Chapter 264

Since leaving this small tribe, Ye Guhong has only eaten meat, leaving the little remaining dry food and the like to his master. Mie Jie has also reduced his food intake. In the past, he would eat one day’s worth of food in one day, but now he has to divide it into three or four days’ worth.

Over the next month or so, the two met with four or five more tribes, large and small, and indeed did not receive the slightest supply of anything other than meat.

When they reached the territory of the Lyu Gui, which was the beginning of the Kamchatka Peninsula, no matter how hard Mie Jie saved, the food was completely exhausted.

You have to know that in such cold weather, the body’s consumption is already high, not to mention that Mie Jie is a martial arts master, and her food intake is far greater than an ordinary woman’s. She has not had enough to eat every day for more than a month, and she has lost at least ten to twenty pounds.

She was already tall, and now that she had lost so much weight, she immediately looked emaciated.

Ye Guhong saw that there was no head, so he tried to turn over the snow to find the moss that had been covered, but he found nothing. He had to collect pine needles and even pine nuts that had been collected by small animals such as squirrels.

However, he is not like the little Zhao Tiepao, and after digging hundreds of tree holes, he only found a little over a catty of pine nuts that had a slightly rancid smell.

There were quite a lot of pine needles, but these had some flavor when used to make tea with boiling water, and it was really a bit much to use as food.

After a few days like this, there was no food at all, and they were delayed in their journey.

When Mie Jie saw his apprentice’s worried face, he couldn’t bear to see it, so he persuaded him, 鈥淕uhong, you don’t have to worry about food. With my skills, I can survive for 20 days without eating as long as I have water to drink. Let’s go find Xie Qian quickly. Since there is a volcano where he lives, it shouldn’t be that cold there, and there might be some moss growing there.鈥�

Ye Guhong looked at his master sitting cross-legged on the sled, his face pale and his nasolabial folds showing. He frowned for a moment and said nothing.

Mie Jie smiled gently and patted him on the shoulder, saying, 鈥淐ome on, don’t look so listless. You’re the mighty Jade Warrior of Emei. I can see that Big Horn and Little Horn are hungry too. Let them go into the sea and eat something.鈥�

Ye Guhong nodded, took hold of the reins, got up, and untied the two oxen. The two oxen bellowed a few times, jumped into the icy sea on their own, and dived down to eat seaweed.

These two strange beasts love to eat seaweed very much, and they have to be let go to forage for food in the water every one or two days. Ye Guhong has been used to this for months, but at this moment, looking at the two huge black shadows swimming through the water, he suddenly had a bright idea, slapped himself on the head, and said, 鈥淚diot! Why didn’t I think of this earlier!”

After saying this, he quickly began to take off his clothes, and Mie Jie exclaimed in surprise, 鈥楪uhong, what are you doing!鈥�

Ye Guhong laughed, 鈥榃ait a moment, Master, today I will definitely let you eat your fill.鈥�

Mie Jie was puzzled, 鈥滶at, eat what?鈥�

Ye Guhong then quickly pulled off his clothes, revealing sculpted muscles. She blushed, and was about to speak when she saw him take out a jar of seal oil, open it, and smear it all over his body, from his hair to his toes. He then gave her a toothy smile, jumped into the water, and disappeared like a big, fit fish.

Mie Jie screamed, hurriedly got up and ran to the beach, but where was Ye Guhong?

She then realized that Ye Guhong’s idea was to salvage seaweed from the water to fill her stomach.

The two had been on the shore of the Bohai Sea before, and Ye Guhong had shown off his ability to catch fish and shrimp in the sea. But the sea here was a mysterious blue, with large pieces of broken ice floating in it. The temperature was so low that it was incomparable to the Bohai Sea.

Mie Jie crouched by the seashore and put his hand in the sea water. It felt so cold that it was as if thousands of needles were stabbing him all over. His heart ached as he could not help but shed tears.

At this moment, Ye Guhong poked his head out with a splash and threw a large bunch of seaweed onto the shore with a great effort.

Mie Jie said, 鈥淭hat’s enough to eat! Foolish boy, come up quickly.鈥�

Ye Guhong shook his head and laughed, 鈥淒on’t worry, Master. It was only cold at first, but now I feel warm all over. I can’t tell you how comfortable it is.鈥�

After saying this, he took a deep breath and submerged himself back into the water.

But she was not an ordinary woman after all. Although her heart was torn apart, she did not fall into unnecessary sentimentality. Wiping away her tears, she got up, drew her sword, and used her internal strength to cut out large ice bricks. She began to build a house, and inside it, she lit a fire with seal oil and dry wood, and cooked a pot of pine needle tea.

It must be said that when it comes to building a snow house, even the strongest native men nowadays are nowhere near as fast as the Master and Apprentice. They are highly skilled in internal strength and swift and steady with their swords. Building this snow house seems like child’s play to them 鈥�

With just a few swift strokes, a perfectly square and level ice block was formed. The long sword jumped and landed firmly where it should, not missing the mark by even the slightest degree. Once the main structure was complete, a few slaps on the ground sent up a cloud of snow and mist. A quick succession of slaps filled the gaps between the ice blocks with fine snow, all in a smooth and flowing motion.

After she finished building the snow house, Ye Guhong also jumped out of the water. The kelp piled up on the shore was thick and green, weighing at least 100 catties. Among them was a surprisingly large crab, struggling to climb away.

Mie Jie exclaimed, 鈥淓ven the crabs here have become spirits.鈥� He kicked the crab into the snow house with one foot, then took hold of Ye Guhong and said, 鈥淐ome and get dressed by the fire!鈥�

He dragged his disciple into the hut regardless of the height, took a handkerchief and wiped him down carefully, helped him get dressed in a flurry, and then reached out to take his pulse. Seeing that his pulse was surging and there was no worry of cold invading his body, he let out a sigh of relief, put on a stern face and said, 鈥淚n the future, you must never do anything so reckless! Not to mention the cold water that penetrates to the bone, what if you encounter a fierce sea beast, what then?鈥�

Ye Guhong ignored him with a smirk, slurped up the pine needle tea, poured the pine needles away, and handed the pot to Mie Jie, saying, 鈥淢aster, the kelp can be boiled in water to fill your stomach. Try it, and I’ll have the big crab all to myself.鈥�

Mie Jie glared at him, but seeing his playful expression, she could do nothing about it. She sighed and went out to cut the kelp to cook.

That day, the master and disciple had a good meal. Mie Jie ate several catties of kelp by himself, and Ye Guhong even ate a large crab raw and barbecued it, devouring it to the last bite.

As the saying goes, 鈥淲hen you have food in your belly, you won’t panic.鈥� Ye Guhong found a way to get food, so he no longer worried about his master’s rations. The two of them began to speed up their journey from then on. After walking for more than ten days, they came across a dark forest that was vast and endless. Its branches and leaves blocked out the sky, and it looked gloomy and sinister on top of the frozen ground.

Ye Guhong’s spirits lifted, and he pointed out, 鈥淢aster, back then, Zhang Wuxia and his wife went north to explore the path, and they encountered the forest and stopped. Perhaps this is the forest!鈥�

Mie Jie stood up and looked around for a while, nodded, and said, 鈥淚t is indeed vast and boundless. Such a large forest is no wonder they stopped in fear. Hmph, the traitor Xie Qian never would have expected that his enemies would come from this direction.鈥�

For some reason, the snow here is not deep. Ye Guhong picked up his spear, got on the back of Dajiao, and urged Erlian forward. Whenever they encountered tree branches that might catch on Erlian’s huge horns, he would swing his spear to break them off first.

In this way, they walked in the forest for three days. At nightfall, suddenly there was a bright light above their heads, and a large expanse of brilliantly colored light swept across the sky, competing with one another in their beauty: orange, yellow, light purple, gold, blue, red, and green, making everything visible in the darkness.

She woke up from her nightmare, stunned, and for a long time she could not think straight. Suddenly she exclaimed, 鈥淥h no! Lugu, I’m afraid this is not the Buddha’s manifestation. He doesn’t want the poor nun to commit more sins, so he wants to take the two of us to the Western Paradise of Ultimate Bliss to recite sutras and meditate. What should we do?鈥�

It turned out that those lights and shadows were constantly changing. Suddenly, they happened to form a pattern that looked like a big door. Mie Jie was a person of faith, and she immediately got distracted.

Ye Guhong saw his master almost jump with anxiety, and thought to himself: My master is usually so bold, but it turns out that he is so in awe of the Buddha.

At that moment, he suppressed a smile and replied with a stern face, 鈥淒isciple is not afraid. As long as I can be with you, I am not afraid of going anywhere.鈥�

Mie Jie hurriedly said, 鈥淣o, no. If you and I go together, what will happen to the Emei Sect? If you do this, you have not entered the Buddhist way. While the Bodhisattvas and Arhats have not yet come down to the mortal world, you should quickly leave first. You can’t expect the two of us to be stuck here together.”

Ye Guhong saw that his master was really anxious, but he didn’t dare tease him anymore. He said carefully, 鈥滿aster, this is not Buddha’s light or immortal magic, but a unique astronomical phenomenon in the far north called the aurora. Didn’t Zhang Wuxia describe it to us at the beginning? According to him, this phenomenon is not rare, it happens from time to time, but we have probably just been unlucky along the way, and we have only just encountered it now.”

When she heard that it wasn’t the Buddha coming to save her, Jie was overjoyed and laughed, 鈥滻n that case, it’s a light specially shining the way for my master and I! This kindness must not be wasted. Lone Hong, let’s take advantage of this light to hurry along!鈥�

Ye Guhong then got up, broke camp and set off. The light in the sky changed constantly, lighting up the forest around them in different colors. The two men dragged their sleds and sped along, seeing everything as if in a dream, like flashes of lightning.

Mie Jie could not help feeling a surge of pride, and laughed aloud, 鈥淏ack in the day, the poet Dongpo said, ‘I wouldn’t mind dying nine times in the southern wilderness, for this journey is truly extraordinary and will be the highlight of my life!

The two men walked through the dense forest for an unknown period of time. They encountered a bear three times and a pack of wolves once. Mie Jie just sat there, while Ye Guhong used his spear to fend them off.

One day, they suddenly saw a tall mountain rising up in front of them. The top of the mountain was flat, and there was billowing black smoke and fire, just like the scene in hell.

Mie Jie was stunned for a moment, and then exclaimed, 鈥淭hat must be where Zhang Wu and the others live! Hurry, Guhong, hurry up!鈥�

However, looking at the mountain while running will exhaust the horse. Although they saw this volcano, they actually left the forest a few days later. What they saw was that the volcano was surrounded by strange rocky peaks in all kinds of strange postures. To the east was a plain that seemed to go on forever. The tall green pines and cypresses were extraordinary. The climate was not as cold as the previous region, but similar to the Changbai Mountain area. There were also many strange flowers and plants, which were truly extraordinarily beautiful.

Mie Jie looked around and laughed, 鈥淟et’s leave Big Horn and Little Horn here, you and I will walk over to find that dog thief. Zhang Cui Shan said they were living in a cave, but we just kept looking under those mountains.鈥�

The master and apprentice each changed into smart clothes and carefully searched for it. After a few hours, they really saw a cave. Sunlight shone in through the cave entrance, and inside they could vaguely see a man sitting there. They could vaguely see a man with messy, long, golden hair, and his figure was extremely stout and tall.

Mie Jie’s eyes hardened, and he shouted, 鈥淭raitor Xie Qian! I am the direct younger sister of Fang Ping of Kaifeng, who has come here on foot across ice and snow to avenge my brother! Traitor, come out and die!鈥�

鈥淔ang Ping?鈥� Someone in the cave whispered, their voice a little confused. They continued, 鈥業 don’t remember. Xie has killed countless people in his life, so it’s only right that you want revenge. But I won’t just sit here and wait to die. If you don’t have some skills, be careful you don’t lose your life.鈥�

When he saw that Xie was blind and had come looking for him, but was still so arrogant, the hatred that had been suppressed for many years instantly flared up like wildfire. He shouted, 鈥滳ome out, you dog! I’ll let you have ten moves because you’ve lost your eyesight!”

The man in the cave said coldly, 鈥楾hat’s not necessary! Xie has the Dragon-Slaughtering Sword, which is worth more than two eyes! If you want to kill me, just do it yourself.鈥�

Mie Jie roared, his figure flashed, and he pounced into the cave like lightning. Ye Guhong had been frowning since their exchange of words, feeling that something was wrong. He didn’t want his master to be so reckless, so he immediately shouted, 鈥滿aster, be careful!鈥�

This side of the world, the end of the world stepped on the ground, only feel the ground suddenly subsided, unable to help but look down and fall!

Ye Guhong let out a cry, suddenly remembering Zhang Cui Shan said, at the beginning of Xie Qian from time to time crazy, wild Qingqing gave birth, the two people afraid of him to disturb, dug a big trap in the cave, but also not yet in the bottom of the sharp tools, Xie Qian will break into, although a fall into the trap, but then immediately jumped out.

Unexpectedly, this trap is still there, or Xie Qian dug it again and used it to trap Master Mie Jie.

However, Mie Jie’s martial arts skills were not comparable to Xie Qian’s ten years ago. Although her body sank into the air, she suddenly kicked out her back leg and pulled her whole body up, about to jump out of the air.

At this moment, Xie Qian’s ears twitched, and he sprang up like an old bear. He held a heavy giant sword in both hands and swung it down with a loud noise.

Mie Jie, however, was bold in the face of danger. At the critical moment of life and death, he drew his sword with lightning speed, also holding it with both hands, and met the attack with all his strength. However, there was a loud noise that shook the ground, and the unbreakable Dragon-Slaughtering Sword was held firmly above his head.

However, she had no roots under her feet after all, and when the two people’s weapons clashed, the tremendous force pressed down, and her body immediately fell back into the pit.

Ye Guhong was shocked and his hands and feet went numb, but he was too late to help. Fortunately, Mie Jie reacted quickly and suddenly split his legs, doing a straddle, and supporting his body by placing his left and right sides on the edge of the pit.

Only then did Mie Jie look down and saw that there were countless sharp wooden sticks poking out from the bottom of the pit. If he had fallen just now, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

He couldn’t help but feel scared: Although this golden-haired mad lion was blind, his heart was still so vicious. Although this pit was simple, with him holding the Dragon-Slaying Sword and waiting in the wings, once anyone rashly intruded, the only person who could support it without dying was probably himself, except for Zhang Sanfeng.

But this killer’s trump card, although fierce, is a one-trick pony. Once it is avoided…

Mie Jie thought quickly, gathering his energy in his lower abdomen, and tried to forcibly shake the Dragon-Slaughtering Sword and jump up to kill Xie Qian in return. Unexpectedly, a thin figure turned out like a ghost from behind Xie Qian, took a quick step forward, and with a sudden, fierce sweep of a walking stick in his hand, slammed it heavily onto Mie Jie’s lower abdomen.

Ye Kuhong never expected that Xie Qian would have such a formidable master hiding behind him. Now he had been hit hard, and a huge force came at him, sending him flying out of the cave like a balloon, landing on the ground and rolling over and over. Blood was spilling like water from his mouth, and he let go of the Heavenly Sceptre in his hands, which was snatched up by the master in a single leap. The master laughed heartily, 鈥淏rother San, you have the Dragon-Slaughtering Blade, and your sister has the Heavenly Sceptre. It is clear that you are destined to accomplish great things!鈥�

Ye Guhong let out a mournful cry, and flew to support his master. He looked on in disbelief, but saw a man and a woman walk out of the cave. The man was tall and wild, with yellow hair, and the woman was slender and fair, beautiful and charming. It was none other than the Purple-Robed Dragon of Heaven who had stayed with the Condor Cult after the naval battle at the beginning!