The First Order

In the prodigious mountains in the west, the traces of human civilization had been completely erased by the vegetation.In the morning, Old Li and Qin Sheng set off and entered the mountains. They scurried across the uneven ground in the forested mountains as though they were traveling on flat ground.When they speedily arrived at a canyon that was six to seven meters wide, they swiftly leaped across it like cats without batting an eyelid.

It seemed they did not regard this canyon to be dangerous at all.

Every time this happened, Qin Sheng would feel a sense of pride like he had conquered nature.

But his teacher always reminded him that it was not possible for a human to conquer nature. What a Rider should seek to do was become a unique living creature that was a part of nature.

Just as Old Li had said to Ren Xiaosu, he always believed that human beings should leave the strongholds so they could adapt to this world. If not, they would only get eliminated.

That was how he lived as well.

Slowly, as the two of them got closer to their destination, Qin Sheng’s stamina was gradually depleting. Old Li stopped in his tracks and said with a smile, “Since you aren’t a true Rider yet, you should conserve your energy a little. You’ll be required to scale a 600-meter-tall vertical cliff this time. It won’t be easy to get to the top.”

“Teacher, must I really climb that high?” Qin Sheng said with a wry smile, “Without any protective measures, I’ll die if I fall from that height.”

But Old Li didn’t seem to care. “As disciples of the Riders, how can you be afraid of death? This is about faith. Moreover, the height of 600 meters was determined by the Riders that came before. Why did they not set it at 500 or 700 meters? Because you can unlock your body’s shackles at 600 meters, so it isn’t necessary to climb higher than that. You should know that back then, that Rider had climbed to a height of 900 meters. You and I can’t match his brilliance. However, 600 meters is the minimum height that has to be climbed, not one meter less.”

The Rider Old Li was referring to was the founder of the Qinghe Group. Currently, in the Riders organization, everyone was a believer in the philosophy of the Riders. Besides putting their faith in the original Rider, they also sought to conquer nature by becoming a part of it. All these years, they had been searching for the original Rider’s descendant.

The so-called secret to unlocking the genetic code in a Rider’s body lay in the eight mysterious challenges that pushed the challenger to conquer nature and become a part of it.

Among them was the Surge of Strength: Mountain biking.

Birth of Sky: Skydiving.

Life of Water: Extreme surfing.

Life of Wind: Wingsuit flying.

Currently, Qin Sheng was only left with the last challenge. Law of Attraction: Without any protective measures, he had to scale a 600-meter-tall cliff with only his bare hands.

In fact, the Riders did not mind letting the outside world know about this secret. They just never publicized it before. However, these eight challenges had to be completed by normal people in order to fully unlock the shackles in their bodies.

If they did not have an extreme passion and faith during the process, it would be impossible to complete the eight challenges. If someone succeeded in completing them, they would become a member of the Riders as well, because they would understand there was something more to life after experiencing the original Rider’s glory.

Each of these eight challenges was a matter of life and death. They would have to go through near-death experiences before they could clear these thresholds.

When Old Li looked at Qin Sheng’s youthful face brimming with vigor, he was reminded of himself from 15 years ago.

Now that he was 38 years old, he was no longer considered young. Although his body had become stronger after his genetic code was unlocked, his mindset was destined to be different.

The other members of the Riders probably had the same mindset as him. Their current wish was to find the original Rider’s descendant. Although they did not have a chance to meet that Rider, they wanted to see if his descendant was cut from the same cloth.

Looking at the 600-meter-tall cliff in front of him, Old Li said with a sigh, “In recent years, we feel that there might not be any new Riders coming through in the future. Some people who attempted the wingsuit flying challenge after you were attacked by flying beasts while midair. As the various consortiums have stopped operating aircraft, skydiving has become impossible. The most difficult challenge is still surfing. They say a huge creature is often sighted devouring ships off the coast of the Kong Consortium’s territory in recent times. Even going out to sea will be difficult, so don’t mention surfing.”

Not mentioning the difficulty of the challenge itself, just the conditions to complete them had become even harsher than before. If you could not even get into the sky, how could you skydive? In the process of parachuting down, there was even the possibility of being attacked by flying beasts. This was no longer a near-death experience but a sure-death experience.

When Qin Sheng started the challenges, some people in their organization had already foreseen that these situations might happen. Therefore, they trained Qin Sheng to complete the other challenges first.

As they passed through the forest, a smooth cliff suddenly appeared in front of them. Old Li was lost in thought as he looked at the cliff. In the past, he had also climbed up from here.

Old Li said with a smile, “When my uncle brought me here, I had the same thought as you. How could a human being climb this cliff? It was impossible to do, right? But as it turned out, I managed to do it. Qin Sheng, go on and climb it. Complete your last challenge and become the final Rider.”

Qin Sheng took off his heavy fall clothing and changed into his rock climbing shoes, vest, and shorts they had specially brought with them. He also attached a chalk bag to his belt. The chalk would prevent his palms from getting sweaty and increase the friction between his hands and the cliff wall.

Old Li said with a smile, “Do you still remember what I told you?”

Qin Sheng glanced at Old Li. “I remember…. Only faith, the sun, and the moon are eternal.”

With that, Qin Sheng turned around and walked towards the mountain. Even at noon, the autumn sun did not feel scorching. Instead, it gave people a sense of warmth in the cold wind.

Under normal circumstances, climbers would have to familiarize themselves with the route in advance for a free solo. It was necessary for the climber to be lowered down from the top with a rope bit by bit, not only to get familiarized with the route, but also to clear debris off the cliff walls.

However, a lot of Riders had already climbed this cliff before. Qin Sheng could even see the subtle traces left on the cliff wall to deduce the route those Riders took back then. It was as though he had the guidance of his predecessors.

At this moment, Qin Sheng turned around and looked at Old Li. It was as though the brilliant Riders from before were all standing behind and smiling at him.

As he climbed the cliff, Qin Sheng’s movements were like an agile ape. But when he reached the height of a 100 meters, Qin Sheng started to feel his stamina depleting quickly.

As he stood there, he lodged his arm in a crevice on the stone wall and took a break while panting heavily. Looking up above him, it was as if there was no end to the cliff.

Then Qin Sheng saw some words carved into the cliff beside him: Zhang Qingxi was here.

Thinking about it, this should be where Brother Qingxi had rested when he scaled the wall. Qin Sheng smiled. Then he adjusted his breathing and continued to climb up.

At this moment, it felt like the other Riders were climbing to the top of the cliff with him.

Old Li started stretching at the bottom of the cliff. He began climbing up the cliff with a bundle of ropes on his back. But to a Rider like Old Li, it was no longer challenging to climb up a cliff like this. Rather, it felt more like a reminder of his youth.