Chapter 52: Efforts Wasted
Translator: Panda_Penn Editor: Chrissy
The Frigid Cloud Mountain was the gate guarding the Ice Abyss on its south. If one wished to go to the Ice Abyss, one must take the southern route and go across the Frigid Cloud Mountain, unless one could ride the Ancient Chariot or the Iron-armor Ships.
Swamps were on both sides of the Frigid Cloud Mountain, poisonous insects lurked inside, and toxic smog spread around. Even warriors of the Soul Pond Realm dared not to go in rashly. A warrior such as Lu Li would definitely die.
Therefore, Lu Li had to run towards the Frigid Cloud Mountain. It was quite a safe journey as he only ran into merely several strayed Xuan Beasts of low ranks and he took care of them easily.
After more than half a day’s rushing about, Lu Li finally made it to vicinity of the Frigid Cloud Mountain by the afternoon. He dared not to move closer to the mountain at once though. Lu Li found a cave and rested for two hours. It was only after dusk did Lu Li start moving towards the Frigid Cloud Mountain in secret.
He sneaked into woods and got closer to the Frigid Cloud Mountain. After going on for about mile, he climbed onto a huge tree. Taking cover under the crimson leaves, Lu Li peeped towards the Frigid Cloud Mountain.
"There are some people over there!"
The Frigid Cloud Mountain was very steep, and there was only one way going up the mountain. Lu Li saw some black dots at the road and a tent next to them.
"Damn!"
Lu Li climbed down from the tree and cursed in secrecy. It was evident that Zhao Rui was waiting for him at the intersection. As long as Lu Li still wanted to go up the mountain, he had to fight them.
Perhaps for Zhao Rui, Lu Li on his own would not be a match for Di Huo and the other warriors and maybe Lu Li could only flee towards the north with embarrassment. Even if he was not killed by Di Huo, he would easily end his life in the hands of Zhao Rui. As such, Zhao Rui had the tent ready because clearly, he did not give a damn.
Lu Li got back on the ground and started thinking while chewing his food. The way up the Frigid Cloud Mountain was too steep. Apart from the mountain trail, the only possibility left was to climb up from the cliffs on both sides.
It was not much of a problem climbing up. The thing was that Zhao Rui and that Uncle Scar were all at the Spirit Sea Realm. They would notice any sign of disturbance or trouble. If Lu Li were spotted while he was climbing up the cliff, it would be a disaster.
"How about I use my Bloodline Skill and force my way in?"
The thought flashed across his mind and then was vetoed by Lu Li. Even if he could use the Bloodline Skill, he had no confidence of killing warriors at the Spirit Sea Realm. He could only use his Bloodline Skill for 15 minutes. After that, he would get so weak that he could not keep his eyes open. Then he would get killed for sure.
Time passed on. It was getting dark. It would be more difficult to climb up the cliff after sunset. One careless move, he could drop and fall down…
Rustle, rustle, rustle!
Right at that moment, there came some subtle noise from afar. Lu Li was alerted and he looked towards the northwest. After a while, hope came to him.
Giant ants crawled out of a hole on the ground to the west one by one. The ants were gold in color, and every one of them was of the size of a fist. They also had gold tusks in their mouths that had cold glints reflected off of them.
Golden Ant!
This was a normally seen Xuan Beast in the mountains. The Golden Ants were also Xuan Beasts of the First Rank; they had very strong defensive ability, and they travelled like wind. Every time they show their faces, they would be in a group of hundreds and thousands.
Lu Li thought of something. He moved towards the Golden Ants and called Little White out. This Golden Ants initially were charging towards Lu Li but all were prostrated in fear and dared not to move a bit as soon as Little White exposed its qi and energy.
Golden Ants kept crawling out of the hole on the ground and all of them were suppressed by Little White. There were more and more of them. By the time the night started to fall, there were already more than a thousand Golden Ants.
"Good. Now, Little White, control them to charge towards that trail and attack all the humans they meet!"
Lu Li gave Little White his orders and it screamed. Groups and groups of Golden Ants rushed towards the Frigid Cloud Mountain like mighty forces. Looked from afar, they were like a whole piece of gold, quite majestic.
Lu Li did not immediately set off. He climbed onto a tree and observed. The Golden Ants were very fast. They made it out of the woods towards the mountain trail quickly. In just an hour, they had reached the trail and started rushing towards the humans in a distance.
"Young Master Rui, Xuan Beasts!"
"Uncle Scar, there are so many Golden Ants…"
Lu Li seemed to hear someone calling Young Master Rui and Uncle Scar. Now he understood, and hatred arose. It was Zhao Rui who had someone with him to intercept Lu Li.
The battle soon burst out. There were two people at the Spirit Sea Realm there. These thousand Golden Ants were not enough. It was only a matter of time before they all got killed.
"Move~"
Seeing the window of time, Lu Li quickly ran towards the left to take a detour. Now that there were Golden Ants holding off Zhao Rui and the rest, he should have enough time to climb up from the cliff on the side.
Lu Li quickly sneaked on and took three miles of detour then quietly turned back towards the Frigid Cloud Mountain. Finding a place that was easier for climbing, he took a few deep breaths and started climbing while faced up like an ape.
The overhanging cliff here was at least several thousand feet high. It was dim so Lu Li didn’t have the courage to move too fast nor did he dare to make too many noises. Zhao Rui and the other warriors were only about 820 miles from him. They could easily be disturbed. Once he was spotted, Zhao Rui could send a person up to the top of the cliff and try to attack Lu Li from both sides…
Fortunately, the Golden Ants were attacking. Nobody paid any attention to Lu Li. The roar and squall of Golden Ants and the shouts of the warriors rose as another fell. Probably, the warriors wouldn’t even hear light noises.
Lu Li did not use his Xuan Energy. He could even climb up tens of thousands of feet relying on his physical strength alone, let alone thousands of feet.
He glanced around, trying to find a foothold. Now and then, he would bounce up hard onto protruding boulders like an agile ape making its way up quickly.
Three thousand feet, 6000, 9000 feet!
Lu Li breathed heavily while making a pause on a big boulder. He looked up and figured he only had less than 3000 feet left. However, the fight over there was still ongoing. Lu Li was a bit relieved now. As long as he could climb up to the Frigid Cloud Mountain, there practically was no way that he could be found on account of how complicated the terrain was.
Throwing a secret glance over, Lu Li seemed to notice some glaring of Xuan Energy and the swarming of the Golden Ants. Taking a few deep breaths, Lu Li once again made his way up. He had found quite a good way. If everything went well, he could make it to the peak in an hour.
"Chirp, chirp~"
Unluckily, after he climbed for half an hour, and when he was only about 2000 feet to the peak, there came a cyan eagle. Seeing Lu Li, it dived down, like trying to make Lu Li its dinner.
Lu Li cursed in his hearts. Both of his hands were holding onto the boulders. How could he use his sword now? He was several thousand feet up from the ground now. He dared not to let Little White come out. What if it fell and died?
"Faster, faster, faster!"
All he could do was to climb up desperately and tried to make it to the peak before the cyan eagle approached him. He consumed all his strength and climbed up at the top of his speed. However, another thing went awry…
"Boom!"
One of the protruding boulders loosened and Lu Li almost fell. In this critical moment, he grabbed onto a Whitefruit Stonecrop Herb next to him with his other hand. Yet, the boulder rolled down which made a loud noise.
"What is that? There is a man over there!"
Someone was shouting. Following that was a deep voice of a man, "Can it be Lu Li? Go after him and mind these Golden Ants no more."
"Sh*t!"
Lu Li gave vent to a torrent of abuse. The cyan eagle had already been very close to him. Lu Li tried to turn a bit and got onto a big boulder nearby. Standing on the boulder, he got his Heaven Kylin Sword out and attacked at the beak of the cyan eagle.
"Chirp~"
The cyan eagle cried out in pain. Its huge body was sent airborne by Lu Li, and its blood spilt everywhere. Lu Li made sure that the threat from the cyan eagle was over, and he dared to stay no more and made his way up as soon as possible.
"Bummer!"
After he got onto the peak, Lu Li saw several men running on madly and Lu Li looked gloom. He was about to sneak into the mountains without Zhao Rui noticing but now all his efforts were wasted. There were two powerful warriors of the Spirit Sea Realm hunting him down. He might turn the Frigid Cloud Mountain into his burial ground.