Up to now, most of Lin Yuan's soul has been invested in the mountain, and the body on the mountain is getting closer and closer to a mortal.
The sky was getting dark and the snow was falling heavily. Lin Yuan stood on the edge of the mountain and let the snowflakes cover his body bit by bit.
"I am a stranger in a foreign land."
Looking at the misty sky and earth, he felt rarely tired. At this moment, Lin Yuan stopped thinking about being a monk and just stood still and fell asleep following his heart.
A dreamless night.
Lin Yuan was shaken awake.
In the black carriage, a thick fur blanket covered his body, and a bird-print curtain hung on the wooden window next to him. A few scattered snowflakes occasionally drifted in through the gaps in the curtain.
"Have I been picked up?"
Lin Yuan smiled hoarsely, stood up from the crib, and looked around.
There were several snow rabbits and other prey in the carriage. They were just wild beasts. There was a pool of blood at the heart, and they were no longer breathing. Crossbows, iron clamps and other tools were neatly stacked in another corner. It was obvious that the owner of the carriage was a good hunter.
To avoid these prey, Lin Yuan opened the curtain in front.
The middle-aged man driving four or five reindeer noticed the movement in the carriage, turned his head and saw the edge of the forest coming out, with a smile on his red face under his felt hat:
"Friend, are you feeling well? You are too careless. Getting lost is the most dangerous thing in this polar region."
"Thank you, my friend, for saving me. My health is much better." Lin Yuan cupped his fists and thanked him.
mortal.
In Lin Yuan's perception, the man in front of him had no cultivation at all, only his blood was relatively strong compared to ordinary people.
"It's okay. When I first found you, I almost thought you were dead. You were almost buried in such a heavy snowstorm! Your skin was as cold as ice. Fortunately, you are lucky and can still breathe. .By the way, my name is Shen Han, what do you call your friends?"
The enthusiastic uncle asked with emotion as he breathed heavily.
"Lin Yuan. I wonder where Brother Shen is going now?" Lin Yuan said.
"Is Brother Lin's home nearby?" Shen Han asked.
Home?
Lin Yuan was in a daze, thinking of Red Prison Star, Caiyunze, and Qingfeng.
Such a distant word.
"Hey, if Brother Lin has no place to go, he should stay in our village first."
Seeing Lin Yuan in a daze, Shen Han sighed inwardly, thinking of what he looked like when he first met him, knowing that this person was not a lost person, but a refugee.
In polar glaciers, such refugees who have lost their families and their families are very common. Maybe it was because of a natural disaster, or maybe it was involved in some man-made disaster.
Every village is happy to accept these refugees. In a harsh environment, it is easier to survive in a group.
Lin Yuan came back to his senses with a strange expression, knowing that Shen Han had some misunderstandings about him.
Just when he was about to explain, Shen Han waved his hand and said:
"Let's collect the prey first, and then return to the village. On this windy and snowy day, the snowshoe rabbits will all go back to their nests, which is a good time for hunting. Brother Lin, your clothes are too thin. Get back to the car quickly, don't It’s freezing.”
As Shen Han spoke, he urged Lin Yuan to return to the carriage.
Lin Yuan's eyes moved, but in the end he did not reject Shen Han's kindness. He could sense that he was now only more than 2 miles away from Zhenhai Peak and could go back at any time.
Lin Yuan sat on the bed, put one hand on the window edge, opened the curtain, and the scenery outside slowly receded. Snowflakes were falling, the carriage was shaking slightly, the lights were dim, and it felt inexplicably warm and peaceful.
Time passes slowly.
Sometimes, Shen Han would stop the sled. Under the attack of the blizzard, the snow rabbits returned to the nest in panic, but Shen Han had already placed an iron trap at the entrance of the nest.
It's more like hunting than picking up trophies.
One, two...six, the prey that couldn't fit in the carriage, were tied around the sleigh by Shen Han with ropes.
"Go back to the village."
After retracting all the iron clips, Shen Han whistled easily. The reindeer did not need guidance, they turned around, shook their white fluffy tails happily, and started running with their hooves.
The village Shen Han mentioned was not far from Zhenhaifeng. In about half an hour, Lin Yuan sensed a crowd of people.
"It's Uncle Shen! Uncle Shen is back!"
Outside the village, the people standing guard excitedly got out of the way after carefully identifying the person's identity.
Next to the slightly compacted snow road, a large ice block as tall as a person stood, with the words "Songhu Village" engraved on it.
"Dafu, Yalin, you are on guard today. Come on, it's windy and snowy, don't be hungry."
The sleigh stopped in front of the two of them. Shen Han took out a warm meatloaf from his arms and threw it over.
"Thank you, Uncle Shen!" The two of them took the meat pie and thanked them.
"Let's go. Just stand guard."
Shen Han shook the reins, and the reindeer pulled the cart into the village.
Lin Yuan sat in the car and looked at the village curiously through the car window.
There are no trees in the polar glaciers. The villagers' houses are built on top of each other with ice blocks and covered with animal skins, so it is impossible to see what is going on inside from the outside.
Along the way, there were not many villagers, probably because of the bad weather. But everyone who saw Shen Han would greet him warmly.
The sled advanced slowly and finally stopped in front of a hemispherical ice house.
"Brother Lin, we're here." Shen Han jumped out of the car and opened the curtain.
Lin Yuan didn't use Taoism. He held on to the carriage and jumped out of the car like an ordinary person.
"Axiang, I'm back! Come out and move things soon!" Shen Han shouted loudly.
"coming!"
The bear skin that served as the door was pushed open, and a middle-aged woman with a smile on her face walked out quickly with a little boy.
"Who is the head of the house?"
The woman looked at Lin Yuan next to Shen Han and said in surprise.
"Axiang, this is Lin Yuan, Brother Lin. I met him by the ice sea, and he will live in our house from now on." Shen Han said.
Ah Xiang suddenly realized that this person was also a refugee. At the beginning, she also picked up Shen Han from the ice sea.
Thinking of this, Axiang's eyes gained a touch of pity and she said:
"Brother Lin, come inside and sit down. It's warm inside."
This time the misunderstanding deepened.
Lin Yuan sighed secretly, feeling that he should take some time to tidy up his clothes. After being exposed to the wind and sun for more than ten years, even the Taoist robes became dark and worn, like burlap clothes.
Coupled with his current dark yellow and rough skin, he looks like a middle-aged man who has experienced many storms and is stranded in the polar regions.
"Thank you sister-in-law for your kindness. Let's move the prey in first. Brother Shen has a great harvest this time." Lin Yuan mentioned a snow rabbit and said.
"Brother Lin, is your health really okay?" Shen Han said worriedly.
"It's okay. Just a few prey."
"Okay! Let's move them in first, brother, and then I will take you to register in the village."
A few people carried more than half of the car's prey and quickly stored it in the ice cellar under the house.
During the whole process, Lin Yuan did not use Taoism. Although he did not move as much as Shen Han, he was extremely fulfilled and happy.
"Lin Yuan, when you meet Lord Songhu later, be sure not to talk. Lord Songhu doesn't like making noise."
Shen Han led Lin Yuan and carefully talked about things to pay attention to when registering as a villager.
Through Shen Han, Lin Yuan also knew what the so-called village registration was.
For every village to survive, in addition to the men in the village having to be good at hunting, the more important thing is to find a spiritual beast that protects the village.
A village without a village guardian spirit beast is not only vulnerable to attacks by monsters, but also cannot know in advance the coming of severe weather, making it difficult to respond in a timely manner.
The guardian spirit beast of Songhu Village is a white-furred fox.
In the ice and snow shrine in the center of the village, Lin Yuan stood in front of an ice sculptured fox, and Shen Han was reciting a string of scriptures seriously.
In fact, this scripture is useless.
There is a blinding barrier behind the ice sculpture. A white-furred fox sits cross-legged on a plush futon like a Taoist priest.
Its red eyes carefully scanned the forest edge in the shrine, looking a little confused.
While the fox looked at Lin Yuan, Lin Yuan was also observing it.
Even though his current cultivation level has basically gone to Zhenhai Peak, he can easily see the cultivation level of this fox.
In the later stages of foundation building, there is still some distance from perfection. There is no bloody smell, it is really a spiritual beast.
Lin Yuan looked at the fox sitting cross-legged in amusement to see what it planned to do.
The fox's spiritual consciousness kept scanning Lin Yuan's body. In its view, Lin Yuan should have died a hundred times over in his current condition.
"Qi and blood are depleted, and the soul is exhausted. Even the body is covered with wounds. Was this human being captured by a demon cultivator to practice evil arts? How is he still alive?"
"Should I give it to him or not? If he dies tomorrow, wouldn't it be a big loss for me? But if I don't give it to him, I am a spiritual beast protecting the village. Forget it, let's give it to him."
The white-furred fox suppressed his doubts, struggled for a long time, and finally breathed out from his mouth.
Shen Han read so hard that his tongue was almost tied. I don’t know why, but this time the spirit beast’s recognition came very slowly. According to previous years, after he had recited the sutra for so long, the three of them should have completed the recognition ceremony.
Wouldn't the spirit beast recognize the failure?
An idea suddenly appeared in Shen Han's heart. If so, you're in trouble. He would have to take Lin Yuan outside the village.
Just when Shen Han was thinking wildly, the ice sculpture in the shrine emitted a bright blue light, and a blurry white figure appeared, saying majestically:
"Can."
Shen Han suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.
The white-furred fox behind the scenes frowned.
As soon as the breath it released entered Lin Yuan's body, most of it leaked out from the countless cracks in the path of injury, and came out...
"Damn it, he can only keep a little chance of life, why is he alive?"
The fox quietly slipped out from behind the ice sculpture and came to Lin Yuan's side.
"That's an advantage for you. My cleverness is very precious."
Lin Yuan pretended not to see it, secretly watched it, and exhaled two breaths of tangled and distressed breath, blending into his body.
Carefully feeling the spiritual power in his body, Lin Yuan instantly understood what the village-protecting spiritual beast was about.
It turned out to be crowdfunding to cultivate immortality.
The aura of heaven and earth in polar glaciers is not only thin, but also very inactive. The path of protecting the village spirit beast relies on the practice of many humans.
They give villagers ideas and strengthen their bodies. The popularity of the villagers' long-term residence is passed on to them through spiritual connections, and is condensed into magic power by them to improve their cultivation.
In this polar glacier, not only humans stick together, but spiritual animals also stick together.
After Lin Yuan figured this out, he no longer made things difficult for the little fox. The two auras that merged into his body dissipated from the body surface again, returning to it together with what had dissipated before.
The three inspirations returned, and the fox's face showed human surprise. After repeatedly confirming that Lin Yuan was just a mortal, he could only dejectedly attribute it to the mystery of heaven and earth, and this person was indeed not saved.
Not to mention how the fox returned to practice behind the ice sculpture in a depressed manner, Shen Han happily took Lin Yuan back home.
In the spacious igloo, several side dishes were placed on a round table also made of ice. Four people sit together, warm and harmonious.
Although Lin Yuan no longer had to eat, he still picked up his chopsticks and tasted it again and again.
Chen Han is very forthright, and Axiang has a kindness that is rare among polar women. At the dinner table, the little boy curiously asked Lin Yuan where he was from. Lin Yuan smiled and just said that it was far, far away.
After dinner, Lin Yuan declined Shen Han and A Xiang's various attempts to stay, and decided to return to Zhenhaifeng.
This is a happy little family, but he is just a passer-by after all, so it is better not to get involved too deeply, so as not to end up with more sadness.
The next day, Lin Yuan got on another villager's sled and returned to Zhenhai Peak.
"Hey, why are you all here?"
When Lin Yuan came here, he found that Shen Han's family and several villagers were here.
They are building the igloo piece by piece and are almost done. Someone with animal skins was already laying the interior.
"I originally wanted to give you a surprise, but it's all because Ajie is too fast."
Shen Han was wearing a windproof coat and glanced at Ajie next to Lin Yuan angrily.
"Brother Shen, it's not my fault. It's just Dadai and Erdai who kept running away." Ajie touched the reindeer and muttered.
"Brother Shen..."
"Brother Lin, don't shirk it. Although I don't know why you have to come back here, you can't stand in the wind and snow."
Shen Han patted Lin Yuan on the shoulder, then turned to the people behind him and shouted,
"Brothers and sisters, what is the founding creed of our Songhu Village?"
"help each other!"
"help each other!"
Everyone laughed and replied.
Lin Yuan was moved in his heart.
He is the Zhenhai Yuanjun who is avoided by the monks in the chaotic sea. He is an unapproachable terror, but he is a villager in Songhu Village who is accepted by many ordinary people here.
The path to immortality is vast, and the path to humanity is elusive. In the chaotic sea where killing is prevalent, there are also mortals who keep each other warm in the polar glaciers.
At the moment when I had a realization in my heart, the hazy light group in Zhenhai Peak solidified a little, and faint fetal movement could be heard.
To the outside world, Lin Yuan's originally upright body was half rickety, his skin became darker and yellower, and he looked several years older.
"Brother Lin, what's wrong with you? You'd better go back to the village in this body."
Shen Han saw Lin Yuan's change and hurriedly came over to help him.
Lin Yuan brushed away Shen Han's hand with black streaks all over his head. It is foreseeable that as his Nascent Soul progresses, this body will become older and older, and eventually return to dust. If he lived in the village, it would be really hard to tell.
"It's okay. This is an old problem of mine. Even if you look at me like this, my body is still very good."
In order to prove his words, Lin Yuan came to the open space, picked up a large ice brick in his left and right arms, and joined the construction team with quick steps.
After a long time, the stunned Ajie and Shen Han came to their senses.
"Brother Lin, he is in such good health!" Ajie stared in wonderment.
"Yes. It's hard to imagine how good Brother Lin was before when he's so good at his age." Shen Han agreed.
That big ice brick weighed three to four hundred kilograms each. Even he could only carry one piece and walk. Not to mention someone like Lin Yuan, who just carried two pieces and moved forward quickly.
