She approached slowly. Knowing her temperament was fierce, any obstruction or dissuasion would be futile, and it was too late to stop her from stepping onto the crossing bridge. In a moment of inspiration, he drew his sleeve back, gathering the flying stones he had just collected. Following the principle of "curved, not straight," he struck the bricks marked with diagonal and curved symbols, intending to lead the way. As Lin Chaoying pondered where to step, she heard the sound of stones striking bricks, realizing it was his doing, and leaped over without hesitation. Wang Chongyang, flicking stones to guide her, then leaped down, following close behind. He saw that with each row Lin Chaoying crossed, the bricks in the next row shifted left or right by a varying number of paces. As he got closer to the ground, the light marking the bricks grew weaker, and near the stone bridge, he could see nothing at all. Relying only on his memory, he ventured forward recklessly, pursuing her.
Feeling that she had safely crossed the stone bridge, Lin Chaoying no longer felt the urge to flee, but instead turned back, worried about his safety, and called out, "Jump over here." Wang Chongyang, who was about to leap, planned to land and then use his lightness skill to rush towards her. Unfortunately, the bricks suddenly opened beneath him, and his feet lost purchase, causing him to fall. A sound escaped his throat. Lin Chaoying heard his cry and, guessing it was the same fate as the person before, threw the broken Dragon Dividing Rope, with its detached steel cable, towards him. Wang Chongyang, discerning the situation by sound and sight, grabbed the cable with one hand. Feeling the steel cable sink, Lin Chaoying immediately exerted force to pull it back. The excessive effort aggravated her leg injury, making it difficult to stand, and she fell backward onto the ground.
Upon landing, Wang Chongyang hurried towards the direction of the sound, intending to help her up. "Don't touch anything," he heard Lin Chaoying say. Wang Chongyang immediately retracted his hands and clarified, "I only wanted to check your injury." Though he couldn't see her expression in the darkness, his tone was enough to stir her emotions. She could only look away and say, "Not long ago, someone rashly trespassed and fell into the mechanism of the bridge." Before her, there was someone else? Wang Chongyang anxiously asked, "Who was that?" Lin Chaoying replied coldly, "Naturally, a hero from the Song Kingdom." Saying this, she struggled to stand. Wang Chongyang took her arms, but she tried to push him away and leave, saying, "I am a dark swordsman of the Jin Kingdom and am determined to seize the scripture for the reward." In his desperation, Wang Chongyang embraced her, saying emotionally, "Never mind that harmful scripture. Forget everything else. Let us go to the Magic Peaks and rescue my grandmother, and then return to the Tomb of the Living Dead to live a quiet life." Leaning against his chest, she truly felt that warmth from when they first met. No matter how many years had passed, how much hardship she had endured, even if there were no future, this moment was enough. "Grandmother? It's my grandmother. And, that's Immutable Mountains, not Magic Peaks." As she spoke, he tapped his chin twice on her forehead, which felt strangely amusing, and she no longer wished to speak.
The spring flowers withered in an instant.
"How is your leg injury?"
Sighing inwardly, she said, "It's nothing." She genuinely cherished this moment of quiet rest, but alas...
"There's blood from your leg injury all along the way, how can it be nothing? This place is not safe to linger. Let me carry you forward to find a place to heal properly."
No matter what happens between us, I will not be a burden to you! Lin Chaoying, using her sword for support, stood up with great effort and said coldly, "I can walk."
Wang Chongyang was perplexed. Why, after being so gentle just a moment ago, did she revert to being defiant?
Ahead was a small stone cave, where the light was slightly brighter, barely revealing a narrow, short stone staircase going upwards for a dozen steps. Seeing her supporting herself against the rock wall with her left hand and using her sword as a staff with her right, slowly ascending, Wang Chongyang felt a touch of annoyance. His earlier words had conveyed a desire for a lifelong commitment, so why did she still reject his care? When they reached the top, Wang Chongyang looked down. Below was a winding, downward sloping path. The top and the beginning of this winding path were nearly ten feet apart in height. Normally, this would be no problem, but... He leaped down lightly, turned, and called out, "Jump down, I promise to catch you." Seeing she made no move, he suddenly thought of her reservations; after all, they were... Wang Chongyang turned his back to face outward and said, "Jump down, hold onto my neck, and let me carry you forward, alright?"
Hearing his gentle words and remembering how he had anxiously watched her every step and climb just now, she couldn't bear to cause him further embarrassment. She decided to take a risk. Leaping onto his shoulders, her body and mind felt as if they had entered a peaceful, deep dream, and she no longer wished to worry about anything.
As the two of them came together, their combined weight suddenly increased, and the ground beneath Wang Chongyang's feet tilted forward. Lin Chaoying, well-trained, pulled her waist back to counteract the force and clamped her legs around Wang Chongyang's waist, stabilizing his lower body. However, Wang Chongyang was not a partner she was accustomed to cooperating with, and he was also exerting force to lean backward to prevent falling forward. Thus, both of them fell backward. Lin Chaoying's head hit a stone, and she then slid to the side. Wang Chongyang, blaming himself, examined her head. Seeing her staring blankly at the spot above, he was about to ask why, when she pointed to the stone she had bumped against and said, "Try it." Wang Chongyang understood that she had found something hidden. He leaped to the edge of the top, used the rock wall for leverage, and with both hands and feet, moved closer to the stone. He discovered that it was slightly recessed on all sides. With a push to the right, and his feet on that large section of rock wall, it suddenly disappeared. Wang Chongyang lost his balance and instantly fell into the dark hole behind the wall. Lin Chaoying, seeing this, rushed forward and grabbed his shoulder, but the momentum was too strong, and she was also pulled in.
The two of them fell into a very steep pipe within the cave, sliding rapidly headfirst, feet first, for a moment. Lin Chaoying heard Wang Chongyang collide with something like a stone door, and then a blinding light appeared. Passing through an opening, Lin Chaoying skillfully reversed her sword grip and drew a line on the ground, then used a clever chest roll to land on the inscribed line, ensuring her safety. Ahead, more than ten water columns of varying thicknesses, shimmering with faint silver-white light, cascaded vertically, a beautiful sight. She turned her head to the right, observing a hemispherical rock wall deeply hollowed out. Turning back, she saw four large stone steps, each about six feet high and wide, spanning the left and right walls. Continuing to look around to the right, she saw him sighing as he looked down at a shallow stony beach, perhaps envying Yuan Xiangxian's success in the Later Tang dynasty and his preserved prosperity, lamenting his own unfulfilled ambition to resist the Jin and his solitary struggle.
Similar shallow beaches, deep waters, and secret passages in caves—all meticulously planned, ultimately leaving only desolation. Wang Chongyang couldn't help but sigh softly.
Every time she witnessed his dejected and lonely expression, Lin Chaoying felt a pang of sadness in her heart. She could only break the silence to distract him from his sorrow and said, "This place looks like Yuan Xiangxian's granary and armory." As Wang Chongyang approached, he remembered the "small hut" and quickly changed the subject, saying, "Sit down, let me examine your leg injury carefully." Lin Chaoying obediently sat on the first of the giant stone steps, allowing him to meticulously unwrap the bandages, wash the wound, apply medicine, and re-bandage it... Before she knew it, she was overcome with exhaustion and fell asleep... In her dream, she felt her head resting on a shoulder, her left hand held by a large, warm hand, and warm breaths blowing on her forehead. She slightly opened her sleepy eyes, happy that it was no longer an illusion. She looked at his profile, his mouth, nose, eyelashes, and eyebrows, over and over again... Gradually, she fell into a peaceful slumber.
A faint fragrance of fish and vegetables wafted up, seeping into her senses and awakening her empty stomach. As Lin Chaoying opened her eyes, she saw Wang Chongyang by the water, setting up a stove to cook. Wang Chongyang was controlling the fire, cooking, and suddenly noticed Lin Chaoying had woken up and was approaching. He felt a bit embarrassed and said, "You... you've gotten used to it over the years... you'll be fine soon." Lin Chaoying didn't know how to respond. She nodded and then went to the water's edge in the distance. Fetching water to wash and tidy herself, her reflection in the water showed her own face, but her eyes were filled with his earlier bashful expression. She wondered if he would get used to cooking for her when they lived in the tomb. But recalling his忧国伤时 (worried about the country and saddened by the times) demeanor before sleeping, the corners of her lips, which had just begun to turn up, froze.
Why did sitting together intimately for rest last night cause them both such discomfort now? Wang Chongyang found a topic to ease the atmosphere and said, "The vegetables in this soup are ones I picked from over there." Lin Chaoying, who had been silently drinking, casually asked, "Were the utensils also taken from there?" Wang Chongyang replied, "Yes, shall we go and see together?" Lin Chaoying approached and said, "Alright, let me wash the utensils first." Saying this, she took the used bowl from his hand, along with others, and moved them to the water's edge. She squatted down to clean them, feeling more satisfied than if she had accomplished something momentous. At this moment, Lin Chaoying noticed that the water columns were brighter than before and emitted a rainbow light. Just as she was contemplating this, Wang Chongyang, holding a cloth, squatted beside her and said, "Let me dry them." Lin Chaoying's touch of his gaze made her uncontrollably stand up. "Wait," she was called to a halt by him, allowing him to wipe his wet hands.
The two walked side by side to the left side. Lin Chaoying saw that although the vegetables and plants grew wild in this land, she could still faintly discern the original orderly classifications. The rock wall, covered with vines, also had a deep indentation in the center. Lin Chaoying gazed to the extreme left and right, feeling as if she were standing in the middle of a giant egg that had been cut open on both sides. "Do you feel like you're inside Zhong Liquan's big belly?" Hearing him speak beside her, although it didn't match her own imagination, she could understand it with a moment's thought. Pointing to the four stone steps, she said, "Those are his intestines." Wang Chongyang nodded with a smile and said, "Let's see if there's a芭蕉宝扇 (banana treasure fan) hidden inside."
"Wait," she called out to him. Wang Chongyang turned around with great expectation but heard her say, "Those water columns are getting brighter." Wang Chongyang replied, "It's likely due to sunlight exposure; perhaps the top of this place is connected to the outside. Let's first examine the contents of the stone steps and then proceed step by step."
Wang Chongyang, considering Lin Chaoying's leg injury had not yet healed, let her examine the first two steps while he went to the higher two. Lin Chaoying swept the surface of the stone steps with a branch, revealing the grooves on both sides. She guessed that stone slabs were embedded in the middle. Inspecting from the beginning, she walked about ten feet and found two joints, connected to the grooves in a rectangular shape, leaving only a hand's width between them. As she attempted to move this section, she suddenly heard a "squeak." Looking up, she saw Wang Chongyang bend his waist and flip backward onto the second step, clearly having been ambushed by a mechanism. Lin Chaoying, while watching for any unusual movements around her, ran closer to check if he was injured and asked, "Did you just move the position between those two long boards?" Wang Chongyang nodded and said, "Yes, iron nails shot out. Be careful!" As he spoke, he turned back towards the stone steps. Lin Chaoying gently tugged his sleeve and said, "Don't rush, rest for a while." I understand you're looking for a way out, but why the hurry? Wouldn't it be nice to stay here longer? Are you also afraid of those people finding us and exposing our solitude? Wang Chongyang clasped her hand and said, "I know you're worried about grandmother's safety, but you're only saying this to spare me embarrassment. Don't worry, I'll figure it out soon." With that, he pulled her along.
Wang Chongyang recalled that when he had tried to move things according to the method they had used previously, he had nearly fallen into a trap. Perhaps this time, it was a matter of pressing the long boards directly? Lin Chaoying, beside him, thought, perhaps the key lay with the long boards themselves? Both of them, at the same time, pressed what they had intended, and both sides lowered simultaneously. Lin Chaoying followed Wang Chongyang's gaze, and they worked together to push towards the left, revealing the situation within the steps—it was empty inside, curving on both sides and at the bottom, forming a semicircular pipe, similar to the pipe they had fallen from the rock wall earlier, but wider and deeper.