To express his gratitude, Snow King specially hosted a banquet for several benefactors in the Snow Ice Cave.
This ice cave was the nighttime gathering place for all the snowball beasts in the town.
Tonight, every snowball beast bore an extra talisman seal, glowing with a faint blue light—invisible to ordinary humans, but visible only to cultivators and the beasts themselves.
Thus, in the eyes of Chai Xiaomi and Song Yueyao, they looked no different from usual. However, the snowball beasts were sizing each other up and chattering away:
“The seal on you was drawn by that Master Cat, right? It looks so good! But why is mine kind of ugly?”
“Yeah, the difference is obvious. The more I look at yours, the uglier it gets, hahaha!”
“Feels like it wasn’t done with much care. That young man is pretty good-looking, so why doesn’t his face match his drawing skills?”
“His drawing is like ghostly scribbles.”
“...”
The chatter rose and fell, and Wu Li’s face visibly darkened.
All the talismans had been drawn in advance, then sealed into the snow creatures’ bodies through hand gestures. Chai Xiaomi had seen the talismans drawn by all three of them, so she naturally knew whose handiwork the “ugliest seal” belonged to.
In fact, even if she hadn’t seen them before, she could guess nine times out of ten just from the abstract self-portrait someone had hung outside a treehouse as a child.
Chai Xiaomi let out a silent sigh.
Give him a little slack—her Lili had never been taught the refined arts like music, chess, calligraphy, or painting as a child. It was already pretty impressive that he’d taught himself to read and write.
Wu Li’s clear, cold eyes flickered with a frosty glare as he stared at the chattering snowball beasts. He parted his thin lips slightly and spoke in a voice loud enough for all to hear: “Every single one of you is round as if dumplings turned into spirits, and you still have the nerve to criticize someone else’s talismans?”
“Why don’t you take a look in a mirror?” The young man’s gaze shifted, his tone growing more indifferent. “Your eyes are tiny like mung beans, your noses are just two holes, you can’t even tell arms from legs—the whole lot of you is like a plague of white radishes in the snow. I didn’t stamp a ‘Ugly’ mark on you, and that’s already being generous.”
The snowball beasts instantly fell silent as mice.
Wu Li withdrew his gaze expressionlessly and said flatly, “Ugly things are still picky and choosy.”
Chai Xiaomi pretended not to hear, quietly scooping up a glutinous rice ball from her bowl and sending it into her mouth, chewing in silence without stopping him.
Jiang Zhiyu looked at her with a hint of confusion. Usually, Xiaomi would often advise Wu Li, teaching him the ways of the world and proper manners. But this time, she said nothing.
Sure enough, those snowball beasts—perhaps never having heard such harsh words before—scattered, crying in all directions.
Only Snow King remained, trembling on the spot, secretly eyeing Wu Li, daring to be angry but not to speak out.
“Xiaomi, maybe you should take control of the situation...” Jiang Zhiyu leaned in slightly, reminding her in a low voice.
Chai Xiaomi swallowed the glutinous rice ball slowly, looked up, and said, “Let him curse.”
“The snowball beasts were rude first. They received a favor but didn’t even say thanks—instead, they complained about this and that. If they had just muttered behind his back, we could pretend not to hear. But they dared to flaunt it right in his face.”
Those talisman papers—she had watched Wu Li draw them stroke by stroke with her own eyes. Others might not know, but she knew best: he did everything seriously, even obsessively, to the point of being a perfectionist. He would even align the strokes, keeping them uniform even when crooked. He had truly done his best.
She looked at the young man’s cold, sharp profile, her gaze softening: “He did the right thing. If he’s wronged, he should curse back.”
Jiang Zhiyu thought it over and fell silent.
Seeing that Snow King was about to be cursed away by Wu Li as well, the White Cat quickly stepped in to mediate: “Alright, Little Rascal, restraint in speech is also a virtue. Save up a little more—it’ll do you good.”
“Hmph.”
Wu Li scoffed dismissively. He was about to take a jab at the White Cat when it turned to Snow King and asked, “I recently took some time to check the spring at the center of town. I found that there isn’t even a single Samadhi Nirvana Flower beside the Three-Life Stone at the bottom. Do you know why?”
Wu Li froze.
He hadn’t expected this old man to still remember this matter. He’d already told him it was useless, but he still wouldn’t believe it.
Stubborn fool.
Hearing this, Chai Xiaomi also set down her spoon and looked toward Snow King.
“You want Samadhi Nirvana Flowers?” Snow King, glad to have something to offer in thanks, hastily plucked the purple flower glowing faintly from the crown atop his head. “Why didn’t you say so earlier? I have one right here!”
Holding the flower, he began to ramble: “A long time ago, someone came to Youquan Town. He wore a black cloak patterned with pythons and several silver necklaces. The aura he gave off could scare people three zhang away—no one dared to get close to him.”
Here, Snow King glanced at Wu Li.
That terrifying aura and appearance did rather resemble this young man.
“That person uprooted all the Samadhi Nirvana Flowers beside the Three-Life Stone, leaving not a single one behind.”
“Lucky for me, I thought it was pretty and picked one early. I’ve kept it frozen on my head until now.”
As he spoke, his round ball-like hands presented the Samadhi Nirvana Flower to the White Cat like a treasure.
By the crystal stamens of the flower sat five neatly arranged petals.
Snow King suddenly recalled something and slapped his head: “Oh~ I get it. You want to use it to break a curse, right? Aside from being pretty, the only use of this Samadhi Nirvana Flower is to cure a hundred kinds of poisons.”
He paused, then added specifically: “I’ve heard that if you eat this flower, you won’t fall victim to poisons afterward either. Think of it as my thanks. This one happens to have five petals. Each of you can swallow one.”
Wu Li lifted his eyelids, swept his gaze over the flower, and a faint, hard-to-detect dark glint passed through his eyes. His expression shifted slightly, then returned to normal.
He slowly curled his lips, took the glowing flower from Snow King, and examined the petal with his slender fingers for a while.
Then he plucked the petals one by one, placing them before each person.
“Well said. This really is a good thing. Then we’ll accept it without being polite.”
He lowered his eyes, picked up the last petal from the stamen, twirled it playfully between his fingers, then parted his lips and bit into the petal.
Chai Xiaomi looked at the smallest petal placed before her, then glanced at Wu Li.
Without asking anything, she silently stuffed the petal into her mouth.
Song Yueyao and Jiang Zhiyu also swallowed theirs without hesitation.
Only the White Cat stared deeply at the petal before it, making no move.
“What’s wrong, Old Man?” Wu Li had already swallowed his petal, propped his chin on his hand, and tapped the ice-carved table twice with his fingertips. “Too old even to eat? Do I have to feed you myself?”
“You Little Rascal can’t go a single day without taunting me. Your master knows how to eat on his own.”
The White Cat grumbled a curse, then finally scooped up the petal with its paw and gobbled it down.
A moment later, its cat eyes rolled back, and it toppled stiffly onto the table, fast asleep.
Jiang Zhiyu was about to reach out to help, only to find his own body growing weak. He turned his head to look at Song Yueyao, his gaze beginning to blur: “Yueyao, how come... I see so many of you?”
“Me too...”
Before the words could fade, the two of them collapsed one after another onto the table.
Only Chai Xiaomi, her body going limp, was steadily caught and held in someone’s arms.
The young man lowered his head, carefully adjusting the brim of her furry hat, then smoothed her sleeves and wrapped her hands inside them. Finally, he gently set her down by the table.
