Reaching the Summit

"No, don't!"

"Quick, grab on!"

"Grab the rocks above you!"

Countless people cried out in alarm!

The sight was truly terrifying.

Ye Jin kicked off with both feet and flew into the air at an incredible angle, giving himself a direction he could control toward the rocks above.

Just as countless people's scalps went numb with terror,

Ye Jin reached out with both hands and grabbed the protruding part of the rock above him, holding fast.

He pressed himself against the rock face, keeping his center of gravity from shifting outward and transferring his weight to the cliff.

Even so, his move had been fraught with danger.

Although he had grabbed the protruding rock, he was gripping it vertically.

His entire body hung out from the cliff.

He swayed back and forth in the air.

A gust of wind blew past, setting his body rocking.

Everyone was almost scared witless at the sight.

It was even more thrilling than watching a horror movie.

With the camera switching between different angles, they had been completely drawn in. Ye Jin swayed in the wind like a willow branch drifting on the breeze.

This time, there really was no way back.

Because aside from that hollow,

The two rock faces were separated by a gap of more than twenty centimeters.

Even if he could go back, it would be extraordinarily dangerous. The slightest mistake and he would tumble down the sheer cliff.

But even so, his legs were still dangling in the air.

Countless people stared with wide eyes.

They kept panting and patting their chests.

They had never seen anything like this unfold before their eyes.

And it was being broadcast live.

One slip meant death.

Ye Jin glanced down. A stone he had dislodged drifted away on the wind and disappeared from sight.

He knew that if he let go now, he too would be carried far away by the wind like that stone, then smashed into a lump of meat.

But...

He had never been that stone.

After breaking his shackles, he had endless strength in his body.

He pulled with both hands, his muscles exploding with power as he hoisted his entire body upward.

Using nothing but his arms, with no foothold at all, he lifted his body, which weighed over 130 jin.

And using nothing but the strength of his arms, he kept climbing upward.

Wave after wave of gasps erupted from viewers beyond the screen.

"Holy shit, that's way too badass!"

"I know some fitness experts can do that, but their arm muscles are incredibly developed. Ye Jin's arms are so thin, so how can he be that strong too?"

"That arm strength is way too insane. There's no way to do that without years of training."

"His arm strength looks pretty impressive, but it's really nothing. If he punched me, I bet it wouldn't take a second before he was lying on the ground, begging me not to die!"

Boundless strength burst from Ye Jin's arms.

Without relying on his legs,

He climbed all the way up using only the strength of his arms.

Once he got up, it was almost smooth sailing from there.

He moved faster and faster.

He had completely surpassed any speed an ordinary person could imagine.

Everyone stared dumbfounded at his speed.

Damn it!

Wasn't this supposed to be one of the world's most elite extreme sports?

And one of the most dangerous, too.

How did he make it look so easy?

I've learned how to do it.

I'll go buy some gear tomorrow.

Let's do this!

Even many professional judging athletes watched his speed with disbelief in their eyes.

Since when could Ye Jin climb so easily over rocks that seemed like an impassable chasm to them?

It was simply unbelievable!

That talent was absolutely insane!

How could anyone in the world be so clever?

Was this really his first time rock climbing,

And not the result of honing himself through hundreds or thousands of climbs and lighting up every talent skill?

Where the hell was the justice in that?

Group after group of people wanted to vomit blood.

They had practically lived their whole lives on a dog.

They couldn't even compare to a beginner.

Fuck!

After Ye Jin got up, it was smooth sailing from there.

Of course, that was only relative to him.

There were bumps and obstacles along the way ahead.

But all in all, they barely reduced his speed.

His eyes were simply too sharp. With one glance, he could tell which direction was right and where best to exert his strength.

Everyone looked at him as though he were a god.

He kept climbing.

He kept crossing one line between life and death after another.

Ye Jin passed easily through places that made their hearts tremble just to look at.

He was the ultimate rock-climbing machine, capable of moving without the slightest error.

Everyone had fallen to their knees and couldn't get back up.

Two hours had passed.

And Ye Jin had finally reached a height of eight hundred meters.

At this height,

He was already close to the clouds.

Speeding up there in a car and climbing up were two entirely different extremes.

Looking down from this height, the buildings below looked like matchboxes, and the cars on the ground were little dots of color.

Eight hundred meters in two hours.

He had already broken the record set by Alex.

Countless climbers wore complicated expressions. Reaching this height in two hours was more than terrifying; it was simply godlike.

If it were them, forget two hours.

Even given two days, they might not be able to finish.

A god!

He really was a god!

Another god was rising!

But soon, their expressions changed dramatically.

As his altitude changed, the camera captured the scenery above with perfect clarity.

Above him,

There was an extremely smooth rock face.

It was almost perfectly vertical, at ninety degrees.

Only a few fine cracks ran across it.

But these fine cracks,

Even the widest were no wider than a little finger, while the narrowest were only a hair's breadth, a millimeter wide.

The viewers also saw the impossible situation ahead.

They were terrified.

This... was the true dead end.

How was he supposed to get up?

There was simply no way up!

Down?

They looked below.

Another wave of fear swept through them.

There was no way down either.

Was... death his only option?

Everyone wore complicated expressions.

This was a dead end that meant certain death. There was no way to do it.

He looked at him without pity, as though looking at a dead man.

Ye Jin also saw the change above him.

One hundred meters.

Almost ninety degrees vertical.

It couldn't be done.

No one could climb up a rock face that was vertical at ninety degrees.

Unless they were a god.

And he was about to become that god.

He pulled out the daggers at his waist. These two daggers were made especially for rock climbing. They were very thin and short, but extremely hard.

He had prepared them as a precaution.

He hadn't expected them to actually come in handy.

As everyone watched with complicated expressions, he drew the daggers.

The daggers were short, only half the size of ordinary ones.

But they were very thin, just right for inserting into those cracks.

Under everyone's horrified gazes, he alternated his hands, using the daggers to open a path while keeping his body pressed tightly against the cliff and moving his feet upward.

Step by step.

His movements were orderly and unhurried.

It was as though he had trained millions upon millions of times, every step precisely calculated.

"No, this is impossible. No one can do that."

"That's over a hundred meters. How could he possibly make it with just daggers?"

"Heavens, is he going to use daggers for this entire final stretch? I racked my brains and never imagined that would be the answer. That's so damn badass."

"Fuck, right now I just want to say one thing: 666!"

"Don't his hands hurt? Over a distance that high, his hands are bound to give out. When they do, he'll die."

He alternated his hands.

Everyone watched his back.

They were filled with fervor.

The final 70 meters,

60 meters,

30 meters,

20 meters,

5 meters,

Finally, he reached the summit.

The moment he reached the summit, the whole world fell deathly silent.

This was the craziest extreme sport in human history.

This was an unprecedented feat.

This was Ye Jin, a legend all on his own!

Thanks to Fish Roe for the generous 1,666 book-coin tip!!!