A full two hours of frantic running — what did that even mean? Could one even imagine it?

By now, Ziqing and the others had long since lost sight of the two wild horses entirely — but instead, they caught sight of a stretch of green land, lush and thick with vegetation, utterly beautiful!

What could possibly do more to wash away their exhaustion in this moment than this stretch of green before their eyes!

One by one, everyone came to a stop. Though their feet still stood on sandy ground, their eyes were filled entirely with that vibrant, verdant green!

Ziqing bent forward, head lowered, gasping desperately for breath!

Not even her mercenary days had left her this exhausted — not even giving birth had left her this exhausted!

And yet, never before had she felt quite so filled with hope!

What a wonderful surprise, this stretch of green!

All around her, everyone else was exactly the same — whether it was the ice-cold, composed Jun Beiyue, or the carefree, easygoing Baili Weisheng, or the ethereal, detached Xuanyuan Lige, every one of them stood there gasping for breath, bent double.

They looked truly wretched — and yet, at the same time, they were truly, genuinely happy!

They had finally made it out of the desert!

Once she’d caught her breath, Ziqing suddenly lifted her head and let out a great shout toward the sky, “Ahhh…”

That single cry poured out every ounce of exhaustion from deep within her, every bit of pent-up frustration from all these years, and every ounce of excitement, of pure release, she felt in this very moment!

Seeing Ziqing shout with such wild abandon, Jun Beiyue laughed, joining in loudly, echoing her cries a few times, “Ahh… ahh…”

Compared to Ziqing’s voice, Jun Beiyue’s rang out far louder still, instantly filling the space around them, the true echoes carrying back from every direction!

Baili Weisheng and Xuanyuan Lige looked up as well, grinning at the others, joining in the shouting together. “Ahh… we made it out!”

“We made it out! Ahh…!”

“Those damned antelope — we made it out anyway!”

At Baili Weisheng’s words, Ziqing nearly burst out laughing until she couldn’t breathe.

Though it hadn’t taken all that long, it truly had been an exhausting ordeal — no, to be more precise, it had been utterly grueling.

Watching everyone release their pent-up feelings with such wild abandon, Xinyun found herself overcome with envy, longing to join in with them, to shout right along, to let out every bit of the grievances, all the bitterness she’d carried for more than twenty years.

Unfortunately, just as she was about to join them, they had already stopped, preparing to press forward once more!

“Second mountain conquered — let’s move on to the third!” Ziqing said, her blood pumping with enthusiasm. She could hardly wait to cross all five mountains in a single breath.

She hadn’t sunk in the marsh, hadn’t died in the desert — she refused to believe anything ahead could possibly stop her now!

And, of course, she was more convinced than ever that she truly was the exception within this illusion.

They say failure is the mother of success, but in truth, that’s not quite right — success itself is the true mother of success. Failure only discourages, while success is what truly drives one forward!

With two successes already behind them, never mind Ziqing — even Jun Beiyue and the others were now brimming with confidence!

“Let’s go. We’ll reach the summit by noon. How about we make it a race?” Xuanyuan Lige suggested.

At these words, everyone turned to look at him in surprise — this kind of lively, spirited energy was a rare sight indeed from Xuanyuan Lige.

Feeling somewhat self-conscious under everyone’s gaze, Xuanyuan Lige pursed his lips and turned away.

But the moment he turned aside, Ziqing and the others all dashed right past him, calling back over their shoulders as they ran, “Xuanyuan Lige, whoever loses has to call everyone else ‘sir’!”

Xuanyuan Lige froze for a moment, his expression changing at once, before hurrying to catch up.

And so, this group, already exhausted to the point of collapse, suddenly seemed to find themselves filled with fresh energy, charging up the mountain with renewed vigor, and before long, the mountainside was ringing with laughter.

Xinyun was exhausted too, but seeing everyone so excited, so full of life, her own heart — weighed down for decades — found itself unconsciously stirring along with them, feeling, for a moment, the vitality of youth once more!

But she knew full well she wasn’t young anymore. If not for the fact that appearances never aged within this illusion, she would already be well past forty by now, surely.

“When I was young, I was just like all of you,” Xinyun murmured quietly to herself, before finally hurrying to catch up.

Xuanyuan Lige had, without question, been set up. By the time Ziqing, Jun Beiyue, and Baili Weisheng reached the summit, he was still several steps behind.

Only, the ones who’d set him up weren’t facing him at that moment — they had their backs turned instead.

It didn’t take Xuanyuan Lige long to sense something was off. These three had clearly seen something at the summit — he hadn’t reached it yet himself, and what he could see so far was nothing but perfectly ordinary vegetation, and the fourth great mountain visible in the distance.

Just as Xuanyuan Lige was about to climb the final stretch, the three of them turned around together at once, each wearing a distinctly mischievous expression.

Xuanyuan Lige shot them a sidelong glance and moved to climb past them, but Baili Weisheng blocked his way. “We had a deal — whoever loses calls everyone ‘sir’!”

Xuanyuan Lige arched an eyebrow at him, saying nothing, clearly refusing to agree.

Baili Weisheng didn’t press the point, saying with a grin instead, “Fine, you don’t have to call us ‘sir’ — how about calling her ‘big sister’ instead?” And with that, he pointed, of all people, toward Ziqing.

Ziqing narrowed her eyes at him immediately — if looks could kill, she would gladly have sliced that shameless mouth of Baili Weisheng’s clean off with her glare.

At that moment, Xinyun caught up as well. Xuanyuan Lige, having no patience left to keep bantering with Baili Weisheng, simply stepped up onto the large boulder ahead, finally reaching the summit himself.

But the moment he saw what lay before him, his jaw very nearly dropped in shock.

There, stretching out before him, was an endless sea of fire, boundless in every direction, nothing but raging, roaring flames, as though standing at the mouth of some colossal volcano.

No wonder the other three still had it in them to joke around — it was because, no matter how hard they racked their brains, nothing they came up with would make any difference at all. Crossing this sea of fire was simply, utterly impossible.

The marsh, the desert — those, at least, they’d been able to attempt. But this raging inferno before them now — they didn’t even have the chance to try.

“Don’t… don’t you all find this strange?” Xuanyuan Lige murmured.

“The marshland of the Great Qin grasslands, the desert of West Jing, the flame mountain of West Liang — could it be that next comes the snowy mountains of the Xiongnu, and then Da Zhou’s…” Baili Weisheng had already worked it out as well.

Only, Da Zhou didn’t seem to have any particularly distinctive terrain of its own.

Both men turned to look at Ziqing and Jun Beiyue, but the two of them simply shook their heads — Da Zhou’s landscape didn’t seem to hold anything especially unique, mostly just fertile farmland.

If their guess was correct, and these five mountains represented the five major regions of the continent of Longyuan, then did that mean whatever lay beyond the fifth mountain would represent Nanzhao itself?

And whatever represented Nanzhao — could that be the deserted island itself?

Beyond the fifth mountain — could that be the very deserted island they had struggled so long and hard to find? Would the Nanzhao musician himself be waiting for them there, on the deserted island?

The thought alone was enough to stir tremendous excitement.

And yet, everything before them right now was enough to discourage anyone — truly, a case of having all the will in the world, but nowhere to apply it!

What were they supposed to do?

Xinyun had climbed up as well by now, and upon seeing what lay before them, didn’t even bother feigning her usual fright — after all, throughout this entire journey, the group had already come to treat her as though she weren’t even there at all.

Having tried and failed to win their favor several times over, she had finally settled into complete silence.

Everyone stared at the massive furnace before them, the roaring flames seeming to burn right into their very eyes, and before long, every face in the group had flushed hot and red.

“What do we do — jump in?” Baili Weisheng’s “golden tongue” spoke up once more.

But just then, Ziqing suddenly seized hold of his hand, as though struck by some sudden thought. Yet the expression on her face left Baili Weisheng thoroughly unnerved. “What exactly are you planning…”

Ziqing gave a mysterious smile, praising him, “You stinking Jiao — looks like you’ve finally managed to spit out something worthwhile!”