The most intelligent general in the world

Chapter 301 Hot Spring?

On the edge of the bustling city, Zhang Liang strolled in a cold and strange land. This area, like the fifth district, was a realm of eternal daylight.

The temperature was shockingly low, even more suffocating than the coldest Arctic region on Earth. The Arctic still had day and night cycles and biological activities, but here, it was dead silent. Thick clouds blocked the sunlight, and although the sky was bright, it could not bring any warmth.

A few scattered trees grow here tenaciously, their branches covered with frost, as crystal clear as ice sculptures, and their long branches point straight to the sky, just like the struggle of life in the cold.

At first, Zhang Liang had to use his Qi to protect his body from this cruel environment. Even if he gradually adapted, he could not get rid of the Qi's protection. Once he lost the Qi's barrier, his body would instantly freeze into ice.

For decades, Zhang Liang no longer needed to circulate his Qi deliberately. The Qi in his body circulated on its own. In the process of fighting against the severe cold, his control over Qi was greatly improved. This frozen land was undoubtedly very beneficial for practicing Qi. The spiritual objects of heaven and earth that he absorbed in the previous level had now been completely refined and integrated into his bones and blood.

On this day, Zhang Liang took a short rest as usual. After recovering his strength, he continued to explore this world of ice and snow, looking for the guardian of the level or someone who could provide clues.

As they walked, Zhang Liang heard a faint sound coming from the snowy mountains in the distance. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw two obsidian eyes quietly appearing on a long snowy slope. The surroundings were pure white, and the black was particularly conspicuous.

Zhang Liang was overjoyed, finally finding signs of life. Over the years, he had searched all over the area and finally found a living being.

Not wanting to miss the opportunity, Zhang Liang quickly approached the pair of black eyes. In order to prevent it from escaping, he used his true energy to quickly approach the target.

However, the creature in the snow sensed Zhang Liang's approach and immediately jumped out of the snow and fled in panic. It was a fox-like creature, white in color, with only its eyes shining like stars. Its nose was also black, but it was buried under the snow before and could not be seen clearly.

Its ears are short and round, and its outline is large but only for appearance. Its hair is as thick as a hedgehog, covering its entire body tightly, leaving only its eyes and nostrils exposed.

Zhang Liang would not let it escape so easily, he waved his hand, and a flash of white light blocked the way of the white fox. The white fox obviously noticed the white light, but it thought it was just a beam of light and continued to run forward.

"Hey, little guy, don't run. I won't hurt you. I just want to ask you something." Seeing that the white fox was about to hit the barrier formed by true energy, Zhang Liang couldn't help but remind him.

However, before he could finish his words, the little fox had already bumped into him.

"Woo woo~" It whined softly, as if it was extremely frightened.

Zhang Liang saw the white fox fall to the ground, struggle to get up, look around, and face him with a vigilant look. It was obvious that the little fox was planning to escape again.

"You can't escape. Be good and I'll let you go after I ask you questions. How about that?" Zhang Liang approached the little fox. His tone seemed to be asking, but it carried an authority that could not be refused.

The little fox kept retreating as it watched Zhang Liang approaching. When Zhang Liang was only a few steps away from it, the little fox wanted to retreat further, but was blocked by an invisible barrier.

That was the true energy released by Zhang Liang. Now he could use it freely, just like a part of his body, stretching and contracting it at will.

The little fox's nose trembled slightly, revealing its sharp teeth, and it growled from time to time, with its hair standing on end, revealing fear and anger. Zhang Liang ignored its reaction, and in a few steps he came to the front of the white fox, squatted down, and tried to keep the same height as it.

"I'm here to challenge you. If you tell me where the gatekeeper is, I'll let you go. How about that?" Zhang Liang reached out and gently stroked the white fox's fur, smoothing down the standing white hair.

At first, the white fox was on guard and tried to bite Zhang Liang's hand, but he easily avoided it or used his Qi to defend himself. Seeing that the attack was ineffective, the little fox gradually gave up resistance. In addition, Zhang Liang continued to stroke its long fur, and it actually felt a little reassured about the person in front of it.

"I don't know what challenger and gatekeeper you are talking about. I am just a white fox. I got separated from my family a few days ago. My name is Feiyu." The little fox looked at Zhang Liang for a while and spoke slowly.

"It turns out to be a lost little fellow." Zhang Liang slowed down his stroking of the fur.

Zhang Liang couldn't help feeling a little disappointed as he couldn't get any useful information from the little fox's words just now.

"However, my other tribesmen may know. I am only a hundred years old, and they live a long time, some even live for a thousand years." Feiyu noticed Zhang Liang's disappointment, raised his head and rubbed Zhang Liang's arm.

"But where can I find your tribe?" Hearing the little fox's words, Zhang Liang's hope was rekindled.

This hundred-year-old fox doesn't know, but those thousand-year-old foxes must know something.

"When they find out that I'm not here, they will naturally come to find me. But it will take a hundred years for them to come back here." At this point, the little fox couldn't help feeling a little sad.

"One hundred years?" Zhang Liang was quite surprised. A hundred years was neither short nor long for this world, but if it was used for waiting, Zhang Liang had to think carefully.

"Although it is cold and life is scarce here, there is a hot spring underground. This hot spring may be guided by some mysterious force and will move along the edge of the continent every once in a while." Fei Yu completely let down his guard and regarded Zhang Liang as a companion.

"Hot spring?" Zhang Liang chewed on the word with great interest.

It is unbelievable that there are hot springs in this world that is like an icy prison.

"Yes, it is a hot spring. Our ancestors discovered the migration pattern of this underground hot spring, so we followed its location year by year."

"That is to say, about a century later, this hot spring will appear here again, right?" Zhang Liang heard the hint in Feiyu's words.

"That's right."

"But there is no distinction between day and night here. How do you determine that the migration cycle of the hot spring is one hundred years?" Zhang Liang asked curiously. He really wanted to know how the snow fox calculated time.

"It's very simple. We artificially set this cycle to one hundred years." Feiyu explained seriously.

"It turns out that your concept of time is so casual." Zhang Liang was speechless for a moment. It turned out that the "one hundred years" mentioned by Feiyu was not what he understood.

"Waiting here is not a solution. Why don't we take the initiative to find them? What do you think?" Zhang Liang looked at Feiyu.

"We can't find them. Only a few elders know the exact location of the hot springs." Feiyu said with a slightly troubled look on his face.

Zhang Liang hesitated again and again, and finally decided to stay where he was and wait. After all, a hundred years here is just a moment in the outside world.

At the same time, he can also make use of this frozen environment to refine and absorb the rare medicinal materials obtained in the fifth level.

During the long years of waiting, Zhang Liang often pondered over his thoughts, while the little fox accompanied him. Sometimes when he was bored, he would run to play by the ice sculpture tree.

Half a century passed, and the little fox lamented the length of time every day. Occasionally, he would talk to Zhang Liang, but the conversation would end with just a few words.

I don’t know how much time has passed, Feiyu slept for a long time lying beside Zhang Liang’s legs. After waking up, he went to play at the ice sculpture tree. He was particularly interested in the structure of the tree and would dig for a while every day.

This time, Feiyu seemed to be away for a long time, and Zhang Liang felt something was wrong. Usually, Feiyu should come back at this time.

Zhang Liang's heart tightened, and he stopped practicing to look for Feiyu. Near the ice sculpture tree where Feiyu often went, he heard the sound of flowing water, mixed with some other sounds - that was Feiyu who whispered beside his legs every day!

When Zhang Liang thought of this, he couldn't help but feel a little worried. Could it be that Feiyu fell into the ice?

With this thought in mind, he unconsciously quickened his pace and walked towards the sound, calling Feiyu's name.

"Ah~" It was indeed Feiyu's voice.

After Zhang Liang walked away for a while, the sound became clearer and clearer. Feiyu must have been in trouble.

Just as Zhang Liang was walking and thinking about countermeasures, Fei Yu ran towards him, dripping with tears, with his tongue hanging out, unable to hide his excitement, and howling from time to time.

Zhang Liang was relieved to see Fei Yu was safe and sound. However, he thought carefully, how could there be water in such an icy place?

Before he could think deeply, Feiyu had already arrived at his feet.

"There's water! There's water! The hot spring has been moved here!" Feiyu shouted excitedly.

"Is it true? Has a hundred years passed?" Zhang Liang muttered to himself.

"You, aren't you afraid of freezing?" Zhang Liang casually waved out a stream of true energy, surrounding Feiyu to prevent the cold from invading.

Feiyu jumped happily under the protection of true energy, and in a short while the water on his body evaporated.

At this moment, Zhang Liang and Fei Yu were both very excited. The long wait finally paid off.

Feiyu felt extremely happy that his family was about to find him, and Zhang Liang was so excited that he could not express it in words when he thought that he was about to get the clue about this place.

Zhang Liang could not just sit there and wait for death, so he could only try to find Feiyu's family while ensuring their safety.

As long as you follow this road, you will definitely meet Feiyu's family, which can greatly shorten the distance and save time.

Thinking of this, Zhang Liang and Fei Yu packed up and set off.

Fei Yu jumped and skipped in front of Zhang Liang, leading the way at a very fast speed. Whenever he was about to disappear from sight, he turned back and told Zhang Liang the scene ahead, which was nothing more than hot springs and the surrounding ice-sculptured trees.

Zhang Liang listened to Feiyu's story patiently. Although the content was repetitive, he did not feel bored.

After walking for a long time, Zhang Liang found that Feiyu suddenly stopped returning, probably because he had met his family.

Zhang Liang immediately accelerated and ran in the direction where Feiyu disappeared.

Sure enough, what came into view were groups of white foxes. When they saw Zhang Liang appear, they fled in all directions.

There was only a white fox standing there quietly, looking at Zhang Liang carefully. Zhang Liang was also looking at the white fox.

This white fox is completely different from Feiyu. Although it is not big in size, it is several times larger than Feiyu and its fur is smoother.

"My name is Zimo, who are you?" The white fox stared at Zhang Liang, trying to find clues from his eyes.

"Hello, my name is Zhang Liang. I am a challenger." Zhang Liang responded generously.

"Oh, you are a challenger. It seems that you really have some ability to get here." Zimo smiled slightly.

"Thank you for the compliment. Do you know where the guardian of this level is?" Zhang Liang finally asked the question in his mind.

"You can't see the Guardian whenever you want. You have to defeat me first, and then I will tell you the location of the level master." Zimo said.

"Then let's get started." Zhang Liang said no more to Zimo.

At this time, Fei Yu, who was standing nearby, saw that the family elder was going to compete with Zhang Liang, and hurriedly begged the elder not to hurt Zhang Liang, as he was the first foreign friend he had ever met.

Elder Zimo knew that Feiyu was still young and sentimental, but he did not give up the contest with Zhang Liang.

Seeing that persuasion was ineffective, Feiyu tried to ask his parents to persuade him, but Feiyu's father said: "Everyone has his own duties and responsibilities."

Feiyu nodded thoughtfully, without saying anything else, but silently prayed that Zhang Liang would win and not be hurt.

When Zhang Liang and Zimo decided to compete, the other white foxes retreated and made room for an empty space.

Zhang Liang summoned the Xuanyuan Sword, held it tightly, and prepared to meet the next challenge.

Zimo was slightly surprised when he saw the Xuanyuan Sword in Zhang Liang's hand, but he regained his composure immediately. Anyone who can come here must be extraordinary.

The two of them didn't say anything and quickly started the duel.

Zimo is short and his white fur makes him difficult to recognize in the snow.

Zhang Liang quickly put away the Xuanyuan Sword and replaced it with the Nine-tailed Whip.