Following the barely visible stone steps amidst the ice and snow, Ku He, still a young man, and a shocked Xiao En, began to climb the great snow mountain. The expressions on their faces were no longer frozen by the blizzard but shifted into extremely complex emotions: excitement, joy, tension, elation, and a hint of fear.

Ku He's face held no fear, only fervent zeal. He was a devoted ascetic, yearning throughout his life to touch the gates of the temple with his own hands, to prostrate his forehead on the stone steps before it.

The grand cosmic structure on the great snow mountain looked deceptively close. But as they attempted to approach it, they discovered that the temple was an incredibly distant existence. After climbing for what felt like an eternity, they felt even further away from the temple. The somber black stone walls seemed like an ethereal shadow, ready to dissolve into the great snow mountain at any moment.

Legend had it that the temple only appeared twice a year. Ku He and Xiao En were unwilling to give up this opportunity, so they mustered all their strength to climb the great snow mountain. They had no idea how long they climbed. The two survivors were covered in cuts from the ice, blood dripping, leaving two faint streaks on the snow.

……

……

With a resounding slap, Ku He's hand finally made contact with the stone steps in front of the temple. The young ascetic couldn't help but slap them twice to express his elation and indescribable excitement.

Xiao En was a little slower. He secretly gripped the hidden weapon in his sleeve, looking at the temple's main gate with a hint of terror. The gate was fully seven *zhang* tall, like a book cast onto the mortal realm by a god. The gate of the Great Wei imperial palace looked like a miniature version of the temple gate, far from the temple's grandeur and magnificence. It was indeed not a place for mortals.

The stone walls of the temple were covered in dust, as if no one had visited this most mysterious place in the world for many years.

Xiao En swallowed his saliva and prepared to find a way into the temple. He carried a heavy burden from his emperor, seeking the secret to eternal life. Now that success seemed imminent, he was naturally excited. But Ku He was different. He knelt piously before the temple, incessantly kowtowing, blood gradually seeping from his forehead.

He walked towards the temple gate, reaching out, but unable to touch the massive gate. It seemed that as his fingertips extended, the gate receded in a strange manner.

The temple was near, yet so far.

——————————————————————

Thirty years later, in the mountain cave, a dying Xiao En's eyes welled up with a trace of sadness.

"I couldn't get in."

Fan Xian released his tightly clasped hands and said softly, "That's to be expected. Otherwise, the Four Grandmasters would have become the Five Grandmasters."

"Ku He is stronger than me. Even if I had his luck, I wouldn't be able to reach the Grandmaster realm." Xiao En shook his head. "But Ku He couldn't get in either. That temple seemed to be protected by a mysterious power. Back then, Ku He and I were the strongest martial artists in the world, but we couldn't enter."

Fan Xian suddenly realized that amongst the world's secrets, his teacher Fei Jie had mentioned that Ku He had knelt on the bluestone steps before the temple for a long time before gaining his current formidable power. It seemed that the rumor held some truth. He suddenly frowned and asked, "What exactly is the temple?"

Xiao En couldn't answer this question. The old man weakly said, "There was a large plaque at the main gate of the temple, but it was so old that I couldn't make out what was written on it. I guessed it was a rune left to the world by the heavens."

Fan Xian's heart trembled slightly. He asked, "What kind of symbol was it?"

Xiao En looked at the excited Fan Xian, his eyebrows twitching. He seemed to find it interesting that this young man, on the verge of death, still had such a strong curiosity about the unknown.

"It was the character *wu*..." The old man stretched out his finger with some difficulty and gestured in the air.

Fan Xian understood immediately and muttered to himself, "Hidden Dragon, Do Not Act?" As soon as he said it, he laughed at himself.

"There were three identical runes." Xiao En continued, moving his finger up and down, then up and down again, drawing two arcs in the air. His fingertip pierced the air, giving a sense of mysteriousness.

Fan Xian paused, knowing that he couldn't possibly discover anything from such simple symbols. Did the temple have anything to do with his rebirth? Did it have anything to do with his mother? It seemed that he would have to wait to discover it in the future, but he didn't necessarily have the same good luck as Ku He and Xiao En to survive the long polar night.

"I think the story shouldn't end so simply."

Xiao En coughed twice. "That's right... When a goal you've been pursuing desperately is so close, yet you can never reach it, you'll always feel a strong sense of unwillingness."

"Ku He knelt piously on the stone steps before the temple, but I started walking slowly towards the high wall on the side of the mountain."

The night outside the mountain cave enveloped the two men. There was no fire, so there was no light. Xiao En's indifferent voice narrated the events of decades ago, sounding exceptionally eerie. Fan Xian suddenly said softly, "You were looking for a sewer?"

Xiao En glanced at the young man's figure at the cave entrance and said, "You're in the same line of work. Of course, you know what I would do."

"You couldn't even get close to the wall... how could you possibly crawl into the temple through a sewer? Besides..." Fan Xian frowned. "A divine site like this, left by the heavens, wouldn't necessarily have a sewer."

"So I failed." Xiao En said very simply. "Now that I think about it, I was really bold back then, thinking about these worldly methods when facing the temple."

"What happened later?"

"Later..." Xiao En fell into a strange state of mind. "Later, I walked back to the main gate of the temple and found Ku He stuffing something into his arms. I was curious and just about to ask when, at that moment..."

The old man's pace slowed down, and Fan Xian's heart rose.

"The temple gate... opened."

"Ah?" Fan Xian subconsciously moved closer to Xiao En, as if trying to protect this guy from thirty years ago.

A trace of absurd laughter appeared in Xiao En's eyes. He rasped, "The temple gate opened silently. I was overjoyed and just about to go in when, from that largest gate in the world, suddenly ran out the most wonderful person."

"The most wonderful person?"

"Yes, a little fairy."

————————————————————————

Xiao En stood foolishly outside the gate of the temple, watching a little girl rush into his arms. He almost spat out a mouthful of blood. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ku He charge like a fierce tiger to the gate of the temple, entangled in a battle with a black light from within.

The young Ku He was already the youngest Level Nine expert in the world. At this time, as if stimulated by something, he fully unleashed the power within him, actually entangled with the mysterious black shadow in the temple. Kinetic energy surged, and the mountain snow turned chaotic.

After a few breaths, Xiao En remembered that he had a little girl in his arms. Before he could react, he heard the little girl shout at Ku He on the bluestone steps, "Retreat!"

It was a simple word, but when spoken by this little girl, it was like an imperial decree, brooking no doubt. The innate majesty made Xiao En's heart tremble. Then, he received a slap on the face with a loud *pa*.

"You retreat too!"

……

……

Ku He retreated gracefully, and Xiao En stumbled down the stone steps with the little girl in his arms, leaving the main gate of the temple by ten *zhang*.

The black light swiftly retreated back into the temple, without pursuit. Xiao En now looked at the giant gate with lingering fear, thinking that the black light seemed to be a human figure. He was greatly frightened because Ku He had already vomited blood and fallen to the ground beside him. Even Ku He was no match for the opponent. The people in this temple could not be viewed with mortal eyes.

He realized very quickly that it must have been that while he was looking for the sewer, Ku He, who was kneeling on the bluestone steps, had reached some kind of agreement with the little girl in his arms, helping her escape from the temple.

But... who was this little girl?

"Hold me, grab him, and leave."

The little girl seemed to be a little cold, burying her face in Xiao En's arms, giving orders. Xiao En did not dare to be negligent, grabbing Ku He's collar with one hand and running down the great snow mountain.

He didn't know how long he ran before finally running back to his camp. It wasn't until he sat breathlessly in the tent that he came to his senses. Why was he running? He hadn't obtained the elixir of immortality requested by the emperor. Why was he listening to this little girl so much? And strangely, the immortals in the temple didn't chase after him.

Xiao En turned around and saw the little girl squatting halfway down, pinching her nose, looking at the leftover human bones in the corner of the tent.

"How pitiful and hateful humans are." The little girl turned around and looked at Xiao En. It wasn't until now that Xiao En saw her appearance clearly.

Clear as water, pure as snow, with eyes like stars, an absolutely beautiful face that shouldn't belong to a mortal.

……

……

In the pitch-black mountain cave, Fan Xian's expression couldn't be seen, but his voice was a little strange: "How old was that little girl?"

"Four years old, at most only four years old." Xiao En's eyes were open, as if he could still see that clear and otherworldly face. "When I held her in my arms, I felt like she was as light as if she didn't exist."

Fan Xian said somewhat blankly, "Also four years old?"

"Why say 'also'?"

"It's nothing." Fan Xian smiled, his eyes shining. "Do you know who that little girl is?"

Xiao En said with absolute certainty, "Of course, I know. She's a little fairy who yearned for the mortal world, so she ran out of the temple!"

Fan Xian laughed and shook his finger: "Believe me, she's just a... little girl who ran into the temple to steal something."