Chapter 161

Pan Yun smashed open a large rock and found it was hollow inside.

The hole she cracked open was just big enough for her to crawl into; she took a candle from her Spirit Realm space, lit it, and leaned in to look.

When she saw the deep, pitch-black space within, she couldn't help laughing triumphantly, "I found you—"

Pan Yun fixed the candle to a nearby rock, then began tossing the broken stones she'd shattered downward, muttering to herself, "They said the caves on Sigu Cliff are all connected, but I searched for so long and never found them—turns out they were hiding right here. This connected space is pretty big and deep. Strange—the opposite side is pitch-black. Are all the other caves just deep pits with no landing points?"

Pan Yun didn't believe it, so she picked up a rock and hurled it toward the opposite side. There was no sound of it hitting solid ground—only the sound of it falling, then a thud.

Pan Yun gasped, "This cave is this big?"

Pan Yun broke off another rock, weighed it in her hand, stepped back, gathered her Yuan force, shouted loudly, and swung it hard forward. This time she heard the rock land directly in front of her. She estimated the distance by the sound—it was far. Definitely impossible to cross without using a flying sword.

Next, she began throwing rocks from all directions and distances, instructing the black cat to record, "Quick, write it down—about ten zhang, lands after two breaths…"

"Fifteen zhang, lands after four breaths."

"Twenty zhang to the left, lands after six breaths; twenty zhang to the right, lands after five breaths. Looks like the bottom terrain is uneven..."

Pan Yun conducted all sorts of experiments, having a blast, while the people below suffered.

Zhou Wang was startled, but something at the bottom layer had been awakened by the impacts.

Rocks kept pattering against his body. He opened his eyes, sat up, and saw chains binding him. He looked upward—then a rock slammed into his nose with a thump. Furious, he roared upward, "Who—"

Who~~~

Pan Yun broke off another rock to throw down, paused at the long, twisted echo, and turned to the black cat, "Did you hear that? Someone just spoke."

Pan Xiaohei: "I heard. He asked who it was."

Pan Yun looked down at the large rock in her hand, frowned, "I thought the caves below were sealed off like mine—unless someone broke through like I did. But behind my cave wall was empty. Could theirs not be?"

"If they weren't sealed, how could I have hit them?"

Unsure, she threw another rock along the same trajectory as the previous one.

Soon after, another long, distorted roar echoed from below.

Pan Yun was astonished and immediately leaned out to shout downward, "Hey, brother~sister, which cave are you in~?"

Zhou Wang was pressed flat against the wall. Though the voice was distorted, he caught every word. He paced frantically, shouting at the wall, "Me, me, I'm in Jia Twenty-Five—"

After shouting, Zhou Wang felt something odd about that voice—it was familiar. Too familiar. He rushed to the wall and yelled into it, "Pan Shimei, is that you? Is it really you?"

Pan Yun strained her ears. A voice came faintly. She frowned, thought for a moment, then ran to the cave mouth, leaned out, and shouted downward, "Anyone down there? Did I just hit someone?"

In the darkness, silence. No one answered—only the howling wind and the occasional splash of water against the cliff.

Pan Yun refused to give up and shouted again, "Hey—"

She shouted "Hey" for a full half-minute, irritating Cheng Lingzi, who had been trying to ignore the noise. He walked to the cliff's edge and yelled down, "Stop yelling! It was fine for days—why are you going crazy today?"

Pan Yun turned to look up and asked, "Senior Brother, do these caves block our voices? Why doesn't anyone in the other caves answer me?"

Cheng Lingzi said, "They don't block them—just shatter the sound once it leaves the cave. All they hear is wind and water."

Pan Yun's interest sparked, "That's amazing. What kind of array is this?"

Hearing the excitement in her tone, Cheng Lingzi knew she wasn't like the others who'd gone mad. He sat down beside the cliff and chatted with her—after all, they were close enough that speaking required no effort.

"Why is Sigu Cliff placed here? Because of this mountain, this river, and this wind that never stops for three hundred and sixty-five days."

Pan Yun pondered, "The riverbanks are lined with high mountains, but Sigu Cliff is built only on this one—because this is exactly where the river bends between the two rows of mountains."

"The wind converges here, the water converges here, and with the surrounding terrain, this spot lies precisely in the Xun position, amplifying the wind. With slight design, it becomes a natural array."

Cheng Lingzi, sharp-eared, heard and smiled, "You've got talent."

"But you hear so clearly down here, your ears so sensitive—is it because you control the array? Because you're the array master?"

Cheng Lingzi fell silent.

"You won't say? Then it's true. So all the movements and sounds within this array—others may be fooled, but not you." Pan Yun chuckled, smiling up sweetly, "Senior Brother, can I see the array plate?"

Cheng Lingzi: "This array has no plate. Even if it did, what do you think—I'd show it to you?"

"Then can I learn this array diagram?"

Cheng Lingzi said nothing.

"Senior Brother, be generous. We're a learning palace—we're supposed to teach children knowledge."

Cheng Lingzi: "Child, this isn't something you should or can learn. It's late. If you don't sleep, you'll grow short."

"Wait, I have one last question," Pan Yun hurriedly leaned out, afraid he'd leave, "Senior Brother, do you listen to the sounds in the array all the time?"

Cheng Lingzi smiled faintly, lowered his voice, and threatened, "Yes."

Pan Yun shrieked in horror, "Then do you hear us… you know… when we… do that?"

Cheng Lingzi's expression went blank for an instant. He instantly understood her "do that." Furious, he shouted, "Do you think I'm that bored? Go back to sleep! And I have no voyeuristic tendencies!"

Pan Yun pulled back, hugged Pan Xiaohei, and sat in the candlelight for a long time. Only when the cliff above fell silent did she say, "I knew it—he can't possibly listen to every sound in the array. Maybe at first, but one day, two days, a month, three months later—I don't believe he could still manage it."

Especially since those locked here usually go mad after three days—whether truly insane or just venting emotions, their expressions are never good. If Cheng Lingzi constantly received every sound from these caves, the prisoners wouldn't go mad—he would.

Confirmed, Pan Yun relaxed, hugged Pan Xiaohei, and went back to sleep.

She could act on whims and sleep soundly, but Zhou Wang below kept pressed against the wall, listening like a gecko.

After a long while, hearing no more noise, Zhou Wang began doubting himself, "Did I imagine it? Was it all a hallucination?"

"No no no, impossible—how could it be a hallucination?" Zhou Wang wanted to cry. His cave was pitch-black; his candle had burned out. Now he could only grope his way back to the stone platform by feel.

Lying on the straw, hugging his blanket, Zhou Wang truly wanted to cry. He knew Sigu Cliff was harsh—but he never imagined it would be this bad.

If I could do it again, when I heard the strange activity in Fengqi Courtyard, even if it meant making a mortal enemy of Zhang Weiliang, I'd still go see.

Wuuu, Master, I'm sorry.

As Zhou Wang clutched his blanket in misery, the lowest being below also listened intently to the sounds above. When no more rocks fell, he lowered his head and lay still.

After a moment, he felt unsafe, so he shifted his body farther from where the rocks had landed, then lay down again and closed his eyes.

The night passed peacefully. The first thing Pan Yun did upon waking was run to the black cave mouth and shout down, "Good morning, brothers and sisters~~~"

After shouting, she listened—but heard no echo. She wasn't disappointed, and cheerfully drank a bowl of water before washing her face.

Because she was busy with other things, she didn't hear the faint echo that rose shortly after she left.

Zhou Wangdao felt he heard a sound again; he pressed his face against the wall and shouted loudly, "Pan Shimei, is that you~~"

No one answered him.

Zhou Wangdao was disappointed, but dawn had broken, and it was no longer as terrifying as night; so he went to brush his teeth and drink water.

Washing his face was impossible.

Cheng Lingzi was harsh with them; each day they received only one clay jar of water—just enough for drinking and rinsing their mouths. He used a cloth to dab his face with water only every two or three days.

Life was too hard.

Sīguò Cliff truly wasn't a place for humans to live.

He had to go a month without bathing, let alone a month without washing his hair, a month without washing his face—wuwuwu…

!. Read

Just as he thought this, a wooden bucket descended from the side of his cave entrance, attached to a rope…

Zhou Wangdao stared blankly, slowly looked down along the rope, then stiffly turned his neck upward.

Pan Yun, leaning down to look, exclaimed, "Eh?" and called out, "Brother Zhou!"

Zhou Wangdao's eyes filled with tears. "Pan Shimei, it's really you."

Unfortunately, both could see only each other's heads and lips moving, but could not hear any sound.

This array was truly miraculous: she could clearly hear voices from the cliff's peak, and even half her body could extend out of the cave—but if she tried to jump down entirely, she couldn't.

Over these days, through repeated tests, she had mostly confirmed that as long as she didn't use internal force or elemental energy, she could likely jump out—the cave's array would not stop her.

But if she did, she'd be dead.

In other words, this array blocked her escape, but wouldn't stop her from dying.

Now, only one experiment remained to confirm it—but she dared not do it.

Pan Yun grabbed the rope and waved excitedly at Zhou Wangdao; though they couldn't hear each other, they could still communicate by reading lips: "Brother Zhou, why are you here?"

Realizing Pan Yun couldn't hear him, Zhou Wangdao infused his voice with internal force: "Pan Shimei—"

Pan Yun heard it; she was astonished. How was this possible?

After a moment's thought, she understood, and infused her own voice with internal force: "Brother Zhou, can you now hear my voice?"

Just one sentence drained her internal force rapidly from her Upper Dantian.

Pan Yun let out a "Huo!" and raised an eyebrow. No wonder this place was so silent—making others hear your voice demanded such a heavy cost.

"Fascinating, fascinating, truly fascinating," Pan Yun said to Pan Xiaohei. "The complexity of this mountain's array rivals the seal that bound you. If I could return to my past life, I'd definitely visit Long Hushan and see if this array still exists."

"Tsk tsk tsk, this array could sustain twenty years of research—imagine how many researchers it could feed."

Pan Xiaohei: …

"Shimei, what did you say?" Zhou Wangdao's face paled slightly; he began choosing his words carefully. "Internal force infused into speech."

Pan Yun looked down at him and nodded, indicating she understood.

The two stared at each other; since speaking consumed so much internal force, neither spoke for a while.

Pan Xiaohei had to remind her: "Your bucket."

"Oh oh," Pan Yun snapped back to attention, leaned down to look, and began lowering the rope.

Zhou Wangdao also came to his senses and looked down; he saw the bucket descending section by section, finally stopping just above the water's surface.

Was the rope gone?

Zhou Wangdao looked upward.

But Pan Yun wasn't disappointed; she pulled the bucket up slightly, stepped on the rope, and took another rope from her Spirit Realm, tied it on, and continued lowering.

Her knots were extremely secure—definitely wouldn't come loose.

Pan Yun finished tying the knot and continued lowering the bucket.

Soon, the bucket fell into the river, was swept by the current, spun, and sucked in water; shortly after, it was full.

Pan Yun grabbed the rope and began pulling it up.

Zhou Wangdao immediately stood up, tugged the rope toward him, helping to lift it.

As the bucket rose, a head emerged, then another head, then another head…

Pan Yun glanced down occasionally, astonished—this cave below had been silent all along; she'd assumed no one lived here, but now there were so many people?

More than a dozen heads emerged, silently watching Pan Yun haul up a bucket of water from beneath the cliff.

A third of the water had spilled, but over half remained; Pan Yun burst into laughter, poured the water into a large wooden barrel, and lowered the bucket again.

This time, when the bucket reached Cave Jia-25, Pan Yun stopped pulling it up; instead, she shook the rope, said nothing, and gestured toward Zhou Wangdao.

Zhou Wangdao understood at once; he yanked the bucket inside, filled his clay jar with water, then found two other abandoned clay jars and filled them too.

Only then did he empty the bucket's remaining water.

He sent the bucket back out.

Pan Yun pulled the bucket up, and this time she placed Pan Xiaohei inside: "You go."

Pan Xiaohei didn't bargain with her—because it used a lot of water too.

Although cats disliked bathing, once they started, they'd enjoy it; and since cats were clean animals, they used plenty of water.

Pan Yun lowered the bucket again; halfway down, someone grabbed it, trying to pull it into their own cave, tugging the rope downward—but as the bucket neared, Pan Xiaohei inside leaned out, and its sharp claws slashed toward the man's eyes…

The man gasped, immediately let go and shoved the bucket away; Pan Xiaohei's hind legs hung from the rope, let out a piercing shriek, and as it pulled back, scratched the man's hand—successfully wounding him.

Pan Yun smiled faintly and continued lowering the bucket. Two successes already; she'd anticipated the third would bring trouble. Wanting to be the fisherman? You'd better have the skill.

(End of Chapter)