At first glance, it was apparent that the locals named this mountain range with the intent of irony. Mount Evergreen gives the impression that it is a place where the color green would be dominant. Instead, it was actually a mountain range completely covered in snow. Even the trees were completely white, as they had been frozen by the cold environment.
Mount Evergreen consisted of four glacier mountains. Three of them were of the same altitude, and the main one was so towering that almost half of it was pierced through the clouds. With that being said, the secondary mountains were still considerably big.
As I briefly mentioned before, the temperature here was extremely low; I was sure that it was well below the freezing point. Despite that, I am not complaining about it. Being the Lord of Ice, it was the perfect environment for me, for both cultivation and comfort. Due to my nature, my skin was as cold as the air blowing against our faces, which made it refreshing to be in such an area.
On the other hand, while I was enjoying myself in the icy forest, Tulip was feeling extremely cold. She even lit a torch close to her body to warm herself. I felt slightly bad for her, so I decided to finally proceed to our objective.
While we were walking through the richly snow-draped trees, I asked Pangu in a doubting tone, "Pangu, are you sure we are in the right place? So far, we haven't seen anything that would indicate that a shard of your blade is stored here. It's just the trees and the snow."
"Yes, this is the right place," Pangu responded immediately. "In fact, this is one of the best places to store it. Richard has chosen well."
"And why is that?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. I must admit that I am not exactly sure what the criteria are for choosing these places, especially since the pieces that I got previously were handled by someone Richard mistrusted.
"You should be able to sense it, seeing that you are the Lord of Ice. Mount Evergreen is one of the deadliest locations in Midgard due to its extremely bone-chilling environment. If we are to disregard the ferocious monsters and beasts that have taken this mountain range as their home, most people, cultivators or not, would get frostbitten rapidly, followed by death."
"So, how are we not getting the frostbite?" Tulip curiously asked.
"For starters, I cannot feel the cold, so I am not affected," Pangu explained, then went on, "Orion would also not get it for reasons that don't need explanation. As for you, Tulip, Richard sneakily cast a spell on you to raise the temperature around your body significantly."
She looked annoyed by this, with a complaint, "He could have mentioned that."
"My mind was preoccupied by something earlier," Richard suddenly said in my mind. "Please apologize to Tulip on my behalf."
It was my time to be annoyed. I did what he asked of me, but I was really curious about what was so important that it would take a toll on the thoughts of the ruler of the universe. Knowing him, however, he wouldn't tell me as it is 'not the right time for me to know'.
Then, completely out of the blue, he said, "Yes, I am not going to tell you about this topic for now."
"I didn't ask you about it," I replied, and a frown presented itself on my face.
"You thought of it."
My voice suddenly turned cold as I said, "And who gave you the idea that you can read my thoughts?"
"No need to get angry, Orion," he said, his calmness unchanged. "You are my clone, so there is a connection between our minds. We are speaking through it right now. I can see your thoughts, and so you can see mine. Well, not precisely, I am preventing my thoughts from flowing to your mind.
"Besides, I did not mean to see what you were thinking, it only slipped, that's all. I do know that there are boundaries that should not be crossed."
When I was about to retort, Pangu interrupted and said out loud, "Can you both ease it on the mind communication thing? Although I can't hear a thing, it still feels like a pesky mosquito around my ear."
"Sorry, I was just discovering some things about this marvelous connection of ours. But I am not surprised that he has kept some things from me."
"That's natural. Everyone keeps secrets, even Richard. Oh! I just remembered something! You're going to like this one, Orion."
"What is it?" My anger slowly faded at the mention of this, and my interest was piqued.
"Did you know that Richard was born a mute?"
"Really?"
"Yes, it wasn't until he was five years old that his family discovered that he could talk. Actually, he wasn't really mute, he just decided not to talk for the first years of his life."
Through this bridge between us, I sensed that it apparently was Richard's time to be annoyed, although he refrained from saying anything. And to his horror, Pangu deviously continued, "Do you want more of his well-kept secrets?"
I felt that this was the perfect opportunity to get revenge on the old phoenix for his breach of privacy earlier, and encouraged Pangu to go on with a smile. My sword spirit didn't need much encouragement as he started very eagerly, "Back when he was seven years-"
But before he could continue, Tulip interrupted, "I don't want to cut your happy gossip time, but the night is about to fall. It's best that we find a place to camp. And maybe light a proper fire, my bones are freezing."
I nodded my head. She was right, the time was nearing dusk, and it was better to find somewhere to camp while there was still light in the sky, no matter how much it was obscured due to the dense trees and dark clouds in the sky. We also needed to keep an eye on the animals that Pangu warned us about.
We soon found a suitable area near an ice-bound pond not far from us. We set up our camp quite easily and lit a fire at the entrance of the tent. It was a miracle that she managed to make it burn in the first place, considering that the temperature was one of the lowest in the realm and that the branches she used were completely frozen.
While she stayed near the raging fire, I decided to break some of the ice on the pond's surface near the shore and bathe in it. The bone-chilling, for most people, the water felt great and, unsurprisingly, relaxing for someone of my nature.
The area around us was silent, well, as silent as nature can be. I suppose that some insects and creatures managed to adapt to the cold environment of Mount Evergreen. Nonetheless, the sounds they were making weren't taking away from the charm of this mountain range; on the contrary, they were adding to it.
I sat there in the water for several hours in what I deem a great way to relax. But ultimately, I got up and dried myself before putting my clothes back on. I sat beside Tulip, and she rested her head on my shoulder. And yet, we didn't talk, as both of us preferred to enjoy such beautiful scenery in silence.
Unfortunately, the silence was broken by Pangu's question, "Hey Missy, have you discussed your feelings towards this white-haired old youngster?"
It was clear that he was bored and that he chose his words meticulously. Tulip's cheeks blushed in embarrassment -again, a surprising thing considering the cold- and I seriously started thinking about throwing Pangu in the lake. Dispelling these thoughts from my head, I pretended to threaten, "Pangu, I really might make a spell to keep your mouth shut."
The three of us chatted for a while before Tulip went inside the tent to sleep. Yet I didn't feel sleepy myself, so I remained outside and started cultivating. Of course, I had to extinguish the fire, as it was annoyingly warm.
Dawn quickly came, even though most of the light was obscured. I must say that we have really underestimated the size of these mountains. They do look big from far away, but it felt like their sizes multiplied significantly once we were inside. We walked for numerous hours, but still, we remained on the first one.
On our way, we encountered some monsters. A lot of them were variations of the usual animals that roamed the planet. Once a monster approached, I would take out my sword threateningly so they would leave. However, only a minority backed away, with most deciding to attack.
Still, I tried my best not to harm the ones that attacked, as they were merely acting based on instinct. But no matter how careful I was, some still ended up dead. We were lucky, however, that all of them were weaker than us.
Upon their death, a jade-like hexagonal crystal would pop out of their bodies. When we first saw it, I cautiously picked it up and examined it. An idea came to my mind, so I asked Pangu to confirm my theory, "Are these their cores?"
"Yes," he replied, "These are indeed monster cores. They are like the human abdomen, where the spirit lies. Cores are also the things that allow monsters to cultivate. The color of the core indicates the level of the monster. From what I know, green ones refer to the divinity stage."
"How do we benefit from it?" Tulip asked after she snatched the core from my hand.
"Hold it in your hand and absorb the energy stored inside it. You can also see what the creature has comprehended from the laws. Although you wouldn't get anything from monsters, the other benefit only applies to beasts."
Tulip looked at me with glimmering eyes. I shrugged, smiled, and said after guessing what she wanted to say, "You can have it."
She smiled back and sat down to absorb the energy while I protected her.
--------------------
Updated on 21/6/2025
Website: https://awada141.netlify.app/