Chapter 68

Bai Zhengliu deeply realized two things.

First, the Tianshan Sect disciples’ reputation for agile movement and extraordinary lightness skills was truly not just talk.

Although he had been to Tianshan before, at that time he was in a gloomy mood and unwilling to show himself in such a joyous atmosphere. Most of the time, he had stayed in his room drinking.

Looking back now, that had been a very wrong approach. If he hadn’t drunk so much then, how could he have gotten entangled with Fu Ming and all that mess?

But this also showed one thing: before today, he had never truly experienced the power of the snowy mountains. Not to mention descending the mountain with Mei Yinghan using lightness skill—the ground they had stepped on then was nearly flattened by the constant foot traffic of Tianshan disciples, nowhere near the depth of real snow.

One step down could sink him to the waist. A small misstep could even drop him straight into the ice layer beneath the thick snow. At that point, he wouldn’t even know if he could get out.

Second, he realized, “Not to mention how much Tianshan disciples have been trained from childhood to live in this environment, just the fact that the lotus pickers can survive in such places is already incredible.”

The saberman’s head ached, but he didn’t show it, still trying to keep up with the three Tianshan disciples and not slow them down.

The effort, however, was very real. Before long, Bai Zhengliu felt a layer of sweat forming on his body.

He knew he absolutely couldn’t take off his clothes now; if his sweat met the cold wind, he would probably end up frozen solid.

The young man gritted his teeth and pressed on.

As they walked, the people around him stopped.

Bai Zhengliu was a little confused and looked up at Mei Yinghan.

Indeed, the snow was impartial to everyone. At this moment, the thick frost and snow had settled on the hair and eyebrows of the Tianshan senior brother. Coupled with the usual white clothes he wore, he truly looked as if he had merged with the snowy mountain itself.

But the way he looked at Bai Zhengliu was not cold—it was warm and concerned.

Even a little frustrated.

Mei Yinghan: “Brother Bai, are you not used to walking on snow?”

Bai Zhengliu pressed his lips together and, between “reluctantly shaking my head” and “calmly nodding,” chose the latter.

Facing Brother Mei, there was absolutely no question of “losing face.” Besides, even if he were facing someone who might mock him, would he neglect the bigger picture over such a small matter?

Rescuing people was the most important thing at the moment, and Bai Zhengliu knew this well. He said: “Yes.”

Mei Yinghan slowly exhaled and murmured: “I didn’t think this through completely…”Bai Zhengliu turned to comfort him: “Brother Mei, don’t say that. You’ve always been around our sect brothers and sisters, so naturally you wouldn’t think about how outsiders fare on snow.”

Mei Yinghan shook his head: “No, I should have realized it earlier.” He glanced around left and right.

Bai Zhengliu didn’t immediately understand what he was looking at. Until Mei Yinghan noticed a patch of trees, his eyes brightened slightly: “Let’s go over there first.”

Yu Han and Han Shu agreed. Yu Han even explained to Bai Zhengliu: “When encountering heavy snow on the mountain, the first thing to do is find shelter from the wind. Any place with a cave or something that can block the snow a little counts—so this grove works.”

Han Shu added: “Exactly. Let’s go check it out; we might even find traces of the townspeople.”

Hearing this, Bai Zhengliu realized they were looking out for him specifically. Otherwise, they would have gone straight there without saying anything.

The saberman felt a warmth in his chest: “I see. Alright, let’s go.”

The group walked toward the grove.

Mei Yinghan looked at Bai Zhengliu several times, still with concern in his eyes. Seeing that Bai Zhengliu could still manage, he didn’t say more.

Once they reached the grove, everyone else began checking for traces around, but the first thing Mei Yinghan did was pull out his Zhenxing Sword and shave a few branches from the short trees at the edge of the grove. In the blink of an eye, he had a small pile of branches.

He then squatted, tore a strip of cloth from his clothes, and began selecting and trimming the branches carefully.

Bai Zhengliu noticed Mei Yinghan’s actions, initially stunned, then felt a strong instinct rising in him.

—Is Brother Mei doing this for me?

His heart seemed to skip a beat, and he couldn’t even tell why.

Mei Yinghan worked quickly.

Before long, he had combined the branches, tied the intersections with cloth strips, and made a pair of rough “shoes.”

They were truly rough, just a basic structure. Extremely long, standing about waist-high to Bai Zhengliu.

The swordsman called out: “Brother Bai, try it.”

Bai Zhengliu pressed his lips together, said nothing, and quietly stepped forward to try.

When he placed his feet on the wooden base, the saberman was slightly stunned, then began testing walking around.

He quickly discovered with joy: “I can walk on the snow?”Mei Yinghan nodded, adjusting the angle of the wooden sticks to help the “wooden shoes” bear more weight, and said, “This is exactly the method the lotus pickers usually use. I should have remembered it earlier, Brother Bai. My apologies.”

Bai Zhengliu watched the swordsman squatting before him, carefully tying the cloth strips around his calves. His heart was complicated—touched by Mei Yinghan’s care, and also admiring: “Brother Mei really is always so gentle, always taking care of others.”

He naturally didn’t want Mei Yinghan to shoulder all the responsibility. Hearing this, he responded, “It’s not too late now. Besides, when I first heard about the townspeople going missing, I was equally anxious and wanted to go up the mountain. If Brother Mei insisted on not bringing me, I might have followed secretly anyway.”

Mei Yinghan paused: “Brother Bai…”

Bai Zhengliu squatted down as well. From an outsider’s perspective, the sight might have seemed slightly comical. Bai Zhengliu knew this but didn’t care, and he knew Mei Yinghan wouldn’t either.

He simply focused on the swordsman in front of him. Snow continued to fall between them; with each breath, countless new flakes settled on Mei Yinghan’s eyelashes.

Bai Zhengliu reached out to brush the snow from him.

Mei Yinghan hadn’t anticipated the saberman’s gesture, and his body stiffened.

Bai Zhengliu, however, had already finished what he intended. He withdrew his hand and smiled: “Now, with Brother Mei helping me, any trouble I encounter is no problem, right? If I had come alone, faced with this, I wouldn’t have known what to do and would have just struggled and wandered in the snow.”

Mei Yinghan pressed his lips together and softly said, “How could that be?”

Bai Zhengliu quietly replied, “Exactly. It wouldn’t be like that, after all, Brother Mei wouldn’t let me be alone, right?”

At his words, Mei Yinghan’s expression seemed to change subtly.

His cheeks and lips trembled slightly, and then… Bai Zhengliu wondered if he had imagined it.

Perhaps not? In such cold weather, flushed cheeks were normal. Mei Yinghan’s blush came quickly, but it wasn’t extraordinary.

Bai Zhengliu sensed Mei Yinghan was about to speak, a faint expectation rising in his heart.

At that moment, Yu Han and Han Shu’s voices came from nearby.

They shouted: “Senior Brother—Brother Bai—”

Then again: “Come quickly—look what we found!”

Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan snapped out of their thoughts.

Mei Yinghan hurriedly turned his gaze, but the next second he remembered something and shifted his eyes back, keeping the swordsman in view.

He saw that Bai Zhengliu was still unsteady on the wooden shoes, trying to stand, his body swaying slightly as if he might fall.

Instinctively, Mei Yinghan reached out to steady the young man. But before he could, Bai Zhengliu stabilized himself. Seeing Mei Yinghan still watching him closely, he even gave him a small smile.His expression was bright and unrestrained, and even amid the swirling snow, it made a sudden warmth rise in Mei Yinghan’s heart.

“Brother Mei,” Bai Zhengliu called, “shall we head over now?”

“…Alright.” Mei Yinghan came back to himself and got up.

The two walked side by side toward where their junior brother and sister were.

Yu Han and Han Shu indeed had made an important discovery.

They explained to Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan: first, they saw that the surrounding trees all had marks of being cut; then, they searched around and found a relatively flat area, brushing aside the snow layer. Beneath, burned wood was revealed.

Someone had made a fire here before. Judging by the size, it wasn’t a small fire.

Yu Han analyzed: “Normally, lotus pickers don’t act in large groups. At most two or three together, and usually from the same family. If there are more people, when they encounter snow lotuses, they’d start fighting among themselves.”

This was human nature. Bai Zhengliu thought for a moment and understood.

Han Shu added: “This fire is large, and its position under the snow layer isn’t deep. That means the people who went looking for Zhao Da not long ago passed through here.”

When he finished speaking, everyone glanced around.

Snow. Snow everywhere.

The continuous heavy snow could cover all traces on the mountain.

But the Tianshan disciples were experienced in this. They dealt with the townspeople frequently, so they could explain to Bai Zhengliu: “Normally it might be fine, but when someone goes missing and others come looking, the search party will always leave marks where they pass. If we look carefully, we might find signs showing where they went.”

Bai Zhengliu didn’t understand all of this, but distinguishing what was originally in the forest from what was left later wasn’t an easy task.

Following the disciples’ explanation, Bai Zhengliu eventually made a discovery.

He gathered everyone under a tree and pointed to the marks above, asking, “Are these the ones you said we should look for?”

The Tianshan disciples nodded together and came closer to examine.

Mei Yinghan watched while explaining to Bai Zhengliu: “Brother Bai, look at these scratches. Each mark represents one person—Yu Han, Han Shu, did you confirm how many people came up this time?”

Yu Han thought for a moment: “Twelve. Right, Han Shu?”

Han Shu gave a confirming reply: “Correct, twelve.”Mei Yinghan said, “One, two… that’s right, twelve. None of them are missing here yet.” This news wasn’t as exciting for the Tianshan disciples as “people found,” but it was still genuinely good news.

Smiles appeared on everyone’s faces. Mei Yinghan looked again at the details of the marks on the tree trunk and said, “They went deeper into the mountain. Let’s go—let’s follow their path down and search.”

Author’s note:

Searching for people in the ice and snow…

See you tomorrow (morning).