How come the celestial technique I stole is so powerful?!-Chapter 173: Ruins of the Ancient Palace

The next morning, after a night of rest, eight people were refreshed except for two who were still visibly fatigued.

Hu Fu took a bite from the left-over wolf bone from last night and dangled it in front of little monk Liao Ran’s nose.

The little monk sat cross-legged, his bright eyes carrying a hint of bewilderment.

Upon witnessing this scene, everyone shook their heads.

Early in the morning, he was tormenting the little monk again...

But Hu Fu himself seemed oblivious to this, starting a serious conversation, "We had fun gnawing on wolf meat all night last night, but everyone needs to be clear-headed. Wolves hold grudges, and today’s crossing through Wolf Valley might be extraordinarily lively."

Wolf Valley!

Yes, that was the second checkpoint.

This cliff was the boundary between Hudie Valley and Wolf Valley.

The wolves that attacked them yesterday were not the main force of Wolf Valley, but more like a dozen or so scouts.

After being slaughtered and roasted, their scent wafted into Wolf Valley. If the wolves there felt any anger, they probably held a war rally last night...

Professor Yin looked through the morning fog towards the distant valley and nodded gently, "So, no one should hold back today. Fight with all your might, we must pass through this valley before it gets dark, the temple is on the other side of the valley!"

"Let’s go!" Li Sisi shouldered her pack.

A group of people descended from the cliff into Wolf Valley.

Within Wolf Valley, bones were scattered everywhere.

There were skeletons of large animals, and even human skeletons. Some were quite fresh, indicating they had been gnawed on not long ago. However, it must be said that the flesh on these skeletons was licked clean. It was evident that the wolves in the valley were indeed very hungry...

Three li into the valley, nothing unusual occurred.

But there were already lone wolves moving around the perimeter.

If this were a battle, the scouts would already be in position.

Five li into the valley, there were wolves stirring behind them, and not just one group.

Ten li into the valley, there was a sudden rustling in the bushes in front, and hundreds of wolves charged out at once...

The fight instantly escalated to a fever pitch.

Hu Fu, the guide at the front, was no longer using his folding fan, he was wielding a dagger.

Like a blade thrusting straight into the pack of wolves.

Lin Xiaosu was on the left flank, also with a dagger.

Li Sisi was on the right flank.

She, too, held a dagger in her hand.

Bringing up the rear was Dawa, also armed with a dagger.

The Professor, little monk Liao Ran, and two graduate students were sandwiched in the middle.

Once this formation was in place, the wolves fell injured and dead under the daggers...

Lin Xiaosu knew clearly that even though the four main attackers were all using daggers, aside from himself, the other three’s wolf-killing methods did not primarily rely on daggers.

Hu Fu’s technique was in his palms, which, with a wave, resembled a thousand leaves of the Bodhi tree.

Li Sisi’s weapon was her legs, which at this moment were not just tools for seduction, but genuine weapons of death.

The most peculiar was Dawa.

She walked at the back, still projecting her usual low-key demeanor, but any wolf that came within three feet of her mysteriously fell down.

Once down, they seemed as if they had been dead for months.

Although Wolf Valley was a Shura Arena, forbidden to the living, they paved their way across it.

Time passed, hour by hour...

Finally, as the sun set in the west, they made it through the twenty-li Wolf Valley, leaving a trail of wolf carcasses. Ahead lay another cliff. The two graduate students climbed up with difficulty and lay down on the spot, their faces as white as the dead.

And little monk Liao Ran, for the first time, revealed his peculiarity.

Where was the oddness?

Looking back at the bloody path behind, he sat on a rock and was still able to recite Amitabha with the correct tone.

Is this considered odd?

Ordinarily, it would not be.

But for a child to maintain a normal complexion when two adults have collapsed from exhaustion, being normal in such circumstances is precisely what’s abnormal.

Hu Fu opened his folding fan and leaned on the cliff to fan himself.

This was his usual manner, and for the first time, it earned a different glance from Li Sisi.

Yes, being able to remain so carefree after fierce battle indeed highlighted his extraordinary nature.

And Lin Xiaosu?

He showed no signs of oddity, picking up half a wolf carcass and heading for a small pool to clean it.

That was their dinner for tonight.

Although everyone was carrying compressed biscuits, when grilled meat was available, who would prefer to chew on tasteless biscuits?

Dawa cast a sympathetic glance at little monk Liao Ran and walked to the pool in small steps to help Lin Xiaosu prepare dinner.

There wasn’t much room to stand by the pool, and once Dawa joined in, she got very close to Lin Xiaosu.

Lin Xiaosu felt her breath.

It was warm, not the least bit eerie.

This was probably her everyday living breath, separate from her battle aura.

This was just fine...

"Brother Su, we will enter the temple tomorrow. How much do you know about the jietai fruit?" Dawa’s voice was very gentle, audible only to Lin Xiaosu.

Jietai fruit.

Lin Xiaosu almost forgot about it.

This was the target in the story he told when he first met Dawa.

His girlfriend was poisoned and needed a few things to cure the poison. Along this road, legend has it that three miraculous items are effective, the jietai fruit, Holy Branch Dew, and Water Spirit Ice Heart.

The latter two are above the ancient glaciers, beyond the reach of ordinary exploration, and shrouded with such heavy legend that their very existence is a big question mark.

Therefore, he treated the jietai fruit as the only hope.

This was originally just a story.

A casual remark, and blending into the team, that would have been the end of it.

But Dawa remembered it.

On the night before entering the temple, he brought it up...

Lin Xiaosu said, "I only know that the jietai fruit grows in places with ancient energy; I really haven’t found any other clues."

Dawa said, "Our Tibetan texts record that the jietai fruit grows in places fated for tribulations, and also where water and fire mingle. According to this, the ’Ice and Fire Twin Bridge’ we’re crossing tomorrow is the most likely place for the jietai fruit to appear. Let’s all search carefully; if you find it, hurry and retrieve it before anyone else does."

His voice was even softer now.

Lin Xiaosu’s heart stirred slightly, "Including... the professor?"

"Mm!"

"This... why?" She was Professor Yin’s research student; she naturally belonged to the professor’s most loyal faction. Yet now, she was being wary of her own teacher.

"I’m not guarding against the teacher; I just know that in the exploration process, there are established rules. If they discover the jietai fruit first, the professor will certainly use it for research, and you won’t get a chance. What about your girlfriend then?"

Yes, that’s the rule of exploration.

The jietai fruit was Lin Xiaosu’s goal.

But, wasn’t it the professor’s goal, too?

As members of an exploration team traveling together, the cooperation has been good so far. However, once there’s a find, there’s a principle of allocation: the established method is that whoever finds it first, gets the first dibs.

Lin Xiaosu, as a newcomer to this team and going solo, would find it hard to get the upper hand.

However, Dawa quietly stepped forward, expressing his willingness to help him with the jietai fruit issue.

What was the reason?

Dawa’s gaze swept over the water in front of him, telling him hauntingly, "The story you told was touching. I hope it can have a happy ending... In comparison, whether the professor’s research yields extra findings is not that important."

"Have you always been this kind?" Lin Xiaosu exhaled softly.

Dawa’s brow furrowed slightly, as if turning back into a taciturn person.

Lin Xiaosu smiled, "No need to answer; I know... you are!"

That night was without wind or waves.

It was nothing more than them gnawing at meat, and the little monk savoring the wind, which seemed somewhat unkind.

Yet, everyone was a person of substance. For instance, the saying Dawa had once spoken made a lot of sense: everyone has their own world; don’t break it carelessly.

In their view, adults eating meat while children are left to the wind seemed unkind.

But from the Buddhist perspective, who’s to say that isn’t the world suffering and creating karma, while I alone am at ease and carefree?

Yes, the little monk was rather young, and indeed, when he smelled the scent of meat, he would occasionally lick his lips. But did that mean he was suffering?

Perhaps what he licked was not saliva, but the worries of the world?

The next morning, the fog was heavy.

It seemed very quiet within the fog.

Lin Xiaosu had a strange feeling as if with every step they took, they drifted one step further from the real world...

The surrounding scenery grew more and more bizarre.

Until ahead, a stone bridge spanned across the sky, and a rare spectacle unseen in the world appeared before their eyes.

This stone bridge wasn’t really a bridge but a mountain ridge.

The ridge was masterfully crafted as if made by immortals.

To its left, a red glow shimmered, a volcano with rolling red magma and the air filled with a strong sulfur smell, bringing with it a wave of heat.

To its right, there was a pool of greenish water, as if the chill from the ancient glaciers was also rolling in.

Lin Xiaosu clearly saw that on the edge of the mountain to the right, it was sparkling with countless ice pillars, a natural marvel of creation.

A mountain, divided into two seasons.

That happens.

But as clearly divided as this, with extreme heat on one side and extreme cold on the other, where else in the world could you see this?

Professor Yin scrutinized the mountain ridge ahead, his expression grave, "Where extreme cold and heat meet, the earth’s energy manifests as an Array. Be careful when crossing the ridge; it’s easy to lose direction."

Lin Xiaosu’s heart trembled slightly.

Array!

He finally encountered the concept of Array for the first time in the Mortal World.

Could extreme cold and heat really form an Array?

It sounded fantastical, but scientifically it could make sense.

The so-called Array is about moving the earth’s energy.

And with the interweaving of extreme cold and heat, isn’t it the same as moving the earth’s energy?

This mountain ridge is known as the "Ice and Fire Natural Bridge."

Its greatest danger lies not in the volcano or ice lake but in the fog created by the merging of ice and fire.

One careless step, and if separated from the main troop, you might be trapped forever by the ever-present mist on this ridge. And this mist is no ordinary one; it is a volcanic toxic mist, prolonged inhalation can cause fainting and dizziness, eventually leading to either freezing to death in the ice lake or falling into the volcano, leaving no ashes behind.

This is the gateway to the temple.

It is also the key to maintaining the temple’s mystique.

Without a compelling reason to cross, who would willingly traverse this unpredictable area?

And today, it was evidently necessary to cross.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel