The woodcutter's eyes twitched as he felt as though he was drowning, which was weird because he had been smothered by snow before but never drowned in any water as there weren't any in the first place.
'But this was too vivid to be a dream....'
His eyes immediately opened as he heard the sound of pouring water, immediately sitting up he coughed and choked, gasping for air while coughing, his eyes turning teary blurring his vision.
"That's enough"
He heard a gentle yet firm voice, then he heard another voice, softer more childish but filled with life replying to that voice with obedience.
He tried to open his eyes, but his vision wasn't back yet as he tried to adjust rubbing his eyes, he finally saw a blurry silhouette of a man draped in deep blue.
A very serene colour, one that was hard to come by.
Even an illiterate and dumb man would've realised who these men were.
Although he was illiterate he wasn't dumb so how could he not recognise a cultivator when in their presence?
They had a different air to them after all.
Unlike the warm shabby yet welcoming energy of the villagers, most cultivators despite their warm appearance often had a sharpness that made people hard to swallow.
The overwhelming feeling was the same either way.
He was just glad that this master didn't seem like the type to appear different on the surface.
Coming back to his senses, he realised that he wasn't quite where he was, it wasn't the place he last remembered so how did he get here and how did he almost drown-?
He caught sight of the leather pouch on the child's hand
his later question was confirmed leaving the former.
And about the former one...did he even need to think any longer?
Although he still didn't understand he could still read the mood.
Seeing the puzzled yet concerned look on the kids face while the other sat with an indifferent face what could be more obvious?
Despite being a local from the north, he still wasn't spared from its ruthlessness.
No, rather locals were even more aware of just how dangerous the plains were.
Even more so than the hills and mountains resting undisturbed unlike the outsiders who take the forces of nature quite lightly and end up easily dead.
It was like comparing a worm to a butterfly with the difference in experience and knowledge, of course their survival rates far surpassed those clueless-- rather
ignorant outsiders.
'But...'
He took on a kneeling position,
He would've been crossing the glittery silver bridge if not for these two despite their....
Rather unique way of waking someone.
Realising this he immediately fell onto his knees
"I cannot thank you enough!"
The image showed their dynamic and how vastly distinct they were from each other.
A cold immortal and a kneeling man.
It was almost like witnessing a worship.
These were his benefactors that he couldn't deny.
He was grateful.
After he came to, and realised that he had almost drifted far....off
He still felt shivers.
As the tremblings didn't stop despite pressing his hands roughly on the ground.
He tightly pressed his eyes, feeling the chill on his forehead.
"Tell me how to repay you! I'll do anything!"
He bursts out.
'it was wrong to be ungrateful when in front of a benefactor and repaying was an obligation that had to be fulfilled no matter what after having been saved whether one wished for it or not'
This was what he learned as he grew
However, what followed after his declaration wasn't anything he had expected.
His brows were tensed at the silence, before he heard a faint shuffle, footsteps approaching him as the snow pressed softly underneath that firm shoe making a soft sound before he felt that the person was standing right in front of him
His face tightened as he clenched his fist, he didn't know that his shoulder had started shaking.
But unlike the stories he had heard, what he soon felt wasn't a painful strike but a gentle touch.
"...."
Yue Ran after a slight resistance finally let out a short sentence.
"...food would be nice"
The way he said it was almost awkward, as if he himself didn't intend to say these words and neither did it fit his indifferent face.
Xue Hua who was watching from a distance couldn't hear him, but despite his curiosity he did not know if he should come over, since Yue Ran hadn't said anything.
This came as quite a surprise for the woodcutter.
That he had raised his head without realising, meeting Yue Ran's eyes. Immediately he lowered his head once more and was about to continue with his pose then he heard a voice telling him to stand up.
Soon Xue Hua walked over with one roasted hare on his hand catching yue ran looking towards him,
"I'm xue hua and you?" He asked, extending his hand.
"Y-Yun Buizha"
He was still stunned, receiving the warm roasted meat before getting the chance to think of anything.
He slowly sat up, pulling his knees into a more comfortable position.
His eyes shifted back and forth from Yue Ran and Xue Hua, this seemingly unusual pair of master disciples unlike any he'd met before, they had this kind of laid back feeling to them.
Instead of the stern rigid atmosphere with usual disciples, the child was quite clumsy and almost careless in front of his master, but maybe he was just closed minded after all it was not like he had come across many during his short lifetime.
Actually most have never even seen any during their lifetime he might have been an exception since he's met quite a lot in the past.
It's just he doesn't really remember when or where, he was quite young according to those memories.
Most villagers take not seeing cultivators as a good thing, as they believe chaos follows wherever they go because they kill spiritual beasts harming the environment while they just up and leave without even considering their actions after killing local spirit beast guardians.
He didn't meet eyes with Yue Ran again but Xue Hua was urging him to bite into it. He had almost forgotten how starved he was after getting lost for almost two days because of the storm.
His stomach tightened while his mouth became full by taking in the scent.
'It was clearly just some unseasoned roasted meat but...
Why was it so tempting? Why did it look better than any he had ever seen before?'
These cultivators were unlike any he'd seen or read off.
Maybe he was just as closed minded as he made them out to be,
Thinking of this his heart twisted with a strange guilt.
Remembering how he once saw a cultivator passed out but decided to ignore him out of his prejudice.
The cave was way too quiet for his liking, making him remember everything that he did out of prejudice, and how he had hated them because of his ignorance...
How was he any different from those that he hated?
The silence was greater than any sort of advice or teachings he had ever gotten.
His heart ached for the fainted man from the past.
But what could he do except continue on with the regrets caused by his actions?
So this time...
when he bowed his head, it wasn't quite the same as before.
They say that cultivators are self centred and selfish without offering help for common people when maybe they were the ones who refused those help while blaming the people who offered their hand.
So he immediately thanked them again and again with genuine sincerity, and an expression that seemed to carry, regret, shame...and gratitude.
So he now sincerely wanted to repay them
"I sincerely really thank you two for saving me..."
His head was hung low, his brows tight with tension.
Xue Hua sneaked a glance at Yue Ran but seeing his unchanged face he quickly turned back.
Even he noticed the shift in his tone from earlier
'Was the meat that delicious?'
"I-Im from a nearby village, Siquan it's quite small everyone is like family there but..." He hesitated
"They don't take kindly to cultivators"
That wasn't that surprising, since Yue Ran had seen many conflicts between the mortals and those from the immortal sects or even just young cultivators.
"S-so about how to repay you..."
Yue Ran had already assumed that it was futile, but he didn't know how his voice slipped. Maybe being with the kid wasn't as good for him since it made him do things unlike himself.
"So could you disguise your identity?"
Yun Buizha looked at the two with a kind of pleading gaze which surprised Yue Ran, after all he had seen just how stubborn a mortal's heart was.
When the woodcutter first saw them and even when he was kneeling his hostility was apparent.
However now, he could hardly see it almost as if it had suddenly dissipated which didn't make any sense at all
"Of course!"
A cheerful shout, of course it was the child, who seemed to be the most excited about this.
Was it food or the idea of being in disguise? Even Xue Hua himself wasn't sure, but the thought of pretending...somehow felt quite fascinating.
Yue Ran only shook his head while sighing to himself,
So going to the village was decided.
Perhaps he shouldn't have said anything at all when that man asked what he wanted.
It was not like Xue Hua was being left starving
However, he couldn't help but keep seeing the image of him chomping down on meat when he first hunted for him.
He crossed his arms, while Xue Hua was already making himself familiar with the man and discussing how they should pull it off.
The woodcutter said that he was from a nearby village...
So the pillar was posted in order to protect that village, there was no doubt of it which also made sense why he couldn't find a single sight of any village even after searching all around the surroundings.
He said his name was Yun Buizha, a woodcutter from a village not too far away from where they were right now...
While lost in his thoughts he felt a gaze on him only to notice that both the kids had been staring at him silently.
His brows twitched.
"What is it?"
The two only flinched and turned their gaze away with an insincere "nothing"
.
.
"I know I said that the village is small but let me tell you again-"
He took a deep breath
"It is a very small village with only a handful of people including our chief who is the one who had been looking out for us since he became a chief"
He looked at Xue Hua who had been listening well then at the other who seemed as though he hardly cared about this information.
But it was a formality that he learned so he could only go on with his description.
Fixing the fire which had gotten much bigger after he used his firewoods he explained,
"the storm cut off our routes from the other villages temporarily and it has been almost a month without any way of import or export so it has been difficult for us these days, we wouldn't have survived this long if not for the chief sharing his own store of food"
The chief seemed to be a kind and generous person.
Yue Ran listened intently even though it seemed otherwise to the other, so did Xue Hua, after all he had nothing better to do so he might as well listen.
From what he heard, it seems that the storm a few days ago had visited his village before and caused more damage than the usual storms even blocking their paths, this was also probably why they had not encountered the Frost Veil disciples on his way.
Although this sect mostly kept to themselves they could often be found patrolling around their territory as far as he recalled even though they hid from the common people unless it was absolutely necessary to show themselves, so even if they had hidden their presence wouldn't have gone unnoticed by Yue Ran.
There was only one safe path connecting to their village according to Yun Buizha and any other route was filled with beasts and monsters that wouldn't be easy to defeat by young cultivators unless they had an elder following them but that hardly happened and it didn't seem like an emergency so they probably weren't too worried however the dissipating energy of that pillar was.
In conclusion, they were probably trying to first clear the paths then come checking for damages and along with help.
That made sense to Yue Ran.
However, This soon begged the question,
how harsh truly was that storm?
Before coming to Hanling village, Yue Ran spent quite some time near the frost lily Lake getting rid of ghouls so he had no idea.
After all he didn't experience anything out of the ordinary there.
'that storm could also be the cause of Hanling's destruction.'
Maybe the destruction there was not caused long ago unlike his first impression.
His gaze turned to Xue Hua, this kid would've known, but he lost his memory so he only glanced at the kid.
But he wondered
'why was he there? Why was he the only one there and the only thing left?'
Yue Ran did not doubt Xue Hua, he was pretty confident in his judgement for they had rarely been wrong till now.
Something brought that storm.
Devoured Hanling and left Xue Hua for unknown reasons and cut off the routes for reinforcements or patrollers.
They planned to cut off the connection from the sect.
That seemed to be the most likely reason, after all no storm skipped or picked where to fall unless it had been manipulated or influenced.
And making a storm wasn't quite difficult for many beasts, it wasn't unusual.
Both Xue Hua and Yun Buizha were still busy with their talks to notice when yue ran took out a paper and drew a seal.