Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Snow Demons and an Invitation to Alchemy
When snowflakes were falling.
Directly above the Four Seasons Sect shop.
The Spiritual Mechanism Vine looked at a white-haired woman standing on the cloud and couldn’t help but say, "Senior Sister, how long do you plan for Dongbao to stay in the marketplace?"
Since its establishment, the temperature inside Huiya Marketplace has always been stable.
Unless celestial phenomena change, there would be no heavy rain, unexpected cold spells, blizzards, and other weather changes.
Yet it couldn’t stop a senior wanting to test the cultivators’ ability to withstand an unexpected cold snap here.
The white-haired woman in the clouds heard this, and in an instant appeared in front of the Spiritual Mechanism Vine, retracting a fan adorned with white snow and cold plums into her body, and smiled:
"Ten days."
"Looking at you, have you forgotten that the sect also has such trials?
Our sect is meant to follow the seasons, to discern the celestial phenomena, it’s just a little cold snap."
"It’s fortunate that I personally took some of the winter’s cold air from the Divine Snow Grotto Heaven of the sect.
That’s Grotto Heaven! As long as these cultivators can resist the cold air, the spiritual qi that follows is good for the crops."
What she said was indeed correct.
Within the Four Seasons Sect, great power cultivators often artificially create some "celestial phenomena" through consecrated gods or magical artifacts, but the problem is...
"Such events have never happened in Huiya Marketplace.
Senior Sister, this matter might affect the cultivators in the marketplace, making them doubt our Four Seasons Sect’s capabilities."
"Senior Sister, what do you plan to do?"
The Spiritual Mechanism Vine’s voice was somewhat serious.
The white-haired woman unhesitatingly said, "Just put the blame on me afterward.
Providing such a rare experience to these cultivators, bearing some infamy is nothing. Moreover, I plan to lecture about the art of Scattering Beans into Soldiers after Dongbao’s power dissipates.
Now that she said this, the Spiritual Mechanism Vine also fell silent.
If suffering a poor crop yield could be exchanged for a Nascent Soul lecture, it’s a colossal advantage, even the most entangled person would feel it’s a profitable deal.
But just as it felt its senior sister was overly generous, she suddenly took out a jade tablet and looked at it, making the whole vine body turn red in an instant, not knowing if out of anger or fear.
Because...
Some snow demons actually appeared inside the marketplace!
When it looked back at the white-haired woman, she wore an innocent expression, shrugging her shoulders, "Don’t look at me, who knew the demonic qi of the snow demons in the Divine Snow Grotto Heaven wasn’t cleaned up.
Moreover, it’s not a big deal, for some cultivators these snow demons are indeed beneficial."
The Spiritual Mechanism Vine: "..."
It realized it couldn’t persuade its senior sister no matter what, but fortunately, her presence meant everything was under control.
There would absolutely be no casualties.
Even Nascent Soul cultivators could not act recklessly here.
...
Li Ye watched as the Flint Fire Crystal Insects finished eating the crystal powder, and suddenly heard the squeals of beavers in his ear, which sounded as loud as if they encountered a mortal threat.
He immediately ran out of the house, only to see a bizarre humanoid silhouette quietly rising among the falling snowflakes.
Just like some snow monster seen in his past life, twisting its body and lunging towards the beavers.
However, before it could pounce, a wave of black aura suddenly rose up from the beavers’ nest, enveloping the snowman, and instantly melting it.
Only a piece of white crystal stone fell on the snow.
"Ah?"
"What is this thing!"
Li Ye felt a shiver down his spine.
How could such a thing appear in this small courtyard protected by an array, that ominous aura was definitely not something good.
"Chir chir chir!"
Perhaps seeing the black aura devour a snow demon, the bravest beaver suddenly grew bolder, and it suddenly sat cross-legged on the nest.
With its small paws clasped together, it mumbled some words.
"Chir chir chir..."
Soon after, a colorful halo rose beside it, the halo was harmonious, and even vaguely formed a colorful light lotus!
Once the light lotus formed, it spread a ripple instantly sweeping through the courtyard’s snow.
Three or four bizarre snow demons emerged from the snow piles one after another.
The result, of course, was quickly resolved by the black aura.
"...Aren’t you all a bit too powerful?" Li Ye’s fingertips had long been ignited with the golden-red Flint Fire, but he didn’t expect that he wouldn’t need to take action at all.
He shook his head, walked to the white crystal that had fallen on the ground, wrapped it in spiritual qi, held it up to his eye, and examined it carefully.
This was a triangular crystal stone, with some peculiar aura seemingly trapped inside.
"What exactly is happening today?"
"First a cold snap and now these monsters..."
Li Ye found it very strange, having investigated Huiya Marketplace before coming, assured that nothing unusual would happen here, so he decided to settle here for a stable life.
He didn’t like these sudden events, even though he gained some crystal stones from killing the bizarre "snowmen", he would definitely not leave his home at this time.
So he chose to wait for a night.
During this period, he killed dozens more snowmen, obtaining over a dozen crystal stones.
At the same time, he listened to the sounds outside, discovering that there indeed seemed to be cultivators running about.
They seemed rather excited.
Things like "Don’t let that snow demon escape!", "This is a spirit crystal nurtured by demonic qi!", "There is pure white marrow fluid inside", he heard everything, remaining silent.
As it finally turned to day, he finally took his magical artifact and, without a word, walked out of the house.
Luckily with the help of the beavers and the Hungry Bone, otherwise, he truly wouldn’t have been able to leave like this.
Though it was now daytime, snowflakes continued to fall endlessly, and on the road, he occasionally saw cultivators in pairs, seemingly searching and hunting for something, he ignored all, burying his head and rushing on.
The cultivators did not meaningfully try to stop him, and Li Ye arrived smoothly at the marketplace, entered the shop, but didn’t find Spiritual Mechanism Vine, instead, he saw Su Ya.
"Taoist Friend Su!" Li Ye went up to greet.
The latter saw him and was not surprised, just pulled him to a secluded spot before saying, "This cold snap is the work of a senior uncle from our sect."
"Take good care of your wheat, when it ripens, the senior uncle will come to lecture for you! The better you do, the closer you can sit."
This statement caused Li Ye some surprise but also not much surprise.
After all, this matter indeed happened unexpectedly, and considering the strength of the Four Seasons Sect, such events shouldn’t have happened.
It turned out there was indeed a higher will at work.
After Su Ya explained, they suddenly thought of something and quickly asked, "Do you have the spark from the Flint Fire Crystal Insect? I have something that needs your help!"
"Don’t worry, it’s to assist me in alchemy."
"In this cold snow released by the senior uncle, there are some snow demons; the spirit crystals they drop can extract pure white marrow fluid, and require stable flame burning to melt the shell, Flint Fire is a suitable fire seed."
Li Ye nodded, "Yes, I still have some fire..."
"Then quickly, let’s go!"
He hadn’t finished speaking before Su Ya dragged him into the interior of the Four Seasons Sect shop, feeling very helpless, was this senior too impatient?