Snowflakes danced and drifted, blanketing the dark mountain rocks with a thin layer.

The crunching sound of large footsteps echoed as they pressed into the snow.

Li Yan paused in his stride.

"My lord, what's the... Eh?"

Deng Tianxiong's words halted abruptly.

The overburdened dry branches on the trees snapped under the weight, and the accumulated snow cascaded down, revealing, to everyone's surprise, a farmhouse enclosed by a fence.

"Tianxiong, how long have we been walking?"

"A whole day; we've reached the mountainside."

"No village ahead, no inn behind. Having come all this way to the mountainside, we can't even find wolf feces to make a fire for warmth, yet here we stumble upon a dwelling."

Li Yan pondered for a moment. By now, a pale crescent moon had emerged in the sky, and everyone’s cotton robes felt as flimsy as paper, utterly inadequate against the wind and snow.

Compared to frostbite, the so-called mountain ghosts didn't seem all that frightening.

"Let's go, have a look."

The group adjusted their clothes with apprehensive expressions. In the desolate mountain wilderness, the sudden appearance of a farmhouse was bound to set anyone on edge.

Approaching the farmhouse, Song Tongyi called out loudly. Unexpectedly, a delicate face appeared from behind the door!

The woman had her long hair coiled up in a bun, her cheeks rosy with cold. Her thin hemp winter garment could not conceal her graceful figure, and her large, watery eyes curiously fixed on the strangers.

"Hey, this girl's quite a looker," Diao the Blind commented in a hollow voice, his words tinged with an unmistakable wariness.

A desolate mountain, a snowy night, a woman living alone.

It made for a good story.

"Uncle Diao," Wang Sheng muttered softly, "my mother told me that on snowy days, raccoon dogs transform into women. If you don't lust after them, they turn you into stone; if you harbor evil thoughts, they'll dig out your heart and liver."

Song Tongyi stepped forward and bowed deeply, speaking to the woman.

After a while, he returned to Li Yan and said:

"She says she lives alone and agrees to let us stay for the night."

He then lowered his voice.

"Something's off."

"Even a blind man could see that."

Li Yan replied icily.

The group filed in, and the crackling fire brought a warm glow to everyone inside.

The bright oil lamp illuminated the whole room, with a fierce fire burning in the center, over which hung an iron pot cooking taro and such.

"All that in the pot, the young lady couldn’t possibly finish it herself, could she?"

Li Yan raised an eyebrow and sneered.

The woman did not understand Li Yan's words but smiled demurely. She ladled a full bowl from the pot and handed it to Li Yan, her loose winter clothes gaping open to reveal her creamy collarbone, her smile enchanting.

The men stared fixedly at the woman, and the impatient Wang Sheng even reached for his fire gun.

Li Yan watched her for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter. He grabbed the woman's slender wrist, disregarding the soup that splashed onto the ground, and forcefully pulled her into his embrace, his hand wandering freely over her legs.

The woman instinctively struggled, but Li Yan's eyes were ice-cold as he whispered in her ear:

"Living in solitude in the deep mountains must be lonely, my dear. We have come from afar, from the Ming Country, just in time to alleviate the lady’s solitude..."

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Slap!"

Deng Tianxiong grimaced as he touched his face, swallowing hard.

The woman's eyes were red and swollen, her body trembling with rage. With a snowy-white palm raised, Li Yan's face bore the fresh imprint of her slap.

She retreated in quick succession, rushing into the inner room and locking the door behind her.

“...”

Li Yan raised his head, speaking with earnest gravity:

“Let’s take turns on watch tonight. We’ll set off at dawn. If all goes well, we should be out of She Mountain by nightfall tomorrow.”

“My lord, about the woman...”

“We leave first thing in the morning.”

Deng Tianxiong prudently held his tongue.

“Gurgle gurgle~”

All eyes turned to Wang Sheng.

A blush crept onto Wang Sheng’s face.

A soldier chuckled and scooped up a bowl, passing it to Wang Sheng.

“Hold on.”

Li Yan suddenly spoke up, furrowing his brow in thought for a moment before pulling out a flatbread from his chest, tearing off a piece, and tossing it to Wang Sheng.

“Eat this instead.”

Everyone exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.

Wang Sheng caught it, looking around hesitantly.

“What are you gawking at, kid? If General Li’s Banner tells you to eat, you eat,” Diao the Blind teased with a laugh.

Wang Sheng scratched his head, feeling a bit embarrassed, and squatted in the corner, nibbling at the tough flatbread.

The iron pot bubbled away, the aroma of grains spreading, yet no one spoke.

Li Yan’s gaze swept over the group, his eyes skimming their resolute yet silent faces, feeling a pang of emotion.

This place might seem less perilous than the life-and-death struggles of the Boxing Ring, but Li Yan dared not let his guard down for even a moment. Surviving the Boxing Ring required brute strength, but to break through the encirclement here, to keep one’s life on the battlefield in the days to come, strength alone was far from enough.

The heartfelt trust of these Big-Head Soldiers weighed heavily on Li Yan.

“General Li’s Banner, while we have the fire going, I’ll go outside and fetch some clean ice to melt for water. We’ll need it for the road,” Diao the Blind suddenly said.

“Uncle Diao, rest yourself. I’ll go,” a thick-browed military man declared, rising to his feet and clapping his hands together.

The others echoed his sentiment, but Diao the Blind was unimpressed, casting a dismissive glance at the soldier.

“You think I’m so old I can’t even manage that?”

“Uncle Diao, it’s not like that, but with your injury...”

“Injury my foot. You Rabbit Brat, you might look stalwart, but I bet if we paired up, I’d take you down, believe it or not?”

“That’s not it—You’re being unreasonable. I’m just trying to be helpful...”

Diao the Blind waved his hand dismissively, his one eye turning to Li Yan.

“General Li’s Banner, what do you say?”

Li Yan glanced at the snowstorm outside, which was gradually subsiding, and said, “Be back before dark.”

“Got it.”

Diao the Blind grabbed his saber, ready to head out.

“Uncle Diao.”

Wang Sheng, his cheeks still puffed out, ran over and handed him his fire gun.

“Take this with you. If you run into a roe deer or something on the way, shoot it and bring it back to fill our bellies.”

Old Diao gave Wang Sheng a once-over and patted him on the head, "You've always had the gift of gab, kid."

"Heh heh."

Wang Sheng grinned foolishly upon hearing this.

Old Diao slung his fire gun over his back and pushed open the door, the whooshing cold wind skewing his withered white beard. Squinting his eyes, he stepped out into the vast whiteness outside the house in his boots.

The group huddled around the fire, and in the inner room, there was a respectable Korean woman who had been teased, making everyone too embarrassed to speak loudly.

Time trudged on, and just as Li Yan cleared his throat, about to say something to ease the tension, a man's voice suddenly came from outside the wooden door.

"Excuse me." (in Korean)

The door creaked open, revealing a young man in a fur coat. He had rosy lips, white teeth, and a refined complexion.

Deng Tianxiong's gaze turned icy, but he quickly realized there was no need for alarm. On their journey, they had already changed out of their Ming army uniforms. At this moment, they looked more like hunters and peasants than soldiers.

The man asked something in Korean, and Song Tongyi immediately stood up with an "Ah" and walked over enthusiastically.

The two exchanged a few words, likely about the man's Pyongyang accent, seeking shelter on the mountain, and other pleasantries. The atmosphere seemed harmonious.

Behind the young man, four men with grim expressions and red-sheathed swords on their belts poured in.

"Sir, look at their swords," Deng Tianxiong whispered.

Unexpectedly, the man who had been chatting animatedly with Song Tongyi suddenly turned around, his eyes a mix of astonishment and excitement, and asked in clear Mandarin, "Are you people from the Great Ming?"

...

Diao the Blind scooped up two large chunks of ice in his clothes, his machete hanging at his waist, his hair fluttering with the snowflakes. He was indeed aging, struggling against the biting cold. Perhaps the day would come when he could no longer grip his blade firmly, and it would be time for his son to take over.

Suddenly, his gaze sharpened; in the snow, a wild musk deer was looking around cautiously.

Diao the Blind's face, rough as orange peel, broke into a smile. He raised his fire gun and aimed at the musk deer with his one good eye.

"Bang!"

The musk deer fell at the sound, but Diao the Blind frowned, ignoring the dead animal on the ground as he slowly turned around.

Twenty meters away stood a strikingly bright red round samurai armor. It was like a fiery blaze standing tall on a snowy mountain!

From within the spade-shaped star helmet, it seemed as though a shapeless ghost floated, with two cold lights hovering in the air. Arm guards, leather gauntlets, arm armor, and leather boots, all linked by armor plates, exuded an indescribable deterrent force.

Magnificent, majestic, and chilling.

Diao the Blind, in his threadbare woolen shirt with snowflakes caught in his hair, looked disheveled and destitute.

Side by side, they resembled a warrior and a beggar...

The blind old soldier threw the ice and fire gun to the ground, tore off a bloodied cloth from his wounded belly, and wrapped it tightly around the wrist of his knife-holding hand. Biting the knot with his teeth, he pulled fiercely, his eyes fierce like a lone wolf.

"Damn Japanese pirate..."

**********

Feel free to check more free following-up chapters here: https://www.readgates.com/article/7956ef