He Lan Tianxia

At the moment of the first wolf howl, Murong Junlan happened to see two blooming snow lotuses on the cliff, amidst the ice and snow. One was white and crystal clear, the other green as jade, and they were growing side by side. It seemed that these two twin snow lotuses were no ordinary things. Judging from their color, they were probably treasures formed from the spiritual energy of the snow-capped mountains accumulated over millions of years.

Murong Junlan immediately used his rock-climbing lightness skill to leap onto the cliff. He saw two snow lotus flowers surrounded by a faint wisp of spiritual energy, a delicate fragrance wafting out, instantly refreshing his mind and spirit. He reached out to pluck them when suddenly, a small golden-silver snake leaped from the snow lotus flowers and pounced straight at him. Murong Junlan shifted his foot back, his right hand flashing out two fingers, unleashing a dark energy slash at the small golden-silver snake. The snake shuddered, contracted its body, and then stretched out its head to pounce on Murong Junlan again.

"Good heavens, weren't you hibernating in this cold weather? You still have the energy to fight me." Murong Junlan took out a thin rope and used the Silver Ring Illusion to immobilize the little golden-silver snake. Then he plucked two snow lotus flowers and put them in his pouch. He threw the little golden-silver snake back to the snow lotus flowers, as if instructing a servant, "Guard it for me. Perhaps we'll meet again when the flowers bloom again." After saying that, Murong Junlan descended the cliff, leaving the little golden-silver snake, its face full of resentment, angrily baring its fangs and waving its tail.

Descending from the cliff, Murong Junlan unleashed his desert lightness skill to its fullest extent. Halfway down, he heard the howling of a pack of wolves. His heart skipped a beat, and he quickened his pace, managing to reach the place where the wolves and the three women were fighting in the time it takes to brew a cup of tea.

At this moment, the woman held the spear the little boy had given her, while the little boy himself used the tree branch and bow and arrows he had just cut as weapons. Although Lorina's whip was powerful, she was clearly exerting all her strength, and all three of them were badly injured.

Seeing the ferocious appearance of the dozen or so wolves, Murong Junlan gasped. Enraged, he drew his thin rope and charged towards the pack. The wolves, locked in fierce combat, were suddenly overwhelmed by this overwhelming aura, unable to breathe. By the time they tried to regroup and charge again, it was too late. Murong Junlan's killing move had already been unleashed; any wolves he touched were either killed or maimed. In a short while, the entire pack collapsed or died instantly.

Lorina was impressed by his skill and was about to thank him when she saw the newcomer and her eyes immediately lit up.

The little boy was different. Seeing the wolves fall one after another, he forgot his injuries and exhaustion and excitedly ran over to finish them off, shouting, "Let's see how strong you are now. Tonight, I'll roast you all and eat you."

The woman herself was not a martial artist; if it weren't for spending over a month running and jumping around with the little boy, she probably would have been eaten by wolves long ago. When she saw that the person who came was Murong Junlan, her tense nerves relaxed instantly. She had just called out "Your Highness" when everything went black, her legs went weak, and she truly fainted.

"Yan'er." Murong Junlan caught her just as she was about to fall, pulling her into his arms. A long-lost fragrance made Murong Junlan finally feel the reality of this moment. Murong Junlan recalled the terrifying scene just now. He couldn't imagine what would have happened if he had arrived even a moment later... His heart pounded in his chest. He stood in the snow, holding the woman, in a panic.

"Brother, is sister alright?" The little boy tugged at Murong Junlan's sleeve, bringing Murong Junlan back to reality.

Murong Junlan fed the woman a few pills, and also gave pills to Luo Rina and the little boy. Then he took out the light sheepskin coat that Jiang He had prepared for him from his bundle, carefully put it on the woman, and then picked her up to leave.

"Brother, where are you going?" The little boy was using a spear to carry two wolves, and he was struggling to lift another one onto his back, but the wolf just kept falling off.

"Go home." Murong Junlan took a long stride and walked forward.

"Brother, sister has been staying with us. Please let her heal before she leaves. It's not like we can get out of this snow mountain anytime soon." The little boy was reluctant to see the woman leave, but he had no other choice.

"Alright then." Murong Junlan thought for a moment and agreed. He turned to look at Luo Rina, who was standing there in a daze, and said, "You go and carry a wolf too."

"Why should I?" Luo Rina suddenly became angry when she saw the woman in Murong Junlan's arms.

"Just because he's younger than you, he can carry two. How can you, a grown man, not even carry one?"

Why don't you carry it?

"Are you really blind or just pretending? Didn't you see that I'm holding someone?" Murong Junlan replied confidently.

"Sister, why don't you take that one and feed it to the bear?"

"Feed a bear? Would I deliberately carry a wolf to feed a bear? Am I crazy?" Lorina put away her whip and walked forward on her own.

"Are you going to carry it or not?" Murong Junlan coldly asked from behind. "If you don't carry it, you won't be able to eat anything later."

"Why can she carry it, while I, a princess, have to carry a wolf?" Lorina said indignantly, pulling out her long whip, flicking it forward, lassoing the wolf, and pulling it along on the snow.

"Sister, you're so amazing!" The little boy struggled to carry the two wolves forward.

Taking advantage of the two men's inattention, Murong Junlan threw a net behind him, catching five wolves and pulling them along. Back at the cave entrance, the two men noticed that Murong Junlan had also brought back wolves. The little boy was overjoyed and dashed into the cave to share them with the bear.

"Do you usually live here?" Murong Junlan asked the excited little boy as he carried the woman into the cave.

“Yes, this is my sister’s bed.” The little boy pointed to the stone bed next to him and went over to straighten the wolf fur coat on it.

Murong Junlan felt a pang of heartache. He knew the woman had suffered greatly here, but he hadn't expected her to have nowhere to sleep. However, in this freezing cold, this might be the best situation. He placed the woman on the bed and instructed the little boy, "Bring some water."

"No." The little boy shook his head.

“She’s thirsty.” Murong Junlan frowned.

“Let’s drink bear’s milk,” the little boy replied matter-of-factly.

"How do you drink it?" Murong Junlan looked at the little boy with a blank expression.

"Just lie down."

"..." Murong Junlan sighed, "This is what you usually drink?"

“Yes.” The little boy blinked his innocent eyes. “Otherwise, we could go eat snow.”

Murong Junlan could no longer calm down. He looked around for something to hold water.

“This is no place for humans to live!” Lorina sat on the corner of the stone bed, looking at the bears with dissatisfaction and complaining, “There are even three wretched bears living here.”

"This was originally the bear's home. The bear saved me, and that's why we moved into their den," the little boy said, speaking up for the bear.

"Then we can't stay here any longer." Luo Rina angrily flicked her sleeve and walked towards the cave entrance. "I'm going to go out and find a decent stone cave."

"I'm afraid the cave hasn't even been found yet, and the person has already been carried off by wolves." Murong Junlan didn't want to cause any more trouble.

"Yes, yes, sister, have you forgotten about the wolf pack we just saw? If we hadn't met brother, we would probably all be eaten by the wolves by now."

“He didn’t save me.” When Luo Rina saw Murong Junlan still sitting on the stone bed, looking at the woman tenderly, a pang of bitterness welled up in her heart.

"Sister, shall we go roast some wolf meat? I'm hungry."

Hearing what the little boy said, Murong Junlan remembered that she still had roasted rabbit meat in her bundle. She immediately took it out and handed it to the little boy, saying, "Eat this first, and then roast some more."

"Mmm, it smells delicious. Sister, would you like some?" The little boy tore off a rabbit leg and handed it to Lorina.

"I won't eat it. This princess doesn't eat food offered with contempt," Lorina said stubbornly, but her stomach rumbled loudly at that moment.

"Sister, are you hungry?" The little boy blinked at Lorina while eating rabbit meat.

"You're eating, why are you talking so much?" Luo Rina was actually very hungry.

"You all stay here, I'm going out for a bit." Murong Junlan was too lazy to pay attention to Luo Rina and the little boy's bickering. He had important matters to attend to, so he left the stone cave alone.

As soon as Murong Junlan left, Luo Rina took a piece of roasted meat and started eating. The little boy watched Luo Rina eat and suddenly laughed. After finishing the roasted meat, the little boy began to butcher and roast the wolf.

Murong Junlan went into the woods, cut down trees, and made several wooden spoons, bowls, cups, plates, and a small wooden bucket. Then he found a large, round rock with a concave center to hold water. He worked for several hours, and seeing that the sun was already setting, he took his things back to the cave. By then, the woman had woken up and was roasting wolf meat with Luo Rina and the little boy in a nearby cave.

Murong Junlan walked over, put the stone down, and then took out a bunch of wooden things he had just made from the tub. He said to the woman, "Awake? See which one you like. I just made it."

"Your Highness, I didn't know you could do this." The woman picked up the cup and looked it over from left to right.

The little boy brought Murong Junlan a roasted wolf leg, then grabbed a wooden cup with his greasy hands and said excitedly, "I like this. Brother, you're amazing! Besides your martial arts skills, you're also great at making wooden buckets. So you're a carpenter, right?"

Upon hearing this, the woman's smile froze instantly. She thought to herself, "Xiong Bao, Xiong Bao, how come a prince who leads troops into battle has become a carpenter in your eyes?" Just as she was about to give Xiong Bao a hint, she heard Murong Junlan reply:

"Yes, I am a carpenter."

"Hmm?" This is so unlike Murong Junlan. Why is he being so easy to get along with today?

"Look carefully, each item has a name on it, don't use them all together." Murong Junlan picked out two sets of tableware engraved with the characters "Yan" and "Lan", and gave the other two sets to the little boy and Luo Rina.

"Why don't my name and his name have any?" Lorina was unhappy again, seeing only the numbers "1" and "2" engraved on the rest.

"I don't know your names?" Murong Junlan glanced at Yan'er, completely disregarding the two of them.

"Brother, my name is Xiong Bao. My sister gave me this name. Does it sound nice?"

“It sounds good. Anything that my sister names sounds good.” Murong shamelessly echoed.

“Didn’t I already tell you? My name is Lorina,” Lorina retorted.

"I forgot," Murong Junlan said calmly.

"You?" Lorina was furious. She threw down the cup and stormed out of the cave.

"Sister, I'll pick cup number one, and you'll be number two."

"You're number two."

"...?" The little boy, not knowing why Luo Rina was angry, chased after her with the cup in his hand.