Strongest Scammer: Scamming The World, One Death At A Time-Chapter 656: Growing Obstacles
Still, Han Yu gave credit where it was due. The horse had sensed the panther before he did. Without its agitation, the panther might have gotten close enough to cause trouble.
He patted the horse reassuringly.
"Good. But I do not know how much longer something like this can keep working."
For the first two days within the Middle Ring, things went surprisingly smoothly. He encountered several powerful beasts, but none approached him. Most stared from afar, judged the threat, and retreated thinking it was not worth it.
This allowed him to make good progress through increasingly difficult terrain. He even encountered a few valuable spirit herbs.
The first was a Broad Leaf Cold Fern growing beside a shaded cliff wall. Its fronds shivered faintly even in still air. Han Yu plucked several leaves carefully and stored them. These could be used for cold resistance pills and sometimes even in body tempering salves.
The second find was a bush full of Spirit Snow Berries.
Round, white, and coated with frost despite the time of year. They tasted pleasantly sweet with a tart aftertaste. Most beasts ate them for nutrition, but they made for quick snacks for him during the climb as they also provided spirit qi. He took only the ripe ones, leaving the rest for local animals.
Everything seemed steady and predictable until the third day.
That morning, as he followed the narrow mountain trail, he came to a sudden stop.
The path ahead was completely blocked.
Three massive boulders, each three meters tall, had collapsed from a landslide. They were piled over each other, forming a crude, uneven wall across the path. Their surfaces were sharp, jagged, and absolutely impassable for an animal.
Han Yu stared at the obstruction for a moment, then sighed.
"For me this is barely an inconvenience," he murmured. "But for the horse..."
He eyed the animal. It blinked at him.
Han Yu pinched the bridge of his nose while wondering how he had ended up in this situation.
He could easily leap or even fly over the obstruction with his cultivation. The problem was the horse would not survive the climb and jump on its own. There was no alternate path. The cliff walls rose too steeply on either side, and the drop behind the boulders was far too deep for the horse to risk.
So Han Yu did the only reasonable thing.
He crouched beside the horse, wrapped both arms around its middle, and lifted.
The animal tensed in shock, legs momentarily flailing, before Han Yu steadied it with a grunt. Even though he was a mid stage Core Condensation cultivator and could easily lift several times this weight, carrying a five hundred kilogram horse while climbing over sharp boulders was another matter entirely.
By the time he reached the top of the last rock, he could not help thinking about Fatty Kui. His brother in all but blood lifted beasts twice this size with one hand while laughing. Han Yu silently cursed that comparison and jumped down the other side while holding the horse.
If anyone had seen this, they would have been confused whether to admire him or laugh at the absurdity.
"Humiliating," Han Yu muttered. "Truly humiliating."
He set the horse down gently. It staggered a bit, then snorted as if blaming him for the ordeal.
"Complain again and I will roast you," Han Yu warned lightly.
The horse wisely went silent.
The path after the landslide continued normally for another hour before splitting into two routes.
Han Yu halted and studied both.
The first path wound around the mountain in a long spiral. According to the maps he had purchased in the Harrow Edge town, this was the recommended route. It avoided steep climbs and treacherous cliffs. However, it was extremely slow. People who took this road would need almost two full days to reach the other side of the mountain.
The second path went straight upward. A steep climb up the mountain face, followed by a narrow cliff path that cut along a ridge. This shortened the journey dramatically. Instead of taking two days, it would take only ten hours.
Han Yu stared at both routes in silence.
The longer path was safer for the horse. But also painfully slow.
The shorter path saved time, but took him across terrain that a mortal animal would never survive.
He rubbed his chin, considering.
"Should I drag the horse through this nonsense again," he mused, "or is it time to end its trip here."
He looked at the horse.
The horse looked back.
Neither blinked.
Han Yu sighed.
"This is a dilemma."
He paced between the two paths, weighing the risks and consequences.
The safer path wasted precious time. The shorter one risked killing the horse and attracting beasts.
He remained there for a full minute, deep in thought, as the cold wind swept around him and the distant mountains rumbled softly.
The Middle Ring had finally begun to challenge him.
Han Yu stood between the two paths for a long moment, feeling the cold wind brush past his cheek as the horse snorted behind him. The animal shook its head as if impatient for him to make a decision, completely oblivious to the fact that it was the source of the dilemma.
He sighed.
"There really is no helping it," he muttered.
The cliff route was the only reasonable choice for a cultivator. The long route was too slow and too wasteful, and the cliff route cut the travel time down drastically.
But a mortal animal like the horse would never survive the sharp turns or the narrow footpaths even if Han yu carried it up somehow. The moment its hooves slipped even a little, it would fall into the endless valley below.
Leaving it behind was the only option.
Han Yu returned down the mountain face and led the horse along the normal path for about half an hour until he found a small clearing hidden between the trees. It was sheltered from the harsher winds and even had a patch of healthy green grass covering the ground.
