That, can we light a torch?"

Chapter 32

The tip of the high canyon was hidden in a blizzard, the dark, steep rock walls were piled high with snow, and the sky was a deep, gray color with very little visibility.

The passage below the canyon was slender and rugged, and equally covered with snow.

Wind whistling, a few people in the snow trudging, leaving footprints in a few seconds was swallowed up, disappeared in the vast snowy night.

They didn't use any light sources.

After all, it's not just cold temperatures that are dangerous in the frozen valley in the middle of the night.

Shi An was cowering in her thick snowsuit, wrapped up in an airtight package.

Furry rabbit earmuffs on the head, the whole face is frozen red, long eyelashes condensed white snow frost, along with blinking, falling a little half-melted ice beads.

It's cold ...... This is too cold ......

Shi An's head felt a little slowed down by the cold, and although the steps under her feet were still moving, they were more like subconscious mechanical movements, making regular crunching sounds.

Although, at his strong request, the crowd had dinner at the hotel.

But the heat was so insignificant that it was dispersed by the cold soon after entering the canyon.

--That elfin treasure better really have a lot of it!

Shi An thought viciously.

At that moment, a shadow suddenly swept across the sky above, and the aura of a demonic creature struck.

"Prepare to meet."

Wang Li cautiously lowered his upper body to the rest of the team.

A flock of bird-like fiends flew low over their heads, the sound of their wings flapping echoing across the empty valley, and a pair of scarlet eyes looked especially eerie in the darkness.

Everyone was on alert, pulling out their weapons.

Shi An, frozen in a trance, subconsciously raised her eyes in the direction the voice came from.

"Snap-snap-snap-" The sound of wings flapping suddenly became chaotic.

A commotion surged through the swarms of demons, a few crows cawed, and immediately afterward, they panicked, reversed their direction, and fled as if into the distance.

It looks as if it's being chased by a ghost.

The number of people poised below:"......"

????

What's going on?

We haven't even met the battle yet. Why are you running away?

Gazing at the direction where the demons disappeared, Wang Li remained silent for a long time and guessed, "Maybe ...... they saw food somewhere else?"

The other three: "......"

On this blustery day, where else would there be better food but for a few of them?

But they couldn't seem to think of any other explanation than that, so they had to call it quits.

"Let's go." Wang Li withdrew his weapon.

It was at this point that he felt a sudden tug on his cuffs.

Wang Li was stunned and turned back.

Only Shi An stood behind himself, tugging at the corner of his sleeve with a thick, fuzzy gloved hand, the tip of his nose red from the cold, making his snow-white skin and dark eyes appear more and more obvious.

He sniffled and asked miserably, "So, can we light a torch?"

Looking at the young man with a hopeful face in front of him, Wang Li could not help but feel a little soft.

But he still sighed, shook his head, and said, "Lighting torches in the canyon at night is just too dangerous, it's like a living target, and we're defending ourselves against more than just demonic attacks."

Shi An lowered her eyes in disappointment.

Wang Li did not have the heart to comfort:

"Don't worry, it's not that far, at the rate we're going, we should be there in six hours tops."

Shi An looked up hopefully, "How much longer then?"

Wang Li : "...... five and a half hours."

"......" Shi An instantly blacked out.

What? We've only been walking for half an hour?

Hidden in Shi An's sleeve, also shivering from the cold, the Demon Worm encouraged Shi An with its consciousness, "Come on, my lord! You can do it!"

Shi An replied in exasperation, "That's easy for you to say, I'd like to be small enough to be tucked up my sleeve!"

Sensing Shi An's resentment, the Demon Worm didn't dare to squeak.

It sighed and shrunk itself smaller again - who would have thought Shi An's body temperature could be so low? It was still so cold, even tucked into its sleeve!

For the first time, the Demon Worm actually envied the black smoke that had been left at home.

Shi An followed Wang Li's lead and asked:

"So, what if I encounter a demon and I light a fire on them? That shouldn't matter, right?"

How is ...... a weird description?

Wang Li thought for a moment and said, "That can't be helped, after all, our lives are still more important than our whereabouts, and if it comes to that kind of time, it's natural that we have to use all means to ensure survival."

Shi An posthumously raised her eyes and looked in the direction where the group of bird-like demons had just disappeared.

...... So angry!

Live firewood! Just run away!

For the rest of the journey, Shi An kept his aura tight, hoping to encounter a few unintended demons that attacked him.

But, for some reason, in the next two whole hours, half a shadow of a demon was not seen.

Shi An followed listlessly at the far end of the line, her eyelids already fighting.

Influenced by her residual cold-bloodedness, Shi An tends to get sleepy when it's cold.

Little by little, his head went, and his pace subconsciously slowed.

Ah ...... so tempted to hibernate.

The only motivation that supported him to move forward now was that legendary elven treasure.

Suddenly, the snowdrift in front of them moved suddenly, so little that one almost suspected that one was hallucinating because one's vision had been affected by the wind and snow.

"Wait! Stop!"

Wang Li immediately stopped the procession.

Everyone was pumped up and watching ahead warily.

The snowdrifts became more pronounced, and it was no longer possible to explain them at all by eye-rolling.

--Only the thick snow rose higher and higher, gradually revealing its massive form.

A hint of greenish-purple muscle hung from the morose white skeleton, dark flames burned deep in the black sockets of its eyes, and thick snow clumped over its body, fluttering down with the movement.

Wang Li's heart instantly tightened.

Crap, it's a necromantic species of demon!

Due to the fact that there was once an abyssal rift, the darkness that tainted this land could not dissipate for several years, so it attracted many demons of the necromantic species in addition to those adapted to the harsh climate.

These demons prowl at night and are drawn to them once they see light, or smell the living breath of humans.

They have no intelligence, can't feel pain, and won't stop hunting as long as they recognize their prey.

There was no way to kill them other than light-based spells, and at most they could only slow down their movements, making them very difficult to deal with.

That's why Wang Li was initially reluctant to operate at night.

But he didn't expect that after deliberately restraining his breath and eliminating all light, he would actually attract this skeleton horse!

"Stall it!" Wang Li looked towards Wu Huancheng and gave the order in a concise and hasty manner.

He turned his head and shouted to the rest of the group, "Let's go another way!"

In the snowy night, Wu Huancheng's light-based spells lit up like the only beacon in a boundless chaos.

The skeletal horse turned its head, a pair of black sockets gazing at the divine aura of light not far away, the bones in its body colliding with a numbing click.

The kind of chilling cold that seemed to be able to penetrate into the depths of the soul met his face.

The pressure on Wu Huancheng has increased.

He frowned tightly as the light emanating from his light-based spells intensified.

The skeletal horse in front of him looked even taller and more gruesome in the dark night.

It seemed to try to get closer, but flinched at the light-based magic, stamping the ground with all four hooves, thrashing greedily and restlessly.

The atmosphere was tense and on edge.

"You guys go first!" Wu Huancheng called out.

In the midst of the chaos, Shi An raised his eyes a little sluggishly.

The bones of the skeleton in the distance were white and stood out in the murky darkness of the night -

Firewood! It's firewood!

Shi An's eyes lit up.

He walked up against the direction, one hard step at a time.

Wang Li, who was retreating towards the distance, suddenly realized that something was wrong, and he turned his head just in time to see Shi An, who was heading towards the Skeleton Horse.

In the wind and snow, he shouted, "Shi An! Come back-"

Wu Huancheng turned his head at the words and immediately saw Shi An who appeared not far behind him.

Only a small cluster of orange-red flames rose from the center of the other man's furry glove, looking tiny and soft.

"This kind of demon is not afraid of fire!" Wu Huancheng exclaimed anxiously.

Undead magical creatures only fear the light system, and all other magical powers do not work on them.

Shi An blinks with a puzzled look:

"Eh? No?"

The skeletal horse in front of him suddenly raised its front hooves violently and let out a neigh!

The next second, the wind and snow as if living things as violent points, whistling sound sharp to as if able to cut through the eardrums, a few people had to prostrate on the ground, so as not to be involved in the horror of the hurricane.

Strong winds raised an endless blizzard that obscured the view as if it were a shroud.

Can't see a thing.

The hearts of the crowd sank.

The ones that would use other powers to bring down their opponents were definitely not ordinary undead demons.

Wu Huancheng struggled to maintain the light of the spell, the fragile walls braced around his body as the only narrow eye of the wind untouched by the storm.

He craned his head to look for Shi An, but couldn't find the other man anywhere.

Immediately afterward, an ear-piercing roar suddenly rang out in front of him!

Wu Huancheng froze.

In the very near distance, fluffy flames suddenly pierced through the darkness of the night and then exploded precipitously!

Accompanied by the howling of the gusts of wind, there were like fiery snakes circling and flying in the air.

That extreme searing heat instantly closed in on the eyes.

The wind, which had been cold and icy like a knife just a moment ago, was instantly tinted with a layer of heat that could almost scorch a person, wrapped in the vapor from the melted snow and water pounding down on his face.

Wu Huancheng stayed.

The staff in his hand slowly lowered, and what little faint light there was was engulfed in flames in an instant.

The gale slowed to a halt.

There was a dark, scorched earth in front of us.

Knee-deep snow had been melted by the heat, exposing charred black rock that stood out among the canyons.

"What's going on? What happened? Are there any injuries?"

A few other people rushed forward and asked anxiously.

Having been blocked from the wall of wind just now, they didn't see exactly what was happening not far away, and only saw a flash of orange-red fire in the blizzard, followed by the disappearance of the hurricane, so they immediately went up to support them.

But ......

Now it seems as if they don't need their support now either.

Wang Li glanced around at the scene in front of him, and a hint of awe flashed in the bottom of his eyes.

He didn't expect Shi An's fire magic to be able to exert such a terrifying effect in such an extreme environment.

It's simply counter-intuitive.

"Where's the skeleton horse?" Zhao She asked.

Wu Huancheng is just now getting over it.

He looked around, only to find that the skeletal horse that had given them a strong sense of oppression had disappeared.

He hesitated and shook his head, "I don't know."

Disturbed by the wind and fire, Wu Huancheng isn't sure what he's seeing.

But in one of those moments he caught a vague glimpse of the skeletal horse's form, which seemed to be neighing and screaming and struggling violently, as if dominated by some extreme fear, before its form disappeared into the blizzard.

It's like ...... falling off the wagon.

But how?

How could a demon of the Necromantic species feel pain and fear?

He must have been mistaken or hallucinating.

"Wait, where's Shi An? He's not with you?" Chen Meng wrinkled his brow.

Wu Huancheng froze and hurriedly turned his head towards where Shi An was just now.

However, the teenager who was supposed to be standing behind him disappeared at some point: "I, I don't know."

Wang Li made a snap decision: "Find someone first."

It was snowy and dim around them, and half of them couldn't be seen.

"Shi An!"

"Shi An!!!"

A few of the squad spread out in all directions, centering on that scorched earth, anxiously calling out Shi An's name.

"What? Little friend? Can't find anyone?" Suddenly, a gruff voice rang out from above their heads.

The hearts of the crowd were startled, subconsciously drawing their weapons and looking in the direction from which the sound came.

Only to see a bearded middle-aged man crouching on the rock face, his face crossed with several scars, wearing a full set of winterization equipment, gazing down at them, and not knowing how long he had been watching them.

He grunted and jumped down with a long leap.

The great body, however, landed lightly on the snow as if it didn't weigh much.

Wang Li caught a glimpse of the tattoo on his chest and was shocked.

It's mercenary.

This would be the same group that was spoken of earlier in the hotel.

Unexpectedly, the other party had left a whole day before them, and they were actually caught up within a few hours.

This road is a must pass into the mountain, in association with the skeleton horse on the road, Wang Li's heart has a vague guess.

It was assumed that they were also blocked by this difficult Necromancer-type demonic creature and were unable to advance, which was why they were temporarily blocked here.

"What are you doing in this hellhole at this hour, kids?" The man narrowed his glittering eyes and gazed inquisitively at the few teenagers in front of him, pausing for two more seconds as his eyes fell on the pretty-faced Chen Meng.

There was something in the other party's eyes that made people very uncomfortable, Chen Meng frowned and stomped back viciously.

Wang Li calmed down.

He smiled slightly at the man in front of him, "We're merely on an end of year trip, and we've heard that this side of the world is a good place for cultivation, which is why we've come here in a group."

"Yes? ......"

The man looked them over, unable to tell if he believed Wang Li's story or not.

The man let out a laugh and lightly retracted his gaze, "Catching a night journey at night can be very dangerous."

"Or how about this, come to our camp and rest for the night, and then get back on the road in the morning?"

Wang Li narrowed his eyes and answered with a dripping voice, "Or not, our companion has not been found yet, we are very worried about his well-being, and I'm afraid we won't be able to rest well in your camp."

"Aye," the man shook his head, still with that uncomfortable smile on his face, "I'll hold out all the more then."

Seemingly unable to sense the hostility from across the room, the man continued:

"Lives are at stake, right? So for the sake of your partner's life, I think it's best if you let us help, so you don't get the best of both worlds, right?"

As soon as he spoke, several other figures appeared behind several other rocks around him, all with the same mercenary markings on their clothes.

--The threatening intent of which is self-evident.

Chen Meng quietly gripped his weapon, gritted his teeth, and coldly gazed at the mercenary in front of him.

Wang Li twisted her head and shook it at her without a trace.

He looked towards the middle-aged man in front of him who was still wearing a smile, and a polite smile was raised on his face as well, "Since you're so insistent, then I'll respectfully follow your orders."

"I would also trouble you to leave your men behind to help search for our partner."

Since they hadn't torn each other's faces apart, the mercenaries on the opposite side didn't mind indulging the opposite side's little hearts.

He snapped at a few of the men to stay behind and search the neighborhood for the teenager called Shi An, while the rest followed him, leading a few of Wang Li's men inside the mercenary's camp.

Soon, the silhouette in the center of the canyon disappeared, leaving only the remnants of snow on the ground.

The storm was still falling, and the baked rock formations were soon once again covered with a thin layer of snow, which mixed with the melted water and turned into a gray-black slush.

Three minutes later.

In the distance came the crunching sound of snow being trampled.

The sound of footsteps approached and the form of a teenager was revealed.

He was slender enough to be swallowed almost instantly by the blizzard in front of him, with a pretty, unaggressive face hidden in thick fluffy fur, and a pink rabbit earmuff in his ear.

However, the teenager was holding a huge, still moving leg bone in his hand.

The leg bone was just too big, almost half a man tall, an absurd and stark contrast to the holder.

And a bright yellow flame was burning just above the leg bone, radiating heat outward in a steady stream.

"......"

Shi An asked in a bewildered circle, looking at the mess in front of her in a million different ways:

"Where are the people?"