Chapter 2060: A Deal
“You're saying this is the Great Snowy Mountain?” Zu An asked, looking at her in disbelief. This Snow Lady is quite pretty, but there seems to be something not quite right with her brain…?
The Snow Lady nodded. She appeared to find his reaction quite strange.
“This place is clearly the sealed land to the north of the Fiend races' territory. If I roughly calculate the distance, it should be a hundred and eight thousand miles away,” Zu An couldn't help but say.
“Fiend races? Sealed land?” the Snow Lady repeated in confusion, as if she didn’t care much about worldly affairs. “I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm sure that this is the Great Snowy Mountain. I've always lived on the Great Snowy Mountain, so how can I not know about my own home?”
Zu An immediately became quiet and thought to himself.
Judging from how she's behaving, it doesn’t seem as if she's lying, so what exactly is the problem?
Either one of us is wrong, or else… neither of us is! This place is the Fiend races’ sealed land, but also the restricted Great Snowy Mountain.
Now that he thought about it, the Fiend races’ sealed land and the Great Snowy Mountain were really similar in many aspects. Both were desolate and uninhabited, and both were worlds of ice and snow.
He recalled that when he was heading through the north to provide assistance to the Fiend races, he had clearly sensed that the Great Snowy Mountain was colder than he remembered in the past. Now that he thought about it, it was probably because of the monsters invading, causing the environment to change. As for himself, he had clearly been in the sealed land, and yet he'd now suddenly arrived on the Great Snowy Mountain. It could be that there was some overlap between the two places, or maybe even that they were the same place.
No wonder the Great Snowy Mountain had been known as a forbidden place since ancient times. Even those as powerful as Zhao Han and the late Fiend Emperor hadn’t dared to venture too deeply inside. So it turned out to have this much of a connection with the ancient sealed land!
Zu An quickly snapped back out of his daze and said, “Right, tell me more about those monsters.”
This time, the Snow Lady didn’t refuse. She explained, “The one who fought against me was a several-hundred-meter long bone dragon. It had two ugly wings, and ice didn’t seem too effective against it. Fighting against it was really disadvantageous for me.”
“Bone dragon?” Zu An repeated, startled. He wondered if it was some kind of undead spirit, because then he would have a natural advantage against it.
The Snow Lady nodded slightly and continued, “There were a few others. One seemed to have been entirely pieced together from rocks and had a really strange appearance, another was half-human and half-scorpion, and the last one that was the most mysterious was covered in light, which prevented me from seeing exactly what it looked like too clearly.”
“Not even you were able to see their appearance too clearly?” Zu An exclaimed in surprise.
After all, with the Snow Lady’s cultivation, she should have been able to see through all kinds of illusions. Things like halos of light could conceal someone from ordinary people, but at her cultivation rank, that shouldn't have been too big of a deal at all. If she couldn't see the other side’s real appearance, there was only one possibility, which was that their cultivation was much higher than the Snow Lady’s.
Even though Zu An’s cultivation had made huge breakthroughs, the Snow Lady’s power had left him with too deep of an impression back then. Even though he wasn’t scared of a fight if they really fought, he wouldn’t dare to claim that his strength was far greater than hers. Didn’t that mean the mysterious glowing individual was much stronger than himself?
It seems there really is something wrong with the seal. Even someone this powerful was able to cross over.
As such, he quickly said, “I need that Soul Capturing Jade to repair the seal, or else more and more powerful creatures will cross over. Miss, could you give me the Soul Capturing Jade?”
“But I need it for treatment,” the Snow Lady said indifferently, directly rejecting the request.
“I'm quite good at treating people. I’ll help you recover from your injuries, so give me the Soul Capturing Jade,” Zu An said.
“But I'm not a human,” the Snow Lady said, looking at him with a calm expression.
Zu An was speechless.
You’re making so much sense…
He indeed didn’t know what the Snow Lady’s body was made of, so treatment wouldn't be so simple. Still, after thinking about it, he said, “It’s all about different means to achieve the same end. I can give it a try.”
The Snow Lady shook her head and said, “I'm not used to letting people touch me.”
“It’s fine, I can feel your pulse through threads,” Zu An said. He took out two thin strands of silk and sent them toward the Snow Lady’s wrist. He could turn his ki into threads too, but he was worried that she would still consider that to be a part of his body, so he didn’t do that.
The Snow Lady looked at the two thin threads curiously. When they touched her wrist, she reflexively pulled back. However, Zu An said impatiently, “They have to be on your wrist for me to sense your current condition.”
The Snow Lady was a bit suspicious. She asked, “You won’t use this chance to ambush me, right?”
Zu An was speechless. He said, “Your injuries aren’t light. If I really wanted to do anything to you, I wouldn’t need an ambush at all.”
The Snow Lady was a bit unhappy as she said, “I admit that your cultivation isn’t bad, but even though I’m injured, it wouldn’t be that easy for you to defeat me.”
“Yes, yes, yes, you’re right. That's why I'm talking with you so nicely,” Zu An said. He really wasn’t lying, though. Even though he could win against the Snow Lady, doing so would be going against his nature, and the monsters were her enemies too. The enemy of his enemy could well become a friend.
The Snow Lady was finally satisfied with that answer. She reached out her hand with a bit of hesitation.
Now, Zu An couldn't help but sigh with amazement. 'Spotlessly white wrists' could perhaps be used as praise when used to describe other women, but for the Snow Lady, that was but a natural fact. He had never seen a woman’s hand that was so white before…
He quickly regained his focus. The two strings gently wrapped around the Snow Lady's wrist, and Zu An closed his eyes to sense her condition. Soon after, he opened his eyes in shock. He had thought that her body would be entirely different from a human’s, but now that he examined her, it was actually extremely similar!
But if she was human, how was she also completely made from ice? How could she still have the energy of life?
“What is it? You can't treat me?” the Snow Lady asked when she saw that.
“It’s not that there's no way, but that method is… Forget it, I don’t have a way,” Zu An said, not going into the details.
Her injuries were indeed very serious, and they were wounds left behind by someone extremely strong. Primordial ki alone wouldn’t be enough, so he could only use that method… Even so, he was too embarrassed to mention that method to even his lovers, because it would feel as if he was taking advantage of them. How could he do that to a stranger he had only met a few times?
When she heard him speak like that, the Snow Lady became even more curious. She asked, “Just what kind of method is it?”
“It’s that my medical skill is so humble that I can't heal you,” Zu An said, covered in cold sweat. If he really talked about it, perhaps she would just kill him on the spot. He was even starting to regret being so indecisive earlier.
“Humans really aren’t honest after all.” The Snow Lady harrumphed. Her expression became even colder.
“How long do you plan on using that Soul Capturing Jade?” Zu An asked to test the waters.
The Snow Lady looked away and clearly didn’t want to pay him any attention.
Zu An could only say, “This is, after all, quite an important matter. You don’t want those powerful creatures to appear day after day and disturb you on the Great Snowy Mountain either, right?”
The Snow Lady frowned. When she pictured that scenario, she seemed to be a bit troubled. In the end, she said, “If I use it for treatment, the Soul Capturing Jade will be consumed.”
Zu An was stunned.
Then what the hell am I still messing around for?
He even started to emanate killing intent now. Even though that didn’t match his style of doing things, when it was related to the safety of an entire world, he couldn't be bothered with the consequences anymore.
“What, are you going to kill to steal the treasure?” The Snow Lady said with a sneer, “Humans are hypocritical and deceitful after all.”
Zu An replied, “You didn’t need to tell me the truth, so why did you tell me that?”
“To see if you would use the chance to attack,” The Snow Lady said coldly. “But now, even though you already have killing intent, you're still a bit hesitant, so you’re still not that bad of a person.”
Zu An was speechless.
Is this woman really the aloof type who doesn’t care about worldly affairs?
The Snow Lady said, “I can give you the Soul Capturing Jade, but you have to help me with something.”
“What is it?” Zu An asked, surprised.
“Help me drive away the monsters in my territory,” the Snow Lady said seriously. She was clearly unhappy with those creatures disturbing her nest.
“No problem,” Zu An said, sighing in relief. Either way, the monsters were his enemies too, so he would be taking care of two birds with one stone.
“Then you should go now,” the Snow Lady said as she got up. She clearly didn’t want to waste any time.
“Your injuries…” Zu An said hesitantly.
The Snow Lady walked ahead and said coldly, “It’s fine.”
Zu An quickly said, “I'm worried that your life might be in danger, so it might be better if I go on my own.”
When she sensed the concern in his voice, the Snow Lady stopped and said, “You aren’t a match for all of them by yourself.” After pausing for a moment, she continued, “Don’t worry, as long as the Great Snowy Mountain remains, I won’t die.”
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