Chapter 133: The Climb
Chapter 133: The Climb
"Allowing the existence of Awakened Believers, but not allowing them to birth Divine Spirits. What a bizarre setting for a fantasy world..."
At night, Lin Sai is already on the path to finding the meteorite.
He recalls Red Moon's words to him, but still can't quite understand the relationship.
In faith, Divine Spirits are born, and they rule and enslave the mortal world, only to be eventually vanquished by the mighty.
Lin Sai understands this logical connection.
However, after all this, the Believers sect did not perish, and they still belong to one of the greatest Awakened sects in the world.
This outcome inevitably sparks the imagination of some.
At this thought, Lin Sai subconsciously glanced at his travel bag.
The Ancestor Spirit Core inside is just an unchanging icon, currently sitting there quietly, not reacting in any way to the conversation between Lin Sai and Red Moon.
Lin Sai blinked and shrugged, "That's true."
"If it were truly that dangerous, the expedition team wouldn't have used it as the core of the lighthouse, leaving it here in this frontier town."
...
With curiosity about the Ancestor Spirit and a yearning for the meteorite, Lin Sai embarked on another solo journey into the wilderness.
Although he was heading east again, this time the direction was slightly north, so he veered off the path to the edge of the world for a while.
On the first day, Lin Sai ventured far from the frontier town and into the forest.
Due to the recent monster purge in the town, Lin Sai hardly encountered any wild beasts on the first day, and the Snowwolf he summoned to keep watch for the night also didn't see any signs of battles nearby on the second day.
On the second day, Lin Sai passed through a grove of oak trees.
With his current speed, he had traveled beyond the usual limits of hunters' activity range in a single day.
Although he still couldn't see any traces of monsters, some animals active in winter offered their flesh to Lin Sai, enriching his outdoor meals.
When he woke up on the third day, Lin Sai finally saw the corpses of monsters.
Under the Snowwolf he had summoned to keep watch, there lay the bodies of a male and a female Leafrot Rabbit.
He approached and activated his skills.
With some luck, he even collected a portion of rabbit fur.
As dusk approached, he crossed the hills that had brought him two rabbits.
A swamp that should have been there was now frozen into an ice plain wasteland due to the cold winter weather, appearing before him.
The terrain here was uneven, with mounds of weeds scattered between patches of uneven, shattered-glass-like ice sheets, creating a silver carpet.
Lin Sai stopped in his tracks.
It wasn't because the frozen swamp was difficult to traverse, nor was it because of the late hour.
But when he reached this area, a nearly motionless landscape appeared in the distance amidst the winter winds.
To the north of the vast swamp, a wide lake was frozen into a silver-white ice sheet, shimmering with a chilling radiance under the sun.
This silver carpet, though not reflective enough to mirror the distant scenery, faintly mirrored a majestic landscape.
In the distance stood a majestic mountain range.
From two-thirds of its height, thick snow lines began to cover the peaks, resembling a massive white stone fortress.
Black rocks also jutted out from the mountains, adding to the landscape.
In the last rays of the setting sun, the black rocks stood in stark contrast with the nearby white snow, creating a striking visual effect.
Looking further up, the pure white peak was crowned by the setting sun, forming a breathtaking interplay of light and shadow.
The majestic and primitive landscape left Lin Sai speechless for a moment.
"...If such a place existed in my past life..."
"Countless people would have flocked here just to catch a glimpse of this scenery."
"Let's set up camp here for the night!"
As night gradually fell, Lin Sai lit a campfire, prepared food, and the light only illuminated a small area around him.
In contrast, the distant snow-covered peaks shone under the starlight, becoming even more mysterious and captivating.
As he prepared to sleep, Lin Sai encountered a minor setback.
The heat from the campfire melted the frozen marshland, turning their campsite into a muddy mess, making it impossible to lie down!
Lin Sai didn't want to search for another flat spot.
He had no choice but to lay down wooden boards to finally get some rest.
The next morning, Lin Sai set off again.
Around the frozen marshland, there was hardly any animal activity.
His footsteps echoed in the silent world, like a lonely symphony, and the white mist from his breath marked the passage of time as he navigated the marsh.
In the afternoon, around three o'clock, Lin Sai finally reached the foot of the majestic mountain range.
As he looked up, he felt something subtle and peculiar.
The distant mountains appeared towering and continuous, but when he reached the foot of the mountains and looked up, they seemed slightly shorter.
Lin Sai knew it was a psychological effect, but he couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle.
"Hehe..."
"At this height, I could probably climb to the summit tonight."
With these bold words, Lin Sai began his ascent with confidence.
The initial part of the climb was no different from a regular mountain hike and didn't pose any challenges.
When he reached two-thirds of the mountain's height and entered the snow line, each step forward sank him into deep snow, and the slippery, soft ground beneath made it easy to lose balance.
Lin Sai was forced to use the wooden sled he had once used, which made the climb a bit easier.
However, the mountain's slope soon became steeper.
As he approached the last few hundred meters, a nearly vertical cliff stood before him, blocking his path.
These were the same dark rocks he had seen from the mountain's foot the night before.
"...If only I still had my spider hook claws."
After reminiscing about the equipment he had consumed, Lin Sai drew his dagger and began climbing the rock face.
This final stretch was the most time-consuming.
As the setting sun once again cast its orange glow on the mountain beneath him, Lin Sai finally reached the summit.
Looking up, the vast sky seemed within reach.
When he turned to look behind him, the endless forests and rolling hills stretched out, concealing the frontier town and the world's edge.
Glancing to the right, the snowfield extending from Black Mountain lay quietly on the ground, as if whispering the invasion of dragon beast power right beneath Lin Sai's feet.
"According to the scale of the Hidden Frontier World, this should be close to..."
Lin Sai had been analyzing his location and the terrain he would encounter next.
But as he crossed the highest point of the mountain range, what he saw below stopped all his daydreams:
"This... a meteor crater?"
(End of Chapter)
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