The cold night air whipped past Fang Yuan's ears. He had a gu worm that could protect him from the cold as he glanced back towards Bai Ning Bing, wondering if she had the same. She seemed to be shivering.
"Feeling cold?" he asked her.
Bai Ning Bing shook her head, either because she felt too proud or because the Northern Dark Ice Soul physique provided some kind of protection from the cold. Fang Yuan doubted it was the latter and more likely that it was the former. However, he felt there was little that he could do if she refused all of his offers of help.
One could not downplay the White Form Immortal Snake's speed compared to the Hundred Li Earthwolf Spider, which may as well have been crawling by comparison. Not only that, but soaring above the skies meant that they encountered very few things that might otherwise obstruct them along their journey. They made amazing time in terms of distance covered. By the time the first rays of dawn appeared on the horizon, Bei Gu Mountain was already visible.
"Why are we stopping here? It doesn't look like there's a primeval spring here - shouldn't we be looking at a mountain?" Bai Ning Bing asked as Fang Yuan descended near a forest.
It looked like they were still a half-day's distance away from the mountain if they were walking on foot.
"It's been a long trip," Fang Yuan said. Even with his gu worm's protection, he still needed to warm up somehow, either through a fire or relevant gu worm. His primeval essence had also run low at this time, so it was a good idea to replenish it. "Let's eat before we head up to the mountain."
"Is that where the primeval spring is?"
"It should be there, yes," Fang Yuan said.
"'Should be?'" Bai Ning Bing asked, suspiciously. "Are you saying that you're not certain?"
"When are people ever certain of anything? These are all based on rumors and the like, of course," Fang Yuan said, nonchalantly. Of course, he knew for a fact that there was something on Bei Gu Mountain; otherwise, he wouldn't have come here. But he couldn't very well reveal that to Bai Ning Bing. "Anyway, there's a specific reason I wanted to land down here. The surrounding forest has a large number of grass skirt monkeys. Why don't you go ahead and capture a few for breakfast while I make a fire?"
"And why don't you go ahead and do it?" Bai Ning Bing asked. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novèlfire.net
"My primeval essence is almost out," Fang Yuan said, "and we need me to work the White Form Immortal Snake, don't we?"
The White Form Immortal Snake's preferred food was fresh spring water. This seemed easy enough to get, but it had to be absolutely fresh. It could not be contaminated in any way, otherwise it would refuse to drink it. It had recently been fed, meaning it wouldn't need to be fed for another few months or so, but it could drink up an entire waterfall when it did feed.
Bai Ning Bing took it back into her own aperture, not wanting to leave it with Fang Yuan as he started making a fire.
As Bai Ning Bing went out to go hunt for some food, she sneezed.
As much as she hated to admit it, she had felt rather cold on top of the White Form Immortal Snake, especially toward the later half of the journey. Her stubbornness had prevented her from voicing her concern, assuming that she would feel better once they had landed. However, the early morning air was still quite frosty.
It would be some time before the sun came up. The monkeys were already awake, though, already starting to jump around as Bai Ning Bing prepared the materials needed to catch them.
Fang Yuan had started a fire in a nearby cave once he had scouted out the area and determined that it was safe. On the journey here, they had not run into any major encounters. However, that was because they were flying.
When he came here with the village in the future, they would need to come on foot, meaning the likelihood of getting sidetracked by either wild beasts, wild gu worms, or demonic Gu Masters was far higher than it was here.
Already, he was making a note of the surrounding terrain and any dangers that might be lurking there. While plotting out a route in his head, they could try to come down here by Huang Long River.
However, that was incredibly dangerous and would likely result in the loss of several people unless they had the appropriate gu worms to do so. Going over land was safer but would take far more time and would have its own dangers.
So long as they traveled as a group, just like a merchant caravan would, the casualties could be minimized. However, that was the thing: they would be minimized but not reduced to zero. Given their already anemic state, could they really afford to lose any more people? The amount of dao marks that he was getting everyday by increasing the Gu village's population would double eventually, but that day seemed to be shrinking further and further along the timeline. Just trying to move them all here was going to be a massive headache.
Bai Ning Bing returned shortly thereafter, a string of grass skirt monkeys tied around her waist. They looked like ordinary monkeys but were called such because they tended to wear skirts made of leaves around their hips.
The monkeys, upon seeing the fire, immediately began shaking and trying to run as they realized what was going to happen to them next. Bai Ning Bing used the fire to try to warm her hands. There was a time when she could convert her entire body to ice and wouldn't have minded. However, that was when her extreme physique was at its peak and she had the needed gu worms, many of which she had been unable to get back after she had lost them after detonating.
"Wait, don't do that," Fang Yuan said as Bai Ning Bing prepared to chop the head off one of the monkeys. "There's a better way to eat them."
He took one and after applying minimal primal essence, used the Vermilion Blood Moon Gu to cut the top of the monkey's skull off, almost like he was trying to open up a coconut. The monkey, still alive, began screeching in pain. However, Fang Yuan paid it no heed as he took out a spoon and then scooped some of its brain out.
"Here. Try some of this."
"? Without cooking it?" Bai Ning Bing asked. Her nose started running, and she coughed in the middle of speaking this.
"Yes, it's quite good," Fang Yuan said. He noted Bai Ning Bing's symptoms. Hopefully, the heat from the fire would mean that she would not develop any severe symptoms, otherwise, that could greatly delay their journey here.
Bai Ning Bing took a spoonful of the grass skirt monkey's brain and tasted it. "Huh? Oh, wow. This tastes..." It tasted far better than she had anticipated. It melted in her mouth like a creamy dessert and was surprisingly cold. And yet, at the same time, it was the same temperature as the monkey's normal brain and didn't make her symptoms worse.
Fang Yuan took a spoonful himself. It tasted a lot like ice cream and was quite a nice delicacy. The grass skirt monkey in question continued screaming as Fang Yuan scooped its brains out until it finally died.
The other captive grass skirt monkeys were even more agitated now as they saw what was going to happen to them. However, the two of them paid them no heed as they continued to chop their skulls off and devour their brains before cooking their meat.