He Lan Tianxia

Lorina was struggling against five wolves, a task easily handled by her. After an hour, the wolves' attacks gradually weakened. Lorina looked around, blinked, and looked again—her eyes weren't deceiving her. Where were the people? Where were the wolves? All she saw was a vast, desolate expanse of snow; there was nothing there.

"Bear Baby, come out!" Luo Rina shouted into the cave. The little boy ran out, carrying the newly cut stick from last time.

"Sister Luo."

"..." When did the way of address change? She didn't know that Murong Junlan had secretly instructed Xiong Bao to add the surname when calling Luo Rina, so as not to confuse them. But she couldn't care less about such details. "Can you and Xiong handle these wolves?"

"Yes, Sister Luo," the little boy said, patting his chest.

"Alright then, be careful. My brother the prince is missing, I need to go there right away." Before she finished speaking, Luo Rina's figure had already leaped more than ten feet away.

The woman also came out of the cave with a small bow and arrow, and together with the little boy and the bear, they fought off the five wolves.

Meanwhile, Prince Murong Junlan was fighting against over thirty wolves single-handedly, the battle evenly matched. He wanted to lure the wolves further away, reducing their threat to the women. So he sheathed his spear, feigning defeat and fleeing. The wolves, as expected, fell for the trap and gave chase. Just as Murong Junlan was secretly pleased, he lost his footing and plummeted downwards. Oh no, he'd fallen into a trap! If Murong Junlan knew that he himself had dug this trap in his past life, complete with insurmountable obstacles, he would surely be furious. Meanwhile, the old man hiding in the treasure room was laughing so hard his teeth were practically falling off.

Murong Junlan dared not be careless, for the wolves had all fallen into the trap. He was now shoulder to shoulder and back to back with them, able to hear their breathing. He knew how dangerous his situation was, and to make matters worse, the climbing obstacles in the trap prevented him from using any leverage. The "hurricane vortex" technique mentioned in the desert escape manual flashed through his mind—using the force of the sand to pull himself out of the sand pit. But there was no sand here, making it difficult to gather that force. There was no time to consider whether this tactic would work; the wolves had already bared their sharp teeth at him.

Murong Junlan dared not be distracted. He took a deep breath, the contents of the secret manual flashing through his mind, and leaped out of the wolf pack. Unexpectedly, he accidentally bumped into a climbing obstacle and fell down with a "thud," landing squarely on a wolf's head. Enraged, the wolf turned and retaliated. Murong Junlan hurriedly lowered his spear, assuming an inverted hook position. He looked down and saw dozens of pairs of wolf eyes below, radiating a vicious and greedy bestial light. The rows of sharp teeth made Murong Junlan feel the threat to his life and his vulnerability for the first time in his life.

"Stay calm, he had to stay calm, Yan'er and the others are waiting for him." Just then, he heard Luo Rina's shout. Murong Junlan frowned, wondering what that woman was doing here, just causing trouble. "Huh, Luo Rina's coming over, where are Yan'er and the others? Are they in danger?" Murong Junlan felt a surge of anxiety, and immediately focused his energy in his dantian, unleashing a 360-degree "Hurricane Vortex" technique. Instantly, the obstacles in the cave crashed down, and the resulting hurricane forced the wolves to duck for cover. Murong Junlan used the hurricane to spin his way out of the trap. Just then, Luo Rina's whip lashed out at him as he emerged from the cave.

"You're courting death!" Fortunately, the whip's internal force was limited. Murong Junlan dodged the whip to the side and stood on top of the trap. Luo Rina, preoccupied with the hurricane, was startled to see Murong Junlan and lost her footing, screaming as she fell into the trap. In a flash, Murong Junlan reached out and grabbed the other end of the whip. With a shout of "Hold on tight!", he pulled her back from the brink of falling into the wolf pack. Luo Rina, lying on the snow, was pale with fright. Just as she was about to say thank you, Murong Junlan had already dashed towards the cave. Luo Rina got up, angrily kicking away a pile of snow in front of her.

Murong Junlan rushed back to the cave and saw that three of the five wolves had already been killed, with the remaining two still fighting desperately. A little boy was gripping a long stick, desperately trying to defend himself, and the bear had several wounds bleeding. Where was Yan'er? Murong Junlan's heart leaped into his throat. He was about to go and ask the little boy when he saw Yan'er chasing a cub out of the cave. Just as Yan'er pounced on the ground and grabbed the cub, the wolves noticed. They abandoned the bear and the little boy, turning to attack the cub and the woman. Murong Junlan was terrified and thrust his spear forward. Seeing the wolf attacking the cub, the bear stepped in front of the cub and the woman, and the wolf's gaping maw snapped into the bear, instantly tearing flesh apart.

Murong Junlan's spear arrived instantly, and the wolf died immediately. Murong Junlan turned and killed the remaining wolf with a single thrust of his spear, then quickly went to the woman's side, helped her up, and asked with concern, "Are you hurt?"

"No. Your Highness, the bear is injured." The woman touched the injured bear. "Your Highness, please treat the bear's wounds."

"Hmm." Murong Junlan took out a small bag from his pocket, from which he took out seven or eight bottles of gunpowder and handed them to the woman, saying, "Will this work?" He personally unscrewed the caps and applied the medicine to the bear, with the woman helping him. The bear gratefully nuzzled the woman with its head, a tender gesture that made Murong Junlan feel a pang of jealousy. There was still one bottle of medicine left to apply, but he suddenly pulled the woman's hand and led her into the cave.

"There's one bottle left," the woman reminded them.

"enough."

The woman seemed to sense something was wrong with Murong Junlan, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. Then she heard Murong Junlan say, "I am also injured."

"Your Highness, where are you injured?" The woman hurriedly searched Murong Junlan's body, but couldn't find any injuries. "Where is the wound?"

"Internal injuries." Murong Junlan clutched his chest, looking pained. "I almost got eaten by the wolves when I fell into their trap."

Falling into a pack of wolves? A near-death experience? The woman's mouth dropped open in shock. She could imagine the danger of the situation and asked anxiously, "Are you badly injured?"

"Take this to make tea." Murong Junlan felt much better seeing the woman's concern for him. He took out the remaining half of the snow lotus from his pocket. "I need to lie down for a while."

"Your Highness, please lie down and rest. I'll go make some tea with Xiong Bao right away."

Murong Junlan watched the woman's anxious figure, a pleasant smile curving his lips. While waiting to be taken care of, Murong Junlan lay there quietly, staring blankly at the cave wall. Bored, he noticed some stone carvings on the cave wall. The carvings contained no words, only images, one after another, totaling twenty-four. At the end were a few words, which, upon closer inspection, could be vaguely discerned: "The Lazy Man's Manual."

Murong Junlan started circulating his qi from the first picture and practiced it all the way through. He was able to circulate the qi in his Ren and Du meridians in one go and control it freely. He repeated this five or six times. His body felt like it was being refreshed by a gentle breeze, his mind was clear and his body felt warm.

"So it's a secret recipe for keeping warm and nourishing the body," Murong Junlan thought to himself. Since there's such a recipe, could practicing it a few more times make him immune to the cold? Thinking this, Murong Junlan secretly began to circulate his qi. Wait, something's wrong! His body seems to be out of control; he's floating, his whole body is floating! No, he's buoyant! What to do, what to do? If someone comes in and sees him making a fool of himself like this, where will he put his face as a prince? His lifelong reputation will be ruined. His eyes quickly searched the cave wall for a solution, but there was nothing. Oh dear, now that he's floating up to the top and can touch the cave wall, how do he get down? He reached out and pushed against the cave wall above him; he stopped, but remained still, not falling down. He couldn't muster any strength at all. Just then, Luo Rina's noisy voice came in.

"Where is your Prince Murong? Where did he hide? He left me all alone in the snow. What kind of man is he?"

"The prince is injured." It was a woman's voice.

"He's injured? Hmph, he's just a little frightened at most."

"Yes, yes, it's an internal injury."

"What about others?"

"Inside the cave."

Luo Rina stormed in, fuming, "Where is everyone?"

"Huh, it was lying right here."

"Let me remind you, don't be fooled by his serious demeanor; he might not be a good person and has no compassion whatsoever." After saying this, Luo Rina went outside the cave to settle scores with someone.

"It seems Your Highness has offended Luo Rina." The woman shrugged helplessly and left.

Murong Junlan was just relieved when the woman called in the large bear that had just finished eating.

"My beloved concubine, could you please give me some peace and quiet and leave now?" Murong Junlan had no one to vent his frustrations to, and he inwardly groaned. The woman then squatted down and spoke with the bear for a while before going out to prepare the medicine.

Murong Junlan was truly frustrated. He couldn't very well ask Yan'er to pull him down with a rope, could he? He simply moved his body to the last picture and surprisingly saw two lines of small text in the lower right corner: "The feeling of floating is beautiful, but the way you fall is pathetic." Damn it, this must be some lesson from a predecessor. Hmm, if you can fall, there must be a way to fall. Floating, falling? If practicing from the left makes you float, then practicing from the right might make you fall. Murong Junlan concentrated, one, two, three… He fell, he fell, he really fell. This man, who rarely showed joy or sorrow even when leading hundreds of thousands of troops, actually smiled at this moment. Meanwhile, the old man who created the "Lazy Man's Secret Manual" was in the treasure room, watching Murong Junlan's blunder with great amusement and laughter.

Indeed, revenge is not something that will never be taken, but rather that the time has not yet come. In his previous life, he was imprisoned here for more than three months by Murong Junlan for embezzling grain supplies. With nothing to do, he came up with this secret manual and went to great lengths to carve those pictures onto the cave walls. He was determined to play a trick on Murong Junlan, but unexpectedly, the border was in dire need of help, and Murong Junlan went to guard the border. Later, a bear moved into the cave.

"Your Highness, the medicinal tea is here."

Murong Junlan was just one meter away from falling back onto the bed when he heard the woman's voice. So he risked speeding up the remaining three unfinished diagrams, causing his internal energy to surge wildly. With a "thud," Murong Junlan crashed heavily onto the stone bed, his bones shattering.

"Your Highness, what's wrong?" The woman only heard the voice and didn't know what had happened, but she saw beads of sweat on Murong Junlan's forehead and his face contorted in pain. She guessed his internal injuries had flared up, so she hurriedly helped him up to drink some medicinal tea. Murong Junlan drank it while muttering to himself, "Did I just ask for trouble? I wasn't injured before, but now I really have internal injuries."