Alone and Infinite.

Chapter 322 The Mountain Top and Inside the Mountain

This force was extremely strange, like gravity suddenly increasing, though not by much.

But at this altitude of 10,000 meters, the added gravity poses far more risks than just that.

Not only Li Xia, but also Aowu and Heitan noticed it.

Xiaolong and Xiaomao exchanged a glance, then leaped up from behind Li Xia and landed on the rock wall.

Both the roaring dragon claws and the black cat claws were extremely sharp, easily piercing into the rock wall like hooks.

The two little ones' bodies are naturally suited for climbing, and they actually seemed to have it easier than Li Xia.

"Boss, safety rope!"

Awoo's tail lashed out a rope as thick as a little finger, a rope resembling the silk of some extraordinary spider.

A pencil-thick rod can easily bear a load of over a hundred tons; it's truly a miracle of materials science.

Li Xia tied the rope securely, glanced down, and saw that the Griggans were still chasing after him at a leisurely pace.

They used a method of alternating whoever led the way, with someone below taking over every hundred meters, while the person who originally led the way would use the holes in the wall to regain their strength.

Therefore, Griggs' pursuers were actually better preserved.

Their plan was to wait until Li Xia had climbed to a certain height and was nearing his limit before rushing up to grab him.

As for the possibility that Li Xia could climb the mountain, that was not even considered.

Over the years, countless powerful warriors from the Griggs have challenged Tianbi Mountain, without exception.

Even the warrior who was once hailed as the strongest a thousand years ago only came close to the summit.

Thus, under Mimi's cold and indifferent gaze, Li Xia and the two strange animals rapidly ascended in a triangle formation.

Li Xia is undoubtedly Arrowhead; he is the strongest, and in case of an emergency, he will have time to talk to Aowu and Black Charcoal.

The two smaller ones, however, were steady and cautious, trying their best to grip the rock face firmly with their claws.

This way, if the eldest brother can't hold on, I can also act as a safety anchor.

From 10,000 meters to 16,000 meters, a full 6,000 meters, the physical pressure gradually turned from a slight feeling into a heavy burden that made Li Xia grit his teeth.

Inserting a finger into the rock wall, fine cracks appeared on the originally hard rock.

Immediately afterwards, large chunks of rock broke off from the rock face, and Li Xia swayed as if he was about to fall.

"Boss!"

Awoo and Black Charcoal were startled, and immediately tightened their claws, firmly locking onto the rock wall in preparation for resisting the impact.

But Li Xia's other hand flashed with a faint light in the blink of an eye, and his finger, as sharp as a knife, plunged deep into the rock wall.

He hung in mid-air, leaning on his left arm, frowning as he looked at the crumbling rock face.

"I am fine."

Li Xia shook his head and replied that the collapse of the rock wall was partly due to his greater physical exertion, which caused his strength to be dispersed and not as consistent as before.

But the bigger reason was that the sense of oppression suddenly increased.

If the initial sense of oppression was gradual, this time it suddenly escalated to a much higher level.

If this kind of addition continues from here, I'm afraid I might not be able to reach the summit.

We are now more than 10,000 meters above the ground. The air here is extremely thin; on Earth, we would already need to breathe oxygen.

In addition, the howling winds and air currents at high altitudes are much stronger than those felt on the ground.

The temperature even dropped to around minus sixty degrees Celsius.

In Li Xia's view, temperature was actually the least noticeable obstacle.

"About 10 meters up, the burden will suddenly increase by about 30%, so be careful."

Li Xia flipped his free right hand and pulled out three bottles of [Nutritional Supplement - Large (Perfect)]

I handed two bottles to Aowu and Heitan. Compared to the normal quality, the perfect Great Nutrition Skill can provide 20 stamina for 30-240 minutes and slightly increase stamina recovery speed.

It is an extremely useful adjuvant medicine.

He tilted his head back and drank the medicine. The icy liquid slid down his throat, but once it reached his stomach, it immediately turned into a warm current that flowed through his entire body.

Even the physical fatigue has decreased significantly.

"You are tarnishing the honor of climbing this mountain!"

Seeing that Li Xia was full of energy and seemed like a completely different person after drinking the potion, Mimi, who was waiting to see him make a fool of himself, finally couldn't hold back anymore.

"Are you here to perform crosstalk?"

Awoo burst out laughing:

"We're not here to compete. Besides, is it that you don't want to use it? Or is it that you don't have the medicine?"

Mimi was stunned for a moment. As a plant species, they really did have all kinds of potions, but their resistance was too outrageous.

Normal medications have no effect on them at all; the only ones that are effective are extremely potent liquids with various strong side effects.

It should not be used lightly, and it is relatively difficult to configure.

So Aowu was right.

The feeling of being weighed down by heavy objects grew stronger and stronger, and Li Xia's breathing became increasingly heavy.

The scorching breath, barely exhaled, rapidly condensed into tiny ice crystals in the frigid high air.

The sunlight refracts the colors into a magnificent display, surrounding you like a fairyland.

"Click"

His fingers dug into the rock, the muscles in his arms trembled, and sweat rolled across his body, fueled by the heat provided by the Lava Armor.

Li Xia remained in that position, breathing heavily, and felt a faint spasm in her fingers.

I turned my head and glanced at the height display on my shoulder.

17925 meters.
Even from here, the mountain peak is still not visible, as if the mountain has no end, which evokes a sense of powerlessness and despair.

The Griggans below were clearly getting anxious; they hadn't expected Li Xia to climb to such a height.

Many of the Griggans, unable to withstand the weight, screamed as they detached from the rock face and plummeted straight down.

Their mournful cries lingered on the rock face, their echoes reverberating.

The remaining people, listening to the screams that rose and fell, felt as if the blood in their bodies had frozen in the cold air above.

But now, there is no other way but to grit our teeth and keep going.

Griggan's royal court is located at the foot of Tianbi Mountain, and the order had already been issued.

They brought back the sacred object, were collectively rewarded, and promoted to higher ranks and titles.

If they fail to bring back the sacred relic, everyone, including their families, will be beheaded!
These hundreds of Griggans were the brave men who had been rewarded handsomely.

"Keep going up, each step is harder than the last!"

Seeing that Li Xia's body was clearly nearing its limit, Mimi once again offered words of advice:

"My previous conditions still stand. If you can report back to your world that this place is barren, do not invade."

I could even recommend you for the title of Duke in my clan! To guard a region!

He smacked his lips, showering out all sorts of conditions and temptations as if they were free:

"You are still young and have unlimited potential. Why risk your life? Besides, the affairs of this fiefdom are entirely up to you."

Surely you can't have that kind of status within the clan?

Isn't it better to enjoy life here than to go back and be someone else's subordinate?

Young man, there's a lot more to this than meets the eye—

Li Xia suddenly rummaged in his pocket for a while, and saw that the 'Heart of Stone' in his palm was glowing. Then, the light on the surface of the stone suddenly condensed, and a thin beam of light shot into the sky.

That feeling of heaviness suddenly vanished without a trace.

Even Mimi could feel this sense of ease.

He stared blankly at Li Xia, his mouth agape. Even with his cunning and shrewdness, he was speechless once again, unable to utter a word.

After a long while, Mimi finally spoke in a dry voice:

"Since you have such methods, why didn't you use them sooner?"

Li Xia felt as if every cell in his body was cheering, as if he had been wearing thick iron armor all along.

The feeling of ease and clarity that comes with shedding those clothes at this moment.

He handed the stone to the charcoal-covered man who had climbed back onto his back, and after thinking for a moment, said:

"Because I want to see how far I am from my peak based solely on my physical condition."

The strongest warrior in Griggs in a thousand years once climbed to a point thousands of meters from the summit.

This is the true peak of the third tier, and also an excellent benchmark.

Li Xia had wanted to see how far he was from the peak of the third tier, just in terms of his physical condition.

Figures like Scapo and the other Griggs Ten Pillars, while considered to be at the peak of the third tier, are examples of this.

But peak is a very broad concept.

For example, in the Hall of Light, the 100th place in the arena is also considered the peak combat power of that rank.

The first to tenth place rankings represent the peak.

If it really came down to a fight, the number one player could easily beat several number 100 players!
Scarpo is the 100th, the legendary strongest, who should at least be in the top 20.

The rest of the journey was much easier.

The light emitted from the Stone Heart in the Black Charcoal Claws acted like a positioning device; Li Xia only needed to follow the direction indicated by the light to climb.

Soon the Griggans were nowhere to be seen, and Mimi, with her ashen face, stood by her waist.

He even started thinking about whether he could end his own life.

As they climbed higher, Li Xia's gaze finally reached the mountain peak, where the summit of Tianbi Mountain shimmered with colorful rays of light against the unobstructed sky.

It truly resembles a sacred mountain inhabited by immortals.

"Boss, look!"

Aowu pointed in surprise to a huge scratch on the side, which was clearly a man-made mark.

There was also a line of large characters next to it:
"Eugene of Graegan climbed up here."

Is this the location of that Griggan from back then?

Li Xia glanced at the altimeter: 19231 meters!
His eyebrows twitched involuntarily, covering a distance more than a thousand meters further than when he had taken the stamina potion.

Considering the rapidly increasing load that followed, this distance of over a thousand meters is an astonishing figure.

It's safe to say that it's the pinnacle of Tier 3, with attributes definitely exceeding 40 points, and perhaps even averaging over 45 points.

"Boss, we've only just reached the first world of the third tier."

Seeing Li Xia raise an eyebrow, Aowu said something in the team channel.

"I know, but I'm just wondering if there's any chance of winning if I really encounter such a top-tier person."

"Is there a result? Can we win?"

Awoo immediately perked up, and the kitten turned its gaze to him curiously.

"Can't beat it!"

Li Xia simply shook her head:
"The difference in attributes is too great. An average of 45 points across all attributes is completely different from my current 30 points.

They can probably hold out for a while, but they'll have to run after a while.

"Even if you can hold out for a while, that's pretty impressive. Normally, if someone with 30 points encounters someone with 45 points, it would be over in a few rounds, right?"

After chatting for a while to relax, Li Xia mustered his strength and continued climbing.

"Snapped!"

Long, slender, reddish fingers rested on the cold rock wall, the five fingers curled up and gripped the edge tightly, then one arm exerted force.

He was lifted into the air and landed lightly at the top.

At this moment, not only Li Xia, but also Mi Mi forcibly suppressed the pent-up anger in his heart, opened his eyes wide, and couldn't wait to see this mysterious place that had not been visited for thousands of years.

"hiss!"

Even Mimi, who had lived for hundreds of years, couldn't help but open her mouth and instinctively take a breath.

The place where everyone stood resembled a towering city wall reaching into the clouds, inside which lay a vast, isolated world.

The entire sacred mountain is like a bowl, and inside is another world entirely!
Hundreds of meters away is a gently sloping curve, with no trace of the almost vertical cliffs outside.

Everywhere you look, there are lush forests, grasslands, rivers, and small mountains!
It's like a unique world, protected by cliffs.

"Wow! It's an independent world like this?"

Aowu stared blankly at this peculiar world, then smacked his lips:

"At first, I thought the entire Tianbi Mountain was a spaceship."

Li Xia nodded silently; he had thought so before.

The main problem is that Tianbi Mountain is too strange. No matter how you look at it, the previous burden seems to be a gravity generator that comes with the warship.

The Heart of Stone is more like a key that can unlock special permissions.

Furthermore, Tianbi Mountain doesn't seem natural at all. Whose mountain grows almost vertically? Apart from the outer armor of a spaceship, Li Xia couldn't think of anything that could match it.

A spaceship that is 20 kilometers long is not an incredible thing.

In the last Tier 2 advancement battle, the landing ships that the Hall of Light used to transport them were incredibly large.

This is just a landing ship transporting ground forces; imagine if it were a legendary flagship or fortress ship.

That would be tens of kilometers long.
"If there is such a precious place, why would these stone figures still leave, and so resolutely, even migrating out entirely?"

Mimi stared blankly, muttering to herself.

"We can survive as your slaves, so why rebel?"

Li Xia glanced at him and ended the conversation with a single sentence:

"High walls cannot confine the yearning for freedom, and killing cannot kill the free will."

The Heart of Stone in his hand was still emitting light, and a thin beam of light pointed down into the valley below.

"let's go!"

Li Xia put away the stone and walked several hundred meters forward, looking down at the cliff with a very smooth curve.

You can even see winding paths along the edge, which must have been the paths opened up by the stone men.

Even after a thousand years, these paths still look just like they did back then.

After thinking for a while, Li Xia gave up the idea of ​​rushing down directly.

Stepping onto this path, I felt just like the stone figure from years ago.

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1. Monthly pass 2. Recommendation vote

(End of this chapter)