Over the next two days, Wang Yu studied the Ice and Snow Divine Art under Yan Xiangxue's guidance every morning, and in the afternoons went sightseeing around Mount Tianshan, getting acquainted with quite a few disciples of the Tianshan Sect along the way.
The martial contests of the Seven Swords Ascend Mount Tianshan had been scheduled for after Ye Tianlin's birthday banquet; after all, win or lose, the losing side was bound to end up in low spirits.
At this point, two days remained until Ye Tianlin's birthday banquet on the twentieth of October, and the realm of Mount Tianshan was already engulfed in swirling snow.
Wang Yu sat cross-legged in the courtyard. As he breathed, the falling snow around him froze into ice, and no visible breath rose from his mouth, as if the air he exhaled was even colder than the surrounding chill.
Watching Wang Yu's progress, Yan Xiangxue nodded in satisfaction. "To cultivate both ice and fire internal energy simultaneously, and even create a technique that practices them together—your talent and comprehension are truly top-notch. Your initiation into the Ice and Snow Divine Art has gone very smoothly."
"Is that so?" Wang Yu finished his breathing cycle and felt the true qi flowing inside him like a thin thread of ice. He wondered if he really was a genius.
Then he heard Yan Xiangxue's reminder: "Getting started as a beginner is always the easiest step. In the beginning, your inner strength is still weak, so circulating your qi poses little threat to your original cultivation method. But the further you progress, the more dangerous it becomes.
"Most people who suffer cultivation deviation do so because starting out was too easy and everything went too smoothly. Blindsided by overconfidence, they rush for quick success until their bad habits become irreversible, ultimately falling into deviation beyond all help."
Wang Yu indicated that he understood.
Truth be told, that had originally been his thought: once he learned and grasped the basics of the Ice and Snow Divine Art, he would wait for the Tianshan snow lotus Ye Tianlin had promised him to arrive, and show the world just how much of a 'genius' he was!
In fact, Wang Yu was also selling himself a bit short. While his greatest reliance was indeed the tortoise shell, as the tortoise shell's energy nourished him in return, his physical constitution and natural aptitude had both been improving. Moreover, his transmigrated soul brought a different perspective of thought, which in a sense elevated his comprehension.
Compared to the original host who knew no martial arts and possessed a timid, reserved disposition, he was already an entirely different person.
"Brother Sun found a fresh Tianshan snow lotus!"
Before Wang Yu's snow lotus arrived, news came first that Sun Wenzhu had discovered a fresh one.
It was Fang Shaobai who brought the news.
Unlike the others who had seen the Tianshan Sect's young disciples in recent days and begun cramming their training at the eleventh hour, Fang Shaobai appeared all the more relaxed and carefree. Every day, he was either wandering the landscape or savoring fine Western Regions wine.
"Where is it? What does a fresh Tianshan snow lotus look like?" Ardai bounced forward and asked out of curiosity.
"It hasn't bloomed yet," Fang Shaobai said. "Brother Sun says the medicinal potency of a Tianshan snow lotus only reaches its peak when it blooms. The one they found hasn't bloomed yet, and Brother Sun said it will take another night. It won't be ready to pick until tomorrow morning when it opens."
The Tianshan snow lotus grew under exceptionally demanding conditions, tolerating not the slightest trace of human presence or chimney smoke. Before blooming, its main stalk remained concealed beneath the earth; only three days before flowering would the stalk pierce the soil and shoot up at rapid speed, with the flower bud fully forming over those same three days.
After three days, the snow lotus bloomed, and its flowering period lasted merely ten days. During these ten days, its seeds scattered with the wind. Once the flowering period passed, it withered rapidly, turning into decaying stalks and withered leaves in barely a day, stripped of all medicinal value.
As for why the Tianshan snow lotus was so potent, it was because while its flowering lasted only ten days, its seed had actually lain buried underground for decades, accumulating sufficient energy. Then, in one sudden bloom, it unleashed that energy and condensed it back into seeds to scatter in the wind.
Therefore, the moment the Tianshan snow lotus bloomed was when its energy was most concentrated, and also when its medicinal potency was at its height. The later into the blooming period, the weaker the snow lotus's potency became.
For this reason, artificial cultivation of the Tianshan snow lotus was utterly impossible, and it almost never appeared consecutively in the exact same spot. It was found more often around Lingxiao Peak simply because the terrain there was highest, making it easier for the wind to carry seeds into the area.
"Tomorrow morning would be the nineteenth of October, which won't conflict with celebrating Senior Ye's birthday," Li Yunxiu said as she walked out from the room.
"Where did they find it?" Qianqian asked.
"A cliff about seventy li to the west," Fang Shaobai replied. "Brother Sun intends to wait there overnight. Junior Sister Leng came back to fetch two tents."
Martial arts masters had ample internal breath and could endure heat and cold far better than ordinary people; Xiantian experts could even lie on ice or walk through fire. But Sun Wenzhu was not a Xiantian expert after all, and October nights on Mount Tianshan were indeed far colder than in the Central Plains.
Qianqian giggled. "Does Miss Leng plan to stay with Brother Sun the whole night? Spending a night outdoors in this weather will make it hard to perform at her full strength during the sword matches."
Fang Shaobai laughed as well. "Junior Sister Leng is only eighteen this year. Ten years from now, she can make another trip."
For the Seven Swords Ascend Mount Tianshan, aside from Leng Jiangzhu, everyone else was in their twenties, and Liu Wuchen was already twenty-eight, so there would certainly be no next time for him.
Thus, they naturally had to cherish this sole opportunity. Even if they couldn't reclaim their sect leader's sword, they had to showcase their own brilliance; otherwise, they would disgrace their respective sects.
Leng Jiangzhu, however, was different. At only eighteen, she had already reached the Xiantian realm. Though she had only newly stepped into it, her natural talent and comprehension were among the very best—many even considered her comparable to or surpassing Fang Shaobai.
No one believed she could reclaim the sword the Mount Mei sect leader had lost this time around, but nobody doubted that her chances of winning it back ten years later were exceedingly high.
The expectations for her were even higher than those for Fang Shaobai. After all, Fang Shaobai was twenty-four this year, caught in an awkward position: had he been a few years younger, people probably wouldn't hold out hope, but if the match could be delayed three years, there would hardly be any suspense.
With nothing to do, Wang Yu said, "Come on, let's go together and see what a Tianshan snow lotus looks like."
Yan Xiangxue naturally wasn't going. Seeing Ardai's eager yet hesitant look, she decisively told her to go along. "I've taken the pill Mister Sun refined. Though I cannot circulate my inner energy, my movement isn't hindered. A Tianshan snow lotus is a rare sight; you should go see it too."
And so the group headed out together, with Ardai following along.
They soon caught up with Leng Jiangzhu. By then, she had already obtained two tents, mounted one horse, and was leading another pack horse, ready to set out again.
"Wait for us! We're coming too!"
By the time everyone arrived at Sun Wenzhu's location, the sun was already slanting toward the west.
This was a sun-facing cliff in the Mount Tianshan range. Sun Wenzhu sat beneath the cliff atop a rock half the height of a man, staring blankly at a spot midway up the rock face. Seeing everyone arrive together, he rose to greet them.
From afar, Wang Yu called out, "Worry not, Brother Sun! I'm not here to snatch the snow lotus, just here to take a look!"
Sun Wenzhu remained deadpan, though a trace of amusement flickered in his eyes. "Even if you wanted to steal it, you couldn't."
The group rode up, dismounted one after another, and looked up toward mid-cliff. There, in a crevice roughly twenty zhang up the rock wall, grew a foot-long stem bearing three to five green leaves, remarkably conspicuous against the cliff of white stone and accumulated snow.
At the tip of the stem rested a fist-sized white flower bud tinged with pale green, swaying in the northwest wind. Strong as the wind was, the bud did not sway violently, showing that while the stem appeared slender, it was actually exceptionally tough and hardy.
Everyone present possessed martial arts; even the weakest, Ardai, had an elite pedigree and was an insurmountable force for ordinary martial artists. Thus, though twenty zhang was quite a distance, all of them could see it clearly.
"Is that the Tianshan snow lotus? It actually grows on steep cliffs?" Ardai asked curiously. Though she had heard legends of the Tianshan snow lotus since childhood, she had indeed never seen one with her own eyes.
"It doesn't strictly grow on cliffs, but generally it is indeed found mostly in rock crevices," explained Xin Yilong, who had accompanied them. "Tianshan snow lotus seeds scatter with the wind, and Mount Tianshan has ceaseless gales year-round. It's difficult for the seeds to settle on grassy ground; they usually get caught in rock crevices, then gradually take root and burrow into the dirt."
Apart from Wang Yu's trio, Ardai, and Fang Shaobai, the only one who had tagged along to watch the excitement was Xin Yilong. After all, he was familiar with the local terrain and climate, and could certainly help if trouble arose.
Leng Jiangzhu found a spot sheltered from the wind against the cliff face, and pitched the tents with everyone's help.
The tents provided by the Tianshan Sect were fairly large; with a bit of squeezing, three or four people could sleep in one. However, propriety between men and women had to be observed between Leng Jiangzhu and Sun Wenzhu, so she had still brought two tents.
Xin Yilong gathered some fallen spruce branches nearby, returned, and lit a bonfire, piling more branches beside it to ensure it would burn until the next morning.
Wang Yu took out some dry flatbreads from his pack, and Fang Shaobai fetched a sheepskin pouch from his saddle; this was dinner brought for Sun Wenzhu and Leng Jiangzhu.
Just then, a strange noise suddenly came from the cliff above. Two argali sheep appeared from above, galloping along the side of the cliff; the precipitous rock face was like flat ground to them.
The next moment, a furry, grey-and-white snow leopard abruptly appeared, bounding onto the cliff and giving chase along the precipice. As the three animals pursued one another, the snow leopard quickly caught up to the trailing argali sheep, pouncing fiercely onto its back and severing the prey's throat with a bite.
The argali sheep let out a shriek and scrambled desperately to climb, but in the end plunged headlong off the cliff, dragging the snow leopard down with it. The spot where they fell was not far from the group.
Ardai let out a soft gasp, only to feel someone beside her shoot forward like a bird. Dashing to the edge of the cliff base, he leapt lightly, soaring three zhang into the air, then tapped against the cliff face to borrow leverage and propelled himself another three zhang higher.
Wang Yu reached out his left hand and caught the argali sheep by the horns, then thrust out his right hand and grabbed the snow leopard by the scruff of its neck, floating downward as weightlessly as a falling leaf.
Xin Yilong's eyes lit up, and he praised loudly, "Splendid lightness skill!"
The Tianshan Sect was also renowned for lightness skills. Xin Yilong was a Xiantian expert, yet he knew his own lightness techniques were at best comparable to this.
After landing, Wang Yu saw that the argali sheep in his left hand was already dead, while the snow leopard in his right—seized by the scruff of its fated neck—had round pupils and wore a dazed, completely bewildered expression.
Looking at everyone, Wang Yu grinned. "It's not often game delivers itself to our doorstep. Which of you knows how to roast meat?"
Xin Yilong raised his hand and volunteered, "I do!"
Chapter 81