Chapter 1975: Second Peak
Once Bewitching Maiden Rou finished her comprehension, Ling Han immediately drew her into the Black Tower so that she could solidify her dao foundations. Meanwhile, he, the Empress, and Hu Niu started to descend the mountain.
Counting from the day that Ji Wuming had left, over 80 years had already pa.s.sed. As such, it was hard to say whether the treasures of the two other peaks had already been taken. Similarly, it was hard to say whether someone had already obtained the Fiery Flame Lightning Strike Wood. Or perhaps it had already escaped from this heaven and earth.
The three of them were extremely careful as they descended the mountain. In fact, they were even more alert than before. This was because the gravitational force was far too great. Moreover, they were heading down, so it was even easier to fall by accident.
After more than a month, they finally managed to descend the mountain.
“Are we going to head to the two other peaks now, or are we going to venture further into the valley?” the Empress asked.
“Let’s have a look around the two other peaks first,” Ling Han replied after pondering for a moment. “First of all, the valley is far too large, so without any guidance, we might not find the Fiery Flame Lightning Strike Wood even if we spend a million years looking around. Second of all, what if the Fiery Flame Lightning Strike Wood is on one of the two mountain peaks?”
Hu Niu tugged at Ling Han’s hands, and said, “Then let’s hurry up and go!” She started to drag him along.
After walking for a while, a humanoid monster that had countless spikes on its head suddenly appeared before them.
“Let Niu deal with it!” Hu Niu exclaimed as she jumped forward. She had only just grasped a small portion of the Regulation of Slaughter, so she was itching to test it out.
Xiu!
A burst of murderous aura transformed into a Sword Ray as it swept forward. With a crack, the humanoid monster instantly fell apart.
It was the Empress who had attacked.
“Aaargh! Detestable! Detestable! Far too detestable!” Hu Niu screamed in anger. “Why are you always stealing Niu’s things?”
The Empress retracted her finger, and said, “Was your name written on the monster’s head?”
“So you’re allowed to steal my prey because of this?” Hu Niu asked in anger.
The Empress forcefully suppressed her smile, and she nodded with a serious expression.
She was purposefully messing around with Hu Niu.
Sure enough, Hu Niu started to jump up and down in frustration. She was like a small monkey.
Ling Han couldn’t help but smile. In terms of strength, Hu Niu was indeed slightly superior to the Empress. In terms of intelligence, however, the Empress was far superior to Hu Niu. After all, she had enjoyed the position of an empress for countless years. As such, she was extremely familiar with all kinds of tactics.
“Alright, alright, stop complaining now. There are heaps of monsters for you to kill here,” Ling Han said in consolation.
Hu Niu pouted as she clung onto Ling Han. She then stuck her tongue out and made a face at the Empress. It was as if she were looking down on her.
The three of them continued forward. Sure enough, another monster appeared before them. This time, however, it was Ling Han who attacked it first. A burst of Regulation transformed into a sword light as it slashed forward, instantly killing the monster.
“Ling Han, you’re also bad! Niu isn’t going to play with you anymore!” Hu Niu leaned over to bite his ear.
Ling Han roared with laughter. He patted Hu Niu’s back, and said, “There are many more chances ahead.”
More monsters appeared before them, and Hu Niu finally had the opportunity to attack.
The destructive ability of the Regulation of Slaughter was truly terrifying. Moreover, they had obtained the true meaning of this great dao, so this elevated the might of the Regulation of Slaughter by another level. Their cultivation level clearly hadn’t increased, yet their power had indeed increased.
“Sure enough, cultivation level isn’t absolute. The stronger one’s grasp of Regulations, the more powerful their battle prowess.”
The three of them happily continued forward. They continued to battle with monsters to improve their understanding of this Regulation. After all, practice was the key to improving its might.
Several days later, they arrived at the foot of the second mountain peak.
Like the previous mountain peak, this mountain peak towered into the clouds. Looking up, one couldn’t see its summit.
They started to ascend the mountain. However, they immediately realized that something was off. Countless different fork roads appeared before them.
“How should we advance?” Hu Niu asked. She was completely stumped by this.
“Just randomly pick a path,” Ling Han said. Since they didn’t know which path was correct, they would naturally just pick a random one.
The three of them randomly picked a path, and continued to advance. Unexpectedly, this was a long and winding path, and after three days, they discovered that it actually led to a dead end. A cliff appeared before them, and looking down, all they could see was a bottomless abyss. It was as pitch-black as could be.
They shrunk back, and started to walk back the way that they had come, eventually returning to where they had started. They then chose another path, which was similarly long and winding. Fortunately, after walking for two days, this path forked into three more paths.
“If this path is also incorrect, then picking either of the three paths will only cause us to venture further and further along the path of incorrectness.
“If we blindly advance, we might be stuck here for all eternity.
“This is most likely a formation.”
The three of them returned to the starting point again. Against a formation, it would be useless no matter how many times they tried their luck. They would only be led into a pit. If they wanted to ascend this mountain, they would have to crack this formation first.
They descended the mountain, and started to observe it from below.
Hu Niu hated using her brains, so it wasn’t long before she started to yawn in boredom. She lay down on Ling Han’s back and started to sleep. Meanwhile, the Empress and Ling Han started to discuss and exchange their findings. The combined wisdom of two people was naturally greater than that of a single person.
They continued to enter the Black Tower, where they could use the help of the Reincarnation Tree. This was a significant advantage.
After only three days, they had already come up with a preliminary plan.
They had already spent almost 300 years under the Reincarnation Tree.
The three of them started to ascend the mountain again. They chose a path, and after advancing for a single day, this path forked into two separate paths. They chose the left path, and after advancing for another day, this path forked into another three paths.
They chose the middle path. After walking for yet another day, this path forked into four separate paths.
Just like that, the number of forks in the paths started to continually increase. Eventually, the paths would fork into several hundred or even several thousand paths.
However, Ling Han and the Empress weren’t astonished by this. Instead, they were delighted. This was completely in line with their deduction. They had indeed chosen the correct paths.
A dozen or so days pa.s.sed, and a figure suddenly appeared before them.
It was none other than Yan Xianlu.
“Brother Yan!” Ling Han shouted.
“Brother Ling!” Yan Xianlu said in greeting as he turned around. “You guys have also come.”
He didn’t know that Ling Han and the others had only used a single year to catch up to him. Otherwise, he would have definitely been shocked to the core. This was because he had spent several years to finally discover a pattern.
However, even after arriving here, he still needed to a.n.a.lyze each fork in the paths several times before he could determine the correct path.
Ling Han nodded in satisfaction. They had already caught up to someone who had set off 20 years ago. As long as the remaining paths were long enough, they still had a chance to catch up to everyone else. After all, the Reincarnation Tree could provide them with a huge advantage in this kind of situation.
It wasn’t long before they arrived at a new fork in the path. Ling Han and the others chose a path without any hesitation at all.
Ling Han and the Empress were filled with confidence. Meanwhile, Hu Niu didn’t wrack her brains at all. She simply followed their lead.
“Brother Ling, don’t you need to a.n.a.lyze the situation at all?” Yan Xianlu asked. He had pondered for a moment before hurriedly walking after them.
“Huh?” Ling Han rubbed his nose. Hadn’t they finished a.n.a.lyzing the situation long ago?
Upon seeing Ling Han’s expression, Yan Xianlu came to a sudden realization. “It can’t be that you’ve already figured it out, right? So you don’t even need to think before choosing the correct path?” he exclaimed in astonishment.
“It’s not the same for you?” Ling Han asked.
‘F*ck! You’re all freaks!’
Yan Xianlu felt extremely vexed. He felt that it was already a great achievement that he had chosen the correct paths. However, the further he ventured, the more he would need to a.n.a.lyze. As a result, he would also need to spend more time to determine the correct path.
Traveling along a path would only take a single day. However, a.n.a.lyzing the forks and determining the correct paths would require several