85: Reach the top!

"I came from over there. How should I follow the normal route to the summit?"

Jiang Yuan casually shoved a cigarette into the Sherpa Guide's hand and gestured backward with his thumb.

That was the most fragmented and dangerous ice forest area of the Rongbuk Glacier, riddled with bottomless hidden crevasses—a recognized death zone.

The Sherpa Guide looked in the direction he pointed, his eyelids twitched violently, and his gaze toward Jiang Yuan shifted.

"Snap."

The high-altitude windproof lighter sparked a flame in the cold wind.

Jiang Yuan helped the Sherpa Guide light up, then skillfully lit one for himself.

He took a deep drag, and the white smoke puffed out from his mouth and nose, instantly scattered by the cold wind.

This scene left the climbers slumped in their chairs nearby stunned.

This is an altitude of 6,500 meters!

Ordinary people feel like a heavy stone is pressing on their chests even when sitting still, making it hard to breathe.

Yet these two actually dare to smoke?

It's one thing for the Sherpa Guide to smoke, but this climber, who looks like someone from the inland, is actually doing it too.

What kind of iron lungs are these?

"Where is your gear?"

The Sherpa Guide took a satisfying drag of the cigarette and asked in fluent Mandarin.

Having hosted commercial mountaineering teams from China for years, his Chinese was quite good.

His gaze swept over Jiang Yuan's thin windbreaker and his unprotected hiking shoes, his face full of confusion.

"Didn't bring any."

Jiang Yuan grinned, revealing a set of white teeth: "I'm here for the challenge."

The Sherpa Guide was stunned for a long while, but ultimately didn't say anything more.

He had seen too many madmen on the snow-capped mountains, but this was his first time seeing one so composed.

"Over there."

The guide held the cigarette and pointed to the distant snow slope with fixed ropes, where a stream of people moved like ants.

"Alright, thanks."

Jiang Yuan replied casually and waved at the guide.

Immediately after, he did something that made everyone's eyelids twitch wildly—he turned around and started jogging.

On the gravel slope at an altitude of 6,500 meters, where the air was so thin that even breathing tasted like blood, he actually started running as if nothing was wrong.

This scene, without any exaggerated embellishment, was more impactful than any words could be.

Before anyone even had time to react, that thin black figure had already disappeared into the wind and snow, leaving behind only a shrinking silhouette.

During the climbing season on Mount Everest, there was never a shortage of madmen on this route.

But a god-like person like Jiang Yuan, who treated a restricted zone like a playground, was definitely a first.

In just one hour, he had left those turtle-paced teams far behind and arrived at the North Col camp single-handedly.

Looking up.

From here on up, it was a trodden snow path, and in the distance, commercial mountaineering teams formed a colorful snake, stuck on the route and moving slowly.

Jiang Yuan did not stop.

As the altitude increased, the snow became deeper and the slope steeper.

But his seemingly ordinary hiking shoes seemed to have grown barbs.

With every step, his terrifying core strength drove his feet deep into the hard snow, with a stability that even surpassed those professional crampons with steel teeth.

When encountering ice crevasses several meters wide, others had to set up ladders and fix ropes, dawdling for a long time.

He didn't even look, just ran, jumped, and landed.

His movements were clean and crisp, and in this desperate situation over 7,000 meters high, he managed to walk with the air of a leisurely stroll.

"Tsk, too slow."

Looking at the route ahead, which was completely blocked, Jiang Yuan frowned.

At the speed of those people, he would never reach the summit in this lifetime if he followed behind them.

He simply changed direction and left the established safe route.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, he stuck to the smooth ice wall beside the fixed ropes like a gecko.

His fingers, like hooks, dug directly into the ice crevices.

Without any protective measures, he was free-climbing!

"Holy crap... is Superman here? ..."

In the team, a climber who was hanging on a rope gasping for air stopped, and cursed through his oxygen mask.

He wondered if he had burned his brain due to lack of oxygen.

Several Sherpa Guides responsible for leading the teams even forgot to give instructions, scrambling to take out their phones to record.

They had worked on Mount Everest for half their lives and had never seen such a scene.

Fortunately, Jiang Yuan had put on a windproof mask long ago, revealing only his eyes, so he wasn't afraid of being recognized.

Overtaking, continuing to overtake.

Once he felt his physical strength slipping even a little, with a flicker of his mind, a can of energy drink from the system space would appear in his palm out of thin air.

He tilted his head back and guzzled it, his body instantly fully restored, and he accelerated frantically again as if pumped with adrenaline.

This tireless charge gave him an illusion—let alone ten days, he could run two round trips of this intensity in one day.

Two hours later, a total of eight hours after starting.

At an altitude of 8,300 meters, the Assault Camp.

This was the final hurdle; those who could climb to this point were already few and far between, and most people were slumped in the C4 camp below, sucking oxygen to keep themselves alive.

Jiang Yuan stood in the wind and snow, still wearing only a thin windbreaker.

He looked up at the summit, which was within reach, without even sitting down to catch his breath.

Several climbers resting nearby looked at him with terrified eyes, wanting to ask something, but extreme exhaustion left them without the strength to even open their mouths.

A few minutes later, Jiang Yuan withdrew his gaze.

He took another step.

The final 500 meters, the stairs to the throne of gods.

Although the road conditions were difficult, in the face of his ability to be completely immune to altitude sickness and hypothermia, it was just a slightly steeper slope.

Forty-two minutes later.

The final step was taken.

The surroundings suddenly opened up, and there was nothing higher above his head.

The summit of Mount Everest, 8,848.86 meters.

At this moment, what he was stepping on was the highest point on the entire planet.

【Ding! Host detected successfully reaching the summit! Check-in successful!】

【Ultimate reward issued: Peak Human Physique, Resurrection Coin × 9, Immortal Holy Water, 30 billion!】

Jiang Yuan felt a warmth in his heart, and with a thought, the exquisite jade bottle appeared in his hand.

Immortal Holy Water, he tilted his head back and downed it in one gulp.

He then casually drank the bottle of "Heavenly Pool Holy Water" he had in his inventory.

The next moment.

"Snap—" It was as if a long-bound shackle in his mind had snapped.

There was no painful marrow-cleansing or bone-forging, only an indescribable feeling of clarity.

In just a few minutes, he opened his eyes, and the world seemed to have changed.

The flow of the wind, the particles of snow, the refraction of light—everything became incredibly clear.

Breaking the genetic lock, Peak Human Physique.

Jiang Yuan clenched his fist, feeling the terrifying power within his body that felt like it could knock down a Tyrannosaurus Rex with one punch, and felt great.

The summit was empty at this time.

A vast sea of clouds surged beneath his feet, the sunset on the horizon dyed the distant rolling mountains gold, and several snow-white peaks pierced through the clouds, guarding this world summit.

Jiang Yuan took out his camera to record this unparalleled moment.

Afterward, he took out that sci-fi-looking communication sphere.

With a light press of his finger, a holographic projection appeared out of thin air.

In the image, Kelsang Lhamo was sitting cross-legged on the sofa in the RV, chanting with her eyes closed.

As if by telepathy, just as the communication connected, before he could speak, she opened her eyes.