Stranger Danger

Chapter 1074: The Crimson Luan

“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!”

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!”

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.