Yaohua felt sorry for them. "You should warm yourselves up properly."
She moved the wooden stick in front of the two brothers. Although the fire wasn't very big, it was still a bit helpful.
"Can I go back with you tomorrow morning?"
"Of course," Egret gave a bitter smile. "But you'd better not follow us. We can take you to the village, but you have to go there on your own."
Yaohua understood that Egret didn't want her to be regarded as a nuisance by the villagers just like them.
"Thank you then."
She didn't intend to refuse their kindness. If these two brothers were really ostracized by the villagers, then she could mix in with the villagers and do something for them.
The next day.
Yaohua patted the ice and snow off the tent and followed the two brothers to the small village in the south. She listened to them tell some things about the village.
"Currently, there are five immortals in charge of the village. One of them has always shut himself up in a small yard and never shows up. But he doesn't have to worry about food and drink. It seems that his cultivation was extremely high when he was exiled."
Azure Stone craned his neck over, but was knocked on the head by Egret.
"No one in the village dares to get close to this immortal, except this guy."
"Why did you hit me!" Azure Stone immediately covered his head.
Yaohua looked at Azure Stone in surprise, who seemed not very smart.
"Don't look at me," Azure Stone mumbled. "That immortal only allows me to go and play, but doesn't allow me to do anything else."
"You still want to do something else?" Yaohua was even more surprised. "What do you want to do?"
"There are a lot of red flowers in that immortal's yard. They're extremely beautiful. Every time I want to pick one and take it back for my mother, the immortal won't let me."
"The flowers that the immortal painstakingly planted, how can you trample on them casually?" Egret knocked on his head again, then looked at Yaohua. "The other immortals are quite approachable. If you want to stay in the village, you can go and find Fairy Ziying."
"Fairy Ziying?" Yaohua exclaimed. "Fairy Ziying is actually here?"
"What's wrong?"
The Egret brothers didn't seem to know the origin of Fairy Ziying. It seemed that Fairy Ziying had never mentioned her past great achievements. This was Fairy Ziying's private matter, so Yaohua didn't say much. She just said, "My ancestors had an old acquaintance with Fairy Ziying, so I'm a bit surprised."
"That's quite a coincidence."
Yaohua just responded casually.
Fairy Ziying used to be a subordinate of the Phoenix Ancestor. But after the battle with the Heavenly Demon, she disappeared. The three realms all thought she had died on the battlefield. No one would have thought that she was actually in the Icefield!
As the Ancestor's capable general, why was she in the Icefield?
"By the way, when you enter the village, you may have to break through a formation. But don't worry. Generally, people without evil intentions can break through it smoothly."
"Formation?"
Yaohua's expression froze slightly.
In the Divine Land, if she encountered a formation, she could break it by force. But here, she only had her two fists. She didn't know if they would be useful.
As they were talking, the three of them had already reached a boundary marker.
Egret stopped and pointed at the cooking smoke in the distance. "You go in the direction of the cooking smoke. Leave later. Don't go with us."
Yaohua took his advice. She waited until the snow covered the footprints on the ground before she started.
It was already afternoon when she saw the village.
A villager passed by carrying a hoe on his back. Yaohua quickly stopped him.
"Uncle, do you know where Fairy Ziying is?"
"What do you want with Fairy Ziying?" The old man sized her up and down. "Are you new here?"
"Ah, when I first came in, I vaguely heard someone talking about Fairy Ziying. My ancestors had an old acquaintance with Fairy Ziying, so I came here to look for her."
Fairy Ziying's name was almost well - known in the Icefield. The old man wasn't surprised. "Then follow me."
He led Yaohua to a small, unremarkable yard.
The old man knocked on the door.
"Fairy Ziying, someone's come to claim kinship with you!"
"There have been dozens of people coming to claim kinship this month. They're all fake. Just drive them away," came a brisk female voice from inside. She sounded extremely valiant.
The old man turned around. "You heard it. Fairy Ziying won't see you."
After saying that, he carried the hoe on his back again, humming a song as he walked out, leaving Yaohua standing at the door looking around.