Chapter 37: Sea and Mountain (2)

Led by Wang Yichuan, Wu Zui and his companion continued their ascent toward the mountaintop. Yet, strangely, the higher they climbed, the more treacherous the path became. Large stretches of stone steps lay shattered, forcing the three to clamber along the mountainside to progress.

Gradually, Wu Zui noticed something amiss with Wang Yichuan. Earlier, Wang had moved with urgency—his hurried steps betrayed his concern, though he never spoke it aloud. But now, he ambled as if strolling through a market, his demeanor oddly relaxed.

Ahead, a long section of steps had collapsed completely, leaving no foothold even along the mountain's edge. The only way across was to string a steel cable between both sides and crawl over it.

At this moment, Wang Yichuan's eyes lit up. He turned swiftly to Wu Zui and Xiao Keyan, urging, “Once we cross here, the summit is just ahead. Let’s hurry; I’ll wait for you on the other side.”

Without further ado, he fetched a rope fitted with steel claws from his backpack. With a press of a button, the claws shot forth and fastened to a tree across the gap. Wang then scampered across with the agility of a monkey.

“Just above is the altar. Once we secure it, we can leave. Hurry up!” Wang Yichuan glanced toward the summit nearby, where an ancient altar stood, then called anxiously to the other two.

“Master, you go first! I’ll watch your back,” Xiao Keyan gestured for Wu Zui to cross, standing guard with her twin hammers, wary of any lurking specters.

A strange feeling stirred in Wu Zui’s heart.

Something’s wrong! Both Xiao Keyan and Wang Yichuan are acting off! When did I fall victim to this?

“Wang Yichuan, it’s hard for me to climb with the golden longsword. I’ll toss it over; you hold onto it for me!” Wu Zui shouted to Wang across the gap.

“All right—go ahead!” Wang answered, without hesitation.

Wu Zui hurled the golden longsword straight at Wang Yichuan’s face, its blade crackling with blue magnetic energy. Wang dodged quickly, and the sword embedded itself in the stone steps behind him.

Without waiting for Xiao Keyan behind him to make a move, Wu Zui spun and struck at her temple with his left wrist.

The blood on Wu Zui’s shirt ignited the imposter behind him in an instant—a shriek, a wisp of black smoke, and the doppelganger vanished.

“Damn it—”

Wang Yichuan cursed under his breath, dissolving into black smoke before Wu Zui’s eyes. The broken cliff faded away, and the summit receded into the distance. The surroundings morphed back to the place where the three had encountered the woman in palace attire.

Now, both Wang Yichuan and Xiao Keyan were enshrouded by black mist, their heads exposed but the rest of their bodies hidden within the haze. Wu Zui reached out to touch them, only to find the mist as hard as steel—he couldn’t grasp them at all. Faced with this uncanny situation, Wu Zui was at a loss.

He tried attacking the black mist with his magnetic blade and the golden longsword, but the mist remained unresponsive—it seemed his magnetic energy was too weak.

Then Wu Zui remembered the special nature of his blood. He smeared it on the golden longsword, and combined with the magnetic energy, it sliced through the black mist. The sword’s ridge knocked Xiao Keyan free, and seeing the effect, Wu Zui quickly struck Wang Yichuan out as well.

The two masses of black mist, touched by Wu Zui’s blood, began to burn mid-air, swirling like flaming balls.

“Huh? Wasn’t I already at the summit?” Xiao Keyan finally regained her senses, looking around in confusion.

“How did I end up... here?” Wang Yichuan muttered, equally befuddled.

It seemed both had escaped the phantasm conjured by the specter. For even a seasoned magnetic energy wielder like Wang Yichuan to be ensnared without realizing it, the ghost atop Haishan must be formidable indeed.

After Wu Zui explained what had happened, both were incredulous.

“Damn! It’s that palace-clad ghost. We shouldn’t have engaged it. Once you make contact, whether you kill it or not, it splits us up and drags us into its illusion,” Wang Yichuan exclaimed, slapping his thigh.

“A fine hindsight! My master’s the real expert!” Xiao Keyan retorted mercilessly, mocking Wang Yichuan.

Wang Yichuan’s face darkened; after all, he was the one who had attacked the ghost.

“All right, let’s press on. If we waste any more time, we might not have enough,” Wu Zui said, gauging his remaining magnetic energy.

“True. We’ve barely covered a third of the way, yet lost so much time. If we’re delayed too long, it won’t bode well,” Wang Yichuan agreed. He’d realized Wu Zui was thoroughly devoted to his apprentice—perhaps too indulgent.

“Fine—let’s follow Master’s lead!”

The three sped upward, finally reaching halfway up the mountain. Beyond this point, a thin white mist shrouded Haishan, obscuring anything further away.

Curiously, there had been no sign of mist until they reached this altitude. Not long after, Wang Yichuan, whose senses were keenest, sensed something strange ahead and halted his companions.

“Careful! Something’s off ahead!”

They peered up the steps, where vague figures bounced down. The mist made them impossible to discern.

As the figures approached, the trio saw they were a horde of monsters. Though vaguely human-shaped, they seemed cobbled together from mismatched limbs, and the craftsmanship was atrocious—some had three legs, some only one, all varying in size!

Despite their cumbersome appearance, the creatures were surprisingly agile. Their massive bodies moved swiftly along the narrow mountain path, never tumbling off.

As the horde drew near, Wang Yichuan declared, “Leave it to me!”

He conjured a broad magnetic energy blade, sweeping the monsters off the steps and down the mountainside, clearing over a dozen in one strike.

“Impressed? Don’t be. Once you reach three stars and can project magnetic energy, you’ll manage the same,” Wang Yichuan said, turning to Wu Zui and Xiao Keyan. Embarrassed at having needed rescue, he now sought to redeem himself.

“That magnetic blade is powerful enough, but how many times can you use it?” Wu Zui glanced at the mist ahead, noting several new figures emerging, none of them seeming easy to deal with.

“What do you mean?” Wang Yichuan replied, oblivious that more monsters lurked behind him.

“Look, the siblings of those monsters are out for revenge!” Xiao Keyan pointed behind Wang Yichuan.

He turned to find a swarm of monsters advancing—their numbers easily in the dozens, all grotesque multi-limbed beings like before.

“Quick! Stick close to the mountain and prepare for battle! I’ll take the front!” Wang Yichuan ordered, while Wu Zui and Xiao Keyan were already pressed against the mountainside, Wu Zui even borrowing a hammer from Xiao Keyan.

Rather than risk slicing monsters in half with the longsword and blocking the path, it was safer to use the hammer to bash them down the mountain.

“…,” Wang Yichuan muttered.

The trio advanced with Wang Yichuan leading, Wu Zui in the middle, and Xiao Keyan bringing up the rear, clinging to the mountainside as they fought their way to the summit. Waves of multi-limbed monsters were knocked off the path.

When only one remained, Xiao Keyan, who’d held back all this time, finally seized her chance, smashing the last monster off the path with her hammer. With two blockers ahead, she’d had little opportunity to swing, and was rather disgruntled.

Afterward, the road became much smoother. They left the mountain path and reached the summit, which formed a ring; beyond the ring lay endless chasms.

The center was hollowed out, save for a single altar connected to the ring by a narrow path, the rest plunging into a bottomless pit.

On the altar stood a grand statue, likely the “deity” being worshipped.

Suddenly, a cacophony of voices rose, seeming to emanate from the pit beneath the altar.

“Immortality! Immortality—”

“These endless riches are mine! No one else can take them!”

“Bee waist, curvy hips, big bear, mine! Hehehe…”

The voices grew louder as blood-red tentacles, like octopus limbs, crawled up from the depths. Instead of suction cups, each tentacle bore a human face, varied in expression. Upon seeing Wu Zui and his companions, the faces cried out in unison:

“Stay!”

“Stay!”

“Stay!!!”

The voices carried a strange power, stunning the trio into stupefied stillness, like lambs awaiting slaughter. At that moment, the drop of divine blood evaporated swiftly, snapping them back to consciousness.

The blood-red tentacle had already wrapped around Wang Yichuan’s ankle, dragging him into the abyss. As for the tentacles around Wu Zui and Xiao Keyan, Wu Zui managed to sever them with a swift stroke of his sword.