Unparalleled Duo

Lu Zhou to Yingzhou as the crow flies isn't much different from Xuancheng City to Lu Zhou, yet the actual journey was profoundly longer.

Between these two states, numerous counties, villages, natural mountains, rivers, and lakes were present, making the roads extremely winding.

If one chose to take the official road, then safety and smoothness weren't an issue, but it involved a considerable detour, delaying the travel time.

Although Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai still had ample time to reach Luoyang before Mid-Autumn Festival, Sun Yixie's personality was such that he always liked to take shortcuts.

So... after traveling for several days, when they arrived at the foot of Qingfeng Peak, Sun Yixie proposed an idea, "Let's cross over the mountain; it should save us at least two and a half days of travel."

Although Huang Donglai murmured a few complaints, he did not strongly oppose the idea.

That was also a flaw in his character: Huang Donglai often made the right choices during significant life events, but he often hesitated in "small matters" and found it difficult to make decisions; at such moments, if someone like Sun Yixie, who enjoyed proposing risky ideas, was around, he would easily be persuaded, and then they both would fall into the trap together.

Thus, the two of them ventured into the mountain.

The mountain path was initially gentle; otherwise, Sun Yixie wouldn't have considered crossing it a good idea. But after about half a day, the gentle slope before them turned steep, converting from a ride on horseback to a drag of the horse. Seeing this tendency, if the slope grew steeper, they would have to resort to carrying the horses.

At this point, Huang Donglai's complaints, which came too late, naturally began.

Of course, Sun Yixie was already used to this and could just respond with his thick-skinned retort, "Isn't it because you didn't stop me decisively at that time?" With that, he could deflect some blame onto his brother.

With another line like, "Aren't we brothers of one heart?" this moral questioning would split the blame fifty-fifty.

Thus, both continued their journey amidst mutual exchanges of playful insults to relieve fatigue and negative emotions.

Unknowingly, night fell.

Desolate mountains, weary people and horses... let's not mention that for now.

For Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai, about to spend the night in the mountains, the real trouble was — there were likely wild animals on the mountain.

Forget about tigers and bears; even a wild boar at this time would give them a hard time.

Although Huang Donglai's martial arts were decent, those moves were designed for human combat, not animals, unless he possessed over twenty years of Inner Strength and could shatter rocks with one punch. Otherwise... relying solely on punches and kicks, he doubted he could defeat a wild beast larger than himself.

Take Wu Erlang for instance, Wu Song killed a tiger not because his martial arts moves were exquisite, but because his strength, speed, and reaction could handle a feline animal larger than him. In other words, looking at the data alone, Wu Song was no weaker than Captain America, although that's beside the point.

If Huang Donglai had trained with a longer weapon or one with a blade, he might have a chance against wild animals, as tools are humanity's greatest physical advantage against animals. Unfortunately, he was a user of Hidden Weapons, which not only risked not killing the animal but also provoking it; even if he could coat his Hidden Weapons with poison, that poison was intended for humans, and its effectiveness and time to take effect on animals were questionable.

As for Sun Yixie... he indeed had suitable weapons, but his physical condition and martial arts were still lacking.

In short, the night in the deep mountains was extremely dangerous for both of them.

They had even discussed beforehand: should they encounter an attack from a large carnivore, they would sacrifice their horses at the critical moment and run for their lives.

Of course, their horses felt the same way: should they encounter an attack from a large carnivore, they would ditch these two useless humans and escape.

Boom—

It is said that when the roof leaks, it tends to rain all night.

Just as they were about to find a tree to lean against and barely get through the night, a heavy rumble of thunder echoed from the sky covered by dark clouds.

Now, apart from being eaten by wild animals, they faced additional risks of being struck by lightning or falling ill from the rain.

Having no choice, the two of them forced themselves to keep their spirits up, leading their horses to continue forward, hoping to find a cave or a recessed area to shelter from the rain.

Just as the rain was about to start and their physical and mental exhaustion approached their limits, suddenly...

A flash of lightning sliced through the pitch-black sky, illuminating the earth for an instant.

In that fleeting brilliance, Sun Yixie squinted his eyes and happened to see the silhouette of a hook attached to a lantern behind the woods a few dozen meters away.

Click—

Seconds later, as the thunder sounded, Sun Yixie had confirmed that what he saw was likely a corner of a roof.

"Brother Huang, there seems to be a house over there!" the next second, Sun Yixie quickly called out to Huang Donglai.

Huang Donglai turned his head toward the direction Sun Yixie pointed and muttered, "Really? Brother Sun, you're not having hallucinations, are you?"

Sun Yixie was not hallucinating. As they moved in that direction, indeed, there was a dilapidated temple nestled among the mountains and forests.

The temple door was missing a plank, but the old plaque on the door was still there, bearing three large characters — Mountain God Temple.

In the Great Ming, small temples named "Mountain God Temple" were too numerous to count; they were found on various mountains everywhere, so they didn't bother to inquire what made the Mountain God of Qingfeng Peak unique.

Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai only knew that the rain was already pouring down like a waterfall and that if they didn't take shelter soon, they would be thoroughly drenched.

Having finally found a place with a roof over their heads, they summoned the energy to drag their horses and hurried into the temple.

The outer temple gate and courtyard walls were connected, forming a perimeter wall. Inside was a very narrow courtyard, and further in was a Buddha hall. Despite the temple's small size, the roof of the Buddha hall was elaborately crafted, with elegantly curved eaves and ridges that extended far out, and the top ridge at each end was carved with a ridge beast, resembling two fish facing each other, which was quite beautiful.

Of course, Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai had no mood to appreciate that. They tied their horses to the columns outside