Joy of Life

Chapter 725: There Once Was A Mountain

Wild winds and wild snow, harsh winds and harsh snow, slanting winds and fine snow, careless and unreturnable… Then, it becomes a ghostly wind and ruthless snow, dark wind and dark snow. Snow that covered the sky, and snow that came from beneath one’s feet below the knee, could be dangerous. With one wrong step, it could bury a person whole. After experiencing weeks of traveling in the bitter cold, all of the snow suddenly stopped. It was as if the heavens suddenly felt that this action of endlessly scattering paper pieces into the mortal realm was very childish and unable to blind the three young people’s resolutely forward gaze. Thus, the heavens dusted off their hands and returned them to its sleeves.

The sky became clear, revealing a porcelain blue but still icy sky. Although the sunlight was not warm, it was dazzling. The boundless snowy ground and glaciers reflected withering white light in every direction.

There were not always clear skies and rainbows after the wind and rain, like in the movie “Forrest Gump.” After Forrest Gump returned home, he still had to experience many things to see Jenny again He was still thought to not understand some matters. He headed out again and ran past countless beautiful scenes.

After the wind and snow, the sleighs on the snowy plains once again headed out accompanied by the snow hounds’ cheerful howls. Pressing down on the loose or solid ice and snow, they headed north. Pale-faced, Fan Xian sat on the sleigh with half his body leaning into Haitang’s arms. As he coughed, he forcefully kept his tired eyes open, watching his surroundings to determine the terrain and their direction of travel. He compared it to the map in his head to confirm their heading.

The illness in his body grew worse and worse. Although he had not lost the medicine he carried, the bitter coldness was, without question, a cruel torment for Fan Xian, who was heavily injured and completely without zhenqi. During each night, Fan Xian had burrowed into his sleeping bag and felt a damp coldness around his body. He coughed like he was going to cough out his insides. There was a slight rasp among the thunder like a knife rubbed endlessly against a rock. No one knew which day it would break.

Haitang and Thirteenth Wang were both concerned about his health. They had even thought about returning south but had been stopped by Fan Xian with usual firmness and coldness. He knew that if they couldn’t find the illusory Temple in a spurt of energy, he didn’t know if he could summon such courage again in his life. Furthermore, the meridians in his body were messed up while the Emperor was still recovering from his injuries in the Palace. If he didn’t go to the Temple to find Uncle Wu Zhu, there was no purpose in returning South.

What gave Fan Xian more confidence was that through the magic volume Master Ku He left behind, he could clearly sense that the further north they went, the higher the concentration of yuanqi between heaven and earth. With continuous meditation, the store of qi in his lower back gradually showed signs of storing stably. To give up now would be a great pity.

Presently, the biggest problem for the three of them was time. This was a race between Fan Xian’s injury and illness against the distance to the Temple. Fan Xian’s instincts told him that if they truly found the Temple, the injury in his body would become much better.

Haitang and Thirteenth Wang both knew that there was a stubborn personality under Fan Xian’s gentle exterior. Thus, they could only silently obey his idea. However, the two friends were still worried about this body, particularly as they listened to the waves of heart-rending, lung-tearing coughing when night fell. Who could sleep peacefully?

In the quiet night, Haitang burrowed into Fan Xian’s sleeping bag and gently rubbed his chest, using her own warmth to warm up that piece of bitter cold. Their two bodies stuck together gently and intimately, but there was not a glimmer of any other thoughts. They just held each other tightly like two little pigs warming each other.

Thirteenth Wang realized this but he didn’t have any reaction. He just increased their speed going north. Leading the snow hounds, they rushed desperately while the sky was clear.

“How much further?” Although the snow had stopped, there was still wind. On the first sleigh, Thirteenth Wang yelled against the wind. His voice rang across the entire snowy plains.

Fan Xian narrowed his eyes and looked at Thirteenth Wang in front of him, who was standing on the sleigh with his fur cloak blowing behind him in the wind. He couldn’t resist laughing. He thought, This kid is certainly at ease and truly unafraid of the cold to be able to surf on the sleigh at such a time. Particularly with those sunglasses, he really has the bearing of one of those kids from the other world who played extreme sports.

Taking out a compass and map from inside his clothes, Fan Xian coughed a few times in Haitang’s arms and carefully confirmed their location. The sleigh bounced up and down as it moved forward along the snow, making it very tiring for him to observe. After thinking for a long time, he tiredly said, “15 more days at most.”

When Fan Xian took out the map, Haitang turned away her face. This was not the first time he had taken out the map. At the beginning, he had relied on his powerful memory to point the way. As he grew more ill, he had to bring out the map. Thirteenth Wang and Haitang both purposely avoided it.

This was Fan Xian’s request and something they had vowed before leaving on this journey. Fan Xian requested that Haitang and Thirteenth Wang never reveal the location of the Temple.

He guessed that once the location of the Temple was revealed, once the things in the Temple reached the mortal world, it would bring endlessly calamity, just like the martial secrets and the chest his mother, Ye Qingmei, had brought out from there. If there were more in the Temple, what would this world become like?

Fan Xian did not want this world to become a terrifying place filled with aces flying through the air and electromagnetic bombs exploding in every direction. If any casual fight between powerful warriors could make heaven and earth clash and make a mess of the yuanqi, how would the common people live?

The journey was not lonely because they had companions, but it was particularly arduous. This kind of arduousness could not be described in words because it was contained in the bitter cold and withering dryness, in the endless and boundless, seemingly never changing whiteness.

After an indeterminable number of days, the flat snowy plains bulged slightly with snowy mounds and gradually became dynamic. The terrain began to become complex, and the sunlight became dimmer and dimmer. The temperature dropped to a level difficult to endure for humans. Fortunately, the snowstorm still did not come.

On the horizon line to the north, a mountain suddenly rose up. It was a very tall, snowy mountain. It seemed that this majestic snowy mountain had stood there since the earth and the heaven split apart coldly and calmly waiting for brave travelers to come with offerings.

The group of sleighs slowly stopped by the remnants of a glacier. Fan Xian narrowed his eyes and looked at the distant snowy mountain in front, observing the cold, white, strange, and prominent summit beneath the blue sky. A glimmer of excitement rose in his chest. It quickly took over his entire body, making his fingers tremble slightly.

He had seen this large snowy mountain, which was somewhat like Dong Mountain, before in his dreams. In the dreams, this snowy mountain was so high it was insurmountable. It was mysterious, powerful, and icy cold, just like the feeling the Emperor brought him. Now, when this large snowy mountain suddenly appeared in front of his eyes without any warning, Fan Xian felt endlessly pleased.

One was born afraid of death. But, to have seen such a sight, one could die at sunset. If, in one’s short life, one could see that which others would not see, obtain more of the world’s secrets, learn the unknown that most attracted mankind’s gaze, and most encouraged mankind’s evolution, what kind of luxury would that be?

Fan Xian’s body abruptly froze. His never-ending coughing also stopped. He stared greedily at the large and secluded snowy mountain. It was as if he wanted to brand this sight, which moved him so much firmly into his heart, so that he would never forget it in the months and years that followed.

He was moved not just because of the scene or because of the temple in the mountain but also because the yuanqi present had thickened to a level that made one tremble. The eyes in Fan Xian’s pale face were deeply sunken. He was extremely thin. But, with each breath, it was as if he could feel himself gradually become healthy.

Haitang was the first to notice the change in Fan Xian. Her body was exhausted. Her usually bright eyes had long been ground down to a shard of tiredness by the harsh cold. Suddenly, her eyes lit up again. She followed Fan Xian gaze and looked at the large snowy mountain. She didn’t speak for a long time.

After the sleighs stopped, the snow hounds also seemed to sense something different in the atmosphere and howled in low voices. Of the more than 60 snow hounds, after experiencing such a harsh journey, there were only 17 left. The long line of sleighs had been abandoned along the way. There were only five left.

Thirteenth Wang stood on the sleigh at the very front. He didn’t turn his head. He just stared at the mountain in a daze. In a hoarse voice, he asked, “The Temple is on the mountain?”

“Yes,” Fan Xian, who had been too weak for days to speak, dredged up the strength from somewhere and spat out the word resolutely.

Having received confirmation, the three young people just stared at the snowy mountain in the distance in a daze. It was as if they did not want to take another step forward. Suddenly, Thirteenth Wang jumped down from the sleigh and let out a wild roar toward the large snowy mountain. His voice was very raspy, angry, and happy.

Haitang and Fan Xian could not hold back a laugh. The last disciple of the Sword Hut, who was always gentle and determined, had resisted until now but had finally exploded with the wildness he inherited from Sigu Jian. After the laugh was silence. Haitang’s eyes grew wet and finally melted into a few clear tears. The tears dropped onto the fur coat and quickly froze. Fan Xian shook his head happily and did not speak for a long time.

Those who had not experienced this slow and long journey could not understand their emotions. This was the satisfaction of accomplishing a great desire. This was a heroism of defeating heaven and earth. It was also an excitement of coming into contact with the most mysterious place in the world.

The slow and snowy journey, the snow hounds dying along the way, Fan Xian being very ill and the possibility that he could die at any moment, Haitang and Thirteenth Wang being tormented until they lost their human form… Such hardships were not worth others talking about. However, they had finally arrived.

Without Fan Xian’s adequate preparation and understanding of nature, the three of them would probably have died long ago on the snowy plains if they came alone. Thinking of this, Fan Xian narrowed his eyes and looked at the snowy mountain in the distance. Involuntarily, he thought of the valiant men who had gone before them, Master Ku He and Sir Xiao En.

When Fan Xian and his group left from Northern Qi, it had been the beginning of spring, Now, it should be summer, the warmest time of the year. However, when Xiao En, Ku He, and the hundreds of people had headed out, it was summer. All along the way, there were countless injured and dead. By the time they reached this snowy mountain, it would have been during the extreme night.

A night that lasted for months, how had the two forerunners endured it? Xiao En and Ku He, unlike Fan Xian, did not have a map left by those who had gone before and their experiences. Yet, they had survived in such a wretched environment. It truly made Fan Xian, who had met them after the calamity, sigh with great admiration.

Compared to the two forerunners who had eaten human flesh, Fan Xian and the other two were much more fortunate and had it much easier. But, they still cut a sorry figure. It was fortunate that Haitang and Thirteenth Wang were both top warriors. For Fan Xian, a useless man with the knowledge of two lives, everything seemed to be destined by fate. Fan Xian was destined to be the person who respected and disrespected the Temple the most in this world. He was also the person most able to enter the Temple, as well as the person who needed to enter it the most.

It was easier said than done. Fan Xian gradually emerged from the excitement in his heart and forcefully suppressed his state of mind. Calmly looking at the tall snowy mountain, he guessed at what the temple on the mountain looked like. In a raspy voice, he said, “Let’s rest for a night. We enter the temple tomorrow morning!”