"I've seen what 'good people' are like. I have no interest in being good anymore..."
A young yet intimidating voice came from behind, which stunned Ayeze. However, before he could even turn around to see who it was, a Sword passed through his back, coming out of his chest.
As the Sword was pulled back, blood gushed out of his chest, before his body eventually dropped to the ground, weak.
Standing behind Ayeze was a tall figure cloaked in darkness.
"I can't allow you to inform anyone who might disturb Master's work," the figure spoke with a chilling tone before disappearing into the shadows once again.
****
Aria kept climbing the mountain to the best of her abilities. However, she was still weak, and unable to face any of the stronger beasts.
Because of that realm, she tried to avoid all the beasts as much as possible. Fortunately, her experience was more than enough, granting her high survival ability.
"I must hurry. It won't be long before the ones from the Divine Realm arrive! I need to take the Celestial Lotus before them!" Her figure kept rushing through the mountain, without stopping.
Even as it was getting hard for her to breathe at high altitude, she continued her climb.
Unlike her, there was another person on the mountain. However, the young man didn't avoid any beast. Instead, he kept annihilating every beast that tried to attack him, effortlessly.
His speed was much faster than Aria, allowing him to reach much closer to the woman in no time. However, since both of them were coming from different sides of the mountain, the two didn't cross each other's path as they raced to the top.
After merely ten minutes, Xu Shan arrived at the top of the Mountain, expecting to see the frozen pond where the Celestial Lotus was supposed to grow. However, the entire mountain top was covered in snow, as far as the eyes could see.
The snowstorm was so fierce that it was difficult to see anything in front of him, even for him. The Restrictions of the Mountain also restricted the range of his Divine Sense to merely ten meters.
Usually, there was a saying around the Celestial Lotus that it could only be found by those who possessed a pure heart. However, Xu Shan didn't believe in those rumors.
"They say one needs a pure heart? Who could have a purer heart than me." He jokingly commented as he entered the snowstorm, accompanied by Xinren who only rolled her eyes in response to him.
"Be careful. I feel some danger..." She reminded Xu Shan, since he was under heavy restrictions on the mountain.
Xu Shan ignored her warning, believing that his strength was enough to handle any danger. In any case, it was impossible to return empty handed.
As they walked deeper into the mountain, the snow became thicker and the wind grew stronger. Visibility was reduced to only a few meters and the silence made their footsteps sound like echoes.
At the center of the mountain peak, there existed a small pond, only a few meters wide. The pond was surrounded by rocks, and the ice on the surface was so thin that it could fall under even a child's weight. However, right next to the point, there existed a giant figure that was impossible to clearly be seen in the mist.
Many people knew that there existed a Dragon on the Mountain Peak. However, not many people knew what that Dragon looked like, or exactly how strong it was. Almost no one had ever seen the Dragon and lived to tell the tale, which was why even the strongest avoided going to the Mountain Peak.
There were only a handful of people who actually knew that the Dragon was called the Ice Dragon, who was said to be an ancient being who once came down from the Upper Realm.
No one knew just what kind of monster it was that managed to scare an ancient dragon to the point where it had to escape to a lower Realm, but no one dared ask either.
At the moment, the Snow Dragon slowly raised its head, revealing its beautiful blue eyes that shone brightly, as if able to see through the mist and snow. The Snow Dragon felt a presence that made it alert as well. It wasn't an ordinary person.
The Snow Dragon glanced at the Celestial Lotus, which was yet to mature.
He had been waiting here for so long for the Celestial Lotus to mature. He couldn't let anyone else take it.
The Snow Dragon stood up, letting out a loud roar that shook the entire mountain, as if issuing a warning.
However, in another place, Xu Shan heard the roar. Instead of taking the warning, he felt relieved.
It was getting hard to find the location of the Celestial Lotus. However, he had read enough about a world like this to know that such precious treasures were often guarded by a powerful beast.
If there really was a powerful beast who had such an intimidating roar, there was no way it was anywhere other than the location of the Celestial Lotus.
"Found it." Instead of retreating, Xu Shan increased his speed.
"Human, you ignore my warning?!" The Dragon spoke in the human language, as its wings opened wide.
Its voice spread far and wide, even reaching the foot of the mountain.
"A human? There's someone else there already?" Aria exclaimed, wondering who the Dragon was talking to. She was still mid way so she was sure it definitely wasn't her. She couldn't help but wonder if the people from the Divine Realm were already here.
"This might be my opportunity! While they fight the Dragon, I can steal the Celestial Lotus!" She exclaimed as she rushed even faster, not willing to miss this opportunity.
She still didn't know that the person on the top of the mountain was the man of her nightmares, who had already changed most of the past by arriving here.