ninety thousand miles

Chapter 722 Katy Mountain
It was a very small and narrow road.

Zhongshan Mountain is not far away. The sky is a deep blue. Sunlight casts strange, ever-changing patterns on the snow-capped peaks and clouds.

Li Chuan walked forward.

The lightning, the drizzle, the pillar of heaven—all faded into the distance behind him.

He didn't know how many steps he had taken when the light suddenly brightened. He quickened his pace and walked all the way to the foot of Zhongshan Mountain, where a cold wind blew against his face.

It took Li Chuan five days to walk from the foot of the mountain to the mountainside.

The first time he went to Shenxia Temple, he, Master Wen, and Senior Brother Luo climbed Zhongshan Mountain together. It wasn't difficult to walk there; you didn't need to think, just follow the path.

There were many loose stones and mud, so you had to carefully choose your footing for each step, finding a stable rock or exposed tree roots to avoid slipping down the wet slope.

Li Chuan, leaning on his golden-threaded sword, climbed step by step. Fortunately, he had chosen this sword back then; it was both light and sturdy.

The slope becomes increasingly steep.

Large and small stones form a jagged, staggered stone array, the sharp edges of the rocks gleaming coldly in the thin air.

The rock surface was covered with loose sand, thin ice, and moss, making it both icy and slippery. He had to frequently detour and constantly turn back.

He started to feel a headache.

Step by step, he climbed higher. Under his feet, gravel tumbled down.

"If only my third brother were here," he said.

it's getting dark.

The stars were so big and bright that they seemed within reach.

The night was much colder than the day. After his sweat dried, he began to feel cold. His cloak hadn't failed him; he'd repaired it before setting out. The coldness emanated from within him, from his very heart.

It would be nice to have something hot to drink.

The cracking sound continued incessantly; it was snow avalanches. A cold wind swept across the towering, jagged ridge, emitting a sharp, long howl.

The moonlight and starlight cast Li Chuan's shadow on the snow.

Li Chuan counted the undulating shadows.

Suddenly, his gaze froze. He saw a shadow, half of it bathed in moonlight, half blended into the jagged rocks.

He stood up and walked towards the direction of the shadow.

The shadow seemed to sense something. It fled. It skimmed over layers of rock walls, slipped into the cracks in the ice, its form stretched long and thin.

At this moment, Li Chuan's vision was filled with dots and lines. Using the mountain's strength, he traversed between these dots and lines, stepping over rocks and ice, clinging tightly to the shadow behind him, and entered a vast, thousands-of-feet-long ice slope.

The snow is getting heavier.

With each step Li Chuan took, the sound of ice cracking and splintering echoed beneath his feet, along with hollow thuds.

There is no road.

He put on his hood and rolled down.

Dots and lines shifted under his control, and a road appeared in the snowstorm, only to disappear again.

He made many preparations for climbing Zhongshan Mountain.

On his second visit to the Shenxia Temple, he sat in front of the murals for ten days and ten nights, memorizing every detail.

Then, he climbed the illusion 306 times, repaired the broken main peak 93 times, and reached the summit 37 times. But the illusion was just an illusion, not reality.

Zhongshan is no longer what it was tens of thousands of years ago.

Moreover, his head didn't hurt in the illusion.

If only his second and third brothers were here, it would be more lively. Thinking this, he stopped moving.

The sky was beginning to brighten, and a streak of orange light appeared on the gray-blue horizon. Li Chuan stood up, brushed the snow off his clothes, and trudged forward, his steps uneven, crossing the steep ice wall and entering the ice tower forest. He walked against the wind, the dots and lines enveloping him like snowflakes blowing into the forest.

found it.

The shadows were swallowed by the translucent ice crystals.

He reached in, slipped his hand inside, and grabbed it.

It is a small cone.

When they first climbed Zhongshan Mountain at Shenxia Temple, they found many similar items at the breaks in the mountain. He found many more later, but he could never piece them back together.

He took out a jade box, put the cone inside, looked around, found a path, and continued climbing.

White flashes filled my vision, and my head started to ache more and more.

"I can have a little wine," Li Chuan muttered to himself. "I'll have a little wine after we get through this ice wall. I'm still warm and not hungry. I can stay here for ten years, a hundred years. I'm not in a hurry, not in a hurry at all."

"Legend has it that after ascending the Heavenly Pillar, spiritual energy will cleanse the body and soul. I've already passed all eighty-one tribulations, not missing a single one, so why haven't I? Where's Xianle? Where's the fairy?"

"Tian Su, Tian Su, look at the terrible things you have done. Your successor is still being discriminated against when he arrives at Zhongshan."

He coughed a few times, then said in a low voice, "What did you see when that beam of light fell? What made you, Yingfeng, and many other immortals, as well as Guan Zhongqiu, choose to let the Divine Hero Temple go against the current... and then choose someone like me."

Guan Zhongqiu is a ghost.

To this day, Li Chuan still doesn't know what the White Walkers are, or what his connection is with them.

His flesh and blood allow the White Walkers to replicate him rapidly. This is a secret he still keeps hidden in his heart.

On his second visit to the Temple of the Divine Warriors, he met Guan Zhongqiu again. Upon seeing him, Guan Zhongqiu showed a relieved expression, but did not answer his various questions. He simply told him to follow his own path.

Is it really possible?

Li Chuan coughed a few more times, and after a long silence, he said, "It would be great if we could start a fire and boil some hot soup. There's a sheltered spot up ahead; maybe we can start a fire there, though it might just produce smoke. Even a little light would be good. It's too cold."

The sun is coming out.

It's getting sunnier and sunnier.

Li Chuan finally made it through the ice wall. Then he drank some wine, and his whole body felt burning up. He ate two bites of bread, then vomited. So he swallowed two fasting pills, and didn't vomit.

He continued climbing.

Thirty-six days and nights have passed.

He found two more parts and put them into the jade box.

He climbed to the vicinity of the fractured main peak.

The cold light of the nearly full moon spilled onto the millennia-old snow and ice rocks.

He watched it all night long.

"I should go to Tianyun City and stay there for a year or two," he said to himself. "Or I could go to the capital for a while and see the Grand Censor and the young emperor."

"never mind."

He finally found an alchemy furnace, placed an iron pot on it, and started boiling water. He threw in dried meat and some dried spiritual plants. The aroma quickly filled the air.

Tear the pancake in half, throw it in, and let it soak until softened.

He still had little appetite and coughed occasionally.

But he forced himself to finish the meal, taking small bites with difficulty. After finishing, he closed his eyes for a while, but couldn't fall asleep, so he took out the wine and drank some more. He felt a little better.

After an unknown amount of time, dawn broke again.

We need to make up for the main peak.

(End of this chapter)