Ascending to Immortality

Chapter 5: Broken bone cliff

Panting heavily, Li Ena wiped the sweat from his for head and took a deep breath of cold air. His vision was a bit blurry and every inch of his body was aching.

The road was actually very long and full of a variety of traps like deep holes, hidden snakes, scorpions..... when someone got in a dangerous situation a shadow will flash and a senior will come to save the one in trouble, however the latter will be disqualified.

The children felt at ease because of the hidden protection and did their best to keep going forward. They kept running for five consecutive hours and still didn't reach the cliff, some lost conscious from exhaustion, others decided to stop from time to time to rest and take a breather.

Removing those who were disqualified the number of children got from the initial plus two hundred to almost hundred and seventy kids. From this one can see how much hard the first test was.

It wasn't until the seventh hour when the sun started to get down and hide behind the mountain, when a sudden shout full of joy and excitement sounded out from the one in the front " Look it's the cliff, we finally finished this hellish marathon".

All the kids cheered with excitement and happiness as they rushed to the cliff. Running for so long drained their energy and made it so hard for them to stand after reaching their goal so most of them fell on the ground while breathing heavily, the children from the cities looked a bit better as they sat cross  legged, trying to regulate their breathing and recuperate a bit. Luckily there was a medium sized pond with a clean and drinkable water, so they got to relieve  their thirst.

Li Ena sat on the ground breathing heavily, he was very exhausted, his back was touching the cold soil, his face was red and his mouth was dry, he waited for a couple of minutes for his body to cool down then went to the pond to drink, he didn't drink in big gulps like others, even so he was so thirsty he drunk half a mouthful at a time, he knew that drinking water while the body is hot is not good for health, he read in a book that it can even cause death if someone was unlucky.

After recuperating for a while the children finally looked at the huge cliff in front of them, it was so high that you can't see the top, there was some trees growing on it, and you can hear the voice of some eagles and crows. In the front of the cliff there was some skeletons and wooden plaque written on it some words with a bright red color like that of fresh blood' Broken bone cliff '.

Sounds of exclamation came from the kids when they saw this bloody and horrifying image, it seemed that this cliff is dangerous and one must be ready to take the risk if he wanted to continue.

"Country bumpkins, stop shivering like mice, don't remember there are some seniors monitoring us, so if we fell they will pop up from no where and catch us" snorted a good looking kid.

Some kids smacked their foreheads for not noticing this obvious truth.
After understanding the situation some people sat in groups while others sat on their own. Li Ena sat with the kids from his village they first collected some wood and ignited fire to warm themselves through the cold night. Each of the children took something to eat and fill their empty stomachs, after eating they played  rock, scissor, paper to decide who starts the night watch. Li Ena cursed his luck as he watched everyone going to sleep. He climbed the tree next to their camp and sat on a thick branch while looking at the night sky. It was a clear sky full of starts, the night breeze was a bit cold, from a while to another you can hear the roars of some wild animals deep in the mountain. He first took a small bottle from his breast pocket and smirked some of the sticky liquid on his skin to fend of poisonous insects. Being someone from a hunting family Ena knew how to keep himself safe in the forest.

Looking at the huge cliff, he  thought to himself that tomorrow is going to be a harsh day so he needs to do his best and make his family proud.

... ..

The first ray of the sun hit the earth announcing the beginning of a new day, the weather was warm and the sky was cloudless, the birds were singing and the butterflies were dancing, it was a nice day for a picnic or fishing. However its was going to be a harsh day for these young ones who standing in front of a massive cliff.

The first one to start climbing was a tall, creepy looking kid, he first washed his hand with soil to avoid slipping because of sweet, then made a light jump while stretching his hands to put them in some cracks and started going up. After him almost all the children started  ascending the cliff.

At first it was a bit easy to climb up but as you go higher the surface turns smother and it is harder to keep holding into cracks and holes, it became slippery and some children even fell, fortunately they were saved by the hidden seniors. The kids were really amazed by these seniors what took them an hour to climb, was crossed by these agile shadows in instants.

Li Ena breathed heavily as he looked, the top was still far from his sight, he frowned a bit given his strength he won't be able to climb for mor than two hours, right now an hour has passed already, he took a deep breath and cleared his mind from these distracting thought and increased his climbing speed a bit.

Currently in the front line, there was a burly kid advancing at a fast pace while smiling with self confidence, his body was strong since he was young so his endurance and strength were very good, he estimated that it will take him at least three to get tired. Looking up, he couldn't stop himself from cursing " This test is really hard and tiring, at least with my strength I can reach the end with no obstruction".

The climbing was maintained for two hours, when most people thought they will fall from tiredness, they suddenly saw the peak, they were so happy that they forgot their fatigue and accelerate till they reached it, with faces full of smiles they extended their hands to lift themselves up. However they found a surprise waiting for them, it turned out they only crossed half the distance, they are now in an open ground in the middle of the cliff and they still have at least another three hours of climbing to reach their true goal.

Li Ena stretched on the ground, his breathing was hard, his clothes were sticking to his skin because of sweat, his hands were bleeding. He bit his tongue to awaken himself from this dizziness. The first thing he has to do is to treat his injuries before they worsen then he can rest before continuing to climb. Looking around him, there was only ninety person recuperating, it seemed that this test disqualified almost half the remaining participants.

Taking a breath of cold air, he clenched his fists and sat down to recuperate, he knew that he has to finish faster or he won't qualify.