Chapter 205

  Over the Summit (XI)

  It was about four hundred yards from the castle (give or take) that we had to actually take out a rope, reinforce it with Qi, and tie it around ourselves so we wouldn't get lost.

  No, seriously.

  It was actually impossible to see anything. At least for the kids and me.

  An unexpected hero emerged, however--though I wanted Long Tao to take the front and just yank us up, Rayce volunteered.

  A bit miffed and a bit worried, I decided to be the second in line just so I can immediately stop in case something goes wrong. As such, we began an even slower version of an already crawl-like climb.

  Never again.

  As soon as we cross this fucking mountain, I am screaming 'Never Again' until the entire world hears me. I've experienced a lot of bad things in this world, but this, legitimately, is the one that made me feel the most helpless.

  Mother Nature remains unconquered even here, it seems--at least on this level of cultivation.

  We moved at about half a mile an hour, if that, pausing frequently as we'd come across a good foot or two of snow that we'd have to slowly either melt or shovel out of the way. When it became outright impossible to keep moving as the speed of winds kicked up massively, we'd just crouch in place, pull over the thickest 'blankets' we had, use Art of Surviving on them, and just... wait.

  As per prior agreement, Rayce would stop and wait for us if he found a remotely feasible shelter, which he did at around the 650-yard mark. It was a small alcove of sorts, carved into the side of the mountain, with just enough room for all of us to bunk while pressed into each other.

  Light sat up on my lap and immediately fell asleep, while Xi Zhao and Dai Xiu practically blended into one another, falling asleep as well. Long Tao sat on the very edge and immediately started cultivating, as though he was out on a casual stroll, while Wan Lan started a small fire so she could boil some rice.

  "If you don't mind me asking," I turned toward Rayce, trying to start a conversation. "How are you navigating through it all?"

  "A small combination of spells," he replied. Light was kind of right--his voice did have a strange level of depth to it that drew your attention, even if you didn't want to give it. "One scries the terrain in a mile radius, another one sends a small bundle of energy in the most direct path possible over it to the other end, and the third one regales that path back to me."

  "Oh, wow. Is that something you were taught or...?"

  "No," he said. "I mean, individual spells themselves probably exist in one way or another, but most Shamans, at some point, start forging their own Words. We usually start off with a familiar template and then build off of it. Iry--he, uhm, he taught me principles of survival. Strangely, though, he only did so for the forest and not for the snowed-in mountains. Though, in hindsight, it makes sense."

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  "What are you going to do in Silvercrest City?" I asked. I was quite curious, actually, to know what the boy's--well, he wasn't really a boy. He was a young man, in his twenties already.

  "... I don't know." He hung his head low suddenly, digging his finger into the dirt and drawing something. "Shaman Lilia suggested a few things, but... they all ring hollow."

  "How so?"

  "... I thought I was fighting for something real," he said. "That, despite betraying my birthplace, I was doing so for the right reasons. That my actions were justified. I've killed seven other Shamans in the process of escaping and evading pursuit. Seven. I should have been brought back home, quartered, and hanged publicly, not given another lease on life."

  Hmm.

  Right.

  The system did pretty much print out that the kid was clinically depressed. Honestly, I don't have a clue as to how to help him. After Yas' death, I, too, fell into a catatonic depression that I never really yanked myself out of--I spent the remaining years before coming here in this 'functioning coma' state, and what eventually 'got me out of it' was literally dying and coming here.

  Even if I can't help, though, I can at least sympathize.

  "I don't know you," I said. "And even less the rules of your home. But... Lilia chose to give you that lease on life, and I trust her judgment enough to believe you deserve it. So, even if you don't think you deserve it, believe in her, too."

  "Thanks," he said. "But... it's alright. You don't have to try and help me. I will, instead, help you cross the mountain, and once you're safe, you can just... leave me."

  "..."

  The look in his eyes was one of absence. I knew it very well--after all, I stared at it in the mirror countless times before. It's this tiredness that seems to come from nowhere and seems to persist through everything.

  Wan Lan finished preparing rice and poured the four of us a bowl. Long Tao spun and joined us, eyeing Rayce rather intensely for a moment before looking away.

  "I don't think the crossing will be quite that easy," he suddenly voiced out, and the words immediately squeezed my heart as though with fingers.

  Oh, do I not enjoy when he foretells something foreboding.

  "Are you doubting me?" Rayce, though, took it to mean something else. Long Tao ignored him entirely, his gaze shifting over to me.

  "It's been bugging me these past few days, the weather here," he said. "It's too... fierce."

  "It's a mountain," I said.

  "Yes. But it's still just a mountain," he reiterated. "The winds are like sharp daggers cutting through Qi membranes. Master," he added, finishing the bowls. "Winds don't do that."

  "Do you think someone is doing it on purpose?" Wan Lan asked, frowning.

  "Hmm. Probably not 'on purpose'," he said, as vaguely as ever. "Nonetheless, the cross will be... fun."

  I winced, my eyebrows dancing as I stared at his faintly creasing lips.

  "Don't listen to the kid," Rayce suddenly said, a rare trace of emotion in his voice. "There's absolutely nothing unnatural about this place, not any more than any other. The entire mountain range is a home to some of the fastest winds and has been for a long time. It's just the particular nature of this place."

  "Hm. Right," I said.

  I wish I could trust him--oh, how I wish I could believe what he's saying. But no.

  If Long Tao is saying something is 'fun', you can bet your sweet ass I'm about to be sweating mine. As for why? I'm fairly certain he can at least guess, but because he's not outright saying it...

  I've picked up on a few things over the year and a change I've spent with the old monster. When it's the case of something being a legitimate threat to my life, he actually isn't all that vague and is rather proactive in warning me.

  When it's something that will 'just' rattle us and be 'fun'?

  Yeah.

  He rather enjoys seeing my reaction to seeing it rather than hearing about it.