Chapter 461: Chapter 236: Distant Mountains like Ink-dyed Silk, Features like a Painting
Thump!
Both legs flexed again, muscles and veins on them bulging, but the boulder on Mu Fan’s back remained utterly motionless.
Ha!
His feet left the ground once more, landing heavily on the steps ahead. Unlike the soft soil that would give way, the stone-carved mountain path perfectly bore the weight of both Mu Fan and the boulder.
This time, the squatting frog jump carried Mu Fan over three stone steps.
Without the boulder, he could have jumped over a dozen steps at least…
It might have fallen short, but he would improve. This was just the beginning!
Ha!
Mu Fan squatted and leaped again, landing steadily on the path with a dull echo.
Accompanying the youth’s squat jumps, the behemoth of rock gradually started to make its way up along the winding, tortuous mountain path.
If someone were to see this, they’d have to rub their eyes at least three times and then go back to sleep.
It must be an illusion!
How could a person possibly frog jump up a mountain carrying a boulder weighing several tons!
Under the crushing weight of the boulder, the soles of his shoes were almost flattened.
Moreover, although the mountain path was wet and slippery, it posed no problem for a youth who had survived in the wilderness for over a decade.
At dawn, the temperature was unusually low, even at the height of summer’s last month. It required an ordinary person to layer a jacket over a T-shirt to venture out at this time.
That was just at the base. As one climbed higher, the temperature would drop further with the increasing altitude.
At this moment, the temperature at the summit of Little Green Mountain was at least 10 degrees lower than at the foot of the mountain.
And Mu Fan’s training garments and vest lay quietly at the foot of the mountain, right at the start of the narrow, rugged path.
There were no bloodstains on Mu Fan’s back from the boulder’s pressure; his skin, crisscrossed with scars, wasn’t the least bit afraid of the rough rocks.
And as Mu Fan’s power flexed and exploded with each jump, nearly all of his muscles engaged, sending waves of heat rising from his body.
The cold mountain wind that touched Mu Fan was immediately turned invisible by the rising steam.
Mu Fan had never walked this mountain road before, but by eye, it was roughly five kilometers.
Mu Fan’s goal for today was to complete frog jumps up the mountain carrying the boulder and… frog jumps down the mountain!
A round trip, 10 kilometers!
The entire way, frog jumps!
The sky was barely lit, as dawn just began to break; his cultivation was just getting started.
A determined smile cracked Mu Fan’s resolute face, then he clenched his jaw and jumped again.
Thump, thump, thump…
On Little Green Mountain, the gentle breeze scattered the echoing thuds little by little.
With steady and even jumps, Mu Fan’s figure grew smaller and smaller from the foot of the mountain.
It seemed only the gently swaying mountain grasses on either side of the path bore witness to his efforts.
…
20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes—Mu Fan hadn’t uttered a single word, there was only the rhythmic, forceful panting from his mouth and nose.
The 2500th jump!
The 2501st jump!
Sweat poured down Mu Fan’s forehead, mixing with the steamy heat and dripping onto the stone pavement. He looked up at the last three steps, then at the sky enveloped in a misty haze, like the birth of all things, right before his eyes.
He chuckled.
The 2502nd jump!
Thud!
Mu Fan’s feet landed heavily, his upper body nearly parallel to the ground.
Forced to look downwards, Mu Fan saw an endless swath of neatly interlocked stones under his feet.
He still carried the giant rock upon his back.
As he slowly rose, he did not see the slender figure standing straight as a green bamboo against the wind, less than 200 meters in front of him.
A proud green pine tree stood dozens of meters in front of the figure; it was perched atop Little Green Mountain, exuding an air of disdain for all other hills around.
Behind the green pine, the smooth stone surface was replaced by an untended mountain with scattered rocks.
Among them lay a large rock, like a reclining ox.
It was nearly five o’clock; the light on the mountaintop had become bright enough to reveal a crimson dot on the ox-like boulder, resembling rouge.
At first glance, one might only notice the scene, but upon looking closer, one would find that the slender figure held a great bow nearly as tall as herself.
A pale white tassel hung from the black, simplicity of the bow, fluttering continuously with the mountain breeze.
Her left hand held the bow horizontally forward, her right hand pulled the bowstring to a half-draw behind her.
Her body stood upright as a pole, her arms straight as branches!
The faint exhalation seemed to merge with the whispers of the wind.
Her wrist, elbow, and delicate shoulder were all on the same level, her white bow clothes indicating her gender, highlighted by the silk ribbon casually tied behind her, holding her hair together.
When the thud vibrated from a hundred meters behind her, the figure, having held her stance for a long time, slowly returned the bowstring to its place with her thumb adorned with a copper ring, pinching a plain wooden arrow between her fingers.
The figure finally turned slowly to look back.
At that moment, with the great bow and arrow held diagonally down, the woman who turned around seemed to blend perfectly with the mist of the mountain peak and the sunrise behind her.
The lightly lifted bow clothes and her hair, half-bundled and swaying in the wind, made the woman appear utterly otherworldly.
Even when Mu Fan raised his head to see this figure, he was momentarily stunned.
In the midst of peaks untouched by technological civilization, such a scene of perfect harmony between man and nature unraveled at sunrise.
The woman’s silhouette, cast by the sunrise into his eyes, presented an integration with nature that he had not felt in a long time.
Accustomed to the grandeur and noise of the technological world, to the cold steel of Mechas and Warships, he was momentarily mesmerized upon seeing this scene.
The stone on his back remained motionless as the boy slowly stood up, staring blankly at the bow-wielding woman in the distance.
But just as this serene silence sustained, a clear, slightly questioning voice came from the woman, flowing with the wind and falling into his ears like pearls dropping into a plate.
“Mu Fan?”
Mu Fan?
The voice echoed in his head, jolting him back to reality.
As his eyes lifted, a drop of steaming sweat just happened to land on the stone slab, splashing up a tiny, crystal-clear droplet.
The muscles on Mu Fan’s back suddenly tensed and trembled, his arms assisting him as he tossed and then caught the giant rock with a Reverse Body motion, placing it steadily on the ground.
At the summit of Little Green Mountain, at this moment when darkness had just faded and dawn had just arrived.
Mu Fan, his upper body bare, his body scarred, and the mountain wind unable to sweep away the steaming heat, looked across the hundred meters at the bow-wielding woman, her features as beautiful as distant mountains, her eyes and brows like fine art.
His face showed an unmistakable surprise,
“Lu… Senior Sister?”
***
PS: (Feels like I could start writing fantasy and xuanhuan novels now…)
Thank you to the book friends “水丶告”, “jhffu” for the 1000-coin rewards!
Thank you to the book friend “Person-Type Monster” for the 500-coin reward!
Thank you to the book friends “Soul凝忆冰魄”, “Far Sailing”, “Casual Uncle1” for the 200-coin rewards!
And thank you to “End of the Horizon x Close at Hand”, “Rusty Crown”, “Silly1905”, “Vast Dust of Dreams”, “謾謾の淪陥”, “huangzhida”, “Wind God’s Name”, “Crazy Devil Woof”, “Heartbeat, Then Medicine”, “Destroyer of Worlds, Slayer of Gods and Demons”, “英耒”, “Poetry and Picturesque, Ren Xiaowei”, “Meteor in the Morning Light”, “Book Friend 140208151753059”, “Silly1905”, “Far Sailing” for the 100-coin, and “Pinging(1)” for the 40-coin rewards!