"We are almost reaching our destination," Zhenjun raised his head and gazed towards the distant mountain peak on the horizon, speaking in a deep voice.

The others also looked up towards the mountain silhouette in the distance on the horizon, standing tall in the vast plains. The towering mountain peak resembled a long pillar, reaching high into the sky and piercing through the clouds, its end unseen.

Qin Yan said, "Zhenjun, are you saying that the destination of our journey this time is this very high mountain?"

Zhenjun said, "Yes, this mountain is the sacred mountain that connects heaven and earth. If you want to return to the human realm, you must pass through this mountain."

"Connect heaven and earth?" Lin Shiqi said in confusion, "Isn't the sky boundless? Although this mountain looks very high, it can't possibly connect heaven and earth, right?"

Yitian interjected, saying, "No, the sky in this world does have boundaries."

"What do you know?" Mengdie, noticing that Yitian seemed to know something, asked him.

After a moment of contemplation, Yitian said, "Well, once I tried to fly towards the sky to see what the sky in this heavenly realm looks like. However, when I reached a certain height, I encountered a strong resistance that prevented me from flying higher. The higher I went, the greater the resistance became, making it impossible for me to continue upwards. So, I speculate that the sky in this heavenly realm is different from the human realm, and the sky does have boundaries."

Zhenjun said, "Your speculation is correct. The heavenly realm is different from the human realm. Both the sky and the earth have boundaries, and it is usually difficult to reach these boundaries. To reach the boundary of the sky, you must use some special means."

Upon hearing this, Mengdie had a sudden realization, "So, do we need to use this very high mountain to reach the boundary of the sky?"

Zhenjun nodded, saying, "That's right."

Mengdie continued, "If this mountain can take us to the boundary of the sky, then maybe it can also help us leave the heavenly realm and return to the human realm."

A smile appeared on Zhenjun's face, "You are very clever, Miss Mengdie."

Lin Shiqi was very surprised, "So that's how it is. We need to do this to leave the heavenly realm. Let's hurry to that mountain; it's getting dark."

The group continued to advance on the grassland, heading towards the distant towering mountain peak on the horizon.

As they drew closer to the high mountain, they suddenly heard the sound of flowing water. In the distance ahead, a very wide river came into view, and the extremely tall mountain was on the far side of this expansive river.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

Upon reaching the riverbank, Lin Shiqi looked at the river for a moment and said, "This river is so wide, it seems to be almost a kilometer."

Zhenjun turned around, surveyed the group, and asked, "Which of you have the ability to cross this river on your own?"

Qin Yan and Yitian could both fly, and they both stated that they could cross the river alone.

Lin Shiqi said, "I can also fly, but the river is too wide for me to fly across."

Yujie said, "I can swim, maybe I can slowly swim across."

Mengdie shook her head, "I can't make it across."

Zhenjun pondered for a moment and said, "So, out of the five of you, only two can easily cross this river. In that case, we must come up with a way to cross it."

Qin Yan suggested, "How about we create something that can float on the water and use it to cross the river?"

Lin Shiqi agreed with Qin Yan's idea and said, "That's a good idea, watch this." She used her magical abilities on the river, and with a buzzing sound, the water on the nearby river surface quickly froze, creating a huge ice floe several dozen square meters in size.

Zhenjun said, "Then we will use this ice floe to cross the river."

Everyone got onto the ice floe, and Qin Yan inserted his large black sword into the center of the ice floe. By controlling the sword and his own gravity, he pushed the ice floe forward, drifting towards the opposite bank.

The river surface was very calm, with only the sound of the floating ice breaking through the water flow echoing. After a while, the ice floe had reached the middle of the wide river.

At that moment, the previously calm river surface began to ripple, with waves crashing against the ice floe, causing it to sway.

Zhenjun's expression changed slightly as he said, "Something doesn't seem right. Stay here, I'll go take a look." With that, he flew off the ice floe.

Zhenjun hovered in the air, peering into the water below. However, as it was getting dark, the light was dim, and visibility was not great. The water was pitch black, and Zhenjun did not see anything in the river. He returned to the ice floe.

"What's going on?" Qin Yan, seeing Zhenjun's serious expression, couldn't help but have a bad feeling.

Zhenjun shook his head and said, "I'm not sure, but I suspect there's some kind of monster in this river."

Lin Shiqi's face showed panic, "Oh, a monster? What kind of monster, where is it?!"

Zhenjun replied, "It should be underwater. It's difficult to find it now that it's late."

"What should we do?"

"Everyone be careful and cross the river as quickly as possible. Once we reach the other side, we should be safe."

The ice floe continued to drift towards the opposite bank. As time passed, the waves in the river grew larger, and the sound of rushing water became louder. The waves hit the ice floe, causing it to shake violently, and the people on the ice floe struggled to stay balanced.

A strong, foul smell drifted over, entering the nostrils of everyone. Suddenly, with a loud splash, an unknown giant beast emerged from the water near the ice floe, standing upright on the water's surface.

"Oh, a monster... a monster has appeared!" Lin Shiqi exclaimed in shock, and the others also looked up in amazement at the giant beast emerging from the water, focusing their gaze on the creature—

It was a blue-green giant snake, with a body about two to three meters thick and an enormously large head with a mouth big enough to swallow an elephant. Only the front ten meters of the snake's body were exposed above water, while the rest of its body remained submerged.

At that moment, the giant snake stood upright on the water's surface, facing the ice floe, continuously spitting out crimson venom from its mouth, showing its malicious intent towards the people on the ice floe.

"I'll deal with it, you all keep moving forward!" Zhenjun sensed that the giant snake was about to launch an attack on them at any moment. He opened his third eye, flew straight towards the blue-green giant snake, and swung his trident spear, releasing a blade of air towards the snake's head.

With a clear clang, the air blade hit the snake's head directly, but the snake's head was extremely tough. Although the snake was hit by the air blade, it did not leave a deep wound.