Chapter 254: Qingfeng Temple After the Snow, Ning Fei's Handiwork

That night, heavy snow fluttered down. It was snowing.

Ning Fei's calculations from last night were perfectly accurate; today was indeed a day of heavy snowfall.

When he woke up in the morning, it was still snowing outside.

Snowflakes drifted down from the sky, adding a touch of mystery to the secluded Daoist temple.

With nothing to do while it snowed, Ning Fei took Little Fox, Little Dog, and the three Black Chirps, opened an oiled paper umbrella, and headed to the pavilion. He lit a portable Small Stove and settled down to watch the snowfall.

It wasn't until around ten in the morning that the snow finally stopped.

As soon as it stopped, Ning Fei immediately started his live stream.

Many netizens had been waiting for him to go live. Seeing the broadcast notification pop up on their mobile phones, countless fans instantly rushed into Ning Fei's Live-stream Room.

They were about to say something, but when they saw the scene on the screen, their eyes widened in awe and they gasped in admiration.

"So beautiful!"

In the broadcast feed, the entirety of Qingfeng Temple was blanketed under a thick layer of snow.

A single night of snowfall had turned the entire world into a pristine, holy white.

They then looked at Ning Fei. At that moment, he was in the pavilion, playing with the little animals.

He stood up and addressed the viewers in the live stream.

"Because of the heavy snow, I started the broadcast a bit late today."

Afterward, Ning Fei stepped into the snow, retrieved a large broom from the storage room, and began to sweep.

Sweeping was a necessity after a snowfall.

Students who went to school in the north understood this best; whenever it snowed heavily, the whole school would organize two class periods strictly for shoveling snow.

Ning Fei still remembered his freshman year at a university in Jingdu, when the first snow of winter fell.

He and Ma Yao had grown up experiencing snow, so they didn't think much of it.

But Chen Ya, who was from Guangdong, was completely different.

It was a Saturday. At six-thirty in the morning, Chen Ya ran in from outside, shouting like a madman in the dorm room, "It's snow! It's snowing outside! Hurry up and get out here to play in the snow!"

Apparently, he had gotten up at six just to go down and look at it.

They had opened their eyes, glanced at the overexcited Chen Ya, ignored him completely, and hugged their warm blankets tighter. Ma Yao had just muttered, "We have to sweep the snow again. How annoying."

The grounds of Qingfeng Temple were already very clean, so when Ning Fei swept the snow into piles, it remained pure and white.

Truth be told, watching a Daoist priest in a Daoist robe sweeping snow inside a Daoist temple was an incredibly relaxing sight.

Ning Fei's movements were gentle; every action seemed to carry the charm of the Dao.

Sweeping fallen flowers and leaves in autumn, sweeping the clear wind and pure snow in winter.

This was, perhaps, the essence of his life.

Ning Fei first swept the snow inside the temple into a few piles, then gathered the snow outside the temple into a massive pile. Finally, working from top to bottom, he swept every single bluestone step clean.

By the time he finished, Qingfeng Temple seemed much brighter.

Setting down the broom, Ning Fei turned to the viewers.

"Although sweeping is a bit of a hassle when it snows, things like snowball fights, building snowmen, or just walking through the soft snow are a lot of fun."

"So next, I plan to build two snowmen."

His words immediately piqued everyone's interest.

"Temple Master Ning is going to build a snowman? I can't wait."

"Temple Master Ning is a true craftsman. I wonder what his snowman will look like."

"Isn't building a snowman just making a big snowball and a small one, then using stones for eyes and a carrot for a nose? It's really simple."

"Why hasn't it snowed where I am yet? I want to build a snowman too."

"To the person above, where do you live? With the recent cold front, it's snowed in a lot of places."

"I'm from Hainan."

"Then just wash up and go to sleep. You'll have everything in your dreams."

Seeing the snow at Qingfeng Temple had also brightened the viewers' moods.

Ning Fei first approached the large snow pile outside Qingfeng Temple and addressed the stream.

"Building a snowman isn't difficult. You just need to know how to pack the snow together and mold it into different shapes."

"The simple way is to roll out a large snowball, or just pat the snow into a cone and stick a head on top."

"But my method for building snowmen is completely different."

Ning Fei, after all, had excellent "handiwork" and was a true craftsman.

Therefore, he planned to build a complex snowman.

"Actually, building a snowman is just like painting or wood carving."

"It's about slowly piecing together the image you have in your mind, bit by bit."

Ning Fei explained quietly.

He crouched down, gently scooped up a handful of snow with both hands, and began to mold the shape of the "snowman."

He wasn't wearing gloves. For one, his current Taiji robe had thermal insulation, so he didn't feel cold. Moreover, his physical constitution was already incredibly formidable.

In the video feed, Ning Fei looked dashing and handsome, instantly making a horde of young female viewers swoon.

"What kind of snowman do you guys think Temple Master Ning is going to build?"

One young woman asked, her tone somewhat excited.

"Is it possible he's going to sculpt the face of the person he loves?"

"If that's true, Temple Master Ning is way too romantic."

"If someone could build a snowman that looked exactly like me, I'd say yes to him without a doubt."

"Temple Master Ning has always been a romantic person."

"Is he really going to sculpt his sweetheart?"

"Look, he's started. It's two legs, but why do they look a little thin?"

"Uh, he's making a third leg..."

"Everyone, based on what you're saying, Temple Master Ning is either sculpting his sweetheart sprawled on the ground on all fours, or he's making an animal."

While Ning Fei worked, the viewers discussed it animatedly.

At first, many starry-eyed girls had fantasized that he was going to sculpt the image of a young woman, beautiful and romantic.

But looking at it now, he had already molded four legs.

"He seems to be building a horse!"

Someone spotted the clues and gasped in awe.

"Can you really make a horse out of snow?"

Ning Fei firmly squeezed the snow, shaping his creation.

He started by packing two thick hind legs, then built a snow platform in front of them, using it to sculpt the two front legs.

Just by looking at these four legs, the netizens could already picture a magnificent steed rearing back and neighing at the sky.

But at the same time, a question popped into their minds.

The weight of snow increases at an accelerating rate as its volume grows.

In other words, large snow structures were often incredibly heavy.

Could four legs like these actually support the weight of a horse's body?

At that moment, Ning Fei explained, "To create a better sculpture of a horse, I need to use some ice water."

Saying this, he ran to the well in the backyard, opened the wooden cover, and drew a bucket of water.

Then, cupping some water in his hands, he continued to mold the horse.

"When you pour water over snow, it turns into ice."

"Ice provides much better support and structural integrity."

"Plus, when water and snow mix, the resulting ice stays the same white color as the snow. I just need to pack another layer of snow around the outside, and it'll be perfect."

As he spoke, he continued shaping the horse's legs.

It wasn't long before Little Dog ran out. Seeing Ning Fei building something out of snow, its eyes filled with curiosity.

The weather was quite cold now. Little Fox and the three Black Chirps were playing inside the house, and Little Fei was too frozen to want to come out. Only Little Dog had the boundless energy to frolic in the snow early in the morning, looking exceptionally excited.

Ning Fei possessed Carving Specialization, a skill that was equally applicable to building snowmen. Because of this, the four legs he molded by hand looked exceptionally majestic.

Next came the harder step: shaping the horse's body.

This required a massive snowball.

"Up here on the mountain, big snowballs are easy to make."

Saying this, Ning Fei led Little Dog down the bluestone steps to the mountain path, which was currently covered in an untouched, smooth layer of snow.

People rarely visited Qinshan Village, as going any further inward led straight into the depths of the Qinshan Mountain range.

Ning Fei stepped into the snowbanks lining the road and firmly packed a snowball. He placed it on the ground, preparing to roll it forward.

Seeing the snowball, Little Dog assumed it was a toy. The pup opened its jaws wide and chomped down on it, but the snowball instantly shattered, leaving it biting a mouthful of nothing.

"Shoo!"

Ning Fei scolded it softly in exasperation, then quickly made another small snowball and rolled it down the slope.

The snowball grew steadily larger at a visible rate.

Ning Fei stopped every now and then to pat it down, making it more compact.

Just like that, he followed the snowball from the top of the slope to the bottom, packed it tightly, carried it back up, and repeated the process.

Gradually, a massive snowball approaching a meter in diameter was formed.

The viewers were visibly astounded by the sight of such an enormous snowball.

Extremely satisfied, Ning Fei carried the giant snowball back to the front of Qingfeng Temple.

The large snowball was ready. Next came the final sculpting.