Chapter Thirty-Seven: Snow Lotus

Standing atop the mountain, Jiang Li was dumbfounded. The entire summit was a tiny patch of land, less than five square meters, easily surveyed with a single glance. Yet, despite staring for quite some time, he had failed to spot a single thing.

"Brother Jiang, have you found anything?" Ma De’s voice drifted up from below.

Jiang Li shook his head and looked down. "Nothing. There’s absolutely nothing up here."

"No way? Did Bison lie to us?" Ma De complained indignantly.

"Let me look again." Furrowing his brows, Jiang Li carefully made his way to the edge of the cliff. One side of the peak was the path they had ascended, which offered a bit of footing, but the backside was a near-vertical drop.

"Good grief, if you fell down there, you’d be bruised black and blue for sure."

Due to years of accumulated snow, the summit was exceptionally slippery; one false move could send him plummeting. Jiang Li decided to lie flat on the edge, peering over with extreme caution. After a long while, he rubbed his eyes. "Is that..."

On the back of the cliff, about two meters away from him, two palm-sized snow lotuses swayed gently in the wind. Jiang Li was puzzled. "I’ve heard of Tianshan snow lotuses, but Bison spoke of the 'Flower of Heaven.' Could they be the same thing?"

Filled with doubt, Jiang Li pushed his body backward with his hands. The two-meter distance was impossible to bridge on his own; he had no choice but to bring Chu Chunqiu and the others up to brainstorm.

"I see them! There are two flowers growing on the cliff, but I can't reach them. I’ll pull you guys up so we can figure something out."

With that, Jiang Li reached down and hauled Ma De up, with Chu Chunqiu and the others pushing from below. Lightning followed, and finally, the largest of them all, Chu Chunqiu. Once the whole group was assembled, Jiang Li crawled toward the edge, and soon, four heads were staring at the two snow lotuses below.

"Forget it, Brother Jiang, this is too dangerous," Ma De said, catching his breath.

Jiang Li was equally troubled. Although they had grass ropes, they were just ropes, after all. There weren't many, and if something went wrong, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Just as Jiang Li was agonizing over the situation, a voice suddenly spoke up. "Young Master, let me!"

Jiang Li was stunned and looked at Lightning. Perhaps it was the psychological trauma from being beaten by Bison’s men, but this guy was usually deathly quiet. Even today, while climbing the mountain, he hadn’t said a word, not even when they were discovered by the natives and buried in the snow. That he would volunteer now caught Jiang Li completely off guard.

"Lightning, you... this is truly dangerous. If you fall, that’s it," Jiang Li emphasized.

"I know, Young Master!" Lightning nodded firmly. "But we have the grass ropes, don't we? I am the thinnest among us, so I am the one at the least risk."

Jiang Li was momentarily speechless. Although Lightning had been given to him by Bison as a slave, Jiang Li had never truly treated him like one. He was hesitant to let someone risk their life like this.

"Lightning, I won’t force you. You can rest assured on that point."

"I know, Young Master, but I am the safest choice," Lightning said quietly.

That single sentence left Jiang Li with no counter-argument. He was right; he was indeed the safest choice.

"Alright." Jiang Li nodded, and the group immediately sprang into action. They had plenty of rope, and since the lotuses were only two meters away, they had enough to link several sections together. Finally, with over ten sections of rope wrapped around his body, Lightning took a deep breath, slowly extended his frame, and crept toward the edge of the cliff. Because the summit was so slick, Chu Chunqiu took the rope and moved to the other side to act as an anchor, ensuring Lightning’s safety.

A short while later, following a cheer from below, Lightning climbed back up, holding the two snow lotuses. Jiang Li grabbed the rope and hauled him up.

"Phew, that was close. Thank goodness nothing went wrong." Jiang Li let out a long sigh of relief, looking at the two flowers in his hand with deep emotion. "Let’s go! Time to head back!"

There is an old saying that going up a mountain is easy, but coming down is hard, and Jiang Li finally understood this profoundly. Going up, you just climb, but coming down, one wrong step and you’d go tumbling.

"Damn it!" Ma De stood up and brushed the snow off his backside. "This won't work, Brother Jiang. If we keep falling like this, we'll be idiots before we even reach the bottom."

Jiang Li pondered for a long time before walking toward a fallen tree trunk. "Everyone, come here. Let's chop this tree in half."

Under Jiang Li's design, the group hollowed out the trunk until only the shell remained. "Brother Jiang, what now?" Ma De asked curiously.

Jiang Li handed a wooden spear to Chu Chunqiu. "Use this to poke the ground on either side to control our direction."

"Oh, I can do that! My dad used to take me fishing in the lake when I was little," Chu Chunqiu said excitedly.

"Oh, and then what happened?" Jiang Li asked casually.

"Then he left me by the river and went off on his own," Chu Chunqiu said with a hint of resentment.

A look of surprise flashed across Jiang Li’s face. "What? Why?"

"I don't know. By the time I managed to find my way back, my house had been ransacked because we couldn't pay the public grain taxes, and my father had been locked up. Those people beat me up and threw me into a ditch. After that, I just hid out, and eventually, I ran into Master Jiang."

"He said I looked like someone he knew, so he took me with him, and now I get to eat at the Young Master's house every day." After speaking, Chu Chunqiu rubbed his stomach and grinned at Jiang Li. "Young Master, I'm hungry."

Jiang Li reached into his chest and handed a piece of dried meat to Chu Chunqiu. "Come on, let's go back and get you fed!"

"Done deal!" Chu Chunqiu grabbed the spear and sat at the very front, with the other three quickly hopping on behind him.

Riding the log, their efficiency doubled, and by the time the sun fully illuminated the land, they had already reached the foot of the mountain. Just as they were about to reach the territory of the Bison tribe, Jiang Li suddenly turned around to face Lightning.

"Lightning, from this moment on, I declare you free!"

Lightning was stunned, looking at Jiang Li with an expression of disbelief. Just like that, he was letting him go?

"Yes. I may be a trickster and a liar to outsiders, but I never trick my own people. I mean exactly what I say. If you don't believe me, you can turn around and walk away right now; we won't stop you. Once you're gone, try to find your own people. Go on."

Lightning stood there, stunned, looking back at the wilderness before turning back to Jiang Li. "Young Master, but I have no people left."

"I mean you can go wherever you want. You are free. You can go anywhere at all," Jiang Li explained patiently.

Under the watchful eyes of the others, Lightning stood motionless. It wasn't until a long moment had passed that he smiled at Jiang Li.

"Young Master, but I don't know anyone else besides you."

Jiang Li immediately turned and pointed toward the Bison tribe's territory. "Understood! Then let’s head back!"