Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 108 - Ninety-Nine: Snowy Night

Chapter 108: Chapter Ninety-Nine: Snowy Night

The snowy night was moonless. The cold wind howled like mountain spirits sobbing in the pitch-black mountain range.

The roof of the dilapidated house in the mountain village had a big hole through which snowflakes gently fell. A bright pattern lamp on the wall illuminated the rundown room, accompanied by a crackling bonfire.

Xu Yuan was sitting on a blanket, draped in a dark brown mink fur, fiddling with a half-foot tall black porcelain jar in his hands.

Inside the jar was the supper he and Ran Qingmo would share tonight.

A White Fierce Bird, already chopped into pieces.

This bird was hunted by Ran Qingmo yesterday. Though small in size, its strength was formidable.

With Xu Yuan’s current strength, probably ten of him would not be a match for this less-than-half-a-foot-tall bird.

However, this did not affect its suitability as excellent ingredient.

With the clinking of jars, Xu Yuan took out various condiments from his Sumeru Ring and added them into the black jar in order. After sealing it, he placed it on a frame set above the bonfire to braise over a fierce flame.

The flesh of the White Fierce Bird was firm and tight, and this method would infuse the meat with flavor, making it suitable for roasting over fire.

After finishing all this, Xu Yuan stood up to wash his hands with the white snow outside and immediately shrank back under the blanket.

The twelfth lunar month in winter was truly cold.

Though he had embarked on the path of cultivation, all below Fourth Grade were mere mortals.

He missed the Blaze Spirit Liquid a bit.

Even though it had a stimulating effect on desire, it was first-rate for driving out the cold.

Fortunately, he had the Sumeru Ring to store various items; apart from the bonfire, there was also a furnace patterned with a Gathering Flame Formation inside the broken house.

As the braising time was quite long, Xu Yuan gradually became distracted as he watched the abandoned mountain village covered in snow outside.

After taking care of the burial for the old man with the surname Gui, Xu Yuan traveled north with Ran Qingmo in search of the Secret Realm.

It took them a month and a half to finally reach the Guanyin mountain range where the Secret Realm was located.

Then a very serious problem presented itself before them.

They could not find the entrance to the Secret Realm.

The Guanyin mountain range is represented by only twelve small maps in Cang Yuan, but in reality, it stretches for thousands of miles from west to east, with its highest peaks reaching over three thousand zhang.

Xu Yuan had actually anticipated this.

The cave abode in the Wanxing Mountain Range had been easy to find because Tianmen Mountain and its Hanging Edge were very distinctive. Those Secret Realms hidden in the mountains would naturally not be so easy to find.

With information from his past life, Xu Yuan could roughly confirm that the entrance to the Secret Realm was in the northwest direction of the Guanyin mountain range, next to a river flowing down from the top of the mountain.

The rest was intended to be found by Ran Qingmo, with her unreasonably high luck and powerful cultivation.

Following the river, Xu Yuan and Ran Qingmo arrived at this long-deserted village to take shelter.

And then...

Then half a month passed.

Ran Qingmo did indeed have harvests every day she went out.

Every night, this Big Ice Lump would bring back some "gifts".

Either a hundred-year-old spiritual herb, or some precious ores, or some exotic Demonic Beasts suitable for medicinal cuisine.

The royal luck of the European lineage was not in vain, but the problem was that all these things were available at the Prime Minister’s Mansion. What he wanted was the Secret Technique inside that Secret Realm.

With that Secret Technique, he could cultivate automatically twenty-four hours a day.

Thinking about it, Xu Yuan sighed and collected his thoughts.

As he calculated the time, she should be back soon...

Braising the White Fierce Bird while waiting for Ran Qingmo to return, time slipped by unnoticed.

About two quarters of an hour later, there was suddenly a rustling sound from outside.

"Creak—"

"Creak—"

It was the crisp creaking sound of boots on snow.

At the sound, Xu Yuan smiled slightly, but immediately frowned.

Because there was more than one set of footsteps in the snow.

This Big Ice Lump hadn’t picked up a live person today, had she?

And just as he was thinking,

a strange young woman’s voice arose, very young, even somewhat immature:

"Hey, Wooden-head, why have you stopped? It’s snowing so heavily tonight, let’s hurry inside to take shelter from the snow."

Then a man’s voice followed:

"There are people inside."

"So what if there are people? This house in Li’s village is still somewhat intact, most of our brothers from the sect stay here overnight." The young woman seemed unconcerned.

"If there are people, we need their permission first," the man said.

"..."

The woman fell silent for a moment, her voice tentative, "Well... if he doesn’t agree, where do you plan to stay tonight?"

The man pondered briefly before replying, "There’s a cave ten miles ahead."

"Ten miles?!"

The woman’s voice rose slightly, "If you want to go, you go. I don’t want to move anymore, in this heavy snow..."

As she spoke, the young woman’s voice grew closer to the broken house.

After a second of silence,

the woman’s voice, somewhat chagrined, carried, "Li Erzhu, why are you pulling me?"

Li Erzhu stubbornly insisted:

"We need his permission first."

After some tugging, the woman seemed unable to break free and, annoyed, yelled toward the house with flickering firelight:

"Hey, person inside, stop pretending to be dead. Wooden-head was talking so loudly, you must have heard him, right?"

"....."

Well, probably not picked up by the Big Ice Lump.

But Xu Yuan didn’t respond right away.

In listening to their conversation, they seemed quite familiar with the place.

And being able to walk through the mountains in such a snowy night, they must be cultivators, and their cultivation wouldn’t be weak.

After a moment of contemplation, Xu Yuan spoke in a gentle voice:

"Come in."

The voice carried through, and Li Erzhu immediately released the woman’s wrist, replying:

"Thank you."

The crunching sound of footsteps on snow rose again, and two figures appeared outside the room.

Xu Yuan could also make out the faces of the two.

The man was clad in plain blue casual clothes, his back sporting a sword and a bulging cloth bag, appearing to be in his early twenties with average looks and a seemingly honest demeanor.

The woman wore a red dress akin to a cheongsam, draped in a bulky fur coat, also carrying a sword. Her face looked very young and pure, but the dress on her was quite large.

After they entered the room and shook off the snow, an enticing sway ensued.

Xu Yuan watched the two, his will-spirit flickering slightly, and soon he felt slightly uneasy.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, he didn’t use his will-spirit to deeply probe their cultivation, but merely checked the nearby fluctuations of Origin Qi. Randomly probing the cultivation of strangers in the wilderness is tantamount to telling them, "Get ready, I’m going to hit you."

However, this simple check yielded something abnormal.

The woman seemed normal enough, emitting bursts of qi from running a cultivation technique to ward off the cold; judging by the fluctuations, her cultivation level should be close to his own.

But the man was somewhat strange, wearing only a light garment in the freezing weather, without any fluctuation of Origin Qi from a cultivation technique to resist the cold.

Was he at the Integration Body stage?

Only those at the Integration Body stage could withstand severe cold or scorching heat, and Ran Qingmo was like that.

After beginning his journey, Xu Yuan had encountered many things.

Travelers needing shelter in the middle of the night, refugees in flight, and he even encountered highway robbers with Ran Qingmo at midnight.

But a high-level cultivator—this was the first time Xu Yuan had encountered one since leaving Jingjiang Prefecture.

A Fourth Grade Integration Body in his early twenties was likely to be a genius from one of the Sects, and, coincidentally, there happened to be a Myriad Manifestation Sect near the Wanxing Mountain Range.

While Xu Yuan was sizing up the two, they were also taking his measure.

The woman’s eyes held a trace of astonishment.

Li Erzhu’s eyes were filled with vigilance.

The scene before them was eerie.

Half of the room was dilapidated, and the other half was luxurious.

The heavy tiger skin rug that almost covered the floor, the incense that still emitted wisps of blue smoke, the Bright Pattern Lamp on the wall, the rosewood tea tray and the fine porcelain cup, as well as the two individuals sitting on meditation cushions.

It had been ten years since the Li Family Village was slaughtered,

Seeing such extravagant room furnishings in this deserted village was very suspicious.

Li Erzhu sidestepped to shield the woman behind him and his hand moved to the hilt of his sword on his back, his gaze on Xu Yuan silent for two seconds, then he spoke:

"Are you, human?"

"...."

A few moments of silence,

Xu Yuan lifted his hand, pointing at himself, his eyes somewhat bemused:

"You suspect I’m a ghost?"

Even without Ran Qingmo around, Xu Yuan wasn’t particularly panicky, as he still had his Grand Elder with him.

Though ever since their encounter with the ghostly fog, Grand Elder spent most of his time in self-isolation inside the Soul Ring, only sporadically appearing to utter a few words.

But he was indeed there.

Li Erzhu nodded: "Mhm."

Xu Yuan: "Why?"

"You couldn’t possibly carry so much stuff on you," Li Erzhu said seriously, hand still on his sword hilt. "High-level demonic ghosts create Illusionary Realms, hard to distinguish between real and fake."

"..." Xu Yuan.

"Li Erzhu, you’re the ghost!"

The cheongsam-clad woman peered out from behind Li Erzhu, gave him a shove from behind, and reprimanded sweetly, "Put your sword away, he’s got a Sumeru Ring!"

Li Erzhu glanced at the woman in the cheongsam, his expression perplexed:

"Sumeru Ring?"

"..."

The woman rolled her eyes, ignoring Li Erzhu, and walked a few meters in front of Xu Yuan before clasping her fist in a straightforward manner and saying:

"Myriad Manifestation Sect, Zhou Xiaohe.

"Apologies for the earlier rudeness, young master. Please don’t blame me; my senior brother here is naturally rather blunt."

Xu Yuan raised his eyebrows, recalling some information, then smiled and waved it off:

"No offense taken. Being cautious is always wise when traveling."

After a pause, he added:

"Listening Wind Tower, Zhou Chen."

Aunt Lou Ji’s Listening Wind Tower had a good reputation as an intelligence organization, and it was mysterious.

At these words, a hint of surprise flickered in Zhou Xiaohe’s eyes, followed by a composed laugh:

"Young master, you’re actually from the same family, what a coincidence."

Xu Yuan took out two meditation cushions from the Sumeru Ring and used Origin Qi to float them over to them, saying:

"Quite a coincidence indeed. I’m just borrowing this place for shelter myself, so please, feel free to sit anywhere you like."

Zhou Xiaohe, seeing the cushions appear from nowhere, flicked her dark, beautiful eyes and thanked him:

"After a long journey, if not for you, my senior brother and I might not have found a place to sit. Thank you, young master."

Xu Yuan had no intention of continuing the conversation.

The woman recognized the Sumeru Ring and shared the surname Zhou with the Sect Master of Myriad Manifestation Sect. Since he and Ran Qingmo were looking for a Secret Realm on their turf, it was not advisable to be too friendly at this time.

Zhou Xiaohe, noting his demeanor, didn’t overstep with further words and instead clasped her fist:

"Then, for tonight, my senior brother and I shall be imposing on you and your younger sister."

"....."

Xu Yuan was momentarily taken aback.

Your younger sister?

Had Ran Qingmo just returned?

As he was contemplating,

Zhou Xiaohe’s eyes curved, and she waved cheerfully towards someone behind him:

"Little sister, you’re so cute~"