As they approached the hot spring cave, Cai Zhao and his companions traversed a long, winding stone corridor. Gradually, Cai Zhao caught whiffs of fresh, icy air seeping through tiny holes in the rock walls—a sign they were nearing the surface.
During their journey, Cai Zhao asked the white-robed woman her name. “Snow Woman,” she replied. Not her real name, but there was little he could do when someone didn’t want to reveal their identity.
Snow Woman’s skin was unusually pale, her eyes a light color. At first glance, she appeared to be in her early twenties, but upon closer inspection, Cai Zhao realized she was closer to thirty. Initially, her speech was halting, but after Cai Zhao asked a few more questions, her words flowed more smoothly. “She must have lived in solitude for years,” Cai Zhao thought to himself.
After walking for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Snow Woman led Cai and Mu to a stone chamber. Like the hot spring cave and corridor before it, the entire room was constructed from smooth, pristine hot spring stones. Despite the icy world outside, the chamber was comfortably warm, likely due to the hot springs behind the walls.
The room’s furnishings were exceedingly simple: two stone shelves, a bed, a table, and a chair. One shelf held crude pottery bowls and plates, while the other stored ancient scrolls tied with coarse hemp rope. Surprisingly, the previously missing jade goddess statue now sat atop the stone table.
A familiar figure lay flat on the stone bed, immediately turning to face the wall upon hearing Cai Zhao and the others enter.
Recognizing him instantly, Cai Zhao planted his hands on his hips and exclaimed, “Qian Xueshen, you’re not dead after all! Good, because I have a score to settle with you. Get up!”
Qian Xueshen buried his head in the fur blanket, refusing to emerge like a stubborn quail.
Amused yet exasperated, Cai Zhao watched as Mu Qingyan lifted the fur bundle threateningly. “If you keep playing dead, I’ll squeeze the life out of these four little ones!”
“Why bother squeezing them to death?” Cai Zhao growled menacingly. “We might as well roast and eat them. The meat of the young is tender, after all!”
Unable to maintain his charade any longer, Qian Xueshen sprang up and lunged forward.
The four white-furred cubs poked their round heads out of the bundle, sniffing curiously. Upon seeing Qian Xueshen, they leaped out recklessly and bounded into his arms.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Xuefeng, Xuzhu…” Qian Xueshen hugged them tightly as the cubs nuzzled his cheeks, inhaling his scent—so similar to that of their parents. The reunion between man and beast was filled with affection.
Mu Qingyan felt a pang of jealousy and turned away, grumbling, “This is why we should have our children. These adopted fur balls are completely unreliable—they’ve forgotten all about us!”
“Why are you telling me this?” Cai Zhao blushed inexplicably and quickly changed the subject by questioning Qian Xueshen. “Weren’t you captured a year ago? These cubs must have been born recently. How do they know you?”
Lowering his head, Qian Xueshen explained, “On the first night at the snow mountain hunting lodge, I made an excuse to relieve myself. I went to the snow pine forest and whistled. Xuefeng and Xuzhu knew I had arrived and happily brought their children to see me.”
Mu Qingyan, rubbing salt in the wound, added, “The couple was living peacefully on the snow mountain, having just given birth to four adorable cubs. A happy family of six, all ruined because they wanted to avenge you. Now these little ones are orphans at such a young age!”
Large tears fell from Qian Xueshen’s eyes as he hugged the four small beasts tightly, choking with emotion.
“Alright, alright, stop crying,” Cai Zhao said, feeling sympathetic. “Lie down; your injuries are serious.”
Suddenly, Snow Woman interjected, “After soaking in the Eternal Hot Spring for so long, all wounds should have healed. Haven’t you noticed?”
Cai Zhao was startled, realizing that the aches in his muscles and the tearing pain in his flesh had indeed subsided.
Mu Qingyan lowered her long lashes, remaining silent.
Snow Woman continued, “Those two large white beasts—he saved their lives. Consider it the repayment of a debt.”
Qian Xueshen abruptly raised his head. “How do you know that?”
“That year, when you and your brother rescued the two white beasts from beneath the ice rocks, I happened to see it through a crystal telescope.” Snow Woman pointed to a long, black tube on the stone shelf.
Mu Qingyan smiled faintly and bowed. “We haven’t thanked you for saving our lives, miss. I have a few questions if you’d be willing to enlighten us.”
However, Snow Woman shook her head. “I didn’t save you. The warm spring in the mountain’s belly washed you three up. According to my master’s instructions, we shouldn’t interfere with surface matters. If anyone comes up, we’re supposed to throw them back outside.”
As she spoke, she opened the stone window, allowing a biting, bone-chilling wind to sweep into the room. “This is already the mountaintop,” she explained.
“Then why didn’t you throw us out?” Mu Qingyan asked.
Snow Woman pointed at Cai Zhao. “Because of her. I wanted to save her, so I left you two in the hot spring pool as well.”
Mu Qingyan’s eyes flashed. “You know who she is.”
Snow Woman nodded. “She’s from Fallen Petal Valley.” Then, turning, she pushed open a stone door and brought out a dazzling golden-red blade.
Cai Zhao was overjoyed. “My sword! Thank you, Miss Snow. Thank you so much. But how did you know…”
Snow Woman continued, “Twenty years ago, not long after my master brought me up the mountain, I saw this sword. That woman said her name was Cai Pingzhu.”
“Aunt?!” Cai Zhao exclaimed in shock.
Snow Woman replied, “So she’s your aunt? Your faces are different, but your eyes are very similar to hers.”
Cai Zhao felt a bit flustered. “My aunt… What was she doing here?”
“She came looking for the saliva of the Snow Scale Dragon Beast,” Snow Woman answered.
Cai Zhao was stunned. She looked first at Qian Xueshen, then at Mu Qingyan.
Mu Qingyan understood the meaning in her eyes—as far as they knew, the Snow Scale Dragon Beast’s saliva had only two uses: breaking the Body Transformation Technique and cultivating the first level of the Purple Wei Heart Sutra. Could there be other purposes?
“So, did Lady Cai find it?” Mu Qingyan asked nonchalantly.
“She did,” Snow Woman replied. “She was very lucky, arriving just days before the Snow Scale Dragon Beast died. My master recognized her as someone from Fallen Petal Valley. No… actually, the Snow Scale Dragon Beast smelled the blood in your aunt’s body, and that’s how my master guessed her identity.”
Mu Qingyan sensed there was more to Snow Woman’s words. His heart stirred. “Miss Snow, you’ve mentioned Fallen Petal Valley several times. Do you have some connection to it?”
“Of course,” Snow Woman said, pointing to the jade goddess statue on the stone table. “My master’s great-grandmaster came from Fallen Petal Valley. One hundred and sixty years ago, she brought the world’s last pair of Snow Scale Dragon Beasts here to live in seclusion.”
Cai Zhao was extremely surprised. She touched the soft whip at the waist of the jade goddess statue, then felt the silver chain on her wrist. “That’s right! My chain evolved from whip techniques.”
Mu Qingyan sighed. “So it was Senior Cai.”
However, Snow Woman immediately denied this. “Our ancestor’s surname wasn’t Cai. Her name was Gu Qingkong.”
Mu Qingyan was taken aback and looked at Cai Zhao.
Cai Zhao smiled sheepishly. “Well, you see, Fallen Petal Valley originally had the surname Niu, then it was Gu, then Luo for a while, and finally became Cai.” She didn’t want to explain further—it was all due to a series of marriages where the men took the women’s surnames.
According to the records of successive valley masters of Fallen Petal Valley, Gu Qingkong was exceptionally talented, showing remarkable gifts at a young age. Unfortunately, she lacked Cai Pingzhu’s passionate nature and instead possessed a solitary and solemn disposition from birth.
As a child, she disliked playing with her siblings. As she grew older, she avoided sparring with her peers and even maintained a distant relationship with her parents. She disliked socializing, never involved herself in jianghu affairs, and eventually couldn’t tolerate being around anyone. In her leisure time, she either rode her horse alone or aimlessly sailed a boat.
Yet, it was this person—the least likely to cause trouble—who ignited the infamous reputation of Fallen Petal Valley’s “demon women.”
“My master said that at that time, the world’s spiritual energy was depleting, so cultivators turned their attention to spiritual beasts,” Snow Woman explained. “Our ancestor couldn’t stand it, so she fell out with the entire jianghu.”
She spoke lightly, but Mu Qingyan recalled reading about Gu Qingkong in the archives of the Nine Provinces Treasure Scroll Palace. One hundred and sixty years ago, this woman had turned the jianghu upside down.
Gu Qingkong couldn’t understand. Just a few decades earlier, these spiritual beasts had fought to the death to exterminate demons and monsters. It was bad enough that people didn’t remember the beasts’ kindness, but how could they be so cruel as to slaughter them indiscriminately, righteously taking their livers, gills, scales, and horns for their use?
Consequently, Gu Qingkong grew to despise humanity even more.
Strictly speaking, Gu Qingkong’s “rebellious actions” couldn’t be considered a betrayal of her teachers or ancestors, as she simultaneously made enemies with martial artists worldwide. She humiliated many from respected sects and didn’t spare those from evil cults either.
However, despite her exceptional talent, she couldn’t combat the greed of all humanity. Eventually, she retreated to the snow mountains with some surviving spiritual beasts, disappearing from the world.
Cai Zhao sighed, “Ah human greed knows no bounds. It’s a pity about these spiritual beasts. So our ancestor was trying to…”
“That’s not it,” Snow Woman interrupted. “Our ancestor never intended to save all living beings. She simply despised those self-righteous hypocrites. She left instructions that these unusual beasts should live if they could, and when they died of old age, we should build them a grave. There was no need to force anything.”
“Our ancestor also said that human greed would eventually lead to self-destruction. Once humans had killed each other off, this world would once again belong to these rare and unusual beasts.”
Mu Qingyan laughed, “Well said. Senior Gu had remarkable insight.”
Qian Xueshen spoke softly, “My master said something similar—all things in the world appear when they should and needn’t be forcibly retained when it’s time for them to vanish. My master came to the snow mountain several times, just hoping to find the bones of those unusual beasts, to mourn them and bury their remains together.”
Cai Zhao felt a sense of loss. “So now, even the last Snow Scale Dragon Beast has died?”
“Yes, twenty years ago. The couple died one after the other from exhaustion,” Snow Woman pointed out the window.
Mu and Cai looked down from the window. At the bottom of the vast cliff, thick ice covered everything. Several enormous, sturdy white bones protruded from the ice and snow, undoubtedly concealing the remains of various spiritual beasts beneath the ice layer.
Snow Woman continued, “When your aunt Cai Pingzhu came, the last Snow Scale Dragon Beast was still clinging to life, so she took the final portion of its saliva. My master and your aunt got along well, talking for many days until a man came looking for your aunt… I didn’t see him, but he called your aunt ‘Xiao Shu’.”
Cai Zhao nodded, “Mm, only my master or Uncle Zhou would call my aunt that.”
Mu Qingyan abruptly asked, “Miss Snow, your master is a woman, right?”
Snow Woman looked puzzled, “Of course she is. Our sect is all women.”
Mu Qingyan simply responded with an “Oh.”
Suddenly, Qian Xueshen raised his head, “You and your master have a crystal telescope, so you knew about what happened to my family sixteen years ago?!”
Cai Zhao’s heart tightened.
For the first time, Snow Woman showed an expression other than indifference. She sighed lightly, “As it happens, when your family’s tragedy occurred sixteen years ago, my master and I had gone down the mountain on business.”
“I thought you lived in seclusion? What urgent matter required you to leave the mountain?” Qian Xueshen grew agitated.
“It was indeed an urgent matter. My master said that if we didn’t attend to it, I couldn’t eliminate my inner demons and wouldn’t be able to live in seclusion peacefully,” Snow Woman explained. “So my master took me down the mountain to kill someone with my own hands.”
“Who did you kill?” Mu Qingyan asked warily.
“My father.”
Cai Zhao was stunned, and Qian Xueshen froze in place.
Snow Woman continued, “My father was fond of drinking and gambling. When drunk, he’d beat my mother. When he gambled away everything, he’d sell his children. He had already sold my three older siblings. As long as the price was right, he’d sell to any unsavory place. He lost money so quickly that he forced my mother into prostitution. Any lowlife with a few copper coins could abuse her. My mother couldn’t bear it and hanged herself. Then my father turned his attention to me…”
Cai Zhao was furious, “That’s worse than an animal!”
“Actually, animals are quite honest. They stop when they’re full and know to protect their young,” Snow Woman said calmly. “I met my master when she came down the mountain to buy salt, tea, and food. I begged her to save me.”
“Sixteen years ago, my master took me down the mountain for revenge. I tore out my father’s spine and hung it on a tree, letting him scream for three days and nights until he died in agony. As for the villagers who had abused my mother and me, I chopped off their hands and feet, one by one. When my master and I returned to the mountain, we discovered that the Tao hunter’s family home on the mountainside had been burned down.”
The stone room fell silent.
Qian Xueshen slowly sat back on the stone bed. He had thought his own fate was miserable, but Snow Woman’s background was even more tragic. Although the Tao family had been massacred, they had lived harmoniously and happily. Whenever he thought of his family, his heart was filled with warmth.
Snow Woman’s heart, in contrast, was truly like dead water, without any attachment to the mortal world.
Suddenly, everyone felt a tremor. The stone house shook, and the ground quaked.
Snow Woman stood calmly, “Don’t worry, this isn’t an earthquake.”
“Then what is it?” Cai Zhao asked, steadying herself against the stone table.
“It’s that green-eyed giant python,” Snow Woman replied. “It’s sensitive to heat and has been flushed by hot spring water for quite a while. It must be very annoyed and is throwing a tantrum underground.”
Mu Qingyan pressed his hand against the stone wall, frowning, “Why do I feel like these tremors are getting closer?”
Snow Woman nodded, “You’re right. The giant python prefers cold; the colder the place, the more comfortable it feels. The coldest part of this snow mountain is at its peak. Previously, it didn’t dare come up because its natural enemy, the Snow Scale Dragon Beast, was here. But now that the Snow Scale Dragon Beasts are extinct, it has been climbing higher and higher over the past twenty years.”
Cai Zhao laughed bitterly, “I thought we’d escaped that foul snake, but it turns out it’s now the boss of the mountain.”
“In that case, we should hurry down the mountain,” Mu Qingyan said calmly.
Cai Zhao agreed, “Yes, yes. Qian Xueshen, and Miss Snow, let’s go together.”
Snow Woman shook her head, “You go. I’m definitely not leaving the mountain.”
“If you don’t leave, you’ll eventually be eaten by the giant python!” Cai Zhao grabbed her arm.
Snow Woman looked slightly surprised, “People can eat snakes, so why can’t snakes eat people? Dying here is fine. My master taught me a saying: You are not a fish; how do you know the joy of fish? Miss Cai, you shouldn’t meddle in others’ affairs.”
Cai Zhao was at a loss for words.
Mu Qingyan took her hand, ready to leave.
“Oh, right,” Snow Woman suddenly turned back. A moment later, she brought out an egg the size of a pumpkin from the inner room. The milky-white eggshell had several mottled patches of varying depths. “Take this down the mountain with you.”
“What is it?” Cai Zhao asked.
“A Snow Scale Dragon Beast egg,” Snow Woman replied. “It’s been on the ground for many years but refuses to hatch. My master and I have tried everything—soaking it in hot spring water, roasting it over fire, burying it in snow, even sleeping with it… We don’t know if it’s a dead egg or not. It hasn’t shown any signs of life.”
“The Snow Scale Dragon Beast clan has had a connection with our sect. Rather than letting the giant python eat it, Miss Cai, why don’t you take it back to Fallen Petal Valley as a decorative piece?” Snow Woman placed the egg in Cai Zhao’s hands without waiting for a response.
Cai Zhao held the large egg in a daze.
Snow Woman then brought the Blazing Sun Sword and placed it on top of the egg. “Alright, you should go now. Be careful on your way down. Don’t drop anything.”
Cai Zhao stood there, utterly bewildered.