Loan Wusheng

High up on the mountain, Alto's ten fingers were already blue and purple from the frost, covered with frostbite, and the edges of his bronze shield were covered with ice shards.

He knelt before the seventh void trial, dragging his crippled leg. The mountain peak was so close, yet it felt as if the entire Milky Way separated them.

Alto's legs trembled in the cold wind, and blood seeped from his frostbitten wounds, leaving winding red trails on the snow.

He looked up at the mountain peak that was so close at hand. The seventh void trial stood like an insurmountable chasm, and the space in front of him was twisted into a vortex, with countless silver-white cracks crawling like venomous snakes.

"Father……"

Alto gripped the bronze shield tightly, the last piece cast in the blacksmith's shop, and gritted his teeth, determined to keep pushing forward.

Alto's vision was blurred by frost, and the howling wind carried the hissing of spatial rifts. Trembling, he pressed the bronze shield against his chest, and the ancient patterns engraved on the shield suddenly emitted a faint light. These were fragments of meteorite iron that his father had mixed in during the forging process, and now they resonated with the void.

"Crack!"

A silvery-white crack lashed out like a whip, and Alto's crippled leg wound reopened.

He grunted and used his shield to block, instantly slicing off half of the bronze shield, but the trajectory of the crack was also shifted by three points.

This discovery caused his cloudy pupils to suddenly contract.

"So...that's how it's supposed to be..."

When the second crack appeared, Alto suddenly released his shield, letting it be torn to pieces.

Amidst the exploding metal on Mars, he leaped towards the area where the cracks were most densely interwoven.

The turbulent void tore open his sheepskin coat, but was blocked by some force when it touched his chest.

The wheat ears hidden in the collar suddenly grew wildly, and the golden grains turned into chains to bind the cracks.

"It's wheat from the Grey Plains!"

Artor recalled the new buds that had sprouted under the divine light dozens of days earlier, and suddenly realized that this was a life-giving gift from the gods.

He grabbed the wheat chain, swung across the last ten feet, his frozen fingers digging into the rock crevices, and finally climbed to the snow-covered mountain peak!
In an instant, the wind stopped and the snow fell silent.

Alto collapsed onto the glistening ice and saw a rainbow of light descending from the clouds.

The figure that slowly emerged from the light was more majestic than the mountains. Its azure-colored Dharma form overlapped with the sacred peak behind it, and every fold of its robes flowed with a galaxy condensed from the laws of space.

"Son of Royce Avery".

The voice of the deity resonated through the ice crystals, producing a clear and melodious echo: "Do you know why you were able to reach the summit?"

The lame young man struggled to his knees, his frostbitten forehead pressed against the ice: "Because you... buried the answer in the world long ago."

Between the rain and gloom, blood-stained ears of wheat leaked through his fingers and sprouted tender shoots on the ice.

Approval flashed across Zheng Jun's eyes.

During the seventh trial, the blacksmith's son discovered the life force he had deliberately left behind in the Gray Plains.

While other climbers focused on weapons and strength, only Alto understood the metaphors laid out by the gods.

This child is exceptionally intelligent.

"From today on."

Zheng Jun raised his hand and tapped lightly, and the frostbite on Alto's crippled leg turned into silver patterns: "A kingdom shall be established beneath the Holy Peak of Orion, and you shall be its lord."

A beam of light suddenly descended from the mountaintop, enveloping the two figures.

Human tribes thousands of miles away simultaneously witnessed the celestial anomaly, with a gigantic crown phantom appearing atop the sacred peak.

When the light faded, Alto found himself holding a bronze scepter.

The tip of the staff was inlaid with scabs that had fallen from his own wounds, which had now crystallized into rubies.

Artor stared blankly at the bronze scepter in his hand, the crimson gem at the top of the scepter seemingly flowing with undried blood.

His mutilated left leg was now covered by silver patterns, and he felt no pain at all. Instead, a warm, gentle power flowed through his veins.

Just as he was lost in thought, Zheng Jun's crystal-clear Dharma image suddenly raised its hand and made a grasping motion.

The bronze shield fragments scattered in the snow suddenly trembled, each metal piece creating tiny ripples in space.

Alto's eyes widened as the metal that had been shredded by the void rift was now reassembling itself against the flow of time!

"Ding!"

With a clear and melodious sound, the bronze shield remained suspended in the air.

The ancient patterns on the shield, which Alto had once mistaken for ordinary decorations, were now flowing with liquid starlight.

Zheng Jun flicked his finger, and a rainbow light entered the core of the shield. The original mottled copper rust instantly faded away, revealing the mithril-like material underneath.

"This is no ordinary iron."

Zheng Jun's voice made the ice crystals rustle: "Back then, a meteorite fell on the sacred peak, and its core was forged into this shield."

The repaired shield now features the same silver patterns as those on Alto's legs, with seven spiral grooves prominently displayed in the center, mirroring the gem at the top of his scepter.

Alto took the shield with trembling hands and suddenly realized that it was much lighter than before.

As he instinctively brought the scepter close to the shield, the ruby ​​suddenly shot out a beam of light, which precisely embedded itself into the groove in the center of the shield.

The entire shield suddenly became as transparent as crystal, reflecting the faint star map behind the clouds.

"This; 'Orion's Shield'."

Zheng Jun's robes swept across the shield, and the star maps immediately materialized into a physical projection: "These must be the creatures that sustain the kingdom."

After saying that, Zheng Jun's figure slowly faded away.

Alto gripped his shield tightly, trembling, and looked at the fading figure of the god. Filled with reverence, he prostrated himself and said, "Great god, you have brought salvation. Please give a name to the kingdom that belongs to mankind."

A final decree came from the clouds: "Now that you have ascended this peak, establish the Kingdom of Orion, named after 'Orion'!"

"Obey the oracle!"

Alto remained in prayer for a long time, until after sunset, when he respectfully rose and, with the blessing of the gods and the 'Shield of Orion,' calmly descended the mountain.

Zheng Jun stood atop the mountain, watching Alto descend, and a smile involuntarily crept onto his lips.

The story of a lame blacksmith's son who, after countless hardships, climbed the sacred peak, passed the gods' test, obtained the holy shield, and thus became king is legendary enough, isn't it?
In this way, the name of this sacred peak, Orion, can be passed down through the story, enough to make this mountain famous.

After all, every famous mountain, besides being magnificent, has its own story.

Even if a mountain isn't particularly magnificent, it can still become famous if it has a legendary story.

The mountain that is closely associated with the first king of the human race will naturally become a new sacred mountain!
"Now, it's up to time to make the most of it."

……

As Alto descended the sacred peak, leaning on his bronze scepter and wielding the Orion Shield, all of humanity saw the star-like patterns entwined around his mutilated left leg and cried out, "King!"

People bowed down and knelt before him, calling him 'the lame king chosen by the gods, full of miracles'.

Having received the divine oracle, Alto united the humans of the Gray Plains, led his soldiers, and conquered all the human city-states. At the foot of Mount Orion, in the Gray Plains, he built a massive city large enough to house 500,000 people. Because he received the divine oracle there, it was named 'Oracle City'.

Artor stated that the king's power was granted by the gods, and that his own power came from the gods; therefore, he called himself 'King of Volcania, Orion and Degu'.

Volcania is the land where the werewolf kingdom is located.

Degu is the region where the vampire kingdom is located.

As for Orion, it was after Alto descended the mountain that he proclaimed to the human race that it was a country and a place of survival promised to humanity by the gods.

He wants to completely unify this region.

Alto thus created the first king of the human race on this land, unified human language and writing, created a system, started agricultural civilization, and pushed human civilization to its peak.

In addition, Alto divided humanity into classes, with people categorized into four classes. The first class, the highest in the hierarchy, consisted of the king and the priests. The king, as the king, possessed supreme power and was considered the son of the gods on earth. The priests, on the other hand, were the messengers between the king and the gods, possessing the language of the gods.

The second class consists of the humans who initially followed Alto on the Gray Plains and the noble class who made contributions in the process of Alto establishing the kingdom. Alto initially divided them into three levels: Duke, Earl, and Baron. Later, Marquis was also created... that is, foreign Marquis, who nominally submitted to the king but were actually independent individuals outside the kingdom system.

The third class is the common people.

The fourth class was the sinners, all those who opposed the rule of the king and nobles and ultimately lost, along with their families. They were to perform the lowest-ranking jobs in the kingdom.

Below the four classes, there is a fifth class that is not classified as a class.

That is, vampires and werewolves.

Alto established a trade system, designating gold and silver as the currencies for the kingdom's trade, based on divine revelation he saw while climbing the mountain.

Alvar Aalto then enacted laws to strictly regulate the people.

With comprehensive development, in just ten years, human civilization has rapidly developed, and humankind has multiplied and prospered, continuously growing stronger.

Gradually, people's nickname for Alto changed from 'the lame king' to 'the legislative king'.

In the eighteenth year of Alto's reign as king, the werewolves finally realized that the humans they had once looked down upon had now risen to power, so they launched an attack on the Kingdom of Orion, and the two countries clashed for the first time on a large scale, with tens of thousands of people fighting on the Gray Plains.

In the early stages of the war, although the human race was able to develop, it was still inferior to the werewolves in terms of racial talent. At the critical moment, Alto, wielding the scepter and the shield of Orion, led the human race to turn defeat into victory, launching a counterattack all the way to the capital of Volcania and destroying the werewolf kingdom.

Then, Alto pressed his advantage and fought his way to Degu, where he wiped out the vampire clan.

From then on, werewolves and vampires, who once rode on the backs of humans, were reduced to a minority and could only hide in the darkness to evade human pursuit.

In the thirty-ninth year of Alto's reign as king, humanity officially became the master of this land.

The story of Alto, the lame son of a blacksmith, who endured countless hardships to climb the sacred peak, pass the gods' test, obtain the holy shield, and thus become king, was passed down by word of mouth throughout the land.

Countless people yearn for Mount Orion, and some even fanatical pilgrims plan to climb the mountain to receive divine guidance.

However, upon learning that countless people wanted to climb the sacred mountain, Alto flew into a rage, declaring that the mountain was incredibly sacred and that only royalty of noble blood could ascend it, let alone commoners.
Therefore, they dispatched thousands of elite soldiers to guard this place and capture anyone who wanted to climb Mount Orion.

Those who commit minor offenses will be exiled, while those who commit serious offenses will be beheaded.

Afterward, Alto became even more indulgent. He drove a large number of werewolves and vampire slaves to build his palace. The werewolves worked during the day and the vampires worked at night, while he himself was obsessed with wine and women, staying in the palace and ignoring state affairs.

As time went by, Alto felt increasingly powerless.

He began to fear.

As the supreme being of this land, nothing but death could frighten him anymore.

Artaud began to reminisce, reminiscing about his youthful, dashing self, and the omnipotent self he once was.

He fears death and wants to go back to the past.

He wanted to live forever; he wanted to become a god-like figure!

So he began his frantic search for the gods.

He climbed the sacred mountain once again and searched frantically, but to no avail.

The gods seem to have long since left the human world.

Unable to find the original god, Alto went mad and began to rely on other gods, poring over a large number of ancient texts.

Whether it was the god of abundance and harvest, the god of war from ancient times, the moon goddess worshipped by vampires, or the father of chaos worshipped by werewolves, Alto gave them all madness.

During the five years of his reign, from the forty-third to the forty-eighth year, he was obsessed with the gods, building various temples throughout the country. He even issued an edict that anyone who could find the gods and meet him would be granted the title of 'Prince Degu', making them a king second only to himself!
In an instant, countless people embarked on a 'journey to find the gods,' and some audacious swindlers even used certain methods to deceive Alto, making him believe that he had found traces of the gods.

The most cunning swindler even managed to get Artaud to marry his daughter to him and make him a count in a wealthy region.

But later, after Alto discovered that these people were all fraudsters, he became furious and killed them all, making them experience the wrath of a king.

In the forty-ninth year of Artaud's reign, Artaud gradually recovered his senses from his fanaticism in searching for gods, and he began to reflect on the country he had founded.

The once thriving kingdom is now in complete chaos.

Alto suddenly came to his senses and began to revitalize the administration, allow the kingdom to recuperate, and bring it back to prosperity.

Two more years passed, and the entire Kingdom of Orion began to slowly recover, while King Alto's life came to an end.

He felt, deep down, that something was calling to him.

Thus, for the last time in his life, he climbed the sacred Mount Orion.

On the frigid peak, Alto had a full head of white hair, his face etched with deep wrinkles, and his cloudy eyes were covered with a white film.

He still held the 'Shield of Orion' that the gods had given him years ago in his arms. The shield was still shining brightly, but the person holding the shield was old and dying.

Alto trembled as he gazed at the spot where the divine oracle had once been bestowed, and whispered, "Gods, if you are satisfied with my deeds, please see me one more time, just once..."

He sighed deeply, but in a daze, he caught a glimpse of a figure walking towards him.

Altoton looked up abruptly. Although his aging memory had forgotten many things, he had firmly remembered this figure.

"Alto, you have done well. As the first king of mankind, your name will be engraved on the monument of history."

As the voice rang out, Zheng Jun appeared in front of Alto.

Zheng Jun was very satisfied with Alto.

Zheng Jun initially thought that this blacksmith's son was just an ordinary founder, and that the name of the sacred mountain still needed time to develop.

But unexpectedly, Alto actually unified this broken little world.

Although he relied on his own strength.

However, Zheng Jun was in a great mood, which is why he showed up to meet this legendary king.

Alto knelt on the ground, trembling, his withered fingers scratching ten bloody marks on the ice. His voice was hoarse, like the rustling of autumn leaves: "Eternal God, I beg you, please give me a drop of the time that flows in your cup."

"Your life has come to an end."

Zheng Jun said, "Time is the enemy of everyone, even the gods. If we cannot reach the other shore, everyone will die."

Yes.

The Dharma form does not possess eternal life.

Zheng Jun is young now and doesn't need to worry about the passage of time.

Only the Dao Lord can truly resist the passage of time.

This is also what he is pursuing.

"I can not be reconciled!"

Alto suddenly sprang up, his mutilated left leg bursting with a final silver light, his withered claws trying to grab Zheng Jun's clothes with the same resolute determination as when he grabbed the wheat stalk chain and swung through the void forty-nine years ago.

However, Zheng Jun neither dodged nor evaded; instead, his robes transformed into countless fireflies, scattering in all directions.

A firefly landed on the tip of his nose, and the image that suffocated him was reflected in Alto's cloudy pupils.

The pilgrims he executed in his youth are scratching at the execution post in the same way, while his younger self on the throne wears the same fear on his lips as he does now.

"I don't want to die, I am the king, I..."

Artaud trembled and murmured in his sleep; his life ended there.

A glimpse of gilded characters flashed before Zheng Jun's eyes.

The 'Kunlun Soul' Dharma Image has been fully repaid.

Seeing this, Zheng Jun couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Everything went very smoothly, without any setbacks. (End of Chapter)