Chapter 465: Welcoming a Beauty in the Wind and Snow

Chapter 465: Chapter 465: Welcoming a Beauty in the Wind and Snow

Time passed.

Two months had gone by since Bai Mo met the man from the Immortal Arrival City Demon Hunting Team.

The promised pill of the Crystal Charm had yet to arrive.

Bai Mo wasn’t surprised.

After returning to the sect, he had looked through the relevant texts and found a mention of the Crystal Charm in an obscure travelogue.

According to the record, the creature was rare, traveled in groups, and possessed all sorts of transformative abilities.

The world coveted its body of treasures but despised its talent for escape.

Only poor saps like those in the Demon Hunting Teams would spend their time howling and clamoring as they chased after Crystal Charms.

"An item like that shouldn’t be worth only five or six thousand Spirit Stones. The Cultivators in the city have all underestimated it."

Ah Er was still slicing herbs. The root of some unknown ancient plant was being diced into flying slivers under its blade, growing shorter and shorter.

Hearing Bai Mo’s sigh, it paid him no mind.

Having spent a long time buying supplies outside, it knew that market prices were often not determined by an item’s intrinsic value, but simply by whether the local Cultivators needed it.

Following this rule, it had managed to buy things at low prices many times, a fact it was quite proud of.

Beside them, tongues of fire licked at the bottom of the Pill Furnace.

Bai Mo gave it a casual glance, then let it be. He set down the book in his hands and said:

"Brother Wei’s wedding is in a few days. We’ll go have a meal."

"You make the arrangements. Don’t let the two on the mountain go hungry."

Ah Er paused for a moment, then counted on its claws. Realizing the day was near, it nodded vigorously.

It dropped its knife, turned, and went out the door, heading straight for the mountain.

As it left, it grabbed a straw rain cloak hanging by the door and threw it on.

WHOOSH!

A blast of wind and snow hit its face. It shuddered, suddenly wide awake.

It had never encountered such brutally cold weather in its entire life.

Braving the wind, it arrived on the mountain and expertly navigated to a cliff face sheltered from the wind.

Vines, as thick as a human arm, grew entwined here. It had been over a year since Ah Er had planted them.

In the gap between the vines and the ground sat two small cages.

An old hen was crouched inside, half-conscious and shivering from the cold.

If not for the faint "cluck cluck" it made from time to time, Ah Er would have thought it had already passed on.

Next to it, the old gray mouse sat cross-legged in meditation, a look of serene acceptance on its face, as if it were perfectly comfortable.

Ah Er waved a hand in front of the critter’s face. Seeing no reaction, it realized the mouse was frozen into a stupor.

Shaking its large head and sighing twice, Ah Er extended a claw and poked at a fiery red Spirit Charm floating faintly nearby.

FWOOM!

A ball of fire appeared out of thin air, radiating light and heat.

It gathered some leaves in the middle of the cages and lit them with the flame. In the CRACKLING firelight, the two creatures slowly began to show signs of life again.

"Ah, eh!"

Meeting their returning gazes, Ah Er gestured for a moment, picked out two less-than-perfect Feeding Pills to leave behind, and then trudged back down the mountain through the snow.

Upon returning to Mi Mountain, Ah Er hung up the straw cloak and immediately shared its discovery with Bai Mo.

"Oh? So you’re saying those two really don’t have much of a cultivation base?"

Ah Er nodded repeatedly.

Bai Mo pondered for a moment, then said:

"I recently read a theory that says, ’Divinity is eternal, so Divine Beings never die.’"

"I don’t know what kind of existence that refers to, but the two beasts on the mountain were born from a Divine Kingdom and inherently carry divinity. We must be on our guard."

"How about this: when the time is right, you let them out and just raise them on the mountain. Just remember to keep an eye on them..."

Ah Er didn’t think it was a big deal and readily agreed.

It had gained quite a bit of face among the beasts in the nearby forest.

Managing two beasts with very little cultivation would not be a difficult task.

At dusk.

It carried a bucket of medicinal dregs that Bai Mo had ordered it to dispose of, mixed with leftover scraps, put on its straw cloak, and went out the door.

A bucket of swill like this, once splashed on the forest floor, wouldn’t have to wait long for a Taotie guest to arrive.

A large, sturdy wild boar.

Its bristles were like steel needles. In the mortal world, it would be considered a great menace of the mountains, a truly terrifying sight.

This was the result of Ah Er’s continuous feeding.

This boar, which had been indifferent to Ah Er when it was first bought, was now quite docile towards it.

It sniffed and grunted at Ah Er before lowering its head to dig into the swill.

Pulling its straw cloak tighter, Ah Er watched for only a short while before hurrying back toward Mi Mountain.

The weather was getting colder and colder.

...

Outside the sect gates, deep in the winter, a town was abuzz with the sound of gongs and drums, filled with joyous celebration.

Wei Xianxing, dressed in simple clothes, walked through the wind and snow and entered a mansion decorated with red lanterns.

Any snow that landed on him would soon be melted and evaporated by the heat of his vital energy.

A servant girl in the mansion was not pleased to see him.

"Who meets with the bride in private before the grand ceremony? This is against propriety..."

Wei Xianxing paid her no mind, brazenly making his way to the depths of the mansion, where he saw the woman with her makeup half-done.

"Oh! My dear, why have you come today? Can you not wait for our wedding ceremony?"

The woman’s voice was gentle and charming. Her every glance shimmered. She was a beauty unparalleled in the mortal realm.

Wei Xianxing’s expression remained placid.

Though she was beautiful, her temperament was not so pleasant. It was fickle and unpredictable; otherwise, she wouldn’t have ended up in his hands.

"The masters of Divine Dao Mountain have advised that six days from now is when the celestial phenomena will be at their most volatile."

"The mortal world’s fortune will throw the heavens into chaos. That is the moment the Celestial Dao will be obscured. We must be married then. The timing cannot be off by even a quarter of an hour..."

Seeing how seriously Wei Xianxing was taking this, the woman was overjoyed and curtsied to him.

"My dear, you may rest assured."

Having won the lady’s heart, Wei Xianxing was inevitably stuffed with more valuables on his way out.

"It is our wedding, after all. No matter what, my dear, you should make it a bit more presentable..."

And so, a few days later, when Bai Mo arrived with Ah Er, he was greeted by a grand scene.

A banquet was laid out, stretching to the end of the street, with a crowd of seated Loose Cultivators offering words of celebration.

Many inner and outer disciples of Broken Blade Peak arrived one after another, nodding in greeting when they saw Bai Mo.

"Brother Wei is so extravagant, putting on such a grand display. What a fortunate man."

"I heard that if he wasn’t afraid of offending the bride’s side, he would have invited half the outer disciples from our peak."

"Oh, I heard the bride isn’t exactly... human..."

The crowd whispered among themselves, and some Broken Blade Peak disciples who were lax in their cultivation couldn’t help but show their envy.

"The young lady is no simple character. They say she’s connected to that collapsed Divine Kingdom and inherited part of a Divine Being’s legacy."

"Brother Wei is so lucky."

Several disciples who were on good terms with him heard this, empathized deeply, and drew closer to echo the same sentiment.

Bai Mo and Ah Er sat down across from these few.

Ah Er had already started, happily munching on the peanuts on the table.

The purple-brown skins fell all over it, making a complete mess.

Bai Mo brushed a few pieces from the top of its head, but on a day and at an occasion like this, he couldn’t be bothered to manage it.

As he did so, he couldn’t help but feel a little emotional. ’Brother Wei has rushed about for so many years, and to think he’d end up with a reputation like this. Fate is truly a fickle thing. Of course, it’s also true that Brother Wei has reaped plenty of benefits.’