Who wants to become a god? Aren't you all forcing me?

#356 - Chapter 355: Trial of Despair

"So, you're still alive? I thought you were dead!"

Nakamura Taniichi, standing outside the barrier, mocked him in broken Common Tongue.

Li Chenqiu ignored him, stood up from the snow, and strode forward, occasionally glancing around, wary of anomalies that could appear at any moment.

Thump!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

As Li Chenqiu took his third step, a fierce gust of wind, swirling with snowflakes, swept in from the front, the sound like the low growl of a beast, exploding in his ears!

"Not good!"

Li Chenqiu immediately crouched down, bent over, and curled into a ball, resisting the oncoming gale.

He didn't know how long passed before the wind gradually subsided. Li Chenqiu lowered his arms and looked up ahead.

The clouds and mist had dissipated, and the view ahead was suddenly clear, revealing a towering rock face that soared into the clouds.

"This…"

A chill ran through Li Chenqiu's heart, and his pupils couldn't help but dilate.

Unlike the other steep rock faces along the climbing route, this one was as smooth as a mirror, with no unevenness on its surface, and it extended into the clouds at an inclined angle of 145° to the ground.

This meant that if Li Chenqiu wanted to climb this rock face, he would have to do so while suspended.

"Is this the final trial?"

Li Chenqiu's lips curled into a wry smile. He opened his palms, intending to use Extreme Metal to create two iron chisels, when a strange energy spread across the area, engulfing him.

At the same time, his forbidden level was suppressed again, dropping from three restrictions to two.

In addition to this, Li Chenqiu also discovered even worse news: his abilities were unusable!

…

Outside Snow Dusk Valley, in an inconspicuous shadow.

Xiang Nanzhi, her cheeks and ears red with cold, squatted in a corner, speaking softly into her phone, for which she had paid the bill long ago.

"Something terrible has happened, Yama! Li Chenqiu is going to be in trouble!"

The Yama King on the other end of the phone said impatiently, "I know, if you don't have anything else, I'm going to hang up. I still have…"

"I'm the one who called you, and it doesn't cost you anything to talk to me, so what's the rush!"

"Then tell me, what do you want to report to me?"

"In the morning, a large group of powerful Fated Ones entered Snow Dusk Valley. According to my…"

"Thousand Faces, you've already called me no less than ten times today, repeating the same content over and over again. Please give your mouth a rest and give my ears some peace, okay?"

"I'm just afraid you won't take it seriously!"

"I take it very seriously, and the Underworld takes it very seriously. I'm begging you, please don't bother me anymore. Can you go bother someone else?"

"I…"

Beep—

The phone was hung up directly.

Xiang Nanzhi continued to make calls with a dark face, but all that answered him was a pleasant female voice: "Sorry, the number you dialed is currently switched off, Sorry…"

…

The cold wind raged, and the flying snow was like knives.

On the smooth, mirror-like rock face, Li Chenqiu was like a gecko, his hands and feet embedded in the rock, crimson blood flowing from them, torn into a mist by the cold wind.

"Mm!"

Li Chenqiu closed his eyes tightly, buried his head in his chest, and his body couldn't stop shivering.

The biting cold was like countless pliers, tearing at his flesh and organs, and the agonizing pain stimulated his nerves incessantly, making him even more awake.

"Not far now, not far now…"

Li Chenqiu opened his eyes a slit, and what came into view were two rows of shallow and deep holes, extending all the way to the ground.

These holes were all punched out by him, one punch at a time, and the blood-colored crystals in the holes were all the blood he had shed.

Crack, crack—

Li Chenqiu pulled his palm out of the rock face, clenched it into a fist, gritted his back teeth, and smashed it upwards.

Bang, bang, bang…

One strike after another, blood splattered everywhere as if it were free, and finally, a shallow pit was smashed out.

Li Chenqiu's face lit up, and he quickly stuffed his fist into it, using friction to wedge it in. Just as he pulled out his left hand, preparing to continue smashing the pit, a swift gust of wind strangely swept in from the ground.

Whoosh—

Li Chenqiu was slammed hard against the rock face, lost his grip, and fell from the air, crashing to the ground from a hundred meters in the air with a "thump."

"Pfft—"

Li Chenqiu covered his chest and spat out a large mouthful of blood, instinctively curling up his legs.

Nakamura Taniichi, standing outside the barrier, crossed his arms and his eyebrows arched slightly.

Standing next to him, Takahashi Yuki smiled and said, "It seems it will be difficult for him to reach the top of the snow mountain!"

An hour earlier, Takahashi Yuki and the others had arrived outside the barrier and joined up with Nakamura Taniichi.

"Strange, I don't feel that this resurgent's strength is that great. How did he get here?" Takahashi Miya rubbed her chin and asked, puzzled.

"And if it's just him alone, how can he lose so much blood without aging? Could there be something we're overlooking?" someone added.

As soon as these words came out, Takahashi Yuki immediately remembered what Kiboku Akihito had said earlier and looked around vigilantly.

"No need to look, there are no ambushes here." Nakamura Taniichi said coldly, "This resurgent is very strange, different from the resurgents we usually come into contact with."

Takahashi Yuki nodded, "Understood."

…

Under the rock face, after resting for a while, Li Chenqiu continued to climb upwards along the original path, becoming more cautious than before.

After a short while, Li Chenqiu climbed back to where he had been earlier. At the same time, a touch of gray appeared at his temples, a sign of life energy depletion.

Time passed by, and Li Chenqiu advanced at a slow but steady pace, getting closer and closer to the clouds. Similarly, his body became more and more aged.

His thin legs were like two dry branches, as if they would be broken by the wind in the next second, and the skin on the back of his hands was wrinkled like tree bark, tightly clinging to his finger bones.

The snow flakes, like steel knives, cut through his body, but his regenerative ability could no longer immediately heal the wounds, but could only proceed slowly.

The people standing outside the barrier were silent at this moment, all looking up, staring at Li Chenqiu with concern, concerned about when he would fall.

"This resurgent isn't really going to climb up there, is he?!"

"No way!" Nakamura Taniichi shook his head, "His body has already begun to age. As it stands, it is almost impossible for him to reach the top of the snow mountain."

Takahashi Yuki murmured, "It would be great if there was a gust of wind."

The snow mountain seemed to have heard these words. The next second, a gust of wind suddenly rose from the flat ground, rushing towards Li Chenqiu like a ghost.

In the blink of an eye, it flashed behind him, mercilessly slapping him.

Bang—

Crack, crack—

The sound of bone cracking came from all over Li Chenqiu's body.

"Mm!"

Li Chenqiu groaned in pain, and his left foot, which was stepping in the pit, suddenly slipped, causing his entire body to swing in the cold wind.

Instantly, the pressure on Li Chenqiu's hands increased sharply, and small pebbles slipped from between his fingers.

"Ah!!!"

Li Chenqiu gritted his back teeth, swinging his body, trying to step his feet back into the small pit.

Crack, crack—

To make matters worse, cracks appeared in the shallow pit where his right hand was inserted, and they were rapidly extending outwards.