Dispel the Clouds and See the Sun

5. Into the Abyss

Darkness, falling to certain death with an ominous gong sound

The reason Hua Cheng wanted to meet in Paradise Manor was that he had a wide collection of scrolls about demonic cultivation and all kinds of evil arts and black magic, even though he himself never needed to resort to any of these methods. And that very night, he also asked Yin Yu to do further inquiries for any information on "dark spiritual energy".

First thing in the morning, the four of them met at the hall with the huge black jaded divan; after looking through a new batch of scrolls, just sat around that spirit stone, stumped.

"I never heard about fucking 'dark' spiritual energy. Spiritual energy is spiritual energy, no matter if it's from god or ghost, right?", Feng Xin said. Eyeing Xie Lian and Hua Cheng, he added, "Otherwise how could Crimson Rain Sought Flower and His Highness, hum, exchange some?"

"You don't need to bring that up", Mu Qing said, closing his eyes as in a distressed expression, and totally ignoring Xie Lian's blushing. "We could ask Ling Wen – "

"No need. Some of these scrolls came from The Palace of Ling Wen", Hua Cheng said, without explaining any further. He didn't need it though; clearly the spies he had in the Heavens, thanks to Black Water Sinking Boats He Xuan, still received his commands, and acted on them.

Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Xie Lian said soothingly, "It's better like this. We might just spread panic asking about 'dark spiritual energy' in the Heavens, and alert the enemy".

"If this 'dark spiritual energy' was as easy as lifting a hand to be accomplished, it'd be anywhere", Hua Cheng replied, reaching for Xie Lian's hand, "But we found nothing. This 'dark spiritual energy', whatever it is, seems ancient, lost in the mists of time".

"Ancient", Xie Lian repeated thoughtfully, then giving Hua Cheng a bright smile, added, "In this case... I can think of someone who might just know something."

•

Passing through the door of Paradise Manor's shortening distance array's chamber, they walked into a pitch-dark place, stepping on what felt a crispy, rocky floor. The air was dry and stuffy, and indeed it felt like the insides of a mountain. Suddenly, a loud gong was heard, and the ground beneath their feet shook and disappeared, throwing them on a free fall!

"Crimson Rain Sought Flower! Fuck", Feng Xin roared.

"This isn't me! You think I'd walk Gege into a trap?", Hua Cheng replied, finding from who knows where his red umbrella, opening it, while grabbing Xie Lian by the waist. This slowed down their fall, and Xie Lian shot Ruoye to catch Feng Xin and Mu Qing.

"Thank the heavens for San Lang's umbrella!", Xie Lian said with relief, while holding on to Hua Cheng tight.

"Don't thank the heavens yet", Mu Qing pointed down, his voice tense, "Look!"

A long way down below, a bright light was slowly approaching; a fierce heat raising and the light shining yellow like the sun. But how could they be falling up?

Feng Xin blurted out, "It's a lava pit! We'll melt to death! Fuckfuckfuckfuck – "

But just in the middle of his endless cursing, they heard a GONG!

The four of them found themselves in the dark again, rolling down a long and steep slope with rocks and sand, as if they were part of an avalanche, too fast to think, or even react! The dust filled their lungs and they coughed, hardly being able to breathe nor open their eyes. All of this took some time to describe, but actually happened in an instant.

"Gege! Gegeeeeee", Hua Cheng shouted, and they saw a shimmer; he'd surely release swarms of wraith butterflies to find Xie Lian and slow down their fall. It was their only hope!

The gong was heard again, and they were suddenly back to a free fall in complete darkness; the space felt open, the air fresh and smelling of salt, and they heard a faint crash of waves down below. They were clearly somewhere over an ocean, on a moonless night. Just what unseemly creatures could be lurking inside that distant black sea?

The fall seemed a long way off, and they were getting the hang of these nonstop traps, so they quickly unsheathed their spiritual weapons for flying on them: Feng Xin on Hong Jing, Mu Qing on his sabre Zhan Madao, Xie Lian on Fang Xin and Hua Cheng on E'Ming. In spite of fending off danger for a moment, they were all too shocked to speak.

"It's the gong!", Xie Lian then shouted, trying to be heard through the deafening winds, "The gong is activating some protective spiritual array. Look around everyone, see if you can find – "

Too late, the GONG went on again! This time they fell into a quicksand pool, swiftly descending, sand getting inside their clothes, mouths, noses and eyes; they were truly hovering between life and death, a few seconds away of being buried alive. Then Feng Xin saw it: on what seemed to be a cliff of black rock way above them, a huge gong on a red wooden frame, a swinging mallet attached to it.

"Up there!", he pointed, "The fucking gon – ", he couldn't finish, coughing and choking on sand.

"Ruoye, quick!", Xie Lian shouted in desperation to that white silk band, their lives depending on it! Ruoye flew at lightning speed like a white snake; that cliff was so high, would Ruoye be long enough to reach it, or... It got there, holding on to the mallet, stopping its swinging!

Amazingly, the quicksand stopped immediately, and after a few moments without a gong sound, it was as if dispelling the clouds and seeing the sun, that illusion disappearing; they seemed to be where they first entered from Paradise Manor, in an unknown dark place, but without any life-threatening traps, so they exhaled in relief.

"Gege! How are you?", Hua Cheng asked in the darkness, dispersing a few wraith butterflies; indeed they were inside a huge cave of black rock.

"I'm alright", Xie Lian replied, sighing. "Uff that was close", he sighed again, "Right. We're inside Mount Tong'Lu. Let's see if we can find The Guoshi and Jun Wu."

"Leave it with me", Hua Cheng replied, referring to the wraith butterflies he had just released; it was clear now they weren't only for light but for scouting their way in that maze of caves. After a moment, he called the others, pointing with his chin, "This way".

Was it crazy or what? 😜

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