Chapter 180: The Secret of Mount Huan's Chain

  Half a day has passed, and it is now after noon. The soft sunlight should have been scorching, but it was blocked by the thick bird clouds that never dispersed in the sky, unable to shine through.

  The rain is still very heavy, howling with the wind, and the waves are sweeping across the mountains.

  The wind and rain may be there, but they cannot block the gaze of the people of Handan City. They wear raincoats and carry umbrellas, constantly looking at Su Ming who is swaying in the wind on the iron chain in the distance.

  This wind may be strong, this rain may be torrential, but it has no impact whatsoever on the things they are looking forward to now. The person who rang the bell of Mount Heng twenty times, the person who walked through five stone pillars that all collapsed, the person walking on the sixth segment of the first iron chain - this person, this matter, saying that it's a once-in-a-thousand-years sight may be an exaggeration, but saying it's a once-in-hundreds-of-years sight is still not enough to describe it.

  "The sixth section of iron chain, you see his footsteps slowed down, this section of iron chain must be somewhat unusual!"

  "Unfortunately, those who successfully crossed the Huan Shan chain did not reveal its secrets. Those who failed to cross mostly died, and even if they were lucky enough to survive, they remained silent... making people wonder why the Huan Shan chain was so treacherous."

  "Huh, he stopped!"

  A murmur of discussion erupted, and several gazes pierced through the rain curtain to converge on Su Ming. Even Nan Tian, Xuan Lun, Ke Jiu Si, and Leng Yan's eyes all froze, staring intently at him.

  On the swaying iron chain, Su Ming no longer walked forward, but instead sat cross-legged on the chain, his body as if stuck to it, swaying with its movement.

  His breathing quickened, his eyes gleaming with intensity, no longer gazing at the distant Puqian Peak, but staring at the iron chain beneath him. The chain, washed clean by the rainwater, even showed signs of rust in some places, clearly having existed for many years, just as the rumors had said.

  "What brings me the pressure of the passing years is not this land, nor the Puqiang in front of me, nor those stone pillars I destroyed... but this iron chain! As he walked here, with the increasingly strong feeling of the pressure of the years, Su Ming clearly felt that his vitality was being sucked away by this iron chain bit by bit."

  It absorbs its vitality at a slow pace, but as it moves forward, its speed picks up faster and faster.

  At this moment, Su Ming could still go to resist, after all, he had 979 blood lines, and the movement of the blood lines would bring a tremendous amount of Qi and blood to his body. This circulation of Qi and blood was part of the vital energy, which could make up for the current absorption.

  But... Su Ming looked at the long iron chain in front of him.

  "I've only walked to the sixth section, and it's still so long... What kind of iron chain is this?! Why does it have such astonishing power?! What's the point of absorbing life force?!" Su Ming sat cross-legged, choosing to sit down at this spot because in front of him, the iron chain had a place with many rust marks, which also seemed to be the most obvious. Water dripped and flowed over it, even bringing some rust down with it.

  The sound of the wind whistled in his ears, and with a sudden movement, it brought a large amount of rainwater. The sky was filled with thunder and lightning, and flashes of electricity could be seen from time to time. Below Su Ming, there was an endless abyss that couldn't be seen. The rainwater fell into the depths of the abyss, and when he looked down, it was like thousands of arrows shooting downwards at the same time.

  Su Mingping took a deep breath, raised his right hand, and pointed to the iron chain in front of him with obvious rust marks. His fingers touched the rust on the iron chain.

  At the moment of contact, Su Ming's complexion gradually turned pale, and his right hand quickly lost its blood color. This was not because fresh blood was being sucked away, but rather the vital energy generated by the movement of his internal organs was slowly being absorbed.

  Time slowly passed by, Su Ming had been sitting here for a long time, his right hand remained there, allowing the vital energy to be absorbed away, motionless.

  Slowly, the people of Handan City also sensed that something was amiss, but they couldn't figure out what the reason was and came up with all sorts of guesses.

  "Isn't he exhausted? It's already been a whole incense stick, yet there is still no sign of him getting up."

  "It seems that this sixth section of the iron chain is the end for this person... can hold... ear hold..."

  "Being able to pass the sixth section is already quite impressive, after all, this Hanyang chain is not like the ancient clock, passing through this chain poses a risk of life and death. I predict that he is also hesitating at this moment whether to continue..."

  "But does he still have a way out? He had destroyed all the stone pillars behind him. Even if he chose to go back, it would be difficult..."

  The sound of discussion spread in the wind and rain, Su Ming's actions moved many people's eyes and minds.

  "Perhaps from the moment he destroyed the first stone pillar, he had no choice but to give up..." Nan Tian muttered to himself as he looked at Su Ming on the iron chain.

  After a moment, Su Ming's eyes suddenly flashed, his right hand slowly raised, staring at the iron chain, and his pupils gradually contracted.

  "It's just as I guessed, this iron chain absorbs the vital energy to repair itself." In Su Ming's eyes, the place where there was obvious rust before now had a restored appearance, and in nearly half of the position, it had already returned to its normal color!

  "The Huashan Chain was created by the old ancestor of Huashan... As an outsider, he came to the barbarian tribe and it can be understood that he supported the Huashan department, which could give him a place to settle down."

  But why did he have to bring out this Huashan chain! What is his true purpose, after all... Is this Huashan chain something he personally refined, or did he find it among the barbarians, or perhaps... something he brought with him..." Su Ming had seen Huashan before, and it could even be said that Huashan's death was directly related to him. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Huashan died at his hands.

  It was for this reason that Su Ming had a series of thoughts and speculations that these outsiders rarely thought about.

  Su Ming's pause was not only noticed by the people of Handan City and Nan Tian, but also by the three departments.

  On the mountain peak of Yan Chi Department, an old woman looked into the distance and furrowed her brow.

  "This man can compete with Sima Xin for the Huan Shan Bell, if you say he can only make it to the sixth segment, I don't believe it." Yan Lian spoke softly beside him.

  "He pondered over this iron chain, just as we had also pondered over it in the past." The old woman fell silent for a moment before speaking slowly.

  On the mountain top in the east, among others sitting cross-legged, there were times when they couldn't understand Su Ming's actions. From the side of the mountain steps, Han Cangzi's figure appeared and walked up. She didn't pay attention to anyone, but stood at the edge of the mountain, looking at the distant Yan Mountain range, her expression calm.

  On the top of Puqiong Peak, there was still a dead silence. Everyone's eyes were fixed on Su Ming, who was sitting cross-legged in the distance. Those eyes held gloominess and doubt.

  "What is he doing?" This was almost everyone's thought here.

  "Handan Chain, what is it after all..." Su Ming lowered his head and took a glance at the deep abyss below. The abyss was pitch black, looking like the mouth of a wild beast waiting to swallow someone whole. Su Ming knew where the end of the abyss led to, but precisely because he knew, he had doubts about this iron chain.

  After a long time, Su Ming slowly stood up, suddenly lifted his right foot and took a step forward, walking towards the sixth stone pillar in front of him.

  At the moment he stood up and walked out, a commotion broke out in Handan City. Those who had been staring at Su Ming saw him finally walk out, and their voices of discussion erupted.

  "He stood up!"

  "After waiting for so long, it's finally starting to move down, but I'm very curious, why did he just pause?"

  Su Ming took a deep breath and walked step by step, his footsteps slowing down significantly. With each step he took on the iron chain, although still treading on it, every contact with the iron would absorb the vital energy within him, making him feel uncomfortable and weak at the same time.

  In his feeling, this is no longer walking in the Taihang Mountains, but walking through a person's life and years. Every step is like a segment of life. This feeling is hard for others to experience, only occasionally sighing in the passing of time.

  But this chain of events on Mount Huan will shorten the process of time, causing that sigh to come prematurely.

  At dusk, the cloud layer remained, but the rainwater had decreased a lot, no longer stormy, but warm. After an afternoon of walking, Su Ming finally reached the end of the sixth iron chain, and in front of him, ten zhang away, was the sixth stone pillar.

  At this moment, Su Ming's face had already turned pale. Despite constantly circulating his blood and vital energy to stimulate his life force, the absorption of his life force had grown stronger with each step he took. At this moment, it was impossible for him to reach a balance. He could feel that the iron chain seemed to be excitedly screaming, continuously absorbing his life force to strengthen itself.

  A distance of ten zhang, Su Ming took the time of one incense stick to slowly walk through, and when he stepped on the sixth stone pillar, he deeply exhaled a breath, sat down cross-legged, gazing at the seventh, eighth, and ninth segments of iron chain in front of him, gazing at Pu Qiao Peak connected to the ninth segment of iron chain. This road seemed very close, but Su Ming had a feeling that it was very far away. The difficulty of the last three segments, he could imagine, would far exceed what came before.

  "This iron chain, I'm somewhat familiar with it..." Su Ming murmured to himself, this feeling had been suppressed in his heart all along, until various doubts and speculations emerged one after another, until he thought of Yan Guang, and it repeatedly floated into Su Ming's mind.

  At the moment Su Ming stepped onto the sixth stone pillar, a huge wave was stirred up among the crowd in Handan City.

  "The sixth root stone pillar, this is the starting point of the seventh segment iron chain!"

  "Can he finish the seventh chain..."

  "I doubt it, he's already struggling on the sixth iron chain, this seventh one is probably impossible to get through..."

  "As far as I know, some of those who had attempted to climb Mount Hua before all failed at this seventh segment... This section seems to be greatly different from the previous ones!"

  At the time when the whispers rose, Su Ming sat cross-legged and motionless, until after a long while, when the sky was completely dark and the bright moon was hidden in the clouds, he suddenly opened his eyes.

  January night has arrived... " Su Ming murmured.