Chapter 2 (1/2)

Chapter 2

Monster?

Each year, the number of people who went to seek apprentices.h.i.+p are in the tens of thousands, but the number of people who will be accepted will not be more than ten.  This is a pretty disheartening fact, but did not affect the mortals’ desire to be immortal at all.

Hu Sha carries a bag that Auntie Lu prepared for her, and just like the other tens of thousands, she starts off her journey rather confidently.

Her old home back then also have a small hill, you can reach the peak by just half an hour, but Qing Yuan Mountain is obviously not the same.  Qing Yuan Mountain is the dwelling of the celestials, it spans thousands of miles with no man-made trails, really made people confuse, don’t even know where to start their first step.

Hu Sha walk around the rough mountain path for a long time, she hasn’t seen a single soul.  It’s so quiet, the only thing discernible by her ears is her own breathing.

A famous poet once wrote ‘蜀道难’ (‘Shu Dao Nan’, ‘The Difficulties of Shu Road’ by Poet Li Bai), whenever her father got drunk, he would always read the poem out loud, ‘The journey of Shu road, even more difficult than ascending to the sky.”  Hu Sha herself is ‘ascending to the sky’ now, the sharp and dangerous rock formation really made her struggle.  She has just gotten pa.s.s one cliff only to find out there are hundreds more waiting for her.

This situation really made one feels helpless.   Hu Sha heave a long sigh, sits on the ground helplessly and falls into a daze.

The mist in the mountain is thick.  It’s rolling around and causes her cheeks to be damp.  The peak of the Qing Yuan Mountain appears so distant from her, hidden in the clouds, the snow up above appears to be glittering when hit by sunlight.  That is where the immortals live, for people who have no affinity to them, even if they put their lives at risk, they will still not be able to reach that peak.

Hu Sha’s eyes slowly gets watery.  She hold her head high to prevent the tears from falling and enthusiastically gets up, “Alright!  Hu Sha, you have to strive harder!  You will definitely succeed!”

She pushed herself to climb two more cliffs before she heard a voice from behind her, “Weird, why is the mountain so quiet.  It’s a little eerie.”

She turns around and sees a group of people, both men and women all wearing blue robes with swords hanging at their waists.  Their pace itself is pretty brisk.  From their appearance and their manner of walking, they must trained warriors.

Within them, a young girl smiles and says, “There is no people in the mountain, of course it’s going to be quiet.  Eldest Senior Brother thinks too much.”

That eldest Senior Brother glance at her and says, ”Who says it’s normal for the mountain to be quiet?  Only demon-infested mountains will be quiet.  Qing Yuan Mountain is a celestial mountain, it is blessed with divine spirit.  By rights, birds should be flying here and there, but ever since we stepped in here, have you seen half a bird?”

Hearing him made Hu Sha realize it too.

He’s right, a mountain should not be as silent as this.  Even that small hill behind her house back then was full of chirpings of birds.  This place however…  Did she head the wrong way?

That group of people continue talking and amongst them is an old man with white hairs, presumably their s.h.i.+fu.  The s.h.i.+fu stroke his beard and says, “What Li Yun said isn’t wrong.  There’s something strange with Qing Yun Mountain this time.  People above us probably found our traces already, we must be careful when climbing.”

The young girl from before giggles, “s.h.i.+fu, you underestimate yourself.  We came here to find the son of that Jin Chamber’s owner, why should we be afraid of a little trick?  Be it Spider Demon whatsoever, they all can’t win against you.”

The old man appears to be quite happy hearing that.  He was just about to speak when he spots Hu Sha.   He was quite startled.

“Hey, who are you!” that young girl jump before taking out her sword while menacingly wielding it towards Hu Sha.

Hu Sha flails her hand in shock.  “I- I am just another person who climb this mountain to seek apprentices.h.i.+p…”