The scenery at the foot of Snow Lotus Mountain was quite beautiful — gentle and serene. What had not been expected, however, was that once they reached the midpoint of the mountain, the sky truly did burst into a swirling storm of snow.

Snowflakes flew in all directions, filling heaven and earth alike. Although Feng Jiu’er and Qiao Mu had come prepared with specially insulated beast-hide coats, they still found it rather difficult going once they arrived. It was genuinely cold — a bone-cutting cold.

Before long, however, Feng Jiu’er noticed something amiss. “The terrain here is a little strange. Look up there — the trees are growing in different directions.”

Qiao Mu followed the direction she was pointing and looked. The trees not far ahead were indeed growing in different orientations.

Moreover, the dividing line seemed remarkably distinct — a single boundary line running from the midpoint of the mountain all the way up to the summit, and beyond, to where the eye could no longer follow. The trees to the left of the line leaned left; those to the right leaned right — much like hair parted down the middle of a head.

The boundary was extraordinarily clear-cut. Neither of them had ever seen such a curious phenomenon.

Qiao Mu moved to Feng Jiu’er’s side, a trace of unease in her voice. “Jiu’er, do you know what this means? Could it be dangerous?”

She had not yet sensed any particular threat, but the growth pattern of the trees was truly baffling. Qiao Mu, who had grown up deep in the mountains and wilderness, had never in her life come across anything like this. Every mountain range she knew had its trees all growing in the same direction. Why were the trees of Snow Lotus Mountain so peculiar?

“Could this really be because of snow lotus beasts? Could this strange phenomenon be connected to them?”

Feng Jiu’er turned and looked at her — and barely resisted the urge to reach out and flick her on the forehead.

But that was simply how people thought in this era, and it had nothing to do with her.

“This is because of the local geographical climate.” She believed she had found the explanation for why Snow Lotus Mountain was permanently blanketed in snow.

“This area marks a point where the climate diverges. Two bodies of air collide from either side, and the boundary falls precisely here. When these two air masses slam into each other, they absorb enormous amounts of heat — and the surrounding air drops suddenly cold.”

Feng Jiu’er tilted her head back, gazing at the white expanse of sky above her, and continued her explanation.

“Because the air up here turns cold so abruptly, combined with the fact that this mountain range receives an exceptionally heavy rainfall, the result is direct snowfall.”

Qiao Mu listened with a thoroughly blank expression. She scratched her head — still not following. “But is it still caused by the snow lotus beasts or not?”

Feng Jiu’er felt she had just spent a great deal of effort explaining advanced concepts to someone who could not follow any of it, and she finally gave up trying.

“Maybe… it could be. Never mind that. Let’s focus now on finding snow lotuses. Watch the sky — roughly one incense stick’s time from now, if you’ve lost sight of me, come back down the mountain on your own. We’ll meet at the base.”

Feng Jiu’er tied her hat snugly into place and immediately set off toward the summit. “You must come straight back down — don’t stay on the mountain into the night.”

“Understood.” Qiao Mu also tightened her scarf and hat against the possibility of them being blown off.

The two were not exactly separating, but they spread out over a considerable distance between them. Staying too close would only waste time.

Even so, the snowstorm on the mountain was truly fierce and growing stronger — so gradually, the two lost sight of each other entirely.

Feng Jiu’er pressed on upward through the mountain, with no way of telling whether Qiao Mu had gone on ahead or fallen behind. The higher she climbed, the greater the snow and wind became, until beyond ten paces in any direction she could barely make out her surroundings.

Even so, snow lotuses appeared in abundance along the way. Every hundred paces or so, she would spot one — sometimes two at a time.

But Feng Jiu’er did not pick everything she saw as soon as she saw it, for she had noticed that the snow lotuses along the midslope were not particularly old, still fairly young by her assessment.

The higher she climbed toward the summit, the more mature the snow lotuses became. She decided to press on to the very top first and make a thorough sweep there.

Today could also serve as a scouting trip. The younger ones she would leave behind to continue growing and only harvest the more mature ones. Once she had a clear picture of the mountain’s situation, she could always return — no urgency.

Feng Jiu’er had not originally intended to go all the way to the summit, as their time was limited. But she seemed to have found a trick to it: by walking along that climate boundary line on the mountainside, she discovered that when one moved within it, the wind and snow simply could not touch her.

With no blinding snow and wind in her face, the path ahead suddenly seemed to open wide before her.

She thought to turn back and share the discovery with Qiao Mu — but Qiao Mu was already nowhere to be found.

With nothing to be done about it, Feng Jiu’er decided not to wait, and picked up her pace along the climate boundary line, stepping lightly toward the summit.

A stretch of the climb that would normally take at least half a day to complete through the storm — using her qinggong along the boundary line, she covered it in the span of two incense sticks’ time, and arrived at the summit.

Standing at the high peak, Feng Jiu’er planted her hands on her hips and surveyed the scenery below. Though it was still a vast, white expanse in every direction, she felt unimaginably pleased with herself.

It was said that only the Ninth Prince, the Eighth Prince, and the Crown Prince had ever come up here. Of course, they had ascended by sheer skill alone, pushing forward through the wind and snow.

Though her own method had admittedly relied on a shortcut of sorts, she had still made it up, all the same.

From this day forward — could she not be said to have left her name in history for a thousand years? Ha!

Arriving at the summit, Feng Jiu’er permitted herself a small moment of smugness before getting to work.

To find snow lotuses, she would have to go back into the wind and snow — they would not thrive along the sheltered boundary. So she had to leave the protected line and step into the full force of the blizzard.

The moment she stepped into it, Feng Jiu’er felt immediately that something was wrong. The air up here on the summit was thin to an alarming degree — once inside, even breathing became somewhat difficult.

Fortunately, her inner power had grown quite substantial by this point.

With considerable effort she managed to push through a dozen paces, and then — at last — she glimpsed ahead a plant standing proudly upright in the snow.

Wonderful! Even from a distance, she could tell it was absolutely priceless!

Moving closer, Feng Jiu’er felt a surge of excitement rise through her entire being.

With her sharp eye for medicinal herbs, she could say with certainty: this snow lotus, if encountered by someone who knew its worth, could fetch well over ten thousand taels without any trouble.

To stumble upon such extraordinary fortune the moment she arrived — simply unbelievable!

Pressing further on, it was not long before she spotted a second stalk. Though it was not as precious as the first, selling it for a few hundred taels would be no problem at all.

Venturing deeper into the storm, Feng Jiu’er came to appreciate just how exceptional that first specimen truly was — one of ten thousand. The ones she found afterward, though not young by any means, were worth at most one or two thousand taels. Some were only worth a hundred or two hundred, and those Feng Jiu’er left alone, merciful with her hands.

After all, the bags she carried had limited space, and she could not take too many.

Before long, her bag was more than halfway full — heavy and dense, nearly too much to carry.

Looking at the sky again, it was still early, but there was no point in being greedy.

She turned and began making her way back along the path she had come, intending to return to the boundary line and descend the mountain from there.

But just as she turned — without warning — from somewhere behind her came a thunderous roar…