Reverse flow of the Yellow Springs

On a towering, desolate snow-covered mountain, a figure moved with a gun at his side. A crimson oil lamp flickered amidst the white snow, providing the only source of heat in the mountain. A safe haven had been carved out within the dangerous and deadly snow-covered landscape.

Li Yelai used his aerial stepping technique to quickly descend from the snow-covered mountainside.

It was indeed a snowy mountain; even with forbidden items like oil lamps, Li Yelai felt a sense of dread. A moment's carelessness could freeze his spiritual energy barrier, only to have it thawed or even ignited by the oil lamp.

The lower levels of the Great Snow Mountain were enough to frighten Li Yelai, a fourth-sense spiritualist. He wondered what kind of terrifying situation he would encounter at the summit.
As the site of the decisive battle between humanity's strongest forces and the forbidden zone, it holds countless mysteries. But ultimately, it added a natural barrier to the Heavenly Realm.

"It really is a natural defense," Li Yelai complained, but also felt a little envious.

If the giant city were also protected by a special, perilous place like the Great Snow Mountain, the Forbidden Zone Legion would probably have a hard time breaking in; no matter how many came, they would all be turned into ice sculptures.

Unfortunately, Li Yelai currently lacks the ability to take these dangerous and special snowflakes away, nor is it necessary for him to do so.

The chill contained in the snowflakes was terrifying, but after leaving the snow-capped mountains for a while, the chill dissipated and the snowflakes were no different.

Otherwise, the authorities and the restricted area would have already used these extremely cold snowflakes for combat.

However, if Li Yelai advances to the second ring within the Ark, he might be able to use the Ark's permissions to try and take away and preserve these snowflakes, using them as a trump card when the opportunity arises.

"The biggest secret is still at the mountain peak," Li Yelai thought to himself, as he had already landed at the bottom of the snow-capped mountain valley.

He then used his spiritual energy to reduce the flame of the oil lamp slightly. After all, it was a forbidden item, and using it carried some risk. Too much heat would cause Li Yelai to spontaneously combust, while too little heat would cause him to freeze to death in the snow-covered mountain. Li Yelai could only maintain the balance of the flame while simultaneously lowering his altitude as much as possible.

After entering a valley in the Great Snow Mountain, Li Yelai leaned on his gun and took out a navigation compass from his pocket, the pointer of which was pointing in a certain direction of the Great Snow Mountain.

Li Yelai checked the direction and found that it was going the same way as him.

Previously, Li Yelai and Xiao Kuangwang had used the navigation compass to locate the life form, which was inside the Great Snow Mountain.

Now, Li Yelai needs to carry the forbidden item, the blazing oil lamp, to cross the Great Snow Mountain.

That would be a good opportunity to try searching for that unknown life form within the snow-capped mountains.

If we could find living matter directly, that would be wonderful.

The greatest pressure on the giant city was the exhaustion of the old Mad King, the strongest fighter and leader.

As a psionic monarch, he should have a long lifespan; at least, no human has ever heard of a monarch dying of old age. Even supreme beings or overlords have never died of old age; their lifespans are far longer.

Because the old Mad King's curse consumes his lifespan, every time he uses his power, he consumes a large amount of his lifespan. Years of fighting have almost burned out his long life, leaving him nearing the end of his life.

According to inside information revealed by Little Mad King, Old Mad King has at most two more years left.

Two years later, humanity will lose a supreme ruler, and the situation will deteriorate completely.

If we could obtain powerful life-sustaining substances to extend the old Mad King's lifespan, the pressure on humanity would be greatly reduced.

Even if they can't find it directly, at least Li Yelai can determine the approximate location and area. The authorities will naturally find a solution once they return.

As long as the old mad king doesn't fall, humanity still has time to grow.

Li Yelai pondered this in his heart, and followed the direction of the pointer along the lowest point of the valley.

The Great Snow Mountain is a true forbidden zone for life. Both giant cities and forbidden zones have wanted to explore it, after all, the Great Snow Mountain was once the battlefield where humans fought against the forbidden zone, and there may be some extremely powerful weapons or certain forbidden objects there.

But regardless of their strength or age, the explorers never returned. Those who did return found nothing.

The official explanation for the speculation that the blazing oil lamp in Li Yelai's possession could operate at altitudes below 500 meters is based on data obtained during past experiments.

As a result, after walking through a valley, Li Yelai saw nothing but the vast expanse of white snow-capped mountains and the occasional exposed rock face; there was no life in sight. There was no vegetation, no birds, only the occasional cold wind blowing.

It does fit the description of "no birds fly over a thousand mountains, no human tracks are found on ten thousand paths".

Fortunately, the authorities provided him with sunglasses; otherwise, he would have developed snow blindness sooner or later.

Li Yelai walked alone in the desolate valley for five hours, even changing a bottle of rock marrow fuel, but he had reached a dead end.

Calling it a dead end isn't quite accurate; it's more like reaching the boundary between two mountain ranges. If you continue following the pointer, you'll be blocked by a mountain range hundreds of meters high.

Li Yelai frowned as he looked at the towering mountain range. For a psychic, crossing a mountain range wasn't difficult; one could simply take steps in the air and push off with all their might. Except for those with a fear of heights, most psychics could easily leap across mountains.

However, in this strange, snowy mountain, it is indeed somewhat dangerous to ascend rashly.

The higher you go in the snowy mountains, the lower the temperature. Even the most powerful creatures have frozen to death.

Therefore, Li Yelai did not attempt to cross the mountain range, but instead continued along the valley below it, beginning to circle around it and searching for lower mountains to cross.

However, after walking for another hour or so in this valley, Li Yelai finally saw something special.

It wasn't vegetation or living things, but rather some discarded equipment. The most conspicuous among them was some kind of orange-red object.

Li Yelai, carrying a gun and a lantern, approached and discovered it was a large, orange-red backpack.

The backpack appeared to have been cut open by some kind of sharp blade, its contents scattered all over the ground: a karate axe, a sleeping bag, a hunting knife, some large-caliber ammunition, and some food. All of this was buried in the thin snow.

"Human psionicists who entered the snow mountain?" Li Yelai frowned. Judging from these supplies alone, it was really hard to determine what faction they belonged to. But he was certain they were human.

Both the creatures of Black Origin City and the beings of Heaven possess their own unique technologies, making them relatively easy to distinguish.

However, what really bothered Li Yelai was the bloodstains on his backpack.

What? Was this human psionicist attacked?

There are no living creatures in the Great Snow Mountain; even extraordinary beings would not venture here.

Is it about forming teams to enter the snowy mountains and then attacking each other?
Or was it just a coincidence that they encountered the enemy? That would be too much of a coincidence; it's highly unlikely.

Li Ye looked at the scattered items and deduced that the backpack must have been dropped because it was attacked from a high place.

Afterwards, Li Yelai checked the surroundings again and stirred up the snow, but found no body.

It's a pity the detective wasn't there; otherwise, with his spiritual eye ability, he could have seen many details and even directly witnessed what was happening.

Under what circumstances would psionicists who enter the Great Snow Mountain attack each other?

Did they discover something valuable, and then get into a fight over how to divide it?
This does have a bit of a wild psionicist, or rather, a scavenger vibe. However, it's still unclear how they withstand this extreme cold.

"Did it fall down while being chased up there?" Li Yelai pondered, looking up at the height of the hillside above, estimating it to be about the same height as the cave exit. He then used his aerial stepping technique to approach little by little.

As they rose higher, the chill in the air intensified, and Li Yelai turned on the blazing oil lamp to dispel the cold.

Fortunately, the oil lamp still had some power left as they approached the hillside, meaning there was still a little way to go before reaching the limit. After successfully climbing the hillside, Li Yelai found no corpses. So, without lingering, he refilled the fuel tank and continued following the pointer.

Before darkness fell, Li Yelai landed at the bottom of a new valley and found a pit where he could take shelter.

Li Yelai ate a few pieces of dried meat in the pit, put the oil lamp aside, and began to close his eyes to rest.

However, just an hour after he closed his eyes, he suddenly heard a strange sound.

'.rise'

The sound appeared abruptly, as if it came right next to his ear. Li Yelai felt the hairs on his body stand on end. He grabbed the black-gold dragon-patterned spear and looked around warily, but saw no one.

"Another echo?" Li Yelai frowned. It wasn't that he was afraid of ghosts; even if there were, they would have been frozen to death by the Great Snow Mountain. This was an extremely cold place where even spiritual energy could be frozen.

This sound must be an echo from the snow-capped mountains. It is said that the voices of those powerful beings who died in the snow-capped mountains were also frozen and would occasionally reverberate in the wind and snow.

That's quite terrifying.

After being startled awake, Li Yelai found it difficult to fall back asleep and set off again.

Given his physical strength, he shouldn't need to rest for too long.

Two hours after setting off again, Li Yelai noticed that the compass needle had deviated significantly.

Li Yelai's heart stirred, and as he continued moving along the valley, he noticed that the pointer's changes were becoming increasingly significant.

This pleased him, as he knew he was getting closer to his target. He immediately found a low hillside and used his aerial leap to climb it. Continuing to move in the direction of the pointer, he crossed two more valleys.

By the time dawn broke, Li Yelai could roughly determine the location of his target.

"Very good. If my spatial awareness is correct, that location isn't far from the border of the Great Snow Mountain, at most a three-hour journey," Li Ye muttered to himself. His sense of direction was indeed excellent; after all, he possessed the spatial awareness skills granted by the Huo Qubing facial mask.

However, as he approached his destination, Li Yelai discovered a corpse in a new valley.

It was the corpse of a woman around thirty years old, and her death was exceptionally gruesome.

Clearly, she was frozen in mid-air and then crashed into the valley, breaking her body in two.

Moreover, strangely, her severed head bore a smile, she wore only thin clothing, and the tendons in her legs had been severed. Even more bizarrely, her abdomen was still swollen.

Is she pregnant?
Li Yelai frowned. Why would a pregnant woman whose Achilles tendons in both legs have been severed come to the Great Snow Mountain?
What kind of bizarre thing is this? Someone deliberately brought a pregnant woman into the snow-capped mountains?

Could this be some kind of evil ritual?

Li Yelai pondered for a moment, then stepped forward to collect the woman's body and burn it. He couldn't bear to see such a horrific scene.

However, upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the woman's swollen belly had ruptured, and a slender hand covered in blood emerged from it, only to be frozen inside forever.

This sent a chill down Li Yelai's spine, because the hand was deformed and withered, and it was definitely not a human baby's hand!
"So it really was an evil ritual? What was to be born from her womb was frozen solid, dead in the womb. Damn it, even I, a part-time Chosen of Chaos, feel disgusted." After hesitating for a moment, Li Yelai still collected the woman's corpse and lit it with a blazing oil lamp.

We're all human, let's see her off.

However, a sound could be heard coming from within the flames.

'Finally, I can die.'

It was clearly a woman's voice, perhaps the last sound of her dying breath, and Li Yelai actually heard a faint sound of relief in it.

Relief? Could it be that she committed suicide?

Li Yelai frowned, the strange situation making him even more cautious.

Then, it continued to move closer to the direction of the pointer.

After he crossed another hill, he found his target.

Li Yelai moved back and forth on the hillside and found that the pointers were all pointing to a towering snow-capped mountain about five kilometers away.

"Is that it? It's not far. I hope the altitude doesn't exceed the limit," Li Yelai thought to himself.

Then, they crossed the hillside and fell into the valley, beginning their approach to the mountain peak.

However, after Li Yelai had traveled about a kilometer through the valley, he felt the temperature around him begin to rise, and he even felt a warmth.

At first, Li Yelai didn't care much, since the terrain inside the valley was lower and the temperature would be higher, which was why Li Yelai chose to walk at the bottom of the valley.

However, after rounding a bend at the foot of a mountain, Li Yelai was taken aback.

Because, in front of him was a dense jungle, and Li Yelai could even see a stream.

"Could it be that I have already left the Great Snow Mountain?" Li Yelai was genuinely surprised, and he immediately looked into the distance.

If it weren't for the snow-capped mountain peaks still standing tall in front of him, Li Yelai would have thought he had already left the extreme cold mountain range.

"We're still inside the snow-capped mountains, but the temperature here is very high. Is it because the altitude is low enough?"

This is indeed a huge discovery.

The authorities could easily establish a base here, in a valley surrounded by deadly snow-capped mountains, where even restricted areas would have difficulty detecting it!
But why would such a place exist?

In terms of elevation, it does not seem to differ substantially from other valleys.

Li Yelai pondered, recalling the woman's corpse he had seen earlier, and still cautiously entered the jungle.

He found that the vegetation here was ordinary, but the ground contained some heat.

Geothermal energy? Is it because of this heat that this valley was created?
Li Yelai pondered this in his heart and continued forward.

A few minutes later, he walked through the jungle and was shocked to see farmland and houses in the distance.

It was a village nestled at the foot of a snow-capped mountain.

There are farmlands, fruit trees, houses, and children running around in the fields.

There are actually human villages inside the snow-capped mountains?

Is Peach Blossom Spring really real? (End of Chapter)