Cangzhou was covered in snow year-round, a place of biting winds and frozen earth.
But ten years ago, Cangzhou was not like this.
Back then, the four seasons were distinct, and the winter snowscapes were the most famous and enchanting of all.
Every year, many travelers would journey to Cangzhou to admire the scenery.
Now, however, Cangzhou lived in a perpetual winter, locked in ice.
A frigid winter that had lasted for a full decade had robbed Cangzhou of its spring, summer, and autumn, causing the region to lose many other vital things.
The snowscapes here were no longer as charming as they once were; instead, they had become exceptionally desolate and bleak.
Travelers no longer came to Cangzhou, and most of the people who once lived there had moved away.
Only the Four Major Families remained deeply rooted, continuing to stay in Cangzhou.
These Four Major Families were the Ouyang Clan, the Leng Clan, the Luo Clan, and the Cloud Family.
Among them, the Ouyang Clan held the greatest power.
To resolve the decade-long winter, even though relations between the Four Major Families were tense, they would gather every year to discuss countermeasures.
Yet, despite trying every possible method, they could not change the reality of Cangzhou’s year-round winter.
This time, the “Four Clan Meeting” was once again hosted by the Ouyang Clan, held at the Ouyang Villa nestled in the mountains.
Beside a warm hearth sat the four great heads of the families.
Seated in the place of honor was Ouyang Yun.
His hair was entirely white and his skin aged, but his eyes were a brilliant, piercing black.
Simply sitting there in silence, he exuded an invisible pressure.
Seeing that the other three were seated, he spoke: “The Blind Old Woman from the Desolate Village has opened her eyes.”
Though he had not mentioned how to solve Cangzhou’s eternal winter, the moment those words were spoken, the expressions of the other three family heads shifted drastically, as if they had heard something impossible.
“Is this true?”
Leng Meng, the Family Head of the Leng Clan, asked in a deep voice.
“If she has opened her eyes, has her sanity returned to normal as well?”
“I have already invited her; you may see for yourselves in a moment,” Ouyang Yun said.
His tone was as flat as water, carrying the stillness that precedes a storm.
“What does she think of Cangzhou’s current situation?”
Luo Xuanjiang, the Family Head of the Luo Clan, also knit his brows tightly.
“Once you see her, you may ask her yourselves,” Ouyang Yun replied.
He then signaled to a nearby attendant.
The attendant bowed and exited the hall, seemingly going to fetch the “Blind Old Woman.”
A moment later, supported by the attendant, the “Blind Old Woman” from the Desolate Village slowly walked into the hall.
She looked the same as ever, with silver hair and a hunched back.
Her face was painted with patterns of unknown significance, and her clothes looked as if they were patched together from various scraps of fabric, making her look no different from an ordinary vagrant.
However, her bright, clear eyes radiated a brilliance that one did not dare to look down upon.
“The three of you… have all grown so much,” the old woman said, the corners of her mouth curling slightly as she saw Ouyang Yun, Leng Meng, and Luo Xuanjiang.
Then, she looked toward the fourth person—the Family Head of the Cloud Family, Yun Yi—and showed a confused, unfamiliar expression.
“And this is…?”
“This junior is Yun Yi. My greetings, Grandma Yao.”
Yun Yi rose and bowed respectfully to the old woman.
“Grandma, back when you hadn’t gone mad yet, he wasn’t even born,” Ouyang Yun explained.
“Oh… so that’s how it is.”
Grandma Yao looked as if she had suddenly realized something.
“So I have been mad for that long?”
Among the four family heads present, Ouyang Yun was the eldest at eighty years old, while Yun Yi was the youngest at forty.
In other words, Grandma Yao had been in a state of madness for at least forty years.
“Grandma, Cangzhou is now trapped in a year-round winter. Do you have any way to resolve this situation? Just as you saved all of Cangzhou back then, please, think of a way!”
Luo Xuanjiang said to Grandma Yao, his words filled with respect.
Yun Yi had also heard of Grandma Yao’s deeds from his father’s generation.
It was said that a major plague had once broken out in Cangzhou—a natural disaster compounded by human error that left the land strewn with corpses.
At that time, the Prefect in charge of Cangzhou had simply abandoned the common people, taking his family and fleeing Cangzhou overnight.
Just when everyone felt despair and waited silently for death to arrive, Grandma Yao and a close friend had come to Cangzhou.
Miraculously, they helped the people of Cangzhou resolve the plague.
Grandma Yao and her friend instantly became the great Heroes of all Cangzhou.
Later, three hot-blooded young men, who harbored a deep hatred for the Prefect’s decision to abandon the people and flee, went to great lengths to find that Prefect and slaughtered his entire family.
Later still, the Yan Emperor heard the news and intended to execute the families of those three young men.
Although Grandma Yao knew they had committed a grave error, she could not bear it and pleaded with the Yan Emperor for mercy.
Unexpectedly, the Yan Emperor ultimately chose not to pursue the matter further and arranged for a new Prefect to govern Cangzhou.
However, the new Prefect was suppressed at every turn and, to this day, held no real authority.
Those three young men were Ouyang Yun, Leng Meng, and Luo Xuanjiang, who rose to power rapidly over the following decades.
After the three of them narrowly survived, Grandma Yao seemed to suffer a Heavenly Punishment for shielding three sinners.
She lost her sight and became crazed.
As for her close friend, they disappeared without a sound and never appeared again.
Now that Grandma Yao had opened her eyes and her sanity had returned, it seemed to herald something significant.
“We… have likely provoked the Mountain God. The Mountain God has brought down a Heavenly Punishment, turning the winter snow that Cangzhou was most proud of into Cangzhou’s nightmare…”
Grandma Yao could not stop shaking her head and sighing.
“This time, I woke from the chaos because I felt the Mountain God’s guidance in the dark. It is very angry. This decade-long winter is exactly the punishment it has given us.”
“So, what must we do to appease this so-called Wrath of the Mountain God?”
Ouyang Yun asked with a disdainful smile.
Seeing this, the kind and gentle smile on Grandma Yao’s face vanished instantly.
She adopted an extremely stern expression and rebuked him: “Ouyang, you must not be disrespectful to the Mountain God!”
Ouyang Yun had been proud and arrogant in his youth, and he remained so in his old age.
He had never believed in the existence of any gods.
But since Grandma Yao had been kind to him, Ouyang Yun did not dare to talk back.
He could only say vaguely, “Fine, then what exactly should we do?”
“We… need to hold a God-Worshiping Ceremony as soon as possible.”
Grandma Yao turned around, casting her gaze out of the hall toward the Holy Mountain that towered into the clouds nearby.
She pressed her palms together and bowed in worship.
“What needs to be prepared to worship the Mountain God?”
Yun Yi asked.
“We need to seize the sinner who has defiled Cangzhou and hand them over to the Mountain God for judgment,” Grandma Yao answered.
“The Mountain God has punished Cangzhou for ten years, and now it is willing to give us a chance to find and eliminate that sinner. If they are not removed, Cangzhou will continue to endure the Wrath of the Mountain God.”
“Then who is the sinner?”
Grandma Yao shook her head.
“The Mountain God did not tell me. However, within the next few days, it will drop a Sinner’s Token. Whoever holds that token is the sinner who defiled Cangzhou and angered the Mountain God.”