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"Senior!! Look, I made it. I can't believe it!"
"Little Junior, you truly don't disappoint me.
Senior is very proud of you!"
There was a sly smile painted on his face. Of course, this senior was using him to probe the strikes. He was rather significant in the sect, and before they entered the mountain, he had specifically buried seeds of trust in them—in other words, manipulation. This way, they were dependent on him and thought that their survival was solely because of him.
When exploring the mountain, he took a disciple with him. This way, even if the disciple died, only the senior would be witness to the event, and he could distort the truth, using an excuse regarding the strikes being too deadly or unexpected. He took it so far as to even intentionally injuring himself to strengthen his narrative, So far, five disciples had been struck, and this was the sixth one.
"Sorry, Senior Brother, I didn't watch my step and bumped into you by mistake!"
After walking around a pathway, the junior stumbled with Falen face to face. He smiled gently and patted his shoulder.
Falen suddenly shuddered, and left in a state of shock, but he remained indifferent externally.
"Do not apologize for such a thing. Tell me, what are you doing this far up into the mountain, away from the others?"
After speaking for a while, a sharp light flashed across his pupils.
"Seems no matter where, humans are the same. Do not take a second thought to take advantage of another person. Unfortunately, I stumbled upon this youngster."
As he was talking, a sudden shout was heard, echoing through the mountain.
"What do you think you're doing with my Junior Brother?"
Falen smiled and responded in an inviting tone, "I was simply saying hello. I apologize; I did not know that you were both acquaintances. To tell you the truth, he reminded me of my own little brother. When I was younger, we were both separated from each other. Only that warm face could attract my gaze."
A gentle smile was painted on Falen's face, and in that moment, the world felt silent. His heart ached suddenly. He placed both his hands behind his back, and without saying goodbye, he turned around and left.
The little junior was deep in thought, struck in a trance.
"Little brother?" he thought to himself, watching Falen's back as he gradually disappeared from his sight.
As if hit by a sea of cold water, he jolted awake, and his hands suddenly couldn't help but try to reach him. As he raised his hand, it was suddenly grabbed by the senior, who smiled as he spoke:
"Do not ever talk to strangers, do you understand? If you suddenly disappear from my sight, how can I bear the thought of not knowing your safety?"
"Senior Brother, I'm sorry. I did not mean to worry you."
"Good lad! Let's get going."
As they walked in the opposite direction, he couldn't help but gaze back for a split second. He felt a warm sensation gathering in his heart.
While on the north side of the mountain, the snow suddenly intensified. It danced and whirled with the winds. Falen was walking up here; his lips were light red but had a faint blue frost around them. It was truly cold, and all he wore was a light coat with holes in the fabric.
"Earlier, when I saw that youngster, I left quickly due to the black lumps reappearing. I let my guard down, He truly did resemble my little brother. These cold and harsh winds cut through my soul, but also helped to recede the black lumps"
He slightly laughed. His eyelids were covered in frost, yet his gaze never looked down; it kept staring forward.
"These cold winds are nothing compared to the ones I suffered in my childhood. At that time, my heart was curious an ignorant child would dream. Each time I got sick, and sweat ran down my body in cold shivers, these winds intensified and froze them in their place. The inside of my body, my heart—all suffered the tremor of the misery in the world. Every time I slept, my imagination was the only freedom I had, And even in that space, the hands always seemed to grip my soul straight back to reality.
The utter hunger I felt gradually turned to hatred. For even when you tried reaching your fingertips toward the heavens, they struck you relentlessly on the palms! That craving for food transitioned again to indifference, and so did the foot that kept pressing against my face each single day. My face caved in and was ruthlessly crushed. I was left on the open road with blood running from all over. The weak, frail body of mine froze with time.
Days went by, and no one seemed to care for a half-dead child lying coldly on the asphalt. They stared in disgust; some complained about the foul smell that came from my corpse, some passerbys laughed, and others stared with cold eyes. I watched as the skies were painted in all different lights—the spring sky, the summer sky, the autumn sky, and the winter sky.
My throat was so sore that even trying to raise my voice resulted in blood clogging my esophagus. Sometimes I let out a subtle, blood-curdling cry; it was ironic. Yet when I thought of my little brother, all I could do was hope he was doing better than me. In fact, I held on through the suffering, hoping the heavens placed both of our punishments onto mine. This way, his life could be preserved. What was another mere day of suffering?
The laughter of joy, pain, and irony all clung to memories that left their mark on the mind.
The skies never called out to the sun to embrace me in its warmth. Yet the moon was indifferent. It always stayed youthful; it was equally lonely.
All eyes throughout history have once gazed upon this jade stone. Yet the man has withered away, and the moon has maintained its beauty. The man cried and howled, yet no one has heard a word uttered by the Moon. For countless years, it only kept following its responsibilities and kept its emotions at bay.
"I have finally reached the mid part of the mountain!"
Before he entered the area, he made sure that the crystals were still light blue. He had one hour to get past the mid part. It was very little, and the time constraint could cause one to feel stressed.
As he felt a bit of joy in his heart, he felt the snow tremble behind him, and two figures approached gradually. They wore black clothing, and their posture exuded a confident presence.
"Senior, it seems you arrived before us. Won't you let us go first, and you can follow behind us? This way, we can all get the translucent pouches, and you won't have to place yourself in danger."
"It appears you two specifically followed me to tell me such. Otherwise, why would you take this direction, which is isolated from the other pathways? This one has no ground to walk on—only pure snow. From far away, it only looks like a slope."
"Hmph! So you did notice. If you move, we will let you live and also share with you the treasure above. If you disagree, then don't blame me for being ruthless."
Falen chuckled and shouted, "Seeking death! Come catch me if you can! Today, the three of us shall play a gamble for our lives!"
As he uttered these words, he suddenly changed his destination toward the direction with the most abundant crystals. As they followed him behind, they heard a crazed laugh in front of them.
"Insane! He is insane! How can he run here so casually? We... we should retreat for now, Brother!"
"FOOL! Retreat? How long can he keep this up? We can use him to get to the top. Whenever the lightning returns, we would notice it earlier than him!"
*A Few Hours Later*
"Damn! He has not even slowed down for a split second. Does he not fear being struck? We are closing in on him, but I feel my body exerting itself to its limit!"
Falen contemplated, "Just a few more moments!! Hahahahaha!"
"Crazy man, what are you laughing for?! We will soon close in on you, and you will die!! Laugh for your own end!"
Falen suddenly stopped running. He looked around and then thought to himself, "This is it!" His gaze was sharp.
He suddenly stopped running and turned around. He pointed upwards to the peak.
"Do you see that path? It leads directly to the peak. All you have to do is follow it. To tell you the truth, this was the only way to get you to reach this point. We have only one hour and one minute to get past the mid phase, so if we wasted time, it would be bad for both our sides."
The two brothers were suddenly struck. They didn't know how to react. But they realized that this was deeply something they had longed for years—to pass this exam. They had gone through hardships together for years for this. And when they saw Falen, they knew that he was their key.
"Good, good! You know what's beneficial for you."
They both laughed suddenly, but there would be one pouch left.
"Would we give it to you? I think not! Do you know how much we can sell it for? Hahahaha! As long as we kill you, we can both pass the exam and make a fortune. Good! Very good! Come face your demise! We have one minute, which is more than enough to kill you!!"
They suddenly rushed and tried to attack Falen, who stood parallel to the barrier between the mid part and top part. His lips curled into a smile, and he counted:
Five
Four
"What! What the—something is wrong!"
Suddenly both their hearts sank. They realized that they had fallen for his scheme.
Three!
Two!
One..
"Shameful Scoundrel, you dare decieve us!! Ahhhhh!"
While they were mid-air, a sudden silence covered the world. The mountain shone in white light. You could not even see them in this illumination. But you could hear a thunderous roar suddenly. It resembled a mighty javelin struck straight from heaven by a God. At once, glimmering light shone fiercely from the inside of their bodies, and along with the sound, their physical bodies were completely obliterated. After the light vanished, nothing was left of them. Not even their essence. This was recorded in the silver mirror. It stated that once one was marked by death, their essence would completely disappear—never to be recovered.
Earlier Falen mentioned that the timing for the mid part of the mountain was one hour and one minute, the reason why he chose this specifically was because. One minute was minute, difficult to keep track off. For instance if you try to recall how much time has passed, if the minutes reach in specific quarters like fifteen, thirty,fourty five etc. In short it messes with their perception of time, Also the extra minute could be due to unnatural selection of the crystal, often specific amount of times like thirty minutes felt improbable. Especially at the start of the mountain, where the intervals were easy to keep track of mostly,
When falen told them that they had one hour and one minute to reach the barrier, it was precisly at Fifty Nine at that moment, they assumed they had two minutes left. At the time when they spoke and they threathend falen fifty five seconds passed, so when he counted from five down, they were surprised because they thought only sixty minutes had passed or fifty Nine minutes and fifty five seconds, they realized at the end that sixty was the actual number and the extra minute was to throw them off.
Also he wasted time, while being pursued, either laughing manically, etc and wildly running through the array of crystals. He ofcourse set himself as a possible cannon fodder, but it was calculated, this was the point of the mid phase. Other paths wouldn't reach one hour presicly, it would again be one hour and one minute , but this path nothing happend so assuming it had an odd extra minute added to its interval. Falen had observed and also experimented.
Earlier when he walked through the snow, upwards. He noticed that the path he walked was not an actual path, it was just regular snow. So he assumed that here most of the pathways wouldn't be dependent on visibility. It was to decieve people who came thinking that the pathways were the correct one and wouldn't bat an eye on the dangerous part of the mountain where there were only snow.
So the actual snowy pathway he chose was exactly at sixty minutes, the extra minute was the other paths which were essentially a death trap.
Also why didn't falen just run off without telling them? That's obvious, the moment he reached there they had already trailed him. He couldnt choose a wrong path and then change, all of them would die. He did this ensuring that the timing would be precise, his survival and their death!
There was sudden silence. Falen stood there. In front of his feet, pieces of clothing whirled with the wind and fell on his right shoulder. His heart couldn't help but tense up—not in fear, but in exhilarating ecstasy.
"This! Was the harsh truth of life. All their fleeting emotions and their aspirations were completely evaporated with time. This! Was death."
When the dark Night calls for whispers, the resentful creatures haunt the night, howling as they fly under the youthful moon, under the endless sea. From the cardinal directions, from north to south, from death to life, and life to death—the mortal clings to the moment between, walking on a thin line with his palms covering his eyes. No end, and in eternal silence...