Chapter 177 : Making You Smile
On the boundless ice plain, two spirit beasts stood in confrontation.
The Ice Plain Snow Wolf lowered its front body slightly, baring its exceptionally sharp fangs. It emitted a series of low growls from its throat, attempting to intimidate the enemy before it. Its opponent, the Blizzard Demon Bear, was clearly no easy target either. Standing on all fours, its massive form was more than a full size larger than the Ice Plain Snow Wolf. Its heavy paws swept through the air, generating gusts of wind and ice spikes, leaving no doubt about the consequences of being struck by such a blow.
However, Ice Plain Snow Wolves were pack creatures, and this one had simply happened to be separated from its group, straying into the Blizzard Demon Bear's territory to hunt. While the Blizzard Demon Bear certainly felt offended, the Ice Plain Snow Wolf pack wasn't to be trifled with either, so the two sides faced off.
The Blizzard Demon Bear believed this wolf cub was too brazen and needed to be taught a lesson to remember whose territory this was. But killing it wasn't necessary—if the wolf pack caught the scent of blood and came looking, that would only cause more trouble. Now was the time to intimidate the Ice Plain Snow Wolf, first asserting dominance through sheer presence!
In terms of cultivation level, the Blizzard Demon Bear was clearly superior. Thus, during its threatening paw gestures, the Ice Plain Snow Wolf remained tense, maintaining its own imposing stance while not daring to relax for a moment.
Suddenly, an unusual breeze blew past.
The Ice Plain Snow Wolf, nerves taut, was particularly sensitive and immediately detected something amiss. Its body sprang sideways, avoiding most of the danger. Then its exceptional wolf ears heard two light "pop" sounds. Following the sound, it turned its head to see two small indentations in the thick ice layer where it had just been standing—clearly freshly made!
The fur all over the Ice Plain Snow Wolf's body bristled instantly. It hadn't forgotten the ice spikes generated when the Blizzard Demon Bear had swung its paws—this bear was truly shameless, pretending to face off for so long, then silently launching a sneak attack.
The Blizzard Demon Bear had also witnessed what had just happened and confusedly examined its own paws—it wasn't yet time to fight.
However, the atmosphere between the two beasts was already tense, and these two mysterious ice spikes immediately ignited the fuse. The Ice Plain Snow Wolf let out a howl first and pounced toward the Blizzard Demon Bear, its ferocious appearance clearly showing it was ready to fight to the death. The Blizzard Demon Bear, not one to back down, forgot its earlier caution and retaliated with equal ferocity.
In an instant, roars filled the air. The thick ice layer shattered under the two beasts' attacks, and even the wind carried fragments of ice. Combined with the already swirling snow and wind of the ice plain, the surroundings suddenly became a white blur, obscuring visibility.
And in this snowstorm, two figures quickly slipped past the fiercely battling spirit beasts.
You Yi possessed a wind spiritual root, and on this ice plain with its mixture of wind and snow, while he couldn't control it completely, concealing his movements with the wind and snow was effortless. He had just used the wind to redirect the ice spikes created by the Blizzard Demon Bear, breaking the standoff and causing the two beasts to fight. Now, he led his Junior Sister away in the chaos, moving silently, like two snowflakes blown away, without alerting the spirit beasts in the slightest.
The demonic cultivators in the distance saw the commotion and stopped. They observed from afar, and one asked, "Hall Master, the spirit beasts ahead are fighting fiercely. Should we continue the pursuit?"
The leader looked back at the speaker: "The Young Master has ordered that anyone from the three sects is to be killed on sight."
The person who had been looked at shrank his neck and lowered his head: "This subordinate meant that those two spirit beasts ahead look formidable. If that Tiandao Sect boy really brought his Junior Sister this way, they probably turned and fled upon hearing the commotion."
You Yi had become adept at fleeing with his Junior Sister. The pursuers hadn't confirmed their location and were merely searching. As for the two spirit beasts ahead, one was at mid Nascent Soul stage and the other at late Nascent Soul—even under normal circumstances, You Yi couldn't defeat them, let alone while injured and poisoned. If they truly encountered the beasts, they would likely perish, making further pursuit unnecessary.
The Hall Master withdrew his gaze and looked toward the distant battling spirit beasts once more before waving his hand: "Let's go, continue searching."
Everyone complied, following him as they changed direction. In the distance, faint voices seemed to be carried by the wind. Words like "ice plain," "blockade," and "Young Master" could vaguely be heard, but with no one nearby, these went unheard.
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Yun Qingyue's group remained unaware of the events unfolding on the ice plain. The seven of them continued northwest under the little white tiger's guidance.
With the Crimson Flame Lightning Marten cloaks provided by Yun Qingyue, the group traveled much more comfortably. They occasionally gathered spirit herbs growing on the ice plain, sometimes hunted spirit beasts, and sometimes dug ice caves to rest for the night. Using Bai Xu's strange fire, they roasted meat and made soup, making their journey no less pleasant than when they had traveled through the forests.
Just two days ago, they had discovered a type of snow fish that lived on the ice plain, with tender, slightly sweet flesh that rivaled the taste of White Dragon Fish—this last comparison was Bei Luo's accidentally blurted evaluation, and after he said it, he noticed his fellow disciples who were eating the fish all nodding in agreement.
When they came to their senses and looked at each other, they realized that everyone had secretly eaten the sect's White Dragon Fish before. As accomplices in the same crime, they all laughed heartily, creating an even more cheerful atmosphere. Before leaving, they made sure to catch several more snow fish to enjoy later.
All in all, the journey had been quite smooth. Apart from the monks being unable to eat fish and thus missing out on much enjoyment, there wasn't much to complain about. Though formidable spirit beasts were plentiful on the ice plain, with everyone working together, they could generally handle them. As a result, Jianbing rarely needed to take action and often dozed in Senior Sister's embrace, looking as if she might hibernate at any moment.
That was until the system reminded her that the surrounding temperature was beginning to rise, indicating they were on the right track and getting closer to the volcano.
The little white tiger immediately perked up, poking her small cat-like head out from Senior Sister's cloak, looking left and right in an attempt to spot traces of the volcano. Her sudden animation was naturally noticed immediately by Yun Qingyue.
Since entering the ice plain, the little white tiger had visibly become more lethargic, drowsy and sluggish all day. Except for when eating fish, this was the first time in days Yun Qingyue had seen her so active. She reached out to stroke the tiger's small head and asked: "What's the matter?"
The little white tiger extended a paw, seemingly intending to tug at Yun Qingyue's sleeve, but as soon as her paw came out, she felt a rush of cold. The sensation reminded her of reaching a hand out from under the blankets on a frigid winter morning, causing her to instinctively withdraw her paw with a "whoosh." She turned her head to look at Senior Sister and asked: "Senior Sister, are we almost at the volcano?"
Hearing this, Yun Qingyue looked around, but all she could see was the endless ice plain stretching in every direction, with no volcano in sight. She shook her head and said: "We haven't reached it yet."
The little white tiger hadn't actually seen anything either, and her disappointment was evident as she prepared to burrow back into Senior Sister's embrace.
Just then, Bei Luo, wrapped in a cloak that was a bit too short for him, spoke up. Looking at the little white tiger, he clicked his tongue and said: "Jianbing, why do you never show your face? Always being carried isn't good for you—you won't grow big that way."
Hearing this, Yun Qingyue looked helplessly at Bei Luo: "Senior Brother, don't tease her. Jianbing is only one year old; she's naturally still small."
At first, the little white tiger hadn't paid much attention to Bei Luo's words. After days of interaction, she had come to understand that while Bei Luo was indeed magnanimous and unconstrained by minor details, it was precisely because of this trait that he dared say anything to Jianbing—in Bei Luo's own words, if he didn't tease her while she was still young, once she grew into a true Divine Lord, they wouldn't dare be so free with her.
Bei Luo had made many teasing remarks over these days, and the little white tiger had grown accustomed to them. But this time was different—this time, Senior Sister had defended her, but the justification was that she was indeed still small!
Could she endure this?
No, should she accept this?!
The little white tiger, with her grand ambitions, did not want to admit the fact that she was an underage cub. In a moment of childish temper, she pawed open Senior Sister's cloak and leaped down from her embrace.
The movements of feline creatures are exceptionally agile, and the little white tiger landed almost silently.
Seeing this, Bei Luo raised his thumb, about to say something, when he saw the little white tiger take a few steps forward after landing, suddenly turn around, and rush back, ingloriously jumping back into Senior Sister's embrace—there was no help for it; in this frigid, snowy landscape, the frozen ground was simply too cold. Unlike the others, she had bare paws with no shoes to wear, and stepping on the ice surface froze her paws.
Seeing the little white tiger's cowardly behavior, Bei Luo swallowed his words and instead burst into laughter: "Hahaha!"
The others who had witnessed the scene couldn't suppress their amusement either. The more polite ones, like Tan Xin, merely pressed their lips together and turned their heads slightly to hide their smiles, while the less tactful, like Bei Luo, laughed outright. Even Yun Qingyue couldn't hold back a smile, the corners of her mouth visibly upturned.
The little white tiger felt utterly embarrassed. Her furry tiger face immediately flushed hot enough to melt the ice beneath her feet. It was one thing for others to laugh at her, but how could Senior Sister also find it amusing?!
In her embarrassed anger, the little white tiger couldn't restrain herself and raised both paws, firmly pressing her paw pads against Senior Sister's lips. Though the smile at the corners of her lips was hidden, the mirth in those glaze-like eyes seemed ready to overflow... Yun Qingyue's smiling face, with eyes curved into crescents, was a rare sight. Those cool glaze-like eyes, imbued with joy, seemed even more radiant than usual.
The little white tiger had been angry, but this sight somehow mesmerized her. Quite coincidentally, the system chose this moment to pop up and add to the chaos: "Congratulations, Host! Task 'Making You Smile' completed. Reward: 500 points."
The system was doing this deliberately. Previously, it had never specifically announced task completions, but this time it clearly came to tease the host.
The little white tiger came to her senses at the system's prompt. Her embarrassed anger instantly drained away—she had only frozen her paws; did these people need to laugh so hard? Even the system had come out to make a fuss!
But despite her thoughts, as she gazed at the lingering smile in Senior Sister's eyes, she felt that being laughed at like this perhaps wasn't so bad after all... Senior Sister's smile was worth 500 points—truly valuable!
No, that wasn't right. Even without the points, she would still be willing to make Senior Sister smile.