Chapter 192 - 107: Riding Skills
There are still so many people here. Their next goal was clear: to find a ride to the virgin forest.
The queue looked long, but fortunately, the buses were frequent, and the line moved quickly.
Under the sun, he found it interesting as he listened to a group of students beside him excitedly discussing the scenery they had just seen.
It wasn’t long before they boarded the bus.
The bus headed towards the virgin forest.
Li Younan chose a seat by the window again. The window was slightly open, and the mountain wind rushed in with the moist scent of woods and soil, much more pleasant than the air conditioning.
As they passed Arrow Bamboo Sea and Panda Sea, some people on the bus exclaimed and snapped photos.
He didn’t move, just leaned against the window and watched those familiar names flash by.
The colors of the water were still enchanting, but after seeing so many "seas" today, he found more enjoyment in the feeling of the wind on the bus and watching the endless mountain scenery flow backward, which made him feel a bit lazy.
When the bus reached its final stop at the virgin forest, Li Younan felt a noticeably cooler temperature as soon as he got off, with the air carrying a refreshing chill from the plants.
Taking a deep breath, it was as if his lungs were cleansed.
There were many people at the boardwalk entrance, with loudspeakers from many tour groups calling for gatherings.
Suddenly, a message from jkLong arrived, encouraging Li Younan to continue at this relaxed pace, saying it was good.
Li Younan chuckled silently and didn’t reply to Ah Long’s message.
He continued to wander around.
As he walked deeper into the forest, the world suddenly became quiet.
The towering ancient trees broke the sunlight into fragments, scattering them on the ground covered with thick pine needles and moss.
The ground was soft underfoot, making little noise.
The air was cool, with a rich scent mixed with pine resin, decaying leaves, and damp earth.
Occasionally, he could hear the clear calls of birds, though he couldn’t see them.
When there was no wind, the silence was so profound that he could hear his own breathing.
Li Younan walked slowly along the boardwalk, with no particular scenery to look at, simply immersing himself in the primeval atmosphere surrounded by the enormous trees.
Here, the scenery was secondary to the pure feeling of being enveloped by nature, which was more comfortable.
Back at the drop-off point, his mother was already exhausted, sighing softly, "I didn’t know visiting Jiuzhaigou would be so tiring!"
Li Younan found it amusing and in a tone used for coaxing children, he said to his mother, "Just think of it as exercising."
His mother stretched lazily and said, "I think I’m more suited to a place like Hainan, finding a hotel to relax."
Li Younan and his mom decided to split up.
His mom and her group focused more on taking the bus, while Li Younan decided to walk more along the boardwalks, fully experiencing the journey, and of course, to complete the task of checking-in.
They agreed to meet up again at the Nuorilang transfer station.
Zhao Ruoxuan originally wanted to join Li Younan, but after hesitating, she decided to take the bus instead.
She was also very tired.
Looking at the sign, Li Younan decided to get off at Swan Sea purely because the name sounded nice, and he heard it was relatively less crowded.
Swan Sea was indeed quiet.
The water was wide, reflecting the shoreline trees and distant mountains.
There were no swans, but the water’s edge was lush with aquatic plants in varying shades of green.
The boardwalk extended along the water’s edge, with very few people around.
Li Younan walked slowly, mainly observing the posture of the underwater plants as they gently swayed with the water currents.
From Swan Sea, Li Younan took a bus to Pearl Beach, and as soon as he got off, he could hear the loud sound of water.
Walking down the boardwalk, the view opened up to a vast sloping, pitted yellowish calcified plain, where clear water rushed across, forming countless jumping droplets that truly resembled pearls scattered across the beach in the sunlight.
It lived up to its name.
It was lively and crowded here.
He didn’t squeeze to the most famous waterfall viewing platform but instead moved to an upstream section of the flat where there were fewer people.
Here, the water flow wasn’t as fast, allowing for a clearer view of how the water danced on the calcified steps.
The travel experience in Jiuzhaigou was really excellent. It wasn’t like other tourist spots, where you have to push through crowds, even though 30,000 visitors came through here. Thanks to a highly advanced dispatch system, the crowds were distributed across the various attractions.
Because of the time differences, there weren’t many people at each spot.
Some very beautiful but lesser-known spots even had no one.
Moreover, the area was extremely strict about protecting the natural environment and ecology, prohibiting smoking except in two or three designated smoking areas. Even the restrooms were equipped with very expensive automatic packaging toilets.
Indeed, as online reviews said, the service standards here have been raised to another level.
The online comments mentioned that Jiuzhaigou is a 5A-level scenic spot because 5A is the highest rating, and Li Younan believed it now.
He also heard that Jiuzhaigou’s scenery is beautiful in different ways across seasons. Perhaps when there’s a chance later, he could visit it two or three more times.
Li Younan was in an excellent mood, not even considering the 20,000-step check-in task as a task.
Even without this task, he would choose to walk around quietly.
Now that he had the passive skill of highland ancestry, he could easily withstand altitude sickness, and his physical fitness improved significantly.
Even after a long walk, he didn’t feel tired at all.
Unknowingly, he had already completed the 20,000-step check-in task.
[Check-in task completed!]
[Random reward being generated...]
[Riding skill +1]
[Riding skill lv.1: No matter how rough the road or how stubborn the horse, you can ride it steadily to the destination!]
A flood of knowledge about horses surged into Li Younan’s mind, including the history of how humans domesticated horses, various horse breeds, their temperaments, and behavioral characteristics.