Ten Thousand Blades Peak

"Hello, all your dishes have been served."

The server brought the dishes over, arranged them one by one in front of Fang Zelin, and only then left.

Looking at the fine dishes before him, Fang Zelin picked up his chopsticks and began eating.

He browsed the forum posts as he ate, but no matter how he searched, he could not find anything that interested him.

In the end, Fang Zelin even dug up the earlier post about Wu Yong and the others encountering a skeleton spirit.

This post was among the earliest to point out that a beautiful woman encountered in the wilderness might very well be a spirit monster.

The post described in detail just how beautiful the women they encountered had been, with figures as slender as willow waists, each possessing her own distinctive beauty.

The initial replies below the post were uniformly astonished. The players were all rather shocked that Seeking the Dao actually had monsters.

Yet after only a few dozen replies, the thread began to veer off topic.

Someone asked whether these monsters really were that beautiful, and whether the bodies conjured through Demon Power were real.

Someone else asked whether there were other varieties of monsters, saying he preferred fox spirits.

Another wanted to know where he could easily encounter rather dim-witted spirits, because he wanted to trick one into being with him.

All sorts of comments like these sent the thread straight off track.

Fang Zelin ate while reading the players' various comments.

A few comments even nearly made him choke.

After skimming through the post without finding the information he wanted, Fang Zelin sighed.

Forget it. From the looks of things, I'll still have to seek immortals myself.

At this point, Fang Zelin stopped reading.

Judging by the current situation, many people probably did not even know that cultivating immortality was possible in Seeking the Dao.

After finishing his meal and paying the bill, Fang Zelin wheeled himself home.

Jiuchuan had been rather busy lately.

From what Jiuchuan had said, he had also set up a gaming studio, apparently at his parents' urging.

They wanted him to strengthen his character in the game as quickly as possible, preferably even establishing a faction.

For that purpose, they had specifically allocated him a considerable sum to cover expenses.

Originally, Jiuchuan had already decided to come find Fang Zelin once he had mastered his craft.

But this matter had forced him to cancel his plans to come find Fang Zelin.

After some time, Fang Zelin arrived home.

Once he had locked all the doors and windows securely, Fang Zelin entered the Seeking the Dao World.

The inn.

Fang Zelin pushed the door open and walked out.

After a night's rest, it was now early morning. Yesterday, Fang Zelin had made inquiries in the city and learned that a mountain near Yueyang City called Ten Thousand Blades Peak was exceptionally famous.

Apparently, even now, no one had ever managed to climb it.

Ten Thousand Blades Peak had earned its name because its slopes were as sheer as knife blades on every side. From a distance, it looked as though ten thousand blades had been thrust into the cliff faces, truly a work of nature's ghostly axe and divine craftsmanship.

Within a hundred li, Ten Thousand Blades Peak was the most famous landmark.

If he had to name renowned mountains and great waters, Fang Zelin felt that Ten Thousand Blades Peak might qualify.

He therefore decided to stay in Yueyang City for the time being and take a look at Ten Thousand Blades Peak.

Fang Zelin left the inn, bought a few steamed buns and some flatbread as provisions, and hurried toward Ten Thousand Blades Peak.

With the morning sun rising, Fang Zelin disappeared into the woods.

A little mist still lingered throughout the woods, hazy and indistinct.

Fang Zelin wore a robe with broad, long sleeves, and when he circulated his Spiritual Power, his body became exceptionally light.

As he darted back and forth through the woods, his movements appeared remarkably graceful.

Ten Thousand Blades Peak was quite easy to find.

Fang Zelin had already asked about its location before coming, and there were woodcutters felling trees all along the way.

Following the logging grounds here and continuing toward the rising sun, he only needed to travel ten li before he could see a lone, precipitous peak in the distance ahead.

That mountain was Ten Thousand Blades Peak.

Ten li passed in a flash. When Fang Zelin reached a gap cut through the trees ahead and looked through it, the distant view suddenly opened up.

An extraordinarily majestic mountain rose straight into the sky, as though reaching the heavens.

It towered into the clouds.

He could even see clouds drifting past halfway up the mountain.

At the sight, Fang Zelin instinctively drew a breath.

"Can... can I climb that?"

Fang Zelin looked down at his own body, a trace of doubt rising in his heart.

This mountain was simply too tall.

And sheer cliffs covered it everywhere. He could not fly, either. Trying to get up there...

It would be as difficult as ascending to heaven.

But the more this was the case, the more likely there was to be an immortal's abode up there.

With that thought, Fang Zelin immediately suppressed the trace of doubt in his heart.

Having come this far, he was already close to Ten Thousand Blades Peak.

After a little while, Fang Zelin reached the foot of Ten Thousand Blades Peak without incident.

Fang Zelin sat cross-legged and regulated his breathing for a while, looking up to study the mountain before him.

It had already looked difficult to climb from a distance. Now that he stood at its foot, it looked even harder.

Fortunately, Fang Zelin had made some preparations before coming and had a billhook tucked at his waist.

If he gradually cut footholds into the rock as he climbed, he should be able to use them to make his way up.

It might take a great deal of effort, but as long as he could reach the top, that effort should all be worthwhile.

At this thought, Fang Zelin finally stopped hesitating.

Pushing off several protruding rocks, he swiftly leaped to a height of around ten meters.

At this height, there were no more places nearby that he could push off.

Seeing this, Fang Zelin swung his billhook and struck a blade-like ridge on the cliff. The ridge looked extremely sharp, but for that very reason, it shattered with a single blow.

Having successfully made a small notch, Fang Zelin hooked his fingers into it and began cutting out another.

Once he had made a notch above him, Fang Zelin jumped up to it, then began cutting the next one.

When the sun reached overhead, its scorching rays shone straight down.

Feeling somewhat hungry by now, Fang Zelin took out a few pieces of flatbread he had brought and ate them to fill his stomach.

With one hand hooked into the cliff face, he ate while looking down.

After a morning's work, Fang Zelin had made some progress.

He was now several meters farther from the ground.

This was only the beginning, and he was not particularly practiced yet.

Once he became more proficient, the speed at which he cut notches would increase somewhat.

After finishing his flatbread and resting briefly, Fang Zelin resumed work, cutting notches upward.

He worked until evening, when the sunset glow spilled over the mountain and stretched the shadow of Ten Thousand Blades Peak long across the ground. Only then did Fang Zelin jump down from the cliff and hurry back toward Yueyang City.

There were spirit monsters in the mountain wilderness, and Fang Zelin did not dare linger outside at night.

If a spirit monster set its sights on him and he ended up being eaten because he could not defeat it, Fang Zelin would not even have anywhere to cry.