Chapter 186

Chapter 186: Fame Spreads

The fourth mountain was a giant mountain of flames. In the sky, fire meteors fell from time to time.

If your grasp of the Great Dao was weak and you were struck by a fire meteor, the pain would scorch bone and burn marrow. If your grasp of the Great Dao was strong, you could lessen or even cancel the damage.

When she reached the fourth mountain, Li Shuang’s climbing speed clearly slowed.

Each time a fire meteor dropped, she had to pause, then slowly use Dao intent to wear down the hurt.

But her steps never stopped; though slow, she kept moving, steady and firm, toward the summit.

Before the Water Screen, more and more people gathered.

Climbing the fourth mountain was not rare.

The top genius You Lan had already cleared six mountains, but she was much older than this newcomer called Li, and her cultivation was already at Integration Stage.

For this one called Li to pass four mountains at her age was truly very young.

Someone said in a low voice: “Are we sure this person with the code name Li is only thirty-three?”

Another person answered: “The Wanfa Eye’s information does not make mistakes.”

A third sighed: “Pity her cultivation is only at Golden Core Stage.”

Someone guessed: “Must be that her spiritual root is poor.”

Another said: “On the path of cultivation, chance, insight, bone, and root all matter. Lacking even one, you cannot go far. She does have talent in understanding the Great Dao, but her roots will limit her. Her future might be no higher than this.”

As the crowd talked, for the first time, burns appeared on Li Shuang’s body.

She looked at the wound on her shoulder and let out a soft sigh.

At this point she was stretched thin. She could no longer cancel the damage completely; she could only shave some of it away.

Another fire meteor fell.

Li Shuang bit down hard, and the Dao currents around her suddenly shifted.

She used her grasp of another path.

That path was born from the unconditional trust of her Senior Brother and Senior Sister. It was born in energy that was endlessly gentle.

From this path she had even understood Soul Severing, yet she never knew what kind of path it was.

Because she herself did not understand it, this path had never helped her much.

Li Shuang forced herself one more step upward.

The wound on her shoulder deepened again.

She clenched her teeth.

If things stayed like this, she had absolutely no chance to reach the end of the fifth mountain.

She looked up at the peak of the fifth mountain with some unwillingness.

She had once stood on a mountaintop. She had once seen the boundless view from above.

How could she accept being stuck on a mountainside?

With a bang, another fire meteor fell.

This time her whole arm went numb at once, burned until she could not feel it.

She knew that if she gave up, she could leave the mountain and all her injuries would recover.

But she refused to quit.

[Am I really at my limit now?]

Li Shuang’s steps faltered, and a fire meteor slammed her into the scorching rock.

People murmured at the Water Screen: “That’s about it.”

“It should be over. It’s already amazing as it is.”

“At most ten breaths more and she’s out.”

“What a pity. If this Li’s roots were a bit better…”

On the burning rock, Li Shuang’s eyes went a little hazy.

[Is this really a loss?] That powerless feeling made the scene of her fight with the Devil Heart suddenly rise in her mind.

When she faced the Devil Heart, the Heaven and Earth Furnace gathered the Will of the Multitudes.

She did not know how to use the Will of the Multitudes, but the furnace helped her use it once.

The furnace showed her how the power of all living beings, if used, could create a terrifying force.

A thought formed in her mind.

This road that had given birth to her Soul Method came from all living beings. She might as well name it with them.

It was a Path of All Beings.

To cultivate the Path of the Multitudes together with the Emotionless Path—she did not know if she was the first to try this, but she felt the two roads would meet at the end, reaching the same destination.

Right now, she was still far from truly merging her Great Dao.

But at least, the goal in her heart became clear.

“This path is named All Beings,” she murmured.

Dao light flashed, and the wounds on her body healed in an instant.

She stood back up and kept climbing.

At the Water Screen, the Warden who had been sitting the whole time suddenly stood.

He stared at Li Shuang in shock.

What was this? She had grasped another path.

And more than that, her two paths supported and strengthened each other.

The road that had been so hard for Li turned, in a moment, into a smooth way forward.

The Warden’s lips trembled.

This was already the fifth mountain.

Could she really break through the fifth mountain?

He stared at the Water Screen without blinking.

If she only passed four mountains, that was not enough to make this Li stand out for real attention.

But if she could pass the fifth, even the sixth, then he believed many in the Central Continent would be willing to wash and refine her bones, maybe even transplant a Peerless Grade Spiritual Root for her.

As long as she showed enough value, flaws in bone and root were not hopeless.

Li, was it? How far could you go?

With two Great Dao paths reinforcing her, Li Shuang climbed upward smoothly for a while. Near the summit, however, burns appeared on her body again.

Luckily the peak was close now. Though it was hard, she forced out the final step.

She stepped forward and finally stood on the summit of the fifth mountain.

Fifth mountain, reached.

The Warden’s lips quivered.

This Li…

This was the fifth mountain.

And she just reached the top like that.

Li Shuang returned calmly to the foot of the mountain and asked Su Mu in her mind: “Senior Su, after passing the fifth mountain, how does this result rank?”

Su Mu was quiet for a moment.

In his mind, he suddenly saw that day when Li Shuang sat beside him, ruthlessly hooking one fish after another. This scoundrel, and she still dared ask how the result was.

He gritted his teeth and forced his voice to sound even: “It’s about average.”

Li Shuang nodded: “Average is fine.”

After all, in the Central Continent, cultivators from the other continents like them were bumpkins.

For a bumpkin like her to reach the Central Continent’s average level was already a kind of win.

Li Shuang sounded so sincere that Su Mu shut his mouth at once and stopped talking.

Just after she finished with Su Mu, Li Shuang looked up and saw a crowd staring at her with odd eyes.

She jumped a little.

[Why are they all staring at me? Do I have flowers on my face?]

The Warden said with a complex look: “You cleared the fifth mountain.”

Li Shuang nodded: “I barely made it through. I’ll need to work harder.”

She truly believed that, so she spoke with extra sincerity.

The place went quiet.

The Warden did not know what to say.

Inside, he was shouting like mad.

At this age she had already passed five mountains.

And she still looked unhappy. Was she crazy, or was he?