"You're crushing me... ugh... I can't breathe... ugh..."
Lin Fan lay sprawled on his back, his face flushed red, on the verge of suffocating.
"Stop... stop it!"
Shen Yuqing felt she could move again and quickly got off him.
"Whoosh~"
Lin Fan took a deep breath through his open mouth and was then utterly stunned by the magnificent and beautiful scene before him.
"Ah! Don't look!"
Shen Yuqing bared her teeth, her small silver teeth grinding, and dashed back upstairs.
Crash!
She rushed into the bathroom in a panic and bolted the door.
The purple silk threads had vanished on their own during the recent commotion.
Lin Fan didn't try again. If he lost control once more and provoked Liu Mudi as well, it would be a huge trouble.
"Sister Yuqing, what's wrong?"
Xiao Yue and Liu Mudi came out of their room and approached the bathroom door, knocking and asking.
"It's nothing, I'll be ready soon!"
Shen Yuqing leaned against the frosted glass door, her small heart pounding erratically.
Her mind was filled with the scene from moments ago, refusing to fade.
She shook her head abruptly, gritted her teeth, and clenched her small fists. "Lin Fan, that guy must have been sent by the heavens to torment me!"
After a hurried shower and changing into dry clothes,
All three women were ready and came downstairs.
"Pervert!"
Shen Yuqing glared fiercely at Lin Fan.
"You two..."
Xiao Yue noticed something was amiss, her face full of question marks.
Just then, the two henchmen who had been knocked unconscious woke up, looking around in confusion. "What happened just now?"
"Shut up!"
Shen Yuqing lunged forward and started kicking and punching them.
She poured all her anger towards Lin Fan onto the two of them.
"Let's go."
Liu Mudi led the way out.
Since they were going into the mountains, wearing a qipao was inconvenient, so she had changed into comfortable sportswear.
Her imposing, aloof demeanor seemed out of place with the outfit.
The homestay was located at the foot of Ling Mountain, right at the entrance.
There was only one stone staircase leading into the mountain, narrow and steep, winding upwards.
"This stone staircase looks ancient. I wonder which dynasty built it."
The stone steps were covered in moss, and the edges had been worn smooth and rounded.
There were no handrails on either side, and a moment's carelessness could lead to a misplaced step, a fall, and a tumble down.
Shen Yuqing and Xiao Yue walked hand in hand, cautiously moving upwards.
"It seems Ling Mountain isn't entirely virgin forest. In some ancient dynasty, it was opened up by the government," Liu Mudi remarked.
The few girls nodded, the stone steps beneath their feet were testament to that.
Lin Fan merely smiled and said nothing.
While the common folk couldn't undertake such a massive project, the stone steps weren't necessarily the work of the government; they could have been built by some skilled individual.
"Everyone be careful, the stone steps are very slippery. If you fall, you could smash the gates of hell, and even the great immortal Da Luo couldn't save you," Lin Fan warned.
Actually, they didn't need his reminder; everyone was walking with extreme caution.
The mountain path was rugged and steep. Many tourists, after climbing a hundred meters, dared not go further and turned back the way they came.
Only a few brave souls persisted.
Shen Yuqing and Xiao Yue slipped several times, nearly falling.
Fortunately, Lin Fan reached out and pulled them back; otherwise, they would have fallen to their deaths.
"Pervert, thank you!"
Shen Yuqing patted her chest, her face pale with fright.
The four of them had climbed over five hundred meters. Looking down, everything was a hazy blur, making them dizzy.
Liu Mudi, however, maintained a steady pace.
After climbing another three hundred meters, the path ahead suddenly opened up.
They had finally ascended from the precipitous foot of the mountain to a relatively flat area.
There were no signs of human construction here. The ground was natural rock, and the surroundings were filled with dense trees and various plants.
"That was so difficult, we're finally safely up."
Shen Yuqing let out a sigh of relief.
Looking down, scattered figures could also be seen ascending.
"Little brother, you're good. You can climb this fast even with two girls clinging to you."
A young man chuckled as he looked at Lin Fan.
"You're quite impressive too," Lin Fan replied politely.
The young man had discernible energy fluctuations within him, and he was still moving swiftly despite carrying a large backpack, clearly not an ordinary person.
Behind him followed a cold-faced woman in white, who hadn't spoken a word throughout.
"Hello, my name is Peng Fei."
The young man extended his hand with a smile.
"Lin Fan."
Lin Fan shook his hand.
Peng Fei seemed very talkative and asked with a smile, "Are you guys also here for the Seven-Colored Aurora?"
Lin Fan nodded. "Just here for the excitement."
As they spoke, more people gradually ascended from below.
In the end, a total of twenty people arrived at this location.
"When we were at the foot of the mountain, there were about two to three hundred people. How did so few make it up?" Shen Yuqing voiced her confusion.
Peng Fei smiled. "Most people didn't dare to come up, and some took a detour, climbing from a gentler slope on the other side."
Lin Fan raised an eyebrow. "There's another side?"
"This is the direct path to the summit. For centuries, most seniors who reached the summit of Ling Mountain took this route."
Peng Fei pointed to the other side. "On the back of the mountain is the border. Near the border, there's a gentler slope you can climb up, but it requires a very long detour."
"That side is also full of wild beasts and poisonous insects, very unsafe."
Some people were afraid of the steep peaks, and some were afraid of poisonous creatures and fierce beasts; it was understandable.
Lin Fan was curious which path Ye Qingcheng and Ling'er had taken.
The group of twenty placed their backpacks on the ground and rested.
"Look quickly, it's the Seven-Colored Aurora!"
Suddenly, someone exclaimed excitedly, pointing.
Everyone followed the direction of his finger.
They saw the summit of a distant mountain, where a seven-colored aurora shot straight into the clouds!
The light was brilliant, casting a deep vortex in the clouds!
"Good heavens! It's really the Seven-Colored Aurora! The videos online weren't faked!"
"My goodness, seeing it up close is absolutely spectacular!"
"Friends, this is what we came for. It's appeared now, so what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
"May the Seven-Colored Divine Aurora bless me with great wealth this year!"
A few people knelt down piously to make a wish.
More people picked up their backpacks and continued on their way.
"Seeing a mountain from afar is like running a tired horse; although it looks close, at this distance, it will take until nightfall to reach it," Peng Fei sighed.
The woman in white continued to eat corn sausages, her delicate face devoid of any expression.
"Xiao Fan, look quickly, it's so beautiful!"
Shen Yuqing was jumping with excitement.
Xiao Yue urged, "Let's hurry up!"
Everyone set off.
Peng Fei, despite saying he wasn't in a hurry, had already put on his backpack and was about to depart.
Lin Fan glanced at the woman in white. Her delicate eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and she seemed lost in thought, gazing at the distant seven-colored aurora, pondering something unknown.
Liu Mudi didn't seem in a rush either, appearing to be contemplating something.