Lady Shiji: Don't Come Over!!! (Bonus Chapter for Dànyuè Lí Gē's Generous Reward)

They went up the mountain, down the mountain, then up again, then down again.

To Shen Le's surprise, Lady Shiji was located neither atop a lofty peak, exposed to the sun and moon and nourished by rain and dew;

nor on a sheer cliff a thousand feet high, facing the bitter north wind, defying ice and snow, battling heaven and earth;

nor beneath a giant tree or beside a riverbank, covered in moss, home to insects and snakes, flanked by birds and beasts, and visited by passing travelers.

Her location was halfway up the mountainside, beside a descending mountain path. From afar, that path looked like a silver ribbon, rising to a pass along the ridge and descending to the foot of the mountain;

Up close, there was practically no path at all—only slopes, wilderness, trees, and shrubs. Old You flapped from one tree to another, calling out without pause:

"Slow down! Slow down! Watch your step! Don't fall!"

Actually, the slower they moved at a time like this, the easier it was to fall. Shen Le simply threw caution to the wind. Grabbing a tree trunk, he leaned out to look below, picked out the next tree, and charged forward with all his strength;

When he reached the next tree, he hugged its trunk, caught his breath, shifted position, fixed his eyes on another tree farther down, and charged again.

Twisting and turning like that, he cut out a zigzag route and quickly reached his destination. Steadying himself against a large, square boulder by the roadside, taller than a person, he greeted it:

"Hello, Lady Shiji!"

No sound.

No response.

Shen Le turned to look at Old You in the tree, then at the enormous rock beneath his hand, puzzled.

That was right. Within a hundred paces, this was