Chapter - 58 Who Sends an Ice Barge to Your Birthplace (3)

Even while on the iceberg, Yin SuSu kept her appearance nice, her clothing straight. Now on this island, she cared even more about appearances. So only after she straightened her dress, and then combed Zhang CuiShan's hair, did Yin SuSu care to explore. She held her sword. Zhang CuiShan lost his brush, so he grabbed a tree branch to replace it. The two of them used their lightness kung fu, ran for about 7 miles, from south to north, exhilarated to be in such an environment. On their way, other than passing by small hills and tall trees, they also saw strange grasses and flowers. Above the plants flew many birds that they've never seen before, but seemed friendly.

They made a turn and went through a large forest, only to see a stone mountain on the island's northwestern corner. There is a cave on the mountain. Yin SuSu yelled, "This place is amazing!" and quickly ran over to the cave. Zhang CuiShan yelled, "Be careful!" Before he could finish, they heard a loud groan, as a white shadow flashed by them; a large white bear came rushing out the cave.

That bear's incredibly big, the size of a huge bull. Yin SuSu gasped in shock, and instantly retreated. The white bear stood up, raised his paws, then came slashing down on Yin SuSu. Yin SuSu raised her sword and attacked the bear's shoulder. Unfortunately, her body's too weak from the time on the sea, so despite striking the bear's shoulder directly, she could not pierce deep enough to cause a serious wound. Before she got off another strike, the bear came close and knocked her sword down. Zhang CuiShan quickly yelled, "SuSu, get out of the way!" as he ran up to join her. Then he swept the branch horizontally, hitting the bear on the left kneecap. Only to hear a loud crack, as the branch split in two, but broke the white bear's left leg too. After experiencing such an injury, the bear roared in pain, and came pounding on Zhang CuiShan.

Zhang CuiShan jumped up several meters using the 'Cloud Stairs' lightness kung fu, and wrote the last stroke of 'compete'[a stroke that comes straight down before making a tiny hook left] with his hook. The silver hook dropped straight down from midair, piercing the bear's 'Sun Point'. After penetrating a few inches, that white bear began to howl in a deafening tone. It started to roll on the ground in pain, pulling the silver hook out of Zhang CuiShan's hand. After rolling for a while, it stopped struggling, fell dead.

Yin SuSu clapped her hands, said with a smile, "Great lightness kung fu, great hook technique!" Suddenly she heard Zhang CuiShan yell, "Jump over here, quickly!" Yin SuSu could hear the fear in his voice, and jumped toward Zhang CuiShan without hesitation. When she turned around, Yin SuSu couldn't help but scream in shock. For another white bear stood right behind her previous position, looking incredibly ferocious. With no weapons in his hand, Zhang CuiShan quickly pulled Yin SuSu up a tall pine tree. That bear kept circling under them, constantly roaring.

Zhang CuiShan broke off a small piece of branch, aimed towards the white bear's eye, and threw it down. When the branch hit its eye, the bear screamed in pain, and tried to climb up the tree in anger. Zhang CuiShan quickly grabbed Yin SuSu's sword, aimed exactly at the bear's head, gathered his energy, and nailed it down straight. The majority of the sword entered the bear's forehead, making it stutter, until finally the bear fell dead under the tree.

Zhang CuiShan said, "I wonder if there's another bear inside the cave." He picked up a few rocks and threw them inside the cave. With no response after a while, he walked inside the cave. Yin SuSu followed closely behind. The cave is wide and deep, very spacious. A streak of light came through in the middle, like a window. Bears' foods filled the cave. Animal carcasses, such as dead fishes, made the whole place very smelly. Yin SuSu pinched her nose, said, "This is a nice place, but too smelly." Zhang CuiShan said, "Well, we can clean the place up. Then after ten or twenty days, the smell would be gone."

Yin SuSu remembered that they'd be living here together forever, with endless months to enjoy ahead, until they die of old age. She felt delighted, but lonely at the same time.

Zhang CuiShan walked out the cave, broke several branches, and made a broom. He went back inside and cleaned the place, with Yin SuSu helping. After they cleaned the cave, the dirty smell remained. Yin SuSu said, "I wish we could get some water to wash this stuff off. Although there are lots of water in the sea, we don't have a bucket to carry it." Zhang CuiShan said, "I have an idea." He left the cave, went to an ice-covered region of the island, and grabbed some large chunks of ice. Then he put the ice chunks on the tallest rock in the cave. Yin SuSu yelled, "Wow, great idea!" The ice would slowly melt, and trickle out the cave as water.

Zhang CuiShan used this water to take a shower. Yin SuSu used her sword to cut the bears into small pieces. Despite being on a volcano, they're still near the North Pole. So the weather's quite cold. The bear meat would likely last for months without rotting. Yin SuSu sighed, said, "People really are greedy, never satisfied. Here I am, thinking how great it would if we could only light a fire, and cook these bear meats." Then she added, "I'm afraid that the ice chunks would melt too slowly, and the smell would never go away." Zhang CuiShan looked at the volcano, said, "Well, there's certainly fire here, but simply too big for us. I'm sure we can find a way to get it, though."

That night, after eating bear meat, the two slept on the tree. During their sleep, both felt like they're still on the iceberg, moving with the current. Actually, they only felt the wind blowing on the branches.

The next day, before she even opened her eyes, Yin SuSu said, "What an amazing fragrance!" She jumped off the tree, only to smell a lovely fragrance coming from the flowers nearby. Yin SuSu said happily, "It's so great that there are all these flowers in front of the cave."

Zhang CuiShan said, "SuSu, don't be so thrilled yet. I need to tell you something." Upon seeing his serious expression, Yin SuSu paused a moment, then said, "What?" Zhang CuiShan said, "I found a way to get fire." Yin SuSu said with a smile, "Oh! You're so mean. I thought you were going to give me some bad news."

Zhang CuiShan said, "The flame on the fire mountain is so big it's nearly impossible to get close. We'd likely burn to death before reaching it. However, we can use tree barks to tie a long rope, and wait for it to dry. Then…" Yin SuSu cut in, "Great idea! Then we can tie a rock to the end, and throw it at the fire. Then the fire come towards us through the rope."

After eating raw meat for so long, the two were in quite a hurry to get the fire ready. They went to work immediately. After two days, they finally tied together a rope, over three hundred and thirty meters long. After leaving it in the sun for another day, they finally went up the volcano the fourth morning.

Although it looked close, they still had to travel over thirteen miles to get near the top. The temperature rose as they walked up. First they had to take off their seal coats, then more clothing, until they had only one layer on. Even so, they still could not withstand the heat. Both sweated uncontrollably, and their mouths dried up. But with no water or vegetation around, there's nothing they could do.