The wind from the snow mountain whistled through the prayer flags, making them rustle loudly. Zhang Yifan's wooden ox caravan had just rounded the final mountain bend when Huwa's strange screech rang out: "Brother Fan! The wooden ox's 'Sneeze Bomb' is frozen! All the powder it sprayed out is stuck to my face!" Turning his head, the youth saw Huwa with a white ghost-like face, looking just like a snowball licked by a snow leopard, and he couldn't help collapsing with laughter onto the ox's back.
"Serves you right for messing with the mechanisms!" Zhang Yifan pulled the chili powder pouch from the boy's waist, only to suddenly discover half a firecracker jammed inside the wooden ox's tail—Huwa had actually modified the "wolf-deterrent technique" learned from the Western Regions into "snow mountain fireworks." "If you keep messing around, I'll leave you behind in the snow mountain to be king of the Snow Beetle Shell Powder!" Huwa stuck out his tongue. "King it is, then! The Chieftain said my ghost face can be the new totem for the Snow Mountain Merchant Alliance!"
The stone-paved paths of Cyan Ox Village radiated warmth in the sunlight, and the icicles on the old locust tree had barely half-melted when Huwa's shrill cry was heard: "Xiaoxiu! Brother Fan confiscated all my chili powder!" Xiaoxiu emerged from the Medicine Cottage carrying a bowl of hot ginger soup, and upon seeing the "Taisu" pendant hanging at Zhang Yifan's waist, the tips of her ears suddenly grew hot: "Did the…
Chapter 29