The Greatest Fight [progression cultivation isekai]

X2.4.2: The Yellow Tree Road



X2.4.2: The Yellow Tree Road

Roa was deep in thought, climbing from rock to rock, when he felt a familiarly nauseating feeling overtake him. A wretched presence made itself known, and the Sunflower recognized it soon after. He lifted his hand to the others who stopped moving, finally noticing the evil aura surrounding them. After some time, the boy shouted.

"Show yourself! I know you are here, watching," he said into the emptiness of the sky.

Eventually, a large eye tore open in front of them, floating above them in the sky, and the Lord of Lords spoke.

"You think that you can hide from me, but eventually—I will find you. You believe in your foolish heart that you are going somewhere—but I make sure that you get nowhere. Your destiny is to be forever lost—wandering aimlessly until you yourself—will finally decide to end it all. I hold all the keys of the Palace—you have only managed to steal one. What a delusional fool you are," the Lord said in a cruel tone.

"Delusional is believing that you will somehow out-strategize us," Roa said, continuing to climb as the Patriarch laughed at him.

"What strategy is this? Dying of a disease on an endless mountain you can neither climb or get off of? Pathetic. Are you the one that is supposed to force ME off of the Throne of Thrones? The one who will bring down the Order of the Worlds?" the Patriarch laughed again.

"You have already lost, and you do not even know it yet. I am--invincible," the Sunflower taunted him back.

"Oh yeah? You are the one who has lost by my hand many times already," the master of Default World shot back, ridiculing the boy who struggled as he lifted himself up. "I have yet to lose once to a nobody like you."

"I am nobody, and I am invincible—not because of some prophecy in some old book, nor because of some unnatural talent I have gained by sheer luck, or chance. No, I am invincible because I choose to be—I get back up after I fall. Always. You will never keep someone like me down, no matter how much you try. I will exhaust you. I am indomitable. I am invincible because I represent an idea that cannot be killed. "

The Lord scoffed, "an idea—and what would that be? Idealistic—foolishness?"

"Hope," the Sunflower said with a smile. "And unlike you, I only need to beat you once," he said, turning around toward the eye, pointing his index finger at it.

The Lord scoffed again and said, "we will see about that." Then the eye looked up at the top of the mountain and he began to shout, "oh, great spirit of the mountain, I challenge you. I shall climb you to the top, and be higher, mightier, and greater than you!"

The mountain trembled, and an avalanche of boulders fell from the skies, prompting the three travelers to duck to safety. When the landslide subsided, the Lord of Default World laughed again, and as it's ominous eye in the sky closed, he said in a treacherous tone, "everything and everyone is against you, boy. Even the mountains."

"And somehow—I will still win!" the Sunflower shouted back as he held on to a rock with his tired fingers. "I will still win," he murmured to himself softly, somewhat not as sure of his own words the second time he repeated them to himself.

It had been days the Jumpers had been climbing Elevar's Heights. The landscape began to change from a tropical one to a more alpine one. Giant, blooming flowers dotted the side of the mountain, filling the air with a delicious perfume. An old woman carrying a wooden basket on her back filled with firewood passed them by. When asked for directions, the kind local responded, "this is Flower Side. The bees—" she said, pointing up, "they travel from above the first clouds, down here to collect the nectar of the giant flowers, to make Magic Honey. The swarms have their hives near Thousand Steps Village and the Shrine Above the Clouds. If you're going up, that will be your first stop—especially since the honey will give you all the strength you need to keep climbing, my dears."

The travelers slept in a tent when the sun disappeared behind the giant mountain as the cold came, and then packed up their belongings as soon as the first light appeared in the morning. The Yellow Tree Road slithered like a snake through peaks, forests, lakes and waterfalls, but the trio never veered off of it, to avoid getting lost.

"Ouch!" Rosso yelled, "someone hit me with a rock over the head," he said, massaging his nogging.

"Monkeys," Indigo pointed at the forest, as small beings moved above in the leaves and branches.

"Where?" Roa asked as his eyes followed the movements.

"Ouch! Damn it," Rosso screamed again.

Another pebble shot out of the darkness of the tree canopy. As it was about to hit the Sunflower's face, however, the boy's hand appeared in front of it, catching it swiftly and effortlessly.

He lowered the pebble, and shouted, "show yourselves. We know that you are hiding in the forest. Come out and face us."

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The leaves rustled and the branches filled with dark-green colored monkeys. Among them, sat a larger one. It was orange, and it resembled an orangutang.

"Humans like you are not welcomed here," it said with a deep voice, "Humans like you bad for animals. Leave now."

"Shut up, you stupid monkey," shouted Rosso, chucking a pebble back at them.

"We do not wish you any harm. Let us pass, and we will leave you in peace," Roa said.

More rocks hit the travelers.

"They're not going to listen to us," Rosso said, chucking another one their way.

The animals began to howl in unison, their screams growing by the second until it became a deafening roar that was followed by another avalanche of rocks.

"Move!" screamed the boy from Earth, pulling the other two back as the boulders rolled down, tearing trees and everything else in their path.

Rosso leapt up with great speed, using Haste, he evaded the barrage of rocks, jumping from one to the next as they rolled down, blocking the way to the monkeys. The howl stopped as soon as the animals realized that the boy from the desert had made it past, all the way to their leader.

"Stop it!" he shouted, grabbing the large orangutang by the hair on his chest and yanking him closer. "Tell them to stop!"

The animal hesitated but then complied, shouting a long, high-pitched howl that stopped the others from screaming, and eventually causing the avalanche to subside.

"We are not your enemy, you stupid ape," he said, releasing him.

The animal lifted his index finger and pointed it at the heretic, and said, "you also ape. But, you forget your place. You forget you animal too—think you are special."

Rosso's eyebrows raised, surprised by what it said. As a man who valued science, the primate's words could not be argued with. Humans are apes.

"Stop throwing rocks at us," was the only thing he could think of saying back.

The orangutang howled, and the monkeys scattered, as it wobbled back and forth, slowly disappearing into the forest as it said, "you win today, but not learn lesson. So, you lose tomorrow."

The travelers continued their ascent, scaling the Yellow Tree Road for several more days. Roa noticed in the distance children running and playing through the emerald hills above them. It reminded him of that one, nameless world he had passed through in the beginning of his long journey, where he had first realized he had special powers after defeating the dragon in the giant birdhouse. He thought of how long had passed since then, and wondered where home was, and how Eralay was doing. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in, and send her yet another auric message. He sighed, knowing full well that none of his previous ones probably ever reached her, or anyone else.

"Let's rest here," said the boy from Earth as they reached a large, wooden temple kissed by the sun shining upon it.

"You may sleep here, if you'd like," said a stranger, taking them by surprise. The travelers had been so preoccupied by the stormy clouds gathering in the distance, that they had not noticed that a short, stout, bald monk was sitting cross legged near the entrance of the temple.

"Thank you, sir. What is this place?" asked Indigo.

"The Shrine Above the Clouds," he answered without opening his eyes as he meditated.

The inside of the temple was covered in small mounds of stones, piled up like little mountains on the wooden floors of the place. At the end of the large room was the largest pile, surrounded by candles and offerings.

A bell rang and several other monks came out, joining the first one in meditation.

"Please, join us," said one of them with a kind smile.

The travelers were tired, but decided nonetheless to take some time to meditate, and cultivate their auras.

One hour had passed, then two. Rosso was snoring on the ground, passed out from exhaustion. Indigo eventually gave up too, unsure how much longer the monks would continue for. It was Roa, instead, who lasted the longest, sitting there with his eyes closed among the monks until darkness came. He felt his aura growing, flowing through his veins, emanating from his skin. He did not care that the infection would kill him. He needed to get stronger, as long as he was still breathing—in case he found a way to survive. Another bell finally rang, and the monks all stood up. All of them except the one the short, stout one that had greeted them.

"You have great patience and discipline," he said, as the boy smiled with a nod. "But, I think that there is a storm inside your heart." Roa's eyes opened wider. "Something is eating you up inside—and it is not just that," the monk said, pointing to the boy's arm.

Roa looked down at the infection, caressing it with his hand.

"I lost my past. I am just trying to gather whatever pieces of it remain," the boy said.

After some time, the monk said, "the water downstream will never be found upstream again in a river. Let things flow as they do, without trying to force the hand of the Universe. Allow things to be, and you will notice that there is still plenty of fresh new water to drink from the same river."

The Sunflower nodded without saying anything, and the attendant of the temple offered him to stay as long as they wished, eat their food and take some of their supplies, in return for some help harvesting honey. The boy accepted. Afterall, it had been several weeks they had been scaling the endless mountain without stopping.

The monk led him through a small mountain pass the next day, as goats hopped from rock to rock above them, and cows mooed in luscious, green pastures. The mist covered some of the peaks, and the sky was gray that day. The man pointed between two large, pointy rocks.

"The bees like to make their homes in the crevices. They harvest from the giant flowers below and make Magic Honey," he said.

"Magic?" Roa asked.

"Yes. The honey has special properties. It will help slow down your disease," he answered.

Carefully climbing upon the rocks, the two began to cut large slices of the hives, placing them in large wooden baskets, as waterfalls of golden honey oozed out of the pieces. The insects stung the boy occasionally, but he continued nonetheless.

"Taste," the monk said.

It was the most delicious honey Roa had ever tasted. He could taste the giant flowers, the sweetness reminding him of the large dates of Lalh-Ah Land.

"There. Another hive," the man said, pointing farther up, causing the boy to climb in that direction, holding on to the dark, sharp rocks jutting out.

The boy looked below and noticed the emptiness of the sky, and the gray clouds covering the bottom as if they were a blanket. Roa held on as his fingers trembled from holding his weight up, when one of his legs suddenly collapsed down.

The rocks below him broke.

His left temple hit the stone surface and he tore the skin on his chest upon the rocks. He fell down unto more jagged boulders, hitting the ground with a loud thud and forcing a groan out of him. His Scutum fortunately broke the fall, flickering around him as it activated, using up his aura.

When he stood back up, however, his eyes opened wide, and fear struck him.

A large beast climbed into view, and stared down at the boy, growling above him.


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