"Xiao Jiu, you… you can't come with me. You don't have a Black Ice Order; you'll… you'll die…."
Ying Qiaoqiao was filled with grief to the bottom of her heart. Before she'd even noticed, Fang Xing had veered from the safe path to enter the trial grounds together with her instead. Although this had comforted the lonely Ying Qiaoqiao and given her enough courage to enter the Snowy Mountain, reason told her Fang Xing's safety would be put at risk so she refused.
"Just shut up and follow me!" Fang Xing decisively said without even turning his head.
"Err…." The Melodic Ice Palace elder was also surprised by Fang Xing's actions, and although he initially wanted to stop it, he ultimately didn't do so.
It was extremely dangerous for a servant to enter the trial grounds without a Black Ice Order. The traps, formations, and spirit beasts within the mountain could all sense the aura of a Black Ice Order and wouldn't kill someone holding it, but it was completely different for someone who didn't have one. If a person without a Black Ice Order were to trigger a formation or be preyed upon by a spirit beast, they could truly be cut into pieces.
That being said, since it was this servant's own desire to leave the safe path and enter the trial grounds with his master, then he shall. He was only a servant, after all; if he died, he died. It was fine as long as the little girl didn't die.
A sea of thick snow and fog blanketed the trial grounds, making it impossible to see even the outlines of other people. Pea-sized snowflakes traveled along strong gusts of wind in the blizzard-like conditions, stinging cheeks with frost. The frigid air seemed to bypass the resistance of cultivators to seep into the body and freeze the blood. Yet even with this harshness, formations appeared one after another, like giant shackles falling from the heavens to pressure everyone within.
Ying Qiaoqiao felt the pressure of the formation fall upon her as well. Even though she had the protection of a Black Ice Order, the formation still caused her body to feel very heavy, and she began to worry about Fang Xing. She was afraid he would truly die out here because of her, so she tried to persuade him once more to return to the safe path. "Xiao Jiu, go back. I'm not scared anymore. You don't have a Black Ice Order; you really will die…."
Fang Xing scoffed and refused to leave, of course. 'I don't have a Black Ice Order? I've got more than all of you combined….' In truth, after having given it some thought, he felt it was better for him if he just entered the Snowy Mountain like this.
After discovering the properties of the Serene Ice Jade, he no longer needed to enter the Melodic Ice Palace alongside Ying Qiaoqiao anymore. He'd also determined the Melodic Ice Palace wasn't simply here to recruit a few more pupils, and there seemed to be a few powerful cultivators scheming something within the depths of the Snowy Mountain. It was only natural for him to want to go there directly to find out exactly what was going on.
Fang Xing was someone who'd dare to kill the most ruthless person and dare to slap the most spiteful woman, yet despite his vicious temperament, when he saw Ying Qiaoqiao so helpless and lonely in such icy cold weather, he felt a bit soft-hearted and wanted to help her. Strictly speaking, this was the second time he'd shown good intentions, the first being when he'd saved Xiao Mahn in the past.
Fang Xing had already felt there were formations and traps everywhere within this snow-filled mountain, with the formations' pressure seemingly covering the entirety. That being said, the pivots of the formations released faint auras of coldness, incidentally the exact same kind as the one released from the Black Ice Order. It allowed the aura from the order to deflect some of the formations' powers so the holder could walk around inside, albeit with difficulty.
The Foundation Stage elder had said
this Black Ice Order was the very first formation-countering talisman for the young elites, while more such talismans—undoubtedly using Serene Ice Jade as well—existed within this vast snowy mountain. It was no surprise the elites were all going to search for these formation-countering talismans; fending off the formations wouldn't take any effort at all if they collected enough.
Perhaps the elders hadn't expected someone to gather no fewer than a dozen of these Black Ice Orders beforehand, however. Although Fang Xing could clearly feel the power of the formations brushing against him as he walked through the Snowy Mountain, even the pressure Ying Qiaoqiao was forced to handle behind him was many times stronger than what he felt. For him, these so-called trial grounds were less a "trial" and more a casual stroll. 'It seems this Snowy Mountain isn't all that strong after all…' he couldn't help but to think to himself as he walked on.
By the time he and Ying Qiaoqiao had managed to walk a good ten miles into the Snowy Mountain, they hadn't come across much danger. Of course, this was also thanks to the Book of Revelation, which allowed him to avoid the traps and formations in advance.
"It seems there's some hope for us to enter the depths of the Snowy Mountain, Xiao Jiu…" Ying Qiaoqiao muttered softly to Fang Xing now that her emotions had settled.
Fang Xing, on the other hand, felt the way she was addressing him was a bit awkward. "Can you change to another way of calling me? Stop it with that 'Xiao Jiu, Xiao Jiu'!"
Ying Qiaoqiao was surprised at this—wasn't his name Xiao Jiu?—but she soon smiled. "What do you want me to call you, then?"
"Uncle Jiu sounds much better!"
Ying Qiaoqiao pouted her lips. "No, I don't want to…. How about I call you Big Brother Xiao Jiu?"
"You've lowered my generation without even asking… but whatever!" Fang Xing was left initially speechless by such a thing, but he didn't want to continue arguing over it and agreed.
"I don't usually call people like this…." Ying Qiaoqiao was reminded of her "big brother Zhaoyang", and she began to feel a bit distressed deep in her heart.
"Stop!" Fang Xing abruptly tugged her, grabbed her by the waist, and pulled her into his embrace.
Ying Qiaoqiao's breath was a bit brisk with surprise. She widened her eyes to look at Fang Xing right in front of her. "Why… why are you hugging me so tightly?"
Fang Xing didn't look at her and instead stared at the front. "There's something ahead…."
Curious, Ying Qiaoqiao shifted her attention and was shocked by what she saw. Just thirty feet ahead of them, a snow-white Jiao Serpent was coiled up beneath a snowy ridge, its body as thick as a water bucket and over a dozen feet long. It rested on a giant white stone while gazing threateningly at them with eyes as large as lanterns. The Jiao Serpent's body was white and difficult to see amidst this vast land of thick snow, causing the two to nearly rush right into it.
"Big Brother Xiao Jiu, this is a Snow Jiao Serpent. I heard from my father that this is an extremely vicious mutated beast of the ice attribute. It is also extremely powerful; an adult Snow Jiao Serpent can nearly fight an early-Foundation Stage cultivator with strength alone. Let's go around it…" Ying Qiaoqiao softly explained. She felt a peculiar sense of disappointment after realizing Fang Xing had only brought her into his embrace because of the serpent's appearance.
"Heh, I know this is a Snow Jiao Serpent, but why should we go around it?" Light glistened within Fang Xing's eyes as he began to clearly come up with some manner of scheme. He lowered his voice and said, "A few bastards just decided they didn't want to group up with you, and you started to cry. You're too lacking! Today, your Uncle Fa— your Uncle Jiu is going to bring the most powerful alliance to you and give you a taste of greatness while inside this Snowy Mountain. What do you think?"
Ying Qiaoqiao was startled and hastily replied, "Not even Elder Moye can challenge it; let's not provoke it!"
Fang Xing gave Ying Qiaoqiao a stern look. "This is why I need to scold you now. What do we do best as the Myriad Beasts Sect?"
"What?" Ying Qiaoqiao asked in confusion.
Speechless, Fang Xing answered with disappointment, "We control beasts! Have you forgotten there is a special skill from the sect that allows us to control spirit beasts?"
By then, Ying Qiaoqiao understood and quickly shook her head. "Big Brother Xiao Jiu, please don't risk it. My father said the manual that was passed down within our sect for beast control has some missing pieces and doesn't necessarily work. Even when Elder Moye sealed a spirit beast, he needed to suppress it first and then place a seal on it before there were any effects. You shouldn't try to control them directly…."
Fang Xing had already made up his mind and simply made up more nonsense. "Do you know why your father asked me to look after you?"
"Why?" Ying Qiaoqiao asked, confused.
"Because I'm a genius in beast control!" Then, without caring for Ying Qiaoqiao's reaction, he began to quietly sneak his way towards the Snow Jiao Serpent.
Ying Qiaoqiao was so terrified that beads of sweat began to form across her forehead. She knew about the beast control spell within the Myriad Beasts Sect. It was actually used to seal the spirit sense of a spirit beast so a cultivator could take the beast in for their own use, but since the spell had missing pieces, not even her father dared to casually use it. This made her feel even more doubt towards Fang Xing's claims, but when she saw how confident he seemed to be, she wasn't sure if she should try to stop him. Of the three servants who'd been sent here with her, Fang Xing was indeed in charge of controlling and maintaining the beasts, after all.
While walking casually towards the Snow Jiao Serpent, Fang Xing secretly woke up the Peng King asleep within the Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits. "Get up, Old Peng; you've got work to do!" He didn't actually know any beast control spells, but he did have the Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits; controlling a spirit beast that hadn't even shed its corporeal form wasn't difficult. Simply speaking, just releasing a small strand of force from the Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits would be enough to make this Snow Jiao Serpent too frightened to move, and then he just had to pretend to imprint a seal on the beast's head. It didn't really matter if Ying Qiaoqiao actually believed he'd placed a seal on the beast—it'd still be tamed either way.
Ssss…..
The spirit beast suddenly became alert when it sensed Fang Xing's approach. It extended its forked tongue and poised itself to attack.
"Ai, couldn't you easily subdue a mere spirit beast like this with a wave of your hand?" Although the Peng King was rather annoyed at Fang Xing waking him up for such a small matter, he still sent out a startling amount of force. The Snow Jiao Serpent flinched in surprise and immediately laid flat against the ground, all of its viciousness gone….
A short moment later, Fang Xing rode atop the Snow Jiao Serpent while holding Ying Qiaoqiao in front of him. "See? It wasn't empty bragging."
Xiao Qiaoqiao looked at the tamed Snow Jiao Serpent beneath her in surprise. "Big Brother Xiao Jiu, how did you do it? Taming a spirit beast like this, not even my father could do it so easily…."
"Your father only has a higher cultivation level than me. In terms of real ability, he's much worse!" Fang Xing scoffed, all while thinking to himself, 'I've even tamed your father, which speaks for itself!'
Now that the two had the Snow Jiao Serpent for a mount, the pair's speed increased considerably. The Snow Jiao Serpent was born and raised within the Snowy Mountain, so it was able to sense the formations and traps to avoid them well in advance without daring to get close. When they came face to face with other strong spirit beasts, Fang Xing would stop and repeat the same process of "instilling the seal" to have it follow along behind them.
Without much effort, a group of powerful spirit beasts followed behind the Snow Jiao Serpent like an inspection tour carried out by royalty. Even Ying Qiaoqiao had grown pale at the sight of so many spirit beasts. She was the little princess of the Myriad Beasts Sect, but she'd never imagined how powerful their Myriad Beasts Sect spells were….
With so many spirit beasts following along behind her, Ying Qiaoqiao had truly become a part of the most powerful alliance within the entire Snowy Mountain!
close relative to the mythical Chinese Jiao dragon. The ancient Chinese believed dragons are born from snakes/serpents.