"I can't take this anymore, we have been walking for days"
"I am tired of this! It's your fault we're in this mess," a child accused, pointing directly at Uriel and Azrael. His voice trembled, not with fear but with resentment, an attempt to shift blame and responsibility.
"Yeah, we would have been fine on our own," another chimed in, emboldened by the growing tension. Their words were sharp, meant to wound.
The accusations weren't born of truth but of fear. Fear of what the twins could become. The others saw in them a glimmer of untapped potential, a threat to their fragile place in the hierarchy.
And so, they sought to extinguish it early, their barbed words meant to leave not just bruises, but scars—deep, unhealing ones that could cripple the mind and seed lasting trauma.
"You're the ones who chose to follow us, and now you're whining about the consequences of your own stupidity?" Uriel's eyes narrowed, her voice laced with cold disdain. "Pathetic. Blaming us for your choices? That's not just weak—it's embarrassing."
She crossed her arms, her gaze icy. "But hey, if I've offended your delicate feelings, let me take a moment to apologize… for the inconvenience of me not GIVING A F*CK."
Days had passed since Azrael and the others began their search for the central mountain.
With each passing day, complaints from the group grew louder. Azrael simply ignored them, maintaining his focus, but Uriel could no longer endure their incessant whining. Finally, she snapped, her patience worn thin.
"If you have the audacity to complain, then leave. No one's stopping you. Go on your own—we're not your babysitters!" Uriel's voice was razor-sharp, her glare cutting through the group. "But if you lack the balls to actually leave, then SHUT THE F*CK UP and keep moving. Stop wasting our time, you useless little pieces of shit who can't even fry an egg.
ARE WE CLEAR?"
The children began to nod and kept quiet. Some tried to cry but didn't dare. Azrael, on the other hand, was sweating profusely—not from fatigue but from fear. To Azrael, Uriel had always been sweet and kind, but over time, she had begun to scare him.
"Brother, did I do good?" Uriel asked Azrael with a smile, clearly waiting for a compliment.
His silence didn't please her. Her eyes began to glow with greater intensity.
"BROTHER, DID I DO GOOD?" she repeated, her voice sharp and commanding.
"Yes, Uriel, you did good," Azrael replied with a weak smile, his voice shaky. Summoning what courage he could, he reached out and gently patted her head.
The children continued their journey, and along the way, some began to falter. Still, they pushed on, drawing strength from watching Azrael, who simply kept quiet and moved forward without complaint.
They passed towering mountains and valleys filled with frozen corpses, the grim remnants of those who had failed before them, as they walked the cold grew increasingly unbearable.
Just when they thought they had adapted, the temperature dropped even further, forcing them to draw more energy from their reserves.
For those with smaller Dantians, this was a death sentence. The cold mercilessly drained their strength, leaving them weaker with each step. Yet, they pressed on, determined to survive.
' I can feel my body growing stronger with each passing day. It's as if the Qi and these shackles are tempering me.
Unlike before, when I felt weak and burdened, now my body feels almost normal. It's like lifting a 40-kilogram block of flour as an adult—manageable and no longer overwhelming.
The more I pull this four-ton cube and the shackles binding me, the lighter they feel. At first, the weight pressed down on me heavily, but now even the monocles encircling my arms and limbs feel almost weightless.
I can still sense the weight of the cube and shackles, but it's growing less and less, as if my body is adapting. As if I've grown stronger.
Should I reduce the amount of Qi I use? Will there come a time when I can move them without using Qi at all?' Azreal pondered as he looked at his wrists and began to explain his theory to Uriel before applying it to herself.
"It... works," Uriel murmured, her tone tinged with awe as she observed Azrael's movements. "It feels like I'm using 20% less Qi than before, but I still feel fine. Should I test my limits?"
Her gaze remained fixed on Azrael, who, without hesitation, adjusted his Qi flow to mirror her suggestion. The sight of him effortlessly adapting stirred something within her.
Uriel took a deep breath and followed suit, her actions mirroring his as though inspired by an unspoken challenge.
One by one, those who followed them began experimenting as well, each finding their balance, their strength, and the growing sense of possibility within the constraints they had once thought unconquerable.
"I CAN SEE SOMETHING... a GIANT SILHOUETTE OF A HEAD!" Teng shouted, his voice bursting with excitement as he pointed ahead, instantly alerting the group..
"Can't you keep quiet, for the love of God? We don't know what's observing us, and we don't need you alerting it," Uriel whispered, her tone filled with annoyance as she shot Teng a sharp glance.
"Brother, is it perhaps the mountain?" she asked, her voice softening as she turned toward Azrael, her curiosity laced with caution.
"Yes, I can smell a faint scent of wood and the more we move forward the denser the scent, initially I thought it was a random tree too but the scent indicates that it's constantly burning "
'This technique aligns with early human survival methods during the Ice Age, specifically the Upper Paleolithic period,' Azrael thought, his mind piecing together fragments of logic.
'In icy regions, humans didn't just use fire for warmth—they used it strategically. Burning wood served as a way to leave trails or signals...' His thoughts trailed off, realization dawning like a flicker of light in the dark.
"So... it's a trail to the mountain, relying on our sense of smell. It was there from the very beginning, and I only noticed it now," he admitted to himself, frustration bubbling beneath his calm exterior. His straightforward approach had led him to the correct path—but it was also the longest one.
Three more days passed as the children approached the mountain. With each passing hour, the mountain's silhouette revealed itself piece by piece until the children finally stood before the Central Mountain.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? ARE THESE PEOPLE MAD?" complained many of the children as they stared at the mountain's structure in disbelief. Many were exhausted—mentally, physically, and emotionally—so even Uriel could understand their frustration.
They had walked for twenty days straight without food or rest, forced to rely solely on Qi to sustain themselves.
However, it wasn't enough. Most of them were unaccustomed to using Qi in such a manner, and with their low cultivation bases, their bodies and minds were beginning to fall apart.
The mountain before them was a monstrous structure shaped like a demonic skull, towering 290,000 feet high with a base spanning 500 miles in diameter.
Jagged thorns, hundreds of feet long, jutted from its grotesque surface, making it clear that only those with strong bodies could climb it.
The hollow eye sockets and twisted grin of the skull exuded an eerie, menacing presence as if mocking their struggle. At that moment, the children understood the purpose of their harsh journey—the relentless tempering of their bodies had been to prepare them for this very challenge.
"We've come too far to give up now. Complaining won't change anything. Only through perseverance can we survive. If we stop now, everything we've done will have been for nothing," Azrael said, looking at those who followed him, trying to raise their resolve.
He dispelled the flow of his Qi, feeling the strength of his body without it, and began climbing the mountain. Uriel did the same, matching his pace.
Others mimicked his actions, following closely behind. Though doubt still clouded their minds, they had made it this far only because of his careful analysis and the clarity it provided in their uncertain path.
"Even without Qi, I can still move my arms and block behind me, though with difficulty. How is this possible?"
"I think the point of this event is to temper our bodies with the cold, while our Qi accelerates the process...
Without Qi, I feel more starvation and exhaustion, but my body still feels like its full of vitality, pushing me to keep going." Teng, seeing Azrael climb at a rapid pace, felt a surge of competitiveness and quickly pushed himself to match the speed.
...