Endless Ocean: Escape Starting from a Canoe

Chapter 295 The Gains from Exploring Mount Everest!
The agreed plan was to explore the upper snow line of Mount Everest separately for 8 hours. Once the time was up, regardless of whether there was any progress, everyone would need to meet at the designated location to carry out the next step together.

As the time drew to a close, Shi Ming descended from the mountaintop and returned to the agreed-upon meeting point.

At this moment, Rong Bing and Li Jiuyuan had not yet fully assembled and were waiting to gather. In his mind, he was taking stock of what he had gained this time.

1. A complete snow-capped hibiscus.

2. A seedling bearing fruit.

3. A broken branch of the nearly 3000-gram "Creation Pillar," a ferocious beast of the Holy Temple.

4. The Arm of Conquest and the Endless Sea map have been successfully upgraded.

5. They learned in advance about the secrets hidden inside Mount Everest.

6. Important messages on the large stone tablet, and three secret scriptures passed down through generations.

Crisis and opportunity coexist!
Time was limited, and he hadn't had time to organize most of the information on the large stone tablet, especially the three secret manuals of inheritance. He only glanced at them once, but he already knew that they were definitely precious treasures.

The expedition is less than halfway complete, but it has already yielded fruitful results. The planned one-day Mount Everest exploration has been completed in just eight hours, and he has already achieved more than expected.

Only the task of Yu the Great remains to be completed.

Delivery is also very simple.

Providing just a small branch from the Creation Pillar would be enough to prove to Yu the Great that there was indeed a fallen Holy Temple-level sea beast here, and to obtain the contribution points they promised.

However, Shi Ming did not intend to directly reveal the remnants of the Creation Pillar.

He preferred to guide the discovery of the "Creation Pillar" in the presence of the three of them, and deliberately left a small, newly sprouted snow-capped hibiscus without picking it... This was also a leak point.

……

Amidst the swirling snow, the three gathered at the boundary between the upper snowline and the summit of Mount Everest. Rong Bing, who possessed "Royal Power and Hegemony," could also withstand the occasional secondary blade strikes, but his face and arm armor were also slashed with several wounds by the secondary blade strikes. Although it did not affect his combat power, he looked quite disheveled.

Li Jiuyuan, on the other hand, remained unharmed thanks to his strong conviction.

In terms of combat power, he may be far inferior to Rongbing, but compared to luck or fortuitous encounters, his idealism allows him to truly achieve his desires.

The three people were in a natural ravine, sharing their findings with each other.

"Although it's a lull period, the frequency of secondary blades appearing in this area far exceeds that of the lull period 178 days ago. This is a noteworthy situation. At the same time, the temperature above the snow line has become even colder, and life detection instruments have not detected any signs of living life in this area, including plants..."

Rong Bing briefly explained his findings.

Li Jiuyuan scratched his head.

“I conducted a thorough search of the area I was responsible for, but I did not encounter any secondary blades, nor did I find anything else.”

"Didn't encounter any secondary blades?"

Rong Bing looked at his scars and remained silent for a moment.

The sample size is too small to confirm whether this is simply a normal difference or if idealism is at play.

"Shi Ming, what about you?"

Shi Ming thought for a moment and then said:
"I've encountered at least eight secondary blades, no fewer than Captain Rong... These secondary blades are extremely lethal; they can pierce through my body's defenses, but my Xuanwu Shield can easily block them. As for the creatures here..."

“I did find a vibrant green seedling on a mountain ridge. It looks a lot like the ‘Snow-capped Peak Emerald’ that Captain Rong mentioned. The life force there is relatively strong. Based on the information provided by Da Yu, I think it's very likely to correspond to a so-called leak. Of course, I didn't dig it out on my own. I just wanted to wait for the two of you to explore it together. Perhaps, this is the key to completing our mission.” Shi Ming blinked.

This seedling was a young, newly sprouted bud of Snow-capped Greenery that he had deliberately kept. Its value was not great, but it made the completion of this mission seem natural: finding evidence of the existence of a Saint-level sea beast in the presence of all three of them would also save Shi Ming a lot of trouble later on.

This unnecessary effort is not due to a lack of trust in the King-class drifting ship with which they have cooperated many times.

Yu the Great is not just Yu the Great of one person, but Yu the Great of many. There will be factions with different opinions on the ship, and it cannot be ruled out that there are some radicals. Shi Ming has his own things to do and is not good at getting involved in these whirlpools. He will try to avoid trouble as much as possible. He will only be responsible for leading the way. The rest will be left to Rong Bing and Li Jiuyuan. They are part of Yu the Great and he believes they can do a better job.

"seedling!"

"you sure!?"

The soldiers' eyes were wide open.

Li Jiuyuan, on the other hand, had an expression that said, "I expected this."

Snow-capped peaks are adorned with emerald green; only two have been discovered in the past thirty years.

One plant was discovered by the Xirang Research Institute when they were setting up holographic projection equipment on the summit; the other was discovered by the [Fire Seed] expedition team while exploring Mount Everest—their explorers couldn't even resist the temptation of the emerald green plant and swallowed it directly. If it weren't for the rescue by the Xirang Research Institute, they would have almost died.

Unfortunately, when these two plants were discovered, Yu the Great had not yet received the inspiration from the Fortune-Calming Toad, and missed the window of opportunity for investigation. Several years later, when he returned to the original location to investigate, he did not find much.

Now, a third one has actually been discovered?
"Shi Ming, you're incredibly lucky!"

"No wonder Old Zhou said you are the lucky star of Yu the Great!"

Shi Ming blinked.

These words of gratitude should be reserved for the hardworking Ah Jian.

……

On one side of the emerald green seedling, three people surrounded a snow-capped hibiscus no bigger than a fingertip, their voices trembling with excitement.

This is real, tangible contribution value!
Altitude: 4012m

Coordinates: 27.98812N, 86.92172E.

Rong Bing took out his communicator and sent a specific coordinate to the Xi Rang Research Institute.

The three of them lacked the ability to conduct in-depth investigations, and they wouldn't waste precious time during the intervals between secondary blade storms here. They still had the peak to explore, so entrusting professional tasks to professionals was a pre-arranged plan. In this regard, Da Yu and the researchers from Xi Rang would be even more cautious, especially after learning that it might be the outlet for the power of the fallen Holy Temple-level sea beast. They would be a hundred times more careful.

Of course, Shi Ming and his team also deserve a share of the contribution points.

As an extra bonus, this sapling with snow-capped green will also be converted into contribution points and distributed among the three members of the team, which was a plan that was decided in advance.

"Alright, the coordinates have been reported. Brothers, please be careful from now on. The secondary blades on the mountaintop will be more concentrated and the temperature will be lower. Jiuyuan, especially you, even if you have an idealistic mindset, you absolutely cannot be careless."

"Don't worry, Captain."

Shi Ming nodded as well.

He wouldn't tell these two that he had just come down from the summit thirty minutes earlier, bringing back a huge haul.

Each one of them, if given out, could drive the great powers of the endless oceans mad.

(End of this chapter)