Chapter 340: Chapter 151: The Elegance of That Arrow [First Update!]

The air was thin, and every breath felt insufficient.

The wind carried ice particles, continuously whipping around.

The sun hung in the sky, its light bright but not warm. There was no sound around, only the wind, making it feel especially empty and quiet.

Ding Rui felt that he could hear the sound of his own heartbeat. At this moment, he was following Li Younan, stepping deeply and shallowly on the thick snow as they descended the mountain. His gaze was on Li Younan—there was no doubt that this man was his true savior. Without Li Younan, he would have inevitably met his fate as a corpse on this snowy mountain.

And at this moment, Li Younan acted as if he had merely helped an elderly lady cross the road, picked up a badminton shuttlecock stuck in a tree for a naughty kid, or casually picked up trash for a street-cleaning auntie. His demeanor was nonchalant, with not a ripple in his heart. Ding Rui was still carrying Li Younan’s oxygen cylinder.

He had completely recovered. Earlier, he was in a deep coma, but oxygen is a miraculous thing. When deprived of oxygen, as long as you slowly inhale it, once the blood oxygen levels rise, you can recover. Although prolonged oxygen deprivation certainly caused some degree of bodily damage, for now, it did not affect his movements. Despite the discomfort in many parts of his body, his life was no longer in danger. Once they’re down, he’ll need to quickly get medical attention and have a thorough examination.

After his body recovered, Ding Rui naturally focused all his attention on Li Younan. In his leisure time, he couldn’t help but think about Li Younan.

The man before him was truly unbelievable.

At this moment, Li Younan was walking ahead, his steps incredibly steady. His pace was neither fast nor slow; with a glance at the path ahead, he could immediately plan the most reasonable route. These details weren’t some earth-shattering, exaggerated display, but this was a peak above 7,000 meters! Yet Li Younan wasn’t breathing a single breath of oxygen, appearing as if he were walking on a plain instead of hills.

Ding Rui had no extra strength or energy to speak, but if he could, he’d really like to ask Li Younan how he trained to achieve such physical prowess.

Ding Rui experienced this near-death encounter. Although his body functions recovered in a short time, he was well aware that many areas must have already suffered damage from oxygen deprivation, and he wouldn’t be able to embark on another mountaineering expedition anytime soon. However, this experience instead enriched his knowledge and deepened his respect for nature. He wasn’t discouraged; instead, he felt an even stronger urge to conquer more peaks.

As the altitude gradually decreased and Ding Rui continued to inhale oxygen, his physical condition improved significantly, and his pace unknowingly quickened a bit. Meanwhile, Li Younan occasionally looked back to check on Ding Rui, ensuring he didn’t encounter any other accidents.

To be fair, Li Younan had climbed up from a crevice earlier, so he wasn’t familiar with this descending route. But given their physical condition allowed them to climb up, it indicated that this route was relatively easy to traverse, with a gentle slope. Before long, they returned to the spot where Li Younan had climbed up from the crevice.

From their earlier brief conversation, Ding Rui learned that Li Younan had climbed up from here. He paused and hesitated for a moment, saying, "Hold on, let me take a photo." Li Younan turned back and nodded. Ding Rui took out his phone, reached into the crevice, and took several pictures from below. He then spoke with some disbelief, "At such an altitude, you actually have the energy to climb such a rock face."

Li Younan chuckled and said, "I thought you guys also climbed up from here." Ding Rui couldn’t help but click his tongue; if not for Li Younan just saving him and exhibiting such nonchalant strength, he would think Li Younan was just showing off. This statement sounded just like a billionaire arriving in a private jet saying to a millionaire next to him, "I thought you also came by private jet..." It’s simply "Let them eat cake."

But he knew very well that Li Younan was not that kind of person. After all, Li Younan was willing to give away his oxygen cylinder in such extreme circumstances! Not to mention his physical prowess, just the choice itself shone with the brilliance of humanity outshining the sun. So, an incredible idea began to form in Ding Rui’s mind, his expression turning from shock—Li Younan perhaps genuinely saw climbing a vertical rock face tens of meters high at nearly 7,000 meters altitude as just a small matter. A term popped into Ding Rui’s mind: "Destined Mountaineer."

Perhaps no one in this world is more extraordinary than Li Younan. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

He must be a child of the mountain god...

...

Ding Rui didn’t take an hour to wake up by inhaling oxygen as Li Younan expected; in fact, it only took a little over 40 minutes before he could move freely. So, the time they delayed wasn’t as long as imagined. Once their mobility was restored, the descent became rapid under Li Younan’s route planning. Moreover, the physical condition of Zhao Liang and Gao Yonghui ahead wasn’t ideal either. Approximately two hours later, they gradually caught up with Zhao Liang and Gao Yonghui in front, successfully regrouping the four of them.

Zhao Liang and Ding Rui didn’t have time to be pretentious at this moment. They stood for a brief rest, exchanged a few words, and then continued to descend quickly. Before nightfall, the four of them had all successfully returned to the campsite.

It was not too late at this time. After a brief rest, they packed up the gear left at the campsite. Since it was still daylight, they decided after a quick discussion to descend a bit further. The altitude here was over 5000 meters, which was still quite high for Ding Rui, who just barely escaped death’s door. He had just inhaled oxygen, slightly increasing his blood oxygen saturation. If he slept here, it would fluctuate dramatically like a rollercoaster, causing more harm to his body. So while there was still oxygen left in Li Younan’s tank, they had to hurry down.

However, the path to continue down was one that Li Younan hadn’t traversed before. They were heading in a different direction, so Zhao Liang was certainly more familiar with the area than Li Younan. Li Younan had no objections and followed them down. But as they passed a narrow path at the base of a cliff, Li Younan suddenly stopped. He furrowed his brow, squinting slightly, and looked upward.

Zhao Liang didn’t notice Li Younan stopping and kept walking forward. It was Ding Rui, who had been watching Li Younan, who noticed him stop and asked, "What’s wrong, Brother Li?"

The next moment, Li Younan suddenly reached out and grabbed Zhao Liang. Zhao Liang was puzzled and turned his head in confusion, asking, "What’s wrong?" Meanwhile, Gao Yonghui followed Li Younan’s gaze upwards, also showing a puzzled expression after a moment—he didn’t see anything unusual.

Li Younan said, "Wait a moment, it’s not safe." Zhao Liang hesitated, then looked in that direction as well... He also didn’t see anything strange. Li Younan knew it was hard to explain to them. He experienced a sudden throbbing sensation and, when he looked up, his eyes locked onto an exposed protruding rock.

The path ahead continued down with a series of switchbacks. After that throbbing sensation, Li Younan was almost sure that even the slightest movement could cause that rock to collapse. As they continued down the switchback path, no matter how far they went, there was a chance of being hit by falling rocks. Li Younan estimated that the protruding rock was about forty or fifty meters from their current position.

Li Younan immediately had a plan. He said, "Wait a bit." He then took off his backpack. Earlier, he had brought a seemingly useless piece of equipment—the American hunting bow. Initially intended for wild animals, he never expected it to be useful in such a situation. When Li Younan took out the bow, the other three were stunned: "What’s going on? Do we really need such equipment for mountain climbing?"

This bow was a special order by Li Younan. Although an American hunting bow, its poundage was much higher than usual, reaching 80 pounds. Li Younan didn’t bring many arrows, but each arrow was designed for hunting large beasts, with specially made high-strength steel tips, quite weighty.

Li Younan calmly took out a special arrow, slowly nocking it on the bowstring. He gently exhaled, slowly drawing the bow as the arrowhead was raised.

All three men instinctively held their breath.

The next moment, Li Younan released his right hand, producing a thunderous "twang." The arrow, like a beast breaking free, shot out with tremendous force.

He wasn’t aiming at a precise target but pulled the bow to its full potential, intending to unleash the arrow with maximum impact.

The arrowhead struck the rock wall with a dull, thunderous crash. Immediately, a roar—! The entire mountainside shattered, as if detonated, with boulders breaking apart and rock layers collapsing downward! The debris rained down, pummeling onto the path, some rolling faster along the winding descent, crashing straight to the valley below.

But anyone with eyes could see that it wasn’t solely the arrow that broke the mountain. The real reason was—the rock wall had long been on the verge of collapse, needing just the slightest trigger.

Li Younan’s arrow was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Seeing the terrifying scene of mountain crumbling and ground shaking, Zhao Liang and the others turned pale, chills running down their spines.

When they thought that without Li Younan’s intervention, they would have recklessly descended into the narrow switchback and met the rockfall head-on, with nowhere to hide—

They all gasped, fear like ice-water pouring over them, leaving them speechless for a long time.

Li Younan calmly put away his bow. As he looked at the rock wall again, the earlier piercing sense of danger had completely vanished. He was certain there were no longer any lurking hazards.