Chapter 462: The Road to Kongtong

After settling the various miscellaneous affairs in Huaxia, Baifeng ultimately decided to make a trip to Kongtong Mountain. It would be best if he could see Guangchengzi before Xuanyuan; at the very least, he had to intercept Xuanyuan on the road so that no one would go.

At this moment, Baifeng was no longer afraid of interfering with the course of history. Previously, he feared that arbitrarily simplifying characters and skipping the evolution process of Chinese characters would impact the entire Huaxia civilization, eventually causing Chinese characters to become something like Latin or Korean, making it impossible to even trace back the past history.

But regarding this, he was not very afraid; it was nothing more than the "Dao." If he could not hear Guangchengzi speak on the "Dao," then he would spread the "Dao" he knew himself. He did not know how profound Guangchengzi's Dao was, but in any case, it was just those things. As long as he proposed a basic theory, there would always be later generations to patch it up.

Before those who went to the Xuanyuan Tribe to trade for Slaves returned, Baifeng set out directly. The team he brought was extremely luxurious; the Dry Rations alone were enough to guarantee his own food for two months. Even Xiongyuanxing back then did not have this treatment, mainly because the bear tribe had to carry goods, so the amount of food carried naturally had to be reduced.

While choosing food, Baifeng also suddenly realized that the reason the Xuanyuan Tribe came to trade for food that was very easy to carry and suitable for satiation was precisely to prepare for this.

But his own team was definitely more luxurious than Xuanyuan's; surpassing Xuanyuan was absolutely no problem.

After Changle found out, he also wanted to follow. Baifeng did not want him to take this risk; after all, traveling far in Winter had too many uncertainties. He was going mainly for the person "Guangchengzi" and his knowledge. If Changle wanted to know, it would be no problem for him to tell him when he returned.

However, Changle did not buy it. He said that if Guangchengzi was truly a Sage comparable to Baifeng, then regarding some of his own doubts that Baifeng did not know the answer to, perhaps Guangchengzi would know. After pestering him almost like clinging to his leg, Baifeng really had no choice. Plus, Changle threatened that if Baifeng did not take him, he would run out to explore on his own in the Winter.

Baifeng could only take Changle along. On this journey, his own Logistics Team was sufficient, and there were many Soldiers, so general problems would not have any impact on them, unless it was disaster-level severe weather.

It was just that, at this moment, Baifeng had not yet thought of the fact that he did not know the road to Kongtong Mountain at all; he only knew which direction Kongtong Mountain was in. In his past life, he had never been to Kongtong either. Which mountain was actually Kongtong Mountain? Was he supposed to ask on the road? Ask whom?

The others did not even consider this problem, because in their view, the King was omnipotent. Since he knew the place called Kongtong and knew its direction, it meant he must have been there. As for when he went, didn't the King say he was the son of a deity? What was difficult about this?

And so, others did not consider it, and Baifeng did not think much about it either; they just set off blindly like this.

Even with Zhishou leading the way, Xuanyuan felt that this road was a bit too difficult to walk. Many times, after crossing a small, frozen creek, what they had to face was a high mountain with a slope nearly vertical. Moreover, the mountain was not very large, but it was very high, and the slope was very steep—so steep that there was nowhere to borrow force.

The mountain body was also mostly stone mixed with some soil. When you exerted force under your feet, you did not know whether you were stepping on stone or soil. On the first day they reached such a place, it was already fraught with danger. Many Soldiers kept sliding down while climbing. Fortunately, they did not fall off a cliff; between one mountain and another, there were wide valleys, and the mountain slopes were like broken cliffs, dangerous everywhere.

In the places they were currently walking, there were still relatively many trees, and occasionally they could borrow force, but this also had a trouble: under the thick Snow, there could also be thick leaves, which could trap a person's leg at any time, making it difficult to pull out.

On their first day, they did not even cross such a small mountain. At night, they did not even have a place to set up camp, so they just found a tree to lean against and sleep. Feeling too cold, they covered themselves with Snow; not only would they not be cold, but it would actually have a heat-insulating effect.

That night, when morning came, many people in Xuanyuan's team already felt their bodies stiff and difficult to move. There was no other way; they had to quickly break some branches, clear out a stone platform, and light a fire to let everyone warm up.

Zhishou was unexpectedly hardy; although he was still frozen quite badly, his movement was not affected too much.

After passing such a night, everyone's confidence was somewhat damaged because the road was truly too difficult. When they asked Zhishou how much longer such a road would last, Zhishou did not answer directly, only saying: "Even an old man like me could walk over it alone; would you, so many strong Soldiers, be scared by such a small difficulty?"

Everyone was speechless, but Xuanyuan was also a bit worried. He sought out Zhishou alone to ask what the road ahead was like and if it would be more arduous than it was now.

Zhishou did not hide it from Xuanyuan and truthfully informed him: "There are still a few mountains like this to cross, unless you are willing to take a longer road and go around through the valley. However, once these mountains are passed, it will be better. When you reach the foot of Kongtong Mountain, it will be a little bit as difficult as it is now."

Only then did Xuanyuan roughly understand the hardship of the journey. Fortunately, he had never held a too-relaxed idea about this trip. Now that it was like this, he could accept it, as long as the final harvest could be proportional to the current effort; what he feared was that the final gain would be too low.

After a short rest, the Soldiers continued on their way. It was just that today's road was still difficult, and after crossing the mountain, it was a downhill slope. Going up the mountain is easy, but going down is hard. If you are not careful while going down the mountain, you will slide directly into the distance. It would be fine if you didn't bump into anything, but the fear was sliding down and hitting something and getting injured.

It was also on this day that the Xuanyuan Tribe lost its first Soldier. He slid directly off the mountain body and slid straight into the valley. By the time he was halfway down, there was no more screaming; everyone could only see from afar something constantly rolling, and then it stopped after falling.

Everyone was instantly filled with fear for this trip. They thought the danger only came from natural disasters or wild beasts, but they did not expect that just walking would cost them their lives.

Zhishou remained indifferent, his expression detached. In the eyes of the people of the Xuanyuan Tribe, Zhishou just felt that the one who died was a person from the Xuanyuan Tribe and it had nothing to do with him.

But Zhishou only felt that wanting to learn Guangchengzi's knowledge was not that simple; paying a price was inevitable.