Xuefeng plunged his bronze hunting blade three inches deep into the ice.
Then, he knelt on one knee, and the four hunters behind him simultaneously removed the blood-stained wolf fang forehead ornaments from their brows.
With their blood-stained palms, they drew a crimson totem on the snow.
"Xuefeng, the seventh-generation hunter chief of the Zhu Ri Tribe, along with my clansmen, bows in gratitude to the Immortal for saving our lives!"
Xuefeng's forehead hit the ice with a heavy thud, dislodging the blood-frost that had congealed on his brows.
Ling Tian raised his hand to help Xuefeng up and signaled to everyone not to be so formal.
At this moment, Haji, the old hunter with a lame leg, came forward, leaning on a dark iron spear, and was the first to introduce himself.
"This old man, Haji, forty-two years ago, I followed Xuefeng's grandfather to hunt the White-Furred Bear King."
He abruptly pulled aside his thick leather armor, revealing a hideous old scar on his waist.
"That blind bear disemboweled me back then, and the old Clan Chief poured boiling wolf blood into me to keep me alive!"
After Haji finished speaking, he suddenly held the weathered spear above his head, expressing his gratitude to Ling Tian.
Next, a young girl whose face was still stained with bear blood shyly walked up.
"I... My name is Xue Lan." She said, then lowered her head in embarrassment.
Seeing his somewhat shy younger sister, Xuefeng immediately picked up the conversation.
"This is my younger sister, Xue Lan. She has never seen outsiders, so please, Immortal, do not take offense." Xuefeng rubbed his head and explained to Ling Tian.
"I am Batu, the lone wolf of the snow plains!"
A burly man with a full beard stepped forward and abruptly tore open his animal skin coat.
Revealing a lifelike blue-black wolf head tattoo on his chest.
His voice was like a bell, shaking the surrounding icicles, causing them to fall.
"During last year's winter hunt, I was surrounded by a pack of wolves for three days and three nights! When I finished gnawing on the last horse bone, it was Big Brother Xuefeng who led people to find me..."
Halfway through his sentence, Xuefeng subtly kicked him in the heel.
Batu chuckled awkwardly and pulled out a heavy leather pouch from his embrace.
"This is wine brewed from snow mountain ice lotus, it's very potent! Please, Immortal, you must try it!"
When the last silent young hunter stepped forward.
Ling Tian finally saw that on the left side of his face, there were three terrifying claw marks, deep enough to expose bone.
"Norbu, thank you, Immortal, for saving my life!"
He actually spoke a remarkably fluent Central Plains Mandarin.
"My father was originally a merchant from Zhongzhou. When I was five, he brought my mother and me to the ice plains to transport supplies, but we unfortunately encountered a wolf attack..."
"Only I survived in the end, and Big Brother Xuefeng took me in."
Xuefeng said nothing, suddenly drew a whistling arrow, and shot it fiercely into the hazy sky.
A sharp whistle echoed through the empty ice valley.
"According to our tribe's ancient rites, a life-saving benefactor should receive three kowtows and nine prostrations."
He untied the ancestral dark iron waist token from his waist and pressed it against his forehead.
"Please, Immortal, move to our Zhu Ri Tribe's camp, and allow us to offer the most sacred holy fire baptism."
Before his words faded, dozens of sled dogs leaped out from behind the ice slope in response.
Old hunter Haji slowly presented a horn made from polished animal bone.
"Woo..."
The horn sounded.
Ling Tian originally wanted to decline.
But Batu had already opened his throat and began to sing the "Guest Welcoming Battle Song."
The rough and bold singing startled the snow owls roosting in the distance, causing them to flap their wings and fly into the night sky.
Then, the other hunters also responded, striking their ice shields with the backs of their hunting knives, coordinating their invitations.
The hospitality was hard to refuse.
Ling Tian and Su Meier finally nodded, agreeing to their invitation.
"Everyone, don't always call me Immortal; it sounds a bit awkward. My name is Ling Tian."
He paused, his gaze falling upon Su Meier beside him, and for a moment, he didn't know how to introduce their relationship.
"My name is Su Meier, and I'm his... younger sister ~." Su Meier deliberately drew out the end of her sentence.
Upon hearing this, the hunters all showed knowing, meaningful smiles.
The sled dogs strained to pull the sled, carrying everyone and the massive Bear King's corpse, galloping across the vast ice plains.
Two hours later.
Just as dusk completely enveloped the ice plains, a camp appeared at the edge of their vision.
Thirty-eight huge yak hide tents, like giant white lotuses quietly blooming in the snow.
They embraced the golden fire pillar rising from the central altar.
A bronze fire pit, seven zhang high, burned with century-old fir trees.
Pine resin crackled in the flames, and the sparks that burst forth seemed to condense into a faint wolf-shaped totem under the dim dome.
Outside each tent stood an ice-sculpted wolf head lamp.
Fluorite was embedded inside the lamps, emitting a soft white light through the ice cover.
On the open drying ground to the north, several old women, hunched over, were grinding medicinal herbs collected from the frozen soil with heavy basalt millstones.
But the most eye-catching feature was a natural ice slide on the western slope.
Seven or eight children screamed as they plunged down from the top of the ice slope.
They occasionally knocked over racks of drying meat, eliciting laughter and scolding from the adults.
"The Clan Chief is back! The Clan Chief is back with the Bear King's corpse!"
The sentries guarding the camp entrance were the first to spot the returning party, shouting excitedly.
Immediately after, horn calls celebrating the heroes' return rang out one after another throughout the tribe.
Several white-haired women danced in front of the stockade gate, holding salt jars and fir branches.
They chanted ancient blessings, and the crisp sound of copper bells rippled across the ice plains with their dance steps.
"An Honored Guest has arrived—!"
Clan Chief Xuefeng's deep, powerful voice pierced through the wind and snow.
Four bare-chested youths carried a whole roasted snow antelope forward, and golden oil droplets dripped into the embers, sizzling with the scent of pine.
A Gu Ya, Xue Lan's mother, came over holding an ancestral rhinoceros horn cup.
The cup was filled with amber-colored snow insect tea.
"By the blood of the ice plains, we honor the light that breaks the night." She looked up at everyone and said.
Ling Tian and Su Meier didn't feign politeness, taking the cups and drinking them in one gulp... When the roasted antelope was brushed with thick wild honey for the third time, eighty jars of aged frozen pear wine were uncorked simultaneously.
In an instant, the rich aroma of wine permeated the entire camp.
Xuefeng suddenly stood up, clutching a bronze dagger.
"The Bear King has been executed!"
With Xuefeng's deep and powerful declaration, twelve huge ice drums were beaten simultaneously.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The drumbeats shook the heavens and the earth.
The young men of the tribe, baring their chests, leaped into the flickering light and shadows of the bonfire.
At this moment, A Gu Ya again presented an ice goblet.
Four pure white snow lotus seeds rested in the amber-colored wine.
"To the spirit of the ice plains." She said solemnly.
Ling Tian reached out and took it.
With a slight tilt of his wrist, he slowly poured the fine wine from the goblet onto the ice beneath his feet.
Flame Dragon Breath, wrapped around the sweet wine, seeped into the frozen earth—
This was his ancient rite as a Cultivator, guiding the souls of the departed.
The drumbeats gradually subsided.
Xuefeng untied the blood-stained dark iron waist token from his waist.
"During this northern hunt, although we slew the Bear King, we also lost four brave warriors."
His voice sounded as if it had been scraped by sharp icicles, carrying an undisguised hoarseness and sorrow.
In the glow of the fire, four newly carved names appeared on the waist token.
"Old Norton blocked the bear's paw for Xue Lan."
"Cheeger used his body to tightly entangle the iron chain that bound the bear."
"Ta Na and Ge'en'er, to block the Bear King's retreat... remained forever on Ice Bear Cliff."
Before his words faded.
A burst of green flame erupted from the bonfire, as if four wisps of smoke rose from it, condensing into vague human-shaped outlines in the air.
Haji tremblingly stood up, pressing his right hand, missing an index finger, tightly against his chest.
"That old fellow, Old Norton, boasted to me thirty years ago that he wouldn't be satisfied in this life until he chopped off a Bear King's paw!"
He suddenly grabbed a wine jar beside him and tilted his head back, gulping it down.
Turbid tears mixed with the pungent wine, instantly drenching the front of his clothes.
"Damn it... He said he'd come back to drink that jar of good wine I buried twenty years ago..."
At this moment, A Gu Ya suddenly pulled back the curtain of a nearby tent and brought out a sleeping baby girl.
"Ta Na fed the baby for the last time before she left."
She held the child in her swaddling clothes high up towards the night sky.
"From today onwards, you shall be called Ge'en'er Ta Na, and live on bearing the surnames of two brave warriors!"
...In the latter half of the night, fir branches were added to the bonfire, and the clear fragrance was mixed with a faint bitter char.
Xuefeng placed a necklace, made from polished Bear King fangs strung together, around Ling Tian's neck.
"Does the Immortal know how many bones of our people have been in the stomachs of ice plains bears over the years?"
He tore open the leather armor on his chest, revealing three blue-black claw marks that almost spanned his entire collarbone.
"When I was ten, my second sister... was carried away by a female bear that had just woken from hibernation..."
His voice was low and suppressed.
"When we found her, only this was left."
Xuefeng untied a faded red string bell from his waist and gently placed it in his palm.
The clapper of the bell was actually half a baby tooth.
Xue Lan, at some point, had begun to softly hum the ancient "Night Watch Song" nearby.
Several hunters, already drunk and passed out by the bonfire, also groggily joined in with low murmurs.
"White fur swirls, black claws curve, when the Bear King opens its eyes, do not approach..."
Xue Lan hummed softly while looking up at the night sky.
"When I was little, Mother always scared us like this, saying that blind bears loved to eat disobedient children."
She raised her hand to brush aside the stray hairs on her forehead, revealing a faint crescent-shaped scar on her temple.
"This was left when a bear's paw brushed me when I was eight. Back then, Big Brother carried me and ran for over thirty li in an ice cave before we finally shook off that beast..."
Haji, in a drunken stupor, interjected, 'My father's generation had it even worse! One year, a pack of bears went mad and snatched seventeen half-grown children in a single night…'
His cloudy, old eyes were streaked with terrifying blood vessels.
'Later… later, we found a longevity lock in bear dung; it was my niece's first birthday gift…'
Ling Tian listened in silence, his fingers tightening slightly around the wine cup.
'Xuefeng, tomorrow you will lead us to the bear den.' His voice was calm, yet carried a hint of killing intent.
'We cannot let these beasts continue to harm lives!'
Upon hearing Ling Tian's words, Xuefeng trembled with excitement and immediately knelt before Ling Tian.
'Thank you, Immortal! I, on behalf of the three hundred and eighteen members of my Zhu Ri Tribe, thank the Immortal for his great righteousness!'
His voice choked, 'This journey is perilous. Tomorrow, I will select the best warriors from the tribe…'
'No need.' Ling Tian reached out to help him up, 'You only need to lead us to the location.'
'The rest, leave it to us.'
'Trust me.'
Looking at Ling Tian's calm and determined eyes, Xuefeng nodded heavily.
After a brief discussion about tomorrow's route, everyone returned to their tents to rest.
At first light,
Xuefeng had already hitched the sled dogs and, without stopping, set off with Ling Tian and Su Meier towards the ice bear's lair.
His will to eradicate the bears was as intense as the surging undercurrents beneath the ice plain!
As soon as they approached the outer perimeter of Ice Bear Valley, a strong, pungent smell of blood assailed them.
Xuefeng took out an ancient bronze compass from his Pregnant and placed it on the edge of a huge ice crevice.
The seven beast bone pointers embedded in the compass vibrated, then all pointed north, deep into the crevice.
'The entrance to the bear den is down there!' he said in a deep voice.
Before his voice faded, Ling Tian had already joined his fingers like a sword and made a sweeping gesture.
'Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!'
Dozens of Sword Qi, accompanied by the roar of a Dragon, fiercely slashed at the thick ice cap that had covered it for countless years!
'Rumble—!'
The thousand-year-old ice cap shattered in response, revealing the intricate cave below.
A foul, extremely hot Qi, accompanied by violent bear roars, gushed out from the cave entrance!
'Follow me closely.'
Ling Tian's body instantly erupted with fiery red-gold Flame Dragon Fire, and he transformed into a streak of light, rushing into the cave.
Wherever the Flame Dragon Sword Qi passed, whether it was the ice cones on the cave walls or the protruding ice ridges underfoot, they instantly sublimated and evaporated.
Su Meier reacted extremely quickly, her nine fox tails instantly extending, wrapping around Xuefeng's waist, and closely following Ling Tian.
Red-gold flames automatically paved a path of lava under their feet, isolating them from the biting cold and filth below.
After descending about fifty zhang, the view suddenly opened up.
An incredibly vast underground ice cave appeared before them.
In the darkness, hundreds of pairs of beast eyes suddenly opened, emitting faint crimson glows.
Countless ice ridges hanging from the cave ceiling reflected a ghostly light, revealing the dense figures of ice bears below!
'Beasts!'
Ling Tian let out a cold shout, his figure stepping into the air.
Perhaps it was the tragic fate of the tribe that moved him; at this moment, Ling Tian was at full power.
The immense pressure of the Nascent Soul Stage, like the Milky Way pouring down from the Nine Heavens, instantly filled the entire ice cave!
The jade dragon sword transformed into a hundred-meter giant blade and slashed down; before the sword light even arrived, the front seven ice plain bears had already exploded into a bloody mist.
'Boom—!!!'
The terrifying Sword Qi aftershock swept through, directly collapsing half of the cave's dome.
Countless massive thousand-year-old ice cones fell like a torrential rain.
Pinning the scattered, fleeing bear pack below like skewers of meat.
Xuefeng, following behind the two, was completely stunned at this moment!
He couldn't help but gasp, feeling as if his blood was about to freeze.
He watched as the Sword Qi, as if alive, moved and weaved through the cave, precisely piercing the brows of every ice plain bear.
He watched Ling Tian walk leisurely, as if strolling in a garden, through the violent and chaotic beast horde.
Wherever he passed, scarlet fire lotuses bloomed on the ice.
The Flame Dragon Sword Mang spewed from the lotus hearts instantly shredded all living creatures within several zhang around them.
A young bear wailed and pounced at Ling Tian, but was crushed into dust by an invisible sword domain three meters away.
'Roar!!!'
A deafening, furious roar suddenly came from deep underground!
The entire massive underground ice cave trembled with it.
Only to see an old bear king, twenty-some meters tall and covered in thick white fur, suddenly smash through several ice pillars and charge out, roaring.
It stood upright, and with a fierce swipe of its huge paw, the palm wind stirred up a profound ice storm, sweeping towards Ling Tian!
Seeing this, Ling Tian's lips curved into a cold arc, and he simply waved his sleeve casually.
The immense Sword Qi instantly condensed into a golden cage, pushing back with even greater speed.
'Boom!'
The profound ice storm was forcibly pushed back, crashing onto the old bear king itself, causing its massive body to stagger.
'I heard you love to eat children!?'
Ling Tian's figure appeared instantly like a ghost above the old bear king's huge head.
The jade dragon sword in his hand glowed intensely, mercilessly stabbing into the old bear king's skull!
'Chih—!'
The extremely potent and pure Flame Dragon Fire furiously poured in along the sword body!
'Roar!'
The old bear king let out an utterly agonizing wail, and tiny blood arrows shot out from every pore of its body.
Its incredibly hard skeleton burst open inch by inch under the impact of the violent energy!
Just then, Xuefeng suddenly threw the bronze dagger in his hand with all his might!
'Pfft!'
The dagger deeply embedded itself into the old bear king's only remaining left eye!
Xuefeng's eyes were bloodshot, filled with tears, and he roared hoarsely:
'This strike! Is for my second sister!!'
Ling Tian's sword stance shifted slightly.
The old bear king's massive and broken body crashed like a small mountain against the nearby ice wall.
'Rumble!'
The huge impact caused large sections of the ice wall's surface to peel off, revealing a horrifying sight within—
Within the thick ice layer, dozens of stiffened child remains were frozen solid!
Their tiny bodies forever maintained the postures of extreme terror and despair from their final moments.
Upon seeing this scene, a trace of unbearable sorrow flashed in Su Meier's eyes, and then her nine fox tails suddenly unfurled.
The Qingqiu Fox Fire swept through like a tide in an instant.
Wherever the blue flames passed, filth was incinerated.
The children's skeletons frozen in the ice wall turned into specks of stardust in the flames, slowly ascending.
Ling Tian stood with his sword sheathed, and raised his hand to point at the cave ceiling.
A thick Flame Dragon Fire shot up from the ground, piercing through the ice plain, straight through the Nine Heavens!
Warm sunlight, for the first time, shone into this dark underground cave.
'It's over.'
Ling Tian said softly.
Xuefeng silently knelt on the ice steps, carefully burying the red string bell that belonged to his sister into a small puddle formed by the melted ice wall.
The moment the bell was buried, ice lotuses miraculously bloomed on the water's surface.
The heart of each ice lotus glowed with a faint light.
As if those young souls, long dormant, had finally found peace.
On the way back, Ling Tian swung his sword again, remotely striking towards the distance.
Three glaciers collapsed in response, completely sealing off the entrance to that evil bear den.
Upon returning to the tribe, the women were gathered around the central altar, softly chanting the ancient 'Soul Return Melody.'
Eighty torches were extinguished one by one, leaving only the sacred fire in the altar flickering as before.
Xuefeng walked to the ice wall on the east side and tied four blood-stained giant bear teeth around the necks of the ice sculptures of the four fallen warriors.
'Their souls will return with the first blizzard of the coming year,' the old shaman said hoarsely.
He mixed the bear king's ashes with pine resin to make four everlasting lamps.
'When the oil in these lamps burns out, new warriors will have grown up.'
Ling Tian watched this scene, his heart stirred, and suddenly he joined his fingers like a sword, making a sweeping gesture towards the eastern sky!
'Tear—!'
A hundred-zhang long sword mark instantly appeared in the boundless sky.
The Sword Qi condensed and did not disperse, as if paving a path home for the departed souls.
'Xuefeng, there is no banquet that does not end.' Ling Tian turned around and cupped his fists at Xuefeng.
'Meier and I still have unfinished business, so we will part ways here.'
After personally witnessing Ling Tian's god-like, world-destroying power,
Xuefeng already understood in his heart that the other party was not from the same world as him.
To have had this encounter was already a great fortune!
He did not try to hold them back, but instead knelt on one knee, his voice solemn and grave:
'I swear by the souls of my ancestors, the Zhu Ri Tribe will forever pray for the safety of you two benefactors!'
A few crystalline ice tears seeped from the corners of his eyes, which were etched with fine lines from the wind and frost.
'The Zhu Ri Tribe, thirty-eight tents, three hundred and nineteen people, can at any time become the Immortal's sword and shield!'
After helping Xuefeng up, Ling Tian and Su Meier boarded the already prepared sled dog ice cart.
Suddenly, all the extinguished torches in the entire tribe were re-lit at the same time!
More than three hundred pine torches blazed, casting huge shadows onto the ice walls surrounding the tribe.
The shadows outlined ancient murals depicting the heroic battles of their ancestors.
Countless flames gathered together, illuminating the path forward to the east.
Ling Tian sat in the ice cart, subconsciously touching the bear tooth necklace on his chest.
Suddenly, he felt that this ice plain, perhaps… wasn't so cold after all.