Chapter 10 Leap of Faith

Feng Bujue activated Spiritual Consciousness Gathering Technique as he leaped. After a few steps of a running start, he jumped into the air and then deactivated the skill mid-air. Of course, he wasn't using the skill to make his jump look more dashing, but just to jump a little further.

In the air, he adopted a head-down, arms-spread posture, plunging straight into the abyss covered in clouds and mist.

At that moment, all that was left in his ears was the sound of the wind, and his eyes were actually filled with excitement and joy.

Apart from actually jumping off a building, there were usually only three ways to simulate this kind of experience: diving, bungee jumping, and skydiving. In any case, Feng Bujue, who couldn't swim, had never jumped into the water, and he had never had the chance to try bungee jumping or skydiving. Now, he was finally experiencing the feeling of jumping from a high altitude in a virtual online game.

Although this was just a neural connection game, the simulation of the feeling of falling was no different from the real world. Usually, even if the person jumping didn't scream, their body would instinctively tense up.

However, Feng Bujue was a person who couldn't feel fear, so he could completely relax his body in the air and experience the purest feeling of a rapid fall.

He didn't even need to blink, staring straight down with his eyes wide open. He thought to himself, even if I fall to my death, I will be satisfied to see exactly what's below before I die.

Seconds later, Feng Bujue plunged into the thick clouds and mist. It was at that moment that he understood that he had chosen the right path and should have gone this way.

The white clouds and mist were like a cushioning medium, softer than water, but with a stronger cushioning effect. When a person's body crashed into the mist, it didn't feel like hitting cement as it would in a high dive. When Feng Bujue passed through the clouds and mist, it felt like suddenly walking from a room with a very low air conditioning temperature to a hot street. His body was wrapped in a ball of thick air, and then the speed of his fall gradually decreased at a gentle pace.

By the time he landed, Feng Bujue was like a falling feather, without feeling the slightest impact, and his survival value had not decreased by a single point.

Below this misty valley was another world. The clouds and mist above seemed to have become another sky, and the sunlight was filtered and scattered, making the valley seem a little gloomy.

The air here was slightly humid, and the surroundings were sparse woods. Feng Bujue roughly observed the surrounding environment, then looked up. Even though he had kept his eyes open during the jump, he couldn't judge how high this place was.

He didn't try to shout loudly upwards, because obviously his voice couldn't reach that far. So he decided to wait here, keeping his head up, so that when Si Yu jumped down, he could know where she landed.

In the following time, Feng Bujue casually tested the gravity here. The result was normal. The height he jumped from the spot and the weight he felt under his feet when he landed were the same as usual. So he judged that the white mist in the sky was the key to his not falling to his death. Perhaps when a person's body passed through that layer of mist, they would be given a slow-falling Buff, which would automatically disappear after landing.

Si Yu didn't make Feng Bujue wait for five minutes. She jumped down after only two minutes. Feng Bujue saw the figure slowly descending from the sky, estimated the landing point, and immediately walked towards it.

Perhaps it was luck, but the place where Si Yu landed was not far from where Feng Bujue had landed. Feng Bujue quickly came to her and said, "How is it? The Leap of Faith was right, right?"

"When you jumped down, that Ms. Lu thought you were crazy and possessed," Si Yu replied, "When I said I was going to jump too, she thought I was going to commit suicide."

"Hahaha..." Feng Bujue laughed, "There's nothing we can do about it. We can't explain game menus, team status, and other terms to NPCs, can we?"

"However, it does take a lot of courage to jump straight down," Si Yu said, "Relying solely on speculation and conjecture, you dare to take the risk of dying directly. I have to say you are..."

"So narcissistic, right?" Feng Bujue interjected, "Okay, I get it." He turned towards the valley, "Let's go, let's hurry."

"Aren't we waiting for the NPC to come down?" Si Yu asked.

"How could she possibly come down?" Feng Bujue said, "If it were you, in real life, seeing two strange, mumbling guys who you've just met jump off a cliff after saying these inexplicable theories, would you risk your life and follow them down?"

Feng Bujue's speculation was indeed correct. Lu Qingning's mind went blank as she watched the two from Broken Sword Teahouse jump into the deep valley. She couldn't help but wonder if these two people really existed, or if she had gone crazy and was having some kind of hallucination?

It was impossible for Lu Qingning to follow them down unless she could stand on top and see the situation at the bottom of the valley, or hear the two of them shouting to her from the bottom of the valley. Otherwise, she would never do something so contrary to common sense and that looked like suicide.

After hearing this, Si Yu was silent for two seconds, then nodded indifferently, "Let's go."

...

The two walked for about twenty minutes and came out of the forest, and a lake surrounded by forests on all sides appeared before them.

This lake was very large, and a small island could be seen in the distance. Under the gloomy sky, the island looked secluded and eerie. Even standing on the shore of the lake, one could feel... a kind of invisible, powerful aura seemed to be wrapped around the island.

When they reached the lake, Feng Bujue squatted down, reached out and probed the lake water. The water was clear and cool, and plump fish could be seen swimming leisurely at the bottom of the lake.

Ten meters behind them was the forest, which revealed crimson and golden colors. Now that he thought about it, they had been walking quietly all the way, without much conversation, and the surroundings were silent. He didn't know whether to call this kind of scenery and atmosphere romantic or strange...

"There's a boat," Si Yu's eyes followed the shore of the lake and saw a small boat tied up on the distant shore.

"Well... it seems we don't have much choice." Feng Bujue shrugged and walked there with Si Yu.

There was no doubt that something must be on that island in the center of the lake, most likely the location of the wronged souls. And swimming over was obviously not realistic. Even a swimming champion would not find it easy to swim to such a distant island, so the system had set up that small boat.

"I think something very terrifying is definitely going to happen on that island." Not long after the two boarded the boat, Feng Bujue said while paddling.

"Are you trying to scare me?" Si Yu replied.

"No..." Feng Bujue replied, "I just suddenly thought... in this story line, maybe all the battles are avoidable. If that's the case, then the system will definitely set up some scary elements."

"Speaking of which... it has been very easy so far," Si Yu replied.

Feng Bujue nodded, "The main quest on the mountain about Ling'er has not arranged any unavoidable battles for us so far. All potential battles have been avoided by us." He paused for a second and continued, "For example, that demon tree and that demon monk. These two guys can obviously be dealt with by violence. When we encountered the tree, we could have directly killed it to obtain the bell; and when we encountered the monk, defeating him would definitely have allowed us to seize the bell and open the crack leading to the Realm in the Bell."

"Even Lu Qingning, if she misunderstood us and fought us, and we ended up killing her, this kind of plot could have unfolded."

"But if we really did that, it would undoubtedly lead to a loss of information, such as the situation of the Vajra Bell, Lin Chang's conspiracy, and so on..."

"So... using pure violence to break through the level would mean that a lot of plots and information would be unknown. At most, we would rely on the death fragment replay to slightly understand the situation. And most of the time, we would just kill whatever we saw, and we would still be confused when we finally cleared the level."

"This kind of gameplay is mentally easy, you don't need to think about anything, just kill any hostile NPCs or monsters you see. But in terms of combat, our team can't support this kind of gameplay."

Feng Bujue adjusted his sitting posture to make the paddling action smoother and continued, "And the two of us have basically relied on peaceful negotiations all the way, and of course there have been events similar to 'torture', but we didn't kill him anyway..."

"In short, our level clearing process can not only grasp more plot, but also save resources. There is no extra physical strength consumption, and almost no loss of supplies, ammunition, survival value, and spiritual power value..."

"According to the consistent nature of this game... it is unlikely that there will be any gains without paying a price or taking risks. So I think... if this spirit line can be completed without fighting, then we will definitely face puzzles, scares, or instant death flag choices..."

While speaking, they had passed most of the distance. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, bringing a bone-chilling chill.

At this time, the cloudy, low sky became even darker. It seemed that the closer they got to the island, the darker the sky became.

By the time the two arrived at the shore of the island in the center of the lake, the surroundings were almost as dark as night. Only a little twilight shone from the sky, and people could only see very close places.

Feng Bujue and Si Yu landed on a slope on the edge of the island. They stepped ashore, and before them was a forest densely covered with hemlocks and cedars. The shadows of the trees were all black. The thick, undiluted darkness was as if it had a substance, shrouding the road ahead; and like a living thing, it seemed to be rushing outwards, frightening the edge of the island.

If a timid player were standing on the edge of this forest, their fright value would probably be above 30%, let alone directly entering this forest...