Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Stone Wall

Butterflies fluttered among the blossoms, weaving through the flowers as the group moved forward, their hearts weighed down by an unshakable heaviness. White butterflies were born from white bones, and beneath their feet, there must have been countless such bones.

Anyone would feel the same; in a place where death lingered so heavily, the mind’s excitement would soon be infected by the somber atmosphere, leaving only gloom.

Souls drifted past before their eyes, though they could not see them. After death, the three souls and seven spirits are drawn into the cycle of rebirth, leaving behind only scattered fragments—perhaps memories from life, perhaps moments of greatest terror.

A soul, with nowhere to go after death, would remain trapped, turning to white bones at the very spot.

Souls are invisible; the naked eye cannot perceive them. Only those who have cultivated certain arts might glimpse them—and even more so, these were but fragments.

Humans are apt to imagine the worst; such is human nature.

It was in their nature, and for Xiaoshan and his companions, this was doubly true. No matter how dismal their hearts, they could not afford to delay their purpose here. They forced themselves onward.

The butterflies and blossoms receded behind them, the scenery shifting as Hao Po led the way through the multicolored landscape, until at last they reached the edge of a precipice.

The chasm before them was bottomless; the cliff’s edge shrouded in darkness, the surroundings now bleak and unwelcoming compared to the butterfly-laden fields.

If the flowery side could be called paradise, fragrant and beautiful, then the cliff’s edge was its infernal opposite: a realm without light, littered with broken stones.

All around lay shattered rocks, many floating in the air at the cliff’s rim, exactly as they had seen in the crater above.

But here, instead of a crater, there was a bottomless abyss. Stones dropped into the darkness made not a sound upon landing.

Bottomless!

Anyone who fell would surely be dashed to pieces.

Xiaoshan shuddered, gazing up at the floating fragments of meteorite.

The fragments clustered together—tiny stones packed so tightly they formed an almost impenetrable wall, nearly a meter high!

Beneath this wall of fragments yawned the bottomless chasm; the ground below was a meter distant from the wall.

Looking down, the gloom stretched endlessly into the unknown, and from here to the far edge, the abyss spanned some eighty or ninety meters!

It was clear: if someone wished to cross, there was but one way. They would have to reach up, grasp the stones above their heads, shift their weight from their feet to their hands, and move along, suspended over the void, inch by inch.

To cross atop the fragments!

But this idea was quickly dismissed. The wall was too high to climb, and the stones were unstable. Step upon one, and it shook dangerously—it would be all too easy to fall.

Nor could one rely on a handhold; Xiaoshan’s brow creased in doubt.

He glanced at Haoyun, who was also pacing nearby, lost in thought.

“Xiaoshan, look! Doesn’t this look like a circle?” Ruoxi’s surprised exclamation drew Xiaoshan’s gaze.

He saw that Ruoxi had retreated several hundred meters away from the cliff’s edge—she was looking from afar.

“A circular cliff?” Xiaoshan squinted, considering the wall of stones from a distance. It did seem somewhat round.

People tend to assume cliffs are vertical; rarely does anyone pay attention to such details. But Ruoxi had noticed.

“Shall we walk around it and see?” Xiaoshan suggested.

“Let’s,” Haoyun replied, spreading his hands. They needed to understand the situation before they could proceed.

They walked for quite a while, and eventually concluded: the cliff was indeed circular.

“The wall of stones is too unpredictable, and the abyss below is unfathomable. What are we to do now?” Haoyun muttered to himself, his face clouded with worry.

“Why not try your high-tech magnetic lamp?” Haotian turned to him, his tone suggesting a proposal.

“It’s not just any lamp—it’s a high-tech, diamond-shaped panoramic magnetic lamp. Get it right!” Haoyun corrected, then went on, “This lamp is tough, but who knows what’s down there? This lamp is priceless, you know!” He stroked the sphere lovingly, fiercely protective, holding it close whenever anyone looked his way—a true miser.

Haotian only shook his head and smiled, not pressing the issue. After all, it was just a suggestion; there was no guarantee it would work, and the lamp was indeed costly.

Xiaoshan seemed to think of something; his eyes brightened as he reached out to touch the stones. As his middle finger brushed one of the fragments, it was as if gravity had abandoned it—the stone dropped instantly into the abyss.

“What if we just remove the stone wall? Could we jump across?” Xiaoshan wondered aloud.

“Remove it?” Haoyun repeated, catching on. He, too, reached out and touched a stone. Sure enough, it fell away at once.

“Hao Po!” Haoyun’s eyes flashed with inspiration, and he called out.

No sooner had he spoken than a flash of light sliced the air—a crescent-shaped sword beam, just like in the forest, blazed and vanished. The world seemed to brighten for a moment, then returned to stillness.

The wall of stones was instantly severed; vast chunks tumbled into the abyss, leaving a gaping breach a meter wide.