Chapter 0255: The Other Side of the Tongtian River

Above the Dark Stars lay three forbidden areas: the White Mist Desert, the Abyss of Ten Thousand Ghosts, and the Magic-Prohibiting Mountain. Among these, the Magic-Prohibiting Mountain ranked first. While the White Mist Desert and the Abyss of Ten Thousand Ghosts were extremely dangerous, that was relative—outside their perimeters, there was little real danger. But the Magic-Prohibiting Mountain was different; it was perilous everywhere. Even saints and divine warriors had no chance of survival if they were not careful.

One day, beneath the thousands of feet high and tens of thousands of miles wide Magic-Prohibiting Mountain, where few people dared to set foot, dozens of figures appeared.
“I never thought the Magic-Prohibiting Mountain would actually be this tall!” exclaimed one voice.
It was Long Yi. This group was naturally Huang Long and the others, who had rushed here after making all the necessary preparations. At that moment, Long Yi stared up at the mountain in awe. Earlier, he had heard Cecil say the mountain was thousands of feet high and still found it hard to believe over tens of thousands of miles away. But now he believed it.

Having practiced for thousands of years, this was the first time he had seen such a towering mountain.
“Let’s go,” said Huang Long. Then, riding on the Fire Cloud Beast King, he took off first, with Long Yi and the others following behind, accompanied by various beasts.

Under Huang Long’s powerful divine consciousness, they avoided the swamps stretching for tens of thousands of miles around the mountain’s base. Before long, they reached the foot of the mountain.

At the base, Huang Long gave everyone the prepared Clear Spirit Pills to take, then they began ascending toward the summit.

Fortunately, though the mountain was tall, it wasn’t overly steep—its slope was about 45 degrees, so climbing wasn’t too difficult.

A few days later, they reached the middle of the mountain.

Thanks to the Clear Spirit Pills, the poisonous mists that would be deadly to others became nothing more than ordinary fog for them. These mists came in various colors and looked strikingly beautiful from afar, adding an element of scenery to their journey and making it less monotonous.

Of course, as they neared the summit, more star beasts appeared on the mountain. But under the powerful auras of divine-grade star beasts like the Fire Cloud Beast King and the Sky Roc, these low-, mid-, and high-grade star beasts couldn’t even stand steadily, let alone attack.

When they reached the realm of the saint-grade star beasts at the summit, although these beasts didn’t tremble on the ground, they fled at a distance upon seeing Huang Long and his group.

However, at the peak of the Magic-Prohibiting Mountain, they encountered some trouble.

Huang Long, riding on the Fire Cloud Beast King, stared at the ten star beasts across from him and frowned.

All ten of these beasts were divine-grade, with a peak divine-grade two-headed dragon leading them.

This two-headed dragon and the Fire Cloud, as well as the Sky Roc, were all old acquaintances of Huang Long. It was somewhat incredible to see these two beasts submit to Huang Long and become his star pets, and they were also secretly shocked by the strength of Huang Long’s group. However, despite being amazed by their strength, when Huang Long’s group set out toward the Tongtian River, these ten divine-grade star beasts attacked without hesitation. Yet, as expected, the two-headed dragon and the other nine divine-grade star beasts were not enough to stop Huang Long and his companions from moving forward. Before long, they reached the peak of the Magic-Prohibiting Mountain. The peak was towering into the clouds, extremely cold, so intense that even people like Long Yi, despite their strong physiques, could hardly endure it. In the end, they had to take Huang Long’s medicinal pills to resist the cold at the mountain’s peak. After reaching the peak, after traveling a few miles, they witnessed a stunning sight. In the sky above, a dark blue expanse of ice and snow, dense like frozen ice, was falling downward. Yet these ice and snow were light blue, appearing crystal clear and beautifully picturesque from afar. “Is this ice rain?!” Even though they were hundreds of feet away, everyone felt a bone-chilling coldness. This coldness seemed capable of freezing even blood. If it weren’t for the medicinal pills taken by Huang Long’s group, their blood might have frozen even from such a distance. “It seems this is indeed freezing rain!” Simpu from the Phoenix clan said with a trembling voice. Due to the extreme cold, his face turned pale, and his body trembled slightly. As a Phoenix, he was naturally resistant to cold, but even he was helpless against this ice rain that could turn low-grade divine artifacts into ice stone. If Simpu from the Phoenix clan was like this, then Long Yi and the Sea God Aphton were even less so. At that moment, Huang Long took out the jade bottle containing the Earth Core Fire and released it. As soon as the Earth Core Fire appeared, it trembled violently as if it had encountered something dear to it, seeming excited and eager. It then flew toward the ice rain, turning all the ice rain within hundreds of feet into streams of blue smoke wherever it passed. As the ice rain turned into blue smoke, the Earth Core Fire seemed to grow larger. “Let’s go!” Without any further hesitation, Huang Long mounted the Fire Cloud Beast King and soared into the air, following the Earth Core Fire. The others also woke up and rushed after him. The Earth Core Fire led the way, creating a path of hundreds of feet wide for them. When they entered the world of ice rain, they were surrounded by blue ice rain, but thanks to the Earth Core Fire, they felt warm as spring, as if in a dream.

As time passed, the group finally emerged from the Ice and Rain Region under the guidance of the Core Fire Belt and arrived at the Tongtian River. The Tongtian River was filled with surging waves, but in the middle of it lay a mountain bridge that stretched straight into the distance. The bridge was narrow, only about ten meters wide, and seemed fragile against the vast expanse of the river, as if it might collapse at any moment. Huang Long stretched out his divine senses but could not detect what lay beyond the other side of the bridge. However, after leaving the Ice and Rain World, the group hesitated none and stepped onto the bridge right away. Standing on the bridge and looking down at the surging river, they were stunned for a moment. The roar of the river sounded like thunder. “Let’s go; we should leave this place first,” Huang Long’s voice carried through the thunderous noise to their ears, and only then did they realize they needed to move forward. The bridge seemed endless; Huang Long and his group continued walking, yet there was still no end in sight. Below was the surging river, and the bridge had no end. After traveling for over ten days, fear began to set in among them. Even though people like Long Yi had cultivated for thousands of years and had steady minds, they still felt uneasy in such a situation. Huang Long remained calm, silent, and kept walking. Two more months passed, and still, no end to the bridge was in sight. Long Yi couldn’t help but exclaim, “Brother Huang Long, this bridge can’t possibly have no end!” After all, Cecil had told them that although there was a Tongtian River at the peak of the Forbidden Magic Mountain, it was unclear where it led, nor was it certain whether it connected to the outside world. If the bridge didn’t lead outside, wouldn’t they be trapped here forever? After all, they weren’t yet god-tier warriors, and their physical bodies still required energy to sustain them. The food they had prepared would only last half a year at most, and now it was almost gone. “Yes, this bridge seems to have no exit. Could there be another route through the Tongtian River, and have we taken the wrong path?” Even the Sea God Apton began to doubt. Simp and Belin from the Phoenix clan also showed signs of anxiety and worry. If they had stayed on Dark Star, their original physical bodies would have allowed them to live twice as long as ordinary people, but now they were trapped on this bridge? “There is no other route through the Tongtian River,” Huang Long said calmly. “Before coming here, I used my divine senses to survey thousands of miles around, and there is only this bridge.” “If this bridge has no end, then where does it lead?” “Since it exists, there must be another shore.”

“What we need to do now is to hurry to the other shore as soon as possible,” Huang Long said. Ignoring Long Yi and the others, he continued riding on the Fire Cloud Beast King. Long Yi and the others fell silent for a moment, then followed Huang Long onward after a pause.

Three days passed, with the endless river still stretching ahead. A month went by, and as they watched their food gradually run out, they felt despair set in. But just as everyone was in despair, Huang Long suddenly brightened up: “Finally, we’ve arrived!”

Finally, they had arrived! At first, Long Yi and the others didn’t understand what Huang Long meant. Once they did, their faces lit up with joy. “Brother Huang Long, do you mean we’ve reached the end?!” they asked in unison.

“That’s right,” Huang Long replied with a smile. Just moments ago, within the range of his spiritual perception, more than two thousand miles away lay the end of the mountain bridge. Sensing it, he felt relieved as well.

Sure of this, the despair on their faces vanished, replaced by hope, and they all showed signs of joy. They had finally reached the end! No matter where it led, they no longer cared—they just wanted to finish crossing this hellish mountain bridge as soon as possible.

With the hope of an end, Long Yi and the others pushed forward with all their strength. Before long, they reached the other side of the bridge. Standing there, they turned to look at the endless river and the bridge, feeling a wave of fear. They stepped back—truly terrified. If forced to walk it again, they doubted they could persevere.

“Hey, my magic power has returned!” At that moment, the Sea God Apton’s delighted voice rang out, accompanied by a powerful aura that stirred the air around him.

Hearing Apton’s joyful voice, Long Yi and the others paused, then began to channel their magic and combat energy. Just like Apton, they discovered that their magic and combat energy had indeed returned!

Huang Long smiled silently. In fact, the moment they reached the end of the bridge, he had already realized his magical power was functioning normally again. This discovery filled him with joy—it proved they were no longer on Dark Star, otherwise, such a thing wouldn’t be possible. But if they weren’t on Dark Star, then where were they? Huang Long activated his Heaven-Seeing Eye.