Hoo-hoo...
The harsh wind swept the snow in the forest, and the sun was dimly visible behind the white clouds in the sky.
Yun Xi held her bamboo hat and gazed in the direction of the Moon Shadow Sword Sect. If the weather were better, she would be able to see the iconic thousand-foot stone sword sculpture of the Moon Shadow Sword Sect from here. But right now, her field of vision only extended about two miles ahead before being engulfed by endless snow and mist.
Just as dawn broke, she checked out of the inn with Zhang Yihe, planning to travel as much as possible while the snow was still light. However, shortly after they left Oblivion River Town , the wind and snow intensified.
The weather affected people's moods, so Yunxi also felt restless.
Thinking of what she had experienced over the past six months, she was so angry that she wanted to curse the heavens.
--- More than half a year ago, when she left the Moon Shadow Sword Sect and traveled to the Western Region , the first thing she wanted to do, was negotiate with Li Feng on the matter of cooperation. As a result, not long after arriving at the Dragon House , Li Feng died. She almost died there too, and of the twelve people she brought with her, only one survived.
--- She then met two people who she suspected to be her father's illegitimate son and daughter, but she only knew that the "illegitimate son" had purple eyes and his height, and nothing else.
--- On the way back, she encountered unrest and bandits, not to mention the weather. Even the weather gave her trouble, first heavy rain and then snowstorms, and when she was almost back to the sect, she encountered high winds.
And these were only the events that happened so far. Next, returning to the Moon Shadow Sword Sect, she would face criticism from a group of elders for "inefficiency".
Yun Xi was tired and just wanted to give up. Then, she could do whatever she wanted. What if she didn't want to act as the Young Lady anymore?
However, although it was easy not to be a Young Lady, if she made such a choice, her two stupid sisters would definitely laugh even in their sleep.
Living poorly and having to watch the two people she hated the most laughing at her...
"Bah! Isn't it just an obstacle? I'll show you!!"
Just as Yun Xi was encouraging herself, Zhang Yihe, who was following on his flying sword, came up with an idea. "Young Lady, the snow is getting heavier. I see a nice place down there where we can set up two tents and light a fire. We can wait for the snow to calm down before continuing our journey safely."
"To avoid the snow..."
Yun Xi pouted and glared at him before looking down below.
There was a circular clearing in the vast white forest, with a frozen river not far away. It seemed that many cultivators would stop here to rest as they passed by this place, and over time, it became like this.
However, after yesterday's encounter, Yun Xi looked at it with vigilance, and the more she looked, the more she felt that this place was very suitable for an ambush.
"This place is quite suitable for an ambush..."
Zhang Yihe didn't think so and waved his hand in response. "Miss, where would so many bandits come from? No matter how unlucky we are, we wouldn't be robbed twice in two days, right?"
"..."
Yun Xi rolled her eyes at him, but saw that the snow was getting heavier and heavier. If they camped directly in the forest, they wouldn't be able to react in time if they were attacked by humans or beasts. Here, at least, there were no trees around to block the view, so they wouldn't fall victim to a sneak attack.
After hesitating for a while, she finally flew down toward the clearing below, taking out some talismans to stick around as a precaution.
However, just as she jumped off the flying sword and landed on the snow, she stepped on something round and lost her balance, falling flat on her face in the snow.
"Ouch!"
"Ah..." Zhang Yihe quickly jumped down from the flying sword and stepped forward to help her up from the snow. "Young Miss, are you okay?"
"Bah, bah, bah..." Yun Xi spat a few times, wiping the snow off her face. She turned her head towards the stone that had just tripped her and kicked it back in frustration. "Damn it! How dare a stone..."
Her voice abruptly stopped.
She thought it was a stone, but after kicking it away, she realized it was a human head that was burned beyond recognition.
Lifting her right foot, she looked at the black-red bloodstain on the tip of her boot. She wiggled her toes and fell silent for a long time.
"Can't get more unlucky? Zhang Yihe!!!"
"Ah..." Zhang Yihe flinched, startled by the shout, and quickly chased after the head. He approached and carefully observed, then reported back. "Miss, it seems to be a rogue cultivator who probably wanted to rob someone but got killed instead."
Yun Xi's eye twitched. "Who just said there couldn't be so many bandits around?"
"Ah... well." Zhang Yihe paused before hurriedly replying, "It's actually a good thing. It looks like he just died recently. Since the bandit is dead, we won't run into him anymore, right?"
"..."
Yun Xi narrowed her eyes, exhaled helplessly, and threw the talismans at him. "You go and put these demon-repelling talismans around!! I'll raise the tent."
Zhang Yihe looked at the valuable talismans in his hand and said, "Young lady, these talismans can even block fourth-level demonic beasts, and since we won't stay much..."
--- Hooom ~~~!
Halfway through the conversation, a bull's angry bellowing came from the depths of the woods to the east.
Accompanying the sound was an earth-shattering gust of wind that flipped over Zhang Yihe and Yun Xi's eyelids and exposed their gums.
Regaining her senses, Yun Xi realized that this braying was not from an ordinary bull. Both the sound and the gust of wind were infused with spiritual power. If it weren't for her being in the mid-stage of the Foundation Building , she would probably faint on the spot.
Third-level beast? No... A beast at the peak of the third level was already a fourth-level beast.
Although the fourth-level demonic beasts were not very intelligent, their battle power was comparable to that of mid-to late-stage Foundation Building cultivators. If someone in the mid-stage Foundation Building like her and Zhang Yihe hadn't prepared and laid traps in advance, it would have been very difficult to deal with them.
Boom boom boom !---
The towering pine trees to the east broke and fell one after another.
As more and more trees fell, Yun Xi felt through her feet in the snow that the beast was rushing toward them at full speed. The hooves of the beast were shaking the ground, and its bellowing was deafening.
Hummmm !!!---
"Zhang Yihe!! How much of a jinx can you be?!"
"I..." Zhang Yihe could not come up with any defense. Panicking, he took his flying sword out of his storage bag and stepped on it. "Miss, let's go up!"
However, at this moment, the snow bull had already entered the clearing.
It lowered its head, with the two towering horns pointing straight forward.
Zhang Yihe saw that Yun Xi had just taken out the flying sword now, and it was too late to take off, so he quickly ran toward her, preparing to push her out of the bull's path. "Young lady!!"
Unfortunately, he was still a moment too slow.
"Get dow..."
Before Yun Xi could finish, the bull's hard skull hit her belly hard, causing her to swallow the last word.
"Ugh--"
Boom-- thud thud thud--
Yun Xi rolled on the snowy ground like in a game of skipping stones onto the water, blowing up snow as she bounced, and flew from the center of the clearing directly to the edge. After consecutively breaking two pine trees as wide as an adult man's waist, she was finally stopped by the trunk of a third pine tree.
Leaning against the tree trunk, Yun Xi coughed up some blood and took two breaths to recover. She struggled to lift her head and glared at the snow bull, gritting her teeth. "Damn beast!! I will..."
Stomp-- stomp--
The snow bull faced Yun Xi, its eyes filled with rage. Lowering its head, it forcefully pawed the snow on the ground with its right front hoof.
At this moment, Zhang Yihe drew out his sword and stabbed it into the bull's buttocks from one side.
"How you dare to hurt Young Lady, I'll give you...ah---"
Unexpectedly, to the snow bull, this sword was like the spurs on cowboy boots. It was so startled that it raised its front hooves, knocking Zhang Yihe sideways, and rushed straight toward Yun Xi.
"You..."
Looking at the bull charging toward her again with the sword stuck in its buttocks, Yun Xi had already concluded in her heart that Zhang Yihe was simply destined to terminate her and would not stop until she was killed.
She wanted to stand up and dodge but found that her feet were completely unresponsive. Looking at the approaching snow bull's horns, Yun Xi also understood that if it hit her, she would almost certainly die.
"Zhang Yihe!! Don't let me see you again in the next life!!"
"Miss! Move aside quickly!"
"Move my ass**..."
Swoosh--
A dark shadow flashed from the nearby trees and passed over Yun Xi.
Boom--
Almost at the same time, there was a loud sound, and the pine tree where Yun Xi was sitting seemed to explode. Snow on the ground flew up, covering everything within a four feet range.
Zhang Yihe, who was lying on the ground, could not close his jaws. He looked at the snow flying over the place and was unable to utter a word for a long time.
"Miss... I..."
The next moment, however, the sound of light footsteps on the snow reached his ears.
Rustle--
Then, there was a soft female voice. "Here."
Zhang Yihe turned his head in bewilderment as a girl with amber eyes, dressed in greenish-blue clothes, stood behind him, princess-carrying his young miss.
Pei Lianxue looked at his glazed eyes and asked, "Are you okay?"
"Ah..." Zhang Yihe regained his senses and said, "Thank you for saving us."
"Um."
Yun Xi looked dumbfounded at Pei Lianxue, who was holding her. There was a hint of confusion in her eyes, but when she saw Pei Lianxue's cold expression, she shook her head and came back to her senses.
"Thank you, but... cough cough-- let's run now. That snow bull..."
"It's fine. I'll handle it."
Pei Lianxue interrupted and gently placed Yun Xi on the snowy ground. Then, she walked past them with light steps.
Her steps were so light that they left no traces on the snow.
As she walked forward, she raised her sword finger, and a light blue light flew out from her storage bag, transforming into a spiritual sword in her right hand.
The snow bull that had been thrown into the air recovered, shook its head in a daze, and turned to look in their direction, the fury in its eyes even greater.
Huuumm ---!!
The sound waves came with a fierce wind, yet Pei Lianxue's expression remained unchanged as she merely raised her right hand and swung her sword in the air.
The whistling spiritual wind was split by her sword, dividing into two streams in front of Pei Lianxue. The snow on both sides was blown into the sky, but there was no movement at all where she and the two people behind her stood.
Yun Xi and Zhang Yihe were stunned.
Wind is an invisible thing, yet this woman, before their eyes, effortlessly cut through it with a sword.
Moreover, she was only in the early stages of the Foundation Building . If she did not hide her cultivation level deliberately, it meant that this person was a peerless talent.
Seeing that the roar was useless against Pei Lianxue, the snow bull was a little intimidated, but the pain of the sword stuck in its buttocks was such that the anger overshadowed the timidity.
Stomp ---
The snow bull suddenly rose, and its hooves were like thunder, causing all the pine trees within ten feet behind it to be uprooted by its stomping.
Pei Lianxue held her breath and bent her knees, lowering her center of gravity as she took a step on the white snow.
Swish ---
In just an instant, Pei Lianxue and the snow bull exchanged positions with each other, then remained motionless.
The fine snow fell from the sky into Yun Xi's eyes, causing her to blink involuntarily. In the next moment, Pei Lianxue's light blue sleeves cracked open, revealing a portion of her jade-white arms.
On the other hand, ten cracks appeared on the bull's body, dripping blood. Then, it split into ten segments like an orange and fell to the ground, shattering.