Chapter 70

Chapter 70: Lost

Not only Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan, but from a distance, Yu Han and Han Shu were also clearly stunned, unsure of what was happening at the moment.

But no matter what, they had to meet up first.

Gritting their teeth, they hurried along and finally reunited under the dimming sky. Night was approaching, yet they still hadn’t found a place to shelter from the wind and snow.

Normally, they would have already been anxious, but now they faced an even trickier situation than “finding a resting place.”

The moment they met, the four martial artists almost spoke simultaneously—there was also Zhou Liuer on Han Shu’s back, but he was still unconscious and naturally couldn’t speak.

Yu Han, as always, spoke briskly: “Senior brothers! Big Brother Mei! Why are you above us?”

Han Shu remained relatively calm: “Could it be that you’ve made a discovery? …We are carrying someone, so moving slower and falling behind a step is normal.”

Mei Yinghan spoke succinctly: “Why are you below us?”

Bai Zhengliu: “This mountain…” His mood had already grown heavy.

The others, catching the key information from each other’s words, gradually grew grim.

Mei Yinghan confirmed with the junior disciples: “You’ve been walking downward the whole time, without changing direction?”

Yu Han and Han Shu forced a smile: “How could we change direction? We’re carrying someone, so walking itself is already difficult. Going down the mountain path is the only way to maintain speed. But going up the mountain while trying to reach you before Senior brothers? That’s impossible. But Senior brothers and Bai brother—don’t scare us! You—”

Mei Yinghan said: “We’ve been walking upward the whole time.”

Silence fell. For a moment, only the whistling wind could be heard in their ears.

Bai Zhengliu’s heart grew heavier. With previous experience, he couldn’t help but think that they were likely facing the worst-case scenario.

Just like in Guang’an Prefecture and Tan Family Village, they had entered another strange area controlled by a vengeful spirit.

But… maybe not necessarily?

After all, he wasn’t familiar with the snow mountains. Mei Yinghan had told him that there were cases of Tianshan disciples getting lost in the mountains before. But that was only because the eyes were deceived by the vast white snow; they thought they were heading in the right direction but were actually just walking in circles. By closing their eyes and letting their body instinctively judge the path, they could escape the disorienting illusion.

He remained silent, keeping his dark thoughts to himself. But the others clearly had their suspicions—Yu Han even blurted out: “Could it be the ‘Snow Ghost’?”

Everyone turned to look at her.

Mei Yinghan slightly furrowed his brow: “Yu Han, Senior Uncle Lingyun clearly mentioned—”Yu Han’s expression wavered slightly, but she insisted: “This isn’t just a normal case of getting lost. Even if Han Shu and I are confused about directions, we can still tell whether we’re going uphill or downhill, right? Right now, we’re clearly going downhill, yet we’ve run into Senior Brother and Bai brother who are going uphill. If this isn’t the work of a ‘Snow Ghost’…”

Her Adam’s apple bobbed once, and a hint of panic appeared on her face.

Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan noticed this and suddenly realized that Yu Han was actually scared.

Of course she was scared. Tianshan disciples had heard from their elders since childhood, “Never run up the mountain randomly, or if you get lost, you’ll never come back.” Even when they grew older and understood that the elders were simply worried about accidents in the mountains, the seeds of fear had already been planted.

Normally it wouldn’t surface, but now, having encountered a strange event firsthand, that seed quickly sprouted, growing wildly in Yu Han’s chest.

Her already pale face became even worse. And though the others had other thoughts, hearing her words made them fall into a subtle silence.

Because what Yu Han said wasn’t wrong.

Getting lost might happen between a few peaks. They might not know which direction they were heading, but the basic sense of up and down shouldn’t be wrong. And there were four of them here. If one couldn’t tell, that’s possible—but all four?

Words aside, facing the panicked junior disciples and Bai Zhengliu, who wasn’t adept in snow mountains, Mei Yinghan still had to step forward: “Calm down. From now on, I’ll go with Bai brother and you.”

Yu Han and Han Shu looked at the two of them. After a moment, they reluctantly nodded.

Mei Yinghan added: “You’ve carried Uncle Zhou Liuer for half a day; you must be tired. Give him to me.”

Yu Han and Han Shu bit their lips but didn’t refuse.

And so, the situation became four martial artists carrying Zhou Liuer downward together.

Before leaving, Bai Zhengliu looked around, trying to find a recognizable landmark to help him orient himself later. But in the snow mountains, everywhere looked the same. He failed and didn’t mention it.

The group hurried along, and the sky behind them grew darker.

Snow and wind lashed at their shoulders, while night gradually covered everyone above. The wind and snow that had accompanied them all along began to ease.

When it stopped, Bai Zhengliu looked up and saw a sky full of stars. His tense emotions eased slightly, thinking: “With stars, at least we won’t get lost again.”

But was it really that simple?

The stopping of the wind and snow also meant one thing: their footsteps were no longer being buried by snowflakes.

As they walked, the group noticed a line of footprints ahead of them.

There were four in total. Two sets were light and fast; seeing how they moved on the snow, it was obvious they were Tianshan disciples.There were two more sets of footprints, each with its own characteristics. One was slightly deeper—Mei Yinghan, despite his lightness of movement, was carrying someone on his back, so his steps naturally felt heavy. The other left two deep marks with every step. Anyone unaware might think some demon or spirit had appeared in the snow mountains. The lotus gatherers, however, would recognize that this person was walking in the wooden “shoes” passed down through generations in their craft.

There could be no mistake. Footprints so precise, perfectly corresponding to their own, indicated only one thing.

They were truly going in circles.

Realizing this, Bai Zhengliu suddenly looked up at the stars again.

He wasn’t the only one reacting this way. The Tianshan disciples also raised their eyes, their expressions even graver than Bai Zhengliu’s.

Looking up, they discerned the pattern.

Han Shu murmured, “Nothing has changed… We’ve been walking so long, the sky should show some difference! But it hasn’t.”

As time passed, the moon, which should have risen and set, remained fixed, not to mention the countless stars surrounding the Osmanthus Palace.

The brilliant starlight above them seemed like a phantom shadow—forever frozen there. No matter when they looked, the scene was exactly the same.

Yu Han seemed on the verge of collapse. She took two steps back and slumped to the ground, muttering, “How could this be!”

Han Shu’s attention was drawn to her movement, and he approached to pull her up: “Yu Han, don’t lose heart.”

But Yu Han was truly discouraged, unable to calm herself. She murmured, “I think I understand now why those lotus gatherers never returned.”

Those words made everyone present feel a jolt in their hearts.

Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan exchanged glances, reading the exact same thought in each other’s eyes.

Yu Han was right.

If those caught in this strange situation weren’t only them but also all the previous lotus gatherers who went up the mountain, it explained why none of them had returned.

Thinking further, could the other Tianshan disciples who went up searching for people have encountered the same scene? The day before, many disciples had descended to the Central Plains to report the ghostly situation to major sects. Yet somehow, these two parties had been the first to fall into it.

Han Shu continued quietly comforting Yu Han, while Bai Zhengliu said, “But this place is still different from the Chang Residence or Tan Family situations we encountered before.”

“No ‘people’,” Mei Yinghan said softly. “In the Chang Residence or Tan Family, someone would always come up and tell us what they were doing, what we needed to do—” The “exorcism” at Chang Residence and the “full moon banquet” at Tan Family each provided an answer.

Now it was different. They were just going up the mountain to find people, yet they got lost and couldn’t come down.

Hearing the swordsman’s words, Bai Zhengliu furrowed his brows and quickly glanced at the person Mei Yinghan was carrying on his back.

He didn’t speak, but his attitude was very clear: it wasn’t as if they hadn’t encountered a “person” at all—Mei brother, the one you’re carrying.Mei Yinghan: “……”

Bai Zhengliu also realized that his guess might have been a bit too extreme.

He was silent for a moment and said, “Forget it. If Zhou Liuer really is some strange existence, carrying him would be wrong. But what if he’s a living person who’s been waiting for rescue? Let’s first find a place to rest. We can’t keep walking like this; at least we should wait until daylight.”

This statement received the agreement of the Tianshan disciples. Then Bai Zhengliu added, “Mei brother, you’ve been carrying Uncle Zhou for quite some time. Why don’t I—”

Mei Yinghan interrupted without leaving room for refusal: “I’ll do it. You aren’t good at walking in snow mountains, and now it’s nighttime. How could you bear an additional burden?”

The reasoning was clear and reliable, and Bai Zhengliu truly couldn’t think of a rebuttal. He pressed his lips together and, during the following walk, devoted half his attention to Zhou Liuer, guarding against the possibility of him suddenly opening his eyes and resisting.

Finding a “place to rest” should have been a rather difficult task. After walking in circles, they had a sense of the range of their “lost” area and knew there were no nearby forests or stone walls. They feared they would ultimately have to dig a snow cave to shield themselves from the wind.

But before reaching that point, they still wanted to keep looking.

Originally, they had little hope. Unexpectedly, as they walked, a dilapidated wooden cabin appeared before them.

Author’s note:

It has appeared! A snow mountain must-have wooden cabin (not really).

A friend has relapsed otz, and it feels like… so hard.