NOVPUBThe next moment, the imposing presence around the figure in purple robes relaxed, and to his surprise, he found himself able to move.
"You may go," said Da Zhi the monk.
"You won’t kill me?" The purple-robed figure still felt it was somewhat surreal.
He responded, "Really letting me go."
"I said I’d let you go, and I won’t go back on my word," Da Zhi the monk gestured with his hand.
The man in purple robes didn’t look back as he ran down the snowy mountain.
Da Zhi the monk turned his head, his gaze reaching far across to the snowy mountain wall.
On that mountain wall, a pure white snow lotus was blooming.
He stretched out his right hand, which grew dozens of meters long, and directly plucked the snow lotus from the mountain wall.
"Go and take good care of your mother’s illness," Da Zhi the monk said with a smile.
"Thank you, revered monk," the young man said excitedly as he received the snow lotus, quickly expressing his gratitude.
He was carrying a bamboo-woven basket on his back.
Carefully placing the snow lotus into the bamboo basket, he then said to Da Zhi the monk, "Is the reverend planning to go up the mountain?"
Da Zhi the monk shook his head slightly.
"It’s the mountain sealing period now, no one should be climbing to the top of Tianyu Mountain," the young man hurriedly explained.
"I risked my life to come up and try for my mother’s illness, but I didn’t dare to go too deep."
"Sealing the mountain? Who has sealed the mountain?" Xu Zimei inquired.
"It’s not a person; there’s a period every year when Tianyu Mountain is in a closed state," the young man explained.
"It’s the mountain’s own celestial seal."
Xu Zimei glanced at Da Zhi the monk and asked, "Didn’t you say you know everything?"
"Well, I don’t quite understand this," Da Zhi the monk said with a sheepish laugh.
"I only know that Huang Nation once contended with the will of the heavens here; this was the battlefield."
"If there’s nothing else, I will head back first," the young man asked tentatively.
"Go ahead," Da Zhi the monk nodded.
Watching the young man’s retreating figure, Da Zhi the monk looked at Xu Zimei and asked, "Shall we continue to go up?"
"What do you think?" Xu Zimei didn’t look back as he headed up the mountain. n𝚘𝚟𝚙u𝚋.co𝚖
Da Zhi the monk quickly followed behind him.
"What battle are you referring to?" Xu Zimei continued to ask.
"The present Yellow City was once Huang Nation, a very strong realm said to be able to contend with the Imperial Rule Immortal Sect," Da Zhi the monk explained.
"Unfortunately, they seem to have committed some taboo and eventually were rejected by heaven and earth.
The entire population of the nation met their end here in opposition to the Heavenly Dao.
After they died, the skies brought forth a snowstorm that eventually formed Tianyu Mountain."
"This world certainly has its share of strange events," Xu Zimei commented.
"But after the mountain is sealed, I also do not know exactly what happens within," Da Zhi the monk admitted.
The two made their way toward the mountain summit; only by crossing this mountain could they reach the Endless Heaven Sea.
Though it wasn’t the only route, it was the nearest one.
As they drew closer to the mountain summit, Xu Zimei saw more and more sculptures.
These sculptures also became increasingly lifelike, standing as if they were real people.
Some of them even possessed an overwhelming aura of authority.
"Perhaps I should cast a divination," Da Zhi the monk suddenly stopped halfway and suggested.
"I feel somewhat uneasy."
Xu Zimei had no objections; he was not afraid, but gaining some clarity also couldn’t hurt.
Da Zhi the monk took out three ancient copper coins from the wide sleeves of his robe.
He placed three copper coins in his palm and hung them together with a red string.
Immediately afterward, the three copper coins were thrown into the sky.
The copper coins rotated above his head in a triangular formation, gradually forming a circle.
Within this circle, the red string seemed to be divided into eight sections, corresponding to the eight directions of Bagua.
Da Zhi the monk clasped his hands in a seal, raised his right hand, and a stream of clear qi flew from his fingertips into the copper coins.
The next moment, with a "bang," the red string broke, and all the copper coins fell to the ground.
Da Zhi the monk looked down at the copper coins that had fallen in the snow and the broken red string.
With a slight frown, "For me, this is an ill omen."
"What about me?" Xu Zimei inquired.
"How could I possibly divine your fate," Da Zhi the monk chuckled helplessly.
He gathered up his copper coins and red string.
"Shall we continue upwards?" he asked, looking at Xu Zimei.
"Do you dare to go up, isn’t it an ill omen?" Xu Zimei said with a smile.
"If you go up, I will follow," replied Da Zhi the monk.
"Then let’s go," Xu Zimei said, taking the lead toward the summit.
Just as the two of them were less than a hundred meters from the summit, a rumbling sound suddenly entered their ears.
Both looked up at once and saw the snow-capped mountain shaking tumultuously above, as if enraged.
"It’s an avalanche," said Da Zhi the monk.
No sooner had he spoken than a thunderous explosion rang out, and a "boom" was heard.
The blizzard from above plummeted down, and the strength of the avalanche was indescribable—the kind of shock that words could not convey.
Everything in its path was destroyed.
The rumbling explosions sounded like Heavenly Thunder falling overhead.
Given the location of the avalanche, it was already difficult for the two to dodge, but they had no intention of dodging.
Xu Zimei slightly raised his right hand and erected a barrier formed from the Creation Force in front of them.
Da Zhi the monk, equally commanding without anger, glared fiercely and cried out, "Immovable as Mountain."
Then his feet plunged deep into the ground, standing in an odd posture.
The avalanche completely submerged everything, and suddenly Tianyu Mountain was engulfed in silence.
The furious avalanche rolled down the mountain, and the places it buried were marked by two conspicuously visible pits.
Xu Zimei waved his hands, scattering the pile of snow before him.
He looked to the side and saw Da Zhi the monk still standing in that strange posture.
"It’s over, let’s go," Xu Zimei said.
"Wait, I’m frozen stiff," Da Zhi the monk responded.
The next moment, flames blazed around his body, and with a "crackle and pop," his body started to move gradually.
"That avalanche wasn’t serious enough to warrant this," Xu Zimei replied.
"Something’s not right, look around," Da Zhi the monk suddenly said.
Now, the ice sculptures all around began to move.
The ice on their surface shattered bit by bit, with the sound of breaking echoing continuously.
When the ice completely fractured, the figures inside also started to move.
"Eternal Ancient, my Huang Nation shall forever endure," a confluence of angry roars surged, sounding off together.
Their voices soared to the heavens, as if they sought to shatter the sky, declaring their grievance.
"What’s the deal with these people?" Xu Zimei asked with interest.
Da Zhi the monk’s face changed dramatically, and he quickly said, "The people of Huang Nation who died in battle have all been resurrected."
"No, no, how can the dead come back to life," he started, but then Da Zhi the monk shook his head in contradiction, rejecting his own thought.
