Chapter 74

Chapter 74: Twelve

Baizheng Liu: "……"

He slowly turned his head.

At this moment, Mei Yinghan had already helped Zhou Liuer finish a few sips of sugar water and was using both hands to continuously rub warmth into Zhou Liuer’s hands and cheeks.

Baizheng Liu slowly moved over.

He took one of Zhou Liuer’s hands and began helping to keep him warm.

The special power in his eyes was still active, allowing him to clearly see that Zhou Liuer was indeed alive.

Unfortunately, his breath was faint, and it was uncertain how much longer he could hold on.

Baizheng Liu felt a slight anxiety in his heart but was helpless. There was little he and Mei Yinghan could do now; all they could do was try their best. Whether Zhou Liuer could be saved depended on his own fate.

Thinking of this, the young man looked up and met Mei Yinghan’s gaze.

The two exchanged glances quickly. Baizheng Liu: "We can’t leave," glancing at the direction behind them, "they’re watching."

Mei Yinghan frowned slightly and nodded.

Both had inner energy protecting them. With this defense, surviving a night in the ice and snow, though troublesome, was not entirely impossible.

The only real problem still rested with Zhou Liuer.

Thinking of this, Mei Yinghan let out a silent sigh.

They kept their eyes open through half the night. For the second half, even with eyes closed, their consciousness remained alert.

The two stayed around Zhou Liuer, simultaneously guarding and continuously transferring their inner energy to the lotus pickers to maintain their body heat.

Through the night, by dawn, “Yuhan” and “Hanshu” were still enthusiastically preparing the soup. This time, Mei Yinghan directly said: "There can’t be much left. Yuhan, don’t say you have more hidden. We don’t know how much longer we’ll have to stay on the mountain. Now that you’ve given everything to me and your elder brother Baizheng, what will you do? …As elder disciples, you must take responsibility."

“Yuhan” listened, her face twitching slightly.

Mei Yinghan observed her closely. His body was extremely tense; even the slightest movement from the other side would make him draw his Star-Stabilizing Sword. Yet, “Yuhan” did not move.

She lowered her head and said, "Master always says the same thing."

Mei Yinghan: "The people of Tianshan should indeed act this way." He paused. "If in the future you encounter younger junior disciples, you must take care of them as well."“Yuhan” forced a smile.

Baizheng Liu interjected, “This state is already good; everyone believes we can get out.”

Mei Yinghan looked at him, and the two exchanged a glance and smiled.

“Yuhan” watched them, eyes showing admiration, and said, “Elder Brother Bai and Senior Brother really have an excellent relationship.”

Mei Yinghan: “……”

He felt relieved—fortunately, he had always been somewhat stiff. Being a little stiffer now wouldn’t let Elder Brother Bai detect any flaw.

Baizheng Liu laughed, “Naturally. Mei Brother and I have been through life and death together.”

As he spoke, he secretly exhaled in relief. Naturally, he wouldn’t admit that when “Yuhan” had said those words earlier, his heartbeat had skipped a beat. Fortunately, Mei Brother had no reaction, letting him suppress these emotions.

After an entire sleepless night, fatigue was inevitable. Yet Baizheng Liu and Mei Yinghan still had to leave with the wandering spirits.

At this moment, “Hanshu” suggested it was his turn to carry Zhou Liuer. Baizheng Liu refused, saying, “Earlier it was your turn, then Mei Brother’s. By now, no matter what, it should be my turn.”

It was an undeniable point; “Hanshu” could not argue and could only watch as Baizheng Liu lifted Zhou Liuer onto his back.

The three humans and two spirits moved forward together. Naturally, no matter which direction or how they walked, everything ahead was the same white expanse.

Baizheng Liu closed his tired, sore eyes and silently assessed the situation. After half a morning, he felt the time was right and spoke again.

“Although we need to escape, we can’t just wander like this.” The swordsman analyzed seriously, “This place is different from the areas Mei Brother and I visited before; there’s no way to tell where the boundaries are… So, the four of us will split up and head in the four directions—east, south, west, and north. Every hundred steps, we’ll mark the ground. When we meet again, counting the marks will roughly allow us to estimate distances.”

Mei Yinghan said, “That’s a workable idea.”

“Yuhan” and “Hanshu” exchanged glances.

Baizheng Liu smiled again, “Fortunately, there’s no wind or snow now, so our marks won’t be covered. Later, we’ll have a reference to work from.”

At this point, the two wandering spirits had no reason to refuse.

They agreed. Baizheng Liu had initially been worried that the spirits might say they would leave but actually follow, just like last night, staring at the two with unblinking eyes.

Only when they truly separated, a hundred steps apart, did he use the Twenty-Eight Generals again to confirm that the space beside him was empty, with no other presence. Now he could finally relax.

Fortunately.It seemed the wandering spirits also felt that Baizheng Liu and Mei Yinghan on the snow mountain were already within their control, so they no longer caused trouble.

The swordsman counted his steps in his mind, slowly changing direction to find Mei Yinghan.

After some effort, the two reunited, but the most important thing afterward was to first find a place to rest.

Having a few days of snow mountain experience, Baizheng Liu was fairly adept at this. He quickly found a relatively solid stone wall and, together with Mei Yinghan, dug out a snow cave to rest.

After half a day, their spirits had somewhat recovered. Looking outside, the landscape was still a boundless white expanse.

Baizheng Liu lowered his head and used his dark robes to wash his eyes. Staring at the unchanging whiteness for so long had made his eyes ache.

Mei Yinghan observed and then instructed him, “Actually, there’s another method—find a thin, slightly translucent piece of dark cloth and wrap it over your eyes.”

Baizheng Liu looked at his sleeves and the hems of his clothes. He had plenty of dark cloth but none that was both thin and translucent.

Mei Yinghan sighed and said, “Alright. Another method is to let your hair down a bit, covering your eyes. It will itch and feel uncomfortable on your face, but your eyes will feel much better.”

Baizheng Liu: “Hmm…” He adjusted it a bit, then said, “Hmm? It really works.”

Mei Yinghan smiled slightly. Baizheng Liu looked at him and also smiled, “Still ‘the experience of the lotus pickers’?”

Mei Yinghan said, “Exactly.”

Baizheng Liu sighed, “This trip has really taught me a lot.”

Mei Yinghan spoke softly, “It truly puts you in a difficult position, Brother Bai.”

Baizheng Liu laughed, “Mei Brother, you are being polite with me. In this situation, neither of us wanted to encounter it. But didn’t we say before? If it could be chosen, it’s better for those of us with martial skills to experience this. Ordinary civilians should stay safe and sound.”

As he said this, his gaze turned toward Zhou Liuer.

He was still dazed and lethargic. He was alive, but his condition was worse than yesterday.

He needed a warm house and real hot soup—not a snow mound pretending to be a warm house with soup.

Baizheng Liu said, “Mei Brother, let’s go now.”

They still didn’t know how to leave this expanse of snow and return to the Tianshan. But one thing was certain: staying in a wind- and snow-sheltered place, wasting the energy from the sugar water, would at most delay their deaths but could not save them.

Thinking for a moment, Baizheng Liu added, “Going downward only leads in circles. What if we continue upward?”

Mei Yinghan said, “It’s worth a try.”The two agreed and set off.

The snow stretched endlessly, and they took turns carrying Zhou Liuer.

During the journey, Zhou Liuer rarely woke up in a daze and called out, “Second Brother Zhao, are we going back now?”

Baizheng Liu and Mei Yinghan had been feeling relieved, but upon hearing this, their hearts sank a little. They thought, “Could he have already lost his wits?”

Fortunately, shortly after, without their intervention, Zhou Liuer seemed to remember and said, “Oh, it’s you two heroes.”

Baizheng Liu asked, “Uncle Liu, how are you feeling now?”

Naturally, Zhou Liuer was not well. His body was cold, the chill piercing deep.

But looking around, he immediately knew that the two young men were still walking through the snow. Complaining now would only make matters worse.

So Zhou Liuer said, “I’m alright, I’m alright. Meeting you two heroes is truly my great luck. Sigh… I just don’t know how Second Brother Zhao and the others are doing.”

Baizheng Liu intentionally tried to get him to talk more and continued, “Uncle Liu, now that there’s some time, why don’t you tell us about the people who went up the mountain this time?”

Zhou Liuer nodded, “Alright. This time, there were twelve people in total. The leader was Zhao Jia’s second son, who is the younger brother of Zhao Da. After him were two boys from the Zhang family—they belong to Zhao Da’s wife’s family. And then, Zhao Da’s son-in-law, that boy from the Sun family…”

For each person he mentioned, Baizheng Liu and Mei Yinghan nodded. By the end, after listing all twelve, Zhou Liuer’s voice grew weaker, and he fell asleep again.

The two were helpless but understood that Zhou Liuer was indeed physically weak. The sun had already begun to set, so they started looking for a place to rest.

Without the two wandering spirits around, tonight they genuinely boiled hot water themselves, crumbled their rations into it, and had a proper meal.

With the food in their stomachs, their bodies began to warm. Both felt drowsy, but thinking about what they might encounter that night, they had to keep watch.

They each pondered their words. At this moment, Baizheng Liu’s gaze shifted to Zhou Liuer, and concern returned: he wondered what the people who went up the mountain with Uncle Zhou were really like… hmm?

Suddenly, Baizheng Liu asked, “Mei Brother, during the day, how many people did Uncle Zhou say went up the mountain?”

Mei Yinghan: “Twelve.”

Baizheng Liu tightened his face, “Exactly. Earlier, the fake Yu Han and Han Shu said the same—when Uncle Zhou later carefully explained it to us, how many did he mention?”

Mei Yinghan didn’t fully understand but answered, “Second Uncle Zhao, two uncles from the Zhang family… twelve in total.”

Baizheng Liu asked, “Among these twelve, did he mention Uncle Zhou himself?”Mei Yinghan: “……”

Mei Yinghan remained silent.

Author’s note:

Off I go!