The "North Wind Trial" was held in the depths of the snowfield deeper than the Hunting Plain. There was a sunken basin. It was said that in ancient times it was a crater lake that had been warm for many years, but now it has lost its temperature and has been frozen. The wind and snow covered it, leaving only a wide snow pit. If you dig a few feet of snow on the surface, you can see the blue frozen lake below.

Five miles to the northwest edge of the snow pit, there is an ancient fortress, which has been buried most of the snow, leaving only the dome of the fortress and the upper half of a watchtower exposed to the snow surface. Travelers or guards will also temporarily live here to avoid the wind and snow. However, it is rumored that this ancient fortress is haunted, and people will not stay here for a long time, and snow robbers will not approach this place.

Joel was sitting in a shaking carriage wearing a moldy rag thick cloak. The cloak wrapped in the leather of Sister Simoken was much better than Joel's, but the carriage without a roof did not serve the slightest warmth. Sister Simoken was trembling all the time. When the north wind mixed with snowflakes blew, she curled up and hid half of her face under the cloak.

Joel and his team had already set out from Lengshi Town for a day and a half, and they reached the edge of the snow pit in the morning. Sister Simoken stood up. She looked up at the vast white snow field, her eyes shining with amazement and worry: she was amazed at its beauty and worried about its danger. Because the snow pit was on the frozen lake surface, there would not be any grass and trees here, and the animals would not approach it. This was an absolutely dead place and the "north wind judgement place" for thousands of years.

When they left Lengshi Town, they brought two carriages, both of which had no roof. Joel and Sister Simoken sat in a carriage with some dry straw in it, and the other carriage was filled with supplies to use in the past few days: cured meat, bacon and inferior honey wine, some dry bread and dry forage for feeding horses, as well as large bales of firewood, piles of charcoal, cans of kerosene and pieces of animal skin blankets. Most of these supplies were loaded into boxes and leather bags, and then firmly fixed on the carriage with a thick hemp rope. There were eight guards escorted to the North Wind Trial Site, plus two grooms and eight horses. Four guards in iron armor were sitting around with four horses on guard, while the other four guards sat on two carriages with crossbows, and the remaining four pack horses were responsible for pulling the carriage.

It was sunny when he came out of Lengshi Town, and when he arrived at the snow pit, it was only a little windy. "This kind of weather will not appear in the next few months," Captain Yare, the leader, told Joel. He was a cold and hard man in the north. From his horse's posture, he could tell that he was a good player. "You are lucky." After he said that, he rode forward. The other guards were wearing masks all the time, but Joel could see that a guard always aimed at him. Did I offend him? Joel couldn't help but think.

"Captain Yare is very grateful to you." said the old guard who was sitting in the same car. He was wearing an iron and half helmet, revealing his weather-beaten face and yellow and broken teeth. "His wife and children failed to escape when the Principal mercenaries came in. They were set on fire by the Principal mercenaries. Now the house is collapsed, and the body will probably have to be dug out and buried until spring."

"What does this have to do with Captain Yare's gratitude to him?" Sister Simoken asked with a wink.

Another middle-aged man with a half-helmet glanced at Sister Simoken, with numbness in his little eyes. He had a slut on his face, fat, and round double chin. "Captain Yare could have killed his enemy in the Juez Hall, but because Young Master Fitwen was captured, the Principal Mercenary ran away." After saying that, he spat, "I want me to see that boy has no other ability except showing off his power."

"Hmph, you should be glad that I am sitting here with you," said the old guard, holding his eyes at a horse guard behind the team, and the guard was also looking in their direction, "Or else you will have to bear it after you go back." After that, he picked up the sheepskin wine bag with him and took a bite, "This ghost place, even his toes will be frozen!"

After hearing this, Sister Simoken just nodded slightly, thinking about something and retracted her fur cloak. "You don't have to worry too much," said the old man, "After all, this is the North Wind Judgment. The gods will bless the nun, right?"

"The cold Sendi is the sexless god," said Sister Simoken, with falling snowflakes falling on her snow-gray hair, and she exhaled a small piece of white breath as she spoke. "It will treat everyone equally, whether it is men, women, old people, or children."

After hearing this, the old guard shrugged disapprovingly, "What a cruel god."

"How many years have you not held the North Wind Trial?" the fat guard suddenly asked. His godless eyes looked curious for the first time, "Ten years? Or twenty years?"

"It's forty years, boy." said the old guard, "I was still a hairy boy at that time, and Master Via was also Master Via. He was not as fat as he is now."

"Why hasn't it been held for so many years?" the fat guard asked with a frown, "This...custom?"

"The North Wind Judgment is not a custom, but a kind of sacrifice," said Sister Simoken, who would be filled with respect every time she talked about the topic of gods. "It is a living sacrifice held to sacrifice to the 'Lord of the North Wind', and the 'Sacrificial' was sent to the judgment site, or to the sacrificial site, and the lord of the North Wind decide their destiny. Those who survived will be exempted from their guilt, and those who died will become sacrifices to Sendi. For various reasons, this 'Trial' was forbidden forty years ago, until now."

After hearing Sister Simoken's words, the two guards did not speak again, but looked silently in the distance, muttering prayers from time to time.

The carriage continued to move forward for a long time, and the sun passed over their heads, leaning towards the west, and finally disappeared behind the thick lead-gray clouds. Except for the top of their heads, all other directions looked white. At this location of the snow pit, the Widow Mountains hidden behind the clouds could not be seen. Suddenly, Captain Yare, in front of the team, ordered to stop moving forward.

"What's wrong?" The old guard raised his head and looked ahead of the team. Captain Yare came down on his horse. "Are you there?" The fat guard said, jumped out of the carriage, removed the baffle behind the carriage, and signaled Joel and Sister Simoken to get out of the carriage. Joel pulled his cloak and jumped out of the carriage first. His hands and feet were shackles, and his skin was worn out. Sister Simoken did not wear shackles. With Joel's support, he also got out of the carriage. The last one to jump out of the carriage was the old guard, and then Captain Yare came over.

At this time, a cold north rolled over the snowfield, rolling up large areas of sand-like snow dust.

He waved his hand to the back of the team, and a guard jumped out of a carriage behind him. Instead of holding a crossbow, he carried two bags. He walked over and threw one of them at Joel's feet, and handed the other to Sister Simoken.

Captain Yare touched his beard on his face and pointed in a direction, "This is the northwest, you can reach the ancient fortress by going in this direction. We only stay there for two days. If you can't catch up within this period, we will go back to Lengshi Town by ourselves. You can only stay in this ghost place to starve or freeze to death, no matter what," Captain Yare drove forward, "You only have two days. Don't get lost."

In fact, Lengshi Town can directly walk north to reach the ancient fortress, but the team deliberately spared the long journey and passed the trial site to throw the two people onto the snow field of the trial site. If they cannot get out of the trial site within a limited time, the team will directly return to Lengshi Town from the ancient fortress, and the two people will have to be abandoned and wait for death in the depths of the snow field.

"Keep going!" Captain Yarei shouted, "Before dark, you must go to the ancient fortress!" The carriage drove forward, but left Sister Simoken and Joel in place. This is the North Wind Judgment. If you want to survive, you have to follow their direction and go to the ancient fortress. If you arrive at the ancient fortress within two days, you can survive and wash away the charges. If you cannot, you can only die on this snow field and be frozen into a corpse that has not been rotten for many years.

"Let's keep up with them, Mr. Contin," said Sister Simoken anxiously as she looked at the team away, "Because the footprints and ruts are not covered by the wind and snow, otherwise it would be bad if she gets lost."

"Don't worry. Let's see what they gave us first." Joel squatted down, untied the bag at his feet, which contained a large piece of dry bread and a sheepskin wine bag. In addition, there was a rust dagger. Joel picked up the dagger and looked at it, and couldn't help but smile bitterly. This dagger was even hard to deal with this piece of frozen bread.

Sister Simoken also looked at Joel and put the bag in her arms on the ground. After opening it, she found that in addition to a large piece of dry bread and wine bag, there was also a piece of pastrami. Sister Simoken looked up at Joel with a red face, and Joel shook her head with a smile. Not only beef, Sister Simoken's dagger is also very iron forged, and she is both sides. "I guess they are afraid that I will hurt you." Joel smiled and threw the rust dagger in her hand.

In the snow, this thing couldn't help any of this. He took out the wine bag from his bag, "Take it out and put it under your thick cloak," Joel stuffed the wine bag into his clothes, "If you don't do this, you will be frozen and you will be unable to drink it." Then he tied the bag again and carried it on his back. Fortunately, they gave me a piece of warm clothes and boots, and Joel thought to himself, instead of letting me walk through the snow field naked.

Sister Simoken took out the wine bag like Joel, and then stood up with her bag in her arms. "Do you want me to help?" Joel asked. Sister Simoken shook her head, "The nun is not a weak lady. In addition to tempering our will, we are also exercising our bodies."

Without saying anything, Joel took a step forward. This was a long, arduous and boring journey. The scenery in the front, back, left and right directions was almost exactly the same. Apart from the horseshoe marks and ruts that were not buried in snow in front, and the new footprints left behind him, there was no reference. Whether it was an hour or two, the surrounding scenery had almost no change, and only the footprints in front were getting less and less clear.

The two remained silent all the way, and they were really not in the mood to talk about anything in such a ghost place. As they walked one after another, Joel's shackles would jingle every step. At this time, the sound of each other's footsteps made them feel more at ease. If a person moves forward in such a ghost place, it might not take long to go crazy.

After walking for a long time, Joel felt that the iron shackles on his hands and feet were getting heavier and heavier, and the footsteps from behind became more and more difficult. Finally, he began to distance himself from Joel, and the ruts and horseshoe marks in front were almost invisible. A gust of blew from the north from a distance, and white snow dust could be seen from afar. The cold wind blew, and the snow dust swallowed the two of them. Joel could almost hear the sound of snow, but he could still hear the sound of falling in the snow from behind. The wind did not last long, and it passed ten seconds later. The snow sand fell on Joel's head and shoulders. He shook off the snow sand, and when he turned his head to see, Sister Ximoken, who was struggling to get up from the snow when he saw it.

"Yes, sorry, Mr. Kangting..." Sister Simoken was almost incoherent, and Joel walked towards him, "I, I will never... drag you down again next time, so..." When Joel walked up to her, she found that she was almost crying, "So don't leave me alone..."

Unexpectedly, this strong-willed nun who dared to confront the jazz at the judgment meeting and called for the name of the terrifying god would be like this. Joel reached out and pulled her up, "I won't leave you." Joel sent the snow sand on her body for her, "I'm not injured anywhere, right?"

"No, I'm fine." She lowered her head, "I'm sorry."

"No, no, no sorry." Joel looked ahead. The gust of wind just now completely blocked the horseshoe and ruts. "I'm sorry."

"Why?" Sister Qianmoken was stunned.

"If you weren't trying to protect Hemi, you wouldn't have come to such a ghost place. So it should be me who should be sorry." Joel said, picking up Sister Simoken's bag and carrying it on his shoulders. "Even if it's for Hemi, I will never leave you."

"Mr. Contin..." Sister Simoken looked at Joel, but Joel didn't say anything else, but turned his head and continued to walk forward. Sister Simoken also bit her lip and followed.

The two of them were silent on the next journey, but Joel slowed down appropriately. Sister Simoken didn't know whether to show off or something else. She always followed Joel, keeping her pace without falling or getting a distance from Joel.

The journey was more difficult than expected. After the horseshoe prints and ruts disappeared, Joel was not relaxed at all, fearing that he would deviate from the direction and eventually get lost in the snow, which would be a dead end. The sun had begun to set westward, but because the clouds were too thick, Joel could not accurately find the direction.

Just as Joel was thinking about whether to stop, Sister Simoken's scream came from behind. When she turned around and saw Sister Simoken falling into the snow, Joel turned around and walked over. "Are you okay?" Joel asked.

"Sorry," Sister Simoken said as she climbed up from the snow. This was the second time she had fallen, "I tripped up by something."

Joel looked behind her, and his hands that had been frozen and blackened, stretched out the snow face. Joel grabbed Sister Simoken's arm and refused to let her look back. "Let's move on. After walking for a while, we have to find a way to spend the night. There is no way to continue moving forward at night."

"Okay, okay." Sister Ximoken nodded, but when she had just taken one step, she seemed to trip up something again. "Wait, wait!" Sister Ximoken bent down and searched in the snow, "Mr. Kang Ting! Look at this!" Then she dug out an frozen short sword from under the snow. "Why is there such a thing here?" Sister Ximoken looked at the iron sword in her hand strangely.

"Don't worry about this." Joel took the iron sword from her hand, "Leave this to me. It will be dark after walking for a while. You can't waste time here." After saying that, Joel walked forward directly,

"Yes, yes!" Sister Simoken continued to follow Joel.

After walking for a while, the sky became obviously darker. Joel looked around helplessly. No matter where they looked, it was no different from where they were thrown off the carriage at the beginning. "Let's spend the night here tonight." Joel announced, then put down the two bags on his shoulders.

"But, but, how do you pass?" Sister Ximoken looked around, "There is no cover here, we may be buried by the wind and snow..."

Joel looked up at the sky, then bent down to start digging the snow. "If there is no cover, we will dig one by ourselves and try to dig deeper." The work of digging snow was not easy. Sister Simoken also had a pair of animal skin gloves, but Joel could only use a rag cloak to dig it. Sister Simoken didn't say much, she squatted down and digged with Joel.

Joel first used the handle of the dagger to loosen the snow, and then digged it open. It was very slow to dig the pit without tools, but there was nothing we could do about it. After a while, a large pit that could accommodate a person lying down was gradually dug out. The sky finally darkened, and the clouds in the sky dispersed, revealing the bright starry sky. When the pit that was avoiding the wind and snow was finally completed, it was already dark for a long time. Joel and Sister Simoken breathed a sigh of relief with sweat. Although the pit was dug, they could only barely lie down. "Tonight, I can only squeeze it," Joel said, "It's better to keep warm when the two of them squeezed together."

"Yes, yes." Sister Simoken's voice sounded nervous, but because it was dark and she could only touch the stars to barely see things, Joel could not see her expression.

"Let's eat something first." The two sat next to the shelter pit. Joel opened the bag. While Sister Yehei Ximoken couldn't see it, he took out a sharp dagger from his "backpack" to cut the frozen dry bread. Then he stuffed the bread into his mouth and rinsed it with the wine that had been kept warm in his arms.

"Mr. Kangting... is really amazing." In the darkness, Sister Simoken said, "From the beginning, when I arrived at the judgment site, I have never looked scared. I have never seen fear in your face. I really think you... are very brave."

Brave...? Joel didn't speak, just chewing hard bread. Is that really the case?

"Give it, Mr. Contin." Suddenly Sister Simoken stuffed something into Joel's hand. Joel was a little surprised and realized it was a piece of frozen pastrami.

"Thank you very much." Joel didn't know what to say, so he could only thank him.

"No, don't be polite, this is what you deserve." Sister Simoken said with a relaxed smile.

Without saying anything, Joel stuffed pastrami into his mouth, but found that he couldn't bite at all. In the end, he had to wait for it to soften slightly before rushing it with wine.

"Speaking of it," asked Sister Simoken carefully, "Who is Mr. Kangting from Hemi? Hemi said that his father had also been this surname, and I have heard of it."

Yes, it was. Joel thought that I was once a member of the Kangting family until I escaped later. "I am..." Her father, Joel thought bitterly, but his father was dead, "I am her father's brother."

"Really?" Sister Simoken made a surprise voice, "So Hemi has relatives in this world?"

"Yeah." Joel said softly. She is also the only and most important relative I have left in this world. Thinking of this, Joel raised his head and looked at the cold stars flashing in the sky. The brightest of them was the gray-cold cross that only appeared not long ago.

Hemi, how are you now?
Chapter completed!