The ascent to the Crown Peak was unlike any journey Ethan and Lili had ever undertaken. Where once their climb up the Great Wall had been a desperate scramble through howling gales, pursued by lightning spears and divine executioners, this journey was bathed in tranquil, breathtaking majesty. The sheer cliffs that had once seemed impossible to mortal bone and sinew now provided natural paths of terraced stone, lined with blooming mountain flora and crystalline springs that murmured soft songs of ancient peace.
As the party crested the final ridge above the clouds, the mortal realm fell away beneath them like an endless tapestry of emerald valleys, winding silver rivers, and sunlit plains. Above them, the sky was not a ceiling of sterile gold or dark thunder; it was an infinite ocean of de
