Chapter 1814 — Snow Valley's Shock: Tang Yun Gently Closed Her Eyes, Savoring This Moment of Warmth, Happiness, and Beauty

They say that in the instant before death, one feels a sense of happiness. Perhaps this was exactly what it felt like.

Yet although Tang Yun had closed her eyes, she seemed still able to sense everything around her, as though every aspect of Snow Valley lay clear within her heart.

It was as if she were Snow Valley, and Snow Valley were her.

The valley, the snow, the sunlight—all of it formed part of her body. A casual wave of her hand, a single step forward, and the cold wind and drifting snow around her seemed to resonate with her in response...

........................

At that moment, a meeting of the elders was being held in Snow Valley.

Today was Elder Zhang's last day on duty. By the rules, he had to summarize the work of the past month at the elders' meeting, then hand everything over to the next elder assigned to duty.

Snow Valley operated under a rotating system of elder duty. Each elder served for one month, handling the affairs of the valley. Only when an elder could not make a decision would the Valley Master and the Grand Elder be consulted. In this way, not only was the workload of the Valley Master and the Grand Elder reduced, allowing them sufficient time to **, but the elders who were off duty could also settle their minds and **.

Of course, this arrangement was also the result of Snow Valley's particular circumstances. Snow Valley survived by selling and exchanging heavenly treasures and earthly wonders. Were it any other ancient sect, even if the Palace Master handled all the sect's affairs personally, it would never be as busy as Snow Valley.

After all, take Ice Palace as an example: it remained out of contact with the outside world year-round, and even its trials were held only once every several years. Although Bing Tang handled some ordinary palace affairs, she did not need to divide her attention too much, nor would it affect **.

"That concludes the affairs I handled during my month on duty..." Elder Zhang reached this point, then suddenly changed tack and addressed the Grand Elder. "Grand Elder, there is one more matter I wish to report..."

"Go ahead," said the Grand Elder.

"The Palace Master of Ice Palace... her younger sister, has not yet left..." As Elder Zhang spoke, a strange look appeared on his face. He was deeply puzzled as to how Tang Yun had managed to survive until now.

"What? She still hasn't left?" The Grand Elder stared in surprise. Earlier, when she had said that Elder Zhang could report back after Tang Yun froze to death, she had merely been speaking offhandedly. In her view, after enduring the cold for two days, Tang Yun would be unable to bear it and would leave of her own accord.

Elder Zhang had not come to report during all these days, which clearly meant that Tang Yun had not frozen to death but had simply left. Otherwise, how could an ordinary person possibly kneel in the frozen wilderness for more than ten days? She would have perished long ago.

But when the Grand Elder heard Elder Zhang say that Tang Yun was still kneeling before the mountain gate, her expression became exceedingly strange. "She... still isn't dead?"

"No... But according to the valley patrol **, I'm afraid she won't last much longer. It will probably happen within the next day or two. Since yesterday, she has stopped eating..." Elder Zhang then recounted everything that had happened over the past half month. Only by taking advantage of this elders' meeting had he found the opportunity to bring Tang Yun's situation to the Grand Elder's attention again. Previously, even if he had felt sympathy for her and wanted to help, he had had no chance. After finishing his account, Elder Zhang added, "Grand Elder, Tang Yun truly seems intent on dying now... We should at least show some consideration for the Palace Master's sake. After all, she is the younger sister of the Palace Master of Ice Palace, isn't she?"

"You mean that for these fifteen days she has never gone into the carriage to warm herself, but has remained kneeling in the snow the entire time—even while eating and sleeping?" the Grand Elder asked in astonishment.

"That is exactly the case. The valley patrol ** have witnessed it all with their own eyes..." said Elder Zhang.

"Come. Let us go and see her." The Grand Elder's brows drew together slightly, as though she were deep in thought.

"Grand Elder, have you been moved by her determination?" Xueli asked, somewhat astonished. The Grand Elder had always told her to cultivate composure, yet now she had been the first to feel sympathy for Tang Yun...

"Moved?" The Grand Elder shook her head.

Her answer left Elder Zhang, Xueli, and all the other elders present staring blankly. If she had not been moved, why did she still want to go and see Tang Yun? Could it truly be because of Bing Tang—that she feared Tang Yun might die here?

"Fifteen days. Don't you find that strange?" The Grand Elder looked at the bewildered crowd. "Before you advanced to the Heaven rank, before taking any pills to replenish your strength, which of you could kneel in the snow for fifteen days without dying?"

"This..." After hearing the Grand Elder's words, everyone shook their heads. Before advancing to the Heaven rank, not even an Earth-rank expert could kneel in the frozen wilderness for so long, let alone an ordinary person.

Had it not been the same during the trial at Ice Palace? Of all the Xuan-rank experts who had come to take part in the trial, which one besides Wei Zhao had not brought a full supply of pills? Pills that replenished energy were not particularly rare, but they could stave off hunger and restore strength. Yu Bing had relied on them as well.

Wei Zhao, however, was an exception. With the jade pendant providing him with an inexhaustible source of energy, he naturally had no need for those pills to maintain his strength. It was precisely for this reason that Bing Tang and Aunt Qing had found the matter so extraordinarily strange.

"You mean... her constitution..." Elder Zhang's heart stirred, but he asked in an impassive voice.

"As the old saying goes, when something occurs against all reason, there must be a cause behind it," said the Grand Elder. "Since none of you could do it, how did she manage it?"

"But Grand Elder, you examined her yourself. There is nothing unusual about her body. She does not even possess an ordinary yin constitution, let alone some False Iceheart Jadebone constitution..." Xueli asked, puzzled.

"That is correct. She does not." The Grand Elder nodded. "If she did—and if she truly were Bing Tang's younger sister, as she claims—do you think Bing Tang could have failed to examine her in secret?"

"That is true. Then what do you mean..." Xueli was even more confused.

"In the founding ancestor's ** notes, she once recorded three constitutions suited to the cultivation methods of Snow Valley **..." The Grand Elder spoke slowly. "The rarest is the Yin-Cold constitution—the one possessed by the inheritor Ice Palace found. Yet although the Yin-Cold constitution is well suited to Ice Palace's ** cultivation method, it is somewhat useless to Snow Valley. It is not even as suitable as the second constitution, the Iceheart Jadebone constitution. After all, Snow Valley's founding ancestor herself possessed that constitution. That was why she created the Heartless Art, ** a single heart of ice... Though the Yin-Cold constitution contains more cold energy than the Iceheart Jadebone constitution, in Snow Valley it cannot display its greatest potential. This is probably also why Bing Tang rejected us... Because the inheritor with the Yin-Cold constitution is better off remaining in Ice Palace..."

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