Much thanks to Nader for donating.
Shinjoiu: Thank you Triopsate for catching a translation which makes Grandpa look a bit like a maniac.
Hey hey, I want to say dis, please do thank shinjoiu as well, I bet most of you have seen my previous translations without him checking my gramma and everything else, it probably burned your eyes, huehuehue……I’m sorry. Though occasionally the updates would be a day late or so, I apologize for that, I do not coordinate with shinjoiu’s timing and usually send the chapters according to his timing, it is when he is sleeping (which is like 3 am in the morning I bet).
(Shinjoiu: Speaking of, my proof-reading was a little rushed this time, so I apologize for any mistakes. Also, going forward all of the names, i.e. XinFeng and DaShan, will be Xin Feng and Da Shan. If it bothers you, please comment. I just figured there should be a space between the sir name and given name.)
Book 2 Chapter 7: Thunder Snow Storm
Xin Feng’s family of three trekked through the wilderness looking for a thunder snow storm.
When winter starts, occasionally this kind of weird weather would occur. Lightning would shoot across the sky while it snowed. This was the aforementioned thunder snow storm. Xin Feng had experienced this kind of weather before. After all, he had already experienced quite a few winters since he had come to this world.
Xin Yao was hiding in Xin Feng’s pannier. She used the thick furs to cover her body, with only her little head exposed. On her head was a big fur hat. She used her small hands to absorb warmth from Xin Feng’s neck, seemingly in a good mood, asking questions non-stop. She had been born in Tiger Cliff Castle and had never walked a single step outside of it. Now that she had come out, she was curious about many things.
Old man Lei Bao walked in front to clear the way for them.
The reasons the hunters don’t hunt during winter were: first, the extremely cold. Second, it is very easy to get lost in the wild. When the surroundings are all white, unless you are an experienced hunter, getting lost would be a sure thing. Third, the beasts become much fiercer than usual. Because hunting is difficult, a large number of beasts would be starving. Even the most powerful hunters would not want to mess with a starving beast.
The most important is that, during winter, no one knows when a snow storm will appear. That kind of storm is something humans have great difficulty dealing with. No matter whether it was getting lost or freezing, to a hunter it was a road to an early death.
Which is why, during the winter, unless a family runs out if food, the hunters would never willingly come out to hunt. And, even if they decided to hunt, they would only dare to hunt somewhere close to human settlements.
On Lei Bao’s waist a rope was tied, and at the other end was Xin Feng’s waist. No matter how strong they were, they still needed to have a rope to keep connected to each other. If they had gotten lost in a storm, of course old man Lei Bao would be fine, however Xin Feng and Xin Yao would not be, no matter their experience or knowledge. They were both lacking; it was better to be safe than sorry.
A thunder snow storm does not mean there would surely be lightning. The old man moved using his instinct to look for lightning.
This road was a tough one, Xin Feng used a piece of long fur to cover his nose and mouth, only revealing one pair of eyes, he already knew from his past life that walking in the snow, the eyes would be rather vulnerable, it was called snow blindness, there was no sunglasses in this world, however, after practicing Lunli, it wasn’t much of a problem, also the long fur hat on Xinyao’s head was protecting her eyes with the long long strands of fur.
Xin Feng’s footsteps left indents the snow as he spoke softly with Xin Yao.
“Yao Yao, don’t stare at the snow on the floor~, or your eyes will hurt.”
(Puttty: he used O at the end of the floor word, it’s like a lazy-joking type of speaking, idk how to explain, I felt it would be a bit weird to have a O in the end of a sentence if it’s English though.)
Xin Yao said happily, “I won’t. I’m looking through the long fur…it doesn’t hurt my eyes. Brother, where are we heading?”
“I don’t know either. Anyways, Grandpa should know where we are heading.”
“Brother, are you tired?”
Warmth surged through Xin Feng’s heart. This little girl knew how to care for someone. “I’m not tired. Hoho, this bit of walking can’t do anything to me.”
The old man shook the string, and Xin Feng got the idea, increasing his speed. He quickly reached the old man’s side. “Grandpa, what happened?”
“Let’s stop to rest; the sky is darkening. I’ll find somewhere for us to spend the night. You and Xin Yao should stay here. Don’t move; I’ll be back soon.”
The old man untied the rope at his waist and disappeared into the snow storm with a steel spear.
Xin Feng sat down without putting down the pannier he was carrying. “The sky is darkening, but the ground is still so bright. Hoho, Yao Yao, are you scared?” By then, the amount of snow falling had already reduced greatly and they could see about 10 meters away. Relying on Lunli, Xin Feng could sense the surroundings in a diameter, in total, of a few hundred meters. There was no chance of being ambushed by beasts.
After about 10 minutes, the old man returned. “I found an ancient tree; let’s go.”
The ancient tree was a gigantic tree. These kinds of trees were not rare in the wild. Normally, gigantic trees would have many tree holes, places for both humans and beasts alike to rest, especially for beasts that liked to climb trees. For example, big panthers or snow panthers would rest in the ancient trees.
This was a hole about 6-7 square meters wide with a rather small entrance. Xin Feng was satisfied, and quickly placed the pannier down. He placed the thick beast skins on the floor and carried Xin Yao out. “Yao Yao, move your hands and feet around. Are you cold?”
“I’m not cold. I was very warm in the pannier.” Xin Yao said with a smile as she moved around, eventually sitting in the beast skins. Xin Feng took out another long beast fur and placed it on her.
The old man stood at the entrance looking at the sky, and, after a while, he sighed. “It has been 6 days already and we still haven’t found an area with a thunder snow storm. We’ll rest here for tonight. I’ll go out to find some fuel.” Finishing his speech, he took out a hanging copper pot, a pack of salted meat, and a smaller pack of dried mushrooms and dried fruits.
XinFeng nodded. “I’ll go find some hard branches.” And, turning to Xinyao, he added, “Yao Yao, wait here. If there’s any danger, whistle!”
“Okay.”
Xin Feng did not dare travel far, but rather stayed on the giant tree. Using a dagger, he hacked off 6 tree branches as thick as duck eggs and speedily returned to the tree hole.
Using the branches, he made a wooden rack, hung the copper pot, collected a bit of snow, and placed it in the pot. Then he started preparing the bull meat. Xin Yao bit her nail, staring at the meat in the copper pot. She was actually already very hungry, but refused to complain, waiting patiently.
The old man brought back a few dry logs. Taking them from his Lunchang space, the old man randomly swung down his hand, and the bucket-sized logs cracked. After a while, the 4 meters long logs became smaller pieces. The old man pointed a finger and traced the logs, with thin pieces of long wood appearing with each movement of his finger.
Xin Feng was so shocked that his eyeballs were about to pop out. This was too ridiculous! He never knew Lunli could be used this way. Xin Yao clapped and said, “Grandpa is so amazing!”
“This isn’t much, it is only another way to use Lunli. You can do it too. It is recorded in the Star Python Record.”
Xin Feng nodded. “En, I haven’t seen that part of the record yet.”
The old man suddenly smiled. “I found something good. Hoho, my luck is rather good,” he said as he dug out 2 crimson fruits the size of walnuts.
Taking it in his hand, Xin Feng asked, “What fruit is this?”
“Blood fruit. It only grows during snow storms and after the storm ends, the fruit will drop onto the ground.”
“Grandpa, what’s its use?”
“En, it can improve your blood’s circulation and increase your resistance to cold.”
“Grandpa, did you eat one?”
“I don’t need it. You and Yao Yao can have them. The weather is too cold.”
Xin Feng nodded, and then reached his hand out to pass the blood fruit to Xin Yao. “Yao Yao, eat.”
“One fruit for one person. The effects of this kind of stuff won’t increase even if you eat many.”
After hearing the old man’s words, Xin Yeng and Xin Yao each ate one. Instantly a feeling of warmth entered their bodies, giving them a comfortable feeling.
Xin Yao savored the flavor. “How delicious.”
The old man laughed. “Of course it is. This thing is very hard to get. It needs to be perfectly ripe, at which point it falls from the tree. The time needed for it to rot is very short, which is why I was rather lucky to find them. Feng, light the fire using Lunli.”
This trick was something Xin Feng knew. Picking up a piece of dry wood, he placed his hands together and rubbed them. Instantly the wood broke into smaller pieces and lit up the shreds of wood below, quickly making a fire.
At that moment, the tree hole became warm.
The meat was chopped into small pieces and added to the pot along with snow. Only then did they cover the pot with the lid. Meanwhile, Xin Feng concentrated on keeping the fire going.
Sounds of “Gugu” were heard and the smell of meat filled the air, Xin Feng poured in the dried fruits and mushrooms, and the smell continued to fill the tree hole. Xin Yao couldn’t help but swallow her saliva. Her stomach grumbled. Xin Feng patted her head and said, “It’ll be done soon.”
Xin Feng brought out 3 wooden bowls and passed them to the old man and Xinyao. “Let’s eat.”
The pot was very big. The three of them generously ate the meat and enjoyed the soup, beads of sweat appearing on their foreheads. Within 10 minutes the large pot of food was finished. Xin Yao rubbed her stomach as she lay on the beast skins, a satisfied look on her face.
The old man sighed. After his injury, he brought up these two kids. Occasionally they had not even eaten their fill. Thinking back, it was rather sad. But, this time, with the help of Xin Feng’s discovery, he had started to recover. He was confident that he would return to his old self and even improve.
When everything recovers, they would be able to do many things. These two kids would also not have to suffer anymore. He believed in his own strength, that he could hold up a piece of the sky to protect them, but what he forgot was that he was not a normal person. He was a man with many enemies. He was alone in the past, but now he had two kids with him.
When the old man finally understood this, everyone had already gotten involved. But, that was something a worry for the future.
After their meal, the three of them lay on the thick beast skins. Xin Yao laid in Xin Feng’s embrace. That was the warmest place for her.
At midnight, sounds of thunder were heard. The old man jumped up in excitement. Xin Feng asked, “Thunder snow storm?”
The old man laughed. “That’s right, my luck is not bad. Haha, Feng, stay here and take care of Yao Yao. I’ll be back soon.”
“Be careful.”
Xin Yao hugged Xin Feng, and said drowsily, “Brother, tired…” Xin Feng said, “Go to sleep.”
The old man left the hole with a spear, climbing down the tree.