46

As soon as they stepped out from the protective barrier of that surrounded the Eternal Blossom Sect, they were hit with extremely chill and freezing cold wind which almost froze their blood on the spot.

"Too cold," Le Fang Ling wrapped her arms around her and started to rub them against each other to keep her warm.

"But, it's not that cold as well." She stopped trembling a little bit as she felt a warmth surge from within her body.

If it had been before, she would have instantly frozen to death but right now, her metabolism and meridians were in top notch conditions.

So, enduring a little bit of cold was not a big deal for her.

'Did my work pay off?' She thought as she could feel the difference in her own body from before and now.

Right at the moment, the system tab appeared in front of her and sound of notification rang inside her head.

<Ding!>

'Oh, it's here.' Like always, she was looking forward to seeing what she got this time around.

[Congratulations! You have successfully unlocked a skill.]

[Skill unlocked: Cold resistance]

[Description: This skill helps the host from directly freezing to instant death upon sudden exposure to extremely cold surrounding.]

[Caution: The more you sue the skill, the lesser will your heat resistance be.]

[Limitation: As of now, Not Available]

Le Fang Ling quickly went through the information that was in the tab and understood the main points. Right at the moment, she felt her qi being extracted from her dantian making her come to an important realization.

"….."

She turned to look at Nagina who was walking beside her in silence while showing no sign of effect from the cold that a snake usually feels.

"You aren't cold?"

"Nah, I am pretty warm and cozy, thank you." Nagina replied with a smile without looking at Le fang Ling.

"Hmm, are you not affected by the cold like how real snakes do? From what I heard, serpent type magical beast go into seclusion during winter and cultivate without interruption." Le Fang ling was curious about this.

"Well, I am technically a snake and I am also not," Nagina was at a loss of words io how to say this in simpler terms.

"Basically, our souls are connected. So, as long as you are fine, I am fine too." She thought for a while and gave the simplest and most reasonable answer she could think of.

"Hmm, that sounds about right." Le Fang Ling nodded in approval.

"But then, you used my stored qi to use this skill, didn't you?" Le Fang Ling already knew the answer to this queston even before asking.

"Cough, host," Nagina cleared her throat as she looked at Le fang Ling with a slightly pouted lips.

"It is our qi!" She corrected her.

"...."

"You little rascal," Le fang ling chuckled with a shiny glimmer in her eyes as she tried to get hold of the wiggly snake girl who was trying to run away from her.

.

The path from the sect to the town at the bottom of the hill was a winding road with few to many obstacles on the way.

Bushy and thorny shrubs, big and small stones, weak soil and closed paths.

It was indeed a path that was never taken by people unless they absolutely had to. Most of the disciples used teleportation talisman or formation, swords or the big vermillion birds or the simply flew without using anything.

Walking on their feet was something only the lowest of the disciples did.

And well, Le Fang Ling was kind of broke as hell, did not have sword or expensive high grade talisman and neither did she have it took to tame a vermillion bird.

So, she and Nagina, both of them simply walked to reach their destination.

Just as they were about to reach the foot of the mountain, Nagina looked at Le Fang Ling and snapped her finger.

[The cold resistance has been deactivated as the temperature of the surrounding has returned the normal.]

A notification appeared on the screen.

"Host, now you can take back your spiritual energy. I have no more use for it," Nagina giggled as she started to crawl in front of her.

"….."

"Heh," Le Fang ling squinted her eyes as an evil grin spread on her face looking at the young brat before her.

.

"Alright! I am sorry, it was not a joke but still, Hahaha, stop tickling me host." Nagina was crying and laughing as she was mercilessly tickled by Le fang Ling as punishment.

"I will laugh by dying if you do not stop," Nagina's laughter echoed in the silent coniferous forest they were currently at.

"Stooop! Izz enough now!" Nagina tried to control herself but the tingling sensation was surging throughout her body at the places where she was tickled.

She never knew her scales were this sensitive to any physical touch.

"Oho, giving up this soon?" Le Fang Ling was still not done with her.

"My data is going to get distorted if you do it," Nagina tried to make a straight face like she usually did but now, she was failing horribly.

Her face was slightly flushed giving her cheeks a light pink blush which glowed beautifully when the sunlight fell on her.

The corners of her eyes were wet with tears that were threatening to spill if she was tickled once more.

Looking at her utterly innocent but seductive state, Le fang Ling's smile faded from her face only to be replaced by an awkward blush.

She had always thought her Nagina looked cute and she deserved to be loved and cuddled and pampered but now that she looked at her face, she could not deny the fact that was in front of her anymore!

With her curvy body, glistening skin that looked like soft tofu and mesmerizing face that could even put the heavenly deities to shame, Nagina was sexy as hell and it was a fact!

Period!

"Sorry about that," Le fang Ling realized that she had almost made a huge mistake by thinking something like that about her. She was no less than the guards at the sect who thought this way regarding Nagina.

Nagina was not expecting that apology from her so she was at a loss of words as to what to say.

"I, I think it's fine," She had gained back her composure but she could not hide the awkwardness she felt that came out of nowhere.

Both turned silent as they continued their journey.

"I think we are near." Le fang Ling could barely hear the sound of a busy evening street but she knew it was there.

"We should probably hurry," Le fang Ling looked at the sun that was slowly hiding behind the clouds and the western hills.

"We should also search for a place to stay tonight." Nagina scanned the surrounding to see if there were any weird and abnormal happenings or not.

Le Fang Ling took out a small purse that was hanging in her waist and looked inside.

"We have 1 gold coin, 2 silver coins and 23 bronze coins," she said with a dejected face as the reality of being broke hit her hard.

"We should search for somewhere cheap…" her voice trailed off midway when she saw Nagina was looking with sparkling eyes at two kids who were eating a cotton candy as they sat by the road sides.

"You have never seen those?" Le fang Ling could clearly see her interest in those things they were eating

"Nope, I do not have any memory of ever being somewhere," Nagina forced out a smile as she continued, "But it is fine, I mean, I can always create new memories with you now."

"…."

"Well, I.." Le fang Ling looked at the money she was holding. It was the last bit of money that she had which she had saved up for the sake of sword and the things she might require.

She wanted to pamper and spoil Nagina but her purse did not agree with her emotions. She tightly clenched the purse in her hand and sighed in dejection.

She fucking hated poverty and she hated it more now when she could not even seem to do anything for someone close to her.

"I can't do much but I will try my best to make sure you enjoy lots of thing," She smiled as she patted the soft silver colored hair that was slightly swaying in the wind.

It was going to be their first visit to a mortal realm so both of them were kind of excited and were anticipating things they had never seen before.

"System map!" Le Fang Ling requested to see the map of the palace they were at. This way they could prevent getting lost and also save time to do more productive works.

The system tab appeared in front of them. As soon as she looked in the tab, her expression immediately darkened at the sight of horribly drawn map.

"I think, err, never mind, we should try and see things for ourselves," Le Fang Ling snapped her finger and the system screen disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Map is for the weak!"

Nagina: "....."

…

"Looks like that is the entrance to the town!" Nagina was far more excited than Le fang Ling to go and explore the place.

She pointed to a huge wooden gate that had been beautifully carved as a piece of decoration with the name of the city perfectly written in beautiful brush strokes.

"Vineyard city?!" Le Fang ling eyed the name with caution.

"It does look pleasing to the eyes.." Le fang Ling tightened her hold on Nagina's wrist as they approached the town.