Chapter 17: There Is No True Summit
The ticket cost fifteen yuan, and the bus departed once it was full.
According to the navigation, it was about twenty kilometers to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. The ride wouldn't take long, so Chen Xing relaxed and closed his eyes to rest.
He hadn't gotten up this early in a long time and wasn't used to it yet.
It felt like having just come off a winter break and suddenly being forced to wake up at six in the morning again for school.
After ten minutes or so, the bus stopped. Someone came aboard and called out, "Buy your mountain admission ticket! One hundred yuan. Seniors between sixty and seventy years old get half-price, those over seventy or with military IDs are free, and kids under 1.2 meters also get half-price…"
"There's an admission ticket just to enter the mountain?"
The person collecting fees was wearing a scenic area uniform and looked pretty official.
But they hadn't even arrived at the visitor center yet. Why were they selling tickets on the bus?
Chen Xing asked, "I already bought the Glacier Park and Blue Moon Valley combo ticket. Doesn't that cover it?"
"No, sir," the woman replied. "The mountain admission ticket is separate from attraction tickets. Let me explain: the admission ticket is 100 yuan and everyone must buy one. It's basically your entrance fee. Then there are additional charges for places like Blue Moon Valley, the Glacier, Yak Meadow, those are extra."
She held onto the seats on both sides of the front row, patiently explaining.
Chen Xing finally understood, he still needed to pay an extra hundred yuan.
There were three cableways on Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. The Glacier Park ticket Chen Xing had bought was the hardest to get. It was said they were already booked out until the end of October. When the ticket seller heard that Chen Xing had managed to get one last night, she was astonished and chalked it up to incredible luck.
There was nothing more to say, he paid the money.
Before long, the bus arrived.
The moment Chen Xing got off, he felt the temperature was even lower than Lijiang Old Town. A clothing rental shop was nearby. People without their own jackets were lining up. The rental down jackets only came in two colors and looked quite ugly.
Tour guides were calling for their tourists to keep up, walking forward along the road.
Chen Xing left the parking lot and wandered a bit, quickly feeling lost.
What should I be doing?
He had a ticket, which meant he could head straight to Blue Moon Valley from the scenic entrance and take the cable car from there to the Glacier Park. But he didn't see any shuttle buses heading to Blue Moon Valley, nor did he see a visitor service center.
If there's a problem, look for staff, but Chen Xing couldn't find any.
With no other option, he stopped at a breakfast stall and ordered a bowl of vegetable porridge with pickles and an egg. When the stall owner brought the food over, he asked, "Sis, can I ask where the service desk is?"
"Just follow this road straight ahead," she said, pointing toward the way Chen Xing had already walked.
So he was on the right path, he just had to keep walking further.
As he ate, tourists kept passing by non-stop along the road. Even this small breakfast stall was crowded. When there weren't enough seats, people would just buy a couple of buns and carry freshly boiled eggs as they walked on.
After finishing his meal, he continued forward and finally got on the shuttle bus.
From this point on, Chen Xing noticed the scenery gradually improving.
On either side of the road were open lawns, gently rising terrain leading to forests, and beyond that, mountains. Perhaps because of the cold, the mountains looked pitch black. The ridges appeared sharp and jagged, like they'd been chopped by an axe. Majestic and imposing, the peaks were shrouded in mist, obscuring their secrets.
These mountains were unlike any Chen Xing had seen before. They weren't clad in lush green. There were no birds flying above. Glacial streams cascaded down from the highest points, leaving behind thin white lines on the dark slopes, like strands of silver in an old man's hair.
If the mountains in southern China were like refined scholars, these northern ranges were rugged border warriors. Even from thousands of meters away, one could feel their stern and unyielding presence.
"Snow Mountain…"
Chen Xing murmured to himself.
He recalled a line of poetry, one every student in China could recite:
Mountains dance with silver snakes, highlands charge like wax elephants, daring to match the sky in height.
His Chinese teacher used to say that he hoped his students would read more, even read "dead books" without worrying about understanding everything. Because many truths and feelings might not make sense in the moment, but when the time came, just like the Taoists said, you'd suddenly see clearly, as if achieving enlightenment.
[Green hills bring gray hair; who will I shed tears for?]
[Congratulations! You have acquired the skill: First Aid.]
[If mountains could speak, they'd be the wisest mentors.]
[You may finish climbing a mountain, but the true summit lies only in the heart. Life is a play, there is no final peak. Snow Mountain Series Mission unlocked: The mountain you climb will reward you based on its height and difficulty.]
A series mission?
Chen Xing turned his gaze from the window and began to ponder.
His ticket today was for the summit of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, supposedly 4680 meters above sea level.
If all went smoothly, would he be able to earn two rewards today?
And this first aid skill… definitely useful. Traveling alone carried risks. With this knowledge, he could at least hold out until help arrived.
Pah, pah, pah!
Why was he thinking such unlucky thoughts?
As he drifted deeper into his musings, the shuttle arrived at Blue Moon Valley.
No wonder it was called Blue Moon Valley, the lake water really was blue. A gentle breeze rippled its surface like fish scales, catching the sunlight and making it feel like a giant fish had swum by.
The water was crystal clear. Chen Xing went to take a closer look, no fish.
The area was filled with tourists, but everyone spoke in hushed voices, creating a peaceful atmosphere that Chen Xing found incredibly soothing. He took out his camera and snapped dozens of photos of Blue Moon Lake.
There was a bridge over the water. A couple who had just finished taking photos came down, and another group lined up to go up.
These couples were all in wedding attire—clearly here for photoshoots.
Chen Xing took a full walk around Blue Moon Valley and learned that the lake's water came from the melting glaciers of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. As it flowed down, the terrain blocked its path and formed four separate bodies of water—known as Jade Liquid Lake, Mirror Lake, Blue Moon Lake, and Listening Wave Lake.
His favorite was Blue Moon Lake.
It was where all the wedding photo shoots were happening.
So he returned, hoping to take a few shots on the bridge.
He counted roughly seven couples waiting in line, but that wasn't the full number. Nearby, there was a small house where people were changing into wedding attire. More couples were clearly on the way.
He almost let out his signature phrase:
What the heck?
Do regular tourists even get a turn?
As he walked toward the bridge entrance, a few "fellow photographers" glanced at him and then at the camera in his hand.
They sneered.
Photographers can be rivals—just like in most industries. They couldn't pick on Chen Xing's appearance or demeanor, so they scoffed at his cheap camera instead.
An A7III—entry-level, nothing more.
(End of Chapter)