The Attack of the Wastrel

Although Gu Lingzhi did not mind Qin Xinran teaching Tianfeng Wei a lesson on her behalf, she did not want to implicate Tianfeng Jin, so she immediately stopped Qin Xinran from doing anything rash.

“Forget it, let’s go find the Yuli Snow Lotus. We don’t know how long we have to stay here, we should save our energy.”

Qin Xinran blinked and said, “But Lingzhi, she bullied you…”

“She did?” Gu Lingzhi laughed as she lowered her voice, “I will take my revenge on whoever that has bullied me myself.”

Qin Xinran’s eyes shifted, “So… the reason why you are ignoring me now is to get back at me for putting you in danger?”

Gu Lingzhi wondered how the conversation had switched so quickly.

With her persuasion, Qin Xinran did not persist on challenging Tianfeng Wei, avoiding putting Tianfeng Jin in a difficult spot with her family.

After separating from Tianfeng Wei, the four of them continued to catch a few unique demon beasts from the Snow Mountain. The sky darkened quickly.

They slept directly on the snow for a night and continued to hunt for the flower once again the following day at sunrise. Heading deeper into the mountains, the surrounding temperature dropped even further.

Ye Fei wore an expensive long robe that had fire-based attributes and was able to insulate her from the cold. She rubbed her hands together to generate warmth as she looked at Gu Lingzhi who was still calm and composed with jealousy.

“Lingzhi, what are you even made of? How are you able to tolerate the cold so well?”

Logically, Gu Lingzhi should be the least tolerant of the cold given that her cultivation level was the lowest amongst the four of them. However, when the other three started to take out their winter wear to protect themselves from the cold, Gu Lingzhi seemed to be completely unaffected.

Ye Fei’s words made Gu Lingzhi look towards the other two - she suddenly realised that Tianfeng Jin and Qin Xinran were also looking at her weirdly. She then realised that her physique and tolerance might actually be better than theirs.

Ever since she started training her cultivation, she had been bathing in the Spirit Essence Bath daily. As a result, her body had reached the strongest possible form for a Martial Student. If not for Ye Fei’s comment, she might have forgotten about this peculiar ability of hers. She hesitated before letting out a bitter laugh, “I have water-based Spiritual Roots and would naturally be better at others in tolerating temperatures. Also… I am just tolerating it because I don’t have any treasures or objects that could help me with the cold.”

Her statement reminded her other three companions of her awkward situation in her family. Their eyes filled with sympathy as Qin Xinran immediately took off her bright red outer coat and offered it to her. However, she was rejected by Gu Lingzhi.

“It’s nothing, I can still handle it. This is a form of training for me.”

Qin Xinran frowned, “You don’t have to be polite towards me, I still have a few more heat-insulating clothes in my Storage Ring.”

“I really don’t need it,” Gu Lingzhi rejected yet again, “Don’t you all think this is a good way to train? When I really need it, I’ll ask for it.”

“Since you want to train your body, I shall accompany you.”

Just as she finished her sentence, Tianfeng Jin also took off her heat-insulating clothes.

Ye Fei chuckled as she too, took off her outer coat, “It is no wonder that Lingzhi can become a Level Four Martial Student despite only awakening her Spiritual Roots a few months back. You even think of training yourself at times like this. I am actually embarrassed to use my outer coat to shield myself from the cold.”

Gu Lingzhi silently tilted her head. They had completely misunderstood her!

After half a day of searching, the Yuli Snow Lotus was still nowhere in sight.

There was also no news from Ye Fei’s and Qin Xinran’s servants. Seeing the other three girls embrace the cold to the point where their hands and legs seemed to be frozen, Gu Lingzhi had no choice but to ask to borrow an outer coat. It was only then that the other three quickly attempted to put on their coats with frozen limbs. Gu Lingzhi could not help but giggle at the sight.

The three of them had refused to complain due to their egos and if she had not taken the first step to admit that she was cold, the three of them would have continued to suffer.

With their heat-insulating clothes, they continued with their journey more comfortably.

Qin Xinran made an action to shushed them as she directed their attention forwards. It was then that they saw a Snow Bear with fur as white as snow hiding behind a gigantic rock. It was looking at them with an ominous glint. If they had continued walking forwards, the Snow Bear would have attacked them.

“Psst… it’s a Snow Bear. It is an extremely powerful demon beast, even more aggressive than the Carmine Python that Lingzhi had fought.”

Retreating back where they came from, the four of them tried their best to move without agitating the Snow Bear.

Only when they were out of the Snow Bear’s sight did the four of them let out a sigh of relief, quickening their footsteps in the opposite direction.

“Wow, I never thought that I would actually meet such a powerful demon beast. Could it be that we have already reached the center of the Snow Mountain?” Ye Fei sounded out speechlessly.

“I think so. If we go any further, we might bump into even more powerful demon beasts. If we are still unable to find the Yuli Snow Lotus, let’s head back the moment the sky turns dark,” Tianfeng Jin said seriously.

Although all of them knew that the position of the Yuli changed every year, most of the time, the flower was found in the deepest parts of the mountain. Heading back, they wondered if they had taken the wrong route and were debating on changing their route, but their chances of finding the Yuli were already halved.

They had actually felt more relaxed even though they knew that they were about to return empty-handed. They took their time to admire the scenery around them, continuing to search and play at the same time.

After walking for fifteen minutes, Gu Lingzhi suddenly stopped in her tracks as she looked back in the direction of the Snow Bear with a puzzled look on her face.

“Lingzhi, is there something wrong?” Qin Xinran asked her upon seeing her pause.

Gu Lingzhi looked at the and pursed her lips as she said unsurely, “Don’t you think that the Snow Bear’s reaction was a bit unusual?”

“What do you mean unusual?” Ye Fei was confused, “Do you mean that we might’ve seen a Snow Ferret instead since they look very similar?”

Ye Fei started laughing at her own suggestion.

The others however, did not laugh with her. Qin Xinran blinked a few times before her eyes lit up.

“Do you mean to say, that the Snow Bear…could have been protecting something?”

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