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In the next moment, the pressure around the purple-robed man suddenly lifted, he realized he could move again.
“You can go,” said Monk Great Wisdom.
“You’re not going to kill me?” the purple-robed man still felt like it was unreal. “You’re really letting me go?”
“I said you could go. I don’t go back on my word,” Great Wisdom said, waving his hand.
The purple-robed man turned and ran down the snowy mountain without looking back.
Great Wisdom turned his gaze toward a distant cliff face on the mountain.
There, a pure white snow lotus was growing.
He stretched out his right hand, which elongated several dozen meters, and plucked the snow lotus from the cliff.
“Take this home and treat your mother,” he said with a smile.
“Thank you, Daoist Master!” the young man said with joy, carefully placing the snow lotus into the bamboo basket he carried on his back.
He then asked, “Are you going up the mountain?”
Great Wisdom shook his head slightly.
“It’s sealed right now. You can’t reach the summit of Heaven-Jade Mountain,” the youth said quickly. “I only risked coming up here for my mother’s illness. I didn’t dare go too deep.”
“Sealed? Who sealed the mountain?” Xu Zimo asked.
“It’s not by anyone. Every year, Heaven-Jade Mountain becomes sealed for a period,” the youth explained. “It’s the mountain’s own seal.”
Xu Zimo glanced at Great Wisdom and said, “Didn’t you say you knew everything?”
“Well, I’m not sure about this,” Great Wisdom replied with a sheepish laugh. “I only know that long ago, the Desolate Kingdom battled against the Heavens here. This was their battlefield.”
“If you two have nothing else, I’ll take my leave,” the youth said tentatively.
“Go on,” Great Wisdom nodded.
As the boy walked away, Great Wisdom turned to Xu Zimo. “Shall we keep going?”
“What do you think?” Xu Zimo asked, already continuing up the mountain.
Great Wisdom quickly followed behind.
“What do you mean by ‘battle’?” Xu Zimo asked.
“Today’s Desolate City was once the Desolate Kingdom, a powerful nation that could rival the imperial lineages,” Great Wisdom explained.
“But they violated some kind of taboo and were ultimately rejected by the heavens. Every single citizen perished in their rebellion against the Heavenly Dao. After they died, the sky rained down endless snow, which eventually formed Heaven-Jade Mountain.”
“There really are a lot of strange things in this world,” Xu Zimo muttered.
“But what happens inside the sealed mountain... I don’t really know,” Great Wisdom admitted.
The two of them climbed toward the summit. To reach the Endless Sky Sea, they had to cross this mountain.
It wasn’t the only route, but it was the shortest.
As they drew closer to the summit, Xu Zimo noticed the sculptures becoming more numerous.
And more realistic, some so lifelike they seemed like actual people standing by the roadside.
A few even radiated powerful auras.
“Maybe I should divine something,” Great Wisdom suddenly said halfway up. “I have a bad feeling.”
Xu Zimo didn’t object. He wasn’t afraid, but getting some clarity wouldn’t hurt.
Great Wisdom took out three ancient bronze coins from his large robe sleeve.
He held them in his palm, tied together with a red string.
He tossed all three coins into the air.
They spun above his head in a triangle formation, slowly forming a circular pattern.
The red string seemed to divide into eight sections, aligning with the eight trigrams.
Great Wisdom formed hand seals and raised his right hand.
A wisp of pure energy flowed from his fingertip into the coins.
In the next moment, snap! The red string broke, and all the coins fell to the ground.
Great Wisdom stared at the fallen coins and snapped string in the snow, frowning.
“For me, this is an ominous sign.”
“What about me?” Xu Zimo asked.
“How could I read your fate?” Great Wisdom chuckled and shook his head, collecting his coins and string.
“Still going up?” he asked.
“Don’t you have a bad omen?” Xu Zimo laughed.
“If you go, I go,” Great Wisdom replied.
“Then let’s go,” Xu Zimo said and led the way up.
When they were less than a hundred meters from the summit, a loud rumble shook the air.
They looked up, snow on the peak was trembling, as if the mountain itself were angry.
“It’s an avalanche,” Great Wisdom said.
Before he finished speaking, a thunderous boom exploded from above.
A massive wall of snow came crashing down, too massive to describe with words.
Everything in its path was obliterated.
The thunderous crash of snow sounded like heavenly thunder falling from the sky.
Given the size and speed, it was nearly impossible to dodge.
But neither of them tried to.
Xu Zimo raised his right hand and formed a barrier of Creation Power in front of them.
Great Wisdom, exuding quiet power, glared into the distance and roared, “Unmoving as a mountain!”
He planted his feet deep into the earth, assuming a strange stance.
The avalanche roared past, burying everything.
Heaven-Jade Mountain fell into dead silence.
The snow rolled down the mountain in waves, and two deep pits marked the place it had passed.
Xu Zimo waved his hand, clearing the snow in front of him.
He turned to see Great Wisdom still frozen in his bizarre posture.
“It’s over, let’s go,” Xu Zimo said.
“Wait, I’m frozen stiff,” Great Wisdom replied.
Then flames ignited around his body. Crackling sounds filled the air as he thawed and began to move again.
“It wasn’t that serious,” Xu Zimo remarked.
“Something’s wrong. Look around,” Great Wisdom suddenly said.
All around, the frozen sculptures began to move.
The ice encasing them cracked, the sound of shattering echoing in every direction.
As the ice broke away, the figures inside began to move.
“Eternal through the ages, our Desolate Kingdom shall never fall!” roared countless voices as one.
Their cries pierced the clouds, shaking the heavens as they shouted against their unjust fate.
“What’s with these people?” Xu Zimo asked with interest.
Great Wisdom’s face turned grim. “The fallen warriors of the Desolate Kingdom... they’ve all come back to life.”
“No, no... dead people can’t come back,” he muttered, then shook his head in denial even as the scene unfolded before them.