Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Climbing the Snowy Mountain
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Snow began at the foot of the mountain and cascaded endlessly up the slopes toward the sky. The peak was shrouded in divine clouds, invisible to the eye.
A colossal wall of snow crafted by nature itself. The Eternal Snow Mountain was a wonder in its own right.
"God must exist."
"What are you talking about?"
"Who else but a god could create such a wondrous sight? Look at that mountainside sparkling in the sunlight. It's like jewels scattered everywhere."
"First time seeing snow?"
"Not exactly, but I've never seen a mountain this massive completely blanketed in it. It's truly beautiful. Makes my heart feel reverent somehow."
"Hmph."
"Why are you laughing?"
"You'll be cursing nonstop once we start climbing this snow mountain. Anyway, how are your feet holding up?"
"Still manageable."
"Be precise."
"Honestly, it feels like my toes are about to fall off. I've lost sensation in them for a bit now."
Truth be told, it wasn't her feet but her shoes that were the problem. Being no martial artist, Bing-seol wore simple Tang-style leather boots that barely covered her ankles.
They hadn't even walked half a shichen on the snow-covered path, yet her shoes and ankles were already soaked. At this rate, she might need to amputate toes from frostbite before sunset.
"Sit on that rock over there."
Heuk Do-san pulled a bundle of leather from his bosom, about the size of a newborn's head. He twisted and flipped it with his fingers, transforming it into a long, fur-lined legging.
"What's that?"
"Blood Wolf leg skin."
"When did you even grab that?"
"Second night, camping on the hillside."
"I followed everything you did, Black Young Master, but I had no idea about that."
"I never hid it on purpose. People just didn't pay close attention."
"What are you going to do with it?"
"Make you some overshoes."
The leather had been skinned whole from the Blood Wolf's leg, leaving it hollow inside. Heuk Do-san inserted a stick and tugged it this way and that until the tube widened just right.
Then he turned the fur inward and fitted it over Bing-seol's ankles. In an instant, her insteps and half her shins were snugly covered.
"Perfect fit."
"How's it feel?"
"Much warmer. Thank you."
"Don't thank me. I'll collect on this someday. Not just saying it."
"Got it. I'll pay you back for sure."
Heuk Do-san now selected a suitable branch from the bundle of wood he'd set aside. They were branches he'd cut by the river on the way up the snow mountain.
"What's that for?"
"White ash tree."
"White ash?"
"It's a rare tree that grows only by rivers in cold regions. So tough it won't rot even after a thousand years. Northern nomads use it to make snowshoes."
"Snowshoes?"
It didn't take long to learn what snowshoes were. Heuk Do-san quickly lit a small fire and gently heated finger-thick branches, bending them into ovals.
Once shaped properly, he fixed four more sticks in a well pattern to form frames.
"Once the snow hits your knees, you're done for. You'll get stuck in the drifts and freeze solid. Carry these for now and strap them on when it gets deep."
Heuk Do-san handed over the pair of snowshoes, and Bing-seol tucked them away. She stared at him intently.
"No need to thank me. I knew it'd be a hassle when I said we'd go together. And like I keep saying, nothing in this world is free."
"I was just amazed."
"Nothing amazing about it. Any hunter climbing a snow-covered mountain in winter makes their own."
"You're doing alone what it'd take a hundred 'any hunters' to pull off. That's what's amazing. Did you learn this from those old mercenaries too?"
"This one was from my master."
"Your master?"
"Back when I was a wastrel living aimlessly, he taught me hunting for kicks. That's when I learned archery too. Though my skills were lousy then."
"Never knew White Deer Academy's gentleman was skilled with a bow. Then again, I've heard scholars practice archery for mind-body cultivation."
"Wait here a moment."
With that, Heuk Do-san vanished somewhere. Moments later, he returned with four thick, long poles—he'd found who knows where—and handed two to Bing-seol.
"What's this?"
"One in each hand for support."
"Too thick for walking sticks."
"They look bulky, but they're dry and lightweight. Might be a pain, but don't ditch them. Snow hides rocks and boulders—you could snap an ankle if you're not careful."
"I'll be cautious. But do you really think we can climb that mountain? Even if we reach the top, no guarantee we'll know where we are."
Bing-seol gazed at the snow mountain as she asked. Heuk Do-san stared at it too before replying.
"Ever heard of the North Sea Ice Palace?"
"That ice fortress in a world buried entirely in snow?"
The North Sea Ice Palace had long been a legend among martial artists.
People claiming to hail from there occasionally appeared in the Central Plains martial world.
They wielded secret arts unknown to the world, their power terrifying. Fifty-odd years ago, a North Sea Ice Palace expert who visited the Central Plains froze an entire pond with a single wave of his hand.
Rumor had it the palace folk wore polar bear fur garments and rode sleds pulled by massive dogs.
"They say the people there never bathe, not once a year. Splash water on yourself and you'd freeze solid."
"What about the black folk of Ubanheuk?"
"You mean the dark-skinned people living across the sea in the scorching sands?"
Travel west for months following the sun, and you'd reach lands where the earth boiled. So hot the ground scorches—the people there supposedly wander from water hole to water hole.
Hence, wars between tribes over puddles were everyday occurrences.
"Mongol steppes? Taklamakan?"
"You think I wouldn't know those?"
Almost no one hasn't heard of the endless grassy Mongol steppes. Many have even felt the dominion of the peoples who roam them.
But they're not all grass, they say. Half desert, actually.
Taklamakan too—she'd heard of it. A deathly realm where sandstorms swallow everything.
Yet green oases bubbled up here and there, allowing people to live. Some had even formed cities.
"You know quite a bit."
"Who knows less than you, Black Young Master? But why bring up all that mid-snow-mountain talk?"
"North Sea, scorching sands, Mongol steppes, Taklamakan—they're all harsh environments where life barely clings on. But no matter how brutal, humans always take root. Makes sense that no one lives here, with rivers flowing and forests thick? Even Blood Wolves and demon deer travel in packs."
"Oh my god. You're looking for people."
"With far-sight, and good weather, we'll spot human traces from the peak. Find them, ask how to get back to the Central Plains."
Bing-seol was deeply impressed.
Setting aside survival skills in extremes, his insight to read the situation and plan ahead was incredible.
No matter how she thought about it, she felt lucky. Bing-seol thumped her pole on the ground and declared spiritedly.
"Shall we head out then?"
* * *
The snow mountain viewed from the base differed vastly from the one they actually climbed.
Razor winds scouring the slopes, knee-deep snow sucking at every step, frigid air filling heaven and earth—it felt like another world.
Without the Blood Wolf fur, without Heuk Do-san's overshoes and snowshoes, they'd be ice statues by now.
But the real ordeal was something else.
"Hold on tight!"
Heuk Do-san shouted, plastered to the ice wall.
Dagger in one hand, axe in the other, he hacked upward relentlessly. At his waist, a short climbing rope dangled, with Bing-seol harnessed to the end, following behind.
"No other way up?"
"You saw it yourself—why ask."
"My fingers feel like they're falling off."
"Tell me when they do."
"How much farther?"
"Don't talk. I'm struggling."
"I'm scared."
*You're scared? I'm scared too.*
"Why do you keep bumping my butt? Already losing my mind here."
"Rope's too short—my head keeps hitting your back. Sorry if it's annoying."
They'd trimmed the climbing rope bit by bit over the journey as needed, leaving it short. Barely enough to tether her to him.
Being a single thin strand, it nagged at Heuk Do-san considerably. If it snapped, Bing-seol was done for.
"Damn, you're heavy. What kind of woman weighs this much?"
"The Blood Wolf skin. Take it off, and I don't weigh nearly as much. Only ate a little dried meat today too."
"Who told you to eat less?"
"Sorry."
Everything she said ended in sorry.
Fear. The dread that at her limit, this man might cut the rope.
The immense natural barrier dredged up instincts lurking deep in Bing-seol's core.
"You're only stepping where I axed, right?"
"Yes, doing exactly as told."
"Almost there. Hang on just a bit."
Scaling the ice wall was grueling and perilous, but not impossible.
Soon after conquering it, Heuk Do-san and Bing-seol faced a stunning obstacle: a bottomless crevasse where the path abruptly ended.
Prone in the snow, they peered into the fathomless rift.
"What is this?"
"A crack from millennia-old snowpack splitting like ice. Northerners call them ice lightning scars. Traces of bolts striking the glacier, or so they say. First time I've seen one myself."
"Amazing."
"You call this amazing? It's eerie."
Whoooo...
Wind howled from the gorge below, like wails from hell.
"Looks like we took a wrong turn."
"Even you mess up sometimes, Black Young Master?"
"Not a mistake. Act of god. When have I ever climbed a snow mountain this huge?"
"You said terrain tells you where water flows, which valleys lead where."
"No way to spot a sudden ground split without climbing."
"So what now?"
From prior scouting, the crevasse stretched along the left ridge and right cliff, far from short.
This spot was the narrowest. About ten-odd zhang wide—thirty meters. Even a lightness skill master couldn't leap it humanly. Especially on slick ice.
Heuk Do-san stood and scanned around once more. Of the snow range's myriad peaks, theirs was the lowest—chosen to minimize toil, only to hit a dead end.
One option: descend the valley, climb another peak. But the adjacent one's summit was cloud-shrouded.
*Climb that, and I'd see much farther...*
"If you're saying climb that peak from the start, I'd rather throw myself into this ice chasm."
"Who's throwing a fit?"
"Feels hopeless."
They'd trekked half the day nonstop since dawn. Trudged knee-deep snow, battled ear-numbing cold, scaled the ice wall.
Retrace it all, start over. No guarantee that peak lacks crevasses.
Just thinking choked her.
But Bing-seol didn't know the graver issue. Mountain nights outstrip plains ones. Sunset meant unprecedented cold.
Odds of nightfall descending the adjacent valley: certain. Unprepared, no surviving till dawn.
"Well? Going down?"
"Two men like water and oil travel together, encounter raging rapids. One knows the channel, one has a boat—what do they do?"
"Must they cross?"
"Absolutely."
"Then set aside grudges later—pool strength to cross first."
"Wu and Yue sharing a boat..."
"What's that mean?"
"We're camping here tonight."
"Yes."
"Seop Daegang's group arrives soon. Wait for them, cross at dawn together. That's the plan."
"......!"