Chapter 1017: Sealed in Ice

Fangzheng waited for a few seconds before giving another kick when he realized that there was still no reaction from Lone Wolf.

Only a moment later did Lone Wolf suddenly look up, give everyone a dazed look, and ask, “Who kicked me?”

Everyone was rendered speechless. With this level of reflexes, it was no wonder he had had his spot as alpha wolf taken from him. He deserved it! They wondered how this guy had even managed to become an alpha wolf in the first place… Did their pack of wolves choose their alpha wolf based on who was the most clueless?

Fangzheng gave up on reprimanding Lone Wolf when he saw how clueless he was. He shook his head as Monkey gave a random excuse. “No one kicked you. You were having a nightmare.”

Lone Wolf nodded in thought. “I’ve been having some trouble sleeping the last two days, no wonder I’m having nightmares.”

He… actually believed it!

The others were rendered completely speechless.

Finally, Squirrel still managed to get a mouthful. It was enough to stop him from bawling out of hunger. However, him remaining hungry was still inevitable.

Once this little fellow had something in his stomach, he immediately turned curious. He came to Fangzheng, and for some unknown reason—perhaps to increase his endearment—asked, “Master, you got Fourth Junior Brother to explain to us what rime ice is this morning, but he failed to explain it to us. Can you tell us?”

Fangzheng looked at the little fur ball before seeing Monkey, Lone Wolf, Red Boy, and the languid Salted Fish look over out of curiosity.

Hence, Fangzheng nodded slightly. “Alright, I’ll give you a proper explanation.”

Everyone immediately sat up straight as they awaited Fangzheng’s lesson. However, he slowly got up and stretched his back. “Jingfa, get a long piece of willow twig.”

Lone Wolf didn’t know what Fangzheng was up to, but he still ran out into the yard and found a long stick in no time. He brought back a forked willow twig which still had some snow on it. Fangzheng shook it once he received it, allowing all the snow on it to fall.

This was an ordinary willow twig; it wasn’t special in any way.

Fangzheng brought it to the monastery’s entrance as Red Boy, Squirrel, and company followed. They were curious as to what Fangzheng was about to do.

Fangzheng didn’t say a word as he placed the willow twig on the Bridge of Helplessness’s side, letting it be embedded near the Heavenly Dragon Pond.

Following that, Fangzheng got a chair and sat down, watching silently. Then he said, “All of you come over and watch carefully.”

Salted Fish, Monkey, Red Boy, Squirrel, and Lone Wolf came over. Lone Wolf sprawled in front of Fangzheng like a white foot rest. Squirrel sat at Fangzheng’s chest like a hand warmer, while Monkey stood by the side, looking around. As for Salted Fish… He lay motionless like a dead salted fish.

“Master, what are we looking for?” Squirrel couldn’t understand what Fangzheng was up to.

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Fangzheng said, “Don’t be in a hurry. Watch first, and I’ll slowly explain.”

No one understood what Fangzheng was talking about. They stared at the willow twig as Fangzheng finally started explaining. “What is rime ice? To put it simply, when steam rises and hangs on a tree and its leaves, it instantly turns to ice due to the cold temperatures. Thus, it clings to the surface and forms a layer of transparent or white, solid ice.

“Hence, to see rime ice, two requirements need to be fulfilled. First, there has to be a lot of steam! For example, this Heavenly Dragon Pond doesn’t freeze in the winter. The temperatures of the water and the surroundings are extremely disparate. The steam that it produces rises up as mist, providing the requirement needed to form ice crystals. The second condition is the cold. If the temperature isn’t cold enough, it’s impossible for mist to instantly turn into ice. Instead, it turns back to water and falls back to the ground. But here comes the problem. The requirement for the formation of steam is for the water to not freeze; yet, the formation of ice crystals requires water to turn into ice!

“Hence, it’s not easy to have both conditions met. Although the world is huge, only the rime ice from our Gulin province is the best. This is because our Gulin province has the Songhua River that never freezes. Yet at the same time, the temperature outside can reach –30°C. With the low temperature and plenty of steam, it’s easy rime ice to form around the river. This is also why Gulin province is sometimes called the City of Rime Ice.

“To be honest, although we are all in Gulin province right now, rime ice never appeared on Mt. One Finger, or even in One Finger Village before. I never expected the Heavenly Dragon Pond would bring about such an effect.”

After Fangzheng was done, he looked up at the bodhi tree, Luohan Trees, and Frost Bamboo which looked like pure, white ice sculptures. The beauty in front of him was truly the work of the artisan known as nature. It was a shocking beauty!

“Wow! The willow twig is beginning to have white stuff appear on it!” Salted Fish suddenly cried out.

The others immediately came closer and observed carefully. Only Fangzheng frowned. He had no idea why, but a perfectly fine sentence just sounded odd when it came from Salted Fish’s mouth. He was subconsciously reminded of the casino content on the cell phone…

“Hehe, I never expected this thing that is so thick and hard would be able to produce such white stuff…” Salted Fish continued.

Fangzheng glanced at the fellow and shook his head. He quickly left for he wasn’t certain that he wouldn’t end up making spicy fish head out of anger.

Fangzheng originally imagined the temperature would warm up the next day, but it turned –37°C instead! At that instant, Fangzheng knew that no one would come up the mountain that day.

And indeed, no one came. Not even a single soul could be seen. However, Fangzheng heard that even Baiyun Monastery’s original plans of holding a Dharma Assembly had been canceled due to the cold weather. He secretly chortled in a despicable manner and felt more mentally balanced.

“Master, this weather is just too cold, right? It feels like my fur is about to freeze!” Squirrel looked at Fangzheng and ran over, burrowing under Fangzheng’s clothes.

Fangzheng walked into the kitchen, lit the stove, and all of them huddled around it for warmth.

Monkey grumbled as well. “When will this crappy weather come to an end? This is way too cold.”

“That’s right. I hate this darn weather. How can it be so cold?” Lone Wolf grumbled as well.

Red Boy and Salted Fish were demons. Although the weather was cold, they had strong bodies that made them resistant to the cold. Even so, Salted Fish still said, “Indeed, this crappy weather makes one irascible.”

Seeing One Finger Monastery boiling with rage, Fangzheng thought, “This can’t be!”

Rage was something that could spread. Once it accumulated, it would only build up more and more. The more you grumbled, the more unhappy you would be. Anything could happen as a result.

Hence, Fangzheng had an idea and said, “How could it not be cold on the Great Cold?”

“The Great Cold?” Everyone immediately turned curious as expected.