Chapter 13: Snowflakes Like Knives (Part 1)

  The cave entrance still had a thick layer of ice, and after turning a corner, the ice was no longer visible. The dark greenish-black rock wall was covered with water droplets, this is where cold and heat meet. Not far away, there was a small pool of accumulated water, and faint sounds could be heard coming from deep within the cave.

  Hammerhead raised his hand to signal everyone to stop, and Xin Zhaolun said in a low voice: "Be careful, someone should have entered before us."

  Kuang Fu said in a low voice: "Let's see who it is first, we don't have the possibility of leaving."

  Xin Zhaolun nodded and said: "Try to avoid conflict as much as possible. If it's really unavoidable, don't hold back!"

  Lei Xingfeng had already understood the meaning of Xin Zhaolun's words. This place was the only place to rest overnight, and they couldn't retreat outside at all. If they couldn't negotiate with each other to share the cave, then they could only fight, either killing each other or being killed by each other. As for retreating into the wilderness to spend the night, it was no different from looking for death.

  A group of people cautiously made their way over.

  Lei Xingfeng was puzzled in his heart, and unexpectedly, no one on the other side sounded the alarm.

  Boom!

  A loud rumbling sound came from the cave entrance, and Xin Zhaolun and others were all stunned. Inside, a battle was actually taking place.

  Everyone's footsteps suddenly accelerated, they had already started fighting, of course, they didn't need to hide and be careful anymore. Leixing Peak finally realized that no one was putting up a sentry, it turned out that the fight had begun inside, in other words, two groups of people had entered this cave, and they were the third group of cavalry.

  A huge space appeared, surrounded by countless inverted icicles, with a pool of water in the center emitting wisps of hot air, and uneven ground surrounding the pool.

  Two groups of people stood facing each other across the pond, with two of them engaging in a fierce battle on the water.

  When Xin Zhaolun led a group of people rushing in, they immediately attracted the attention of both sides. The two men who were fighting on the water tank bumped into each other and quickly retreated back to their respective sides without continuing to fight. Both sides stared at the newly arrived crowd.

  Lei Xingfeng followed the Crazy Eagle into the cave, but it wasn't dark inside. The walls of the cave didn't seem to have any special material on them, yet a faint blue glow emanated from the rocks, illuminating the entire space brightly.

  With sharp eyesight after cultivation, everything in the cave is clear at a glance.

  There were not many people on both sides. Lei Xingfeng counted them and found that there were four people on the left side and three people on the right side, exactly the same as when they entered. There were a total of fourteen people in this cave, with Xin Zhaolun's group being the largest.

  Lei Xingfeng looked very carefully, he found that these two groups of people all had a wounded person, and their clothes were dressed in a very strange way, they should not be local people, nor did they come from there. The most peculiar thing was that each of them had a local aboriginal person standing far away with a look of watching the excitement.

  Xin Zhaolun and Chui stood in front, Xin Zhaolun looked around at the people present, visibly relieved, he said lightly: "You all continue, we're just passing by."

  Lei Xingfeng had never seen Xin Zhaolun so sinister before, he almost burst out laughing, what do you mean by "you guys continue"? Are you just passing by?

  How dare the people on both sides continue to fight, knowing that the incoming people are not easy to mess with at a glance, and their numbers are not comparable. How can they join one side, while the other side is absolutely disastrous? They also see that Xin Zhaolun doesn't want to communicate with them, this isn't a place for socializing, especially since these people are all outsiders.

  Lei Xingfeng asked in a low voice: "Eagle Uncle, who are they?"

  "Crazy Eagle shook his head and said, 'I've never seen... anyone who dares to come here isn't simple. Now we have a large number of people and strong strength, so they don't dare to do anything to us. If it were just two or three of us, hehe, you would find it's different.'"

  "Will they take action?"

  "Eagle Uncle said: 'Yes! They will even join forces to drive us away.'"

  Lei Xingfeng was a bit skeptical and said: "If we join one side, won't there be no problem?"

  "Eagle Uncle smiled and said: 'The problem is that you can't join them. Observe carefully, they are all from the same place, their clothes and attire are almost the same.'"

  Lei Xingfeng took a glance and had to admit that Crazy Eagle's words made sense. Of course, they now held the upper hand, so the other side should be afraid of them instead.

  The two hostile sides suddenly muttered a few words, Leixingfeng didn't understand a single sentence, and then saw the people on both sides retreat backwards, surprisingly sitting down to call a truce.

  Xin Zhaolun nodded and said, "Alright, we'll also find a place to rest, be on guard." He didn't bother to respond to the other party either, it was best not to fight if possible. The journey here had been exhausting enough, he wasn't crazy enough to want to fight again. Anyway, he had already intimidated the other party, as long as they didn't make a move, he wouldn't either.

  The cave is very large, enough for several hundred people to rest, and there are only fourteen people here, so it's easy to find a resting place that's big enough without disturbing each other.

  Hammerhead and Crazy Axe urged to eat, after walking for a day in this weather, the consumption was not ordinary, no wonder Leixing Peak felt extremely hungry, he said: "Who's cooking?"

  Everyone looked at each other in dismay, and Xin Zhaolun raised his hand and said: "I can cook, but the taste is extremely bad..."

  The mad eagle and the tiger are about the same, let alone the hammer head and the crazy axe. The two are foodies, but they don't know how to cook. Their staple food is half-cooked meat, slightly roasted over fire before eating. And the reason why they followed along was just hoping to eat something good.

  Jin Deya weakly said: "I'll eat..."

  Lei Xingfeng let out a wry smile, he thought his cooking skills were mediocre at best, in his past life it was extremely ordinary and this life hadn't improved much. But seeing these unreliable guys, he could only take matters into his own hands, after all, food cooked by himself suited his taste.

  "I'll cook it myself, don't worry about whether it's delicious or not... you guys just don't have to be picky, as long as you can eat it, haha."

  Xin Zhaolun said: "I'm not particular, as long as it's edible."

  The mad eagle and the tiger enthusiast also raised their hands: "I don't care either."

  Hammerhead and Battle-axe only require that the flavor is sufficient, that is to say a bit salty is good. Since they ate the dishes of outsiders, they have gone crazy in love with them. No matter what they cook, it's much better than eating raw meat.

  "Alright, I'll go," said Leixing Feng with a nod.

  Bring out the large copper pot, set up a pile of firewood, fill the copper pot with spring water and hang it up, light the fire, and suddenly the red glow flashes, everyone gathers around the fire to sit down, basking in the warmth, their whole body relaxed.

  The other two groups of people obviously didn't have such preparations, they also lit bonfires, but instead of cooking food, they took out dried meat and roasted it slightly over the fire, then ate it dry.

  Lei Xingfeng put in fresh meat, salted meat, wind-dried meat, and added a lot of mushroom dry, bamboo shoots dry, as well as some dried fruits, all thrown into the large copper pot. He took out a salt bowl, so-called salt ring, about half the size of a pomelo, said to be made by drying in rock crevices.

  He forcefully opened the salt bowl, Lei Xingfeng's taste was very heavy, so when cooking, he would put a lot of salt. When the water boiled, he grabbed a handful of chili peppers and threw them in, instantly filling the air with a rich meaty aroma.

  The hammer head revealed an extremely drooling appearance, especially unbearable was that this guy started to drool again, dripping and flowing uncontrollably from the corner of his mouth.

  Xin Zhaolun grabbed him and said, "Damn it, I'm telling you... don't get any closer, do you want to drip your saliva into the pot?"

  Hammerhead smiled foolishly: "Ah... come closer, can smell more intimately..."

  Lei Xingfeng almost knocked over a copper pot, and he said: "Don't worry, it will be fine soon."

  The mad eagle took out a dozen or so thick and solid large pancakes, all of which were roasted cakes, each as big as a pot lid, two fingers thick, with a hard crust like bricks, which had to be torn apart and soaked in thick meat soup before they could be eaten.

  This stir-fry dish is not difficult to make and Lei Xingfeng can cook it with ease, just throw in whatever ingredients come to mind.

  After simmering for half an hour, the anxious Hammerhead and Battle-axe were jumping with impatience when Lei Xingfeng finally said: "Alright, Eagle Uncle, come help us."

  Eagle Uncle suppressed his smile and said, "Alright, I'll go."

  Everyone was holding a huge bowl, eating with sweat dripping down their faces, the sound of slurping and burping was extremely tempting, at least two other groups of people had murderous intentions in their eyes, they couldn't wait to snatch away the food from this group of reckless eaters. It was infuriating, just smelling that strong aroma made them restless, but they all knew that those people were not to be trifled with, and it would be too exaggerated to fight over a pot of hot soup.

  If they didn't have anything to eat, it would be fine to work with an empty stomach. But since they had something to eat, even though it wasn't good, at least it could fill their bellies, and then go back to work, which really isn't worth it.

  Lei Xingfeng happened to see two groups of people, with eyes that flashed like wolves. He whispered, "Be careful, they seem to have ill intentions."

  "Nothing will happen," said Fēng Yīng Dào, "We have more people and our strength is not bad either. They won't dare to make a move."

  Xin Zhaolun said: "We try our best to avoid physical confrontation. Getting injured here would be very troublesome."

  Two large pots of mixed dishes were cooked before these seven big-bellied men were finally full.

  Hammerhead patted his belly contentedly and said: "Delicious, delicious... Little brother's craftsmanship is pretty good!"

  Kuang Fu also praised: "Better than what we had at Han Jia Fort."

  Kim Dae-ya slightly raised his head and said in a light tone, "It's delicious..." Then he fell silent again. This guy had no presence at all, making it easy to overlook him.

  Actually, Hong Jie's cooking is not worse than Lei Xingfeng's, but she uses less salt. Lei Xingfeng has a heavy taste and used a lot of seasonings, which further enhanced the salty flavor. These two guys have a similar heavy taste, so they think it's delicious.

  Everyone leaned against the cave wall to rest, while Lei Xingfeng continued to cultivate. The effect of cultivating here was extremely good, even better than in Hanshui Castle, and he wouldn't let it go to waste.

  Those two groups of people were also cultivating and resting, the three parties temporarily calmed down, with only the firewood still crackling softly.