Gu Qingshan stood on a tree branch.
When the entire world appeared before his eyes and solidified into reality, he realized he was standing on a branch of this great tree.
—but it was the lowest branch.
Looking down, the murky yellow water of the Forgetfulness River flowed beneath his feet.
One careless step, and he would fall into the river, become one of the dead in an instant, and forget everything from his past.
Gu Qingshan planted his feet firmly on the branch, grabbed the nearby boughs, and looked up.
The bare branches had only a few leaves. Instead, quite a number of hanged corpses dangled from them.
A new understanding surfaced in his heart, along with a rule of heaven and earth:
No shortcuts.
No shortcuts? Gu Qingshan pondered silently.
Just then, Earth Sword asked, "Should we just fly up?"
Gu Qingshan came back to himself and said, "We can't fly. This tree is made of the laws of the Six Paths. Any shortcut will be rejected by the laws and judged a failure."
"What should we do, Young Master?" Mountain Girl's voice rang out.
"Climb," Gu Qingshan replied briefly.
Gripping the branches, he climbed step by step toward the heights.
Before long, he had left the Forgetfulness River far below.
"I never imagined the Star River Tribulation for those who chose Yellow Springs would be like this," Earth Sword sighed.
"Be careful, Young Master," Mountain Girl said.
Gu Qingshan remained calm as he climbed quickly among the branches.
At one point, he suddenly stopped and looked ahead.
A hanged corpse dangled from the branch directly in front of him.
Dense branches crowded both sides of the corpse, leaving no other way forward.
Gu Qingshan looked farther up.
Every path he had to take was hung with corpses