Chapter 276 - Arrival at the Millennium Pavilion (1/2)

This was indeed what Ling Zhang was fairly worried about as well. This journey of his to the Millennium Pavilion was about bringing his father back and in pa.s.sing figuring out the clan leader’s take on the current situation in this country. After all, this organization was too powerful. If it became their enemy, things would get very troublesome, so he decided to do whatever was necessary to prevent that.

At midnight, Ji Yin showed up promptly. Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong had also got everything ready, and the three of them left the place where they’d put up.

They rode for ten full days before reaching their destination.

Yuwen Tong gazed at the border town in front, a grave look on his face, appearing to be fully aware of what kind of place they had just arrived in.

Ling Zhang was also astonished, for they’d been traveling north-west all along…

“Grandfather?”

“Here we are.”

Ling Zhang widened his eyes. This little town ahead of them was where the Millennium Pavilion was? No way. How was this secluded? How come n.o.body had ever found it for hundreds of years?

While Ling Zhang’s mind was in a whirl, Ji Yin continued, “We’ll spend the night in this town and set off for the mountain at the first light of day.”

Ji Yin pointed forward and Ling Zhang looked in that direction.

This frontier town was called Tongguan Town, lying to the south of Youzhou, bordering Shengzhou to the north, not far away from the fort of the North-western Army in the north. The geographical location of Tongguan Town was somewhat special. Although it was a fairly short distance away from the fort as the crow flew, a trip to the fort would take a very long time, what with the winding and narrow route between the two. Tongguan Town was surrounded with mountains, and to its west and north, in particular, vast mountains stretched to as far as the eye could see; those to the south and east were relatively low, with pa.s.sable paths amid them.

The mountain Ji Yin was pointing at was the Sanguan Mountains, which was behind Tongguan Town.

The range of the Sanguan Mountains was very, very long, covering a vast area whereby the Great Yue, the Wan Kingdom and the Luohai Kingdom separated from each other. Standing loftily on the border between the three countries, it boasted countless towering, snow-capped peaks and precipitous cliffs. Birds could fly over it, but no human being could cross it, which made it the most secure border between the three countries.

It was rumored that in the depths of the Sanguan Mountains, windstorm that could devour people was a frequent occurrence, that there were also boundless poisonous miasma, ferocious beasts like jackals, wolves, tigers and so on, which were yet another reason deterring people apart from the dangerously steep terrain. Barely anybody would venture into the depths of the Sanguan Mountains. Even the most audacious ones living in the three countries didn’t dare go any deeper into it than the periphery.

Only when he saw Ji Yin pointing to the depths of the Sanguan Mountains did Ling Zhang came to realize that he’d misunderstood. This town was only a town, not the Millennium Pavilion, but the fact that the Millennium Pavilion was sited right in the depths of the Sanguan Mountains came as yet another great surprise to him.

n.o.body could have foreseen this. Even Yuwen Tong was amazed. Having spent many years in the north-west, of course he had heard of the rumors about the Sanguan Mountains. He had taken some men to explore it out of his worries about the impa.s.sability of this natural barrier. Forbidding as it was, with his kung fu skills, it was not necessarily impossible for him to climb over it. However, due to the toxic miasma in the depths of the mountains, there was a very high risk of getting lost or even poisoned there. Trying to climb over the mountains would be perilous. On top of that, there was also icy windstorm there…

It was after scouting out the lie of the land several times that Yuwen Tong had finally confirmed that no common soldier could cross the Sanguan Mountains. Even if people with consummate kung fu skills might be able to force their way through, they posed no threat to him, for this kind of people were few and far between, and there were probably only a couple of them in the whole world. If someone with this kind of skills wanted to cross the border, going through a checkpoint would be a far better choice than climbing over the Sanguan Mountains at considerable risk to their own life. After confirming that the Sanguan Mountains were indeed a solid barrier impa.s.sable for most, Yuwen Tong had made arrangements for the periphery to be patrolled on a regular basis and had never again paid any special attention to them. Who could have thought that the Millennium Pavilion was actually in a place like this?

“There were toxic fog and miasma and windstorm in the mountains, and the boundaries of the Millennium Pavilion are protected by many defensive formations, so you must stay close to me all the time after we enter the mountains. In no circ.u.mstances should you lag behind,” exhorted Ji Yin.

“Grandfather, the habitability of this kind of place must be really poor. Why did you choose to live here?” Ling Zhang was very confused.

Ji Yin smiled, “Well, it has its compensations – n.o.body would disturb us, and as it’s on the border between three countries, none of the governments have jurisdiction over it. Moreover, although the Sanguan Mountains are a dangerous area, not all parts of them are uninhabitable. You’ll know what I mean when we get there.”

Ji Yin’s mysterious tone piqued Ling Zhang’s curiosity.

They put up at an inn in Tongguan Town that night and left the town to enter the Sanguan Mountains at daybreak the next morning.

…

Along the roundabout path, they proceeded. When they just entered the Sanguan Mountains, they kept hurrying forward without any of them saying anything. Ji Yin and Yuwen Tong both excelled at lightness skills. Although Ling Zhang still relied heavily on his Qi to keep up his speed, he moved a lot faster than common people could. Swoos.h.i.+ng like the wind along the rugged mountain path, the three of them soon reached the area which residents of Tongguan Town, in the ordinary course of things, wouldn’t venture into.

After crossing this borderline, Ji Yin, with Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong hot on his heels, kept streaking deeper into the mountains. It was half a day before he slowed down.

Ling Zhang’s breathing had become somewhat uneven when they got to this place. His powers of endurance couldn’t hold a candle to Ji Yin’s or Yuwen Tong’s. Had they kept traveling at this pace, he wouldn’t be able to last long.

Ji Yin, quite gratified to see that his grandson hadn’t straggled behind so far, said, “The path ahead is much tougher, and we’ll have to start to beware of poisonous fog and miasma about half a day later. I’ll be going slower from here. Mind your step and follow close behind me, Zhang’er.”

“Okay.” Ling Zhang nodded.

And then Ji Yin led the way, Ling Zhang following in his wake, Yuwen Tong bringing up the rear. As expected, the terrain was growing much more dangerous, and there were a lot of places that even average kung fu pract.i.tioners couldn’t get through, which Yuwen Tong carried Ling Zhang and used his lightness skills to leap over. There were giant boulders with sharp edges, high precipices, slippery steep mountain paths, and tall dense thorns. Large beasts like bears could also be seen.