Stranger Danger

“Ugh…”

In his sleep, Ye Qing felt warm and cozy, but his face was the opposite. It felt like morning dew had condensed on his face, or perhaps snow was falling from the sky.

Ye Qing subconsciously touched his face and felt something wet and cool. It might actually be morning dew.

“Chirp chirp!”

Suddenly, Ye Qing heard a series of bird chirps. Then, he felt something touching his face and fingers. It felt warm.

Ye Qing forced open his tired eyes and raised his head slowly. His whole body felt sore like he had been tossed into a millstone and ground a couple dozen times. He was numb, sore, and completely out of energy.

“Birds?”

When Ye Qing finally managed to lift his head and turn his neck, he found himself looking at a couple of sparrow-sized birds. They were red from head to toe, and a sheen of fire seemed to be covering their feathers. The fire wasn’t hot, however. It was warm and soothing like sunlight.

The birds bounced on their feet and chirped softly when they saw that he had awakened. They looked very happy.

The birds might look no more dangerous than your common sparrow, and Ye Qing’s senses told him that they were Strangers. Phenomenon-class Strangers no less.

That said, Ye Qing could not sense the natural evil and brutality most Strangers exuded. In fact, they seemed perfectly friendly and kind.

It was at this moment Ye Qing felt a cool sensation on his forehead. A bird had picked up a morning dew from a nearby flower and gently placed it on his forehead.

He wondered if it was his imagination. When the dew landed on his forehead, he immediately felt a cool sensation spreading throughout his headspace. It then spread across his whole body and alleviated his soreness and discomfort considerably.

“Thank you…”

Ye Qing thanked the bird before forcing himself to sit up.

Seeing that Ye Qing had regained enough strength to sit up, the birds chirped a few times and flew around Ye Qing one time. Then, they took off toward the distant clouds and disappeared.

Ye Qing cracked a smile as he saw the birds off with his eyes. He was just about to look away when suddenly, his eyes widened, and his pupils contracted into pinheads.

He saw a river. A black river.

It originated from the horizon and flowed ceaselessly and endlessly in the opposite direction. Like a massive black dragon whose body split the ground in half, it roared so loudly it was as if it was trying to soar to the heavens.

Beside the black river was a tall, cyan mountain.

Strangely, the mountain was perfectly cyan even though it was completely barren. Not a single flower or a blade of grass could be spotted on its surface. 𝖗𝙖Ɲꝋ฿Êş

At the peak of the mountain was a gigantic tree that stretched all the way into the clouds and painted the sky red like fire.

“Is that… the Radiant Tree?” Ye Qing murmured to himself.

He was suspicious and disbelieving at first, but over time, it all melted into sheer joy. “Black Water, Cyan Mountain. This is it! This has to be the Radiant Tree!”

In the book named “On Picking Lost Items Across Mountains and Seas”, there was a passage: “In the great barren at the peak of the Cyan Mountain next to the Black Water, there exists a sky-reaching tree called the Radiant Tree. The Radiant Tree is many feet tall and branchless. Its crown boasts nine bends, and its bottom nine woods. Its branch is purple, its leaf is cyan, and its flower is crimson. With help, one can ascend to the heavens and become a celestial.”

Unless he was sorely mistaken, the black river that looked like a dragon must be the so-called Black Water, and the barren cyan mountain must be the Cyan Mountain.

Naturally, the sky-reaching tree at the peak of the Cyan Mountain was the legendary Radiant Tree.

He was pretty far away from the tree right now, so he could not confirm if the shape was correct. Still, almost everything he saw matched the passage stated in the “On Picking Lost Items Across Mountains and Seas”, so that gigantic tree had to be the Radiant Tree.

“Hahaha! I found it! I finally found it!”

As he stared at the distant Radiant Tree, Ye Qing could not help but let out a roaring laughter that reached all the way to the firmament.

The laughter was filled with excitement and joy, pleasant surprise and relief.

There was a light at the end of the tunnel after all.

If he were to be completely honest with himself, he had given up at the end of the impossible chase; despaired at the fact that he had lost a dear friend. But when he woke up, he discovered that his efforts were rewarded after all. How could he not be happy? How could he not be excited?

There was nothing more delightful than regaining what you thought you had lost; finding a light at the end of the tunnel.

“You truly are a lucky man, brother Yi Pin!” Ye Qing said with a chuckle.

Ye Qing did not rush toward the Radiant Tree immediately. Instead, he sat facing toward the Black Water and the Cyan Mountain, ate a couple of pills, and meditated.

His surroundings looked peaceful and tranquil, and the Radiant Tree was just a few steps away from him. However, who could say that no danger lay behind this veneer of peace and tranquility?

According to “On Picking Lost Items Across Mountains and Seas”, one must first cross the Black Water and scale the Cyan Mountain before they could reach the Radiant Tree. Although the book did not state that the Black Water and Cyan Mountain were dangerous, that by no means meant that the landmarks were safe.

Besides, even after the birds’ ministrations, he was still completely exhausted in both body and mind. If his carelessness put himself in grave danger, or if his weakness caused him to miss his chance to enter the Kunlun Ruins at the last possible moment, that would be absolutely terrible, wouldn’t it?

The more critical the situation, the more one should remain calm and collected.

One’s mind should be like water especially when they were facing a grave situation!

He had reached the journeyman level of the Earthly Sovereign True Body. Therefore, he could endlessly absorb the power of the earth to restore his vigor and strength.

Besides that, this place was overflowing with spiritual qi, so it only took him a little over two hours to recover most of his strength.

Still, just in case this place proved to be more challenging than expected, Ye Qing meditated a while longer until his mind and spirit had recovered fully. Only then did he finally depart for the Radiant Tree.

There was a saying that went something like this, “The rider saw a mountain and spurred his horse toward it, but the horse died before it could reach its destination.” What did it mean? It meant that some things were easier said than done, and some distances were far longer than they appeared to be.

This was the case for the Black Water and the Cyan Mountain. When he first woke up, he thought that the landmarks weren’t too far away from him. In reality, it took him over an hour of walking before he finally reached the rivershore.

On the way, Ye Qing discovered a strange phenomenon. There did not seem to be a sun in this realm. There was only the peak of the Cyan Mountain and the fiery Radiant Tree that illuminated everything.

It almost felt as if the Radiant Tree had replaced the sun. It also looked like there was no such thing as day and night in this realm. There was only eternal crimson daytime.

“Is this the Black Water?”

Ye Qing knew at first glance that the Black Water was thick, vast, and powerful, but it wasn’t until he arrived at the rivershore that he realized that he had vastly underestimated it.

The black river looked infinitely wide and endlessly long. Its water was as black as ink, and its currents were flowing without the wind and destructively ferocious.

Ye Qing had no doubt that even a Trueman or a Grandmaster would balk before the current. They might be engulfed at the first exchange.

Even worse, Ye Qing could sense a strange energy permeating the black river. It was cold and dangerous.

This Black Water did not feel like a river that belonged to the human world at all. In his memory, the only river that might compare to it was the Yellow Spring of Fengdu.