Just as she was about to get up, Mu Fengting grabbed her with his other hand and said, "It's just a minor injury, don't go back and risk it." His tone had changed from gentle and warm to somewhat forceful. After saying that, he used his left hand to wring the water off his clothes and sprinkled it onto his right palm.
Mo Xi sighed, "Alright then." Fortunately, the water that was wrung out looked clean.
After rinsing the dirt off his palms, she gently used a needle to remove the debris, then applied wound medicine and carefully wrapped it with gauze.
Mu Fengting turned his bandaged hand over and smiled, praising, "Not bad." After a pause, he added, "I really admire you. You made a decisive move, even willing to throw away a peerless sword like Cheng Ying."
Mo Xi sighed, her face contorted with distress. "I went through so much trouble to get to Mount Shu and finally obtained Cheng Ying, only to lose it myself. I don't even know if I can find it again after leaving it in that desolate wilderness amidst the swirling snow. Besides, since there was an avalanche there, the chance of another one is very high. If I go back to look for it, I'll be taking a huge risk."
At this point, in a flash, a possibility occurred to her, and she looked up at Mu Fengting with a serious expression.
Mu Fengting seemed to be struck by a thought and decisively asked, "Do you suspect that Qu Yao deliberately led us down this path?"
Mo Xi nodded and said, "Yes. He brought up the snow lotus himself, and he provided the route. And don't you think he was acting very strangely today? He actually asked us to leave, as if he knew what was going to happen."
Mu Fengting pondered for a moment and said, "The only thing that doesn't make sense is how he could have predicted the occurrence of the Snow Quicksand."
Mo Xi nodded and said, "Yes, even if he knew that route was prone to avalanches, how could he have predicted that we would run into it?"
Mu Fengting said, "He wants to get rid of us. Could it be related to Luo Heng's death? Or is it because he's unwilling to give Chengying to you?"
Mo Xi frowned and said, "It's strange. Since He Qun entrusted Cheng Ying to Qu Yao as the successor to the sect leader in order to revitalize the Shu Mountain Sect, there's no reason for him to give the sword to an outsider like me now. Could it be that he has some dissatisfaction with Qu Yao and is using this to imply his abdication? But given He Qun's influential position in Shu Mountain, wouldn't it be easy for him to depose Qu Yao and establish a new sect leader? Why would he need to go through someone else?"
Mu Fengting said, "Miss, you may not know this, but the founding patriarch of the Shu Mountain Sect once established a rule that once the sect leader is appointed, he cannot be removed unless he betrays the sect or voluntarily abdicates. Even the previous sect leader, no matter how virtuous and respected he was, cannot be removed."
Mo Xi thought to herself: "Such a good thing! That means the position of Shushan Sect Leader is a lifelong, secure job, just like a judge on the US Supreme Court. Unlike her profession, which is not only high-risk but also lacks social status. It's truly infuriating to compare oneself to others. If that's really the case, then He Qun, that cunning old fox, dared to use her as a pawn. It's no wonder Lin Xi fell for someone else."
Mo Xi suppressed her intense resentment towards He Qun and calmly said, "In any case, let's find a way to get out first."
Mu Fengting nodded.
The two began to practice their internal energy while seated.
After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, white smoke began to rise from their bodies, caused by the heat generated as their internal energy circulated throughout their bodies. After another cup of tea, their clothes were finally completely dried.
Mo Xi felt refreshed and stopped adjusting her breathing for the time being, since the worst thing in practicing internal energy is to be impatient for quick results.
Suddenly she noticed a transparent corner appearing on the icicle in front of her, as if there was something inside. Perhaps the heat from their practice melted the frost covering the icicle, revealing its original transparency.
She stood up and examined the ice pillar in front of her closely. She gathered her inner energy in her palm and brushed away the fine frost on the surface of the ice pillar. There was indeed something inside!
It looked like a child's corpse, but for some reason it was dressed in adult clothes.
At this moment, Mu Fengting had also finished his practice and stepped forward, saying, "Be careful, I'll take care of it."
Mo Xi shook her head and said, "It's nothing." She took out her dagger and plunged it hard into the outermost layer of ice on the icicle. Instantly, the ice cap cracked open with a spiderweb-like pattern. Mo Xi continued to exert force, and the cracks gradually widened until finally, with a crisp sound, the entire ice cap collapsed completely, revealing what was inside.
It was indeed a corpse, but her appearance no longer resembled a human; she looked more like a doll. Mo Xi touched it; her skin was dry and hard like leather.
Mo Xi said softly, "This corpse is dressed in the clothes of an adult woman, and her hairpins and ornaments are still intact, so she should be an adult. The body has shrunk so much, which is probably due to severe dehydration in a short period of time." Mo Xi knew that refrigerators had a dehumidifying effect, and this place was like a huge icebox, with the icicle containing the corpse acting like an ice coffin, so the dehumidifying effect was self-evident. Two mountaineering enthusiasts once discovered a corpse in the French Alps, which scientists determined to be a human from 5,000 years ago. Like the female corpse in front of them, the body was severely shrunken, but the personal belongings were intact. However, in this situation, it is difficult to determine the time of death by simply observing the appearance of the corpse. Because under the condition of low temperature and dehydration, a person's appearance will not change much even after several years or even decades. We can only roughly determine the year of death from her clothing.
Mu Fengting said, "Judging from the style of her clothes, she should be from this dynasty. Her hairpins and flowers are not expensive, so she must be a woman from an ordinary family. Her clothes are very neatly arranged, as if someone specially buried her here to maintain her posthumous honor."
Suddenly, as if he saw something, he moved with lightning speed to brush away the shards of ice from the woman's body and took it off.
Mo Xi was also taken aback when she saw this. The two exchanged a glance and both understood.
Mu Fengting carefully put the item into his bosom.
Mo Xi said, "Since she could be buried here, it means that this place was originally connected to the outside world. It's a pity that so many years have passed and it has been sealed off."
Mu Fengting said, "It's about time to break the ice wall. Please lend me your help, young lady."
Mo Xi nodded and said, "My internal strength is inferior to yours, but there is one thing in which I am better than you."
Seeing her sly smile, Mu Fengting knew she had another trick up her sleeve, and said with a smile, "Please, young lady, don't hesitate to teach me."
Mo Xi took out a tinderbox, unwrapped the remaining gauze roll, lit the bottom, held the top, and selected a spot on the ice wall that appeared to be relatively thin. He brought the fire close to the ice wall but didn't press it against it. He was actually planning to melt the ice wall with fire.
Mu Fengting said, "It's a pity the gauze roll is too short, otherwise we wouldn't have had to put in any effort at all."
Mo Xi replied calmly, "If you're willing to take off your clothes and burn them, that's not impossible."
Mu Fengting was speechless for a moment, touched his nose, and remained silent. He had seen his fair share of bold women, but she was different; she spoke with such nonchalance, and every word was true. She was the first woman to silence him with just a few words.
The gauze quickly burned out. The ice wall was finally melted, revealing a pit about the length of a tiger's mouth.
Next, Mo Xi took out a dagger and started chiseling at the bottom of the pit. After chiseling for about half an hour, although there was no sign of it being broken through, it was still quite a bit of progress.
Mu Fengting said, "I'll take care of the rest. You can rest for a while."
Mo Xi's hands were really sore, so she happily handed over the task.
Mu Fengting, after all, had slightly superior internal strength compared to Mo Xi, and was also more adept at undermining others and digging tunnels, so progress was rapid. In less than half an hour, victory was in sight.
He had just chipped off a small piece of ice when suddenly the ice mirror made a "crackling" sound and quickly began to crack radially.
Seeing this, Mo Xi shouted, "Oh no! The whole thing is going to collapse!" Such a thick block of ice falling down is no joke, and it could very well trap the two of them inside the cave!
work together
( ) The two watched helplessly as cracks rapidly spread, some even reaching the icicles hanging overhead. In an instant, more than a dozen ice spikes fell and struck the two of them.
The two could only use their light-footed skills to dodge and weave through the cave. Of course, this is a literary embellishment; in reality, they simply fled in panic.
Mo Xi glanced at the sky above, then at the ice mirror, and felt a chill run down her spine. She exchanged a look with Mu Fengting. Both understood that their survival depended entirely on which part collapsed first. If it was the dense mass of ice blades hanging overhead, they would be sitting ducks, their only fate being to be riddled with arrows. If the ice mirror collapsed first, whether it would leave them a way out or simply block the exit and bury them alive remained uncertain. But in any case, the latter scenario offered at least a glimmer of hope.
Mo Xi shouted, "Waiting like this is tantamount to sitting and waiting for death! Break out!"
Mu Fengting said, "Alright! Let's work together to break the ice wall!"