✦✦✦━━━━━━✦✦✦
Hao Yun and Lee Jun had left Irkutsk. Lee Jun's SUV's engine growled like a hungry beast going berserk in search of food.
However, it also saved them.
A sudden snowfall caused the road to be covered with snow.
While the other vehicles stopped in their place, Lee Jun's SUV didn't even slow down; its custom wheels were perfect for roads like that.
"How long would it take us to reach the Eastern Sayan Mountain range?" Hao Yun asked Lee Jun.
Lee Jun replied, "Looking overall, it's around 300 Kilometers, but at most I can take you as far as 280 Kilometers, after that, you'll have to walk on your own."
"Oh! So will you return after dropping me?"
"No way I'm gonna return without enjoying! I'm planning to stay in a famous hillside resort."
The Ride was smooth, even the snowstorm couldn't stop them.
In an Instant, 8 hours passed. Both had reached the end of the road. "Mr. Hao Yun, ahead of this, you'll have to walk." Lee Jun said.
Hao Yun came out of the car, unloaded his baggage, and thanked Lee Jun before he left.
"Hmm... I've saved a lot of travelling time, but it looks like all of it is going to be used here."
He put his luggage in the system storage and began walking. There was no living person in that area.
The further he walked, the fiercer the snowstorm became.
However, just a snowstorm couldn't do anything to him, except for covering him with a lot of snow.
Without resting, Hao Yun continued walking.
Suddenly, a message came.
[Detected that the Host has reached the highest peak that it has fallen to.]
[Providing Live Map to Host.]
[Host is required to reach the X mark on the Map.]
Hao Yun was relieved; following the map was a lot easier than finding the precise location of his destination.
Hours later, as dusk fell, the snowstorm lightened, and Hao Yun decided to take a break.
He pulled out a large tent and camped beneath a rocky overhang, eating processed foods he purchased from Irkutsk's convenience store.
The night brought the weird sounds of creatures, most of them were of monsters.
Some wolves began growling nearby.
It was completely unexpected, since Hao Yun chose that location because there were no monsters present. So, where did these monsters come from?
While keeping his guard up, Hao Yun hoped for the monsters to leave and let him get some sleep.
But... From the darkness emerged Shadow Beasts.
Ghost-like wolves with eyes glowing like rubies.
Hao Yun had no choice but to confront them.
"This might be a good chance to try Ashfang." He pulled out the cursed blade from his system storage and slayed all of the wolves in a few moments.
However, something was odd this time.
He didn't receive any stat gains after killing them.
"Maybe I have hit the skill's limit..." He thought, as he returned to his tent and slept.
Soon, the night is overtaken by the sunlight.
Hao Yun looked at the system's map. The route it mentions was full of rocks and dangerous valleys, not to mention that he could sense it was filled with strong monsters.
But he had no other choice. After all, He didn't know what route could lead him to the core point of the Sayan Mountains.
He continues his journey, walking on narrow paths that aren't made for humans to walk on.
A misstep triggered a rockfall. But Hao Yun jumped on time, dodging falling stones.
Dust and snow blinded him momentarily.
Higher up, amid passing through a twisted alpine tree forest, Hao Yun faced more humanoid creatures, but unlike that one, they were quite weak and used wooden clubs they carved out of trees to fight.
Some of them tossed rock boulders at Hao Yun.
But he dodged it and parried their blows with his sword.
After a tense fight, leaving two trolls down, Hao Yun pushed himself ahead.
The Journey continued.
On the fifth day, Hao Yun was just 500 meters away from the core.
His heart was beating fast. Monsters kept attacking him, just like metal gets attracted to magnets.
However, the closer he was to the core, the stronger the monsters became; their shadows stirred oddly. The air was becoming heavy with an unseen power. Beyond a rock boulder's narrow opening lay darkness... a cavern mouth leading to the core.
Hao Yun paused, gripping his sword tighter. He didn't know what awaited within the core.
Hao Yun took a step forward, entering the cavern mouth.
However, the shadows swallowed him instantly.
The cavern opened to a dome chamber. At its center was a glowing object, not light, but something like paper. Hao Yun felt a pull toward it.
Suddenly, a voice spoke in Hao Yun's mind. "We waited for you."
Hao Yun turned around, but saw no one.
The voice was, in thought, a summoning.
The voice turned into a vision. In the dark, ancient beings were conducting rituals around a glowing stone pedestal.
Hao Yun sensed the power they were emanating; compared to him, it felt like they had oceans of Energy.
His vision faded.
What was left was silence and the pedestal glowing in the dark.
On the pedestal lay an artifact, a crystal orb full of red colored runes.
Hao Yun was feeling a Deja Vu.
He hesitated. What did the Orb repeat the same process he went through on Vama?
Slowly, he scratched it with his pinky finger. Nothing happened.
He grabbed the Crystal Orb in his hand, but... it cracked.
Hao Yun was worried he used too much power, but it seemed there was something else hidden inside the Orb.
It was a red-colored key.
[Task Updated.]
[The Key of the Unknown Chamber has been found.]
[Location Update.]
[Head to Mount Hua.]
Hao Yun was confused. He wondered if he traveled so far and fought with so many monsters just to obtain a key, and the next thing he found was that his task's real location is in China.
He had never felt so annoyed before. If he had enough power, he would have destroyed the System. But unfortunately, he didn't. He couldn't do anything more than obey what it told him to do.
Hao Yun was about to exit the core cavern. But then he noticed a circular pattern was glowing on the floor.
It felt like it had some hidden meaning. Slowly, he stepped on it.
WOOSH...
Hao Yun's surroundings changed in an instant. He was out of the cavern... The snowy mountains have been swathed with green and lush ones.
He turned around, and there was a single grey path.
Walking on it, Hao Yun noticed there were some structures ahead of him.
It felt a bit familiar, "Wait, is this a Shaolin Temple? The one I saw in the Kung Fu movies?"
Suddenly, three people dressed in grey monk robes spotted Hao Yun.
They looked angry and said something to him in Chinese.
"What are they trying to say?" Hao Yun didn't understand anything.
✦✦✦━━━━━━✦✦✦