“Wait… maybe… it can actually work…?”

Suddenly, Ye Qing realized something and perked up. “Yeah… I think it’s doable!”

The Cyan Mountain was extremely steep and smooth as a mirror. Assuming no other way was possible, the only way left one might scale up the mountain was to cling to the wall with all their might, arms and legs and everything, and climb upward.

Was that what the Annon Sutra was trying to say?

I think so!

The Radiant Tree was supposedly a divine tree, and a Cyan Mountain was also a divine mountain. If a mortal wished to scale a divine mountain and meet the divine tree, then of course they should act reverent. One way to show reverence was to prostrate oneself, meaning that he needed to maintain a prostrate position as he scaled the mountain.

Let’s try this immediately!

Ye Qing immediately pressed his arms and legs to the wall. Then, he tried to climb upward like a lizard and…

… Slide off immediately.

As mentioned before, the Cyan Mountain was perfectly smooth. There wasn’t a single blemish on the mirror-like surface in which he could use to pull himself up. True qi could not be attached to its surface, and everything else such as Magia, secret arts, Strange Artifacts and more were completely useless as well.

“What’s going on? Was I wrong?”

Ye Qing frowned deeply as he tried to figure out why the method didn’t work.

He thought for a moment before pressing his fingers against the mountain’s surface.

He was checking to see if he could brute force a handhold for himself.

Of course, it was completely useless.

At his current strength, forget breaching the side of a mountain, he could punch a mountain out of existence if he wanted to.

However, the Cyan Mountain was so tough that he failed to leave even a single dent on its surface. He was employing almost all of his strength too. It showed just how tough the Cyan Mountain was.

Therefore, brute force was not an option.

“What the hell is going on here? Is the Annon Sutra really playing a trick on me?”

Ye Qing rubbed his nose furiously. “No. No, I don’t think so.”

The Annon Sutra was a chronic riddler, and sometimes it outright refused to answer his questions. When it did though, it was never wrong.

Therefore, he was probably the problem here. He still didn’t understand what it meant to “prostrate yourself and climb the mountain” fully.

“Prostrate yourself… prostate… oh. Oh!”

Ye Qing was muttering to himself when suddenly, he paused for an instant before slapping himself in the forehead. “I can’t believe I forgot about this! Prostrating requires touching one’s head to the ground as well!”

To prostrate oneself was to touch one’s forehead, arms, and knees to the ground. His arms and knees were touching the wall earlier, but his head was raised because he wanted to see where he was going. That was why it didn’t count!

“Let’s give it another go!”

Once again, Ye Qing walked up to the Cyan Mountain and pressed his arms, knees, and forehead to the mountainside. Then, he began climbing upward.

It worked. He did not slide off the surface. It felt as if some sort of attraction force was pulling his body and the mountainside together, so the surface was no longer smooth and impossible to climb. řА₦ꝋ₿Ɛȿ

“Finally!”

Delighted, Ye Qing slowly crept his way upward.

He could have climbed faster, but he wasn’t sure if the strange power that transformed his flesh and blood into bronze was still present. That was why he had to be careful.

After climbing up about ten meters, Ye Qing stopped and observed his body carefully. Once he confirmed that his skin, flesh and blood showed no signs of transforming into bronze, he finally relaxed and climbed quickly.

Now that the obstacle and the danger had all been neutralized, Ye Qing’s climb speed had dramatically increased as a matter of course.

There was the minor problem of his climbing posture, but thankfully, there was no one around to witness it. If no one saw it, then it never happened! His heroic image was still safe!

A teatime later, Ye Qing’s vision suddenly changed from pure cyan to thick, winding roots. The roots were as thick as a tree trunk big enough to require several people to embrace. They weren’t all the same either. Some were slithering like a python, some were meandering like a river, and some were entangled like a dragon. It was quite grand and impressive.

Also, the end of the roots were sunk into the bronze mountain. It was as if the bronze structure even he could not put a single dent on was no more but ordinary soil.

“I’m here!”

Delighted, Ye Qing climbed up a giant root that stretched outward and stood up.

The roots were so unbelievably massive that each one was almost as wide as a patch of flat land. Therefore, he wasn’t worried about falling off at all.

Ye Qing looked up. The first thing he saw was a tree trunk that was as thick as a mountain, and as tall as the heavens themselves. It was completely purple in color and devoid of branches. Smooth as jade, it looked more like an exquisite art piece than an actual tree.

The top of the tree trunk was an endless canopy that seemed to cover the entire sky. Countless red flowers were growing out of the branches.

The red flowers were as big as houses. Boasting nine petals and nine pistils, they were as red as the sun and emitted haloes.

The crimson flowers were brightly colored and absolutely magnificent. When the wind blew past them, they swayed lightly and emitted layers of red light and puffs of spiritual qi. The combination was what caused the sky to look like it was burning and flawlessly red. It was like a dream; a fantasy.

“So beautiful…”

Ye Qing could not help but murmur as he took in the magnificent sight.

The purple tree in front of him was none other than the Radiant Tree, and it was even bigger, loftier, and more beautiful than he had imagined.

The red flowers glowed like fire and sun, but they actually did not give off any heat at all. On the contrary, it felt as cool as spring and as soothing as the night up here.

Not only that, the entire Radiant Tree was oozing spirituality and beauty. The rich spiritual qi in the air and the air of worldly Dao felt like they would last forever.

Just standing on the Radiant Tree made Ye Qing feel like his mind was becoming one with the world, and a bridge was forming between his will and the Dao. It was beyond profound yet perfectly natural.

Ye Qing had no doubt that practicing three to five years under the Radiant Tree was equal to practicing decades in the outside world.

“No wonder it’s called the divine tree. It’s too bad…”

Ye Qing let out a long sigh. If he wasn’t in a hurry to enter the Kunlun Ruins, he definitely would have considered practicing under the Radiant Tree for a bit.

Ye Qing chased away his stray thoughts and began walking toward the Radiant Tree.

Legend had it that the Radiant Tree was the bridge between the realm of mortals and the realm of gods. Therefore, the only way to enter the Kunlun Ruins was to climb the Radiant Tree.

According to the murals inside the Kunlun Tomb, the Radiant Tree was also how the ancestors of West Kunlun and East Kunlun had left the Kunlun Ruins.

In short, he still had some more climbing to do before he could reach his destination.

“Chirp!”

It was at this moment a long, mellifluous chirp came from the tree’s canopy.

Ye Qing immediately entered high alert and looked up. He saw a large red bird jumping off the canopy and flying toward him.

The bird looked like a fire phoenix of the legends. Its feathers were red like fire, its head carried a feathery crown of five colors, its tail sported feathers of seven colors, and its whole body was covered in flames. Its wings were big enough to cover the sky, and its presence was loftier than even the clouds.

“Is it… the legendary Crimson Luan?”

According to the book “On Picking Lost Items Across Mountains and Seas”, a bird shaped like a phoenix and chirped like a sparrow lived on the Radiant Tree. It was called the Crimson Luan.

The Crimson Luan was born from the essence of the Radiant Tree. Immortal and undying, it was as long-lived as the world so long as it remained on the Radiant Tree, but if it left, then it would gradually lose both its power and its life force and eventually perish.

The large bird before him was as huge as it was mighty. He was certain that it boasted the strength of a Half-Sage at least. It had to be the legendary Crimson Luan.

Ye Qing’s expression was solemn, and he was ready for anything. He did not attack the bird or try to escape, however. It was because he could not sense any hostility or malice from the bird.

As expected, the Crimson Luan circled the air twice before landing on a root not far away from Ye Qing. Then, it turned its head and examined Ye Qing with clear interest.

“I greet you, senior Crimson Luan!”

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Ye Qing greeted the bird and bowed respectfully.

The Crimson Luan was the essence of the Radiant Tree. Although it couldn’t speak, it was an intelligent-type Stranger. Naturally, it could understand his words.