Everything in sight was white, the snowfall from the grey sky continued to pummel down onto the earth. Glittering frost had taken over every visible surface on the mountain peak.
This was a big, wild mountain, prone to high winds and ferocious low temperatures, especially at high altitude.
A place where glaciers claimed the peak as its own, and the howling wind sounded like the screams of wild wolves.
Prince Jian stood with his two protectors at his back, small icicles were beginning to take shape and cling to his brows and beard, transforming his facial hairs into a frosty fuzz.
At this altitude the air temperature alone could freeze lava, even a xanthian wasn't completely immune to the discomforts of this harsh environment .
Fifteen meters away to the right, his older brother Prince Dong stood pensively, snowflakes lazily landing around him.
The wind hummed loudly, no one uttered a word, instead they all stared at the enigmatic figure whose back was facing them.
This sturdy man, standing at a height of 1.9 meters, was father to the two Princes and King to the country. A man making his first public appearance in a decade, and possibly his last.
His aged and handsome face stared out over the landscape with melancholy. Seemingly lost in his own thoughts and paying no heed to the extreme cold.
Thousands of people stood exposed to the weather at the foot of the mountain, straining their eyes to get a glimpse at their mighty king through the falling snow.
A king that had stood at the peak of the saint realm for nearly a decade.
The place was abuzz with chatter and excitement.
Hartley and company among them.
"This will be a seminal moment in the history of Aidonia and the Aldoran continent." King Yulan spoke clearly without turning to face his sons.
In a casual display of might to the people below, a simple wave of the king's hand sent a flash of lightning darting out with an echoing clap, splitting the skies like a mirror with a pulse of light.
Thick white branching lines of electricity crawled diagonally upwards, sending the blanket of incessant snowflakes flurrying away to the sides, exposing himself clearly to the masses below.
A rumble of thunder followed soon after, sending vibrations through the earth as the whole mountain trembled.
Oohs and ahs echoed out from the excited spectators below, many finally having a chance to look upon their king without the snow impeding their vision.
"This is a day that will inspire many generations of cultivators. Pushing them to strive to reach the top of the cultivation world and transform into dragons and immortal legends."
The King spoke solemnly, casting his gaze at those gathered below with his hands folded behind his back.
The two princes backed by their saints stood ram rod straight, looking at the back of a father who was probably delivering his final lecture to the siblings.
King Yulan wore a simple blue robe that audibly flapped around like a flag in the wind.
His shoulder-length silver hair billowed randomly from side to side as if in competition with his robe.
"The real question is," the King said as he turned around:
"Will my sons ever stop squabbling over this mortal realm and set their sights higher?"
There was silence once again, no answer came to the King's ears.
He waited patiently while the blustery winds whistled, flurries of snowflakes swirled and curled around the group, starting to transform their clothing white.
The atmosphere grew tense. Both princes turned their heads to scowl at the other with discontent, neither acknowledging the other with words.
Each had come hoping to be named as the next rightful ruler of Aidonia and would accept nothing less.
The one anointed as rightful ruler would hold great advantage, primarily through the distribution of propaganda to the common people. King Yulan was loved and admired, the masses would be more inclined to respect his wishes.
The prince who gained his father's approval could campaign to the throne with rhetoric of righteousness, proclaiming himself to be the chosen one.
This was important because they both knew neither would give up the fight for the throne once the king was gone.
"Father, I think I should be the first in line..." the eldest Prince talked with fresh flecks of snow falling from his robe, he was about to make his case for the throne, but was promptly interrupted by the scholarly looking Prince Jian.
"Age is different from competence brother, something you are severely lacking," the young prince snarled aggressively, about elaborate further on all his brother's failures.
King Yulan raised his right palm with a swoosh, stopping the squabbling siblings and sending the loose snow scattering.
"Seems you two are set on clinging to power like panicked children clinging onto a toy.
Be wary of what you seek, and sure it's what you want.
A king in name can only rule by consent, not until you let go of your thirst to rule and instead thirst for strength can you truly rule."
The king closed his eyes and inhaled the crisp cold air, then his face softened as he looked at his sons, remembering that he was once just like them.
Remembering how he had once also hungered to rule the country, hating anyone who stood in his way, even his own brothers. It was the cut-throat curse of royalty.
Back then he thought his life's greatest achievement was banishing his brothers and ascending the throne.
His inflated ego internally declaring himself the god of the kingdom, ruling over the strongest men simply by birth right.
Only to be rudely awakened to reality, his euphoric bubble popped unceremoniously by a group of visitors from a higher plain, apparently here searching for a mystery runaway woman.
To this day the once conceited king still felt the shame of having to humble himself like a child, skipping to do the strangers orders and demands like a pet dog.
Lacking the strength to even lift his head.
Anyone who opposed those strangers were mercilessly cut down.
The strongest legends the continent had to offer rushed to the king's aid... But they were slaughtered within a single exchange by the strangers overwhelming might.
Leaving him, a renowned king in name, bowing and scraping pitifully to preserve his puny life.
His sons won't know how vulnerable and weak the mortal plane is, or how important real strength will be.
Telling them couldn't begin to portray the enormous gulf between plains, not until they too face beings from beyond the mortal realm would they realise their own insignificance.
Just like he had all those years ago.
Since that experience the king's appetite for governing had disappeared. Opting to forgo his duties and enter closed door cultivation.
Committing all the resources at his disposal into research, in order to gain the strength and knowledge needed to enter a higher plain.
A person's lifespan was limited to only a thousand years on this mortal plane, which was a drop in the bucket compared to the higher planes, plus it was impossible to pass the peak of the saint realm without being devoured by the black energy of the mortal plane.
With the new information he had gained, ruling the kingdom became an anchor weighing him down, burdening him with petty disputes of weak mortals oblivious to the greater dangers of the world.
The crown he had once desired the most and had been his proudest accomplishment, quickly became an unwelcomed obligation he tried to avoid at all cost.
Now with a stroke of cruel irony, it was the thing his sons desired most, walking in their father's footsteps and causing their irreconcilable hatred for each other.
***
Hartley had brought Fu Jianu and Shao Law to accompany him and Zhi Ruo on this trip.
Being 1st layer xantians, the mountain peak was out of the range of their perceptive awareness, they complained about not being able to see anything clearly.
Hartley's heightened senses and his awareness as a saint, allowed him to see most of what was happening at the peak, keeping them informed.
Then they witnessed the most awe inspiring sight, a streak of blinding white lightning flashed across the sky under the king's control.
Illuminating his silhouette and pushing the falling snow aside.
For those few seconds everyone saw the image of the majestic king in all his splendour, hair and robe billowing in the freezing wind.
Inducing jubilant roars of cheers from the gathered crowd. The teenagers adding their screams and cheers to the furore.
After that, the scene returned to normal, with the snow pouring down from the heavens again.
But that one moment was enough to last most a lifetime.
Nothing happened for the following hour, until the princes and their saints departed from the peak in opposite directions.
Soon after the mountain started to rumble, snow began slipping down its steep incline, threatening an avalanche.
"It's beginning." Shouted the noble dressed in an extravagant white fur-coat, quickly mounting his horse and backing up to a safe distance, followed by the majority of spectators, Hartley and company included.
Stationed a couple miles away Hartley watched keenly.
A lightning domain big enough to encase the whole peak suddenly formed atop the mountain, blinding rays of white radiated out with an incredibly powerful presence, drastically brightening the gloomy sky.
The snap, crackle, and pops of the pure white electricity could be heard from two miles away. Producing a low frequency buzz that hummed, sending vibrations through the mountain.
Boom!
An explosion that threatened to topple the mountain sounded out like thunder.
Rocks, snow and shattered ice went blossoming out, spat miles into the sky like a volcano belching ash.
The scattered crowd still managed to generate audible gasps of alarm, shielding their eyes from the blinding white.
Contrasting serpent-like coils of black energy burst into life, swimming through the white electricity, flattening the peak and smashing the glaciers into ice cubes, leaving a smouldering scar across the length of the mountain.
The king shot upwards from the chaos like a missile through the swaying snow, travelling in his domain on a bolt of lightning towards the heavens, thick ropes of black energy twisted and lashed at his back, producing white sparks that flew everywhere.
As soon as the King was close to piercing the clouds, the black energy grew more turbulent, appearing from every direction, determined to bound him to the mortal realm.
The bright light of the king's lightning domain tangled and fought the repressive writhing black energy, creating a trail of sparks until the king blinked out of sight, leaving bright sparkles twinkling in the air.
The only thing visible was the after-images of the roiling black energy stretching to the sky as if chasing the king, then disappearing through the grey clouds.
Simultaneously a stream of loose boulders vaulted down the sides of the rattling mountain, picking up momentum along the way like an unstoppable landslide.
This triggered an avalanche at the same time, which brought even louder rumbles..
Luckily most had already scampered to safety before a massive sheet of compact snow came catapulting down to the foot of the mountain, hitting the floor and bursting into a million fragments of ice.
An assortment of debris followed closely behind, crashing into the earth with enough impact and noise to wake the dead.
Snowflakes and dust danced through the air, moving with the cold breath of the gusty wind, colouring the entire mountain white.
Stifling the weak waning daylight with the grey gloom of the evening sky and falling snow.
Ten minutes went by before things settled, the relieved spectators were finally able to breathe freely when nothing else dramatic happened.
"The king must have ascended. If he had failed he would have been captured by the black energy and spat back down from the heavens like last time."
Murmurs began to break out amongst the scattered onlookers, who had come hoping to witness a monumental moment. With that goal achieved, it was time to regroup.
Trails of chaotic footprints were scattered far and wide as the different factions went their separate ways to report the day's events.
Hartley stood in place eyes up looking at the cloud, many couldn't see the complex intricacies of what had happened but he did.
He closed his eyes to digest the information. Knowing that one day he would likely venture on that same journey.
Only by ascending to a higher plain could one surpass the saint realm and become a demi god.
He Recalled that the king didn't just open a spatial crack and attempted to ascend directly.
Instead he had used his full power to compress his lightning domain, launching himself to break free from the atmosphere before entering a spatial crack.
Waiting for the perfect moment, using his momentum and control over the lightning element to slice a smooth path through the raucous black energy that was waiting in ambush.
Satisfied with the day's events, Hartley and company cut a direct path across the snow and headed for the western hills, trudging through the ankle deep snow wearing nothing but cotton robes.
Today these representatives of the western hills had caught the eye of many present, it would surely be hectic and chaotic across the capital in the coming days.