152: Chapter 152 Prepare early to avoid suffering

As soon as the few of them returned, the surrounding gazes gradually subsided like the blizzard.

The roaring of ice particles, akin to ten thousand galloping horses, receded into a sparse rustling sound. The wind still whimpered against the dome roof, but it no longer carried those bizarre crystals capable of eroding the spiritual power barrier.

"I actually think the bizarre entities of Jiuzhou are quite cute now."

Xie Feng watched as something was being constructed in the central square of the city-state.

Heavy wooden pillars were erected, and the frozen soil was overturned with shovels. The residents of the city-state busied themselves in silence during the lull in the wind and snow.

Third Princess lay on a fur mattress beside the charcoal brazier. Her complexion still bore the pallor of someone who had forcefully endured the journey back from outside the city, but her breathing had grown much steadier.

Zhou Jinglan sat beside her, one hand resting on her pulse point, with his folding fan placed near his knee.

Tu Ziguan squatted at the doorway, already beginning to press bullets into his ammunition belt. As he loaded them, he muttered under his breath, "This lousy place doesn't sell sesame flatbread, but it hails instead. I now think Fengle City is practically a paradise on earth."

Xie Feng began to ponder in his mind. This thing shouldn't have been left behind by the Wind-Walker.

At the time, she reacted to the God of Toads and Ghatanothoa on him, so it should be related to some deities of the Hyperborean land. Ithaqua at most only had some marginal connection with Hastur.

Just as dawn was breaking, the people of the city arrived.

It was the same middle-aged messenger from last night, wearing a clean grayish-brown leather robe. His attitude was even more deferential than last night.

"Lord City Lord has ordered me to invite the few merchant travelers to attend today's North Wind Festival. This is a traditional sacrifice held by our Irkut City-State every winter to worship the Wind-Walker, beseeching Him to calm His anger, let the blizzard cease, and allow the hunters to go out hunting again."

He puffed out a breath and continued.

"It happens that we have distant guests this year, which is truly heaven's will. Having more people can draw the attention of the Wind-Walker and bless the caravan with a safe journey. The offerings have already been selected: top-quality wasteland venison, a complete adult musk ox, and a few newly carved totem pillars."

Tu Ziguan gave Xie Feng a fierce nudge, and Xie Feng also nodded at Tu Wu.

When this person exhaled his breath, there wasn't a single bit of white fog.

Zhou Jinglan turned his head to look at the middle-aged man at the doorway, his voice devoid of any discernible attitude.

"We presumptuously tried to leave a few days ago, and just as the blizzard suddenly struck. I wonder if that might have offended the sacrificial rules?"

"No problem, no problem. Guest or no guest, you should have set off by now anyway, but it just so happens that this snowstorm came too fiercely. Staying another day is also safer."

As he spoke, his gaze swept very naturally over Third Princess without lingering, and he didn't ask any questions when looking at Tu Ziguan's ammunition belt, merely lowering his eyes to await a reply.

"Well, well, looks like someone's begging for a prison sentence?"

Tu Ziguan rolled up his ammunition belt with a clatter by the doorway, glanced at the man, glanced at Xie Feng, and said nothing.

Xie Feng leaned his cold crystal blind staff in his hand and spoke calmly, "When?"

The middle-aged man bowed slightly, "At noon, everything is already prepared in the square. The City Lord said that since you are distinguished guests who have come from afar, you needn't prepare any offerings; you only need to be present to witness the ceremony."

Xie Feng nodded slightly and didn't ask any further.

The middle-aged man said no more, stepped back out the door, and disappeared into the gray morning mist.

Waiting until the footsteps had completely faded away, Tu Ziguan stood up from the doorway and hung the ammunition belt around his waist. "What do you guys guess is carved on those totem pillars? I just glanced at them from afar outside the window, and the patterns on them are identical in shape to the footprints Xie Feng saw outside the city last night."

"It's hard to say. Most of the Northern Wilderness people are ordinary folks as well—of course, the one who just came in doesn't count."

While reinforcing the items on Zhou Jinglan's body, Xu Liujing turned his head to chat.

Ever since the blizzard arrived, the Seal on Zhou Jinglan's body had begun to act up, so Xu Liujing stayed by his side to check on him at any time.

Third Princess tightly wrapped herself in Zhou Jinglan's fur cloak, her lips still tinged with a bluish-white hue.

"What do you guys suppose these people are trying to achieve by holding this North Wind Festival?" Tu Ziguan pulled out a new belt and continued pressing bullets in. "In normal sacrificial activities, who sends people to invite others in advance? And they specifically named us 'distant guests' to go witness it. Having stayed in the Qingyun Sect for so long, I've never seen any place issue formal invitations for a sacrifice."

"Perhaps they're just extremely hospitable."

Lu Mingyuan made a rare joke.

"If it's a normal sacrifice—slaughtering a cow, lighting a few pillars, chanting a few incantations to pray for the wind and snow to subside—that has nothing to do with us. We'll just take a look and leave."

Xie Feng now only hoped they were ordinary Northern Wilderness people and not those things in his mind.

If it's some sort of shady sacrifice, chances are a few of these merchant travelers will end up going up there to act as the musk ox.

"Tu Wu, how many explosives do you still have on you?"

"On me?" Tu Ziguan began rummaging through a large pile of luggage behind him.

"C4, grenades, detonators..."

"Alright, alright, alright, that's enough."

Xie Feng pulled Tu Ziguan aside and began whispering murmurs.

"..."

"Will this actually work?"

Tu Ziguan was half-doubtful.

"If it doesn't work, we'll talk about it when the time comes. We have to make some preparations first anyway."

Zhou Jinglan watched the two of them sneering stealthily and felt a bad premonition. Xie Feng noticed him glancing over this way.

Xie Feng grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into the corner as well.

"You have the Yellow Robe on you, so it should be able to buy your Face. Like this, you..."

Zhou Jinglan's Face flushed crimson, and he shook his head repeatedly. This normally elegant prince instantly became extremely shy.

"No, no! This—this! It's utterly indecent!"

"No! Can't you make a little sacrifice for your sister?! Are you even an older brother?!"

Xie Feng started slapping labels on him, morally blackmailing Zhou Jinglan.

"I... Then what if it fails?!"

Zhou Jinglan covered his mouth with his folding fan and asked quietly, pressing close to Xie Feng.

"Trust me, I have a backup plan!"

"Really?"

"Guaranteed authentic."

Third Princess tried to get up to check what kind of evil schemes this group of people were plotting.

She was too weak to stand up and could only shout from where she sat on the cushion.

"Let this princess listen in! If it's related to the thing inside my body, then it wouldn't hurt to let them take it away. It would save us the trouble instead."

The three of them turned back to glance at Third Princess and ignored her.

Third Princess was so angry she wanted to draw her sword and hack these two guys to pieces.

Then Xie Feng arranged the blushing Zhou Jinglan and the expressionless Lu Mingyuan beside Third Princess.

Xie Feng pulled Xu Liujing, who wore a Face full of "Why is it me?", outside.

"Brother Xie, my skills are mediocre, please don't make things difficult for me."

"No, just trust me. If you help Tu Ziguan rig it like this, it will definitely work."

"No problem at all. Trust the two of us brothers, you can't go wrong. Just sit back and watch."

Xie Feng turned around and punched Tu Ziguan.

"Can you stop using that accent ever since you came back from that damn imperial capital? It's agonizing to listen to, and you're putting the retroflex suffixes in all the wrong places."

"What do you know? Have you ever been there?"

"I lived in the neighboring city in my past life."

"Damn Celestial Dragon."