Chapter 281: Entrance to the Ruins (7/10, Autumn Subscription)

There was nowhere to stand; his entire weight rested on the fragile rope, and if the rope failed, he would die without even a grave to bury him.

This was too terrifying!

If only Tail were above him, Fang Yue could barely have entrusted his back to Tail.

But above him, there were two strangers.

If Tail harbored kindness or held back slightly, causing the rope to fail, all his hard-earned cultivation would be rendered useless, and he'd drown in a ditch—something he simply could not accept.

So, after scouting thoroughly, Fang Yue went up to speak with Tail, then brought these two along.

"Yese Liming, you can't do this! We'll see each other again someday—don't go too far!"

Hai Ming cried out, his face ashen.

Liao Moran looked nearly the same, lips trembling: "I—I'm afraid of heights!!"

Fang Yue didn't care whether she was afraid of heights or not; he knew these two had definitely planned to descend the cliff to scavenge.

He made the two grip the rope and descend Fengye Ya, then prepared to go down third.

"Ye Ge, the rope's only this long—what about the distance below?" Tail asked, worried.

"It's not as complicated as you think. I've checked—there's something else down there."

Something else?

Tail's heart stirred; seeing Fang Yue didn't seem to be lying, she nodded.

After Fang Yue, the fourth person descended the cliff.

Below the cliff, the cold wind howled like the wails of vengeful spirits—deeply unsettling.

Four figures descended along the rope.

Soon, the rope reached its end.

Below was an endless abyss.

Above was the rope leading back up.

"Captain Ye! The rope's this short—there's nothing below! Let's climb back up!"

At this moment, Hai Ming no longer cared whether the cliff held any treasures.

He only wanted to escape Fang Yue's control and return to Mo Cun immediately.

He'd done reasonably well in Mo Cun—why endure such suffering?

Liao Moran looked up at Fang Yue pitifully; even Tail, at the very top, waited for Fang Yue's plan.

Then, Fang Yue did something.

Something no one expected.

He slid down a bit, reached Liao Moran's side, pried open her hands gripping the rope, lifted her gently, then tossed her into the endless abyss below.

"Aaaah! What are you doing! What are you doing!"

"Help! Help! Captain Ye is killing! He's killing!!"

Liao Moran turned pale as death, screaming in terror.

Below, Hai Ming trembled violently, shouting: "Yese Liming! I recorded it! I recorded it! If you do this, I'll expose your crimes online—you'll be ruined!"

Tail was utterly stunned.

She knew Fang Yue was ruthless—but she never expected him to strike Liao Moran so suddenly.

For a moment, chaos reached its peak.

As Liao Moran fell, screaming in despair and terror, she felt a brief sensation of weightlessness—then suddenly, *thud! *—she struck something and stopped dead in midair.

"I—I'm not dead?!"

Liao Moran, nearly in tears, collapsed completely, unable to stand.

But as she looked around, she saw nothing beneath her feet—as if standing in midair—while the howling wind still surrounded her.

She hung there, with no foothold, awkwardly seated in a pigeon-toed posture, suspended unnaturally in midair.

"This… what is this?!"

Tail's pupils shrank, then widened in ecstatic realization as she turned to Fang Yue.

Of course—wherever Ye Ge was, problems were always solved!

This sense of reliability gave Tail, who had spent days anxious in the wild, her first feeling of safety.

Sliding down the rope to near Fang Yue, Tail asked: "Ye Ge, what's going on?"

"Invisible iron chains and platforms."

When Fang Yue first descended, he'd assumed he'd have to rely on brute force to go further.

But soon, he noticed something strange about a patch of air—like something had disguised itself as transparent and stood there.

After staring longer, his Analysis Pupil suddenly activated, slowly revealing an iron chain embedded in that air.

One end of the chain sank deep into the cliff; the other vanished into infinity.

Near the cliff face, attached to the chain, stood a square platform.

It was small—only about one cubic meter—but enough to stand on.

This was the direction Fang Yue had come from.

If there was one transparent platform, there must be a second, a third.

Fang Yue thought so—but to see the next platform, he'd have to go deeper.

Thinking this, he grabbed Hai Ming with one hand, pulled Tail with the other, and leapt down, landing steadily on the small platform.

If he could land safely here, he could jump back up to grab the rope—so he dared to leap.

Standing on the platform, Fang Yue reached out to touch the iron chain—and as his hand made contact, his expression changed instantly.

Because the chain's texture felt familiar—it was exactly like the sensation of slashing his blade against Ni Dongmei's clone, as if cutting through a waterfall.

It was indeed a relic related to the Extreme Ice Sect; even the method was so similar.

"Ye Ge, what should we do next?"

"Don't rush. Do you have any small trinkets on you? Like pebbles or bits of Silver?"

Hearing Fang Yue's words, the three paused, then rummaged through their belongings and gathered a pile of random little objects.

Fang Yue scattered these items as widely as possible and dropped them downward.

But when most of the objects had been thrown, the sound Fang Yue hoped to hear still did not come.

His expression darkened; after a moment's thought, he stopped throwing toward the cliff's inner side and instead threw farther away from the cliff.

Ding!

Soon after, a metal shard Fang Yue had thrown echoed back a clear, ringing sound from below.

Though invisible, this sound clearly indicated that, at that location, there was also a transparent platform similar to the one they now stood on.

Fang Yue tested further and quickly pinpointed the exact spot.

"The area is roughly twice the size of our current platform, but it's too far away—hard to reach."

Fang Yue hesitated.

This wasn't something you could just leap down based on instinct.

If the angle was even slightly off, the distance would ensure they missed the next transparent platform entirely.

After thinking, Fang Yue bent down, grabbed the transparent iron chain, and swung forward like a monkey.

"Ye Ge?" Tail couldn't help exclaiming.

"Captain Ye, didn't you just hear the sound? Why not just jump like before? By the way, before you jump, remember to send us back to the rope first. You'll have an easier time going alone—dragging along a burden like me is just inconvenient." Hai Ming said with a pleading smile.

(End of Chapter)