Chapter 266: Daniu

Every time he saw someone around him freeze to death, Daniu's heart felt as if it were being sliced by a knife—it hurt greatly! It wasn't that he pitied these people so much, but rather a deep despair, coupled with his yearning and worry for his wife.

He worried that his wife wouldn't be able to endure it and would leave him.

Besides his wife, he worried most about Wang Lin. In his eyes, Uncle Wang was already old. Would his body be able to withstand this snowy weather? He had already lost his parents, and he didn't want Uncle Wang to leave him too.

Daniu's son, Zeng Xiaoniu, had only just entered the Baiyun Sect and was still in the Qi Condensation stage. Although his status was much higher than a Mortal's, his strength was useless in the war between the two nations.

As such, although he had also searched for his parents, the Four Sects Alliance was too vast. Almost all Mortals had been conscripted into clearing snow and were scattered across the country.

Unless he possessed a heaven-reaching Divine Ability, he would have no way to find his parents.

Daniu himself had forgotten how long the snow had been falling. Almost every morning, he would see one of his roommates frozen to death.

At the same time, he discovered the miraculous nature of the small wooden carving hanging around his neck. Whenever he felt cold, the carving would emit bursts of warmth that instantly flowed throughout his body, allowing him to safely endure even the bitterest cold.

After realizing the carving's magic, Daniu felt a sense of unfamiliarity toward Wang Lin, as if he had never truly seen through the old man.

However, precisely because of the existence of this wooden carving, Daniu worried slightly less about his wife. He believed that as long as his wife didn't take the carving off, she would definitely be like him and wouldn't freeze to death.

Nonetheless, as time passed, looking at the snow that seemed endless to clear, despair welled up in Daniu's heart once more.

Although the snow in the sky had lessened, it continued to fall without interruption.

During these days, many Mortals had secretly fled. They wanted to escape to a neighboring country, believing that even if they had to give up everything, as long as they lived, there would be hope.

It was rumored that the sky in the neighboring country currently had no snow, resembling a normal spring season with all things recovering and bright sunshine.

In the morning, Daniu was the first to wake up. He climbed out of the common bed. Next to him slept the Zhou Family's Second Son, who lived on the same street. The young man was in his twenties, in the prime of his life. They were always assigned to the same work group, and the young man often helped Daniu do extra work.

This was a simple, honest young man. Daniu pushed him, but his gaze immediately froze. He looked at the Zhou Family's Second Son, his right hand trembling as he placed it over the young man's mouth and nose. Then, he let out a bitter laugh and murmured, “He's dead…”

When he had pushed him just now, he had already realized that the Zhou Family's Second Son's body was quite stiff. At that moment, two streams of tears flowed from Daniu's eyes. The man, over forty years old, hugged his head, squatted down, and began to weep bitterly.

He missed home, missed his wife, missed his son, missed Wang Lin, missed his shop, and missed the warmth of the past.

At this time, people gradually woke up and stared blankly at Daniu. Immediately afterward, they discovered that five people had frozen to death inside the house overnight!

Everyone fell silent. After a long while, a shout came from outside the house: “Everyone out! Get to work! If anyone is lazy, they'll be thrown directly into the snow to freeze to death.”

Someone in the room let out a soft sigh and slowly walked out. Their eyes were vacant, and they were gaunt and pale. During the first stages of clearing snow over the past few months, the food had been sufficient, but the further along they went, the less food there was. Now, their physical strength was clearly failing them.

Daniu was still squatting on the ground, weeping with his head buried in his hands. A middle-aged man who was close to him stepped forward and pulled him up, whispering, “Daniu, let's go. As long as we are alive, there is hope.”

Daniu was pulled up and looked at the Zhou Family's Second Son lying motionless on the common bed, and tears flowed down again.

Stepping out of the house, the cold wind immediately struck his face. Daniu felt a chill, but just then, bursts of warmth emanated from the small wooden carving on his chest, driving away the cold.

Daniu touched his chest and looked at the people walking out of the houses one after another. He grit his teeth and decided to flee. He wanted to find his wife, and then the two of them would leave this place, go to the neighboring country, and live out the rest of their lives, returning only after the snow disaster here had ended.

Late at night, when everyone was asleep, Daniu quietly got up, opened the door, and immediately shivered as the cold wind blew on him. Gritting his teeth, he slipped into the snowstorm.

Mortal armies were stationed all around, but they ignored the fleeing commoners. They knew that staying here during such snowy days might offer a slim chance of survival, but leaving meant certain death.

Therefore, besides the Early Stage when the soldiers still maintained watch, during the Late Stage, they mostly let nature take its course. If someone wanted to seek death, they couldn't exactly stop them, could they?

Daniu slowly walked across the snowy plains, enduring the wind and snow. Although the world was vast, he felt as if he had nowhere to belong. Deep in the night, the cold wind intensified. As Daniu walked, he was suddenly tripped by something under his feet. The moment he fell, he gasped sharply, realizing that what had tripped him was not an object, but a frozen corpse.

The corpse had clearly not been dead long, as it hadn't been submerged by the heavy snow, but only covered by a thin layer. When Daniu fell, his face was extremely close to the corpse's purplish-black face.

His breath could even reach the corpse's face.

After a moment of shock, Daniu cried out and quickly scrambled to his feet and retreated. But immediately, he was tripped again. A chill rose in Daniu's heart. He looked carefully around and saw countless corpses scattered there… Daniu was a Mortal. The yearning for his wife, the death of the Zhou Family's Second Son, the despair for the future, and the fright of the moment caused him to completely break down.

He squatted on the snow, weeping bitterly once more.

After a long time, Daniu suddenly felt warmth spread through his body. Immediately afterward, a warm palm rested on his head and patted it gently.

“Daniu, don't be afraid.”

Daniu turned around and stared blankly at a young man who had appeared behind him without him noticing. This person looked much younger than Daniu, but his eyes revealed a sense of vicissitude.

This person was not unfamiliar to Daniu; he recognized him instantly as the Uncle Wang he had worried about so much.

However, this person's current appearance was completely different. Daniu looked at Wang Lin, and suddenly recalled the scene from his youth when he first opened the door to Wang Lin's shop and saw him.

Wang Lin at that time looked exactly the same as he did now.

“Uncle Wang…” Daniu hesitated for a moment and whispered. He vaguely felt that the uncle who had watched him grow up was no ordinary person. He paused, then whispered, “Are you… are you an Immortal?”

Wang Lin glanced around, finally resting his gaze on Daniu's face. He nodded gently and smiled, “Alright, Uncle Wang is here, so there's no need to be afraid. Come on, I'll take you to find your wife!”

Daniu felt as if he were dreaming at that moment. Wang Lin's image rapidly shifted in his mind, sometimes old, sometimes young. As the saying goes, appearance changes with the heart, and consequently, Daniu's expression was also volatile, showing a hint of panic.

Wang Lin sighed inwardly. He lightly tapped Daniu's head with his right hand, and Daniu immediately felt an irresistible wave of drowsiness wash over him. Slowly, he fell asleep.

Wang Lin waved his right hand, and a gentle light immediately enveloped Daniu. Then, Wang Lin moved, flying into the distance.

Thirty thousand miles away from this location, in an assembly point where Mortals were clearing snow, Wang Lin found Daniu's wife in the women's quarters. When Wang Lin had given them the wooden carvings, he had already left a trace of Divine Thought on them so he could sense them at any time and save their lives in a critical moment.

This was the cause that Wang Lin and Daniu had sown over thirty years, and he needed to help them resolve the resulting karma.

Taking Daniu and his wife, Wang Lin sped away, stopping at the border of the neighboring country. There were two light screens blocking the area between this place and the neighboring country: one belonging to his own country, and one belonging to the neighboring country.

Wang Lin put Daniu and his wife down, placed his right hand on the light screen, and poured out his spiritual power. Instantly, the two light screens seemed to be violently ripped apart, creating a passage wide enough for people to walk through.

Wang Lin sighed, reached out and tapped the heads of Daniu and his wife, then left a small bundle before turning and vanishing from the spot.

After a short while, Daniu groggily opened his eyes. He felt as if he had dreamt, seeing Uncle Wang, who, for some reason, looked exactly as he had when he was young.

He sighed, then suddenly stared blankly at the woman beside him. He cried out in surprise and quickly moved forward to push her a few times. After a moment, the woman opened her eyes. Seeing Daniu, she was also stunned, and then the two embraced and wept bitterly.

“Daniu, how did I get here? I remember falling asleep on the bunk in the house,” Daniu's wife asked after a few sobs.

Daniu remained silent for a moment. He looked up at the sky. After a long time, he sighed, knowing that it wasn't a dream, but reality. He gently hugged his wife, said nothing, but stood up, his gaze fixed on the passage in the distant light screen and the small bundle on the ground.

Opening the bundle, he saw that it contained a good amount of gold and silver. He pulled his wife, knelt in the direction of the Capital, and heavily kowtowed several times, silently saying in his heart, “Uncle Wang… thank you…”

He picked up the bundle, pulled his wife, and passed through the light screen, leaving the territory of the Four Sects Alliance. Not long after they left, Wang Lin appeared where the couple had knelt. He looked at the receding figures of Daniu and his wife, a hint of satisfaction in his eyes.

Using his Divine Sense, he had already detected a small border town not far into the neighboring country, accessible directly by following the main road. Daniu lived out the rest of his life there. Until his death, he could never forget the Uncle Wang who watched him grow up, but in this lifetime, he never had the chance to see Wang Lin again…