Since a consensus had been reached, Ye Tiancheng was not afraid that the little fellow Long Zhaozhao would deceive him. After all, with Long Miaomiao present, there should be no mountain spirits or wild monsters that would dare to offend a dragon so easily.
They were too busy trying to curry favor with Long Miaomiao, flocking to her side. It was unlikely that many would dare to lie to her face.
“Since there isn’t, it saves some effort,” Ye Tiancheng mused. “Next, we’ll have to see what the situation is with the owner of that house, and then decide when to leave.”
“Speaking of which, Zhaozhao, you’ve lived on this mountain for so long, do you know if there’s a small house nearby, and what the situation is with its owner?”
As Ye Tiancheng spoke, this thought suddenly occurred to him.
Long Zhaozhao had lived here for such a long time, perhaps even longer than the house owner had been here. He might know something.
Upon hearing Ye Tiancheng’s question, Long Miaomiao and the little fox both turned to look at Long Zhaozhao.
“The owner of the house on this mountain…?” Long Zhaozhao was puzzled for a moment. After a brief thought, he realized what Ye Tiancheng was referring to. It was true that he had lived here for a long time and was quite active, so he did know about this matter.
Long Zhaozhao immediately replied to Ye Tiancheng, “Speaking of which, I do know. After all, he’s the only living person living on this mountain. Moreover, I have some connection with this person. He encountered danger on the mountain, and I dug him out of the snow.”
“At that time, I saw he was on the verge of death and didn’t know what to do. I thought of my treasure and wanted to save him. Later, somehow, I managed to keep him alive, and he’s been living on this mountain ever since.”
“A couple of years ago, he did come down the mountain, but then he settled on the mountain and built a house for himself. He rarely came down afterward, only occasionally going out hunting, which would take several days each time. I estimate that he should be back from hunting these past couple of days.”
Ye Tiancheng and the others were truly surprised that the clue came so quickly.
What’s more, the house owner’s affairs were actually related to Long Zhaozhao.
The little fox spoke somewhat speechlessly, “A living person?”
Long Zhaozhao didn’t understand the little fox’s attitude or the meaning behind his words. He asked with some confusion, “What’s wrong with a living person? Isn’t he big enough? That guy is that ~ big!”
When saying the word “that,” Long Zhaozhao stretched out the sound and simultaneously gestured with his paws, as if trying to describe the house owner’s stature.
Ye Tiancheng and the others had seen the house owner, so they naturally understood what Long Zhaozhao meant.
The house owner’s physique was considered quite tall and strong even among humans. For a small weasel like Long Zhaozhao, he was practically a behemoth.
However, judging by Long Zhaozhao’s appearance, he seemed unaware that the house owner was now a living dead person.
Ye Tiancheng said to Long Zhaozhao, “Originally, we didn’t know what the situation was, but now, hearing you say that and putting it together, it seems we understand what’s going on.”
“You probably don’t know, but when you found this person before, he was likely on the verge of death, or already dead. Because he has now become a living dead person.”
Long Zhaozhao was stunned.
He stammered, “L-living dead person? What is a living dead person?”
He then looked at Long Miaomiao, hoping for an explanation.
Long Miaomiao stroked his fur and explained to Long Zhaozhao, “A living dead person is someone who, after dying, becomes a corpse. However, this corpse can still walk around in the world like a living person. But because it has become a corpse, its body will also decay like a normal corpse.”
“He should have died at that time. You, by chance, turned him into a living dead person with that fragment, allowing him to continue his life in another form. However, because corpses decay at normal temperatures, he cannot live in the outside world. To prevent his body from rotting, he can only live on this snow mountain.”
Long Zhaozhao immediately became nervous.
“I-I didn’t know! Did I do something bad? I didn’t mean to! I didn’t know it would be like this!”
Long Miaomiao quickly comforted him, saying, “Don’t be so nervous. This isn’t considered doing something bad. Instead, you’ve allowed him to live for so many more years in an unconventional way.”
Hearing Long Miaomiao’s words, Long Zhaozhao knew he hadn’t committed evil and breathed a sigh of relief. However, he also knew that surviving in the world as a dead person, due to being incompatible with the world, came with many restrictions. Therefore, this problem must be resolved, and it was related to him.
Thus, Long Zhaozhao asked Long Miaomiao with great concern, “What should we do now? I know this goes against natural law and should be corrected. Moreover, this matter is related to me, do I need to do anything?”
Long Miaomiao patted his little head and said, “You don’t need to worry about this. This is a problem for us to solve. If the facts are as you say, after we understand the house owner, we might be able to make a deal with him. Since you’ve already handed over the fragment, there’s nothing else you can do.”
With Long Miaomiao’s words, Long Zhaozhao could only resign himself to fate.
He knew that he himself was not very powerful and had only been able to turn the house owner into a living dead person by relying on that fragment. He knew he didn’t have such abilities.
Now that he had lost the fragment, he could no longer exert such great power. The person he relied on would henceforth become Long Miaomiao. Since Long Miaomiao said he didn’t need to do anything, he would obediently listen.
For Ye Tiancheng and the others, Long Zhaozhao’s words provided quite a few clues. Next, Ye Tiancheng and the others only needed to confirm that the house owner had a good character. Then, they would ask him if he was willing to make a transaction with them, to see if they could help the little fox recover some of her soul.
Once this matter was settled, they could leave this place.
The subsequent events became much simpler. Ye Tiancheng and the little fox, along with Long Miaomiao, returned to the small house. After waiting for a while, they waited for the house owner to return. The house owner, upon seeing that they had found Long Miaomiao, felt a little relieved. Then he saw Long Zhaozhao in Long Miaomiao’s arms.
When the house owner was saved by Long Zhaozhao, he had some consciousness and knew that Long Zhaozhao was his savior weasel.
Even though he had become this half-dead state because of Long Zhaozhao, being able to live was already a great fortune for him. He could not ask for more.
Without Long Zhaozhao, he would have died long ago.
Afterward, Ye Tiancheng and the others investigated the house owner and confirmed that he indeed had a good character. Even knowing that Long Zhaozhao was a spirit and a rare protected animal, he did not harbor any greed. They knew that this person was likely open to a transaction.
Ye Tiancheng and the others then asked the house owner if he was willing to make a deal with them.
The reason the house owner had been lingering in the human world and unwilling to leave was due to an unfulfilled wish. He dreamed of contacting his family again and did not want them to know that he had already died, which was why he persisted and clung to life until now.
As long as he could still move in the human world, perhaps one day he could send a message back, so they would always believe he was still alive in this world.
Through Ye Tiancheng, the house owner learned that trading a portion of his fragmented soul would not have a significant impact on him and would not affect his reincarnation. Moreover, Ye Tiancheng and the others could help him contact his family and assist him in other ways.
He also knew that he would never be able to leave this snow mountain by continuing to live this strange life. Finally, he made up his mind and made the transaction with Ye Tiancheng and the others.
As long as Ye Tiancheng helped him deliver a letter to his family and sent them some money at regular intervals, he would voluntarily trade a portion of his soul fragments to them.
This was a trivial matter for Ye Tiancheng, and he readily agreed.
However, there was some regret. The house owner’s soul fragments did not contain any part that matched the little fox’s soul. But Ye Tiancheng and the others had not held much hope, as they knew the probability was low and they were just trying their luck.
Nevertheless, even so, they would not refuse to help the house owner because of this. They still completed the transaction, but they did not take any soul fragments from the house owner.
After concluding this matter, Ye Tiancheng and the others descended the snow mountain, carrying the house owner’s letter and a small box of cash.
This was money the house owner had withdrawn from the bank a couple of years ago when he came down the mountain. If he didn’t take this opportunity, he wouldn’t be able to move down the mountain often. Each time he came down, his body would deteriorate further, making it harder for him to survive.
The house owner did not hide where he was living. He simply made an excuse that he was employed and could not leave the area, but he did not prevent his family from visiting him.
Upon learning that he could still move around, the house owner informed his family of this.
Although he could not go down the mountain, his past family members, if they wished, could still come to see him. Even if they didn’t come, he would not blame them. He only hoped that those who were still alive would continue to live well in this world, and he would have no regrets.
After descending the mountain, Ye Tiancheng and the others hid Long Zhaozhao inside the backpack.
Fortunately, Long Zhaozhao was a spirit with awakened intelligence, so there was no need to worry about him moving around and being discovered by others while hidden inside.
Before contacting Nie Chongyang to officially register Long Zhaozhao’s existence, Ye Tiancheng and the others dared not expose Long Zhaozhao to the public.
Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, Ye Tiancheng and the others encountered the assistant of the guide they had hired earlier.
As soon as the assistant saw them, he walked over and greeted them.
After the greeting, Ye Tiancheng and the others learned why they were so coincidentally seeing this guide’s assistant here.
It turned out that after they had indicated they did not need a guide to lead them down the mountain, the guide was still concerned about his guests’ safety. He had asked his nephew and some employees to watch at the foot of the mountain for guests like them who were acting alone to see if they had safely descended.
Indeed, he was a very responsible guide.
Ye Tiancheng and the others expressed their gratitude to the guide’s assistant. It was a pity that the guide was currently leading new guests up the mountain and had missed encountering Ye Tiancheng and the others. Since they couldn’t express their thanks in person, they asked the assistant to convey their gratitude.
Next, Ye Tiancheng and the others were about to leave this place.
They did not immediately try to sense the whereabouts of the next fragment of the Fuxi Qin. This was because they now had a new, urgent matter to attend to: registering Long Zhaozhao.
And for this small matter, it was inconvenient to trouble Nie Chongyang to make a special trip. Therefore, Ye Tiancheng planned to go to Nie Chongyang’s place to resolve this issue.