The snow is drifting, the cold wind is howling, and the windows are whining in the harsh north wind. In this empty wilderness, it is as terrifying as a ghost crying wolf. With this whining sound, which window seemed to be unable to withstand the beating of the cold wind, and was about to shatter.

The old-fashioned double door, I don't know how much wind, frost, rain and snow has been invaded, it looks particularly dilapidated, and there is only one deadbolt that connects the two doors together, and it clangs from time to time. Even so, it also kept most of the chill out.

Occasionally, an eyeless snowflake would fall through the cracks between the windows and doors and land on the table, but it quickly disappeared, leaving only a small watermark. Compared to the people in the house, they don't care.

This is an inn. The houses in the front row of the inn looked quite tall for those who had traveled for a long time to eat and drink, and behind the still tall houses was a courtyard of low thatched huts, more than a dozen of them. Still, it looks extra thin on this snowy night.

This is already the foot of Tianmai Mountain, although it is at the foot of the mountain, it is also unusually cold, and the weather of wind and snow is even more commonplace. In this deserted place, there are very few pedestrians passing by on weekdays, and only when the herb pickers want to enter this Tianmai Mountain, they only rest here for a few days when they encounter extremely bad weather. And now that the cold wind and snow have lasted for three days and three nights, this small inn is particularly lively.

The inn is not large, and there are seven or eight tables in the store, which look very shabby, but they are also clean. There was a lamp lit on the counter in the center, and the flames were already faint and pulsing, and it was difficult for the dim light to illuminate all the room. Despite the noise, the shopkeeper was already leaning against the counter and dozing off. Only the diligent shopkeeper is constantly busy.

At the middle of the room, there were five or six strong men, wrapped in thick clothes, but they were still rubbing their hands in a huff. Several people kept pushing cups and changing lamps, chatting all over the world. At the next table, there were four young people, two men and two women, dressed in plain clothes, looking no different from ordinary people, but the thin clothes looked particularly unusual in this cold night. Two of the men and a woman were whispering incessantly, and from time to time the woman's cheerful laughter could be heard, but the one next to the woman was as cold as ice, and he didn't say a word from beginning to end, and it seemed as if it was a little colder than this cold night. In the northwest corner of the room, where the dim light could not shine, sat a young man, dressed thicker than those of the big men. He hid his figure completely in the darkness in the corner and drank silently.

This person is Ji Ping, who recovered from his injuries, and after explaining the affairs in Hanshan City to Wu Daoren on his behalf, he secretly left alone. In order to prevent Wuni from chasing, he took a long detour before he dared to advance towards Tianmai Mountain upright. It's just that this journey is extremely difficult, and the journey that should have taken ten days has been a full month. Approaching the foot of the mountain, it is even more windy and snowy, making it difficult to move forward. In the evening, I came here by the light of the fire.

"I heard that there are some strange things in the Tianmai Mountain recently, and there are a lot of rare and exotic herbs, and many people in our village who have come out to collect medicine have seen it," several big men at the table in the middle kept talking.

"It's a strange thing, I couldn't find my way before I was on the mountainside, but now I can go a long way into the depths," echoed another bearded man.

"I'll tell you the truth, I picked up a lot of colorful stones in the mountains a few times ago, and then a master saw it and said what kind of stone it was, it was something dropped by the gods, so he took it at a high price."

Although Ji Ping was sitting in the dark corner, he listened to all the words of those people. He was thinking to himself that if he had the chance, he would let those people lead the way to the place where he had picked up the five-colored stones, but he saw a young man at the table next to him stand up and walk straight towards the few people who were talking.

"Where are the stones you picked up?" asked in a cold voice, completely lacking the appearance of the laughing and laughing just now, with a disdainful face.

The big men who spoke looked back at him when they heard it, ignored it and said to themselves.

When the young man saw that they did not answer, his face was full of anger, and he was about to have a seizure, when another young man stood up again, walked forward quickly, and stopped him, and said kindly, "Please don't be surprised if you disturbed a lot just now."

The bearded man nodded and said, "That's still true," and motioned for him to sit down.

"I also heard that there are strange stones in this Tianmai Mountain, but I didn't have a chance to see it, so I wanted to try my luck in this mountain, I just heard a few people talk about it, and I can't help it, and I ask a few people to talk about it in detail."

Seeing the weakness of the young man's life, and speaking so politely, those big men suddenly lost their anger and began to talk eloquently. "In previous years, I have also come to this Tianmai Mountain many times, mainly to collect some medicinal herbs such as snow lotus, and I can't move forward after entering this mountain for a short time, but the last few times I have suddenly seen a road, although it is also very difficult to walk. I walked along the road all the way in, about two days away, and I saw something shining in the distance, I thought it was some rare grass, so I walked by, it turned out to be a few stones, but this strange-colored stone is also rare, so I brought it back. A few days ago, a master saw it, and took a few at a high price, leaving one for himself," he said, and took out a shining blue stone from his pocket.

"Phantom Spirit Stone" Several young people blurted out at the same time, and even the beautiful and cold woman couldn't help but stand up and walk towards the big man's table.

The big man heard the words phantom stone and nodded hurriedly, yes, yes, the master who took away the stone said the same thing a few days ago.

The cold woman was suddenly startled, as if she had thought of something, and hurriedly asked, "What else did the master you said ask you?"

"That is, let me tell me where the stone was found, and the rest didn't ask much" The big man seemed to be a little puzzled, and didn't know why this cold woman would ask so much, but seeing that although the woman was cold, she was also beautiful, so he answered without hesitation.

The young man and the cold woman looked at each other and whispered, "Presumably that person is a member of the Snow God Sect who guards this place."

Ji Ping, who was in the shadows, could no longer suppress the curiosity in his heart, and also looked at the stone, but his heart was shocked, once upon a time, he had seen that kind of stone, and he was competing with Lige to play, it seems that the place where he found the stone is not far from the village he thinks about day and night. The scenes of childhood appeared in my eyes again, the concerned eyes of the neighbors, the immature smile of Lige, and suddenly the flowing blood array and the bony body of the great wizard. Everything around is no longer important, only a voice in the bottom of my heart keeps shouting, go home!