Chapter 20: Snowy Child Talk and an Argument
Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong also walked along the White Grass Path, advancing step by step. Whether it rained or shone, the yellow paper umbrella was always open. By now, Xu Yourong had likely guessed that his certainty about the location of the Sword Pool, which allowed him to lead her onto this road toward the Star Sea Tomb, must be related to this umbrella.
But when snowflakes suddenly began to fall and dance from the sky, this somewhat worn-out umbrella finally fulfilled its most original function. Silently, thick snowflakes landed on the umbrella’s surface, gradually piling up thicker and thicker. The same was true of the White Grass Path; the snow slowly buried their ankles, and it became increasingly difficult to see the waists of the grass blades.
Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong found it strange. Just moments ago, the scene had been one of springtime brightness and peace—why had snow suddenly begun to fall now?
Before their eyes, the grassland turned white at a visible speed. Only then did they notice that the grass by the roadside had long since withered, and the puddles of water among the grass had frozen into solid ground.
The snow was mixed with a cold wind. The yellow paper umbrella could bear the snow but could not block all the wind. The temperature plummeted, and a chill enveloped the surroundings.
Xu Yourong had lost too much blood and could not withstand such cold. Her body trembled slightly. Chen Changsheng noticed this and dared not continue forward. He set her down, took off his outer garment, and put it on her, then tied the cuffs and the hem tightly. Seeing the thin single layer he wore, Xu Yourong grew worried and was about to refuse his kindness, but then she remembered that he was a disciple of the hidden sect of the Snow Mountain Sect, cultivating the most orthodox Profound Frost Chill.
She did not thank him. If she had to say thank you for everything along this journey, they would have no need to say anything else. She said softly, “May the holy light be with you.”
Chen Changsheng didn’t hear clearly and asked, “What did you say?”
Xu Yourong replied, “Nothing. How much farther to the second temple?”
Chen Changsheng calculated the time and said, “If we account for the difference in time flow, it should… be soon.”
Indeed, it was very soon. In the wind and snow, they saw the second sacrificial temple.
At the same time, they knew that they still had nine hundred li to go before reaching Zhou Dufu’s tomb.
The temple in the wind and snow was very dilapidated and exceptionally cold.
Everything was covered in white snow—the eaves, the stone steps in front of the temple.
Thus, the large pool of blood on the stone steps looked particularly shocking.
Xu Yourong leaned against a pillar, sitting quietly with her head bowed. Her face was pale, and she looked terribly weak.
Chen Changsheng looked at her and was silent for a long time before saying, “In the future… don’t do that.”
Just as they stepped into this wind-and-snow temple, a snow marten emerged from a snowdrift beside the temple and lunged at Chen Changsheng’s neck.
The name “snow marten” sounded ordinary, but in the world outside the Zhou Garden, it was a creature that could make even cultivators at the Tongyou Realm feel fear. This demonic beast had extremely high intelligence, was incredibly cunning, and possessed patience no less than that of a wolf clan. Most terrifying of all, its body contained a potent poison; a single drop could kill hundreds of humans.
It was somewhat hard to understand. Although Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong were both severely injured and not yet healed, the aura they emitted should have made this highly intelligent demonic beast realize they were no ordinary Tongyou Realm cultivators. Moreover, Nanke had already conveyed her will across the entire Never-Setting Sun Grassland through that black wood.
Yet this snow marten still attacked them without hesitation, as if their flesh and blood held an irresistible allure for it. Just as the snow marten stirred up wind and snow and appeared suddenly, Xu Yourong, who had been lying on Chen Changsheng’s back as if asleep, suddenly opened her eyes and reached out, turning the snow marten into a wisp of green smoke.
To do this, she once again exhausted the small amount of true essence she had painstakingly accumulated.
“Don’t do what?” she asked, looking at Chen Changsheng.
Chen Changsheng poked at the fire he was building, searching for the right words, and said, “Don’t be so… stubborn.”
Xu Yourong said, “You think I’m being stubborn?”
Chen Changsheng watched the growing flames, sensing something off in her tone, and didn’t answer directly. Instead, he said, “Anyway, don’t act rashly in the future.”
Just before the snow marten attacked, he had already drawn his short sword, but Xu Yourong was faster.
Xu Yourong said nothing more.
The reason she had expended true essence to strike first was that she felt it was her responsibility.
Clearly, the snow marten had been driven mad by the scent of the residual Heavenly Phoenix True Blood within her.
Chen Changsheng also said nothing more.
The reason he had spoken those words was that he felt guilty. He believed it was his responsibility.
Clearly, the snow marten had been driven mad by the scent in his blood.
The burning firewood crackled. This temple was even more dilapidated than the previous one. The divine statues that Chen Changsheng had split into firewood were covered in snow and slightly damp.
The temple fell silent. For some reason, the two of them were quiet for a long time.
Suddenly, Xu Yourong stared at him and said, “You think I’m being stubborn?”
Chen Changsheng still didn’t look up and said, “If you don’t like that word, I can use another one.”
Xu Yourong was silent for a moment, then said, “It doesn’t matter. I’ve heard that word countless times since I was a child. I’m used to it.”
Chen Changsheng handed her the roasted snow marten meat and, looking at her pale face, said, “If you’re tired, close your eyes and rest for a while.”
Xu Yourong took the snow marten meat but didn’t eat it immediately.
The word “tired” and the word “stubborn” brought many things to her mind.
In such a weakened state, those memories were not very pleasant, and they truly made her feel tired.
From a very young age, when the Heavenly Phoenix bloodline awakened, she had carried the hopes of countless people. The words “family,” “nation,” and “clan” all rested on her shoulders.
How could she not be tired? But how could she let it go?
She placed the marten meat on the grass before her, lowered her head, and said softly, “Some things cannot be let go. So even if it’s stubborn, I have to keep doing it.”
Chen Changsheng looked at her and felt a surge of pity.
This young woman had extraordinary talent in cultivation, and she must have borne the hopes of the entire Xiuling Clan. Yet the Xiuling Clan had suffered so much over the past thousand years, nearly being wiped out several times. Now their homeland was occupied by the demon race, and many powerful forces on the continent stood by coldly. Reviving the Xiuling Clan was no easy task.
She had to carry the entire clan forward. How arduous that must be.
He comforted her, saying, “With great power comes great responsibility. Some things truly cannot be let go just because you want to.”
In truth, he had been living the same way all along. The shadow of death was heavier than any pressure, and it had nothing to do with ability—only with fate.
Xu Yourong was silent for a long time, then said, “But in reality, I only know how to cultivate. Other things are not my forte, nor are they my desire. Whenever I think of the earnest hopes of my elders and those incredibly complex affairs, I not only lack confidence but feel more and more acutely my own uselessness and cowardice. I even begin to feel inferior.”
She had never said these words to anyone before—not to Her Holiness the Saint Empress, not to her teacher the Saintess, not to the close young disciples of Lishan Sword Sect, not to the junior sisters of the outer sect of Nanxi Zhai, not to her classmates at Qingyao Thirteen Departments, and certainly not to her parents at the Eastern Imperial Divine General’s Mansion in the capital. But now, she said them to Chen Changsheng.
If not for her extreme weakness after severe injury, if not for being in this grassland from which no one could escape, if not for death looming so close, her pride and strong spirit would never have allowed such words. As soon as she spoke, a faint regret arose, but the words were already out and could not be taken back.
Chen Changsheng thought to himself that the elders of the Xiuling Clan probably saw her as the next clan leader in training, so naturally they needed her to be familiar with clan affairs. But with her intelligence and astonishing cultivation talent, her abilities must be formidable. How could she feel inferior over such things?
Seeing his expression, Xu Yourong asked, puzzled, “Have you never felt inferior about anything?”
Since she had already started talking, and since he didn’t know who she really was, thinking she was just a girl named Chujian from the Xiuling Clan, what harm was there in saying a few more words?
Chen Changsheng thought very seriously, trying to find similar feelings in the past fifteen years, but he couldn’t.
He truly had never felt inferior. Even recalling the humiliation he endured at the Eastern Imperial Divine General’s Mansion while preparing to break off the engagement only brought him some frustration and annoyance.
“I didn’t expect you to be such a narcissistic person.”
Xu Yourong looked at him with a smile and said, “But do you really think you’re that perfect?”
Chen Changsheng thought to himself that Tang Thirty-Six was the narcissistic one, and said, “There is no one in the world who is perfect in every way.”
As he said this, he suddenly thought of a person he had never met but had heard countless names about—Autumn Mountain Lord.
He shook his head, casting that name out of his mind, and continued, “But imperfection doesn’t mean you have to feel inferior.”
Xu Yourong couldn’t understand and said, “If no matter how hard you try, you can’t surpass someone in certain areas, wouldn’t that give rise to a sense of shame?”
Chen Changsheng asked, puzzled, “Why would there be a sense of shame?”
Xu Yourong said, “Wouldn’t that be shameless?”
Chen Changsheng was a bit shocked. He had never expected this girl to be like this. He asked, “Are you sick?”
The crackling from the firewood had stopped. The temple was very quiet, with only the sound of the wind and snow outside, along with Xu Yourong’s gradually heavier breathing.
She was angry. She had every reason to be angry.
From childhood to adulthood, from the capital to Saintess Peak, no one had ever dared to speak loudly to her, let alone use such harsh words to scold her. Not even Her Holiness the Saint Empress or her teacher the Saintess would do so. Because she had always walked the path toward perfection, demanding of herself with extreme strictness, leaving no room for criticism. Until today, in this old temple in the wind and snow, this young man said: Are you sick?
She even wondered if she had misheard, but she knew she hadn’t.
So she looked at Chen Changsheng, forcing herself to stay calm, and asked, “Do you want to die?”