The moment Yaohua entered the bamboo forest, she immediately spotted two familiar figures.
"Egret, Qingshi, what are you two doing here!"
The two brothers were sitting on the ground, leaning against each other. Their eyes were slightly closed, and a faint smile lingered on their faces, as if they were having a wonderful dream.
Yaohua had read about people who froze to death in books.
With a trembling hand, she felt their necks and found that their bodies were warm and their pulses were still beating.
Looking around, she found a cave nearby where they could take shelter. She quickly dragged the two inside.
There was a skeleton lying across the cave. It looked somewhat like a bear, but in any case, it posed no threat.
Yaohua quickly went outside to gather some bamboo.
She started a fire in the cave.
"Egret, wake up quickly. Don't sleep anymore!"
She leaned over to Egret's side and patted his face, but there was no response. Then she tried to wake Qingshi, but he was sleeping even more soundly.
Helpless, she had no choice but to slap them hard to wake them up.
Egret woke up with a start from his dream. He was a bit surprised to see Yaohua.
"Yaohua, what are you doing here?"
Fairy Ziying was still a benefactor to the two brothers, so Yaohua didn't want to speak ill of her.
"I accidentally fell down. What about you two? Why are you here?"
Egret's eyes dimmed, and he didn't answer for a moment. Qingshi sulked for a while and then said unhappily, "Those villagers insisted that my brother and I were bad omens who brought the tornado, but it had nothing to do with us at all."
So that was the reason.
Yaohua felt guilty because the tornado was caused by Immortal Muyang when he forged a sword for her.
"When my brother and I weren't in the village, they forced us to leave."
Qingshi's eyes were red with grievance. He pouted and said, "My brother and I had nowhere to go, so we were going to build our own house and live on our own like Uncle Gu. Who would have thought we'd be so unlucky? We accidentally slipped down the hillside and ended up here."
Yaohua felt sorry for their misfortune. But when she thought about her own situation, her expression also turned a bit gloomy.
"It's okay, Yaohua. Fairy Ziying and the others will definitely come looking for you."
Qingshi's consolation made Yaohua can't help but smile bitterly.
Maybe other immortals would come looking for her, but Fairy Ziying?
It would be good if she didn't try to stop them.
"Which hillside did you two slip down from?"
If they could go up that hillside, they might be able to find a way out.
Qingshi stammered, "Actually, after we slipped down the hillside, we were attacked by a spiritual beast. After we were safe, we couldn't find our way anymore. We've been surviving on the bamboo shoots in this bamboo forest."
Yaohua was speechless for a moment.
These two brothers were really unlucky. They even got attacked by a spiritual beast...
Come to think of it, wasn't she also attacked by a spiritual beast?
They were really three unlucky souls.
"What happened to you two just now?"
Since they could survive on bamboo shoots, they shouldn't have been on the verge of freezing to death outside.
Egret gave Qingshi a helpless look and then raised his hand to thank Yaohua.
Yaohua waved her hand repeatedly. Then she learned from Egret that Qingshi had found some brightly colored plants in the bamboo forest. They took a bite and suddenly fell into a hallucination. If Yaohua hadn't woken them up, they'd still be in their wonderful dream.
Looking at the mushrooms in Egret's hand, Yaohua fell into deep thought.
There were mushrooms growing in this place?
"Yaohua, do you recognize this thing?"
Yaohua nodded. "This thing is called a mushroom. The ones with the most colorful appearance are the most poisonous and shouldn't be eaten."
Despite saying that, Yaohua still asked one more question. "Where did you find them?"
She didn't have a weapon now. Maybe these mushrooms could come in handy.
"There are a lot of them right where we were sitting just now."
Yaohua secretly memorized the location. "Do you two still plan to go back? If you do, we can travel together."
"We're not going back." Qingshi said angrily, "Those villagers are so hateful. They always blame all their misfortunes on my brother and me!"
Yaohua had seen their behavior before. Even Fairy Ziying had been blamed like that by them.
"Do you two plan to live here forever?"
"We've found a lot of plants here that we've never seen before." When talking about this, Qingshi immediately got excited. "Yaohua, why don't you just stay here with us and not go back."
No way.
Yaohua must leave this place!
Her sword was still in Fairy Ziying's hands. She had to get the sword back, find the snow demon, and then leave this place to see her master!
"Okay." Seeing Yaohua's reluctance, Qingshi said regretfully, "Then we'll help you find a way out."
The hollow bamboo in the cave made a crackling sound, which startled them.
"Qingshi, don't talk nonsense." Egret scolded Qingshi and then looked at Yaohua. "We want to leave this ice field with you."
"Oh, right." Qingshi had a fickle mind. He forgot what he said about staying here just now. He grabbed Yaohua's sleeve and shook it. "Yaohua, do you have any ideas now?"
The snow demon was elusive, and they had seen how powerful it was. If they had to kill it to leave this place, Yaohua might spend the rest of her life wasting away in this ice field.
It was said that the knife contained spiritual power and was the key to leaving the ice field. But when facing the snow demon, she didn't even have the ability to draw it out, let alone kill the snow demon.
"It's okay. We'll help you." Seeing Yaohua's embarrassment, Egret comforted her considerately.
Just as he finished speaking, dirt began to fall from the ceiling.
Then, a rumbling sound of footsteps roared overhead.
A look of surprise flashed across Yaohua's eyes. "What is it?"
She was a bit worried that the cave would collapse, but seeing that the Egret brothers looked calm, she sat back down.
"It's a spiritual beast in the bamboo forest." Qingshi described what it looked like.
"It's an antelope." Yaohua let out a sigh of relief. Antelopes were herbivores, so they didn't have to worry about becoming the spiritual beast's food.
However, the next sound made Yaohua immediately become vigilant.
Because she heard a lion's roar.
How could there be a spiritual lion in this godforsaken place!
No wonder those antelopes were running so fast. It turned out there was such a big guy hiding here!
Spiritual lions were belligerent. Master, please bless us. Please don't let us run into it!
However, God Chongming was far away, and he couldn't hear Yaohua's prayer.
"Not good. The cave is going to collapse." Egret stared at the crack on the ceiling. "We have to get out!"
Yaohua was stunned. She looked at the sickle on Egret's waist. It was the only weapon among the three of them.
"Yaohua, let's get out first. Being buried alive is not a pleasant experience."
Seeing Yaohua's hesitation, Qingshi quickly came up and pulled her.
As soon as the three of them got out, the cave collapsed with a loud noise. The spiritual lion standing on top didn't expect such a thing to happen. It staggered a few times before standing still.
And the moment it stood still, its crimson-golden vertical pupils immediately locked onto the three of them.