"If that's the case, then we'll help you look for Mingyue together?" Hu Ke'er said after hearing Bai Susu's words.
"Hmm?" Bai Susu immediately stopped in her tracks, then glanced at Hu Ke'er and frowned.
"Just you? If I'm not mistaken, you've just entered the Body Refinement Stage, right?" Bai Susu said mercilessly.
"I advise you to go back and practice hard. At least wait until you reach the God Transformation Stage!"
"Sister Bai, don't underestimate this little girl. If she didn't have something special, Uncle Zheng and the Sect Master wouldn't have sent us here to find you and ask you to go back." Chen Tianyi quickly said after hearing Bai Susu scolding Hu Ke'er.
"Hmm?" Bai Susu looked at Chen Tianyi upon hearing his words, then turned her head and sized Hu Ke'er up carefully from head to toe with wide - open eyes.
"Fine. If you're not afraid of death, just follow. I won't care if you get into danger later!"
"Okay." Hu Ke'er nodded her head and said excitedly.
"Then Sister Bai Susu, after we find Mingyue, will you go back with us?"
"Let's talk about it after we find it!" Bai Susu said coldly, then continued walking forward.
"Great! Brother Chen, Sister Bai Susu has agreed to go back with us!" Hu Ke'er skipped over to Chen Tianyi's side and said excitedly.
"Little Junior Sister, you've just taken on a huge task for us!"
"Otherwise, if we don't help Sister Bai Susu find Mingyue, she definitely won't go back." Hu Ke'er said softly.
"That's true, but it's too difficult to deal with Mingyue. Otherwise, Sister Bai Susu wouldn't have stayed here for so many years without success." Chen Tianyi said softly.
"Little Junior Sister, don't forget that we have a time limit here. Uncle Zheng will forcefully teleport us out an hour before the Inner - Sect Test."
"I know, but if we don't try, how do we know if we can succeed? After all, we can't just tie Sister Bai Susu up and take her back, right?"
"That's true, but our current problem is to find a place to spend the night."
"Stop daydreaming, you two. Hurry up and come here. I won't care if you get lost." Bai Susu's voice came from not far away. Hu Ke'er and Chen Tianyi glanced at each other and then quickly followed.
"Um, Sister Bai Susu is so arrogant..." Hu Ke'er murmured to herself. Then, not long after, the two followed Bai Susu to the entrance of a cave.
"It's a cave!" Hu Ke'er said in surprise when she saw Bai Susu walking into the cave.
"Let's go in quickly. It's cold outside." Chen Tianyi said as he pulled Hu Ke'er into the cave. By this time, Bai Susu had already started a fire in the cave.
"Um, it's so warm." Hu Ke'er rubbed her hands and sat down around the fire. Then, looking around, she saw some wooden shelves on which were placed some basic daily necessities.
"Sister Bai Susu, have you been living here for the past few years?" Hu Ke'er asked softly.
"Yes." Bai Susu nodded slightly.
"It's not that easy to survive in this ice - covered land, especially since there are all kinds of monsters here." After saying that, Bai Susu took a fish frozen in ice from the wooden shelf.
"There aren't as many delicious things here as outside. This will be our dinner tonight." With that, Bai Susu walked to the fire and placed the ice block with the fish on the edge of the fire to let it melt on its own.
"Sister Bai Susu, do you want to eat meat?" Chen Tianyi asked upon hearing this.
"Of course. The easiest thing to get here is the fish from the ice lake. The meat of the monsters is inedible. I haven't tasted meat for a long time." Bai Susu said indifferently.
"Then Sister, do you have a pot here? We can make some meat soup to warm ourselves up."
"Meat soup? Did you bring meat in?" Bai Susu's eyes brightened upon hearing Chen Tianyi's words.
"Yes, I brought a little, but we still need a pot to make the meat soup."
"No problem. I have one here." Bai Susu quickly took a huge purple - black bamboo tube from the wooden shelf.
"I cut this from a thousand - year - old purple bamboo I found here. It's usually used for boiling water. It should be okay for making meat soup too."
"Okay." Chen Tianyi nodded, then waved his sleeve gently and took out a lotus - leaf packet. After opening it, there was a piece of fresh pork inside.
"Leave the meat - soup making to me. You two rest for a while. I'll call you when it's done."
"It's okay. I'll just wait here." Bai Susu said.
"Then I'll wait here too. It's warm here." Hu Ke'er echoed.
"Alright then." Chen Tianyi said as he poured a jar of water into the bamboo tube, then put the fresh meat in it as well. Finally, he placed the bamboo tube on the bonfire.
The fire burned, and from time to time, there were the cracking sounds of broken wooden branches and bamboo chips. Bai Susu held a wooden stick and gently fanned the air to make the fire burn more vigorously. The red flames made her fair and delicate face turn slightly red.
"Sister Bai Susu..."
"What's wrong?" Bai Susu asked softly when she saw Hu Ke'er hesitating to speak.
"Sister Bai Susu, you've been living here for a long time, right? The environment here is so harsh. Why don't you go back with us?" Hu Ke'er gritted her teeth slightly and tried to persuade Bai Susu.
"I won't go back until I subdue Mingyue." Bai Susu's tone suddenly turned cold, and then her expression suddenly softened.
"Hey, if you two can't stand it, you can go back first. Just tell that drunkard that I don't want to go back. He won't blame you."
"Sister Bai, why are you so obsessed with Mingyue? With your talent, it should be a sure thing for you to enter the Inner Courtyard. Then, after completing a few tasks, you should be able to obtain a powerful magic weapon according to the sect rules, right?" Chen Tianyi also asked in confusion.
"The less you two know about this, the better. Or you can talk about it when your strength is strong enough to compete with the whole sect. Otherwise, you'll only be the ones in trouble." Bai Susu said with her eyelids lowered.
"Anyway, this is my business. You two go back after tonight."
"No, we're not going back. Since we've promised you, Sister, we'll definitely help you find Mingyue." Hu Ke'er said firmly.
"Gurgle, gurgle." Just then, the steaming meat soup started to bubble.
"Um, the meat soup is ready. Let's eat first~"
"Okay."
"Great!" The three of them sat around the bonfire, ate the meat soup, and chatted. Surprisingly, Bai Susu also became more talkative.
The bonfire burned quietly, and the snow outside the cave slowly fell.