Over two hundred li, neither too far, nor too close.
By the early hours before dawn, Yang Yunhai had finally reached the outer edge of the mountain range marked on his map after running intermittently for at least five hours.
Looking up, he saw the crescent moon appear and disappear behind the murky clouds, casting faint moonlight. It also revealed the cliff wall, as steep and sharp as if carved by a blade.
"This mountain really is a 90-degree vertical drop! Luckily, it's not completely smooth and flat," Yang Yunhai let out a sigh of relief.
If the surface were too smooth, there would be no handholds, and it would be hard to climb even with the help of vines. He'd have to find another way around.
With that thought, he raised his hand and summoned his martial spirit, injecting soul power to produce four vines that wrapped around his waist.
Then, he controlled the vines to extend upward along the cliff face, probing for any points of support. Once found, the barbs at the ends would hook in and secure themselves tightly.
With a thought, he had the vines retract, pulling his body upwards.
At the top of each ascent, he pressed his body tightly against the cliff to stay balanced, then repeated the process of sending vines upward to search for the next grip point.
Climbing in this way, pausing for rest when tired, his speed was actually not too bad.
As time went by, he crossed peak after peak. Occasionally he would encounter soul beasts along the way, but they were mostly no stronger than a hundred years old. Yang Yunhai easily bound them and absorbed just enough of their energy to maintain the vines. He didn't absorb it into his own body for fear of affecting his physical condition.
Naturally, he didn't drain the beasts completely and let them go once he was done.
After who knows how long, the horizon finally began to brighten, signaling the approach of dawn.
"Rumble…" A faint rumbling echoed in Yang Yunhai's ears, and a cool, misty breeze wafted toward him.
"All that training over the past three and a half years wasn't for nothing!" he thought joyfully, his fatigue momentarily forgotten as he quickened his climb.
Before long, his feet touched solid ground, and he found himself in a forested valley. Nearby, a gentle stream flowed, and in front of him, a towering silver waterfall thundered down from above. The surrounding trees were lush, and the ground was covered with Blue Silver Grass swaying in the waterfall's wind.
"What a beautiful place," Yang Yunhai couldn't help but praise the scenery.
He stretched his neck and strode to the edge of a pond. Taking off his clothes, he jumped in for a refreshing bath.
Once he had redressed, he sat on a rock to eat some food and then closed his eyes to rest and recover.
He hadn't slept the entire night and had been climbing for hours. Even with his current strength, he was nearing his limit.
Still, the thing he was seeking was close at hand. His heart burned with anticipation.
About fifteen minutes later, Yang Yunhai opened his eyes and stood up.
After moving his body a bit, he looked up at the waterfall. Perhaps due to the mist rising from the water or a river above feeding it, the sky above the waterfall was clouded and gray, and the lighting was dim.
The surrounding cliff walls were dark brown, and the mist made it hard to see clearly from a distance.
Seeing this, Yang Yunhai walked around the pond to stand beneath the waterfall.
He looked up again, and his eyes lit up.
There were traces of disturbed soil. Very faint, but unmistakable. Why would there be scattered earth on the cliff behind a waterfall?
It could only be one thing, left by human activity.
Thinking of Tang Hao, whom he had just seen the day before, Yang Yunhai immediately understood.
"If I had come a day or two later, these traces would probably have been washed away completely," he thought with a sigh.
"Tang Hao, you really saved me some trouble."
With tracks to follow, climbing up to locate the cave entrance would be much easier.
Without delay, he summoned his martial spirit and created vines. Using the same method as before, he had them climb the cliff. Though the walls around the waterfall were wet and slick, their irregular shape helped, there were outcroppings every so often.
Some gaps were far apart, but for him, that wasn't an issue.
After all, his first soul skill allowed him to infinitely extend his vines.
Soon, the vines reached one of the outcroppings. Using the barbs to dig into the rock and anchor tightly, the vine held firm.
Seeing this, Yang Yunhai didn't hesitate. He had the vines retract and lift his body upward.
He carefully observed the cliff face, looking for signs of human footprints or climbing marks.
Once found, he copied the method, sending vines upward, anchoring them securely, and pulling himself along.
Time passed bit by bit until he reached a section where the tracks disappeared, midway up the waterfall.
"Heh, sometimes being too powerful can be a drawback," Yang Yunhai smiled as he looked around.
The waterfall dropped nearly 200 meters with enormous force. Passing through it wasn't easy. Judging by the traces, Tang Hao must have used a rather brute-force method, probably the same as in the original story, when he took Tang San up: using overwhelming power to reverse the waterfall's flow.
That kind of force would certainly damage the cliff face, even if carefully controlled.
Evidence of this could be seen in some of the damaged sections behind the waterfall, clearly not caused by natural erosion.
"If it weren't for the treacherous terrain around this mountain range, and the lack of many soul beasts within, this place would've been discovered long ago by soul hunting teams. There's even a low-level soul beast forest just a few hundred li away," Yang Yunhai thought to himself.
"Also, having a small body does have its advantages," he added, noticing a gap behind the waterfall and sighing in relief.
If there were no opening, he'd have to force his way through the torrent, no small feat.
With a gap, however, the force he had to endure would be far less, making it much safer.
"Now that I know the height, if I fail this time, I'll go up above the waterfall, use vines to anchor to nearby trees or cliffs, and swing myself in using inertia. If that fails, I'll use the big trees as pulleys, tie a huge stone, and drop it into the middle of the river to disrupt the flow. That should open a small enough gap to get in safely."
After running through several backup plans in his mind, Yang Yunhai took a deep breath. He removed the bag from his back and slung it over his arm. Pressing his chest to the cliff, he flicked his right hand, sending a vine to wrap around a protruding rock to his right. After confirming it was secure, he turned his head, placed his left hand on the cliff, and extended a vine from it.
As the vine extended forward, it hooked into any cracks or protrusions it encountered.
Soon, the left vine had stretched over a hundred meters, wrapping around the waterfall cliff several times to form a giant web.
Seeing this, Yang Yunhai took a deep breath and pressed his body against the cliff, using the vine web to slowly move inward.
The rushing water occasionally struck his back and clothes, splashing water everywhere and pushing down the vines.
Luckily, there were some indentations along the way. By sticking close to the cliff, he could avoid the worst of the torrent. It made for a decent resting point.
Little by little, Yang Yunhai moved inward, eventually reaching a recessed area in the middle.
Without hesitation, he used the vine web within reach to sway back and forth, scraping the stone wall with the barbs.
He didn't know the exact location of the mechanism behind the stone wall, but according to the original story, Tang Hao had only pressed a spot to activate it.
So it didn't matter if Yang Yunhai didn't know the exact spot, he would just press everything.
"Buzz buzz buzz…" The sound of stone shifting rang out, and a hidden entrance appeared not far away.
"If Tang San from the Tang Sect had designed this mechanism, it wouldn't be this simple. Clearly, the level of trap engineering in this world is still very basic."
"Which is perfect for me!" Yang Yunhai smiled and quickly pulled himself over to the entrance using the vines.
Grabbing the doorway, he retracted the vines and jumped in.
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