348: Entering the barrier

After Shen Bei and Zhuang Bifan arrived at the collapsed area of Shen Jiang Mountain, they sat on the cliff, intending to eat their fill and then descend in one go to search for a possible entrance.

Zhuang Bifan was pulling food out of his mirror and, incidentally, also took out a book, tearing off its pages to use as a placemat for the food.

Shen Bei, meanwhile, looked back at the ruined temple, or rather, the hall.

This long-abandoned building still possessed an unknown energy that could unknowingly affect those who entered its vicinity.

This showed just how terrifying the strength of its builders truly was.

It was undoubtedly a warning to any newcomers.

Enter this area, and first, kneel down and worship me!

How imposing!

It was something that couldn't be achieved without an exceptionally high status and ability.

This made Shen Bei even more certain.

Below the collapsed area, there must be something big hidden.

Perhaps not the Martial Dao Pinnacle, but still worth exploring.

Shen Bei turned and picked up the cream bun wrapped in paper.

He ate it bite by bite.

"Hmm?"

Shen Bei looked at the paper serving as packaging with some surprise.

He opened it and saw text printed on it, similar to a novel.

"Which author is so unlucky that their good book was used by you as packaging?" Shen Bei asked idly.

Zhuang Bifan, however, scratched his head somewhat awkwardly: "Me."

That single, simple word greatly astonished Shen Bei, who looked at Zhuang Bifan with an unreadable expression: "You? You can write novels?"

"Who doesn't have a hobby or two?"

Shen Bei curiously examined the novel text, which had no beginning or end, and asked with a chuckle: "Isn't your hobby feng shui?"

"That's just something I do while consulting material," Zhuang Bifan twisted open a bottle of soda, gulped down a few mouthfuls, let out a satisfying burp, and then, with a hint of melancholy, looked out at the world and spoke again:

"This novel consumed my entire life's experience; my hands moved fluidly as I wrote, and my pen strokes were grand and sweeping. With the high perspective and awareness of protecting world peace, I seriously and solemnly wrote a novel with a strong magical realism flavor, titled 'The Misadventures of Soldier King Wang Er the Cripple'. This book made me deeply feel the sense of social responsibility that a profound literary writer should bear. I solemnly sent this masterpiece, which could potentially overturn literary history, to my novel publisher, and then I was blacklisted..."

"Since then, the domestic literary Peak suffered a cliff-like decline. Truly, the heavens are blind, and a pearl is covered in dust."

As Shen Bei listened to Zhuang Bifan's rambling, his back molars began to ache.

Setting everything else aside, just the title of the book...

'The Misadventures of Soldier King Wang Er the Cripple'

Are you serious, you bastard?

Shen Bei curiously opened the book and took a look.

The first page was an outline.

The story was roughly about a Soldier King from the countryside who returns to become a village chief, and the love-hate entanglement between him and a young Medical Immortal from the same village.

The synopsis was even more shocking, bringing two lines of silent tears to Shen Bei's eyes:

"He, handsome and wealthy, wild and unrestrained."

"He is the man in charge of the entire village's safety and production. At the agricultural product exhibition in the surrounding ten li and eight xiang, he spotted her at first glance. Though he called the wind and summoned the rain in Lotus Village, he only wished to meticulously care for her alone. He gifted her the coveted limited edition Ox Head brand tractor, spending a fortune just to see her blossoming smile."

"She fled, he chased, they both had no wings to escape."

"He was poisoned by her, critically ill."

"She said: 'Soldier King, you may have my body, but you'll never have my heart!' The Soldier King's dark eyes were as deep as night, his thin lips inches away, 'Medical Immortal, I don't mind playing a forbidden game with you!'"

"She closed her eyes, tears falling, and on the pristine white bed, a pink snow lotus bloomed..."

Shen Bei's mouth twitched a few times, and he said earnestly: "It's very well written. Next time, don't write it."

Zhuang Bifan: ...

The two ate and drank their fill, then stretched their limbs.

Shen Bei took the first step off the cliff, and with True Qi surging to support him, he slowly floated towards the collapsed area.

Like a floating feather.

Shen Bei's figure swayed gently as he descended from a thousand meters.

Shen Bei didn't fly very often, so his control was still a bit lacking.

Originally, he had thought of flying around above the collapsed area to scout out the details.

But it didn't work out, and he almost fell face-first.

It took him a great deal of effort to finally land, stepping onto a large boulder.

When viewed from above the cliff, the collapsed area didn't seem that large.

But once down here.

Shen Bei felt as if he had entered a collapsed, massive labyrinth.

Boulders hundreds of meters tall were everywhere, and Shen Bei's posture was like an ant beneath an elephant's foot, his vision compressed to the extreme.

"How long will this take to find?"

Shen Bei was stunned for a moment.

Mainly because he hadn't completed his reconnaissance from high altitude and hadn't found any suspicious spots.

A carpet search, according to Shen Bei's estimate, would take at least three to five days to complete.

Shen Bei turned to look around him, initially thinking that Zhuang Bifan, like himself, was a half-baked flyer, not quite proficient.

He had wanted to ask him if he had any good ideas for quickly completing the search.

But unexpectedly, there was no sound of Zhuang Bifan beside Shen Bei.

Shen Bei looked up into the sky.

He was instantly dumbfounded.

He saw that Zhuang Bifan was actually treading the Void Realm, as if stepping on invisible stairs, not flying at all, but walking down step by step!

Shen Bei's pupils contracted slightly: "Your method is impressive. Teach me later."

Zhuang Bifan, with his hands behind his back, raised his head proudly, strolling leisurely as if out for a walk: "You're not even willing to call me 'teacher'."

Shen Bei rolled his eyes: "My teacher can only be female."

"You're too rigid about gender; your perspective is too narrow."

"My perspective isn't that grand to begin with. I have no lofty sentiments, nor any great righteousness; I'm just a commoner."

Zhuang Bifan, treading the Void Realm, passed over Shen Bei's head, his gaze constantly sweeping the collapsed area for suspicious spots, and he spoke: "No wonder you didn't join the military. It's your nature."

Shen Bei bared a grin: "The greatest wealth in life is having a confidant."

"Don't you dare say, 'what's mine is yours' next."

"Are you a tapeworm in my stomach?"

"Your greed is practically overflowing from the screen."

Shen Bei: ...

Zhuang Bifan stopped bothering with Shen Bei and continued to tread the Void Realm, exploring deeper into the collapsed area.

Shen Bei simply waited where he was.

Zhuang Bifan had a bird's-eye view, seeing a wider range, so this reconnaissance mission was left to him.

Shen Bei then looked at the surrounding boulders.

These boulders were clearly not naturally formed but had been artificially polished.

The sharp edges and the traces of chiseling were still faintly visible.

Shen Bei suspected that there was originally an even grander structure on the ground.

Three years ago, for some unknown reason, the ground collapsed, causing the entire hilltop to fall, and a large number of stone buildings also tumbled down with it, becoming a pile of ruins.

Shen Bei waited in place for over an hour.

Finally, he saw Zhuang Bifan return, waving his hand.

Shen Bei tensed his legs, and propelled by True Qi, he soared into the air, once again employing his flying technique, following Zhuang Bifan towards the northwest corner of the collapsed area.

Soon.

In front of the towering mountains, at the edge of the collapsed area, there was a place that looked as if it had been split open in the middle, and from an unknown source, river water cascaded down a narrow gap, like a thread of sky.

Below was a dark abyss; the river water plunged, yet no roar of impact could be heard at the bottom, making it impossible to tell how deep it was.

The two stood on the edge of the cliff, watching the river water fall into the abyss. Shen Bei muttered to himself: "Besides this place, is there no other way down around here?"

Zhuang Bifan, however, said seriously: "After searching for half a day, consuming a lot of True Qi, I only found this place. There are no other accessible paths down."

Shen Bei stroked his chin: "How likely do you think it is?"

Zhuang Bifan shrugged: "That's for you to decide. Finding the Martial Dao Pinnacle is your business to begin with. Or... we could try—"

As he spoke, Zhuang Bifan pulled out a military shovel from his mirror and waved it: "Dig straight down."

Shen Bei scoffed.

Digging for what? They weren't a geological survey team or coal miners.

Shen Bei didn't know how deep the abyss below was.

The abyss appeared to be only about a hundred zhang in diameter, perfectly round, yet the rushing river water, flowing ceaselessly day and night for an unknown number of years, still hadn't filled it.

Even a fool would know that there must be another world below, perhaps connected to an underground water system.

Moreover, they could only hear the sound of the river flowing, but not the roar of it hitting the bottom, which made him uneasy.

Shen Bei gritted his teeth, leaped, spread his arms, and jumped into the abyss.

"Holy crap! You're serious!" Zhuang Bifan watched Shen Bei jump down without hesitation or any prior reconnaissance, his eyelids twitching. He cried out in surprise, then gritted his teeth and followed Shen Bei into the abyss.

The two figures fell continuously, seeing only darkness all around, with only smooth rock walls and the rushing river.

Not long after falling, the light from above disappeared. Shen Bei slowly adjusted his posture, dropping into the rushing river below, then reached into his Storage Pouch and pulled out a hard wooden door panel. He gripped the door panel tightly with one hand, lying ungracefully on it.

This door panel was from the private room on the passenger ship that was kicked in by the Stranger, which Shen Bei had picked up like a piece of junk.

"You should wait a moment! I'll drop a mirror shard, and we can see if there's any danger below," Zhuang Bifan's mouth opened, and his saliva splattered, blown by the fierce wind in his ears.

Shen Bei's tone was half-serious, half-joking, both an explanation and a taunt: "We didn't smell any foul odor up there, which means there are no Vicious Beasts lurking below. So what's there to be afraid of? Let's just do it!"

As he spoke, Shen Bei gestured with his eyes for him to grab the door panel.

Zhuang Bifan was stunned for a moment, feeling that Shen Bei's words made some sense. This time, he didn't doubt, and obediently grabbed the door panel with him.

After falling for a while longer, Zhuang Bifan noticed something was off.

The speed of their descent seemed to have slowed, and despite the river falling for so long, it hadn't dispersed; it was still gathered together, flowing ceaselessly. The door panel also seemed to genuinely float on the river's surface, clinging tightly to it, carrying the two of them downwards.

After a while longer, a faint glimmer of light appeared below. A few breaths later, that light grew larger and larger, finally transforming into a ball of light.

The two, gripping the door panel, plummeted rapidly. The moment they passed through the ball of light, the light in front of them suddenly intensified, stinging their eyes so they couldn't open them.

Bang.

Both felt a sudden jolt as their bodies slammed into the water.

They burst out of the water, opened their eyes, and both were a little bewildered.

Below them was a small pond, only dozens of meters across. Behind the pond, a small waterfall, no more than ten meters high. Following the water flow upwards, they could still see towering, lush green mountains and forests behind it. Where was the dark abyss they had seen!

The two quickly swam to the shore.

Zhuang Bifan gasped, looking around in suspicion, muttering incessantly: "Unbelievable, unbelievable, we... we've entered the barrier of some great mighty being!"