Chapter 213: The Mountain Fortress

Yang flew over the immense forest, occasionally glancing down and spotting cultivators traversing around or locked in combat with beasts and other cultivators. He didn’t find any sign of his own Senior Brothers, so he kept flying ahead until he reached the other side of the forest. 

Hopefully both the mother and baby tiger survived, and those two cultivators didn't. He would have preferred personally ensuring they were both dead, but lingering around was an unnecessary risk, given the very real possibility of becoming Mommy Tiger's next target.

As the end of the forest came into view, Yang was surprised to see what lay beyond.

It was in stark contrast to the lush greenery he had just flown over. The ground was hard and grey, stretching into a completely lifeless, ashen wasteland. The area looked more like the aftermath of a recent volcanic eruption than the edge of a thriving forest.

As he rose higher in the air and scanned his surroundings, he saw no other cultivator on the ground, just endless grey land stretching as far as his eyes could see. He decided to keep going forward a bit longer and to see if there was something ahead. Even the sky above seemed muted, devoid of birds or any other sign of life.

Hours bled into each other as he flew over the monotonous landscape. He began to have doubts, wondering if he ought to turn back, but just as he considered retreating, a distinct pulse emanated from the bead within him, urging him to keep to this course. 

Startled, Yang immediately glanced behind him to check if he was being followed, but there was no one. He was not in immediate danger, yet the bead was urging him to keep moving.

Does that mean an opportunity lies ahead?

He decided to trust the bead's urging and continued flying. He lay back on the carpet with his hands resting beneath his head. There was nothing to see down but more ashen soil. If the bead wanted him to halt, it would presumably indicate where; otherwise, he would simply turn back if nothing showed itself.

He briefly considered taking out the rope tool and testing it to pass the time but decided against it in case it carried some kind of tracking enchantment. Better to have one of his Senior Brothers take a look at it along with the rest of his recently acquired haul.

Yang didn't feel any guilt about his part in those cultivators' deaths. He would not go around slaughtering innocents like some edge lord psychopath, but when someone crossed his bottom line, they could not go around expecting mercy from him either. He was a cultivator, not a doormat. It was not his first kill, and it certainly wouldn’t be his last either. In this world, it's either kill or be killed, and as long as he had a choice, he would always prefer to be doing the former rather than the latter.

He stared above at the grey-cast sky, lost in his thoughts, when suddenly a chill ran through him, a cold sensation that seeped deep into his very bones. 

He immediately stood up, realizing that he seemed to have crossed an invisible boundary. He halted the flight, scrambling to turn the carpet and fly back outside the formation barrier and sighed in relief as he felt the same cool sensation again as he crossed the formation boundary once more.

Fortunately, it wasn't preventing him from leaving. He stood at the edge indecisively for a moment, considering whether he should return and come back with his Senior Brothers, but decided against it.

Senior Brother Fan Xiao did send me to seek opportunities like the other cultivators here, he reminded himself. He still had the talisman given to him by Senior Brother Fan Xiao for emergencies. He ought to take a look at what lay ahead. 

After all, just as the Senior Brother had pointed out, he couldn't always hide behind his older brothers.

He kept pressing forward until he suddenly spotted a massive peak coming into view in the distance. It was rocky and grey, but instead of something created by nature, it gave off the look of a fortress designed to resemble a mountain. The more he studied it, the more convinced he became that it was a man-made structure rather than an actual mountain, or at least a heavily modified mountain.

It was roughly half the size of the one he had crossed to reach Yunxi village, and that itself was an unnaturally large mountain. At the time he hadn’t comprehended its true scale, having no frame of reference from his first life. It was only after seeing many more peaks in this world that he understood just how enormous that mountain had been, boasting a base wide enough to practically fit in a small kingdom. 

Yang finally reached the mountain fortress and circled it in the air, looking for an entrance. The whole mountain surface seemed to be covered in barely visible shimmering script only discernible up close. As he examined it, he didn't recognize a single character. The runic script seemed to have completely different roots from the primordial script that was in the temple.

To Yang’s mind, that was a positive sign. He couldn't think of anything good coming from that place.

Unable to locate any entry point, he lowered the carpet to the ground and dismounted, walking around and looking to find an entrance. He summoned the mole puppet and directed it to burrow under the wall and see if it could cross over, but as the mole dug in deeper and deeper, Yang's eyebrow kept rising in surprise. He found that the wall extended deep into the earth. He recalled the mole puppet back once it reached the threshold of his control.

He continued walking along the perimeter, looking for anything that might offer a clue about this place, but found nothing. He decided to use the puppet to test the fortress, guiding the mole puppet to get closer and actually touch the stone wall, which it managed to do without bursting into flames.

Good enough for me. 

Yang decided to take the chance. He slowly brought his own hand towards the wall, giving the bead ample time to raise an alarm if there was any danger. His fingers came in contact with the cool stone surface, and a current of energy surged through him, rushing straight toward the bead.

He quickly yanked his hand back, knowing how the bead behaved; it would probably drain this place dry if given the chance. 

But surprisingly, he didn't feel any hunger from the bead. Instead, he heard a groan echo through the fortress. Turning his gaze towards the wall, he took a few steps back as the wall began to vibrate. The stones lit up with a grey glow, spinning and shifting outward to form a small passage into the mountain.

He stood at the threshold, peering into the dark passage, unable to see anything. 

Should I turn back? He wondered. Or tempt fate?

Everyone has their own cultivation path. He had trusted his fate and the bead so far. Why stop now?

Yang took a deep breath and chose to step inside. 

Behind him, he heard the groan of the stones moving back into place, sealing him inside. He kept his gaze focused ahead, refusing to look back, and watched the light vanish as the final stone slid into place.

Unknown to Yang, his Senior Brother Qing An had been following him since he left.

He watched as Yang walked into the forest. He was there when Yang was captured.

He watched proudly as Yang used his wits and the surroundings to escape those cultivators and the White Thunder Lotus Tiger and its cub

He was there when Yang entered the formation and retreated to check if he was allowed to leave.

Unfortunately, he was unable to be there when Yang entered the mountain fortress, as the formation didn't allow Qing An access, leaving him greatly worried for his Junior Brother's safety.

Join my Patreon to read 10 advance chapters.