Night.
Snow Kui tilted his head up at the towering wall before him, small hand held by Guizhong as they walked through the main gate. He frowned, unsure where he was.
He'd left only three months ago.
Why was there suddenly… a fortress?
"Hehe. Surprised?"
Guizhong tapped her own chest with a hint of pride. "Though I guided them, this entire wall was built by the hands of those little humans."
She gestured at the massive stone fortification.
"From now on, calling this place a village would be inappropriate. Call it a city."
Snow Kui narrowed his eyes at the battlements—wide enough for people to stand on, and lined with enormous ballistae.
He was about to ask when a familiar voice called out.
"Snow Kui?!"
"Big Brother Shi!"
Snow Kui's sour mood—leftover from being humiliated by Ruotuo—instantly lifted.
But Shi Chen stepped forward and pressed a finger to his lips.
"Don't ask anything yet. Come with me. I'll explain on the way. Lord Guizhong, I'll borrow Snow Kui."
Guizhong waved him off with a knowing look.
Dragged into the crowd, Snow Kui followed obediently, trusting Shi Chen without question.
"Big brother, what's going on?"
Shi Chen hesitated for a long breath, then spoke.
"You came back at… a good time. Unlucky, but also lucky."
Snow Kui blinked.
"Huh?"
Shi Chen's tone grew heavy.
"The old physician has passed."
Snow Kui froze.
His time with the old doctor had been brief—mostly during emergencies when villagers fell ill.
But in this settlement, the physician was one of the few people Snow Kui could call familiar.
His chest felt… odd, tight, like something uncomfortable pressing against his ribs.
"He passed a few days ago. You missed his final moments," Shi Chen continued. "But you arrived in time for the burial."
White paper slips fluttered through the air.
Under torchlight, the pale pieces floated like withered snow.
Snow Kui stared blankly as the slips danced overhead.
He didn't know how to react to death—not truly.
The old physician was someone respected by everyone.
He was permitted a burial—an honor.
Snow Kui didn't understand what counted as qualified to be buried.
He even asked whether he would qualify someday.
Shi Chen only ruffled his hair and laughed.
He said he didn't know—only that he'd probably die first, and when that time came, Snow Kui could judge whether he deserved burial.
Now, surrounded by quiet weeping—villagers whom the old physician had once saved—Snow Kui frowned.
Fragments of memory surfaced.
The old physician, crushing herbs.
The bubbling pot.
The sweet-but-not-delicious sugar sculptures shaped into silly little animals.
Snow Kui had always insisted on watching.
The doctor would mutter, "medicine or sweets, the process is the same—patience, patience…"
A gust of night wind swirled the slips of paper.
One drifted past Snow Kui's head.
And for an instant—
he could have sworn he heard an old sigh by his ear.
"Fate cannot be defied…"
Snow Kui rubbed his chest.
Why did it ache?
Watching from the distance, Guizhong finally exhaled in relief.
This child—wild, reckless, fearless—was also the kind who felt emotions deeply.
She had worried he might drown in sorrow.
But seeing that he did not yet fully comprehend grief…
Ignorance truly is mercy.
She caught a slip of paper on her palm.
Then let it go.
One day, he will understand.
Time passed.
The city prospered.
Snow Kui grew.
He mastered the old scroll, defeated "illness," and expanded his understanding of medicine.
Enough that he finally had an answer to Shi Chen's request.
Though the process… was not elegant.
"Not so hard! Mash it—don't liquefy it!"
"How did you mess up three times in the same step?!"
"Yes! Yes! Wait—don't touch that—!"
A sudden boom.
Fire roared from the alchemy furnace.
Snow Kui deadpanned, expression vacant, scooped a bubbling sludge that looked suspiciously like slime residue, and dumped it into the waste bucket.
Shi Chen stood by, rubbing his hands awkwardly—more like a nervous apprentice than Snow Kui's "big brother."
People change when they're begging.
Do you still remember Frost—the girl vaguely mentioned back in Chapter 7?
No?
Doesn't matter.
One thing is important:
She is the girl Shi Chen likes.
Snow Kui sighed.
"How about you just pick a monster bone from your collection and give that to Sister Frost?"
Shi Chen shook his head violently.
"Absolutely not. Girls don't like that sort of thing!"
Snow Kui raised a brow. Do I look like a girl? I like bones.
After years of watching the doctor, Snow Kui had begun to experiment.
He learned properties of herbs, mixing them not just for medicine, but—accidentally—for strange byproducts.
Like this one:
A fragrant balm made from a flower called Rainbow Bloom.
Completely useless medicinally.
Snow Kui labeled it as trash.
But when Shi Chen confessed his romantic problem…
Snow Kui had a Wonderful Idea™.
Shi Chen treated the balm like a divine artifact.
"No, Kui, I must make it myself. A gift must contain sincerity. Part of me must be inside the gesture."
Snow Kui gave him a dead look.
"Just… let me make it."
Shi Chen placed two fingers together, as if gripping a sword.
"Sincerity turns simplicity into a lethal blade that will pierce the heart of my beloved."
His eyes gleamed with unshakable determination.
Sometimes, a man's resolve has no logic at all.
Snow Kui stared at him, exhausted.
…men are terrifying.
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