Evan Yang had never caught a toad and didn’t know what they looked like, except for the illustration of a Million-Year Toad that Know-All Broker gave him. If all the toads here were young, they should be quite large.
"We’ve searched everywhere, but there’s nothing," Hannah Nangong muttered.
"It’s fine, let’s keep looking," Evan said. So the two continued searching among the scattered rocks, flipping them over one by one. After checking several rocky mounds, night had already fallen.
"It’s already dark—so fast," Hannah said helplessly as she saw night fall.
"No worries, let’s head back and see if anyone else found anything," Evan said.
Hannah Nangong nodded, so Evan and Hannah walked back and stopped at the agreed meeting spot.
By then, quite a few people had gathered there. Some had already started a fire, and more and more people arrived until nearly everyone was present. Then Leo Li showed up.
He looked around at everyone and smiled, "So, did anyone catch anything today?"
Everyone perked up, glancing around to see if anyone had caught a toad. But after a while, it was just people looking at each other—no one claimed to have caught anything.
Finally, someone said, "Captain Li, it seems no one caught anything. Maybe there aren’t any toads around here?"
Leo Li hadn’t caught anything today either, so he turned to the Snowveil Star System local sitting nearby and asked, "What’s going on? Did we come to the wrong place?"
The man thought for a moment and said, "We’re probably in the right spot. But there’s another possibility—they might all be resting somewhere together."
"Resting? That’s a thing?" someone asked curiously.
"Yeah, you might not know, but there are a few days each year when the toads seem to disappear as a group, making them really hard to find. If you do find any, they’re usually the bigger, younger ones," the man explained.
"Really?" Leo Li asked, intrigued.
"Yeah, that’s how it usually goes in my experience," the man said after thinking for a while.
"So how long does this last? When will they show up again?" Leo asked, and everyone looked at the local guide.
The man thought for a bit and said, "It’s hard to say. Sometimes it’s a day or two, sometimes five or six days, and the longest could be over ten days."
"That long?" everyone exclaimed in surprise.
Leo Li considered it and said, "If that’s the case, we’ll just have to stay here. Maybe they’ll show up tomorrow."
Everyone had no choice but to accept it—after all, this could last a day or two, or even several days. There was no way to predict it.
Seeing everyone agree, Leo Li thought for a moment and said, "Since we’ve all decided to stay, let’s keep searching tomorrow. For tonight, let’s stick together here—there’s strength in numbers."
Everyone nodded, then each found a spot to sit and cultivate with their eyes closed.
"Why can’t that guy keep his eyes to himself? He keeps staring at me," Hannah Nangong transmitted telepathically.
"That’s because you’re just too attractive," Evan replied with a smile.
"Even if I am, does he have to stare like that?" Hannah couldn’t help but laugh at being called attractive.
Seeing Hannah’s expression, Evan smiled as well. As for everyone else, they all kept their eyes shut—except for Leo Li, who shamelessly kept staring at Evan and Hannah.
At that moment, Leo Li was secretly plotting, "I have to find a way to get him out of the way—otherwise, how will I get the beauty?"
So Leo kept scheming until midnight. The area was quiet except for the sound of falling snow. Everyone was already getting buried by snow, except for those with fires beside them, who were still fine.
The peaceful atmosphere was suddenly broken by the sound of a distant gale. The stronger cultivators all opened their eyes at once.
"What’s going on?" someone exclaimed.
The Snowveil Star System local stood up and released his divine sense toward the source of the sound. When he saw a dense black mass rushing toward them, he cried, "Not good—a blizzard!"
"A blizzard? What’s that?" Most people here weren’t from Snowveil, so they had no idea what it was.
The Snowveil local urgently explained, "This is a rare blizzard from the Snowveil Star System—a violent storm that can tear Heavenly-Immortal and even Profound-Immortal cultivators apart, not much different from a spatial crack. Plus, blizzards come in different strengths. Judging by its speed, this one is probably extremely powerful. Everyone, hurry and escape! If you’re lucky, you might get out; if not, you’ll be swept up in it soon."
Everyone was shocked. The timid ones quickly used Flash Step to leave, and soon more and more people fled.
Evan Yang frowned as he watched, "Is it really that dangerous?"
"It looks terrifying—just in the blink of an eye, it’s almost here. Its speed could rival a peak Profound-Immortal," Hannah Nangong said.
"Looks like we should retreat as well," Evan said.
"Yeah, let’s go," Hannah replied. So Evan and Hannah got up and used Flash Step to leave. Leo Li saw them go and quickly followed.
But something strange happened—Evan and Hannah seemed to enter some bizarre circle of blizzard. Not long after, another wall appeared ahead, and when they tried to retreat, there was another behind them. Looking around, the same storm was everywhere.
Not only that, everyone found themselves unable to leave and were forced to regroup in the center.
The Snowveil local’s face turned grim. "We’re doomed. I can’t believe we’ve run into a Converging Blizzard—something you only see once in ten thousand years."
"Converging Blizzard?" Leo Li asked skeptically.
"That’s right. This kind of blizzard comes from all directions and merges into one giant storm. They say even junior Emperor-level experts can’t escape it. Looks like we’re finished," the Snowveil local said, his face extremely pale.
Leo Li was shocked by this. "Is it really that terrifying?" The people around him were starting to panic; someone said, "Should’ve gone back earlier today."
"Exactly. With no toads, we should’ve just left," many began to show fear.
Evan Yang was only a little surprised by this, but not afraid—he had plenty of ways to avoid danger. Hannah Nangong, not knowing Evan’s true strength, was a bit worried.
The scene turned chaotic. Some people were already preparing for death, while others took out Transmission Stones to send final messages to friends and family.
They looked like they were just waiting to die.
"Looks like we’re trapped," Leo Li finally said through gritted teeth.
The Snowveil local nodded. "Sigh, in half an hour at most, it’ll reach us. When it does, we’ll be torn apart!"
None of them had Emperor-level strength, so being shredded was inevitable. Many resigned themselves to death, but some refused to give up, shouting, "No, there must be a way! Tell us—what can we do?" They rushed over and grabbed the Snowveil local.
The man was utterly hopeless. What could he do? He shook his head. "There’s nothing. I may be from Snowveil, but I’ve heard countless legends about this. Whenever a blizzard like this appears, something always happens. I don’t know what, but we’re doomed."
"Talk about luck," Evan Yang thought. He never expected that his trip with Hannah Nangong would run into a once-in-ten-thousand-years Converging Blizzard, and one so extraordinary at that.
Leo Li told the man to let go and said, "He already said there’s nothing we can do—so let go, will you?"
"It’s all his fault! He’s the one who caused this!" Some people started losing control, falling into a frenzy.
Others were infected by the panic and rushed forward, trying to seize the Snowveil local.
Leo Li saw things were getting out of hand. Continuing like this wasn’t an option—he didn’t want to die, but he thought of a solution, though he kept it to himself.
"Stop it! Will this solve anything?" Leo Li shouted.
"We’re doomed anyway—might as well kill someone for revenge before we die," someone said.
Leo Li shouted, "You’re all crazy! I’m done with you!"
Then Leo really tossed the Snowveil local aside. Seeing their captain abandon him, the others rushed forward to kill the man.
The Snowveil local knew Leo Li was the strongest here and could easily protect him. So he pleaded, "Brother Li, didn’t you promise to keep me safe?"
"Brother Xiang, look at these people. We’re all about to die, and they’re acting this way. If they go crazy, I don’t want to die early," Leo said.
"Brother Li, you can’t do this," the man protested, realizing Leo was afraid of the group going berserk. If he tried to help, he’d end up dead himself.
"Sorry, Brother Xiang. You’d better beg these people—it’s more practical," Leo sighed.
At this point, no one cared about Leo’s sense of righteousness or selfishness. They just wanted revenge—since they were all going to die anyway.
Just as the Snowveil local was about to be overwhelmed, Evan Yang spoke up, "Stop right there."
Everyone looked at the man and the woman beside him. Someone said, "Kid, mind your own business."
"You ingrates! He brought you here, and now you treat him like this?" Evan said coldly. He spoke up because he didn’t want the man to die.
"Ingrates? What did he give us? Just look around!" The man, furious, was beyond reasoning.
"What did he give you? Could he predict the future? This is beyond anyone’s control. If you have any conscience left, step back," Evan said.
The chaos gradually settled, though two or three people still held on to the Snowveil local.
"Kid, mind your own business. Take care of yourself and your pretty companion. If you interfere again, I won’t mind becoming a lustful ghost before I die," the man said, staring at Evan and Hannah.
"A lustful ghost? You?" Evan finally got angry.