Chapter 603: Memory Revived

Here there is no change of seasons; time flies like a white horse passing a gap.

Jiang Feng didn't know exactly how many years had passed.

The sun rose from the same position and set from the same position, day after day, year after year……

He climbed the mountain every day.

No, more accurately, he was trying to climb the mountain every day.

Day after day, month after month, year after year.

He couldn't remember how many times he had tried—thousands, tens of thousands, perhaps more.

But he had never succeeded.

Not even once.

He fell countless times.

At first he could only manage a few climbs a day; later he could do dozens, even hundreds a day.

His body grew stronger each time he was flung back, to the point he himself didn't even notice.

He only knew his body was more usable than before, nothing more.

He forgot who he used to be; he had become a very simple person.

There was only one thing on his mind: climb up!

This day was just like every day before.

Jiang Feng woke up from the grass mat, lifted the grass curtain, and walked out.

Lu Wu was already crouching at the doorway, head raised, his golden eyes watching him, his tail swaying behind him.

Jiang Feng glanced down at it, reached out and stroked its head.

Then he stepped toward the cliff.

He walked past the lakeside and saw a man sitting on a large stone fishing, his rod slanted toward the water, the bobber motionless.

He didn't stop to greet him, and the man didn't look at him.

After so many years, their communication was pitifully scarce. Jiang Feng had grown accustomed to it.

He walked to the front of the cliff, stopped, and looked up.

The cliff remained as it was.

So high its top couldn't be seen, so steep one couldn't stand on it, as if it were sleeping.

Jiang Feng took a deep breath.

This time, he didn't reach out directly as he usually did.

He stood there, closed his eyes, and let his breathing become steady.

Then he opened his eyes.

After so many years, this was the first time he looked at it with this kind of gaze.

It was a pure gaze, like looking at an old friend he'd known for a long time.

He extended his hand and pressed it gently and steadily against the cliff.

The moment his palm touched the rock, he felt a chill.

He waited for the radiance to surge forth, for the sound to explode, for the force to fling him away.

But this time, nothing happened.

Jiang Feng froze for a moment.

His hand remained on the rock, and the stone wall beneath his palm was silent, like a genuine stone.

The cliff simply stood there silently, allowing his hand to press upon it without any reaction.

Jiang Feng couldn't believe it.

He had grown accustomed to that feeling of rejection, even beginning to think it was normal.

But now, the cliff suddenly did not reject him.

He took a deep breath and placed his other hand on it as well.

Both hands were pressed against the rock.

The cliff still showed no reaction.

Jiang Feng's throat tightened; he wanted to say something, but he opened his mouth and no word came out.

He glanced down at the ground beneath his feet, then lifted his right foot and stepped onto a protruding stone on the cliff.

The stone was steady, not moving at all.

He pushed hard with his foot, and his body moved upward by one foot.

Then he climbed another foot upward.

Two feet, three feet, ten feet, twenty feet.

The higher he climbed, the farther the ground below seemed.

His movements were slow, each step careful.

This was the first time he truly climbed this mountain; all those previous years, he couldn't even touch it.

After climbing upward about one hundred feet, he felt a change.

It was not a change in his body, but a change in the surrounding environment.

The air grew thinner, breathing required a bit more effort. The wind grew stronger, blowing his hair back and making his clothes rustle.

Even more strangely, he could feel a pressure surging from all directions, as if something were squeezing his body, and with each step upward the pressure increased a little.

But he did not stop.

He gritted his teeth and continued climbing upward.

Twenty zhang, thirty zhang, fifty zhang.

His arms began to feel sore, his shoulders began to hurt.

But he didn't care.

He had waited so many years, and finally the mountain wall no longer rejected him; even if his arm broke, he would still climb up.

His fingers were worn raw, blood seeped out from under his nails and smeared on the rock, leaving dark red streaks.

He didn't care, continuing to climb upward.

But he did not stop.

He didn't know how long he had climbed. Perhaps it was an hour, perhaps a day, perhaps longer.

Here, time had no meaning; only upward, upward, and upward again.

His Awareness began to fall into obscurity.

It was not the kind of obscurity that comes from fainting, but a very strange state.

His body was moving, his hands grabbing, his feet pushing……

But he felt like an onlooker, floating in midair, watching another version of himself struggling to climb the rock wall.

He saw that the other self's hands were covered in blood.

His clothes were shredded by the rock, his hair blown into disarray by the wind.

He saw that the other self's eyes had light.

Like two balls of flame burning.

That self was Laughter.

Jiang Feng's Awareness snapped back, returning to his body.

He discovered he had already climbed past the cloud layer.

Under his feet was a surging white cloud sea, but it was different from below.

Here the rock was golden, not the gaudy gold of the nouveau riche, but a warm, jade-like gold.

Above, dense patterns were carved, and those patterns glowed.

The light was soft and warm, shining on his face and his hands, making his whole body feel cozy.

That sense of rejection disappeared.

It disappeared completely.

In its place came a feeling of acceptance.

The mountain wall accepted him, the air accepted him, everything around him accepted him.

The thick Spiritual Energy that once made his Breath difficult had now become gentle and pliable.

Like water, it wrapped around him, lightly supporting his body, as if helping him bear the weight.

Jiang Feng's eye sockets felt a little sore.

After all these years, he was finally no longer rejected by the world.

He exerted his last bit of strength, flipped over a protruding golden rock, and lay his whole body upon it.

He had no strength left to climb further.

But he no longer cared.

Because he knew, this mountain had already accepted him.

He lay on that golden rock, gasping heavily.

He succeeded.

He truly succeeded.

His Awareness began to fall into obscurity again.

Just as his Awareness was about to sink into darkness, he heard a voice.

"Not bad."

Jiang Feng snapped his eyes open.

He thought he had misheard, but the voice sounded again.

"One who has not disappointed Kunlun."

This time he heard it clearly.

The voice came from above his head, from above the golden rock wall, from deeper within the glowing patterns.

Jiang Feng pushed himself up sitting on the rock, raised his head and looked upward.

A figure stood at the edge of the platform, head lowered, looking at him.

Gray robes, long hair tied up with a Wood hairpin, a youthful and handsome face.

It was that man.

He was already Here.

Jiang Feng staggered for a moment. He had spent so many years, fallen countless times, and finally managed to climb to Here.

And that man, at some point already standing on the mountain peak, waited for him quietly, as if he had always been there.

The man looked at him, his expression still calm, showing no joy or anger. But Jiang Feng heard every word he spoke clearly.

Kunlun?

Hearing those two words, Jiang Feng's brain buzzed.

Whoosh!

Memory surged forth instantly!

He suddenly remembered who he was!