The two hemp ropes looped around his waist, binding the girl tightly to Gu Qing’s back.
As he tied the final knot, he said, “I’ll carry you up.”
According to legend, the “Heavenly Heart Lotus” was a supreme rarity in the world. Once picked, it would wither and fade in an extremely short time, and had to be consumed before that happened.
So Gu Qing had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure.
“Are you insane?”
Qiu Niang’s lips parted slightly as she stared at him in disbelief.
What stood before them was no small slope, nor any ordinary hill, but a sheer cliff over a hundred zhang high!
With nothing but a short sword in his hand, he intended to climb it?
“We can go back to the market first and think of something else…”
“We can’t go back.” Gu Qing cut her off gently. “Since someone from Tianshi Temple has already tracked us here, it means our whereabouts are completely exposed. Staying in this divine mountain still leaves us a sliver of hope. Going out would be no different from walking straight into a trap.”
At this point, he paused, then added, “Besides, no one knows if we leave now, whether we’ll ever see the Heavenly Heart Lotus again when we return.”
His voice was so calm, almost frighteningly so. Not only did he lay out their perilous situation with clarity, he also raised a crucial question.
The legend of the Heavenly Heart Lotus had been passed down for over a thousand years. Over those centuries, countless mountain foragers had entered the divine mountain and left it again.
If the Heavenly Heart Lotus had always grown here, then why had no one ever discovered it?
In other words, someone must have seen it before. Otherwise, the legend of the Heavenly Heart Lotus would not have endured for a thousand years.
Perhaps they all had been like today. Standing before it, overcome with fear, hesitation taking root, thinking they would return after making better preparations. And in the end, they never had another chance in their lifetime to see this heavenly treasure again.
Those fated may see it; only the fearless may claim it.
“But… but…”
Qiu Niang was stunned into silence. She was intelligent and perceptive. How could she not understand this reasoning? It was just that… she still couldn’t bring herself to decide.
If it were her own life on the line, that would be one thing.
But the one risking his life now was Gu Qing.
How could she bear it? How could she accept it?
From the very first day Gu Qing bought her, he had treated her with nothing but kindness, giving endlessly without asking for anything in return. In truth, she had nothing she could offer in return. She couldn’t even manage the simplest tasks like serving tea or pouring water. She was useless, a burden…
From Xiqi to Red River, a journey of three thousand li. Every single step had been carried on Gu Qing’s back. He had already done everything he possibly could. Was she now supposed to watch helplessly as he gambled his life for the sake of someone as worthless as her?
“Enough with the ‘buts’. We don’t have much time to hesitate.”
“And have you forgotten? Earlier, I killed those two so-called all-powerful immortal masters with nothing but a mortal body. You should have a bit more faith in me.”
Gu Qing finished speaking with a smile, then began using that strip of sleeve to bind the short sword to his right hand, wrapping it around again and again until it was fully secured.
He truly didn’t have much time left.
Because there was still one thing he hadn’t said. The thing that worried him most: Qiu Niang’s legs.
From what he had observed, that black pattern exuding a deathly aura would reach her heart in no more than three days. When that happened, no one knew what might occur.
He didn’t dare gamble on it.
So even though he was already utterly exhausted, he still chose to set out immediately, to attempt climbing this hundred-zhang cliff that seemed utterly impossible to conquer.
“No!”
Suddenly, the girl spoke with firm resolve. Leaning against Gu Qing’s shoulder, she said seriously, “From earlier until now, you’ve been forcing yourself to keep going without proper rest. You’re too exhausted…you have to rest first!”
After a moment, seeing that Gu Qing remained unmoved, she bit her lip, steeled herself, and unexpectedly pressed her lips gently against his earlobe. In a muffled voice, she threatened, “Are you going to listen to me or not?!”
“If you don’t, I’ll bite you!”
Her tone and posture made it clear. If Gu Qing dared to refuse, she would really sink her teeth in.
Gu Qing only felt a slight tickle; there was no real sense of threat at all.
More than anything, he felt helpless. But after thinking it over, what Qiu Niang said wasn’t without reason. Rather than rushing for this short while, it would be better to rest properly, recover his strength, and then attempt the climb with a higher chance of success.
So he nodded and agreed.
About one or two hours later.
When Gu Qing slowly woke, the night had grown even deeper. The surroundings were eerily quiet, with only the chirping of insects.
Turning his head, he found Qiu Niang staring at him.
She hadn’t slept. Her long hair hung loose, covering half of her face. The one visible eye reflected the faint starlight and within it was Gu Qing’s face.
“Sleep a little longer,” she said softly.
Gu Qing shook his head. “No need. Delays bring complications.”
Then, as before, he went to sleep. First, he tied Qiu Niang securely to his back, and then he bound the short sword.
The only difference was that this time, he tied a dead knot.
Qiu Niang watched him blankly but did not make a fuss again.
She could feel his resolve, and she understood that he was doing this for her….even though she had never believed she deserved such devotion.
In the next moment, with a faint clang, the short sword lodged into a crack in the rock. Gu Qing’s entire body tensed and his muscles drew tight.
Bracing his foot against a small protrusion on the cliff face, he exerted strength through his wrist and finally began this climb. It was destined to be long and grueling.
The night wind was desolate, the cold moon hanging high.
Fortunately, the raging wind and snow that had swept through the divine mountain all this time had quietly ceased, easing the resistance of his ascent just a little.
A hundred zhang in height was just over three hundred metres. Under normal circumstances, Gu Qing could cover that distance in a full sprint in thirty to forty seconds.
But now, these three hundred meters rose almost vertically. Not forward, but upward.
For the first thirty zhang, Gu Qing climbed relatively smoothly. He was not the reckless type. Since he dared to attempt the ascent, he naturally had his own plan.
Every few zhang, he would find a foothold to rest briefly, maintaining this rhythm. The first thirty zhang were climbed steadily, even allowing the tension in Qiu Niang’s heart to ease somewhat.
But after those thirty zhang, as he looked up at the cliff above, he fell silent for a long while.
Because this next stretch… was a wall of ice.
For reasons unknown, this long stretch of the cliff face had formed a thick layer of ice. To the naked eye, it was nearly impossible to find the kind of footholds he had relied on before.
This meant the method he had just used was no longer viable.
More importantly, a fresh wave of pain surged from his abdomen, the kind that came when a wound, just beginning to scab over, was violently torn open again.
The continuous exertion kept pulling at that sword wound. In such conditions, no matter how precious the medicinal powder was, it made little difference.
Ignoring the tearing pain, the man hesitated no longer. Taking a deep breath, he thrust his sword into the ice and used it to haul himself upward.
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