Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 335 "Snow Doll"

Ye Shuyun and Murong Ruyan received their master's orders and then each began to use their skills.

With the Ye family as her backing, Ye Shuyun immediately located the Ye family's outpost in western Liaoning.

That's right, the Ye family's business has expanded all the way to western Liaoning!

Who knows, the Ye family might have transported some of the luxurious goods from the Southern Chu Kingdom to the Pearl Manor that White Wolf and Black Wolf have built!

Murong Ruyan, on the other hand, chose to release five "messengers" to bring all her personally trained disciples over to exploit them.

In less than half a day, thousands of miles away, Zhu Ye, Lu Mao'er, Yu Shang, Shi Liu'er, and Che Lin, who were gathered at a restaurant table discussing their cultivation practices, were greeted by five red-billed blue magpies that landed almost simultaneously.

The five looked at each other, thinking that their master was urging them (how could he not be anxious after sending out five "messengers"?), so they dared not delay. They quickly agreed on a departure time, then dispersed to pack their things and report their departure to the sect.

Although the White Stone Immortal Sect does not prohibit its disciples from going out, unlike some martial arts sects with many bad habits that require disciples below a certain rank to not go out easily, it still requires disciples to report before going out.

Unlike other martial arts sects that worry about their low-ranking disciples lowering the sect's image, Zhang Chengdao and Xu Ying initially established this rule so that disciples going out would leave their destination, purpose, and estimated duration. This way, even if they lost contact, the sect could send people to search for them, preventing a disciple from dying without his fellow disciples knowing how he died.

The five of them quickly got ready and reported to Manager Xu in the sect. Then, they set off on their journey without stopping, using their spiritual power.

Although traveling such a long distance of thousands of miles, these cultivators who had only recently begun to cultivate Qi could only use techniques and talismans like Shrinking the Earth to an Inch, Lightness Talisman, and Divine Speed ​​Talisman to travel, which was not much faster than riding a horse and was even more tiring, it was still at least half the time faster. Therefore, all five of them unanimously used Shrinking the Earth to an Inch, which they had only recently learned, and covered their legs with cheap talismans from their sect for practice, to travel.

In just one day, the five of them hurried and finally arrived in Guangning Prefecture, where they met their master, Murong Ruyan, whom they rarely saw.

As Zhang Chengdao's personal disciple, Murong Ruyan was actually very busy, which meant that her personal disciples, such as Zhu Ye, often did not see her for ten days or half a month.

However, although she couldn't see her master, Murong Ruyan didn't forget her five personal disciples. Instead, she very responsibly assigned homework to everyone every day using the "messenger" Red-billed Blue Magpie, and had the oldest and seemingly most reliable Zhu Ye supervise them.

As a well-known "senior" in the martial arts world, Zhu Ye was initially quite unaccustomed to a teenage girl being his close disciple. However, as the sect leader Zhang Xianren said, there is a sequence to learning the Dao, and age does not mean anything. In addition, among the outer disciples of the first year of the Immortal Era, there were many people much older than him, so he gradually became more balanced in his mindset and even got used to it.

The five people received Murong Ruyan's mission, gathered together to discuss it for a while, and then split into two groups.

Yu Shang, Shi Liuer, and Che Lin were of similar age and always liked to hang out together. Zhu Ye then decided that the three of them should go together, while she and Lu Maoer would go their separate ways.

The crowd still trusted Zhu Ye's opinion.

When they were all chosen as Murong Ruyan's personal disciples, since they all entered the sect at the same time and it was difficult to distinguish who was ahead or behind, the five of them were divided into order according to their seniority.

For example, the oldest, Zhu Ye, is the senior brother, followed by Lu Mao'er as the second senior sister, Yu Shangxing as the third, Che Linxing as the fourth, and the youngest, Shi Liu'er, naturally becomes the junior sister.

Before leaving, Yu Shanglue cupped his hands and said, "Senior Brother Zhu, Senior Sister Lu, please take good care of your junior brothers and sisters. I will look after them."

Zhu Ye nodded: "Yes, send a message immediately if anything happens."

Che Lin chimed in with a grin, "Don't worry, Senior Sister Yu, with Liu'er and me here, we'll definitely dig up all the fox spirit legends of Liaoxi!"

Shi Liuer rolled her eyes at him, annoyed: "You're such a chatterbox! Let's go!"

After a few jokes and banter, the two groups went their separate ways.

Zhu Ye and Lu Mao'er chose to head north, inquiring along the Yiwulü Mountain area; Yu Shang and the other two headed east, towards the Bailang River.

Meanwhile, the three of them, though young, acted with great method and discipline.

Shi Liu'er, with her keen intuition, sought out storytellers in the market and old shopkeepers in teahouses to inquire. Che Lin, though arrogant, used a "pay-to-win" tactic, acting like a wealthy young master and showering nearby farmers with money. Many eagerly offered to recount various rural tales and legends for the reward. Yu Shang, meanwhile, was responsible for organizing clues, occasionally using the sect's aura-observation technique to study the mountains and waterways.

For three days, the group inquired about the so-called "strange events" in several villages, but they found nothing.

It wasn't some local tyrant pretending to be a ghost, or a local sorceress making things up for money. It wasn't until they arrived at a village called "Dongjiawopu" and met an old shepherd, that Che Lin finally learned something different after using his "money-sprinkling" technique.

The old man clutched a handful of copper coins, muttering happily, "This place used to be really strange! That old locust tree at the east end of the village could freeze over with icicles even in the hottest days of summer!"

Che Lin's eyes lit up upon hearing this.

The supernatural and ghostly things I had previously inquired about were all related to the Five Immortals, sorceresses, or ghosts, demons, or spirits of flowers and trees. This was the first time I had ever heard of such things!
Master said that the first thing Grandmaster noticed was a mountain apricot tree that was still blooming in June.

Thinking of this, he quickly pressed for an explanation, but the old man stammered and couldn't explain clearly, only saying that it was an old saying passed down from his ancestors.

Left with no other choice, the three headed to the east end of the village, intending to check on the old locust tree first.

Upon reaching the east end of the village, one sees an old locust tree, so large that it takes three people to encircle it, standing on a slope.

The old locust tree had a dense, cloud-like canopy. Its trunk was covered with spiral patterns, which made one feel dizzy after looking at it for a while.

Yu Shang looked down and saw that the soil on the ground was indeed brownish-black, just as his master had described.

A thought struck her, so she squatted down, closed her eyes and focused her mind, gently covering the soil with her palms, mobilizing her spiritual energy, and a faint soft light emanated from her palms.

A moment later, she suddenly opened her eyes: "There is a very faint fluctuation of spiritual energy here. If it weren't for what Master said, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to detect it at all with my cultivation level!"

Although Yu Shang's cultivation level wasn't the highest among the five, he was still at the third level of Qi Refining, just like Lu Mao'er, who was second in cultivation. This was stronger than Che Lin, who was at the second level of Qi Refining, and Shi Liu'er, who had just reached the first level of Qi Refining.

Hearing her say that, the two followed suit and tried it. Then, one blinked her innocent big eyes, and the other shrugged, clearly neither of them felt any difference.

"However, Senior Sister Yu, didn't Master say that the soil here contains some spiritual energy? Even if you can sense it, that's to be expected, right? Speaking of which, we've been here for several days and still haven't made any progress!"

As Che Lin spoke, he spread his hands.

Yu Shang calmly withdrew his hand and nodded slightly: "You're right."

The scene was a bit embarrassing.

……

On the other hand, Zhu Ye and Lu Mao'er were the ones who actually discovered something interesting.

They found a hunter deep in the Yiwulü Mountains who claimed to have seen a "snow doll" last winter.

"Pure white all over, with eyes like black beans, and green shoots can sprout from the snow it walks on!" But snow melts, and once it melts, it disappears into the earth, leaving no evidence. The hunter couldn't say anything more useful, and the legend of the "Snow Baby" was just something Zhu Ye and Lu Mao'er casually jotted down and left at that—

These kinds of chaotic, untraceable, and unproven tales and legends, which the two of them had recorded at least eighty or a hundred of in the past few days, were really not worth paying much attention to.

Unexpectedly, the hunter, in order to prove his point, took out a round pebble.

"These are the eyes of that snowman. I secretly watched it melt and then picked them up!"

Zhu Ye took the round pebble and asked in confusion, "Didn't you say that the 'Snow Doll's' eyes were like black beans? But why is this pebble white?"

"Ah, it definitely looked black at the time!" the hunter explained. "But for some reason, it became whiter and whiter. To be honest, gentlemen, look at this material, doesn't it have the texture of jade? This is what's called 'jadeification'! Only divine treasures can have this! It's one of a kind in the world!"

When the hunter finished speaking, Zhu Ye had already guessed what he was thinking and found it rather amusing.

Unexpectedly, this hunter, in order to "slaughter the fat sheep," sold this polished animal bone to us two "easy targets," and even went so far as to make up a story about it...

This man is truly wasting his talents by being a hunter in the desolate Yiwulü Mountains!
"That 'snow doll' has two eyes, right? Where's the other one?"

Lu Mao'er, who was standing to the side, narrowed her eyes and focused her gaze on the red string hanging around the hunter's neck. She asked, "I think you also have a bead hanging around your neck?"

She had just caught a glimpse of it while Zhu Ye was talking to the hunter.

Unlike Zhu Ye's assumption that the hunter made up the story to cheat people out of money, Lu Mao'er instinctively felt that the story actually had some truth to it.

The hunter's tone when talking about the "snow doll" didn't seem fabricated.

Naturally, the polished animal bone that the hunter was so eager to sell to them couldn't possibly be the eyeball of some "snow doll," but the strange luster of the gray bead hanging around his neck didn't seem like an animal bone at all.

The hunter guiltily tucked the gray bead that was barely visible around his neck into his clothes, stammering, "Ah, this, this is a keepsake from my mother, a broken stone, worthless!"

Lu Mao'er stared intently at his actions, becoming increasingly certain that something was amiss. She sneered, "Why don't you just show us what kind of divine treasure you have, and we'll buy it from you? How about it?"

"What's so interesting about this...?"

The hunter clearly hadn't said he was going to "sell," yet the female knight said it anyway. He immediately realized she had seen right through his little scheme, and he took a few steps back in a fluster, shouting, "I didn't force you to buy! If you don't want to buy, then don't! I, I'm not willing to sell such a treasure left behind by the gods!"

"Hey,"

Zhu Ye understood Lu Mao'er's intention perfectly, and with a smile, she took out a gold leaf from her sleeve, waved it in front of the hunter, and said, "Don't be in such a hurry to leave. Two taels of gold, how about you show us the bead around your neck?"

A single gold leaf made the hunter's eyes widen in amazement!
Those are gold leaves!

If we converted it to grain, it would last us a year!

The hunter's Adam's apple bobbed, his eyes were fixed on the golden leaf, and his face showed struggle.

He subconsciously touched the dusty bead on his chest again, gritted his teeth, and said, "Fine! Just one look! It's a deal, just a look!"

After speaking, he carefully removed the red thread from his neck, and the gray bead, about the size of a fingernail, fell into his palm.

The surface of the bead is not smooth, but rather rough. It is gray in color and dull, and at first glance it does indeed look like an inconspicuous pebble from the riverbank.

But as a cultivator, even Zhu Ye could see that this seemingly ordinary "pebble" had indeed occasionally flowed with a faint, almost imperceptible spiritual light!

Zhu Ye handed over the gold leaf, which the hunter grabbed and stuffed into his pocket before handing over the bead.

"It seems that what I just saw was not an illusion."

Lu Mao'er snatched the gray bead first and weighed it in her palm.

It feels slightly heavy in the hand and cool to the touch, heavier than ordinary stones, almost like the weight of metal.

Following the methods her master had taught her for detecting spiritual objects, she attempted to infuse a trace of spiritual power into it.

At first, there was no reaction. Just when Lu Mao'er thought it was really just an ordinary stone, the inside of the bead seemed to fluctuate very slightly, like a barely perceptible ripple on the surface of a lake after a stone has been thrown in.

But soon, a surge of spiritual energy, far richer than the black soil beneath her feet yet carrying a chilling aura, burst forth and rushed into her body through her fingertips!

Lu Mao'er groaned, her hand trembled, and the bead almost slipped from her grasp.

She hurriedly withdrew her spiritual power, and the chill vanished abruptly. However, the icy spiritual energy that had entered her body still lingered within, making her teeth chatter from the cold.

"what happened?"

Zhu Ye noticed her unusual behavior and asked in a low voice.

"This bead... is strange!"

Lu Mao'er's expression was solemn. Enduring the cold, she handed the bead to Zhu Ye and said, "Senior brother, don't try it lightly. It contains an extremely cold spiritual energy. I wasn't careful just now and a stream of ancient locust tree spiritual energy entered my body. I'm really feeling terrible right now!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Ye was greatly alarmed: "Is it alright?"

Then he turned to the hunter, his tone stern: "This is no ordinary object. Tell us honestly, where did this bead come from? And what exactly is this 'snow doll' you mentioned earlier?"

Seeing that their prized "jewel" seemed to have caused trouble, the hunter and his companion became even more serious, their expressions genuine. They touched the gold leaf in their pockets again, and finally said sheepishly:
"I...I'll tell the truth..."

Last winter, I was chasing a muntjac in that mountain valley when I encountered a strange creature. It was completely white, like a chubby baby, running incredibly fast in the snow, with bright black eyes...

"Where it stepped, the snow really melted and the grass turned green! I was terrified and hid behind a tree, too scared to move..."

"Later, it disappeared without a trace, and only then did I dare to go over. I found this bead right where it disappeared..."

"These beads were initially ice-cold, and I had to wrap them in leather before I dared to handle them. Later, I don't know why, they weren't so cold anymore, and the color became increasingly gray..."

(End of this chapter)