At Last, Mount Lao

After exchanging greetings, the three of them talked about what they had experienced.

Ling Qing told them how he had obtained the Mud Pellet from the Land God and how he had fought the tiger.

He also shared some of the spells from the Spirit Restraint and Transformation Method, but kept the rest to himself.

Zhang Zhe, meanwhile, had encountered a fox spirit that could bewitch people. He had slain it with the power of the Clear Heart Ring.

He had also met a Daoist who taught him an Artifact Consecration Method.

This did not mean an implement used in sacrifices.

Rather, it involved blessing an object with power through rituals or scripture recitation. With prolonged consecration, the object would become ever more responsive to its owner.

The effects of a consecrated artifact were deeply connected to the object's nature and to the meanings imparted by its rituals and scriptures.

It was considered a form of artifact refining.

As for the specifics, the other man had not asked him, so Zhang Zhe had not pressed for details either.

As for Zhu Guang, whether he was unlucky or lucky, he had encountered an upstart cultivator of the sinister path who practiced the White Bone Ghost Soul Method.

It could command bones and ghosts, but those underworld things happened to be just what he excelled at countering.

After the Ghost-Repelling Pill exposed the ghost's sneak attack, Zhu Guang raised his hand and sent out an artifact to hold back the bone skeleton, protecting his body.

He flung talismans as if they cost nothing. In the blink of an eye, they engulfed the cultivator, and in the end, Zhu Guang even got his cultivation method.

The method explained how to cultivate using bones and ghosts, as well as how to refine sinister artifacts from them.

At its core, it was a method for attaining ghost immortality.

Though it was far inferior to Ling Qing's Spirit Restraint and Transformation Method, it was still much better than Zhang Zhe's Artifact Consecration Method.

But its flaws lay in the words "ghost" and "sinister."

If he didn't practice it, he'd be reluctant to give it up after obtaining it through his own efforts.

But if he did, he would have to use ghosts and bones as materials. In modern times, he would probably have to live under the Special Affairs Department's watchful eye at all times.

There was no way they wouldn't find out if he practiced a method like this, and Zhu Guang had no intention of testing the Special Affairs Department's limits.

He didn't want to live that way, so he was deeply conflicted.

Ling Qing could do nothing after hearing him out, so he could only pat Zhu Guang on the shoulder in consolation.

As for Zhang Zhe, he laughed heartily from the side, clearly already knowing about it.

"Let's rest here for a while."

It was nearly noon. Ling Qing pointed to a clear stream ahead and made the suggestion.

By then, the three of them had spent the whole morning making their way into the mountains. The cliffs were steep, the forests dense, and the foliage lush.

Ling Qing was fine. With his Forest Walk skill, he found the going pleasant, but Zhang Zhe and Zhu Guang weren't nearly as comfortable.

There were no proper mountain paths, only a narrow trail, most of it hidden beneath branches and leaves.

The three of them had practically hacked a path through the whole way.

"I didn't expect the mountain trail to be this hard to walk."

Zhang Zhe was doing all right, with his excellent martial skills and abundant inner strength.

But Zhu Guang, with his hefty frame, was already drenched in sweat and panting.

Unlike the other two, Zhu Guang had learned to draw talismans and deal with ghosts and zombies. He hadn't focused much on training his body.

His physical fitness couldn't compare with theirs, and of the three, he'd had the hardest time all along.

But the man was tough as nails. He didn't complain or grumble, just gritted his teeth and kept up with them.

After all, the three of them were traveling together to seek immortality. There was no reason for the others to accommodate him and slow their pace.

After resting until they had caught their breath, Zhang Zhe took roast chicken and dry rations from his pack and shared some with the others.

"Why does this mountain feel so much harder to cross than it would in the modern world? And do you feel like it's also taller than it would be today?"

He pointed to the mountain they were on, then to the tallest peak visible in the distance.

"Mount Lao's highest peak is only a little over a thousand meters, and that's above sea level. The mountain in front of us is already more than a thousand meters, isn't it? And that distant peak is even taller."

"Don't know why, but it really is much taller. The Mount Lao range also covers a larger area than it does in modern times."

Ling Qing spoke as he ate roast chicken and dry rations, washing them down with the clear water from the mountain stream.

"According to that young fellow at the inn, it takes two or three days to reach Shangqing Temple. At least he also said there are no man-eating beasts or tales of ghosts in the mountains. Most people who've come up here to seek immortality have made it back safely.

"As long as we don't stray from the path, it'll just mean walking for a couple more days."

"Then let's go. We've rested enough. If I stay here any longer, I'm afraid I won't be able to walk at all."

Zhu Guang finished the food in his hand in a few bites, then stood up and said.

"Let's go," Ling Qing and Zhang Zhe agreed. They finished the rest of their food and got to their feet.

The excitement of their first meeting and the thrill of seeking immortality had nearly worn away under the strain of the rugged mountain trail.

They had already said all they needed to that morning. Once they got back on the road, the three of them helped one another from time to time and continued on in silence.

That night, they made do with a rest in a cave in the cliff. At dawn the next day, Ling Qing woke the other two, still groggy with sleep, and urged them onward.

Fortunately, just as the young fellow at the inn had said, they encountered no fierce beasts, only harmless deer, rabbits, and monkeys scrambling among the branches and over the cliffs.

On the morning of the third day, they finally reached the foot of Mount Lao Shangqing Palace.

This mountain was definitely more than a thousand meters tall!

Gazing at the winding stone path that climbed straight into the clouds, Ling Qing thought to himself.

The three exchanged glances and nodded before starting up the mountain.

They'd come all this way, after all.

Though the words sounded a little perfunctory and helpless, they were exactly what made people from Hua Nation inexplicably persevere.

"Hm?"

The moment Ling Qing stepped onto the stone steps, he froze.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Zhe and Zhu Guang turned and asked.

"Nothing. Let's climb."

Ling Qing shook his head and walked on, focusing his mind as he carefully sensed his surroundings.

Sure enough, there was something strange about these stone steps.

After taking a couple of steps, he thought to himself.

With his Forest Walk skill, even though he was now walking on stone, the surrounding forest allowed him to activate it and move as if on level ground once he opened up his senses.

But now, not only did the skill fail to work, he was also cut off from his perception of nature.

At the same time, exhaustion surged through him, as if he had become an ordinary person again.

When he opened his status panel, he immediately noticed what had changed.

"Status: Healthy (Fatigued, Qi Sealed)"

There was now a parenthetical note after "Healthy" in his status bar, with the words "Fatigued" and "Qi Sealed" inside.

The "Fatigued" status was pale yellow, and its color continued to deepen. Before long, it had turned scarlet.

Meanwhile, "Qi Sealed" was black, and could seal off the flow of his own energy.

He carefully sensed his body. Sure enough, the Heart of the Druid, which had been active before, had now come to a standstill.

Apart from occasionally emitting a faint glow to reassure him that the Heart of the Druid hadn't broken, it no longer offered any boost.

Seeing that the Fatigued status had turned scarlet without affecting his health, Ling Qing looked up toward the cloud-shrouded heights, his anticipation growing.

If something could suppress the Heart of the Druid, that meant there was a power on this mountain no weaker than its own.

As long as he could successfully become someone's disciple, he would have a real chance of entering the path of cultivation.

Though the Druid's inheritance also contained spells to resist the passage of time, allowing one to live ten years as though they were one, they merely slowed aging. That was no match for the freedom of long life and enduring sight.