Stranger Danger-Chapter 1687: Golden Road

“Phew... The Raya Mountain Range is up ahead. We’ll reach the western nations once we get past it.”

Ye Qing could not help but feel excited as he admired the gigantic, meandering mountain range that spanned from one end of the horizon to another like a divine dragon.

He even felt a bit of nostalgia. A long time ago, he and Yi Pin had landed deep within the Raya Mountain Range after escaping from the Kunlun Ruins. They had gone through many hardships and suffering before they were finally able to leave. It had been a bitter journey to put it mildly.

His memory regarding the Myriad Buddha Plains especially felt as fresh as yesterday.

“How does it feel to visit a place once visited?” Feng Qingyou asked smilingly.

“Nothing has changed, and yet everything is different,” Ye Qing answered.

In fact, the Kunlun Ruins adventure hadn’t happened that long ago. It was a few years ago at best. However, he felt like everything was different.

It wasn’t that the place had changed. He had.

His friends and acquaintances were all fine. The incidents all ended well in his favor, and the loose ends were all wrapped up nicely. He was no longer the weakling he was either. So, he didn't feel sad. Only nostalgic.

The nostalgia came and went quickly though. The past was the past after all. There was no need to linger in the past. There was no point in lingering in the past either.

The young need not know the wind or the moon. Just keep going forward and treat it all like a song.

“Oh right. When are you going to deal with our tail?” Feng Qingyou asked another question.

“There’s no hurry.”

The corners of Ye Qing’s lips curled into a devilish smirk. “We have a long road ahead of us, and I was just feeling a little bored. They’re the perfect remedy to our boredom, don’t you agree?”

“Do whatever you want.” Feng Qingyou shook her head at Ye Qing’s perverse pleasure.

The duo weren’t idle as they made chit-chat with each other. For obvious reasons, they weren’t going to go through the Myriad Buddha Plains or the Great Snow Mountain. They weren’t here to relive the past after all. They were here on an important mission. So, the route they chose was the trade route that was famous since the olden days known as the Golden Road.

The Golden Road was a trade route that connected the west and the center. During its best days, the spices, the currencies, the jewelries, the warhorses and more all passed from the western nations to the center, and the silk, tea leaves, porcelainware and more passed from the center to the western nations through this road.

Legend had it that the Golden Road was once so busy that the mules stretched seemingly without end, the copper bells rang all night, and the gold, silver and jewelries glittered so bright that nearly the entire trading route was dyed in gold. That was why the people came to call it the Golden Road.

However, after the You Dynasty fell into shambles, and the western nations rose to power, the latter coveted the riches of the Central Plain and launched many invasions. As a result, the Golden Road was cut off for a time.

That said, the Central Plain eventually regained their stability, and the trading route was reconnected. Trade began flowing between the two regions once more.

In recent years, in order to ensure the stability of the trading route and to keep the western nations’ impulses in check, Wei had repeatedly assaulted the western nations using the Golden Road. To ensure that their march would not be impeded, they even dispatched powerful elites to punch through mountains, remove obstacles, and generally make the Golden Road even smoother than it already was.

Therefore, one might say that the Golden Road was the fastest, safest, and most convenient way to enter the western nations right now.

Horse caravans and merchants could be seen coming and going along many stretches of the road. One could also find inns, teahouses, and even small towns in sheltered areas. It added much life and vibrance to the Golden Road.

Of course, the deeper they ventured into the Raya Mountain Range, the fewer caravans and merchants they found on the Golden Road, and the sparser the traffic became.

There were many reasons why this was the case. For one, the weather and environment grew increasingly treacherous the deeper one ventured into the Raya Mountain Range. The wind was strong, and the snow was rapid. Two, there were all kinds of threats stemming from Strangers, Anomalies, and bandits.

The bandits especially were dangerous that every caravan feared.

Although Wei’s repeated assaults against the western nations through the Golden Road had also eradicated most of the Strangers, Anomalies and bandits infesting the area, that didn’t mean that they had eradicated all of them.

The threats that weren’t eradicated were either small fries that didn’t deserve the Wei army’s attention, or formidable entities so powerful that even the army could not wipe them out once and for all.

Obviously, the latter type was the nightmare of all caravans using the Golden Road.

“On the Golden Road, there are Three Anomalies, Four Villains, and Five Evils that require our utmost attention and caution.”

A middle-aged man sitting on the roof of a caravan took a drag from his pipe before looking at the young guards around him. He asked, “Do you know what they are?”

The middle-aged man was only in his forties, but prolonged exposure to the harsh environment of his trade gave him dark, rough skin and a face full of wrinkles. He looked extremely weathered.

Besides that, the man only had one eye. He was wearing a black eyepatch on his right eye, and there was a long scar across his left eye. It made him look scary and intimidating.

Despite his fearsome appearance, the man wasn’t difficult to interact with. On the contrary, he spoke amiably and wore a friendly smile on his face. He got along very well with the guards.

“Yes, yes, you’re very experienced since you’ve traveled the Golden Road multiple times. Now stop keeping us in suspense and tell us already, Old Guan!” A guard urged.

“Impatient boy. Your impatience is going to bite you in the ass one day.”

Old Guan rebuked the guard halfheartedly before starting, “The Three Anomalies refer to the three deadliest Anomalies plaguing the Golden Road. They are the Headless Buddha, the Valley of Sorrow, and the Blood Sun Yin Riders.”

“The Headless Buddha refers to a headless olden Buddha about three hundred meters tall that roams the Golden Road. If you run into the Headless Buddha, make sure you fall to your knees and kowtow to him immediately. Otherwise, he will treat it as a form of disrespect and remove your heads.”

“The Valley of Sorrows is an unusual valley on the Golden Road that one unfortunately must pass through when heading for the western nations. As soon as you enter the valley, you will feel indescribably sad like someone is twisting a knife inside your heart. That is how it earned its name.”

“If you wish to pass through the Valley of Sorrows safely, then you mustn’t shed a tear no matter how sad you feel. Otherwise...”

Old Guan dragged out his sentence, and another guard lost his patience. “Otherwise, what? Come on, Old Guan!”

“Otherwise, you’re going to cry like a bitch,” Old Guan answered.

“What... is that it?” Everyone booed him. And here they thought it was something serious.

“Haha... I’m not done yet. Let me finish.”

Old Guan let out a mirthless chuckle. “You will cry like no tomorrow, cry like your insides are about to break piece by piece, cry until you wish to commit suicide. You won’t be able to stop crying. You will keep crying until you turn blind, and your tears are dry once and for all.”

“Oh, but that’s not all.”

Old Guan continued when he saw the shocked and fearful looks on the young guards’ faces. “When your tears have run dry, you’ll begin crying blood. You will keep weeping blood until not a drop of blood is left in your body, and you have turned into a dry, lifeless husk. Only then will the crying stop.”