Chapter Six: Melting Snow

  Wu saw him jump down, first startled, then thought that the bottom was all frozen with cold ice, and his heart relaxed a bit, rushed up a few steps, and indeed saw Cheng Jun standing on the ice surface, pointing at him and scolding: "Don't think about it. You still owe me two big favors, why not repay them before you die, and even if you die, you'll be at peace."

  Cheng Jun smiled and said: "Human feelings allow me to come another day... two? If it's referring to the things on the street, that one counts as my fault, I'll apologize to you."

  Wu Xiao Dao said: "It's indeed because of the two adults' feelings. You brought a note, asking me to take care of your junior in the class, and I took care of him - that's one thing. When I saw him come here again with another request from you, I guessed that you must have gotten into trouble and rushed over to find you. Who would have thought that we'd run into each other on the road, and you kicked me off my horse? Ah, damn it! I've never been treated like this before - every time, it's always me kicking others, not being kicked by someone else. You're the first one to kick Wu Xiao Dao!"

  Cheng Jun Dao said, "Isn't this enough to stop you? You're quite quick to respond. Fifth Young Master can go back first, I won't die just like that. Later, when Old Man Ma's people arrive, they'll naturally know that the little brat died at my hands."

  "Go ahead, go ahead! Just a mere county official, I'll kill him and his men, what can he do? I heard you burned that unlucky son of his to a crisp, good job, it's done. Are you afraid of implicating others, playing the wandering hero card? My Five Young Masters' estate may not be the only one in the world, but we've never feared anyone. Even if you offended a county official, or killed an official and rebelled against the emperor, stripping him of his dragon robe, I'd still dare to stay in our estate."

  Cheng Jun couldn't help but think of his past life's youthful and spirited days when he heard him speak with such grandeur. Who, in their youth, had not been fearless and daring? It was just that compared to Wu Shao, he had a bit more arrogance and less magnanimity. At this moment, seeing Wu Shao like this, he couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Thank you for your kind intentions, Wu Shao - however, I don't wish to settle under a humble roof, nor am I a stray dog with no home; I just seek freedom."

  "Cut the act, it's not just about being bold, you need skills to back it up. You have no idea what dangers lie outside. I can see you've picked up some tricks somewhere, but they're only going to get you into trouble. Our old master has told me multiple times, unless you're taught by a true master, learning these arts in secret will bring disaster. The heavens won't tolerate it. I'm not trying to scare you, our old master is even more intimidating than me, and when he said this to me, his face was ashen with anger. You may not know about these things from your time at the Pear Garden, but don't walk down a dead-end path! Come back to the manor with me and learn some proper martial arts. When you've mastered them, we can roam the world together or return to the city and live a peaceful life - isn't that better than running around like a fugitive?"

  Cheng Jun smiled and said, "The Fifth Young Master's words are all pearls of wisdom, I've remembered them. However, today I'm not entirely helpless either. For example, if I want to leave today, no one can stop me, including you, believe it or not?"

  Wu Shao cracked the whip in his hand, leaving Ma Hu's neck, striking the air with a loud "crack" sound. He said, "You said I'm fat and you're panting now. On the road, you ambushed me because I wasn't on guard against you - but now I'm on guard, first I'll beat you up to avenge the arrow on the road, then I'll drag you back, let's see..." His words were cut off mid-sentence as his eyes widened in shock, his tongue tied and unable to speak.

  Only on the river surface, Cheng Jun's figure suddenly disappeared, and the river surface was empty, with only a piece of dazzling white snow.

  A gust of cold wind blew by, Wu Shao's body shivered violently, his stiff lips moved, and he spat out two words: "I... damn it."

  At this moment, a horseshoe sound came from behind, and dozens of fine horses rushed forward from the snowy field. In an instant, they arrived in front of them, and it was indeed the guards of the Ma family. Their horses were slow and had been left far behind, but now they finally caught up. One of the guards saw Ma Hu lying on the ground and cried out: "Is that Young Master Hu?"

  Several people dismounted and gathered around Hu Ye's body, checking his breath. They suddenly cried out in surprise: "It's terrible! Hu Ye is dead!" The crowd immediately fell into chaos.

  A young guard lifted his head and saw Wu Shao standing on the riverbank in a daze, shouting: "You stinky kid, it's you who made Grandpa..."

  Before he finished speaking, an older man next to him slapped him in the face and scolded: "You rascal, that's Fifth Young Master!"

  Wu Xiao snapped back to reality and said, "Huh, what just happened? Oh—" He pointed at the young guard and said, "You son of a bitch, you spoke ill of me?"

  The young guard let out an "ah" and the older guard beside him hastily said: "Absolutely not..."

  Before the words had fallen, Wu Shao cracked his whip and it coiled around the man's neck. With a loud thud, he was slammed to the ground. The guard didn't even let out a groan, his eyes rolled back, and his life or death was unknown. Wu Shao paid him no mind, turned over and mounted his horse, shouting: "Go!" The horse whinnied loudly and galloped away in a cloud of dust.

  Several new guards next to him were stunned, and when the figure of the Fifth Young Master had completely disappeared, they turned their heads and asked: "Is this person... being pursued?"

  That year, the old guard spat and scolded: "Chasing after a fart, that's the number one bully in our county town. Compared to him, our young master is a gentle and kind person."

  Several guards beside him lifted up Ma Hu, who was still stiff all over and made no sound. The yellow paper that had originally covered his face had disappeared without a trace at some point. Someone asked: "Tiger Master is like this, but the little guy didn't catch up either, what should we do?"

  The guard said in a low voice, "Tiger Ye must have been killed by that kid - anyway, it's definitely not Wu Shao who killed him. In short, all the grievances and hatred are on that kid alone, if we don't catch him, how can we go back and explain to Master? Let's go, continue to chase, even if we have to dig three feet underground, we must find him out. You -" He casually pointed to one of them, who was the youngest among them, "Take Tiger Ye and that kid back, others follow me." With a loud whistle, all the guards mounted their horses again and galloped away into the distance.

  The remaining guard stood still for a moment, cursing: "Isn't this playing with me? I'm alone, how can I take them back?" After a while, he turned his head and found that the tiger's bay horse was still there. He was overjoyed and said: "Now I'll ride this fine horse too." He tied up the tiger and the young guard together and put them on the back of his own inferior horse, then rode off leisurely on the bay horse.

  These few people left too quickly, no one could see them, a moment later, the sunlight shining on the river surface twisted strangely, and a figure gradually emerged, it was Cheng Jun who had disappeared just now.

  Cheng Jun looked around and saw the vast snowy plain, except for the snow that was trampled earlier, there were no other signs. He said softly: "It's really clean."

  He didn't go anywhere, just stayed in the same place, but used a trick to hide his shadow and deceive everyone. With his current almost non-existent magical powers, what kind of advanced magic could he possibly use? The talismans in his hand were just ordinary small spells, such as the fire-starting spell that was put into the pot of oil - if there wasn't that pot of oil to ignite it, it wouldn't have burned for even a moment. Another example is the zombie spell nailed to the tiger's head, which was only a temporary immobilization technique; what really killed the tiger was the whip around its neck held by Wu Song.

  His stealth symbol just now was nothing more than a small trick that some Jianghu masters would use, still at the level of obstacle methods. If someone had come down and touched him with their hand, they would have naturally been able to touch him. It's just that he grasped the atmosphere well, and those guards arrived in time, so he wasn't exposed.

  "It's actually an apology for being late." Cheng Jun lightly clicked his tongue, "You're still as fierce as ever."

  Wu Shao was his first friend in this life and an unexpected gain.

  In his past life, he didn't have a single person who was even decent to get along with until he embarked on the path of immortality. In his eyes, all people were either despicable or shameless, and he never thought of opening up to anyone. So he lived alone, solitary and isolated. After hundreds of years passed, his past prejudices had dissipated, and when he returned, he opened up a little and unexpectedly made some good friends. It can be seen that there aren't too many people in the world who are worth befriending, but neither are they too few. He really missed out on a lot back then.

  It's just a pity that they are not fellow travelers after all. The chasm between the immortal and the mortal has separated two worlds. Wu Shao has his own path, and Cheng Jun also has his own path.

  So...

  Finally breaking free from the noisy cage, where will Cheng Jun's path lead?