The Master of the Strange Realm

He pointed to the bamboo basket that the old man had just thrown aside:

"Collecting herbs."

"Collecting herbs?"

"Don't you believe it?"

He pulled the bamboo basket over, opened the lid, and grabbed a handful of blue tender grass. They looked similar to the weeds in the material world, but the abundant spirit that was almost dissipated into the air showed that this thing was definitely unusual:

"You see, I was lucky today. I collected so much in 30 hours on the mountain. This way, the supplies we get after returning will be enough for our family to survive the next blizzard year."

He stuffed the grass back into the bamboo basket roughly, but hesitated and pulled out another one and handed it to Jenkins:

"Take this as a gift for saving my life, or as a souvenir. After all, the possibility of you being able to come here again is almost zero. It can be seen , you must be a very powerful person, you can stand here without any help. I can't do that. I spent too much time on the mountain and didn't notice that the cold spirit invading my body was approaching the threshold. "

As he said that, he took out a brass pocket watch with burrs on the metal surface from the bamboo basket, but when he opened it, the scale inside looked like a water meter:

"I clearly prepared enough cigarettes, but I almost froze to death. If I tell others about this, I will be laughed at for a long time. But you see, my cold spirit is now below the threshold. "

He said, shaking it in front of Jenkins and then putting it away.

"Do people here rely on cigarettes to keep their body temperature?"

He asked tentatively.

"No, it's not about maintaining body temperature, it's about lowering body temperature and assimilating oneself with the cold spirit. Not only cigarettes, but there are many other means to achieve this goal, such as the herbs I picked can be used to prepare some magic potions. Unfortunately, I am poor and can only use this."

The old man held the cigarette in his mouth and exhaled a puff of white smoke from the corner of his mouth. When talking about his financial situation, the old man was not bothered by it, but smiled:

"But it's not bad, at least I still have this."

He took out the cigarette box and wanted Jenkins to smoke, but was rejected by Jenkins again.

He then explained the situation he encountered and tried to find out about the [Blizzard Evil Spirit]. Unfortunately, the old man didn't know such a strange thing, but he gave Jenkins a very important message:

"No matter what it is, don't think about killing people on this holy snowfield. Letting warm blood melt the holy white snow is an unforgivable crime. So, no matter what the evil spirit you are talking about is, as long as it knows this place, it will never kill people with brutal means."

Jenkins nodded, indicating that he understood the current situation. Then he stood up and prepared to continue on his way, while the old man said that he would continue to wait here for the snow to stop before setting off. He also wanted to pick some more herbs, otherwise it would be a waste to leave the kingdom so far and go deep into here.

"That old man is problematic."

Jenkins walked forward along the footprints while talking to himself, twisting the grass with his left hand. Vanilla's snow-white little head popped up again, and his eyes were immediately attracted by the plant in Jenkins' hand.

"Go back, didn't I say not to leave the clothes?"

The little paw stretched forward, but was immediately pressed back by Jenkins. Confirming that his pet cat had retracted back into the clothes, Jenkins reached out and pressed his heart again:

"The Ice Soul has no reaction. Could it be that the opportunity for the Ice Soul to awaken is not here?"

After thinking about it, he stuffed the grass into his mouth. The blue grass looks weird, but it tastes quite good and has an inexplicable fragrance. As he chewed, the juice of the tender grass flowed into his throat, and the amount of spirit in his body increased slightly.

In addition, the ability of [Ice Condensation] seemed to flash suddenly, but there were no other changes.

"No response, it doesn't seem to be like that."

"Meow~"

The cat in the clothes was already protesting.

Continuing to follow the footprints, the team, which was originally only a dozen people, split up again. One went to the upper left, and the other went to the upper right. So Jenkins called out his cat again to show the way, but it didn't cooperate this time. It didn't look to the left until Jenkins touched its head a few times.

After walking a few steps, he saw someone in front of him again. This time it was a middle-aged woman, still dressed in summer like the old man just now, with a few patches of coarse cloth on her skirt. Her appearance was not outstanding, just like an ordinary country woman. She carried a small basket in her right hand and walked towards Jenkins with a somewhat anxious look.

She hunched over and covered her face with her left arm. Finally seeing Jenkins through the heavy snow, he stepped back subconsciously in surprise, then shouted to him in fear:

"You are a human, right?"

Of course, Jenkins didn't understand this sentence, so he explained in Elvish that he didn't understand. After getting the poor Elvish translation, he said:

"Of course I am a human, why do you ask?"

"Isn't it obvious... Oh, so you are an outsider? In our place, once it snows, many strange things will appear outside the kingdom. So, we usually don't go out on snowy days. How do you prove that you are a human?"

"Why should I prove it?"

He shook his head, then made way for the woman to go first:

"I don't want to stop and talk to you at all, so goodbye, lady."

As he said that, he continued to move forward along the difficult snowy mountain road. After he passed by the woman, he heard the woman ask:

"I'm sorry, I know outsiders are always wary of this place, I shouldn't doubt you...Excuse me, did you see a herbalist carrying a bamboo basket just now? I'm here to deliver food."

She asked shyly.

Jenkins paused, then turned and said:

"In that direction, there's someone smoking behind a rock. You can continue down the mountain along my footprints, and you'll find the smoke in fifteen minutes."

"Okay, thank you, are you looking for the owner of these footprints?"

She pointed to the footprints of only six people left.

"Yes."

"I saw them 20 minutes ago. They were very strange and I didn't dare approach them."

"Are they all still alive?"

"At least in my opinion, they are all still alive. Although they have no way to resist the cold, they are lucky enough to find some old sacrificial utensils, which may allow them to live a little longer, but those sacrificial utensils are cursed."

Then, Jenkins got the relevant information about "sacrificial utensils" from the woman. What she and the old man believed in, as expected, was the supreme being called [Lord of Winter], but as long as there are people, all kinds of magical things will happen.

Some people believe in [Lord of Winter] on the surface, but in fact they also worship some strange and terrible existences in the vast snowfield.

Because of the sacrifice, sacrificial utensils were produced, and these things were tainted with power, but also attached with curses. All items called "old sacrificial utensils" are untouchable in the eyes of people in this world.

But the outsiders didn't know, so when the woman saw the group just now, she didn't approach them.

To thank Jenkins for guiding her, the woman took a handful of beans from her basket and gave them to Jenkins when they parted. These were just ordinary beans that had been fried and could be used to relieve hunger, but there was no other use for them.

"This woman is also problematic."

Jenkins said as he continued on his way. The white cat stuck its head out and stared at the beans, not paying attention to what Jenkins said.

"So what's the point of giving me beans?"

He thought about it, raised his head and swallowed all the beans, not a single one left, and then immediately felt a slight increase in his spirit.

"What does it mean?"

The physical examination did not find any curse or poison, which made him even more confused.

Continuing forward, the team of six split to the left and right again. This time the cat directed Jenkins to the left, and Jenkins continued to the left. He smacked his lips and recalled the taste of the beans, which made the cat even more dissatisfied, shrinking in front of his chest and sulking.

Continuing upward, the wind and snow became stronger, and while visibility decreased, strange sounds came from the direction far away from the footprints. Jenkins bent over and stepped on the snow pit step by step before he heard the cry for help. He let the cat with a sensitive nose find the location, and then rescued a young girl from the thick snow close to the cliff.

As soon as she came out, she took a deep breath, and then took out a green apple from the pocket hanging on her waist. The color of the apple made Jenkins feel sour. But the girl ate the apple without hesitation, not even the apple core was left:

"Oh, God, I'm alive again."

She looked like an old man who had just taken a puff of cigarette, her face was ruddy and her spirit returned to normal. She looked at Jenkins and was about to speak, but she didn't expect Jenkins to speak first. He shook his finger at the girl:

"I guess you are looking for a middle-aged woman, or a gray-haired old man, right?"

PS: The chapter numbers of the first three chapters are wrong, they have been changed, and you can see them by refreshing the chapters.

Chapter 2002 Chapter 1972 Temple

"You have seen them, have you?"

When Jenkins asked this, the girl's face first showed a surprised expression, and then her eyes curved like crescents and she smiled, and her small dimples were revealed when she smiled:

"Grandpa has been out collecting herbs for a long time. My mother was worried about him, so she took the food out to look for him. I was worried about them, so I ran out with him, but I didn't expect to encounter a blizzard halfway and was buried by the snow falling from the cliff. I was almost suffocated. Half-elf, you saw them, right? Where are they now?"

"Over there, I met the middle-aged woman about ten minutes ago, and the old man about 25 minutes ago."

He turned around and pointed the way, then looked at the girl suspiciously, and the latter showed him a puzzled expression:

"What's wrong?"

"I'm wondering if you are the White Bone Demon... just pretend I didn't say it. I mean, do you want to give me something too?"

"Huh? Oh, yes, so what do you want?"

She looked as if Jenkins, the lifesaver, suddenly wanted to ask for a reward. She shyly took out a green apple from her sleeve:

"This is all I have, so save some for yourself."

She then stuffed it into Jenkins' hand, and Jenkins looked down at the green apple:

"No matter who you are, if you are fine, then go ahead, be careful when you go down the mountain, and you will soon find your family by following my footprints."

He made way, then looked at the girl and smiled at him, then bent down and lowered her head as she walked away in the wind and snow.

"What do you mean?"

"Meow~"

The white cat showed its head again, its two little ears shaking, and its eyes looking at the green apple with spirit.

"Do you want to eat it?"

He condensed the snow into an ice knife, dug a small piece of pulp and handed it to his cat. The cat happily ate the small piece of green apple, and its expression froze for a moment. It spit out the chewed pulp, then made a miserable cry and shrank back into Jenkins' clothes.

"It's obviously a green apple, but you still want to eat it. Now you know that you can't eat anything randomly, right?"

Jenkins touched his cat through the coat as comfort, but looking at the apple in his hand, he couldn't help but take a bite out of curiosity:

"Oh, my sage~"

Just like grass and beans that can prevent people from freezing to death in this weather, apples have similar functions, so they can also provide spirit for Jenkins. But this is indeed a genuine unripe green apple, and Jenkins knows why chocolate behaved like that just now.

After confirming that the girl just now would not come back, Jenkins continued to move forward. He was very fast. After walking for ten minutes, he noticed that the traces of footprints were becoming more and more obvious, which meant that he was getting closer and closer to his goal.

The remaining three people did not split up again. When Jenkins saw their figures from a distance, the three of them were supporting each other and staggering forward. The person in the middle of them turned out to be Salshi II.

"Oh, it's worthy of being called chocolate. The nose is really sensitive."

He couldn't help but admire it, and decided to treat his cat with a hearty breakfast when he returned.

After confirming that it was a stranger's appearance, he shouted and greeted him. Unexpectedly, the three people in front heard the sound and walked faster and faster, as if Jenkins was a hungry wolf eating people in the snow.

But no matter how fast the three people ran, they couldn't be faster than Jenkins. After a few steps, Jenkins held their shoulders. Realizing that the three people still wanted to struggle, Jenkins simply threw them directly on the snow:

"Why are you running so fast?"

He panted and said, and as he spoke, white air came out of his mouth and drifted diagonally forward with the snow. This is a phenomenon unique to very cold weather. When the cat stretched out its head just now, it would also exhale white air with its breathing.

But the three people including Salhi II did not. They were all panting now, and no hot air came out of their mouths when they took a deep breath. This was probably because of the so-called "old sacrificial utensils".

"Why are you running?"

He watched the three people climb up in the snow, supporting each other:

"I am from the church, and I came here to save you. Do I look scary?"

"Who are you? Why haven't I seen you before?"

The thin man on the right wearing a black windbreaker and looking like he was severely malnourished asked.

"I am a demigod of the Sage Church. I was just transferred to Nolan by the Sage Church. I was originally stationed in the archipelago area in the outer sea, guarding some numbered items that I cannot tell you. Well, what happened to you? And how did the others separate? I followed the footprints, but I saw you separate many times."

The three people were still skeptical about Jenkins' identity, but when they saw the cat coming out of his clothes, they inexplicably felt that this person was very credible. Salhi II was a little weak, and the other two men were responsible for explaining the current situation to Jenkins.

One of them, the thin man who looked malnourished, was a gift giver of the Traveler Church, and the other was a member of the Northern Kingdom Royal Guard.

Just as the church knew, the group went smoothly from Nolan to Loen, but after entering the fog from the Loen area, they arrived here inexplicably.

The extremely cold weather made ordinary people unable to move in a few breaths. Even the gift givers could only resist for a while, and they didn't even have a chance to ask for help.

One of the group was a demigod, a demigod from the Church of Nature, and he was lucky enough to be a demigod who specialized in the use of ice elements. In a critical moment, he used a "blue barrier like a lotus" to temporarily protect everyone. Although the barrier only existed for less than five minutes, within these five minutes, everyone found an abandoned temple in the snowfield.

"Huh? I just flew on the snowfield for a long time. If there really is a temple, why didn't I see it?"

The two couldn't answer Jenkins' question, so they could only continue to tell the story.

The purpose of the group entering the temple was to find a windproof building to make a fire for warmth, but after entering the dilapidated temple, they unexpectedly found some sacrificial utensils inside.

Touching such things in an unknown temple is absolutely irrational, and the gifters even regard this behavior as suicide. But very strangely, no one suggested not to touch them, so the group got an iron statue, a copper bell, a silver candlestick and a golden dagger.

After getting these four objects, everyone in the team could no longer feel the cold. But just after the group got the four objects, some strange things happened.