Qing Xia angrily threw it to the ground and looked around. She saw that the ravine here had become somewhat narrower—about ten meters wide—with solid ice on both sides and sinister cold air lingering above them. Having experienced countless dangers in her life, Qing Xia didn’t panic at this moment. She raised her head to look into the distance and saw howling winds everywhere, with layers of white mist in the distance, as if massive snowstorms were gathering.
She turned to face the grim-faced Chu Li and said, “If you don’t want to die, come help.”
After taking just one step, she discovered that Da Huang was acting coquettishly again, biting her pant leg and sticking out its pink tender tongue to lick its lips up and down, looking like it was hungry and wanted something to eat. Qing Xia’s anger rose from her courage. With one kick, she sent Da Huang tumbling with its four legs in the air, then drew her dagger and began working busily on the solid ice everywhere.
According to Qing Xia’s estimation, the temperature here had already dropped to around minus fifty to sixty degrees, and this was still daytime. Once night fell, the temperature would only become even colder. Even if both of them were wearing many layers, they couldn’t possibly hope to preserve their lives through such a frigid night. Qing Xia’s two daggers had been given to her by Qin Zhiyan when she was in the Yan Character Camp. They were finely crafted, truly masterpieces—even the latest simulated digital military knives produced in modern Switzerland couldn’t compare. They could cut through iron like mud and slice through hair blown against the blade. Using them to cut through these ice blocks was naturally child’s play.
Under Chu Li’s doubtful gaze, Qing Xia cut out a large pile of rectangular ice bricks. Although snow was piled everywhere here, there were large heaps of dried grass and dead wood on both sides, probably blown from distant places by strong winds and accumulated in this narrow ravine. Qing Xia made use of local materials, started a fire, and began melting snow water. Seeing the weather getting darker and darker, she had to urgently get to work. She chose a relatively sheltered spot, poured some water, stacked ice blocks, poured more water, stacked more ice blocks. The front kept building up while the back kept freezing solid, and soon an ice house frozen into a solid whole began to take shape.
Only now did Chu Li begin to understand the method. Having quarreled with Qing Xia earlier and refused to help, he now felt somewhat embarrassed. Seeing Qing Xia struggling to move a huge ice block, he quickly stepped forward to take it from her. But Qing Xia glared at him and said coldly in a huff, “The emperor of our country once said: work with your own hands to have abundant food and clothing. If you want to take advantage of ready-made benefits, there’s no way!”
Chu Li hit quite a snag, his expression becoming rather unpleasant. He snorted coldly, stood aside with his hands at his sides, and actually really didn’t go help her.
Qing Xia shot him a fierce glare and huffed and puffed as she built the roof herself. With time being urgent, the ice house she built was very low—people couldn’t stand upright inside it. To cope with the blizzard that could arrive at any moment, Qing Xia didn’t even leave a door, only leaving a narrow opening at the bottom just big enough for one person’s body to crawl through.
Qing Xia crawled in first, spread out the remaining animal hides, then crawled back out.
Seeing the house completed, Da Huang found it very novel and circled around it once. Suddenly it raised its tail high and barked loudly, then excitedly slipped inside with a whoosh.
The sky was gradually darkening, with howling winds in the distance. Qing Xia, having spent years marching in the wilderness, was extremely sensitive to weather changes. She knew the blizzard might be coming and felt somewhat worried. Temporarily forgetting their quarrel, she went forward to pull at Chu Li, who had been standing there like a stick, and said, “Hurry up, get in.”
Chu Li stiffened his head and coldly uttered two words: “Not going.”
Qing Xia was stunned, as if experiencing auditory hallucinations. She frowned and said, “What did you say?”
“Work with your own hands to have abundant food and clothing. I don’t want to take advantage of others’ ready-made benefits.”
A surge of anger suddenly rose from her heart. Qing Xia pushed hard on Chu Li’s shoulder and said angrily, “So you plan to just stand here like this?”
“Hmph!” Chu Li snorted coldly and said in a deep voice, “It’s none of your concern!”
“Fine!” Qing Xia shouted loudly, pointing at Chu Li’s nose and standing on tiptoe to scold him: “You’re really something! You’re amazing!”
After speaking, she turned and crouched down, immediately crawling in through the opening. Then she blocked the entrance from inside with animal hide, sitting on the hide and breathing heavily in anger.
Ice is an excellent insulator. The ice house was airtight and could effectively prevent air circulation. So the temperature inside the ice house was now around minus ten degrees or so. Without wind, it was naturally as warm as midsummer compared to outside. Da Huang ran around excitedly, appearing very excited. Suddenly it pounced on Qing Xia who was sitting on the ground, ingratiatingly sticking out its little tongue to lick Qing Xia’s hand, its furry little head nuzzling against Qing Xia’s body.
Qing Xia was in a bad mood and pushed it aside. She could only hear the wind outside getting stronger and stronger while the fire in her heart kept building. Though it actually wasn’t a very long time, she felt as if a day and night had passed. Finally unable to sit still any longer, she suddenly stood up and crawled out through the opening.
At a sheltered spot around a glacier bend, Chu Li was sitting there tending a fire. But with such strong wind, even in the sheltered area, his fire was like a candle in the wind, clearly about to go out. When the blizzard came later, it would be a miracle if it didn’t kill him. Qing Xia walked over angrily. Chu Li clearly heard Qing Xia’s voice but still pretended not to hear, turning his body away and not looking in this direction even once.
The furious Qing Xia kicked Chu Li in the waist and shouted, “Do you want to die?”
Instantly, Chu Li sprang up from the ground as if bitten by a snake, his facial features contorting and veins bulging. Where was there any trace of imperial demeanor? He roared angrily at Qing Xia, “I think you’re the one looking for death!”
With howling winds in such a dangerous environment, the two still had the leisure to have a big fight. Qing Xia shouted angrily, “Are you going in or not?”
“I’m not going in!”
“Fine! Fine! I’ll show you what ‘not going in’ gets you!” Qing Xia was furious. She looked around, then suddenly kicked Chu Li’s pitiful fire pile away.
Chu Li had expended great effort to build this fire. Seeing her do this, how could he not fly into a rage? He suddenly raised his fist in the air and said, “Are you looking for trouble?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, there was a thud as a heavy punch landed hard on Chu Li’s chin. Qing Xia jumped up and struck first, using a small grappling technique to twist Chu Li’s arm, then pressed down with the momentum, grabbed his pant leg, and with another loud thud, Chu Li was immediately thrown to the ground by Qing Xia.
How masterful were Qing Xia’s judo techniques! Chu Li was thrown dizzy and confused. The solid ice hit his head, making him see stars and unable to tell east from west. Qing Xia grabbed his pant leg and ran toward the ice house. Fortunately, the ground was very smooth, and in no time she had dragged Chu Li in front of the ice house. Like handling a piece of wood, she aimed Chu Li’s head at the small opening and stuffed him in.
“Da Huang! Pull him in!”
Qing Xia shouted loudly. The bootlicker inside finally found a chance to show loyalty. It bit onto Chu Li’s back collar, and with Qing Xia pushing from behind and it pulling from inside, they managed to drag Chu Li in with one effort.
The poor Great Emperor of Southern Chu had now fallen to the point of crawling through dog holes. Chu Li’s fury swept over him like an overwhelming tide. Having finally crawled up from the ground with great difficulty, he saw Qing Xia just blocking the cave entrance with an ice block and turning around. When enemies meet, their eyes blaze with particular hatred. Da Huang whimpered and retreated to a corner, very wisely distancing itself from the battlefield to wait for the two to fight.
Just as the two were about to start fighting, at that moment they suddenly heard thunderous roaring outside. In an instant, it seemed as if heaven and earth were raging together. The ice house trembled, countless ice chips fell on both their faces, and the howling wind was like a herd of mad wild buffalo, seeming like thousands of troops and horses galloping together, frantically clamoring with heaven and earth turned upside down. The wailing sounds were like ghosts crying and wolves howling. Even through such thick solid ice, it could be heard clearly in both their ears. They could hear crackling sounds from the roof—obviously the hurricane had lifted countless pieces of solid ice that were smashing onto the ice house. If Qing Xia hadn’t built this house solidly and it hadn’t already frozen together with the ground, it might have been blown away long ago.
Both their faces immediately turned pale. Under such natural power, human strength seemed so insignificant. If they had entered even a step later, they might have been swept away by this terrible hurricane. Thinking of this, they couldn’t help but look at each other and indeed saw a trace of lingering fear in each other’s eyes. Neither spoke anymore, sitting in the ice house with thick cushions, quietly waiting for this storm to pass.
Outside the wind howled furiously, but inside the small space was filled with warmth. The temperature here had now risen to around minus three or four degrees. Though it couldn’t compare to normal climate, it was much better than outside. Chu Li couldn’t help but feel some regret in his heart. He secretly glanced at Qing Xia and saw that her fingers had multiple breaks with small cuts. Yesterday, in order to search for him, she had gone through snow piles one by one to look for him. Her hands had long since been frozen, and just now, building this house had obviously made them worse. He wanted to ask if they hurt, but somehow couldn’t bring himself to say it. Chu Li struggled with this for a long while, then suddenly felt something warm in his chest. He pulled it out and saw it was a piece of roasted meat—something he had worked very hard to roast earlier that was still hot.
“Ahem…” The Great Emperor of Southern Chu coughed unnaturally and cleared his throat. Seeing that Qing Xia didn’t even glance at him, his brows gradually furrowed. After comforting himself many times in his heart and thinking that a good man doesn’t fight with women, he threw what was in his hand into her arms.
With a whoosh, a piece of warm roasted meat landed in Qing Xia’s hands. Qing Xia was slightly stunned, then tilted her head and looked up, her slanted gaze looking toward Chu Li sitting across from her. But the Great Emperor of Southern Chu acted as if this wasn’t his doing at all, maintaining a cold expression with an unfathomable air, eyes closed, not even opening his eyelids.
Outside the wind howled and churned, with cold wind ravaging heaven and earth. Qing Xia held the piece of still-steaming roasted meat, the ice on her face melting bit by bit. After thinking carefully in her heart, she also felt that two grown adults acting like children having a tantrum was increasingly amusing. With a snicker, she couldn’t help but laugh out loud.