Yan Sanhe quickly noticed something was wrong with Zhu Weixi.

Her body was leaning forward, her two legs dragging through the snow—clearly she had lost all sensation.

“Idiot, stop..”

The team came to a halt.

Yan Sanhe pointed at Zhu Weixi, “She’s fainted. What should we do?”

Zhu Yuanzhao was scared out of his wits. He walked down a few steps, gathered her in his arms, and pressed his face against hers.

Still breathing.

Zhu Yuanzhao looked up, his face full of anxiety. “Miss Yan, what should we do?”

Thinking of Third Master’s instructions, Ding Yi quickly said, “I’ll carry the Young Madam on my back.”

That was the only solution.

Yan Sanhe: “Ding Yi, switch positions with Bu Yan. Huang Qi, support Ding Yi from behind.”

“Alright!”

“Noble lady.”

Lü Dan’s chest heaved. “Carrying her won’t help. In weather this cold, once someone faints, they’ll freeze solid very quickly. Once a person freezes solid, they’ll lose their life in no time.”

Yan Sanhe’s heart sank. “Do you have any better ideas?”

Lü Dan: “There’s no other way. We can only speed up and reach the platform summit before she freezes solid.”

A life was at stake!

Yan Sanhe couldn’t hesitate any longer. “Then let’s speed up. Quickly!”

After switching positions, they immediately set off, and the team’s pace clearly quickened.

Everyone was thinking: We can’t let anything happen to Zhu Weixi. We must hurry and climb to the summit.

But…

They really couldn’t walk anymore.

They really couldn’t catch their breath.

It was really so cold!

Just then, Second Master Zhu’s legs suddenly buckled and he collapsed to his knees.

The rope jerked Lü Dan along with him, and he too fell to the ground. Fortunately, he was young and quick to react—he thrust his iron shovel down hard, barely preventing himself from sliding downward.

“Ai ya ya, how did this noble gentleman faint too? He’s a man, for heaven’s sake!”

The words had barely left his mouth when Li Bu Yan and Huang Qi simultaneously drew their swords.

Young Master Pei was startled by their actions. “Wh-what’s happening?”

Huang Qi: “Something is approaching.”

Li Bu Yan: “Very heavy, very large.”

Lü Dan wailed, “It must be a wild boar. It’s going to gore us! Quick, quick, untie the ropes. If it gores one person, it’ll be like goring a whole string of us!”

Everyone frantically tried to untie the ropes, only to discover that like grasshoppers tied in a row, the ropes had to be untied one by one.

But unfortunately, Second Master Zhu had also fainted.

After untying his own rope, Lü Dan went to untie Zhu’s, his hands fumbling in panic.

Hearing the footsteps getting closer and closer, Huang Qi at the very back decisively cut the rope with his sword.

But just as he cut it, Young Master Pei, already at his limit, felt his vision go black and pitched forward, losing consciousness completely.

His fall wasn’t the problem, but his body started sliding downward. Meanwhile, Lü Dan was bent over untying ropes and had tossed his iron shovel aside.

With a loud whoosh, everyone started sliding down together.

Lü Dan lunged forward and desperately grabbed the rope, but how could his strength alone match that of so many people? He was instantly dragged down.

Without thinking, Li Bu Yan stabbed her sword downward.

But hers was a soft sword that couldn’t bear such heavy force. With a “bang,” the sword broke immediately.

In desperation, she shouted loudly, “Huang Qi—”

Hearing this cry, how could Huang Qi still worry about the wild boar? He leaped to grab the other end of the rope and was dragged out a long distance.

They were finished. Death was certain.

While crying, Lü Dan shouted at the top of his lungs, “I haven’t even married yet! Use your feet to dig in!”

Li Bu Yan had tried to use this move while sliding down, but the snow was too thick and their speed too fast—there was no way to dig in.

Suddenly, she felt pain beneath her. In that split second, she realized it must be a dead tree root. She immediately felt into the snow with her hand and clutched it tightly.

The entire sliding team jerked to a stop.

This momentary jerk gave Huang Qi and Lü Dan a chance to exert force. Both men dug their feet deep into the snow, and their speed immediately slowed.

But just then, the wild boar had also charged right up to them, heading straight for Huang Qi.

Huang Qi’s heart pounded wildly. His first instinct was to let go and flee for his life. His second instinct was that he absolutely could not let go, even if it meant death.

Cold sweat rolled down his forehead as he trembled and closed his eyes, awaiting his doom.

“Thwack—”

An arrow like frost pierced through flesh and skin. The wild boar let out a miserable cry and fell into the snow, rolling several times. After struggling a few more times, it got up and turned to run away.

Through the swirling wind and snow, a man walked toward them step by step.

In his right hand, he held a large bow; in his left, he leaned on a wooden staff. The wind lifted his cloak, revealing the gray monk’s robe underneath.

Huang Qi stared dumbfounded at this man who had descended from heaven, thinking: Could this be an immortal?

But Yan Sanhe’s gaze constricted inch by inch.

At that moment, the man had walked up close and removed the hood of his cloak, revealing a face full of bushy whiskers.

His beard had grown down past his neck, and his pair of eyes was dark and sharp like blades, as if they could see into a person’s deepest places.

Yan Sanhe opened her mouth but couldn’t speak for a moment.

Two voices from the side called out almost simultaneously.

Lü Dan: “Xu Yun! That’s Master Xu Yun.”

Li Bu Yan: “Geng Songsheng! You’re Geng Songsheng!”

Geng Songsheng looked expressionlessly at this bedraggled group of people. “The old monk said noble guests would arrive today. Are you those noble guests?”

“Not us.”

Yan Sanhe struggled to her feet from the snow, looked around, and pointed at a figure lying in the snow not far away:

“The noble guest is her.”

Geng Songsheng strode over, looked down, and his expression changed slightly.

…

Hot.

So hot.

Young Master Pei opened his eyes to find nothing but firelight before him.

What place has fire?

Hell!

Furious, he suddenly sat up. “I haven’t done anything bad, why the hell should I go to hell?”

“King Yama says you’re too useless.”

“Li Daxia, how did you end up down here too?”

“Yes, I came down to watch you thrash about in the oil cauldron.”

Li Bu Yan brought the bowl over. “Drink this.”

Young Master Pei looked down to see a bowl of dark liquid. “What is this?”

Li Bu Yan: “Arsenic.”

Young Master Pei: “…” Do I have to die again?

Huang Qi couldn’t help himself. “Master didn’t die. This is medicine to dispel the cold.”

Ha ha, I’m not dead!

Pei Xiao drank down the medicine in one gulp, so bitter that his eyes, eyebrows, and nose all squeezed together.

After recovering from that sensation, he finally began to survey his surroundings.

With this survey, Pei Xiao nearly fainted again.

This was actually a stone hut, very small, with only one kang bed and nothing else.

On the bed besides himself, the Zhu siblings also lay side by side.

In the middle of the room was a stove burning firewood, with a kettle on top. Huang Qi, Ding Yi, and Lü Dan sat around the stove drying their wet clothes and shoes.

“Where is this?”

“Eastern Platform Summit, Golden Pavilion Temple.”

“Where’s Yan Sanhe?”

Li Bu Yan pointed outside. “Across the way.”

Pei Xiao got down from the kang without another word. Seeing monk’s shoes on the floor, he didn’t care whose they were—he put them on and walked out.

Outside was a small central hall with a statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva. Pei Xiao didn’t have time to look closely and strode directly to the lit doorway across the way.

Inside the room, three people with six eyes all turned to look at him in unison.

A withered old monk, a burly man with bushy whiskers, and Yan Sanhe.

Yan Sanhe stood up. “This is Pei Mingting from the Monastic Registry. Mingting, this is Master Chan Yue, and this is Geng Songsheng.”

Young Master Pei’s expression was dazed.

How miraculous—after taking one tumble, the person I was looking for is right in front of me!

Suddenly, urgent footsteps sounded from behind. Young Master Pei turned to look and quickly stepped tactfully aside.

Zhu Weixi stumbled to the doorway.

Looking up and seeing that person, those eyes—everything around her ceased to matter.