Having decided to head deeper into Tianshan, everyone rested for a while and checked the medicinal herbs they had gathered before preparing to leave.
As they were about to leave the bountiful Meadow Layer, they felt a little reluctant. After all, there were so many precious resources here.
But Tianshan's true treasures lay hidden in the High Mountain Layer and the Glacier Layer, pristine lands that had never been damaged or harvested. Having already made such a fortune in the Meadow Layer alone, everyone looked forward even more to the higher reaches of Tianshan.
Of course, the more resources and opportunities there were, the more terrifying the dangers became. Inside Tianshan, Commander-level demon beasts roamed everywhere, demanding constant caution.
Once they reached the High Mountain Layer, the vegetation became noticeably sparser, giving way mostly to steep, rugged mountain rock. With the much greater changes in elevation here, many stretches of the Great Rift Valley felt as though they lay deep beneath dark cliffs.
After finally emerging from a gloomy valley, they found a sun-drenched path through the rift ahead of them.
This stretch of the rift was not difficult to traverse. Rather than feeling as though they were at the bottom of a crack in the earth, it was more like magnificent mountain walls towered ahead and on either side of them.
The rolling cliffs reached all the way into the vast blue sky, and distinct snow lines appeared on some peaks. The sacred white snow reflected the daylight, revealing the long, distant mountain trail ahead in greater clarity, with all its winding turns and treacherous slopes.
Almost an entire day had passed. The blue sky gradually took on a dusky yellow hue, and the orange sunset shone over this mountainous region of coniferous forests.
There were plenty of coniferous