Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 557 471: Qing Emperor_1

"The little brats these days... are too bold."

After a brief look of astonishment, the elder on the lounge chair narrowed her eyes. She wasn't infuriated by some shameless fellow secretly learning from below. Instead, seeming to watch a student sneak a cheat sheet during an exam, she lifted a finger and knocked on the armrest with displeasure.

"—If you want to learn, you must learn properly."

Huai Shi heard an enormous roar.

Heaven and earth turned upside down. Within the massive cycle of The Great Circle of Yu Dai Shan, layered beneath the accumulated snow, a majestic ringing sounded, like that of a great bell, as powerful currents surged.

In an instant, countless plants withered and bloomed anew.

With the shifting of the ley lines, layer upon layer, the grand network of vitality abruptly changed, transforming from a surging undercurrent into towering waves.

Huai Shi's figure suddenly sank by dozens of centimeters.

His feet were almost buried in the mud beneath the snow by an invisible pressure.

Without any attempt to conceal her actions, the Contemporary Green Emperor, the Old Lady, moved her fingers, and the pressure from Yu Dai Shan shifted from hidden to overt.

The pressure increased nearly multiple times out of thin air!

On Yu Dai Shan, now covered in snow, countless grasses and trees were sprouting. As the earth's energy rose, life force flowed silently beneath the ice and snow, converging to form an invisible, towering rampart, its presence stern and imposing.

It was like an elder giving a junior a harsh rap.

Steal chickens, pilfer dogs, secretly learn or steal techniques—it's all the same. There's no need for such self-deception. As long as you can climb up here, you are free to use any means necessary.

Leaving aside the increased pressure that appeared out of nowhere, the Green Emperor's openness and forthrightness made Huai Shi feel somewhat ashamed. It was as if a child's trick had been seen through by an elder, truly embarrassing.

But since he had already been allowed to learn freely...

Under the pressure of the towering mountain, Huai Shi's eyes couldn't help but almost shine with excitement.

The vast Yu Dai Shan, encompassing hundreds of thousands of Abyss plant species from the cultivators' entire Current Circumstances and numerous Abysses, featured thousands of entirely different ecosystems with hundreds of distinct combinations and transformations. Ultimately, these formed a massive, flawless Cycle with a strict and clear hierarchy of primary and secondary components.

Even if not an intentional enemy, its mere existence in this place—the system's inherent closure and assimilative properties—already made it extremely difficult for Huai Shi to proceed.

But what did it matter? It was just a bit more suffering. Compared to the vast system now before him, it was nothing.

The pressure from the shift from hidden to overt was considerable, yet with the concealment gone, its operating mechanisms were completely open to Huai Shi, an outsider, for his reference.

If the Qing Emperor had harbored even a sliver of dissatisfaction or hostility toward Huai Shi, she would not have been so generous.

"Thank you for the Old Lady's great favor!"

Huai Shi craned his neck and shouted toward the mountain. His voice was swallowed by the vast, snow-covered mountain, leaving him unsure if his gratitude had been received.

But after a long time, there was still no response.

Clearly, the Old Lady couldn't be bothered with him anymore. The exam questions, theories, and derivation processes are already in your hands. If you're so pathetic you can't even copy them, you might as well scurry back home.

"Hmm?" The teenage girl next to the rocking chair looked over. "The Old Lady isn't angry?"

"Am I not angry?" The elder in the rocking chair huffed slightly. "One must give the current little brats a taste of bitterness."

The teenage girl started to laugh. "But you also gave them quite a few sweets, right?"

"Otherwise, what? Drive them out of Yu Dai Shan?"

The Qing Emperor retorted, "If some rogue in his thirties or forties came today, I'd just have him beaten and thrown out. But I'm an old lady, over two hundred years old. Am I supposed to hold a grudge against a seventeen-year-old child? If I were so fond of getting angry, I would have strung you up, you little rascal, and beaten you to death long ago... It would save me the daily annoyance."

"Hehe, the Old Lady is tough on the outside but soft at heart."

The girl laughed and tucked the blanket more snugly over the elder's legs. "I'm going to prepare lunch. Would the Old Lady like some porridge?"

"Who wants porridge? Your old lady wants meat!"

The elder on the rocking chair glared at her. Watching the girl leave with giggles, she then withdrew her gaze, squinting, and rocked on the chair, seeming to drift between sleep and wakefulness.

By her side, in the courtyard, withered plum trees quietly met the unceasing snowfall, while tender new buds hinted at fresh life.

Waiting for the bitterest cold of winter to arrive.

By the time Huai Shi reached the mountainside, it was already afternoon.

The sky, however, offered no clue, remaining perpetually overcast and grey.

He had managed to walk this far; the "chickens" were mostly stolen, and nearly all Source Substances that could be discarded or streamlined had been ruthlessly cut away by him.

What remained were mostly rare life forces he had collected from various Hells and Borders.

The Mountain Ghost Stigma had shrunk by fully half, almost falling to its lowest level in history. Yet Huai Shi's expression showed no dejection; instead, he grew more excited and joyous.

The higher he climbed, the more he could feel and understand, and the more mistakes he realized he had made in his own cultivation.

Others might covet such insights into details, but if he indulged too much in them, he would lose sight of the bigger picture.

Along the way, Yu Dai Shan presented a multitude of inherently contradictory plants, among them a good number of Natural Enemies.

But now, they each found their place within this massive Cycle. They were not without conflict, yet all were subordinate to the same central axis.

It seemed an intricate, tangled mess, but from a panoramic view, it was clear-cut and well-organized. Within this all-encompassing structure, everything was orderly, cycling tirelessly, operating as it should.

Though ever-changing, its essence remained constant, with primary and secondary elements clearly distinct. Even without an aggressive presence, this aura of absolute self-sufficiency and command over all things truly impressed Huai Shi.

After grasping this point, Huai Shi's ascent quickened incredibly.

Through continuous adjustment and transformation of the ecological circle within him, Huai Shi's progress in just one short hour was astonishing. The Mountain Ghost Stigma inside him underwent an almost complete metamorphosis.

Step by step, he ascended.

In just two hours, the summit, which had once seemed as unapproachable as a mirage, was now within reach.

Only one last step remained.

But Huai Shi froze, sensing something was wrong.

Only one step away...

He could almost see the old woman napping in the rocking chair on the corridor of that courtyard. Her mere presence, however, exuded a terrifying pressure, as if the entirety of Yu Dai Shan stood guard around her.

In that instant, Huai Shi had a startling realization. He retreated a step, then another.

Even though taking this final step would have been easy for him, he couldn't help but stagger back, unable to make it.

He had fallen into a misconception again.

Wrong...

Utterly wrong!

Even among Mountain Ghosts, there were differences.

The Qing Emperor is the master of all life in all realms, presiding over growth and decay. She indeed possesses an imposing, "hegemon's way mixed with kingly virtue" aura, that was true. But as he immersed himself in it, he forgot that he was not, fundamentally, on the Qing Emperor's path...

His Mountain Ghost was not aimed toward the path of Fusang, Gou Mang, and the Qing Emperor. It was a precursor to Soloist on the Heavenly Inquiry Route!

Clear hierarchies and stern order were fine, but only the Qing Emperor herself could unleash the greatest power of that path. The closer he drew to it, the farther he strayed from the Heavenly Inquiry Route.

Unconsciously, Huai Shi had been swayed by the immense pressure of Yu Dai Shan, nearly turning to the Dongxia Genealogy under the Old Lady's guidance.

But could he complain?

She had offered him so many benefits, shown him the entirety of The Great Circle of Yu Dai Shan almost without concealment. If he couldn't maintain his own course and strayed onto the Qing Emperor's Road, could he really blame her?

Huai Shi retreated step by step, unexpectedly returning to the foot of the mountain. He couldn't help but wipe away a cold sweat. A deep reverence for this Old School Fifth Stage master finally filled his heart, and he no longer dared to approach her with a frivolous attitude.

One must understand: thunder's strike or sweet dew, both are expressions of a ruler's grace. The Old Lady's overt strategies and dominant power were truly formidable.

If it weren't for Huai Shi's habit of courting death and his aversion to easy paths, he might have ended up as a young attendant holding a vase at the Old Buddha's side today.

Huai Shi panted for a moment, rested briefly, and wiped the sweat from his forehead, which was nearly freezing. He didn't flee in panic but set off up the mountain once more,

challenging the ordeal set by the Contemporary Green Emperor.

In the courtyard, the napping elder thoughtfully raised her eyes and tapped the armrest of the rocking chair. She sighed with regret, then paid him no further mind.

Indeed, Huai Shi's actions showed a certain lack of appreciation.

But for such fine material, unafraid of the harshest trials of the Four Seasons, how could she not offer a little more tolerance?

Such exquisite jade, no matter where it ended up, should inspire thoughts of praise and support.

Let him be, let him be.

Half regretful, half resigned, the old woman shook her head with a light sigh and lowered her gaze.

And Huai Shi, once again, set foot on the mountain.

This time, the Mountain Ghost Stigma transformed anew.

Retracting all its sharpness, it allowed itself to be assimilated by The Great Circle of Yu Dai Shan. Yet internally, within its ecological circle, countless life forces actively resonated with the outside world, continuously ebbing and flowing, changing.

Along the way, he picked up the flowers and plants he had previously discarded and proactively planted some things he didn't need but were useful here.

Not plundering, not invading, but harmonizing and communicating.

As a mediator, he openly faced the pull of countless surging life forces on Yu Dai Shan, patiently enduring the enthusiastic "chatter" and "entanglements" from all the "aunts and uncles," responding with composure.

He actively integrated himself into The Great Circle of Yu Dai Shan.

With the experience of the previous two attempts, this try became easier.

It was difficult at first, each step a struggle. But in the end, Huai Shi began to move lightly and quickly, navigating the immense pressure with ease, like an outsider who had finally blended in with the locals.

Though some distance remained, the mountain no longer made things too difficult for him.

Just like that, as if strolling,

after three attempts, Huai Shi finally reached the summit of Yu Dai Shan and entered the courtyard.

Only to find an empty rocking chair.

No one was there anymore.

Huai Shi paused, then lifted his head and saw the myriad stars revealed as the dark clouds dispersed.

It's already deep into the night...

He laughed in sudden understanding. After wasting an entire day, how could I have the nerve to expect the Old Lady to stay up and wait for me? If you refuse a toast, it's only natural for her to be a little vexed.

Thinking this, he helplessly shook his head. He didn't shout but walked directly to the rocking chair, lay down, pulled the blanket over himself, and closed his eyes.

Soon, soft snores could be heard.

The day-long arduous journey had truly exhausted him.

In the silence, at the end of the corridor, only the teenage girl, who had stayed up waiting, stared dumbly as the uninvited guest lay on the Old Lady's favorite rocking chair...

She wanted to speak, then hesitated; hesitated, then wanted to speak again.

Big brother, did you come here specially to court death?