novelraw Chapter 21 : End of the Mountain
Chapter 21 : End of the Mountain
Chapter 21: End of the Mountain
Lu Gang’s journey this time was truly perilous.
Along the way, he experienced multiple dangers and ambushes, both overt and hidden.
The greater the terror brought by that previous “Polar Night” that covered the whole world, and the deeper the yearning for extraordinary power, the more frenzied the enemies became.
However, for him, it had been rather easy. Ever since the car crash, he had been lying there in a daze, not even figuring out where he eventually ended up.
Throughout the entire process, he clutched that black briefcase tightly, not letting go, until someone put Luo Zhen’s phone to his ear.
“Lu Gang, you’ve arrived.”
“It’s fine now.”
Only then did he put down the briefcase, handing it over to another person.
Then, he remembered beams of light shining into his eyes, as though medical personnel wearing masks were asking him questions.
“Hey, hey, hey, can you still talk?”
“Can you talk?”
“His condition’s not good.”
“No, he’s extremely important. No matter what, we must keep him alive.”
“He was brought here too late…”
The hastily arrived Luo Zhen looked at the barely breathing Lu Gang, his heart heavy.
In a certain sense, it was step by step that he had pushed Lu Gang into this situation, forcing him into repeated life-and-death crises, though Lu Gang had never said anything throughout it all.
At this moment, from Luo Zhen’s perspective, whether for public or private reasons, he strongly hoped Lu Gang could be saved.
Thus, after reporting upwards, a somewhat hurried sacrificial ritual was begun.
This place was an almost-abandoned research institute in the northwest.
Situated in the desert, their stage was once the cinema for the institute’s researchers and workers.
Because time was urgent, Luo Zhen invited the national theatre troupe and a director to conduct this sacrificial ritual, in order to ensure there would be no mistakes in the process.
But because this might be their first time personally witnessing the birth of the legendary extraordinary beings, there were also many experts present. This was both to collect essential data and to study the “Wood Guests Virus.”
Lu Gang and another severely injured person from the same incident were undergoing the human-to-shaman transformation experiment. However, that person’s injuries were much worse, with one arm and half a leg missing.
On stage, their bodies were covered with electrodes and tubes, while below the stage were rows of equipment and monitors.
Luo Zhen asked the somewhat nervous director to arrange the ritual, while the surrounding experts studied the document temporarily named “Human-to-Shaman Transformation Sacrificial Ritual.” Several of them found it hard to accept.
“What kind of reasoning is this? Recite a few incantations, dance a few dances, and make offerings—and that’s supposed to activate the Wood Guests Virus in a human body?”
“Could it be that the virus is triggered by sound, or some specific sound frequency?”
“But why?”
“Group Leader Luo, shouldn’t we confirm this further with research?”
“This is too crude. There’s no explanation of any underlying principle at all, it feels far too childish.”
“If that peach branch could be tested with other instruments, we might be able to…”
Luo Zhen ignored them and said to the director:
“Just do as written. I need you to ensure there isn’t the slightest mistake.”
Here, Luo Zhen especially warned:
“Remember, absolutely no errors. Otherwise, unexpected and uncontrollable accidents may occur.”
The grey-haired director nodded without asking why.
As for Lu Gang—
He felt himself being pushed somewhere, as if onto a stage, where performers were putting on a show.
In a haze, he saw bright lights and many stage performers dressed in ancient, even primitive costumes. They danced ancient ritual dances and sang tunes no one today could understand.
In a daze, Lu Gang thought:
“Who called in a performing troupe?”
“With things this urgent, they’re still asking me to watch a performance?”
At the end, a person dressed as a shaman waved a peach branch. As words, half like an incantation and half like an invocation to the gods, entered Lu Gang’s mind, he vaguely saw blossoms bloom on the once-barren peach branch.
Peach petals drifted down, landing on his body.
“So fragrant!”
Afterward, Lu Gang and the other participant in the shaman transformation began to show changes in their injuries.
Peach petals sprouted on their bodies, and the first abnormality appeared in their eyes.
Then, their bodies began regenerating rapidly, though the process was horrifying—their flesh wriggled like roots.
Yet, on the surface, both of them were indeed recovering.
More importantly, they did not immediately lose control like ordinary Wood Guests. It seemed that this method of becoming a shaman through ritual and offerings could effectively suppress part of the demonic backlash.
At the very least, it delayed it.
Upon seeing this, Luo Zhen jumped to his feet.
“Success! Li Jun’s method really works.”
The others beside him cheered excitedly, some even clapping.
Witnessing the birth of an extraordinary one before their eyes, each person was elated.
They desperately needed someone with extraordinary powers—or, in ancient terms, someone who possessed divine abilities.
And at this moment—
Lu Gang’s consciousness drifted away. He had been watching the stage performers, but gradually, those figures seemed to turn into the shadows of ancient ancestors.
He saw those ancestors worshipping a strange, roofless mountain peak, chanting in an ancient tongue he could not understand.
“Hanhuang… Hanhuang… Shi.”
Then, he saw a man, under the worship of hundreds, even thousands of ancestors, walking toward that strange mountain.
On the way, the man gradually transformed into a peach tree, and with a swirl of mist, the tree vanished into the fog.
“What is this?”
“Am I dreaming?”
“A revolving lantern?”
At that moment, Lu Gang did not yet understand what he had seen.
When he woke, he found himself lying in a familiar quarantine ward again, though it wasn’t the same hospital as before.
Next, he underwent another series of examinations.
During this process, Lu Gang discovered his nearsightedness was gone, his body had grown stronger, and he could even do things beyond professional athletes.
For example, he could twist his arm behind his back and loop it all the way around his neck.
More than that, Lu Gang found he had gained a truly special ability.
When he gave up using his eyes to see the world, his pupils would suddenly vanish, replaced in his mind by another form of perception.
Without eyes, he could sense the presence of life within a certain range, as well as the outlines and shadows of objects.
The institute’s staff told Lu Gang: “This kind of vision might be meant for use within the special fog of Tao Mountain Island. With this sense, one wouldn’t lose their way inside the mist.”
At that moment, Lu Gang realized he was no longer an ordinary man.
In front of a mirror at the institute’s corner—
Lu Gang looked at himself and couldn’t help but say the word:
“I’m an extraordinary one too?”
As he stared at himself, trying to find every difference from before, a voice suddenly came from behind.
“I prefer the word shaman.”
Lu Gang turned quickly, and saw a woman in a hospital gown.
She was the other person, besides him, who had become a shaman. Lu Gang had heard of her, but this was the first time meeting.
Lu Gang extended his hand: “Lu Gang.”
She extended her hand as well: “Zhao Nange!”
Just after their introductions, Lu Gang heard her ask him a question.
Zhao Nange: “Did you see an image of a group of people performing a sacrifice?”
Lu Gang immediately asked: “You saw it too?”
Zhao Nange nodded: “I think the power we obtained may have come from an ancient ancestor, or perhaps another shaman. So, when we received their power, we also saw fragments of their memories.”
Lu Gang pondered, secretly thinking.
“I saw someone finally turn into a peach tree. Could it be that the power I obtained was from this person?”
Zhao Nange asked Lu Gang again: “I heard that you brought these things back. How did you get them?”
Lu Gang said: “Another person gave them to me.”
Zhao Nange: “Who? Where is he?”
Lu Gang: “Consider him as being in another world!”
Zhao Nange immediately expressed her sorrow: “I’m sorry.”
Lu Gang was stunned, then understood: “He’s not dead yet!”
Tao Mountain Island.
Li Jun had been trapped beneath the shadow of the Divine Wood for a very long time. He didn’t know how long this price would last.
But he faintly felt it should almost be over, because the shadow of the Divine Wood behind him was gradually fading.
At this time, however, vague images appeared before his eyes. Within his vision, two halos of light emerged. At first, Li Jun thought he was once again about to be drawn back into the Primordial Age.
“Again?”
But soon he realized it was not so. This wasn’t caused by his own power, but by the phantom of the Divine Wood that trapped him. What he saw was nothing more than the outside world.
Not only did he see, he also heard voices speaking.
“Did you see an image of a group of people performing a sacrifice?”
“You saw it too?”
“……”
Within the light, Li Jun saw two figures, a man and a woman. He recognized one of them—it was Lu Gang.
Li Jun understood then that Lu Gang had already used the method he had given him to become a shaman, completing the transformation with the peach branch he had plucked.
These people were more impatient than Li Jun had expected. He had clearly warned that this power and method carried hidden dangers. But soon, through Lu Gang’s conversation, he also understood the reason.
“So, something happened.”
“Zhou Shentong must have borrowed some kind of power that plunged the entire world into something like a Polar Night, which then triggered all sides to scramble for things that could create shamans and extraordinary ones.”
And then, Li Jun learned another key piece of information.
“In a mountain in the northwest, an anomaly has appeared. It seems extremely dangerous, and all of this is related to the Longevity Temple.”
“That’s why they urgently need people with special powers to explore inside, to learn exactly what happened, and to understand what the Longevity Temple and Zhou Shentong intend to do.”
As he continued to observe the outside world, Li Jun further realized that these two shamans, transformed through the peach branch, were actually two outlets to reality.
And as long as Li Jun borrowed the power of the Female Priest, he could travel into reality through these two outlets.
In fact—
He could even use this power to appear anywhere, anytime.
And with such power, naturally, Li Jun wanted to try it.
Li Jun raised his head, fixing his gaze on the figures in the vision.
Recently, Lu Gang had already left the ward and was undergoing proper training in a nearby stadium, where he was drenched in sweat every day.
One afternoon, after finishing training, Lu Gang went to a nearby vending machine to buy a drink. Although this place was mostly abandoned, the basic living facilities were still intact.
But just as Lu Gang was about to enjoy a refreshing ice-cold cola, right after inserting his coins, the vending machine in front of him began to shake.
“Hm?”
At first, Lu Gang thought the machine was broken. But then, the vending machine trembled and began to twist and spin.
Gradually, the entire vending machine twisted into a single point, and finally disappeared before his eyes.
Lu Gang was startled at first, then completely bewildered, and finally overcome with joy.
“I’ve awakened a new ability!”
Lu Gang had seen this kind of power before.
Wasn’t this precisely the strange power of the tree temporarily named the Peach of Immortality Tree behind Tao Mountain Island? According to research, its power was indeed spatial in nature.
Lu Gang remembered witnessing the warped landscapes deep inside Tao Mountain Island, losing his way at that eerie crossroads, and even personally seeing Li Jun display the legendary divine power, Universe in a Sleeve, to store the entire Tao Mountain Island inside.
And now, it seemed he had done the same.
“I did it!”
“I mastered this ability too.”
Overjoyed, Lu Gang also thought secretly.
“Could it be that I’m also a naturally gifted genius?”
Lu Gang no longer cared about drinking his cola. He immediately reported this incident.
He went to have his new ability tested, while also asking for examinations to check the extent of any parasitic influence by demonic forces. Though elated, he was still somewhat worried.
After all, he longed for greater power, yet he also knew that the stronger the power, the heavier the hidden dangers and problems it would bring.
But during subsequent examinations, Lu Gang was never able to activate that spatial ability to move objects again.
No one could figure out the reason. Yet the vending machine’s disappearance had truly happened.
In the end, the examiners could only speculate.
“Perhaps this ability isn’t stable yet, and cannot be used at will.”
Lu Gang agreed, and trained even harder afterward.
Meanwhile, at the center of Tao Mountain Island—
Li Jun, who had been trapped for a long time and forced to sleep in the open, was now controlling vines to reach into the vending machine’s compartment.
“Hiss!”
He opened a bottle of cola and lifted it to his mouth.
The icy freshness spread through his chest—it was truly wonderful.
But at the same time, Li Jun suddenly sensed that the term of his imprisonment beneath the Divine Wood phantom had been extended once again.
Not by much, but it was indeed extended.
This newly acquired “ability” did not belong to him, but to the peach tree Divine Wood behind him. Yet as long as he sat beneath it and endured its confinement, he could continue to use it.
And with such power, even without moving, he could still connect to anywhere, and do anything anywhere.
But each time he used it, the confinement would extend, binding him here forever.
It was as if—
This tree had its own will, hoping he would never leave.
Li Jun turned his head and looked at the shadow within the Divine Wood.
The real Female Priest had long since died, but it seemed that something of her remained here forever.
At the staircase below the Longevity Temple.
A group of people walked through the fog, finally removing their special glasses, and beheld the temple above.
“Haven’t we arrived yet? I really can’t go on.”
“Everyone must climb this stairway before meeting the Immortal Master. That is the rule.”
A gravely ill man, still hooked to IV drips and tubes, struggled upward with the support of two Daoist Children.
His name was Zhang You, a renowned entrepreneur. After graduating from a prestigious university, he founded his own company and soon appeared on the tycoon list, admired by many young people.
Yet at a young age, he was stricken with cancer—pancreatic cancer, untreatable.
Zhang You gazed up the long stairway at the ancient temple. This was his final hope.
At last, he fell to his knees before the Daoist.
“Greetings, Immortal Master.”
Zhou Shentong sat cross-legged on a cushion, watching Zhang You, and said without moving.
“I can let you live. But I need you to do something for me. Of course, you will pay a price for it.”
Hearing he could live, Zhang You kowtowed repeatedly, speaking excitedly.
“I’ll do anything, as long as I can live.”
“Whatever the Immortal Master desires, I’ll give. Anything, I promise.”
Zhou Shentong remained unmoved, but the screen behind him was drawn open by several female Daoists, revealing a scene not of this world.
They saw the illusory black mountains beneath the Longevity Temple had nearly risen to the same level as the temple itself.
And part of its summit had already broken into the mortal world, fusing with a mountain ridge in reality.
Zhou Shentong: “I want you to go inside that mountain.”
Zhang You nodded: “What does the Immortal Master want me to do?”
Zhou Shentong: “I want you to establish a base there for me. Then, by any means, connect that place with the real world.”
“Aren’t you the CEO of a tech company? Your expertise is connecting people to each other and to this world. That shouldn’t be difficult for you.”
Zhang You’s eyes were already fixed on the mysterious black mountain: “What mountain is that?”
Zhou Shentong said only three words: “Zhangwei Mountain!”
After speaking, Zhou Shentong handed Zhang You a candle.
He said: “Once you enter my Longevity Temple, life and death are no longer yours to decide. Do you understand?”
Zhang You hesitated, but still took the candle.
“Understood.”
The moment Zhang You picked up the candle, it ignited without flame, casting his shadow behind him.
Then, although Zhang You himself did not move, his kneeling shadow suddenly stood up.