Chapter 358

Ghosts of the Mine (IV)

Our days hadn't changed much with the joining of the strange six; besides the kids not being able to train and spar properly and having to put on little plays every time they did, the days remained the same.

We'd meditate through the night and eat the early morning breakfast (which they never skipped), after which the kids 'exercised' for a bit, and then we'd hit the road. In fairness, the woman did pay us--in fact, she threw 10,000 mid-grade Spirit Stones at me on day one to 'cover the cost of meals'.

It kind of reminded me of that ridiculous line, 'It's one banana. What could it cost, ten dollars?' as truly only the rich could ever just so haphazardly throw money at something 'insignificant'.

Deep down, though, I get it; before I had a proper meal in this world, and while I was eating either cold grain or unseasoned bowls of rice, I would have thrown all my wealth for just one hot bowl of soup that had salt in it. Once you're on a diet of nothing-burgers for a long while, proper food is like finding an ancient burial ground full of super valuable treasures.

Outside the meals, however, they never interacted with us; they kept to themselves, being real secretive about whatever it was they were holding in the carriage. I found it odd, to be honest, as they weren't pretending to be mortals--why didn't they just shove all that stuff into a spatial ring and call it a day?

For a moment, I thought they were maybe trafficking slaves or some demonic beasts or something, but whatever was beneath that strange cloth was unlikely to be alive. Naturally, I never bothered to check with my Divine Sense, as I'm fairly certain she'd immediately pick up on it and drive a harpoon or something through my ass, but seeing as there were no signs of movements for days, I'd hazard a guess whatever's under there ain't among the living anymore.

As for what it is... I don't particularly care, to be honest. No, I don't want to care, as it involves somebody I'd rather part ways with as quickly as possible.

Nonetheless, despite my (pretty much cemented by this point) paranoia, they didn't do anything outside of joining us for a meal, chatting about weather and such, and then ignoring us all the time in between despite traveling 'with' us.

Shortly after crossing the river, any sign of the trees, even on the horizon, just completely vanished. It was flats as far as the eye could see, though, without using Qi, I couldn't actually see all that far. Maybe during the midday, but the mornings, evenings, and nights all had this strange, foggy haze descend, despite us not being in the valley.

The most depressing part of everything, definitely, was that even after days worth of travel, the scenery didn't change at all. It was as though we were walking in place, not making any progress. The only way I could even 'recognize' our movement was through the edges of the lake beginning to slowly curve further east, which meant that we were approaching its northernmost point.

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It was about five days after we met up with the six that we came across another river--Reappearing Fastness River, the woman who introduced herself as 'Ming' said it was called. This was also where the lake's shoreline began to flatten, as this was the river's mouth, the second furthest point to the north. The distance between this river and the next would be the distance between the next river and the southernmost tip of the Heavenly Void Range.

"Do you know the myth behind the Heavenly Void Range?" she asked after we finished dinner.

"The myth? No," I said. This was the first time she brought anything of the sort up, as she'd usually disperse with the five men immediately after dinner.

"It goes," she said. "That, a long time ago, there was nothing here but endless waters. No land to behold. It all changed, however, when two divine beasts fell from the sky atop the molten rocks of cosmos, engaged in a cosmic battle for supremacy, swirling about like thunderous whirlwinds. Their battle was so all-encompassing that it ripped apart the world below the waters and woke up the Mountain Gods who, in a bid of revenge, erected the entire range to trap the two divine beasts in an eternal prison."

Huh.

Well, I don't know what I expected, really; though I'd like to believe that's what happened, the range probably 'assembled' as all other mountain ranges do, and it wasn't because some Mountain Gods (who lived under the ocean? like, what?) decided to imprison meteor-riding beasts.

"You seem doubtful," she said, with a faint smile.

"No, more simply... fascinated."

"Ha ha ha. Indeed. Most myths are like that, but any time we managed to compare the myth to a truth... it turned out that the truth was far, far simpler. Still, it's a fascinating insight into how we tend to see the world, no?"

"Indeed." I smiled back and nodded; it wasn't the first time I recognized it, but the core of humanity is largely the same as it was back on Earth. The way we absorb the world, the way we rationalize it, the way we make shit up when things don't conform to our beliefs... that's one thing that's always kept me grounded.

It took us approximately six days to reach the second river, the last one between us and the mountain range, and then an additional four days (as we rested for fewer hours) to finally catch a glimpse of the peaking mountaintops. They truly were grand, spilling into the lake rather strangely in the form of sharp cliffs.

... which raised the question I've been pondering for a while now.

"Why don't people just go around?" I asked out loud to basically anyone within earshot. "Swimming through the lake would be far easier, no?"

"You think so?" the woman responded with a faint glint in her eyes. "It's not an unreasonable assumption," which is to say it's an absolutely insane one. "Maybe you could give it a shot?"

[--Eternity offers to escort you safely through the lake's waters]

[Cost: 50,000CP]

"... you know what?" I glanced back at her. "I think I'll pass."

"Ha ha ha. Though the myth I told you about is likely false, this range is covered in layers upon layers of mysteries. There's a natural formation, for instance, that prohibits flight--even Emperors cannot physically fly above the mountain range. Besides that, there are a lot of unnatural cave systems that haven't been mapped in thousands of years of efforts. But the safe passage is also very well understood, and though lengthy, isn't particularly difficult. Should we rest for a bit before beginning the climb?"

"... yeah, lets." I said, having a tingling sensation within the depths of my soul that the supposed 'safe passage' won't be quite so safe now that we were taking it.