Chapter 358

Starting from the high cliff and spreading outward, the entire Xianqiao Peak was covered by the Law Enforcement Hall's personnel. Gan Zifeng himself knelt on one knee before the corpse; the person performing the autopsy had not yet arrived, so from bottom to top, he first checked every detail inch by inch.

Shi Yinglin, with his hands bound, stood to one side watching in silence. The two young girls were also temporarily detained here. Kong Yinshan's face was pale, and she didn't dare to look at the shattered corpse at all. Yu Feiyan was holding her trembling head in her arms.

——

Below the Five Peaks, behind the Law Enforcement Hall.

The terrifying cliff was bottomless, and the peak tips emerging from the thick fog faced each other as always without connecting. Some were completely dark and silent, while others still emitted a faint orange light, appearing cold and hazy behind the fog.

Kong Lanting's face was already slightly pale, but his voice still tried to remain calm: "Guan, Ji Ji Shijie Guan, I think we should go back. I'll beg Master; perhaps we can get in the same way."

"You're backing out now that we're already here!" The young girl walking hunched over in front raised her eyebrows and glared back at him. "By the time you get to your Master, who knows when that will be! Think about it, everyone has gone to see Zhang Shixiong Yan, and Jingbi is all alone in that ghost place—how pitiful. Are you still a man?"

"I don't think I am yet." Kong Lanting's small face turned even paler as he looked at the slowly churning thick fog in front. "Ji Ji Shijie Guan, I... I'm not afraid... it's just that my Master said there are ghosts hidden in this fog, and I think we might not be able to beat them."

"That's just to scare you so you don't violate the sect rules." Guan Qianyan rolled her eyes. "Where would there be any ghosts?"

Kong Lanting still didn't want to move his feet, his throat moving: "You're always saying Zhang Shixiong Xi is powerful; why don't we call Zhang Shixiong Xi?"

Guan Qianyan paused her steps, somewhat hesitant.

Kong Lanting, however, suddenly regretted it: "No, no, Zhang Shixiong Xi is from the Law Enforcement Hall; if we call him, we'll be walking right into a trap."

Guan Qianyan was dissatisfied: "Zhang Shixiong Xi is such a good person, he wouldn't catch us."

She tapped her chin: "Maybe he'll even open the door for us."

"The Law Enforcement Hall is very strict; I think you shouldn't fantasize."

". Fine, I won't fantasize, but you shouldn't back out either." Guan Qianyan said angrily. "Think about it, you feel scared just being here; how sad must Jingbi be, being locked up inside all by himself? He hasn't been very brave since he was little."

"."

"And isn't it what that Seeing Pei Ye said, that he was framed?" the young girl continued.

"It's Brother Seeing Pei Ye, he's half a year older than you." Kong Lanting corrected. "He's very powerful."

"I didn't notice..." Guan Qianyan muttered. "Anyway, we're just going in to keep him company for a while; so what if we get discovered?"

"What do you mean 'so what'? The sect rules are written clearly: trespassing into the Law Enforcement Hall's back cliff, at worst, results in the abolition of martial arts and expulsion from the sect!"

Guan Qianyan rolled her eyes: "How could that be? You are the most promising little genius of the current Kongdong; at most, you'll get a whipping."

"." Kong Lanting slowly widened his eyes. "So that's why you insisted on bringing me along!"

"Of course not! Let's go."

Guan Qianyan pulled him, but when she looked ahead, she suddenly lowered her body: ". Don't move."

". What's wrong?"

"So many people are walking out; is that the direction of Xianqiao Peak?" Guan Qianyan looked in a daze for a while, then her eyes suddenly lit up. "Good opportunity, quick!"

"."

The fog surged like the sea.

This massive cliff between the mountain and the peak was four miles wide and nearly ten miles long. In the gray twilight, this deep fog was indeed as boundless as it seemed.

No one knew why this valley was so chillingly cold. It was certainly located in the mountain's shadow, and the long waterfall was at the other end of the valley where deep, cool water flowed past. But starting about twenty years ago, even in the height of summer under the bright sun, the thick fog here never dissipated, remaining eerily cold.

Regardless, this indeed added to the sense of majesty of the Law Enforcement Hall's back cliff and gave the legend of ghosts under the cliff a certain atmosphere. The two of them climbed down slowly from the edge of the cliff for two or three zhang, and when the cold fog touched their exposed ankles, Guan Qianyan couldn't help but feel a shiver.

They intended to climb down from the outer edge of the Law Enforcement Hall and then climb horizontally along the cliff wall to reach the cliff cave that led to the stone pillar. At this time, under Guan Qianyan's lead, the two of them climbed down quietly for a long time, and the young girl slowed down with some hesitation.

"Ji Ji Shijie Guan, aren't we there yet?" Kong Lanting looked at the constantly surging thick fog under his feet with a pale face, feeling that everything around him was full of damp, heavy air. "I feel like we're already quite low."

"." Guan Qianyan couldn't answer for a moment. She had inquired when she came and remembered that the height of the cliff cave was about ten zhang or so; visually, this distance shouldn't be much of a problem.

But after coming down, she realized that the fog was actually this thick. At this moment, looking up, there was only a hazy void above. Apart from the cliff wall beneath them, everything around was vast and empty; they seemed to be in a world of nothingness.

But even this only entity had its boundaries vanish beyond two or three zhang.

Guan Qianyan moved her throat: "Al... almost there, right? Go, climb horizontally—you count too, climb one hundred zhang this time."

". I can't count that well."

The two continued to move slowly in a realm of no one. There was only the cold silence blocking their ears. The fog gradually became thicker, and the visible area had changed from two zhang to less than one.

"We haven't gone down any further, so why is the fog still getting thicker?" After a long time, Kong Lanting finally couldn't help but whisper, "Is there really something here, Ji Ji Shijie Guan?"

"Because it's late at night, dummy."

But Guan Qianyan still stopped moving, not because she was really considering the boy's "threat," but because the thickness of the fog had indeed brought about a more serious problem—she was even less able to find the location of the cliff cave.

The height wasn't accurate to begin with, and now that they had climbed horizontally for who knows how long, an error of just two or three zhang could mean missing the correct spot.

"I think we've passed it, Ji Ji Shijie Guan." Kong Lanting also saw the predicament. "Why don't we climb up and look?"

Guan Qianyan hesitated: "No, we're likely already under the Law Enforcement Hall; climbing up will get us caught directly... keep your voice down too."

"."

"Let's continue downward." The young girl made a decision. "The broken iron chain will hang down along the wall; it's several dozen zhang long. Finding it will work too!"

So the two continued forward, climbing down for a while, then walking horizontally, crossing and climbing on the cliff wall. Gradually, a quarter of an hour passed, and they couldn't even see five feet in front of them; there was absolutely no sign of the so-called cliff cave or iron chain.

In this realm, repeatedly failing to find markers truly gave one the feeling of being completely abandoned by the human world, and a strange, bone-chilling cold had already pressed in.

". Can't find it, Ji Ji Shijie Guan." To avoid getting separated, the two stayed very close, and Kong Lanting whispered from the side, "Let's go back up and take another look."

Guan Qianyan was silent for a moment: "No, continue downward."

Kong Lanting widened his eyes: "It's already very deep; it can't be any lower."

The young girl turned her head, and even though they were only two feet apart, her face appeared hazy. She whispered: "Let's go straight to the bottom of the cliff and then walk over."

"." Kong Lanting was stunned. "You can't go to the bottom of the cliff."

"Because there's a maze array." The young girl whispered. "But I brought my father's Golden Seal."

"." Kong Lanting stared with wide eyes, unable to speak. "Ji Ji Shijie Guan, do you... like Zhang Shixiong Jingbi?"

Guan Qianyan glared at him fiercely: "Are you sick! Loyalty, do you understand loyalty? When the two of us were running around everywhere, you were still playing with mud!"

"."

After a whispered argument, the two continued downward.

They didn't know how much longer they climbed down, but they really gradually felt like they were moving away from the human world and arriving at the ghost realm of the Yellow Springs.

With the Golden Seal on her, the maze array indeed let them pass. Kong Lanting held tightly to the young girl's hem, feeling only that the route was turning wildly in all directions, not feeling like they were going down at all, but after a moment, his lower leg suddenly bounced and shrank, and he actually stepped onto solid ground.

This was truly a thick fog where one couldn't see one's own fingers.

The air had almost condensed into cold water; as long as one dared to lift a hem, water droplets would immediately condense on the skin. And the most chilling thing was the strange, sharp coldness that permeated the surroundings like a physical substance.

It was as if countless invisible cold blades were hidden in this thick fog, and as long as one moved, they would cut the skin to shreds.

"Ji Ji Shijie Guan..." Kong Lanting said with a pale face.

Guan Qianyan had already pressed her hand to her sword like a reflex. The quite bold young girl actually felt that something was wrong, but since they had already arrived here, it was absolutely impossible for her to back down. She pursed her lips: ". Lanting, you climb back up first. I'll go the rest of the way myself."

". Then I'm not doing it." Kong Lanting whispered, "And you won't give me the Golden Seal."

". Take it!" the young girl said irritably.

"Then I'm still not doing it." The boy held her hem again, and the two moved forward slowly. "The fog is so thick here, how can we find that stone pillar of Zhang Shixiong Jingbi?"

"I inquired about it; he's locked in 'Jia-Nine,' which is the thickest pillar in the very center, like a small peak." Guan Qianyan looked around vigilantly, speaking in a thin, small voice as if afraid of startling something. "Its distance from the cliff is very precise, exactly ninety-seven zhang, and the stride is easy to measure. Let's just walk to the position and then go horizontally."

A mountain peak was indeed easier to find than a cliff cave, and Kong Lanting couldn't find any fault with it, but he reminded her with some worry: "But before, if we got lost climbing up, we could go back; if we get lost here..."

Guan Qianyan didn't speak. The dense gray-white fog crowded around them, and the two walked forward slowly in this place without boundaries or direction. Guan Qianyan tried hard to make every step perfectly straight.

Finally, after a moment, they suddenly heard a faint "gurgling" sound ahead.

It came from the fog, cold and crisp.

Kong Lanting paused his steps, and Guan Qianyan was stunned for a moment, but her eyes lit up: "This is the long stream flowing down from the 'Hanging Sky Curtain'; once we cross it, it's the 'Jia' series."

The two continued forward, and sure enough, the sound of water became clearer, but the sharp, skin-piercing feeling also became heavier. Guan Qianyan subconsciously tugged at her sleeve, always feeling like she was about to be cut.

Finally, the sound of water was right in front of them, but the fog was also truly thick. It wasn't until she stepped into the stream that the young girl suddenly shrank her leg with a start: "We're here."

"Come, hold on."

The two held hands tightly and walked slowly across the water surface using their Qi. The ice-cold stream flowed under their feet. At this time, with the influence of the water flow, they had to be even more careful not to walk diagonally. In their total concentration, Kong Lanting's gaze was suddenly drawn, and in the haze, a flash of white light seemed to pass under his feet.

". Ji Ji Shijie Guan, are there fish in this stream?"

Guan Qianyan turned her head in a daze; this question seemed to have jammed her brain: "This water system is said to surround the five peaks; it's so long and so big, there should be fish... but this is the water falling from the 'Hanging Sky Curtain'... if there were fish, they would be smashed to death, right? —that's right, fish coming down from a waterfall... would they be smashed to death?"

Kong Lanting was silent for a moment: "I think it has to do with the depth of the water below."

"Makes sense."

The two crossed the long stream, and even in such thick fog, they saw the immensely massive standing object ahead, which was a layer darker than the fog on the left and right sides.

"We're here!" Guan Qianyan said with joy in a very small voice. "The momentum is upright and the height is high, shaped like a round bamboo shoot... this is 'Jia-Nine Peak'."

Kong Lanting also let out a heavy sigh of relief, looking up at the faint peak shadow, and smiled: "Finally here, Zhang Shixiong Jingbi is up there? Let's go up quickly—why do you keep poking me."

The boy twisted his left shoulder and turned to look at the young girl, freezing completely.

Guan Qianyan looked back blankly. The young girl had one hand holding his right hand, while the other hand was raised high, pointing at the peak ahead: ". Who poked you?"

Kong Lanting screamed with a deathly pale face and bounced back, turning his head, but there was only the thick fog flowing behind him, and he saw nothing.

"There really, really, really is a ghost, Ji Ji Shijie Guan!" Kong Lanting clutched the young girl's sleeve tightly. "Something just poked my shoulder!"

The young girl pressed her sword with a solemn expression, staring at the fog without moving: "Don't panic, what touched you, is it a living thing?"

"I don't know!" Kong Lanting said, almost with a crying voice. "I thought it was you!"

The gray, hazy fog wrapped around them, and the visibility was no more than three feet. Guan Qianyan pursed her lips tightly, feeling nothing.

". This place is indeed not quite normal, let's leave quickly." The young girl held the boy's arm, and the two moved backward with their nerves tightened. Gradually, the young girl also felt a faint disturbance.

It flowed over from the fog beside them—something cold and quiet was moving through it.

Guan Qianyan immediately gripped the boy's arm tightly, her throat tightening: "Draw your sword, Lanting."

Kong Lanting reached out and touched around in a panic, but only touched empty air. The boy looked down, and his lips turned completely white.

He pressed a thin voice out of his throat: "My sword is gone... Ji Ji Shijie Guan."

Guan Qianyan turned her head suddenly; the boy's waist indeed only had an empty scabbard left.

The young girl could almost not speak. The rumor that "there are ghosts under the cliff" now seemed so real. She shook her head, her face pale as she protected the boy behind her: "Don't, don't worry, retreat. Walk toward the peak pillar behind, let's go up quickly!"

The two quickened their pace, and Kong Lanting also took off the scabbard and held it in his hand.

The disturbance in the fog became clearer and clearer. It moved extremely fast and extremely quietly. The young girl had just noticed that the fog ahead seemed to be slightly disturbed, and the next moment, a cold feeling swept across her scalp, almost brushing against her hair.

'It is observing us.'

A hair-raising thought rose in Guan Qianyan's heart, and she couldn't help but quicken her pace again.

And after the observation is finished?

She pursed her lips tightly and held her sword horizontally, staring ahead without moving. As her breathing gradually tightened, she began to feel... more and more disturbances.

It was as if something was being awakened. At first, it was just one individual, and then it became more and more. She could almost feel the hair-raising sensation of being locked onto by countless "gazes." She didn't know how many trajectories were circling and wandering around them in the surrounding fog.

The two's pace became faster and faster, and later they were almost running.

But they still couldn't shake them off; such speed seemed to be effortless for these things.

Finally, their patience seemed to have finally been exhausted, or perhaps they had determined that they were two lambs waiting to be slaughtered—in short, a piercing, incomparably icy coldness suddenly appeared in the fog.

Time stretched extremely slowly at this moment.

Having listened for a long time to the speed at which they traveled, Guan Qianyan had completely tightened her nerves, but when it really launched an attack, the young girl discovered that the heart-stopping speed just now was only their "walking."

Her heart and lungs contracted violently in this instant, but even her gaze couldn't keep up with such speed. Guan Qianyan's sword was already faster than her facial expression, moving toward her neck at the shortest and straightest speed.

But in the midst of all this slowing down, the white light flying out of the fog was still as fast as a flying arrow.

A cold chill rose on the young girl's neck. In the instant before the long sword could be held horizontally, this white light swept in precisely.

It's over.

Guan Qianyan only had time to realize this, and the coldness had already cut through her throat.

But at this instant, a god-like sword rose from her side, and with a "ding" sound, they collided. Time suddenly pulled back to its original speed, and two streams of light crossed, leaving a thin, sharp line of blood on the young girl's neck.

Kong Lanting's hand holding the scabbard trembled uncontrollably, and he only managed to grip it after reaching out with his other hand. He gritted his teeth and looked to the side.

The thing that had been knocked off course was hovering in the air.

Thin and sharp like cold ice, flowing and moist like a white fish—a clear and incomparably bright Kongdong standard long sword, with water lines still flowing on it.

Kong Lanting's pupils dilated in disbelief. He pointed at it, his mouth trembling as he opened it, but two words were choked in his throat.

(End of Chapter)