After the heavy snow, the roads became difficult to traverse.

  Fortunately, the treehouse wasn't too far from the abandoned temple, so it didn't take Wen Chaoshen much time to reach it.

  His pn was simple: if the woman was dead, he'd quickly find a pce to bury her.

  This wasn't spring or summer; it was the dead of winter. No matter what trouble the woman might bring, he could just dig a hole somewhere, and after a night of snow, everything would be erased, leaving no trace.

  The reason he chose to save this strange, wounded woman was simply because, despite her injuries, she still clung to life. This reminded Wen Chaoshen of his own harsh existence, stirring a sense of compassion within him.

  In Wen Chaoshen's eyes, he could die any day—tomorrow or the day after—from illness or accident, anything could cim his life.

  There were many practitioners in this world, who absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, refining their bodies. Though they couldn't ride the wind or pluck stars, their strength was beyond the reach of ordinary people. But such things were too distant for Wen Chaoshen; he dared not think of them.

  All he could think of was surviving.

  Because he was weak, he held life in great reverence.

  Upon entering the abandoned temple, Wen Chaoshen brushed aside the weeds behind a stone statue, preparing to deal with the woman's body.

  In his mind, this woman shouldn't be alive, couldn't be alive.

  But as he parted the weeds, he was met with a pair of cold, indifferent eyes.

  She had survived the night of wind and snow.

  For some reason, Wen Chaoshen was stunned by the light in those eyes.

  The moment the woman opened her eyes, he caught the scent of a battlefield.

  Perhaps using those words to describe the scene wasn't entirely accurate, but upon seeing her gaze, Wen Chaoshen had an intuition.

  This woman had killed.

  Killed countless people.

  But the terrifying murderous intent in her eyes was fleeting, soon repced by the same lifeless look from the night before, her expression dull and dead.

  "I somewhat regret saving you," Wen Chaoshen said frankly.

  "Your wounds are all from weapons. I'm not part of the Martial World, but I can tell they're not from the same weapon. Someone like you... is bound to bring trouble, big trouble."

  The woman didn't respond, her breath weak, as if pondering or awaiting death.

  Seeing her like this, Wen Chaoshen frowned slightly and asked, "What's your name?"

  This time, the woman actually looked up at him, hesitated for a moment, and said, "A Shui."

  Wen Chaoshen was taken aback. "No surname?"

  The woman's voice was low, almost as if talking to herself, "I had one before, but I left it in a city.

  A fire broke out in the city, burned for seven days and nights, and my surname was lost in the fmes."

  Wen Chaoshen didn't understand what the woman was talking about, but he knew that if she wasn't mentally unstable, she had a story untold.

  But all of that could wait.

  If the woman died, things would be simpler for Wen Chaoshen—just find a snowy pit to bury her.

  He wasn't that interested in her story.

  Now that she wasn't dead, he didn't know what to do with her.

  "So, what are your pns?" Wen Chaoshen asked nonchantly, implying that he wanted her to leave.

  His food was hard to come by, especially in winter. Every extra mouthful might mean an extra day of life, and Wen Chaoshen had no intention of sharing it with a stranger.

  But now that she wasn't dead, if she refused to leave and he didn't give her food, and she died in front of him, Wen Chaoshen would subconsciously feel as if he had killed her.

  He could certainly do it, but it would leave an uncomfortable knot in his heart.

  The best outcome was for her to leave on her own.

  When asked, A Shui's eyes were distant for a long time before she finally said, "I came back to see my parents."

  Wen Chaoshen raised an eyebrow. "In Kuhai County?"

  A Shui nodded slightly.

  Wen Chaoshen asked again, "What are their names?"

  A Shui replied, "Father's surname is Yun, called Yun Zijing. Mother's surname is Gou, called Gou Yu."

  Wen Chaoshen chuckled, "Never heard of them. But you're from Qi Kingdom, if you have identification, you can go to the county city and find the Magistrate. But it seems you have no money, and with Liu Jinshi's nature, he probably won't help you..."

  He paused, then suddenly said firmly, "No, he definitely won't help you. In any case, if you want to go, go. The county should be better than out here."

  A Shui y in a pile of weeds, her hair disheveled, looking more like a refugee than Wen Chaoshen.

  "I haven't been back in many years, don't know the way, don't know anyone."

  Wen Chaoshen sneered, "What use is telling me? Do I know the way?"

  A Shui then remembered that Wen Chaoshen had said st night that he was a refugee, not from Qi Kingdom, and most of the time couldn't enter the county city.

  Wen Chaoshen tidied himself up, feeling his clothes weren't warm enough, stuffed more weeds into his deerskin, and prepared to leave.

  "Let me tell you, there's little to eat outside. When the snow covers everything in winter, there are no wild vegetables, and the little river freezes over with a thick yer. Breaking the ice is a hassle, and you might not catch any fish even after a whole day. No fish, and I'll have to eat the food Lord Dog gives out.

  But Lord Dog is aging fast these past two years, and this winter is especially cold. If I eat too much, I'm afraid Lord Dog won't make it."

  He said this, then turned back to A Shui and concluded, "Anyway, there's nothing for you to eat. If you stay here, you'll die sooner or ter."

  A Shui seemed unconcerned about her situation, instead asking Wen Chaoshen an irrelevant question, "Who is Lord Dog?"

  Wen Chaoshen pointed in the direction of the county city.

  "In an hour, you'll see it... I warn you, no matter how hungry you are, don't mess with Lord Dog. Otherwise, I'll fight you to the death. I mean it."

  A Shui didn't respond, closing her eyes to sleep again.

  Wen Chaoshen had no time to waste with her.

  ***

  From his experience, the snow probably wouldn't stop for long, maybe half a day before it started again. Finding food was urgent.

  Walking five more miles south, past the rolling white hills, there was a stone bridge, lightly covered in frost and snow, but still showing the marks of time.

  This bridge was older than Wen Chaoshen.

  Under the bridge was a ditch about a yard wide, which Wen Chaoshen referred to as the little river.

  But now, after a night of heavy snow, the little river was nowhere to be seen, covered along with the ice in a vast expanse. Wen Chaoshen searched according to the markers he left yesterday, finally finding several sticks stuck straight into the ice.

  These sticks were deliberately left by Wen Chaoshen st night, each cut from still-living trees, inserted into the mud under the ditch to secure them.

  Last night the ice was still thin, so doing this wasn't too difficult. Now, Wen Chaoshen had to rely on these sticks to break the ice.

  He took an axe from his deerskin, a treasure given to him by Hunter Zhang, a combination of hammer and axe. He struck hard at the junction of stick and ice, immediately creating some cracks around it.

  This method didn't save him much effort, but it cleverly reduced the recoil on his palm.

  In this season, he couldn't stay warm, couldn't eat enough, his limbs were always cold. If the recoil was too strong, his palm couldn't take it.

  If he got a big wound, winter would be hard to endure.

  After hammering the stick dozens of times, the ice around it was covered in cracks. He stepped back a few paces to a safe spot and delivered the final blow to the cracked area.

  Crack!

  The ice shattered, revealing a rge hole.

  Wen Chaoshen peered into the hole, using a stick to check the thickness of the ice below.

  Not very thick.

  Under the ice, the water was clear as a mirror. Wen Chaoshen squatted nearby, observing for a while, but saw no fish.

  He wasn't discouraged by this, because Wen Chaoshen wasn't actually after fish.

  He had lived in this area for three years, and no one knew better than him whether there were fish in the ditch during winter.

  The fishermen of Kuhai County would go to the north's Chensha River or the east's Mian Lake, but never south, because even in spring and summer, this little ditch rarely had fish.

  Wen Chaoshen broke the ice to check its thickness.

  What he was looking for were the hibernating frogs.

  Ordinary frogs liked to hibernate in caves or under thick leaves. The winter cold drove away almost all predators, and they were hard to freeze to death, so a slightly hidden spot was enough for hibernation.

  But the frogs in this world were different.

  They liked to hibernate in groups in moist soil.

  Having determined today's search area, Wen Chaoshen immediately set to work. These frogs were rumored to be poisonous, but once thoroughly cooked, the poison would disappear, and they tasted delicious.

  They were Wen Chaoshen's main food source in winter.

  Unfortunately, Kuhai County was impoverished, and although there were quite a few of these frogs, they were too scattered. With bad luck, he might not find one in two or three days.