Chapter 28: Trek
After Goutou's explosion, the school was in chaos and classes were suspended. Everyone was just wasting time in class, or students were free to go home.
Red messaged Mayumi, who agreed to his suggestion to leave earlier. Yui was also fine with it. This time, Yui was organizing the travel, as an assistant was coming along, the three of them waited for her car to arrive.
Soon, a lady arrived with a suv. She got down and requested the three to enter the car. Red immediately noticed one thing, the assistant was definitely a powerful warrior. A cultivator.
"So where are we headed?" Yui asked.
Red sent her the gps coordinates. Yui sent it to the Assistant, who raised an eye. "There is nothing on google maps at this location."
"No worries, I'll guide us there." Red replied.
The assistant didn't complain and the suv drove out of Tokyo and through a few grasslands, until they reached a hilly area.
"We can stop here. Do you see that abandoned trail? We climb through there." Red calmly explained.
Mayumi was shocked. "That route looks so desolate that even grass is growing on the stone steps. How did you find this place?"
"Secret." Red replied.
The three took out their backpacks out and the assistant also came along with them as they began walking along the narrow stone steps with very heavy greenery on both sides.
As they walked up, Red explained the situation. "This used to be a shrine dedicated to a Shiba Inu, which over time lost popularity because there is another larger shrine constructed for the same Shiba Inu. Eventually people stopped coming here, with the exception of the monk, who alone cleaned and took care of the temple.
Unfortunately, many years ago and earthquake destroyed the stairs to the temple and it was completely abandoned. The hike is a little challenging because of the Earthquake damage, but the view above is a sight to see. At least that's what I gathered."
As the trio walked over 400 steps, they saw that a huge landslide had destroyed the steps. "From here the climb will be challenging. You can give me the bag, I'll carry it up then help you two climb up." Red said, pointing towards a muddy and steep climb upwards.
"Are you sure?" Yui asked.
Red nodded. Give me one of the bags, I'll put them above the steep spot where the stairs reform again.
Red took Mayumi's backpack and slung it in front of him. Then he quickly climbed up by balancing along the roots of trees and grabbing onto tree trunks.
"Your friend is an expert climber." The assistant suddenly commented to Yui. Yui nodded. "He is a professional mountaineer."
After ten minutes, Red had crossed the difficult stretch and kept the bags in a safe spot before quickly sliding down.
"What is he doing?" The assistant frowned. Red should've climbed down as he went up, but instead he jumped and began sliding down the steep slope. However her eyes were raised as she saw Red perfectly balance his slide down like a skateboarder, perfectly stalling before arriving in front of them.
"Alright, Yui give me your bag. Now, I'll guide you to climb. Follow my instructions carefully." Red explained.
Then he slowly guided them to climb by balancing their weight on their heels stalled by the tree roots and gripping the tree trunks. This climb was much slower since the other two were proficient, but after thirty five minutes, they finally managed to climb this stretch.
"Good, now have something to eat and drink some of the glucose water. This climb must have been taxing." Red said.
"It was so hard, but so rewarding when you reach the top." Mayumi said with glee.
"We haven't reached the top yet. But we've cleared the difficult bit." Red said with a smile.
After a fifteen minute rest, the groul began climbing again. Yui's assistant did not help from beginning to end. She just followed them. However, when she tried to climb she realized that Red had made it look too easy. The climb was not as simply. In fact Red had created an easy level path, otherwise the trek would have been a struggle for Yui and Mayumi.
After climbing the remaining steps which had become tattered stones and were very uneven and unbalanced, they finally arrived at a shrine. The shrine had completely collapsed into rubble, but there was a statue of a Shiba Inu still standing there, though its nose had been destroyed and its body had cracks in it.
However, behind the Shrine was a large flat stone that was suspended out the cliff like it was going to fall. It was truly a natural wonder. Red pointed towards the flat stone. "We are camping on that stone." He said with a smile.
He could already feel the energy here was much denser than back in his flat.
"Wow! It's so beautiful! There is such a big lake here and this beautiful waterfall is like a bowl! I've never heard of there being such a beautiful place so close to Tokyo!" Mayumi was excited.
Yui, meanwhile, was quiet. Her eyes were looking far away, into the horizon. They had arrived just in time to see a setting red sun and the sky turning purple, the perfection of dusk.
The red sun's reflection was rippling in the lake, as Yui looked down to see that everything below her was tiny and far away. A cold wind blew across her face, filled with a fresh breath of vitality and the scent of nature.
"This is the peak..." She mumbled, remembering what Red had told her.
Red kept his backpack down, and walked right up to the edge of the suspended stone, way out of the cliff and sat down at the edge, looking down. He felt his body shake from his instinctual fear of heights, but it soon disappeared.
The assistant saw Red shivering. "Are you afraid of heights?"
Red smiled. "Not anymore."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone