"…Logically, our current position should be directly below the waterway we just traversed," Wu Tianzhen mused, carefully following Fatty along the edge of the stone platform, "How did Xiao Hua and the others end up here? Did their path simply lead them to the lower level?"
Fatty grunted in response, his back hunched as he haphazardly secured the Black Gold Ancient Blade to his pack with ropes. The immense weight almost pulled him over.
The Black Gold Ancient Blade had been plunged into the stone wall, blade and sheath together. When Wu Tianzhen had ascended the climbing rope, he'd considered trying to pull it out entirely and take it with him, but as expected, his arm strength wasn't enough for such a monumental feat.
So, he settled for a compromise, pulling out only a portion of the blade and securing the hilt with another climbing rope that Fatty had lowered, then hoisting it up.
Now, the blade stood upright before Wu Tianzhen. He glanced up at the cold glint of the blade, mentally comparing the toughness of his own skull to the blade's edge. With a healthy dose of self-preservation, he slowed his pace slightly, creating some distance between himself and Fatty.
"It would be great if the optical computer still worked. Maybe we could send it down to look for Xiao Ge."
"Stop being so naive," Fatty said, resting for a moment by the edge. "Damn it, the two of us almost drowned. If that optical computer survived, what kind of dignity would we have left?"
"My stable protagonist status isn't something a mere optical computer can easily shake!"
"...That's true." Wu Tianzhen felt Fatty's words held a lot of sense. He looked at Fatty's labored breathing and felt a pang of unease. "Fatty, if you're tired, how about I carry the blade? I—"
"Don't you dare!" Fatty interrupted Wu Tianzhen's offer of help. He gritted his teeth and stoically continued to shoulder the blade. "I wouldn't dare trouble you, esteemed sir. Good heavens, with Xiao Ge not here, if you were to suddenly stumble and fall with the blade, I'd be utterly helpless!"
"And another thing!" Fatty suddenly remembered something and abruptly turned his head, meeting Wu Tianzhen's gaze with a posture that was both imposing and comically awkward.
"You need to talk less from now on. I'm genuinely afraid that if you say another word, this platform we're standing on, which doesn't look very sturdy, will collapse."
"Honestly, Fatty's heart is still pounding like he's seeing his dream lover."
Wu Tianzhen: … (An awkward yet polite smile)
This stone platform clinging to the cliff face exhibited a zigzag pattern as it ascended. Despite their constant bickering, the two made good progress. After more than two hours, they finally reached the top.
"Xiao Ge, are you here—!" Wu Tianzhen began shouting as soon as he arrived, but there was no response from above. He had to give up in disappointment.
The moment Fatty's feet touched solid ground, he collapsed onto the ground with a thud, the man and the blade together. At first, Wu Tianzhen worried that the sharp Black Gold Ancient Blade would damage Fatty's backpack, but perhaps the treasure blade had a spirit; even with Fatty sitting directly on it, the blade showed no adverse reaction.
Wu Tianzhen then turned his attention from the man and the blade to a careful observation of his surroundings.
Before them lay a vast, open platform. The stone bricks on the platform were severely damaged, their surfaces reduced to a thin layer of fine sand by years of weathering.
Behind the stone platform, the stone wall was densely covered with stone caves, distributed in a chaotic manner. The entrance of each cave was large enough for one person to enter. This peculiar size reminded Wu Tianzhen of the plateau cave dwellings he'd seen in the outside world.
…Could these caves be the dwellings of some creatures?
"Xiao Hua and Hei Yanjing should have arrived here. We'd best find their markings and follow their exploration path."
Wu Tianzhen watched as Fatty finished resting, then analyzed the situation and stepped forward, unstrapping the Black Gold Ancient Blade and tying it to his own back.
The platform was now wide and sturdy enough, so Fatty didn't stop Wu Tianzhen's actions. He scanned the surroundings with a flicker of anticipation but sighed at the visible barrenness of the place.
"That's easy," Fatty grunted, nudging his chin towards a corner. On the powdered stone bricks there, two sets of footprints of different shapes were clearly visible.
These two sets of footprints paused only briefly at the edge of the stone platform where they'd ascended, then headed straight towards the cave entrance in front. It seemed the two didn't linger or hesitate much in this area filled with cave openings.
"It's obvious our Hua Er Ye doesn't suffer from decision paralysis. That decisiveness is unparalleled!"
Honestly, Wu Tianzhen felt it wasn't just about decisiveness; it was primarily that the two of them possessed the strength to handle any unforeseen circumstances head-on.
He searched the cave entrance where the footprints led and indeed found the carvings of Hua and Yanjing.
"Excellent. With these markings, we should be able to catch up to them soon," Wu Tianzhen trusted Xie Yuchen's meticulousness and breathed a deep sigh of relief. "Then, whether it's finding Xiao Ge or finding Xie Lianhuan, we'll have greater assurance."
"Hoh, what's there to find with Xie Lianhuan?" Fatty had already stepped inside, saying carelessly, "Didn't that camphor willow god say he was still alive? How many years has he been missing? Even if he found his true love in this ghost place, he'd probably have a whole brood of descendants by now!"
"If we go and disturb their sweet twilight years, aren't we asking for trouble?"
"You can't say that. It's possible he's trapped here, and if so, we'd have to go and rescue him."
Wu Tianzhen felt a hint of speechlessness at Fatty's overly optimistic fantasy. He hadn't interacted much with the Xie family before and wasn't entirely clear on who Xie Lianhuan was. But no matter what he thought, this person who had once wielded great influence in the Xie family shouldn't be such an irresponsible scoundrel living in seclusion with his true love.
The two entered the cave, each lost in their own thoughts. Inside, the cave was like a honeycomb, one ring leading to another, one chamber connected to the next. Countless cave spaces were layered upon each other, resembling a labyrinth laid out silently.
Each cave space was quite large, filled with peculiar ornaments, such as stone carvings of grotesque deities. They looked more like a place of witchcraft than a dwelling.
If only the two of them had entered, they might have wandered aimlessly in this labyrinth like headless flies, eventually getting completely lost and placing all their hopes on Fatty's explosive expertise or Wu Tianzhen's "Evil Sea King" power.
But now they had a guide leading the way, so the two entered without any psychological pressure. As long as they found the markings on the connecting pillars, they could wander around blindly.
"I wish they had already reunited with Xiao Ge…" Wu Tianzhen's mind, no longer needing to decipher and explore, became completely vacant, and he couldn't help but start thinking about Zhang Qiling's situation again.
"If Xiao Ge is truly at the bottom of the cliff, can we find a way down from here? Or should we return to the previous spot and try to climb down directly?"
These questions successfully made his momentarily relaxed mind busy again. As Wu Tianzhen pondered, he skillfully searched for markings at a newly appearing fork in the path. However, after looking around, he suddenly stopped.
…This place has no markings?!