A light bulb went off in Qian Jin’s head as he recalled the devastating presence of the avalanche. If he could make his chops have that kind of presence and devastate enemies in such a way, then he could almost always win against enemies of a similar rank to him.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s [Cut Tree Eight Strikes] or Beast Fighting Techniques. Even the Qian and Kun Fighting Technique from the Qian Family have taken ideas and inspirations from nature. Could I take something from this avalanche?”
Qian Jin murmured to himself; he squinted his eyes subconsciously and quietly stared at the snow that buried the passageway, as well as the snow mountains that had collapsed. He tried to recall the scene of the avalanche. While he was running away from it, he felt like the sky was falling down. He wanted to grasp onto the devastating sensation and become inspired, but he couldn’t really get anything useful out of it. However, the apocalyptic scene was deeply seared into Qian Jin’s mind.
Everyone was silent as they listened to the thunder-like rumbles of the second avalanche. No matter who it was, anyone who experienced running for their life in the avalanche would feel like their brain wasn’t functioning properly. However, if a person watched and experienced two avalanches back to back, then it would be normal for his or her brain to be chaotic.
The second avalanche lasted much longer than the first one. A lot of the accumulated snow was blown into Four Season Valley by the chilling wind created by the avalanche. The cold wind forced the three people to regain their consciousness.
Where was this place? Four Season Valley! According to previous information, this was the place where vicious demon beasts and beast groups lived. Not even Demon Fighters would come here casually.
Qian Jin turned his head and looked around. He found that except for the loud rumbling coming from the avalanche and the snow blowing everywhere, there wasn’t anything else. There were no lifeforms around.
“Could it be due to the avalanche? It may have been so disruptive that it scared away the demon beasts who lived around here…” Qian Jin used the Zhanmadao to help him stand up. He quickly observed his surroundings.
From his experience obtained in the Endless World travelling to the mountains and looking for the iron ore mine, Qian Jin developed a habit of looking for the best places to defend, attack, and hide when in a foreign environment.
“A stone cave?” Qian Jin saw an opening at the bottom of a nearby mountain. The opening was just wide enough for one person to fit through at a time. That opening was well hidden; Qian Jin wouldn’t have found it if he didn’t look carefully. Perhaps this cave was blocked off by the snow and ice, and the avalanche had shaken away the snow and revealed it.
Even if this was the case, if Qian Jin didn’t have a lot of survival experience in the wild, it wouldn’t be easy for him to find it.
Qian Jin used the Zhanmadao as a cane and walked forward two steps with great difficulty. “I’m very lucky. Thank god, I was buried by the snow at the very end of the avalanche, making it much easier to climb out of. Otherwise, even with my Level 9 Warrior Energy protecting me, my bones would be crushed into pieces.
“My bones are okay, but what about my hat…” Qian Jin panicked as he reached for the mage hat tied to his back. He calmed down and worries went away as he felt the mage hat on his back. It seemed like the hat wasn’t damaged at all.
Gabriella and Sophia followed Qian Jin closely; they were confused by what Qian Jin was doing. After seeing Qian Jin’s strength and how he saved their lives, they subconsciously relied on him in the Four Season Valley. After all, this was the valley where demon beasts and vicious animals could jump out at any moment.
When Qian Jin approached the cave, he readjusted his warrior energy and held onto his Zhanmadao tightly. He slowed downed and carefully walked forward.
He couldn’t be certain that this cave in Four Season Valley was safe. There might be ferocious animals and demon beasts living inside.
“A cave?” Sophia couldn’t believe that Qian Jin had discovered a cave. When Wilfred and the former Fire Adventure Team took the chance to enter this dangerous valley, they didn’t discover this cave, despite a careful and detailed inspection.
Qian Jin was getting closer and closer to the cave. Even though he couldn’t sense any danger from the cave, he still approached the cave very carefully. He was afraid that some kind of demon beast who was good at hiding its presence and scent might suddenly attack.
“Does anyone have a fire stick?” Qian Jin turned his head and asked the two girls behind him. Sophia carefully took out a wooden stick that about the size of an index finger and twisted open the top of the stick. After lightly blowing at it, a fire about the size of a pinky finger instantly popped up the top of stick.
“Dry grass, find some dry grass or plants.”
Qian Jin stared at the cave and carefully commanded. Sophia instantly understood his intention; he wanted to use the smoke method to test the cave. After lighting some dry grass on fire and throwing it into the cave, the smoke would make any creature inside the cave come out, if there was any. Although Four Season Valley was mostly covered by white snow, it wasn’t too hard to find dry grass and plants. Sophia could find some dry grass and plants since she had experience surviving in the wilderness. After Qian Jin lit it up, he threw it into the cave.
“Crackle!” The fire burned in the cave, and thick smoke came out and quickly filled the cave.
Qian Jin waited about half an hour. After the fire had burnt out and the smoke was almost all dispersed, he carefully entered the cave. He found that the space inside the cave was far greater than then entrance. Just the width of the cave could fit a big horse carriage and two more people beside it.
The cave extended into the mountain. Qian Jin held up the fire stick and carefully walked in with the help from the flickering fire. He realized the he was at the end of the cave after going in ten meters. From the information he had, Qian Jin felt like this was a great place to stay. The ground was dry, and there weren’t any hairs or fecal odors from demon beasts or animals.
“Come on in, it’s safe in here.”
The two girls outside carefully squeezed into the cave after they heard Qian Jin’s voice. They were both surprised by how big the cave was.
“You guys stay here. I’ll go out there and double check.”
Qian Jin squeezed out of the cave with his Zhanmadao. He lightly shook his head as he saw the ongoing avalanche. “It looks like it’ll be hard to leave this place even after the avalanche stops, unless all the snow melts. Otherwise…”
Qian Jin turned his head and stopped looking at the avalanche. He looked at Four Season Valley carefully to assess what kind of a situation he was in. Nearby, the ground was entirely covered in white snow. There were dry grass and tree branches sticking out. A bit farther away, there was a green pine tree forest. Snow also covered the leaves and branches, decorating the trees in a winter theme.
Qian Jin shrugged his shoulder subconsciously. He only needed a single layer of clothes outside of Four Season Valley. He never expected that he would be locked in the valley by the avalanche, and that he would be stuck when he came close to Four Season Valley to inspect it. After he stayed in Four Season Valley for a bit, his body felt a bit cold.
“If I knew this were the case, I would have taken a few pieces of animal fur when I came in.” Qian Jin stabbed the Zhanmadao in the ground and rubbed his hands together as he blew hot air onto them. He stomped his feet and moved around to try to warm up his body. He looked around again, trying to find something that would help him stay warm: something like a cotton jacket. However, other than snow, there were only trees around.
“Damn it!”
Qian Jin bit his teeth and stomped on the ground forcefully a few times. He quickly gathered some dry grass on the snowy ground and quickly tiptoed his way towards a small forest about three to five hundred meters away. He used his Zhanamdao to chop down a small pine tree, cut off all the branches and split the tree trunk into a two-meter tall piece. After, Qian Jin ran back to the cave with the dry grass and the big piece of wood.
“We probably can’t leave this cave tonight,” Qian Jin said as he used the Zhanmadao as an axe and chopped the pine wood into smaller pieces. “We have to stay in this cave at least tonight. To prevent us from freezing, can you guys please go and find more dry grass and dry tree branches? Remember, don’t go too close to that little forest. It might be dangerous around there.”
Sophia stared at Qian Jin as he moved. She couldn’t wrap her mind around it. “Does he want to light up the wood and dry grass to stay warm? If he does that, then we would choke to death by all the smoke before we even get warm,” she thought.
Gabriella used both her hands and feet and climbed out of the entrance of the cave clumsily. Although mages would jog and exercise to stay healthy, the intensity of their workouts was much lower than that of warriors. On top of that, the entrance of cave wasn’t easy to get through, so her movement looked even clumsier.
In the snow field within Four Season Valley, Gabriella, who was in her mage robe, carried an armful of branches and wood. However, it wasn’t much in Qian Jin’s eyes. She slowly walked back towards the cave.
Qian Jin used the limited fire he had and melted some snow, and then he used the Zhanmadao to mix it in with the frozen soil that he dug up. After, he carried the mud back into the cave and quickly formed a simple furnace with it. He mixed some dry grass with the leftover mud and made a thin and crude funnel. He connected it with the top of the furnace and put the other end outside of the entrance of the cave.
Sophia blushed as she watched Qian Jin put everything together. Although Qian Jin’s method wasn’t magical, it was unexpected. “I’ve been an adventurer for more than three years, yet I can’t even beat this Grade One Warrior Student in this situation? How did he think of it? I don’t think most of adventurers could come up with this method,” she thought.
After lighting up the dry grass inside the furnace, Qian Jin placed small branches on top of the dry grass, followed by the bigger pieces of woods on the very top.
Sophia watched Qian Jin work smoothly. She asked curiously, “You, how do you know all this?”
Qian Jin grabbed a handful of snow that he brought into the cave ahead of time and washed his hands with it. He smiled and said, “After reading a lot of books, you will know a lot of stuff.”
“Reading a lot of books?” Sophia was even more curious as she looked at Qian Jin. “Are things like this are recorded in books?”
Qian Jin put the lid he made from the thick mud onto the opening on the side of the furnace. After he felt the heat coming from the furnace, his worry about freezing to death vanished. He thought to himself, “When I was still a part of the Qian Family, I wanted to make some money, so I worked at the Qian Family’s External Library. When I got bored, I read the notes from an adventurer and this method was recorded on it.”
After finishing all the work, the cave became quiet again. The only sound left was the crackling noise coming from the wood in the furnace. Suddenly, a grunting noise sounded in the cave, and all three people heard it.
A bitter smile came on Qian Jin’s face as he rubbed his stomach. Of all the roasted meat that he obtained from hunting small animals in Sunset Mountains, a portion of it had already been eaten, and the rest was in Gabriella’s bag that Qian Jin ditched in the avalanche. “I probably shouldn’t have left that bag,” Qian Jin thought.
At this point, he didn’t have a lot of stamina left, and his warrior energy hadn’t fully recovered. If he took the chance and went out to hunt in this Four Season Valley that was full of demon beasts and vicious animals, it would be no different from committing suicide.
