The Final 5 Kilometers
Thirty kilometers away, the sky was an unnatural blue, without a single cloud, only wind, and the sun was unusually bright, yet the temperature was imperceptible.
The two had already assessed the wind direction and positioned themselves on the leeward side, using the massive size of the tree trunk to block the frontal impact.
After the wind hit the windward side, it bypassed the sides and reconverged on the back. The two people were stuck on the line of convergence, slightly to the outside, and moved upwards side by side, step by step.
One person can block the wind more effectively, while two people can take turns to conserve energy.
Ten meters. Twenty meters.
They had only gone twenty meters when they both realized something was wrong.
It was both cold and sunny.
The sunbathing wasn't the warm kind; it was a scorching kind, like sunlight focused through a magnifying glass directly on the skin.
Cold and sunlight act simultaneously, without canceling each other out.
The areas covered by clothing are cold, while the exposed skin is dry and sore.
Fortunately, the clothes covered most of the body, and the previously tempered skin withstood the burning sensation.
Both of them simultaneously pulled up the collars of their shirts that were covering their mouths and noses even further.
Thirty meters, forty meters, fifty meters, sixty meters.
I estimate that I've walked 60 meters in just half an hour. At this pace, I should be able to finish the climb in less than two days.
However, this is based on a state of full energy, and rest is necessary in between.
I climbed for another two hours and felt pretty good.
Thanks to the physical foundation honed by the Ancient Tree of Life over the past few months, coupled with the remaining Soul Power within his body, he can maintain his speed for the time being.
Another two and a half hours passed, then five hours later, at a point 600 meters away.
As Soul King, the two were full of energy, but they remained focused and dared not make the slightest mistake, constantly on edge and straining their minds.
Wang Xingyu felt it was about time to rest, but he dared not stay at an altitude of 30,000 meters for too long.
Once activity stops, the body loses heat rapidly, and hypothermia is fatal in such extreme cold.
He patted Xiao Wu, signaling her to find a safe spot. The two moved to a thicker tree trunk, adjusted their positions, took out spare clothes and draped them on both sides as windbreaks, then secured them with ropes.
Wang Xingyu grabbed Xiao Wu's wrist, and her hair instantly turned white from root to tip.
The next moment, the two were standing in a park.
The park on Blue Star.
The weather was fine and sunny, and there were seesaws, swings, and elliptical trainers nearby—the kind of fitness equipment where you step on them and swing back and forth.
This was the solution he came up with.
Soul Battlefield.
The Soul Battlefield has two advantages that make it perfectly suited to the current situation.
First, the Soul Battlefield consumes not Soul Power, but Soul Force.
Second, the time flow in the Soul Battlefield is different from that in reality.
Previously, Gu Kesi had dragged him in and killed him five or six hundred times, but only two days had passed in reality.
Now that he has control of the Soul Battlefield, he knows that the ratio is roughly one minute in reality to one hour in the Soul Battlefield.
A half-hour break here feels like only thirty seconds in reality.
Xiao Wu basked in the warm sunshine, turned around to look at the surrounding facilities, and sincerely exclaimed how useful and comfortable this function was, and how it could extend the time.
Wang Xingyu casually conjured up an alarm clock and set it for half an hour.
It would take at least two days to climb these 5 kilometers without sleep, so you need to carefully plan and allocate every bit of your energy.
Xiao Wu sat on the swing and swayed gently. Suddenly, she said that she hadn't spoken for several hours and now her mouth felt strange when she opened it.
Wang Xingyu lay on the grass with his eyes closed. "It's normal. For example, if I say now, 'Breathing becomes manual,' then your breathing will actually change from automatic to manual."
After hearing this, Xiao Wu discovered that her breathing had indeed switched from automatic to manual, and she marveled at how amazing it was.
Wang Xingyu didn't reply and took the time to rest.
Ring ring, ring ring. The alarm clock rang; half an hour had passed.
Xiao Wu had also fallen asleep on the grass nearby at some point.
The two opened their eyes and found themselves back on the branches of the Ancient Tree of Life.
Although my physical strength hasn't recovered much, my energy has definitely improved a lot.
My body was still warm from the exercise, but in reality only thirty seconds had passed.
Immediately afterwards, a cold, dry wind blew in again.
It's like going from heaven one second to hell the next.
The two didn't dwell on it much, and took turns climbing step by step, side by side.
Ten meters, twenty meters, fifty meters, one hundred meters, five hundred meters, six hundred meters.
Another five hours passed.
The two adjusted their positions and re-entered the Soul Battlefield.
The sun was still shining in the park.
Wang Xingyu sat on the swing, closed his eyes, and mentally reviewed the current energy expenditure.
Four-fifths of my Soul Power remains, and one-third of my physical strength has been used up.
The reason why I used more physical strength but less Soul Power is because I have the Blue Silver Emperor's Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone.
Soul Bone can store Soul Power, let alone those of the 100,000-year level. It is currently estimated that Wang Xingyu's total Soul Power Soul Power is higher than Xiao Wu's.
Xiao Wu's energy expenditure was very even; she still had three-quarters of her physical and Soul Power remaining.
At this pace, she could climb to 4,800 meters, leaving only 200 meters to her goal. She gritted her teeth and gave it her all.
As for himself, his physical strength was weaker than Xiao Wu's, but he had more Soul Power reserves.
Soul Power can not only resist the cold, but also be converted into physical strength. The Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor Soul Bone skill Spring Breeze Brings New Life, directly uses Soul Power to repair the body's fatigue, which is more efficient than simply converting Soul Power into physical strength.
It's not a very precise calculation, but it should be roughly the same as Xiao Wu's.
The alarm clock rang half an hour later.
Half a minute later, the two opened their eyes on the tree branch and continued climbing.
Having climbed for ten hours, Wang Xingyu reached out and grabbed the indentation in the next piece of bark, exerted his strength, and pushed himself up.
The movements remained as precise as in the first hour, without the slightest deviation—the effects of the bone and muscle training were more evident here than anywhere else.
At this altitude, you can't see any mountains, only an endless horizon.
The sun is approaching that line.
There was one more thing Wang Xingyu hadn't considered: the temperature difference between day and night. He remembered reading about this in his previous life; the temperature difference between day and night in the desert was enormous—it was unbearably hot during the day and unbearably cold at night. But at high altitudes, the difference wasn't that significant.
Another hour passed, and the sun touched the horizon.
The sunset seemed to last longer than it did on the ground, lasting almost half an hour before it completely sank.
A dozen minutes later, the moon rose on the other side.
The two felt a slight drop in temperature, and their enhanced vision allowed them to see clearly in the moonlight.
The two did not stop.
An hour later, the temperature dropped by five degrees.
Another hour later, the temperature dropped another five degrees.
The rate of drop then slowed, and after three hours the total drop stopped at 15 degrees Celsius—from minus 40 degrees to minus 55 degrees Celsius.
The two entered the Soul Battlefield once again.
This break lasted forty-five minutes.
After ten hours of climbing, I was already looking forward to entering the Soul Battlefield —although it could only relieve my energy, not my physical strength, it could still help me relax at an altitude of 30,000 meters.
Forty-five seconds later, the two opened their eyes on the tree branch.
Soul Power, physical strength, and willpower are consumed in three ways, but thankfully there's an external cheat that reduces the consumption to two ways.
The wind didn't lessen at night; cold air was inhaled into the lungs and exhaled, the white mist being instantly torn apart by the wind.
The lungs were also strengthened; otherwise, the trachea would have been frozen long ago from just over ten hours of cold air entering.