Starting as a stray dog, I embarked on a journey of cultivation.

While unconscious, Gou An's consciousness began to become disordered.

Sometimes he falls back onto his sickbed from his previous life, sometimes he transforms into a wild dog, mingling among packs of dogs to chase prey, and repeatedly falls into the River of Souls, trapped in the endless cycle of reincarnation.

Countless memories clashed and tore at his mind, tormenting him with excruciating pain.

Suddenly, a scalding heat swept over his entire body, as if he had fallen into churning lava, and Gou An woke up with a start.

"Um?"

He let out a heavy breath and looked around before realizing that he was in a huge cave.

All his clothes were removed, and he was soaking in a huge iron pot. Firewood was crackling at the bottom of the pot, and the water temperature inside was rising steadily.

There were also many plant roots floating in the pot, emitting a strange aroma, like hot pot ingredients.

Two figures moved back and forth near the cave entrance, their voices carried by the wind.

"Should I make it savory or bland later?"

"Make it a bit saltier, I haven't had any meat in ages, my mouth is practically tasteless."

"Should the fur be shaved off completely?"

"It's not worth the trouble. You can just rip it off later. Shaving takes too much time."

"Okay, then I'll go sharpen the knife!"

Hearing this conversation, Gou An felt a chill run down his spine.

These two people are clearly planning to cook themselves!

It's just that it's not yet possible to tell whether the newcomer is human or a demon cultivator.

He tried to climb out by using the side of the vat, but having just regained consciousness, his body was limp and powerless, unable to muster any strength. In his current state, if the other party noticed him, he would have no chance of survival.

Gou An's throat moved, and several bottles of pills fell from the mouth of the storage object. He quickly picked out a few, tilted his head back and swallowed them, slowly recovering his strength with the help of the medicine.

Just then, footsteps approached from the cave entrance.

"The knife is sharpened. I'll go in and prepare the ingredients now." A rough, hoarse voice rang out, and a figure carrying a short knife stepped into the cave.

With the help of the elixir, Gou An regained some strength, suddenly rolled out of the iron cauldron, and used both hands and feet to silently hide in a deep corner of the cave.

The man walked to the cauldron, and the firelight illuminated his figure.

It was a pig-headed demon, covered in thick black fur, with protruding tusks and a ferocious face.

Judging from the aura of his transformed state, his cultivation level is not high, at most the fifth level, or even a bit weaker.

The pig demon, seeing the cauldron empty, was immediately alarmed and turned to shout towards the cave entrance, "Oh no! The dog demon is gone!"

Hearing the shouts, another person rushed into the cave. It was not a demon, but a middle-aged human man wearing a fur coat.

"Huh?" The man walked up to the large pot, his face full of surprise and doubt. "I just threw him into the pot, how did he disappear?"

"Could it have melted completely from the water? When we first moved it here, it was frozen solid, like an ice cube."

"This is really weird."

The human and the demon immediately dispersed and searched the cave.

Gou An huddled in the corner, barely daring to breathe, desperately trying to activate the medicinal power to repair his depleted body.

The cave looked spacious, but there were very few places to hide.

The pig demon, carrying a short knife, approached Gou An's hiding place step by step, and it looked like he was about to be discovered.

Gou An steeled his resolve, determined to fight to the death. With a swift movement of his throat, he spat out the Divine Iron Hammer into his hand, which he gripped tightly.

Taking advantage of the moment when the pig demon turned its back to him, Gou An suddenly pounced and swung his giant hammer to smash the monster's back.

Unfortunately, his body was too weak, and his movements were sluggish.

Upon hearing the sound, the pig demon turned around abruptly and raised his hand to parry with his short blade.

But the power of the divine iron hammer was still terrifying. After a loud bang, the pig demon was blasted away by the violent force, crashing heavily against the rock wall before falling heavily to the ground.

Gou An dared not delay and immediately stepped forward to deliver a fatal blow, but the pig demon held his sword firmly in place, resisting his attack.

"Are you being unreasonable?! We kindly saved you, and you want to take my life instead!" the pig demon shouted angrily.

"Save me? You clearly intend to cook me and eat me!" Gou An gritted his teeth, exerting all his pressure, determined to kill the other party.

The commotion alerted Liu Dayong, who rushed over and, seeing the two locked in a stalemate, hurriedly shouted to stop them: "It's a misunderstanding! It's all a misunderstanding!"

"Misunderstanding?" Gou An was almost completely exhausted, and he gritted his teeth and growled.

Even though he was weak at this moment, he was still a ninth-level demon beast, and his cultivation level was definitely higher than that of the pig demon.

The middle-aged man, who appeared to be of average skill, did not dare to step forward and intervene rashly.

"They're cooking me in a pot, even discussing whether it should be salty or bland—is that all fake?"

Faced with Gou An's fury, the man hurriedly explained, "No! What we were discussing was how to deal with the rabbit, not you!"

After saying that, he picked up a fat rabbit carcass from the ground.

"You think I'd believe that?" Gou An retorted angrily. "Those things floating in the pot where I was cooked were clearly just side dishes!"

"That's not a side dish!" The man waved his hands repeatedly to explain, "That's a medicinal soup to dispel cold and heal wounds! Your body has been invaded by extreme cold, and ordinary thawing methods are useless, so we had no choice but to use this medicinal soup to warm and nourish your body."

"As for that rabbit, we don't plan to cook it; we're going to roast it over a fire."

He raised his hand and pointed to the side, where a grill was prominently displayed over the campfire.

Upon seeing this, Gou An felt a little hesitant.

The man continued, taking advantage of the moment, "We found you on a wrecked boat in the snowy mountains. You were already frozen to death when we brought you back to the cave. We had no ill intentions towards you."

"Besides, we can't boil you alive, we have to process you first."

"That's right, that's right!" the pig demon trapped underneath quickly echoed, "I really just wanted to save you, I had no other intentions."

Gou An's mind wavered, his legs went weak, and he staggered back several steps before finally managing to stand up by slamming his back against the rock wall.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the pig demon broke free and scrambled to hide beside the middle-aged man.

At this moment, Gou An's face was deathly pale. The little strength he had managed to recover after his desperate attack was now completely exhausted.

But the human and the demon in front of them did not take the opportunity to pounce and retaliate; they simply stood there, showing no sign of attack.

"Calm down, we really have no intention of harming you." The man softened his tone and introduced himself: "My name is Liu Dayong, and this fat pig is called Pig Old Nine."

If you still don't trust us, you are free to leave on your own, and we will not stop you.

Upon hearing this, Gou An's tense mind relaxed slightly.

He sniffed the air, carefully smelling the direction of the large pot. The aroma wafting from the pot was indeed that of various herbs that dispel cold and promote blood circulation.

When I first woke up, my sense of smell hadn't returned, so I couldn't tell the difference.

"Where are my clothes?" Gou An asked.

"There." Pig Ninth pointed to a huge, crimson rock to the side, where Gou An's clothes were laid flat on the rock.

"Your clothes are frozen stiff, so we'll put them on the firestone to dry them."

Gou An walked slowly over, and the crimson boulder was scalding hot to the touch.

It is a rare type of fire stone that can emit high temperatures on its own and is often found near volcanoes.

His personal clothes and the Seven Luminaries Mystic Armor were all laid out intact on the stone, without the slightest damage.

He quickly put on his armor and outer clothes, then turned to leave the cave.

But as soon as he reached the cave entrance, a fierce and violent wind and snow howled in, and a biting cold hit him in the face, causing him to stop abruptly.

This place is still in the snowy region. In my current weakened state, if I rashly step into the snowstorm, I will surely die.

"Why don't you stay and have some barbecue to recover your strength before you leave?" Liu Dayong said from behind.

"Yes," Pig Ninth nodded in agreement, "I'm not a petty monster either. It's not your fault for that misunderstanding earlier."

Hearing their pleas for him to stay, Gou An wavered; he did indeed need rest at that moment.

So he turned to the human and the demon and said with a smile, "I acted impulsively just now. Please forgive me if I have offended you."

"It's good that the misunderstanding is cleared up!" Liu Dayong tossed the rabbit in his hand to Pig Lao Jiu: "Go and process the rabbit meat, roast it and eat it."

"Alright!" Pig Ninth immediately went to the side and began skillfully gutting and skinning the rabbit. He quickly cleaned the rabbit meat and put it on the fire to roast.

Liu Dayong invited Gou An to sit by the campfire and said, "This is a cold and harsh place, and we really don't have much to offer you. Please don't find it offensive."

Gou An chuckled awkwardly, "In a place like this, having even a place to keep warm is already a blessing, so how can you complain?"

"Where did you come from, my friend?" Liu Dayong asked curiously. "And how did you manage to freeze to death?"

"It's a long story!" Gou An simply shook his head and sighed, vaguely explaining, "I was tricked into coming here by villains, fell into a trap, and barely escaped death."

"That fellow Daoist is truly lucky!" Liu Dayong said, "If your flying boat hadn't crashed into this snowy mountain where we live, you would probably have continued deeper into the snowy region in the direction you were heading. If you had been frozen for too long, you really wouldn't have survived."

"Thank you so much, fellow Daoist, for saving my life!"

As Gou An spoke, he swallowed hard and spat out a wine jar, which contained the fine wine that Gou An had hidden in the City of Ten Thousand Demons.

"Today, I'd like to invite you two to have some drinks to warm you up."

Upon hearing about the wine, Pig Ninth, who was grilling meat, immediately started drooling: "It smells so good!"

Liu Dayong wiped his mouth and said, "I haven't smelled such a good aroma of wine in many years. You can tell it's a fine brew just by smelling it."

Gou An picked up a few earthen bowls from the side and poured one for each of them: "Have a taste, there's plenty!"

The two, one human and two demons, drank and ate meat, and quickly became acquainted.

Gou An also took the opportunity to ask many questions about this place.

This place is called the Endless Snowfield, which stretches for tens of thousands of miles from north to south, and its area is equivalent to several monster mountain ranges.

Located at the northernmost point in the world, it is covered in snow all year round.

They, a human and a demon, live here mainly to work for the demon king.

They don't cultivate, and their current cultivation level is only due to the pills given to them by the Demon King, mainly to ensure they won't freeze to death easily.

"There's a demon king here too?" Gou An asked with some doubt, "What kind of work do you do for the demon king?"

"We're looking for medicinal herbs!" Liu Dayong replied. "We need to hand over various spiritual herbs and plants that grow within the snowy region once a month, and then use these to exchange for resources for survival."