Chapter 13: Tianmen

The next day, at noon, after a day of relentless galloping, Bai Hu finally carried Xu Yuan to his destination.

After releasing Bai Hu, Xu Yuan stood alone upon the side peak, before him lay a sheer cliff plunging into the void, stretching ten thousand feet down.

Taking a step forward, Xu Yuan dared to glance downward toward the precipice.

What met his gaze was an endless abyss shrouded in mist and fog.

Suddenly, the clouds atop the peak surged and churned, and a gust of wind burst forth, rustling his embroidered robes with a sharp, whispering sound, making his body tremble slightly.

Seeing this, Xu Yuan instinctively retreated back to the interior of the peak, away from the precipice.

In the game "Cangyuan," he could have effortlessly commanded his character to leap down into the abyss—but now, he wisely refrained.

Shifting his gaze, Xu Yuan looked toward the main peak of Tianmen Mountain.

From one peak to another, the distance stretched a thousand feet.

Beyond the towering, sheer walls of the main peak, a veil of ethereal mist swirled and danced.

From below upward, the mist suddenly tore through the void.

On the colossal mountain, a vast circular opening, hundreds of paces in diameter, loomed like a celestial gate!

Gazing upon that immense gateway, something inexplicable stirred within Xu Yuan—beyond awe, a strange unease crept into his chest.

Only when he shifted his gaze away did that discomfort slowly recede.

Curiosity piqued, Xu Yuan turned his eyes back toward the gateway.

Soon, the unease returned, creeping back upon his mind like shadows.

"What is this? Why does staring at this gateway evoke such a feeling?"

Noticing a strange sensation in his body, Xu Yuan hastily pulled his gaze away. A flicker of astonishment passed through his mind, and then—without thinking—he recalled the description of the Mountain of the Gate from the formula texts.

Instinctively lifting his eyes again, Xu Yuan's expression was one of hesitant disbelief:

"Is this... sword intent? Could the mountain's summit, this gateway, truly have been pierced by a single sword strike?"

Xu Yuan suddenly felt that his understanding of this world of Cangyuan was still far from complete.

Bound by the limited expressive power of the 2.5D pixel art in the game "Cangyuan," he had no conception of just how powerful the absolute apex of strength could be in this realm.

The memory of someone once slicing through hundreds of zhang of mountain ranges stirred within him, and in that instant, his thoughts surged with countless associations.

In Xu Yuan’s mind, this world was more aligned with the tradition of xianxia than with orthodox cultivation.

There were sects, martial schools, and courtly politics.

Could it truly be that someone in this world could wield a single blade capable of freezing nineteen provinces in a single stroke?

If such a being truly existed, then the Northern Military God, who stood in open conflict with his original father in the court of the Great Yan Dynasty, would be nothing but a joke.

No matter how masterful his strategies, no matter how brilliant his tactics, they would still pale against a single, effortless stroke from an absolute master of power. What dignity could such a military hero possess?

In the midst of his dazed contemplation, the surrounding clouds and mist surged and roared, swirling wildly.

When Xu Yuan finally regained his senses, he suddenly realized his nose was damp and glistening.

Raised a hand and wiped it across his palm—the vivid red stain made him realize he had bled from the nose simply by staring at that celestial gate.

He hurried to turn away, refusing to look again.

Yet in that sudden turn, Xu Yuan caught sight of the eastern sky beginning to blush with pale dawn...

The clouds began to part, and the sunrise atop the mountain was breathtaking. The vast range of the Ten-Ten Mountains stretched before him, the endless forest wilderness dyed a deep, bloody red.

The scene before him stunned Xu Yuan.

What in the world?

Only moments earlier had he been lost in thought—how had time suddenly shifted from noon to dawn?

Thanks to the consumption of Yanling Fluid, he hadn't felt hunger, but the aching pain from standing still had slowly seeped back into his body.

Something beyond comprehension had befallen him. He longed to understand the cause, yet after a moment’s thought, he realized this was not the time for such inquiries.

His immediate priority was to reunite with Ran Qingmo.

Time had passed so long—where is that giant ice-block man now?

The White Tiger could reach the summit from the mountain's shoulder in just half a day. Now, over a day and a half has passed, and Ruan Qingmo hasn't arrived yet?

As he pondered, Xu Yuan's heart sank, one drop at a time.

The best possible scenario was that Ruan Qingmo had deliberately lured the enemy away, ensuring her own safety and temporarily escaping capture.

But the worst...

Ruan Qingmo was undoubtedly strong, yet in this moment of the story, there were still many others in the world who surpassed her.

Xu Yuan quickly cut off his thoughts, refusing to let himself spiral into speculation.

He was painfully aware of his current situation.

If Ruan Qingmo perished on the journey, unless he dared to risk his life with a mere 3-point fortune by leaping from this suspended cliff into the cave, he would surely die on the spot.

Staying here at the edge of the cliff, whether the one who came to claim him was the enemy or the henchmen of his original father—there was no survival. He would die with certainty.

The emergence of "the Dissonance Syndrome" directly sealed off all of Xu Yuan's fallback strategies.

His method of arriving through a transmigration that usurped another's body wasn't some flawless, world-defying soul transfer—rather, it was simply a reincarnation achieved within the rules of this world, a takeover of another's essence.

Although such a reincarnation, aside from the initial period when the "Dissonance Syndrome" manifested, functioned nearly perfectly, everything has its yin and yang.

This act of taking over a body has existed within this world for so long that it has naturally given rise to detection methods.

These methods are nearly lost to history, yet they truly exist.

And the most dangerous part? Those under the original owner's father's authority use them.

No one would randomly suspect him, but Xu Yuan was never truly the same as Xu Changtian. In front of those closest to him, he would surely be noticed within moments.

Once the anomaly was detected, a series of diagnostic procedures would follow—Xu Yuan could scarcely imagine what his fate might be.

There *is* a method to perfectly fuse body and spirit, and Xu Yuan knows exactly where it is—deep within that cave beneath the Hanging Sky Cliff.

But once that great block of ice perishes, he, Xu Yuan, will have absolutely no chance of descending to retrieve it.

Inhaling deeply, Xu Yuan forced himself to still his thoughts, controlling the slightly aching body, and settled onto the ground in meditation.

He now knew that no further thoughts would serve him—what remained was simply to wait, patiently, for the outcome.

"Buzz... buzz..."

As soon as he sat down, a faint tremor beneath the ground sent a shiver through Xu Yuan.

Lowering his gaze, he saw only scattered stones lying quietly upon the surface.

A hallucination?

His eyes flickered with doubt, and he gently placed his palm upon the ground.

"Buzz... buzz..."

The subtle vibrations between the sand and stones traveled through his fingertips, growing in intensity from faint to strong.

Xu Yuan's brow furrowed.

Was it an earthquake?

The thought flashed through his mind,

"Boom!"

With the spreading wave of sound, the mountain peak shuddered violently.

Xu Yuan instinctively held his breath.

No, not an earthquake—someone was fighting!

One second,

five seconds,

ten seconds,

"Boom—"

The wave of sound surged again, accompanied by a tremor, and this time the entire cliffside seemed to tremble subtly.

Xu Yuan clenched his fists tightly, a flicker of suspicion flashing across his eyes. He lifted his gaze toward the path he had come from.

Time seemed to freeze—

Amidst the relentlessly rising, blinding dawn, a black dot appeared.

It expanded rapidly across his vision, swiftly growing into a colossal shadow that swallowed the rising sun, hurtling toward the summit...

In a single breath,

"Boom—"

The immense shadow crashed down like a meteor from outer space, striking the empty ground ten meters ahead of Xu Yuan. The force of the impact sent sand and stone flying through the air, dust swirling wildly atop the peak!

When the dust finally cleared,

Through the gaps between his fingers, Xu Yuan saw the head of a serpent, towering over fifteen meters high.

And in that golden dawn,

upon the ferocious serpent's head,

a slender black silhouette stood firm with sword raised,

her trailing thousand strands of emerald hair swaying gently in the breeze...