“I apologize for my earlier bad attitude. With that said, I hope we can cooperate throughout this rescue mission!” said Quest. Not one to fuss over such small matters, Gerald was starting to feel that Quest was actually a rather nice person. What more, Quest was a professional adventurer with great courage and an adventurous spirit. With that in mind, Gerald found himself smiling as he returned Quest’s handshake while saying, “Likewise. Regardless, allow me to formally introduce myself. Gerald Crawford!” “Quest Leane!” replied Quest with his own smile. Following that, both of them then began chatting rather cheerfully till they eventually drifted off to sleep at around three in the morning… By seven the next morning, all fifteen of the rescue team members had already assembled and were ready to set off for the holy mountain. Being the pioneer of the group, Quest was the first in line, followed by Gerald, Patrick, then the other members of the team. Fortunately, the weathe

After squatting to inspect the pile of burnt charcoal for a brief moment, Patrick then said, “…This is still relatively new. The ones who lit the fire should have stayed here around two days ago!” Hearing that, Gerald and Quest turned to look at each other. This was good news! After all, it at least proved that the adventure team was still alive two days ago! “…Alright, let’s just take refuge here for the moment. We’ll continue our journey once the snowstorm is over!” said Quest as he laid down his backpack before sitting to conserve energy. While the rest did the same, Gerald chose to continue inspecting the surrounding cliff area instead. After a while, Gerald called Quest and Patrick over. “Mr. Leane and Captain Wang, I’ve scouted the surrounding area for a bit and I’ve found that there aren’t any other paths to proceed to. The only way to ascend the mountain from this point on is by climbing. To support that statement, just have a look there. If you squint a little, you can

Hearing that, Gerald simply closed his eyes in silence, spreading his divine sense out to scan through the rest of the mountain top… Sadly, the range of his divine sense was rather limited, so he was only able to scan up to a few hundred feet. Though that wasn’t a small range by any means, Gerald still wasn’t able to find any traces of the adventure team after quite some time. Eventually, Quest found himself asking, “…Say… Do you think that the adventure team isn’t here because… they’ve headed further up the mountain…?” Upon hearing that, Gerald turned to look at Quest. Though the suggestion sounded rather preposterous, it wasn’t completely out of the question either. After all, since there were zero traces of the adventure team here, the only other way they could’ve headed to—without bumping into the rescue team on their way up—was further up the mountain… “…That could be the case. Since we’re already here anyway, let’s proceed further up the mountain to check!” replied Gerald

“That’s great to hear! And I agree, the sooner we leave, the better!” replied Gerald. Now that they had found the adventure team in one piece, they needed to begin hiking down the same way they had come up with in order to reunite with the rest of the rescue team. Once that was done, they’d begin descending the mountain… While Gerald was still rather curious about the thousand-year-old panax ginseng, he didn’t want to risk everyone’s lives just to look for it. Besides, it wasn’t even a proven fact that it was really able to revive the dead. With that in mind, the adventure team then began making their way down the mountain. As the saying went, descending a mountain was always easier than ascending one. Adding that to the fact that Gerald and Quest were providing their aid, the journey downward became much easier to bear. With that in mind, it took the group only half an hour to descend halfway down the mountain. Ten minutes before they could reunite with Patrick’s group, howeve

The second he heard that, Gerald’s eyes immediately widened. Though he thought that he had heard wrong, he quickly realized that that wasn’t the case. Two thousand years… To think that this young-looking woman was at least two thousand years old…! How terrifying! And to think that she had stayed here—remaining completely undiscovered—throughout that period! What kind of person even was June…? Had he not fallen into the valley, Gerald could’ve very well have missed her as well… Seeing that Gerald had no further questions, June took the chance to ask, “Now then… enough about me. Why did you come to the holy mountain?” Upon hearing that, Gerald recalled why Nori and the others had hiked up the mountain in the first place. With that in mind, Gerald then replied, “I came here to look for an ancient herb known as the thousand-year-old panax ginseng!” “You… came here looking for that herb…? What do you need it for? Are you trying to create a rejuvenating pellet?” asked June as she f