Chapter 660 - 659: Climbing to the Summit
"Hey, Chen Tianlong, what are you doing? You’ll catch a cold like this soon," Jiang Yufan worriedly took off his coat, but Chen Tianlong stopped him.
"Yufan, you’re underestimating me a bit. Remember when I was a kid, in the dead of winter, my master kicked me into the freezing river for a bath, and I had to stay in for five hours without coming ashore. Do you think I’d be afraid of this temperature?" Chen Tianlong said with a bitter smile.
"Ah? That’s intense," Jiang Yufan was shocked to learn how much hardship Chen Tianlong endured as a child. No wonder he’s so formidable. Although Chen Tianlong wasn’t the strongest, to Jiang Yufan, he was indeed impressive.
Chen Tianlong chuckled without speaking further. As for his childhood training, it was unbelievable to most. The brutal training in the military seemed terrifying, but to Chen Tianlong, it was not even a tenth of what he experienced.
The two continued forward, but there was still nothing particularly noteworthy ahead.
"Something special, right?" Jiang Yufan said and suddenly noticed a small elevated hill not far away. Although the hill looked small, it was at least ten meters long and wide, with an estimated peak area of a hundred square meters.
"Chen Tianlong, don’t you think that’s a bit special?" Jiang Yufan pointed ahead and said.
Chen Tianlong looked in the direction Jiang Yufan pointed and realized indeed it was special. Among the vast snowy mountain tops, this little hill was the most conspicuous.
"Right, the Ten-thousand-year-old Ginseng, it seems like that’s how it’s depicted on TV, usually on the highest, most remote places," Chen Tianlong patted his leg, suddenly recalled.
"Yes, yes, it seems like that," Jiang Yufan clearly agreed with Chen Tianlong’s opinion.
So the two didn’t delay and arrived at the foot of the hill. Chen Tianlong looked up, it was about a hundred meters high, and he turned to Jiang Yufan and said, "Yufan, you wait below, the mountain is too steep."
"Mm-hmm, understood. Be careful," Jiang Yufan surprisingly obeyed this time, considering the steep mountain. If she went up too, it would take a lot of time, and she could see Chen Tianlong safely from where she was, so it didn’t matter if she climbed or not.
Chen Tianlong nodded and began walking towards the small hill. After taking a deep breath, he leaped and grabbed a rock, starting to climb.
The hill was steep but only about a hundred meters high, with many jagged edges, making it not too difficult for Chen Tianlong to climb, but Jiang Yufan below was still sweating nervously.
After all, this was the peak, and the wind was particularly strong, and it came in gusts, unpredictable at times.
Suddenly, a gust of cold wind hit, causing Chen Tianlong to shiver and almost lose his grip. His foot slipped, leaving him dangling by his right hand in the wind.
"Chen Tianlong, be careful," Jiang Yufan shouted in a panic, seeing this.
Chen Tianlong steadied himself, used his strength to grab his other hand back, and put his foot back in position. Only then did he relax and shouted down, "I’m fine, don’t worry."
He continued climbing; before long, Chen Tianlong firmly grabbed the top rock and leaped onto the summit.
The summit was quite small, about sixty square meters wide, covered in snow.
However, there were some green plants growing in a spot. Curious, Chen Tianlong slowly walked over and saw a large patch of green grass growing under a big stone.
In the middle of the grass grew a ginseng tree. Chen Tianlong was ecstatic. He was sure this was the Ten-thousand-year-old Ginseng because only it had the special ability to protect its surroundings so well.
Chen Tianlong took out a dagger to dig it up, but as soon as he stabbed the blade down, a shrill screech came from the sky. Chen Tianlong quickly turned and saw a giant condor flying straight at him.
Chen Tianlong reacted immediately, rolling out of the way and getting back on his feet, watching the condor warily with the dagger in hand.
The condor’s attack failed, and it slowly landed on the big stone above the Ten-thousand-year-old Ginseng, its sharp eyes fixed on Chen Tianlong.
Only then did Chen Tianlong truly see the enormous creature in front of him. This condor, known as the Kando Vulture, was about 1.3 meters long, with a wingspan of 3 meters, making it the largest bird of prey in the world.
It had a large fleshy crest on its head, resembling a top hat. Its irises were red, with its head and neck bare of feathers, and the pink neck underside decorated with white feather ornaments, resembling the collar of a coat.
Seeing this, Chen Tianlong roughly understood the condor’s size but was unsure about its attack capability. Clearly, this was no ordinary bird, but one with intelligence.
Thinking of this, Chen Tianlong suddenly shouted, "Hey, big bird, can you understand me? I’m here to dig up this ginseng to save someone. Could you please let me?"
"Coo, coo, coo,"
The condor screeched to itself, leaving Chen Tianlong a bit frustrated. With such a massive bird of prey, if he rashly went to dig the ginseng, would it attack him again?
Chen Tianlong decided to try digging again, but as soon as he moved his foot, the condor flapped its wings, sending snow flying towards Chen Tianlong, while it opened its large mouth, screeching twice.
Chen Tianlong concluded that going straight to dig was unworkable, so he decided to deal with the annoying condor first. Thinking this, Chen Tianlong began to attack the condor.
"Damned bird, if you don’t move, I’ll have no choice but to be rude," he shouted, striking with the first move of Dragon-Subduing Fist, knowing that he didn’t need to expend too much energy for ordinary beasts.
The condor screeched, flapped its wings, and Chen Tianlong was struck hard by the condor’s wing, sent flying far, nearly off the summit.
Landing with a thud, Chen Tianlong quickly got up, blaming himself for nearly losing his life due to carelessness. He no longer planned on fooling around; he sent a punch directly at the condor. The condor, with its keen eyes, sprung from the stone and flew away.
Chen Tianlong chased relentlessly, and after a while, the condor suddenly turned its head and clawed at Chen Tianlong. He quickly changed direction and narrowly avoided it, continuing to use Ghost Shadow Flash around the condor until he found an opening to stab its wing with a dagger.
The condor felt the pain and flung Chen Tianlong away, then circled for a while before returning to its original position. Now the condor’s wing was injured.
"Coo, coo,"
It screeched a few times, flapped its wings, preparing for another round of attacks. As expected, its eyes suddenly moved, and it swiftly flew over, forcing Chen Tianlong to dodge sideways. But he found the condor’s wing suddenly flapping his way, causing him to quickly evade.