The Lord of Void and Real - Chapter 145 - Chapter 145: Chapter 144: Up the Mountain

Chapter 145: Chapter 144: Up the Mountain

Shen Luo was unwilling to give up so soon and continued to follow the Fog Wall to the left.

He walked for about an hour, but the white mist wall was still unbroken. He tried several times to venture into the mist, but each time was the same as before, the suffocating sensation unbearable.

However, as he walked, Shen Luo suddenly realized that the terrain under his feet was starting to rise; he appeared to be climbing a hill.

Soon, another hour passed, and Shen Luo was still without discoveries.

Just as he was about to give up and return to Longevity Village, he suddenly heard a “crack” sound under his foot, as if he had stepped on something.

When Shen Luo looked down to check, he found out that it was a skeleton under his feet.

Moved, he moved forward a hundred steps or so, and the fog ahead suddenly began to thin significantly. The sight that appeared before him startled him.

In a radius of about several dozens of feet, the ground was full of densely packed bones of humans and monsters.

Shen Luo looked at the somewhat familiar scene before him, his brows furrowed slightly. After a brief hesitation, he continued towards the center of the bones.

When he got closer, he quickly saw the bottomless void on the ground about ten feet in diameter, exactly the void he had escaped from previously.

“So it is here. I’ve circled back again…” Shen Luo murmured.

He went to the edge of the void and peered inside for a moment, but he could see nothing.

Shen Luo knew in his heart that without the protection of the Other Shore Flower, once he entered Yinning through this, his body would definitely be reduced to dust, let alone the terrifying Black Mountain Old Demon inside.

“To take this path again, I’m afraid even the strength of the Soul Condensation Stage won’t be enough. At least reaching the Nascent Soul Stage would suffice,” Shen Luo muttered.

Having said that, he turned around and left, continuing in another direction to explore.

…

Nearing noon, Shen Luo finally returned to Longevity Village. In the end, he was unable to find a way out from the fog.

Ying Luo, who had been waiting at the top of the wall since early morning, was overjoyed to see him return safe and sound.

With a slight frown, Shen Luo recounted his encounters in the fog to her, omitting the fact that he had found the entrance to the Yinning void.

“Big Brother Shen, you’ve worked hard. Since there’s no way out from the mist, we should prepare to continue to struggle against the monsters,” Ying Luo said firmly, despite her disappointment.

“Since there’s no way out from the mist, I plan to search Mount Fangcun,” Shen Luo said, his gaze shifting to the towering mountain behind the village.

“No, no! Absolutely not! It’s much too dangerous!” Ying Luo shook her head vigorously upon hearing this.

“I know you have ancestral teachings forbidding people from entering the mountain, but there is no way back now. Only by going up the mountain may there be a glimmer of hope. Look at these children, do you really want their last days to be filled with constant struggle and fear of monsters?” Shen Luo asked, his eyes resting on the children playing around.

Ying Luo, hearing this, also looked in that direction. Then she fell silent, lost in deep thought.

“Alright, Big Brother Shen. If you really plan to climb the mountain, I must accompany you,” Ying Luo said resolutely after a moment.

“You don’t have to risk this with me. The village needs you too, and the wounds on your body haven’t healed yet,” Shen Luo shook his head and smiled.

“Big Brother Shen, it’s not because I’m acting on impulse. But without me guiding you, I’m afraid you’ll hardly find the entrance to the mountain,” Ying Luo explained.

“Why so?” Shen Luo asked, puzzled.

“The terrain of Mount Fangcun is treacherous and the paths to climb it are mostly hidden. If I don’t guide you, you’ll probably have a hard time just finding the entrance of the mountain,” explained Ying Luo.

“But the village…” Shen Luo hesitated.

“Don’t worry, Big Brother Shen. The monsters you killed just yesterday are severely damaged. They’re unlikely to dare invade again in a short period of time. And as for my injuries, they’re just superficial wounds, it’s nothing severe,” Ying Luo said with a resolute look in her eyes.

“Alright. We should not delay any further; let’s depart now,” Shen Luo hesitated for a moment, then said.

“Okay.”

Ying Luo found Qingniu, a strong young man in the village, and instructed him to guard the village. After bidding Granny Ma goodbye, she left with Shen Luo and headed for Mount Fangcun.

Although Mount Fangcun seemed to be right behind Longevity Village, the actual journey was far from short.

Not to mention that the original mountain paths had not been walked for many years and were now overgrown with dense weeds and shrubs. Wading through them was rather difficult. It took Shen Luo and Ying Luo quite an hour to reach the foot of the mountain.

Only at the foot of the mountain did Shen Luo realize why Ying Luo insisted on coming along.

In front of him, Mount Fangcun was covered with rock faces hundreds of feet high. There was simply no road up.

Only after Ying Luo had found a large protruding boulder, based on the geographical features that the old people of the village had once spoken of, did she discover a hidden mountain cave underneath.

They followed the cave gradient, traversed hundreds of feet through the mountain, and emerged from an opening on the back of Fangcun Mountain.

They followed a narrow path from the cave entrance, walked about two or three miles, and then came to a fairly wide mountain trail – the real path to climb Mount Fangcun.

“You were right. If you hadn’t come to guide the way, I might have walked around until evening without finding the path,” Shen Luo looked at the dense ancient trees around him and couldn’t help but comment.

“There are many legends about the immortals of Mount Fangcun in the village, and what I remember includes the stories of the guiding butterfly and the woodcutter. In the guiding butterfly story, a man came from another region overseas, seeking to climb the mountain to apprentice himself and cultivate Dao. However, once he arrived at the foot of the mountain, he became lost and couldn’t find the mountain entrance. He wandered around the foot of the mountain for three years but never gave up. Finally, the immortal on the mountain was moved and sent a guiding butterfly to lead him on his way, which enabled him to climb the mountain and find the entrance,” Ying Luo elaborated.

“Perhaps the three years of wandering without finding a way was a test by the immortals of the mountain?” Shen Luo speculated with a smile after listening.

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“When my father originally told me this story, I thought the same. Even as a child, I wondered whether the ordeal faced by our village was a test from the immortals,” Ying Luo replied, a touch of melancholy in her voice as she laughed.

“And what about the legend of the woodcutter?” Shen Luo asked, changing the subject.

“That story is even more bizarre…” Ying Luo was about to go on, but then she stopped speaking.

Shen Luo, standing nearby, also stiffened and stood still.

A yellow figure had silently appeared on a huge rock several dozen feet in front of them.