The Gusu Mistake - Chapter 51

Fortunately, while the Extreme Cold Abyss seemed like a far-fetched legend from ancient texts, the records contained detailed descriptions. Jiang Yilan and Yuan ruo set out from the Jiang family manor, traveling at a rapid pace, and reached the foot of the mountain in three days.

“Is the Extreme Cold Abyss really at the top of this mountain?” Yuan ruo asked Jiang Yilan.

Jiang Yilan wasn’t sure herself. “I don’t know, let’s go up and see!”

“Alright!” Yuan ruo agreed, and together they began their ascent. At first, it wasn’t too bad, just less hot than at the bottom of the mountain. But as they climbed higher, it grew colder and colder.

“It’s so cold here!” Jiang Yilan hugged herself. “How can it feel like winter in June?”

“Since it’s called the Extreme Cold Abyss, there must be a reason for it,” Yuan ruo said, moving closer to Jiang Yilan and huddling with her. “Can you hold on? If you can’t, maybe we should first…”

“I can hold on!” Jiang Yilan interrupted Yuan ruo. “If we go back down and come again, it will take too long. I’m just worried about my father!”

“Sigh.” It was hard to argue against filial piety, so Yuan ruo said no more. She just activated her inner heart-fire to warm herself while staying close to Jiang Yilan to give her some warmth as they continued their journey.

“You…” Jiang Yilan looked at Yuan ruo as a gentle warmth flowed into her body.

“As a cultivator, I must have some special abilities!” Yuan ruo chuckled lightly. “Let’s go. I can’t keep this up forever either!”

Jiang Yilan pursed her lips, and a flicker of sweetness quietly crossed her eyes as she focused on the path ahead.

“Yilan, we’ve reached the mountaintop!” Yuan ruo exclaimed with joy when they finally arrived.

A look of delight also appeared on Jiang Yilan’s face. “We finally made it!”

But Yuan ruo’s smile quickly faded. “But… where is the Extreme Cold Abyss?”

Jiang Yilan’s smile disappeared as well. She looked left and right, but saw no sign of a watery abyss. “Let’s go look for it!”

“Okay!” Yuan ruo agreed. The two of them, trudging through thick snow and braving the cold wind, searched the mountaintop for a while but found nothing.

“Sigh!” Jiang Yilan felt as if all her strength had been drained. “Could the Extreme Cold Abyss… really not exist?”

“Don’t worry,” Yuan ruo comforted Jiang Yilan. “Since the ancient text described it, it can’t be a baseless rumor. Let’s keep looking!”

Jiang Yilan looked up at the sky. “But we’ve already searched the whole mountaintop. Where else could it be?”

“Wait a minute!” Yuan ruo suddenly looked to the side, at a large depression amidst the vast expanse of snow. “The mountaintop is cold and covered in snow year-round. Even if there was an abyss, it would surely have been frozen long ago!”

Hearing this, Jiang Yilan’s eyes lit up. “Are you saying…”

“Look over there!” Yuan ruo pointed to the area and called for Jiang Yilan to look.

Jiang Yilan looked for a moment, then walked over.

“This is… an ice surface?” Stepping onto the area, Jiang Yilan realized it wasn’t snow, but thick ice.

Yuan ruo said, “This ice surface is so large; it must be the so-called Extreme Cold Abyss!”

“But if this is it,” Jiang Yilan looked around, “where is the Ice Toad?”

“The Ice Toad is a living creature. It can’t be frozen under the ice,” Yuan ruo thought for a moment, drew her longsword, and struck a slightly raised spot.

Clang! The sword hitting the ice created a sharp sound, but it also cracked open a small fissure. At the same time, a trace of crimson blood seeped out.

Jiang Yilan’s eyes widened at the sight of the red stain. She quickly rushed over to look, only to see a small creature that had been split in two. “An Ice Toad…”

“What?” Yuanruo crouched down and saw the two halves of a toad-like creature lying there. She was immediately at a loss for words. “Yilan, I…”

Jiang Yilan’s lips trembled. “The Ice Toad is dead!”

“I’m sorry, Yilan. I…” Having caused trouble twice in such a short time, Yuan ruo didn’t know what else to say.

“Father…” A tear slid down Jiang Yilan’s cheek. Her heartbroken expression made Yuan ruo even more panicked.

“Yilan…”

“It’s not your fault!” After a long time, Jiang Yilan wiped away the tears that had dried on her face. “It’s a calamity that my Jiang family was meant to suffer.”

“Yilan…” Yuan ruo tried to help her up, but was pushed away.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for me, but now… I want to walk alone,” Jiang Yilan said, and started heading down the mountain.

“Wait!” Yuan ruo blocked Jiang Yilan’s path. “We don’t have to leave yet!”

Jiang Yilan looked up with tear-filled eyes. “What else can we do besides going back?”

Yuan ruo quickly said, “I killed one Ice Toad, but the ancient text didn’t say there was only one here. Why don’t we look again?”

Hope instantly reignited in Jiang Yilan’s eyes. “That’s right, there might be more than one Ice Toad here!”

Yuan ruo looked around. “Come, let’s search again. We will surely find another one!”

However, the search for a second Ice Toad was not smooth. They scoured the entire Extreme Cold Abyss but couldn’t find any trace of one. What’s worse, because of her thin clothing, Jiang Yilan’s lips began to turn purple, and she was clearly not doing well.

“Yilan!” Yuan ruo worried about Jiang Yilan. “Why don’t you go down the mountain first, and I’ll continue searching here? Once I find it, I’ll meet up with you!”

But Jiang Yilan refused to go. “No, I have to find it. If I don’t, I won’t go back!”

“You…” Yuan ruo had no choice but to continue looking for the Ice Toad. Finally, she saw another raised area similar to the one she had broken before. “Yilan, over here!”

Jiang Yilan rushed over at the sound of her voice. She didn’t dare to strike it with her sword again, but instead used her sleeve dagger to carefully dig it out bit by bit. Sure enough, she found a small Ice Toad nestled inside.

“Finally, we found it!” The moment she held the Ice Toad in her hand, Jiang Yilan wept with joy. “My father is saved!”

“Since we’ve found the Ice Toad, let’s hurry back!” Yuan ruo suggested.

“Okay!” After securing the Ice Toad, the two of them went down the mountain, still traveling at a hurried pace, taking another three days to get back. However, when they arrived at the Jiang family manor, they were met with utter devastation. Jiang Zhen and the other elders of the Jiang clan were all lying in pools of blood. The entire Jiang family had been massacred.

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