[GL]Whose Wife Is Always Acting Pitiful? Oh, It Turns Out It’s Mine 106

Chapter 106: The Danger of Climbing the Peak

Huangding Mountain was full of strange peaks and rugged rocks, towering and precipitous. From a distance, that large cliff looked like it had been sliced by a knife or chopped by an axe, dropping straight down for hundreds of zhang (1 zhang = 3.3 meters), no different from a heavenly wall separating this place from the rest of the world. Green pines stubbornly coiled around the cliffs, their branches hanging in the air, their roots embedded deep in the rock crevices like swimming dragons. The climate in the mountains was changeable, with storms coming and going like illusions. But when the weather was clear, it was tranquil and peaceful. Watching the clouds and mist lingering on the mountain top, overlooking all living beings, one could stay away from the mortal world and calm the mind and body.

On the fifteenth day of the tenth month, the Hour of the Tiger had just arrived, and many people had already gathered at the foot of Huangding Mountain. However, how could it be so easy to climb this steep peak? Originally, an expert outside the world had chiseled a stone path specifically for going up Huangding Mountain. At some unknown time, the stone path had broken. Later, martial arts experts put iron chains across the mountainside and threw down many mountain ropes on the cliff for later generations to climb with both hands and feet.

Any chivalrous warrior with some reputation in the Jianghu who came to participate in the Discourse on the Dao Conference wouldn’t be willing to take the chiseled stone path. Naturally, they hoped to climb up the dangerous cliff to the mountain top. When the wind passed the cliff, the whistling sound was like a knife cutting, making some people’s hair stand on end and their hearts tremble involuntarily. No one took the lead to climb up.

The people from renowned orthodox sects hadn’t arrived yet. The crowd just looked up at the pitch-black cliff, unable to see the top at a glance. The bright moon in the night sky shone on patches of withered grass. Although no one took the lead to climb, no one went back to sleep either. They just discussed in low voices in groups of three or five whether the renowned orthodox sects had agreed on a time to climb the mountain together.

The people at the foot of the mountain waited for nearly half an hour. Some couldn’t hold back and started climbing up, but facing this natural barrier, they naturally appeared somewhat strained. Some held the mountain ropes and climbed up carefully. Occasionally, a few arrogant people climbed the rock relying solely on internal energy without the help of mountain ropes. But there were many strange rocks on the cliff, and some places were extremely smooth without footholds. A slip of the foot almost caused a fall down the cliff. Sweat soaked their clothes, and their fingers gripping the cliff turned white!

The highest peak of Huangding Mountain was more than six hundred zhang high. These people had climbed less than a hundred zhang and were already panting, their arms sore. Looking down, they were instantly dizzy. It was terrifying like an abyss of ten thousand zhang. At this moment, riding a tiger was hard to get off (in a difficult situation with no easy way out), so they had to stop and regulate their breath temporarily.

Someone lit a fire starter to show their position to the crowd at the foot of the mountain. At this time, the sky was no longer pitch-black, slowly brightening to deep blue, and after a while, to light blue. A large group of people slowly marched from the direction of the town to the foot of the mountain at this time.

The leading four major sects were naturally the prestigious Blue Wind Mountain Sect, Cloud Appreciation Mountain Sect, Heavenly Silence Zen Sect of Ci Mountain, and East He Mountain Sect in the Jianghu. The Snow Saint Mountain Villa and Goose Shadow Mountain Villa arrived late, occupying a large open space at the foot of the mountain. After these renowned orthodox sects arrived, some solitary wandering swordsmen and noble families rushed over. Dugu Wenxing and Dugu Huansheng were among this group.

Xue Mu and Dugu Yuan’an rode the same horse. Seeing the crowd under the large cliff, she whispered, “Yuan’er, let’s just take the mountain path.”

Dugu Yuan’an said, “Okay.”

Feeling apologetic, Xue Mu joked, “If my internal kung fu were stronger than a Grandmaster, I could carry you on my back and climb up Huangding Mountain!”

“How can it be so easy to climb Huangding Mountain?” Dugu Yuan’an smiled. “If I try to climb up, with my current skill, it would probably take quite some time to reach the top.”

“Alright, you are praising your own internal kung fu!” Xue Mu snorted. “Then you carry me up on your back!”

Dugu Yuan’an laughed involuntarily. “Look at you. Then you carry me up the mountain path on your back.”

Xue Mu nodded. “Okay. Anyway, whoever sees me carrying you will wonder ‘why does someone have to carry another person up Huangding Mountain.’ If anyone asks me, I’ll say ‘No need for your help, this is my wife. Only I can carry her, no one else can.'”

Dugu Yuan’an pursed her lips in a smile. The two rode their horse to the group of solitary wandering swordsmen, not staying with those noble families. They saw the Dugu couple already exchanging pleasantries with other noble families, and the Dugu siblings also chatting with handsome men and beautiful women of their age. The Sect Leaders and elders of major sects were doing the same. From a distance, Xue Mu saw Sect Leader Qi Qing, Lan Qian, and Yu Qingdong in blue Taoist robes, and also saw Han Yan of the Cloud Appreciation Mountain Sect whispering something to a young woman beside her who had a face as beautiful as the morning glow and a calm and indifferent expression.

Dugu Yuan’an suddenly said, “That is Sect Leader Qing Lan of the Cloud Appreciation Mountain Sect.”

Xue Mu was shocked. “What? She is so young??!”

“My mother said Sect Leader Qing Lan is not yet thirty-five years old.” Dugu Yuan’an smiled. “What, you think she is young?”

“Naturally young!” Xue Mu wondered, “I’m twenty-five this year. She is only ten years older than me!”

“So what?” Dugu Yuan’an said, “There are plenty of people who become Sect Leaders or Cult Leaders at a young age.”

Xue Mu looked around for Diwu Miaofu’s figure and actually found her following the direction of Han Yan’s gaze. She was mixed in a large group of tall and sturdy rough men, looking dirty and covered in dust. The tattered cloth strips on her body had rolled somewhere unknown and were also too dirty to look at.

If Xue Mu hadn’t seen Diwu Miaofu looking like this when they first met, she really wouldn’t have recognized her. She was astonished. “What is Miaofu doing?”

Diwu Miaofu glanced at the direction of the Cloud Appreciation Mountain Sect from time to time, then chatted and laughed with two middle-aged big men beside her. Xue Mu understood: Presumably, these people are Diwu Miaofu’s acquaintances in Jiangnan. She must have reunited and chatted with them all night, so she didn’t go back to the wing room to rest.

Xue Mu and Dugu Yuan’an couldn’t hear clearly what those sect people were talking about from behind. Suddenly, a loud shout rang out from the front of the crowd: “Fellow Daoists, gathering here today is not for empty etiquette, nor for modesty! Everyone display your abilities to the fullest, don’t hide your skills! The peak of the clouds, the Discourse on the Dao Conference, only welcomes the strong!!”

This command directly ignited everyone’s fighting spirit. All eyes sharpened, and they mobilized their internal breath one after another, preparing to climb this dangerous peak. The disciples of major sects had already rushed towards the cliff like arrows. The first three to rush towards the cliff were Lan Qian of the Blue Wind Mountain Sect, Han Yan of the Cloud Appreciation Mountain Sect, and a woman from the Snow Saint Mountain Villa wearing a bamboo hat and a black robe.

The three tapped lightly on the rocks of the cliff with their toes, all able to leap several zhang high. Taking advantage of the momentum, they grabbed the protruding rocks on the cliff wall to stabilize their bodies, then used lightness skills to climb up. In an instant, they climbed seventy or eighty zhang, pressing close to those people of the Jianghu who started climbing the cliff first.