Chapter 320
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Chapter 320: Mountain Lord Temple
A long procession trudged laboriously through the dense forest.
Ahead, the jagged peaks rose steeply, one range after another, stretching endlessly into the horizon.
Deep within the Yulong Mountain Range, there were no established paths to follow. The abundant spiritual energy accelerated the growth of vegetation, and any trails left by wild beasts vanished after a single rainfall.
Thus, the ferrymen leading the way had to rely on magical artifacts to forge a path through the dense forest.
When one ferryman’s magical energy was depleted, another would take their place.
It was already the twenty-third day since they had entered the mountains. According to their plan, they should have been nearing the end of this leg of the journey, yet they were still only halfway through.
This was an unavoidable predicament.
The group had lost nearly forty members, and more than half of the mountain-steeding rhinos meant to carry them had perished.
Most critically, the latter part of the journey was the most arduous and perilous.
To ensure their safety, the ferrymen had no choice but to slow their pace, hoping to avoid repeating past mistakes.
However, this decision only prolonged the tension within the group, which showed no signs of easing over the past few days.
Many wore expressions of exhaustion and frustration.
For the powerful cultivators, the physical toll of the journey was negligible; traversing thousands of miles was a trivial matter. The true burden was the immense mental strain.
Since the battle, the group had been on edge, interpreting every rustle as a potential threat.
They lived in constant fear that the great beast might return.
As time dragged on, even the Purple Palace cultivators found it difficult to maintain their composure.
The road ahead seemed interminable!
The collective mood grew darker, and Wang Chen became the target of their resentment.
The reason was simple: while everyone else endured hardship, Wang Chen seemed to revel in luxury. He had formed a partnership with the most exceptional female cultivator in the group, sharing a mountain-steeding rhino and behaving as intimately as newlyweds.
How could anyone not feel envy and bitterness?
Wang Chen had grown accustomed to the occasional hostile glances directed his way.
Irritated, he chose to linger at the back of the procession.
After all, once they crossed the Yulong Mountain Range, they would go their separate ways. There was no need to cultivate goodwill with these people.
They were merely a motley crew, banding together out of necessity. In moments of life and death, one could hardly expect genuine aid from such a group.
Wang Chen had already resolved to strike out on his own.
If another attack by a great beast occurred, his priority would be to ensure his own survival!
At most, he would take Li Yian with him if he had the strength to do so.
Though their relationship was that of Halfway Partners, and Li Yian had been the first woman in Wang Chen’s new life, it was impossible for him to feel nothing.
Even if Li Yian’s initial interest in him had been to overcome her bottleneck, Wang Chen had also reaped significant benefits.
He had even considered proposing a true partnership with her.
But it was clear that Li Yian harbored no such intentions.
She told Wang Chen that she was a Lotus Girl nurtured by a certain sect. From a young age, she had been practicing the Su Yin Huan Zhen Hehe method, maintaining a pure Yin body until she broke through to open a house, after which she would serve as a furnace cauldron for elder-level figures to help them overcome their bottlenecks.
Alternatively, she could be gifted to high-ranking members of other sects.
However, Li Yian refused to resign herself to being a mere furnace cauldron. After advancing to the Purple Palace, she seized an opportunity to escape the mountain gate, making her way to Xian City and then to the West Sea Spiritual Realm, where she finally achieved the freedom she had always desired.
No matter how powerful her sect was, it held no influence in the West Sea Spiritual Realm.
At the same time, she was acutely aware that true freedom required immense strength to secure.
Thus, she chose Wang Chen, who possessed a pure Yang body, as her Halfway Partner.
“You’ve struck gold!”
After a session of Dual Cultivation, Li Yian, her cheeks flushed, said to Wang Chen, “You’ll soon realize just how much you’ve gained!”
At this thought, Wang Chen gently wrapped his arms around her slender waist.
Li Yian turned to him, her eyes shimmering with affection.
“We’ve reached the Mountain Lord Temple!”
Just then, the voice of the ferryman rang out from ahead, carrying a tone of relief and joy.
After passing through the dense forest, the group emerged into an open valley.
There, standing in the valley, was a massive temple, clearly long abandoned. Green vines clung to its weathered walls, and much of the structure was obscured by towering trees, though the intricate eaves and bracketed roofs were still visible.
After trekking through the endless expanse of Yulong Mountain, where they had been camping in the wild, the sight of this relic of civilization was a welcome surprise.
The ferryman informed everyone that reaching the Mountain Lord Temple meant they were only five days away from the West Sea Spiritual Realm.
They would rest here for a day before continuing their journey to the West Sea Spiritual Realm!
After the ferryman’s announcement, the team’s morale visibly lifted.
Many cultivators broke into relieved smiles.
No matter how arduous the path ahead, simply surviving the journey through Yulong Mountain would be a triumph.
The procession of over a hundred mountain-steeding rhinos filed through the open gates of the Mountain Lord Temple.
Three ferrymen, each at the Purple Palace cultivation level, had already begun scouting the interior to ensure no dangers lurked within.
The temple was vast, divided into a front hall, main hall, back hall, and numerous side halls and chambers.
It could easily accommodate not only the two hundred cultivators but ten times that number.
However, the temple had long been neglected, leaving it overrun with weeds and blanketed in fallen leaves, giving it an air of desolation.
The three ferrymen completed their search swiftly.
Aside from a few foxes and wild rabbits inhabiting the temple, there were no monsters to be found.
The cultivators stored their mountain-steeding rhinos in spirit beast bags and set up camp in the main hall of the Mountain Lord Temple.
This was also the ferryman’s directive.
Though the temple offered ample space for lodging, as long as they remained within the Yulong Mountain Range, danger was ever-present, and they could not afford to separate for safety’s sake.
The main hall, towering over ten zhang high, was cavernous, housing a statue of the Mountain Lord.
The Mountain Lord took the form of a tiger, a title reserved only for a beast king-level roaring tiger.
In this world, the proper offerings were made to Huang Tian and Houtu, while all others were considered wild or lewd offerings.
This Mountain Lord Temple was a prime example of a wild offering site, built for reasons unknown within Yulong Mountain, and on such a grand scale!
The three ferrymen began setting up temporary defensive formations.
They first cleared away the thick layer of dust on the ground, then placed the formation plates at strategic points around the main hall.
When the glow of the formations spread evenly across the hall, the cultivators finally allowed themselves to relax.
Some set up tents, others gathered in small groups to chat, and a few started a fire.
The atmosphere grew lively.
Wang Chen also brought out his black toad tent and charcoal stove for a hot pot, among other supplies.
As night fell, it was the perfect time to prepare dinner.
Li Yian didn’t remain idle either; she helped him with the preparations.
The two worked together seamlessly, their coordination giving off the air of a married couple.
