Don't be afraid, fairy, I'm blind

Chapter 471: The Law of Mortals; Surrounded by Snake Women (6k)

Several fan-holding snake ladies in the queue in front were whispering to each other. Their scales were iridescent under the veil, but they could not hide the frost-like suspicion between their brows.

"Is it him?" Someone covered his lips with a round fan. "The one in the second young lady's room? What is he doing here?"

"Shh..." The other snake girl clenched her handkerchief, "What else can you do in the ice room? You must be here to get ice."

"He wants some too? It's all his fault. The ice is not enough for us, and he wants to share it? Besides, the ice is given to the elders and young ladies first every day. When it's our turn, there's not much left. Why is he still asking for it..."

"He is the second lady's hidden treasure. He came to get ice. Do you dare not give it to him? Sigh... If you want to blame someone, you can only blame our snake clan for not knowing how to use formations."

You Su turned a deaf ear to him and just politely stood at the end of the line and waited in line obediently.

But he seemed to have a very bad reputation in the eyes of these little snake girls. Whatever this freak in the country of girls did was easily criticized. Even if he queued honestly, he was considered to be pretending to be noble.

Their views on You Su's existence were naturally extremely complicated. They were afraid of this evil demon who had alarmed the five continents, they were indignant that he had taken away the heart of the second young lady, and they were helpless that the clan leader had gone against all odds to protect him.

So even though the boy had reached the Feather Transformation Realm, which was only achieved by the elders of the Snake Clan, at such a young age, he still could not gain their recognition. After all, what did this have to do with them?
No matter how powerful he and his master, the Lotus Sword Master, were, they were not here to help the snake clan. Instead, they came to seek the snake clan's protection and cause trouble for them. Moreover, this trouble was not just the trouble of not daring to invite outsiders to come in and repair the formation, but also a big trouble that could destroy the entire clan.

Fortunately, the snake tribe has survived through all the hardships and has an instinct to protect the tribe in their bones, so they naturally won’t tell this secret everywhere.

In fact, due to the nature of the snake clan, these little snake girls who have been protected in the clan since childhood don't like to leave the clan. In addition, there are indeed no monster clans that are on good terms with the snake clan, so the so-called secrets have nowhere to be told.

Compared with Ji Lingruo and Ji Xueruo, these snake women seemed much less worldly-wise, so they believed everything they heard, had very clear likes and dislikes, and their joy and anger were all shown on their faces.

All in all, their rejection of this uninvited guest was visible to the naked eye.

When the snake women who came behind You Su to get ice saw that the person at the end of the team was You Su, no one dared to approach and they just hid from a distance.

You Su even noticed that the petite snake girl in front of him was trembling with fear, as if there was a ferocious beast standing behind her.

The snake sisters who were hiding and watching were all worried about the petite snake girl and murmured quietly:

"Xiao Ling is so pitiful... She is the most timid person, she must be terribly scared! Could You Su have done this on purpose?"

You Su heard it clearly, and couldn't help but smile bitterly, and chose to take the initiative to talk: "Miss Xiao Ling, are you here to get the ice?"

The delicate body of the girl in front of him suddenly stiffened, as if she was frozen in place, and remained motionless for a long time before she slowly turned around.

She was a girl with a lively appearance. The most eye-catching thing was her pair of watery almond eyes. At first glance, it seemed that only these big eyes could be seen on this small face. However, it seemed that because she was too nervous, the corners of her eyes were glittering, and she looked so pitiful that she seemed to be about to cry.

“Hmm…” The girl didn’t even dare to look up, her eyelashes casting the shadow of a small fan under her eyes.

You Su looked at her hands tightly holding the wooden basin, her knuckles turning blue and white from excessive force. He laughed dumbly, and for the first time he felt that he could be so scary.

"What a coincidence, me too. May I ask Miss Xiaoling, how do you get ice here?" You Su tried to speak as softly as possible to appear less scary.

"One piece every two days...according to, according to your cultivation level..." Xiao Ling raised her eyes quietly, but quickly lowered her eyes again as if hurt by You Su's appearance.

"One block every two days? But in this hot weather, your ice cube, the size of a wooden basin, will melt by the afternoon. How can it last for two days?"

"The ice room is broken, broken, a lot of ice has melted..." Xiao Ling spoke stutteringly and silently, as if her small body could not squeeze out more strength for her to say a few more words.

Finally, some snake women around could no longer bear to see this demon continue to bully their snake sisters, and a more mature-looking snake woman came forward.

"Mr. You, are you here to get some ice?" She crossed her arms and protected Xiao Ling behind her. "You are a distinguished guest of the Snake Clan. You can go directly to the front and get some without waiting in line."

The cold tone was as if there was a piece of ice in her mouth. Xiao Ling quickly grabbed the corner of the snake girl's bright red clothes and whispered "Sister Hongxiao".

You Su was not annoyed, and said with a warm smile: "I am not here to get ice, I am here to help you repair the ice room."

"Ice repair room?!"

The snake girls cried out in surprise, and Hong Xiao's beautiful eyes widened. After a brief moment of shock, doubts came up again:

"The freezing formation in the ice room is broken. Master You is a swordsman, could it be that he is also proficient in formations?"

"I know nothing about battle formations." You Su answered honestly.

As soon as the words fell, all the snake girls gasped, whispered to each other, and sneered.

Hong Xiao's eyebrows were also raised, she felt that You Su seemed to be teasing her, she gritted her teeth and said:
"How can you practice if you don't understand the formation? Don't be ridiculous, Master You. If you want to get ice, just go get it. Master You is a distinguished guest of the Snake Clan. Just stay in the Second Miss's yard! In the future, you don't have to do small things like getting ice yourself. Just tell me!"

The surrounding snake ladies also sneered when they heard this. They really hoped that this "distinguished guest" would hide in the second young lady's yard and not come out.

Upon hearing this, You Su moved forward, but he did not run away obediently with his tail between his legs. Instead, he walked to the wall outside the ice room.

He stroked the water stains on the stone wall with his fingertips. The snake tribe's ice room was built on the mountain, and the volcanic heat was steaming up. Even though the outer layer was engraved with talismans, it was still difficult to resist the penetration of heat, so they needed a top-grade freezing formation to store the ice preserved from winter.

Under the puzzled gazes of the girls, You Su suddenly squatted down and looked at the ground, then took out a copper coin from his sleeve, put it on the stone wall and gently scraped it - a thin layer of frost instantly condensed on the surface of the copper coin.

"Do you practice this freezing formation often?"

"Occasionally." Hong Xiao didn't know why, but she answered him subconsciously.

"It shouldn't be once in a while, I guess..." You Su stood up, "You have to take it at least once every summer."

After hearing this, Hong Xiao was stunned, "How did you know?"

"The root system of this camphor tree looks different. The reason is the cold and moisture seeping out of the ice house. But this distance can be affected, which means that the ice house is often broken, and it has been like this for many years."

You Su's words were so certain that the girls were stunned. They didn't even care about their rejection of You Su and came over to observe the old roots of the camphor tree that were sticking out of the ground.

You Su smelled the strong fragrance around him and walked to Hong Xiao and Xiao Ling with a smile: "Although the formation is not a permanent solution, it is definitely not necessary to use it like this. Do you find the same formation master every year?"

Hong Xiao was also somewhat shocked at this time, and she even wondered if someone had told You Su about this in advance, so she nodded blankly:

"There is only one female formation master in the Feather Transformation Realm nearby, so of course we can only look for her every year."

You Su heard this and thought to himself, as expected, the snake tribe is made up of women, so naturally they try to interact with women as much as possible in all aspects:

"That's right. She should have deliberately not repaired the freezing formation to perfection. Because your snake tribe has a volcano and uses a lot of ice, the ice room is very important. And you can only ask her for help. This should be a considerable income for her. I guess, did she also say that this formation is no longer working and asked you to ask her to carve a new formation?"

"How do you know all this!" Hong Xiao was extremely surprised, and then she clenched her fists in anger, "This antelope spirit is so cunning! No wonder she wants so much money to carve a freezing formation, she is taking advantage of it! Taking advantage of -"

"Taking advantage of someone's misfortune..." Xiao Ling popped up her little head and came to the rescue of Hong Xiao who was unable to say anything.

"That's right! That's it!" Hong Xiao was filled with indignation.

I don't know if it was because of You Su's words, but the timid Xiao Ling actually mustered up the courage to secretly look at You Su, but happened to meet the young man's gentle gaze, and then she quickly hid again, and her face, which had been pale with fright, actually regained some blush.

"It's just to store ice. There's no need to ask those arrogant array masters for help." You Su smiled, "You don't need a cold formation to keep the ice from melting for a long time."

As he finished speaking, the charming snake girls around him all looked at him in surprise, and the voices of doubt gradually weakened.

"What should we do?" Hong Xiao couldn't help but take a step forward, and silver bells rang in her hair.

"I have some mortal methods here that may be able to help."

The snake girls looked at each other in bewilderment when they heard this. Some of them whispered, "A mortal's method? It's something that even our snake clan's magic can't achieve..."

You Su shook his head and sighed, finally understanding why the female formation master was able to trick the snake clan into giving him money to build the formation.

The thing that humans fear the most about demons is that demons do not distinguish between immortals and mortals. All demons are born with demon pills, which means they can practice the way of immortals.

The same is true for these snake women. Born with power, they seldom think of using methods other than Xuan Qi. Using fairy magic to solve problems they encounter is almost an instinctive habit for them and the demon clan.

Although immortal methods can solve most problems, they are too much in some aspects and lack some wisdom of life. Even this wisdom of life that ordinary people rely on for survival is arrogantly regarded by them as a useless folk method for the weak.

You Su, who was born in the lower class of the mortal world, was naturally different from them, so he did not rush to make an explanation, but asked:

"I wonder if Miss Hongxiao can show me the way? I want to go in and take a look."

Hong Xiao was also hesitant about the mortal method that You Su mentioned, and did not lead the way immediately: "Did the Second Miss tell you this?"

"It's true that she asked me to help, but other than that, she didn't say anything." "But...how did she know that you could help us?" Hong Xiao seemed to be making a final confirmation.

"The summer in Zhongyuanzhou is also hard to endure. I have tried my best to make your spoiled Second Miss not despise my shabby sect. I believe she has the deepest understanding of whether this mortal method is useful or not."

You Su smiled brightly, remembering that his junior sister always complained about the hot room and couldn't sleep, so he soaked the bamboo mat in well water and hung it under the eaves, waiting for the night dew to condense into frost and prepared to spread it on her bed as a surprise. However, he was beaten up by his junior sister who was going to sleep naked as a hooligan, but he was really blind at the time, and now it's a pity. All these summer memories in the Jianzong courtyard were brought back to You Su's mind, making him feel that the memories were extremely sweet.

When he came to his senses again, he had already been led into the ice room by Hong Xiao, followed by a group of snake women with eyes half expectant and half suspicious.

The two snake women who were cutting and spreading ice didn't understand what he meant and looked at Hong Xiao. Hong Xiao shook her head at them and signaled that You Su should do as he pleased.

Inside the ice room, humidity and heat collided in mid-air.

You Su looked around, shook his head secretly, and couldn't help but sigh:

"Without the freezing formation, your ice room is probably even more rudimentary than an ordinary person's ice room."

"That mortal's ice room doesn't have such a powerful freezing formation as ours!" One of the snake girls who was responsible for dispersing the ice didn't know what happened to You Su outside, so she was naturally a little dissatisfied with You Su's complaints.

"Indeed, but a mortal's ice room doesn't need such a powerful freezing formation as yours."

You Su's tone finally hardened. He put his hand on the floor and could actually feel a faint heat.

"An ice cellar is more effective than an ice house, but if we dig a cellar here now, the ice will be dirty, so we can only make do with it for now and then find another cool place to dig an ice cellar for next year."

"Even though it's a makeshift one, we can't be careless. First, the floor tiles need to be replaced with hollow bricks carved from the volcanic rocks of Snake Mountain, and filled with crushed quartz sand in the middle."

"I'm afraid the cold fog grass won't survive if we plant it. Just find some vines and plant them by the wall. They grow fast, and once they cover the wall, they're just as effective as the cold fog grass. It would be best to put up reflective mica sheets on the skylight to direct sunlight elsewhere..."

You Su talked as he walked, listing his proposals for renovating the ice room one by one.

But after noticing that there was no response for a long time, he turned around and looked at the women, and saw that the snake women all had suspicious and alert expressions on their brows. Only the little spirit stared at him blankly, and it was unclear whether she didn't understand or understood it very well.

"Do you have any objections?"

"All the methods you mentioned are time-consuming and laborious." The Ice-breaking Snake Woman who had questioned before stood up and said, "People like us who are practicing cultivation can..."

"Why not spend a huge amount of money to repair a freezing formation that can never be repaired? It's said to be time-consuming and laborious, but in fact it can be completed in just a few days, and it doesn't cost much. Isn't this cost less than the snake tribe kneeling down to ask a formation master for help?"

Hearing this, Hong Xiao pursed her lips. She naturally understood that even if a male formation master was replaced, it would be the same. No monster would give up such an easy and profitable business.

You Su glanced at the girls and said in a deep voice, "I'm not worried about being exposed. I just don't want the Snake Clan to be looked down upon by other demon clans. Your clan leader is leading the Snake Clan to a promising revival. Do you want other demon clans to count the Snake Clan's money while laughing at how easy it is to make money? So everyone should understand that it's better to rely on yourself than on others."

All the women were touched by his words. Every snake woman knew the glory of their ancestors, so they were all proud. Now that the clan leader was capable, they were proud of him, and of course they didn't want to embarrass the snake clan, so Hong Xiao cursed at the female formation master just now.

But You Su’s mortal methods were too unfamiliar to them. Who would dare to believe them easily?

You Su saw their concerns. He walked over to Xiao Ling who was hiding in the corner and peeking at him, and said in a very gentle voice:
"Miss Xiaoling, when you carry ice home every day, do you always walk along the shady paths?"

The girl didn't know why the boy found her again. She twisted the hem of her skirt with her fingertips and said "hmm" like a mosquito after a long while.

"So the ice has melted a lot before we even got home?"

Xiao Ling hummed softly again.

"Fast walking creates wind, which accelerates the melting of ice. Miss Ling, please remember to walk slower next time." You Su smiled gently, "Can you please do me a favor, Miss Ling?"

"W-what help?"

"Please ask Miss Ling to go home and get a winter quilt. As long as you do this, you can take two pieces of ice away today no matter what."

Hearing this, Xiao Ling's almond-shaped eyes finally widened with excitement. She wanted to look directly at the boy, but was too shy to do so. She could only ask with red ears:
"You...didn't lie to me?"

"If I lie to you, you can go and complain to the Second Miss, but she won't forgive me."

"……it is good."

The girl clenched her fists and ran out amid the girls' puzzled gazes.

You Su, however, put his hands behind his back and waited quietly for the girl to return. His calm and composed look made the suspicious snake girls unable to ask him anything, but they all waited with him, as if they wanted to see what tricks he was going to play.

When Xiao Ling returned with a quilt that was bigger than herself, there were two wooden basins on the ground, each containing two square ice cubes of the same size.

"You said I put this quilt on one of the ice cubes and leave the other one uncovered. Put these two together outside. Which one will melt first?"

"Naturally, the one without the quilt."

"You don't mean the one covering the quilt, do you? Wrapping ice in the quilt is like adding fuel to the fire, isn't it?"

Doubts arose.

You Su smiled and said, "The heat is the hottest at 15:30 in the afternoon, so this is the limit. If the ice in the quilt has not melted much, please ask Miss Hongxiao to give the ice in the second lady's room to Miss Xiaoling. If the ice in the quilt has melted a lot, You Su will stay in the yard from now on and will not disturb you guys anymore."

Hong Xiao was slightly startled, wondering where You Su's confidence came from. Although they didn't want to see You Su appear in the snake clan, no one dared to restrain the second lady's Taoist partner, so why would he take the initiative to make a bet on this?
The women around were also whispering, but no one suggested not to gamble, because this bet did not mean any loss to them.

"Okay." Hongxiao agreed.

As the sun's shadow moved, heat waves rose from the stone slabs outside the ice room.

Xiao Ling squatted beside the quilt, with beads of sweat on the tip of her nose. The girls kept fanning themselves, watching the ice that had been exposed to the sun completely melt into a pool of clear water, and they felt more and more that You Su was teasing them.

Just at this moment, Xiao Ling suddenly exclaimed, "The quilt is frosted!"

The girls instantly perked up. Hong Xiao quickly stepped forward and lifted the quilt, only to see that only a thin layer of ice had melted away, forming a sharp contrast with the wooden basin next to it.

"This..." Hong Xiao's fingertips stroked the cold quilt, and her pupils shrank slightly, "How can a quilt lock in the cold?"

The surrounding snake ladies also came forward, their previous sneers and impatience turning into exclamations.

"The principle is actually very simple—" You Su smiled bitterly. Humans always say that the snakes are ignorant, but now it seems that it can't be regarded as a stereotype. "The quilt does not produce cold, but blocks heat. The hot air cannot get in, so the ice melts slowly. It's like wearing a cotton jacket in winter. It's not that the cotton jacket produces warmth, but that it blocks the cold."

He walked to the side of the ice room and said, "If we use volcanic rocks as bricks and quartz sand to fill the gaps, the whole ice room will be like this quilt. It will prevent the heat from coming up and the cold from going down."

"Really?!" the snake girls asked in disbelief.

"It's fake." You Su looked at the surprised expressions of the snake girls, which turned into disappointment in an instant, and said with a smile, "Because it is more powerful than a quilt. Even without this freezing formation, it can still store ice for a hundred days."

As soon as he finished speaking, the women around him exclaimed in surprise. Finally, they no longer had to watch helplessly as the precious ice cubes gradually melted away.

You Su was also infected by the joy, and raised his arms and said: "Storing ice is only one aspect, but if you want all the sisters of the snake clan to be able to use ice whenever they want, without the need for magic, I also have a way to make ice inexhaustible!"

"Inexhaustible?! What method?!"

The snake girls no longer cared about their reservedness and suddenly all gathered around.

The warm and fragrant wind enveloped You Su. Xiao Ling squeezed in from the crowd, holding the quilt to wrap the unmelted ice and stammered:

"Master You... take this piece of ice back to cool off..."

The tips of her ears were red as blood, but she raised her face stubbornly.

Suddenly, giggles broke out all around. Seven or eight fair wrists decorated with bells were stretched out at the same time. One wanted to give iced plums, and another wanted to give a shark silk sweat towel.

The previous grudges seemed to have been evaporated by the scorching sun and turned into mist. The future of "using ice when you want to use it" was too attractive. The girls felt that this only outlier in the sister garden had become a great treasure that could bring them coolness.

Faced with the sudden enthusiasm of these innocent snake girls, You Su retreated again and again, fearing that his junior sister or Miss Xueruo was hiding somewhere and saw this scene.

Hong Xiao pulled the restless sisters apart, and suddenly bowed, her tone much softer than before:
"Mr. You, could you please talk to the clan leader about these methods?"

You Su secretly breathed a sigh of relief, "Of course I can. But I'm new here and I don't know how to greet the clan leader."

Hong Xiao chuckled: "I'll take you there."

(End of this chapter)