Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 556 470: Stealing Chickens Makes Me Happy (Thanks to Alliance Leader Enterprise Penguin)_4

Huai Shi sighed in frustration.

He stepped back, once, then again...

With each step he retreated, it was as if he was rowing against the current, swiftly forced back to the base of the mountain by an invisible pressure.

Bathed in the cold wind, he sweated profusely as if he had run a marathon. Huai Shi once again collapsed onto the ground, scrutinizing the mountain blanketed in pure white snow and the faint outline of a structure at its peak.

An insurmountable challenge.

Huai Shi took a deep breath, sat down again, and began to think.

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"Old lady, aren't you being too hard on him?"

At the mountaintop, in a courtyard blanketed with snow, a lonely plum tree grew twisted, its dark branches barren of flowers, only faint clusters of buds visible.

An old woman sat in a rocking chair under the corridor, a blanket over her knees, silently gazing at the doorway. Behind her, a passing woman brought hot tea on a tray, setting it down, "Isn't this just outright rejection?"

"If the challenge isn't set high enough, how can one discern fine jade from common stones or rotten wood?" the old woman indifferently patted the armrest of her rocker. "Didn't you also make it up here when you were thirteen?"

"It took me a whole month," the teenage girl chuckled in disbelief.

Appearing in the prime of youth, her facial features unremarkable, her nails, however, emanated a faint green shimmer like nail polish, looking delicate and conspicuous, captivating the gaze.

"You took twenty-nine days to roam and play on your way down the mountain, and then, fearing I'd be angry, you rushed up in half a day just in time. Do you have the nerve to say that?"

"I just couldn't resist being a bit lazy," the girl awkwardly waved her hands, "It wasn't as bad as you make it sound, old lady."

"Each and every one of you, always slacking off."

The old lady rolled her eyes, her voice stern with reprimand, "Slacking off again! Is your homework done? If you can't even pass your postgraduate entrance exams, how do you expect to become Sublimators!"

"But that's not much different from being a Sublimator, is it?"

"Kids should just go study properly!"

"Alright, alright."

The girl awkwardly turned to leave, but her steps halted abruptly. She turned back in shock, looking towards the direction outside the door.

He's actually making his way up again?

And...

"That's interesting."

The old lady squinted, chuckling softly.

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Huai Shi took another step forward. This time, the crackling sound did not come.

Instead, the snow beneath his feet churned, and without warning, a clump of green leaves sprang forth. A common plantain appeared abruptly next to Huai Shi, its plainness as unexpected as it was ordinary. Huai Shi was silent for a moment, his eyebrows pleasantly raised.

He had found his method.

Even if it wasn't the most proper one.

He stepped forward again, and once more the snow churned; another patch of petunia sprouted from beside his feet. Huai Shi whistled, his confidence swelling.

This time, he walked forth nonchalantly.

With each step, a cluster of wildflowers and wild grass grew beneath his feet.

A path of blossoms.

It looked exceptionally beautiful. But the Source Fluctuation within Huai Shi started to weaken slowly.

The Stigma of the Mountain Ghost was rapidly withering. Rather, it was a deliberate severance on his part.

For Huai Shi, there were two main difficulties in climbing the mountain. First was the terrifying assimilative nature of the Yu Dai Shan ecological system, revealed under the Qing Emperor's tending. The other was the vast life forces within him that kept resonating with it. Especially since Huai Shi's capacity was dozens of times greater than a regular Mountain Ghost, the external pull of the mountain had a frightfully strong impact on him.

The larger the volume one possessed, the stronger the gravitational pull from Yu Dai Shan's spiritual aura field.

By conventional means, Huai Shi would need at least a week or more of attempts. During this time, he would have to balance the ecology within him with the external environment, integrating into the local ecosystem until he became a part of it they wouldn't interfere with. He would have to produce a skill or answer that would satisfy the Qing Emperor.

But for Huai Shi... there clearly existed an alternative solution.

—Why not take the initiative to lighten the load?

Now, as Huai Shi stepped forward, vibrant flowers and grass sprouted from his feet, extending straight upwards. Compared to his first attempt, his pace was incredibly slow, as if burdened with weight.

But with each step he planted firmly, like a nail driven deep into the mountain path—his internal ecology was forcibly entering The Great Circle of Yu Dai Shan.

The two were distinctly separate. Even though it seemed watertight, if one squeezed hard enough, there would still be room.

Whenever he struggled to support himself, Huai Shi would actively sever a portion of the life forces within him, letting them break away and be assimilated by the mountain's ley lines.

With the countless plants he had casually gathered, this degree of sacrifice was negligible, not even comparable to sacrificing a rook to save the king in chess. Huai Shi advanced step by step, his spirits high.

With every step, his joy grew.

Especially when, struck by a sudden inspiration, he transformed the plant life forces he had willingly discarded into canes, beginning to use them to probe the patterns of The Great Circle of Yu Dai Shan.

Under the watchful eyes of the Qing Emperor, merely snatching an advantage wasn't enough for him. This audacious lackey of the Astronomical Society then began to openly steal knowledge.

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Six thousand words, two in one.

Got a bit stuck, I'll try to get the advancement done this week~

Also, double monthly ticket period, I need monthly tickets!!!