Looking at the watch in his hand, four hours had already passed. Although it is usually said that downhill roads are faster to walk than uphill ones, this speed was not applicable for these few people.

  At first, they walked down the stairs with an attitude of adventure and unknown, but on their way back, they almost ran. By this time, it was already around six o'clock, and according to the season, the sky should have been bright long ago.

  Look up at the sky, and there is not a single ray of light shining down from above. This place is like a well of eternal darkness, and after you opened the lid with your own hands, it closed tightly again, or to put it bluntly, the mouth of the well has disappeared.

  What a desperate outcome, perhaps Cha Wenbin had already seen through it, so he chose another "path", an unknown one, and even possibly a path that could lead to death.

  He dared to jump, not because he wasn't afraid of death, but because he understood. With the skills of that "old knife", how could he be easily pushed down by Subo with just one push? That crazy laughter was a mockery, a naked contempt, so he decided to take a chance and follow that person, since he had come in, what percentage of assurance did he have to live back?

  Just like the stairs leading to hell, the reason why people are trapped in this seemingly simple staircase cycle until death is that they are always on the stairs, coming and going. Because under their feet, there is only this one road that seems to be the way, people have never thought about leaving this road, leaving these stairs, what would it be like? Because when a visible path is presented in front of people, they will not choose other paths. This is just like being trapped in a high-rise building engulfed in flames, only when there is no escape from the fire will those who seem timid on ordinary days choose to jump off the building as an escape route. Although people know that the chances of survival from jumping off the building are also very slim, they still make this choice.

  In a desperate situation, choosing another path is because people have nowhere to go. If this seemingly walkable but forever impassable road always exists, people will keep walking, keep walking, and keep walking until death.

  Looking back, the road is still there, but this road is no longer the original one. Just like you can't step into the same river twice in this world, the road back is also not the one you thought you walked before.

  A simple yet complex staircase, an infinitely cyclical space leading to death, a seemingly simple yet impenetrable road - this is what the person who can be called the "Ghost Emperor" has built for the sake of humanity.

  Is hell and purgatory the most frightening? Are the oil pot and knife mountain the most insurmountable?

  No, in the end, what one cannot conquer is oneself. Once you understand this principle, whatever stage or darkness isn't that important. As long as you're willing, anywhere can be a path; as long as you're willing, anywhere can also be a way.

  The Way models itself on Heaven, the Way models itself on Earth, the Way models itself on Nature. All things are born of the Way and all things return to the Way. But if a person is always stuck in his own footsteps, how can he truly become one with the Way?

  So jumping out of this cycle seems to be the only way out!

  Woke up.

  The surroundings were quiet in a bright light, with a faint white glow that was dazzling. It looked like the top of a dance hall that had just become popular at that time, but unfortunately, people like Cha Wenbin had never been to such occasions.

  Cha Wenbin got up, shaking and swaying, with some pain in his body, but it shouldn't be a broken bone. He looked up to see a vast expanse of white, where stones the size of goose eggs were emitting a white glow.

  "Night-shining pearls?" He looked around, hardly daring to believe his eyes. This was a rare and precious stone, also known as fluorescent stone. In the past, night-shining pearls were treasures worth a whole city, but here there seemed to be countless night-shining pearls, stretching out endlessly into the distance.

  He looked up again and couldn't find the direction he had fallen from. It seemed that this was a relatively closed space, and somehow, he ended up here.

  A row of massive stone pillars supporting the arches on both sides stood symmetrically upright.

  It's a somewhat grand underground palace, and the person who built this palace can no longer be described in terms of power. Even the First Emperor of Qin during the Qin Dynasty may not have been able to build his imperial mausoleum in such a manner. Because the fluorescent stones that fill the sky are not simply used for decorative lighting, they are arranged in a complex and orderly pattern according to the celestial bodies in the sky.

  On each stone pillar, there is a dragon coiling upwards, sometimes proudly spreading its wings and sometimes glaring with anger, each representing different emotions. These dragons are like the guardians of this palace.

  Underfoot, the flat stones are neatly arranged and paved, with a thick layer of ash on top, as if history has already forgotten this place.

  The fluorescent stone on the top is spreading from here to the inside, so in people's subconscious mind, they will think about going forward to take a look, and Cha Wenbin was no exception.

  The things around him were still there, he tried and it was okay, he could still walk, so he started walking in.

  For some reason, as he walked through this grand hall, Cha Wenbin seemed to have a sense of familiarity. He kept feeling that he had been here before, although he was just a small Taoist priest born in the countryside. This familiarity was soon confirmed because he began to see even more familiar things: murals!

  Mural, this is a simple and intuitive way for ancient people to pass on information to later generations.

  Standing in front of this mural, Cha Wenbin stood still.

  The picture depicts a man with a long sword on his back, followed by a three-legged toad behind him, and in front of him is a huge coffin-like object, standing in front of it.

  If it was a coincidence, then Cha Wenbin could clearly feel that the man in the painting was himself, because the man on his back had a bag, and the bag was cleverly carved with a small eight trigrams.

  Today's Cha Wenbin, for the convenience of going up the mountain, he did not wear a Taoist long gown, but a simple casual outfit. It was this piece of clothing that was almost identically depicted on the person in the painting. It can be said that there were no photographs in those days. If there were, then except for the three-legged toad not being present, the rest would have been identical to Cha Wenbin today, just like it was painted from his photo taken today.

  This discovery was no less terrifying than opening a tomb that had been sealed for thousands of years and finding one's own photo hanging inside. So, Cha Wenbin pinched his arm hard, the pain and swelling telling him this wasn't just a dream, it was real.

  In this empty and spacious hall, except for himself and that little tadpole, he temporarily couldn't feel the presence of a third living thing. He was thinking, where did that "old knife" go again?

  Because the ash on the ground was thick enough, when someone stepped on it, they would leave footprints. Soon, he found a row of footprints on the other side, with the toes pointing inward, so Zha Wenbin quickly decided to continue along this string of footprints. The thing that person was carrying on his back must be what he really wanted to find.

  The path was very long, and Zha Wenbin thought that if this was indeed the Ghost Emperor's tomb, then he must have gathered all the glowing stones from across the land at that time. The fluorescent rocks here were simply too numerous, to the point of being unimaginable. Everywhere was a bleak white color, a whiteness that made people feel somewhat eerie.

  After walking about 300 meters, a huge stone gate appeared in front of him. The gate was slightly ajar and not closed. Standing on the road still twenty or thirty meters away from the gate, Zha Wenbin discovered something unusual - there were "people" inside!

  Not just one person, but many people!

  Some people were wearing purple and black mourning clothes, while others wore ordinary clothes. These people included men and women, old and young, and even children. It was unclear where they came from, their eyes were dazed, and they suddenly appeared at the gate, then one by one jumped in.

  Cha Wenbin was what kind of person, he would not know that these were not "people", but souls? However, would he be afraid of souls? No, so he decided to go in and take a look.

  Just as he was about to move, he felt someone patting him on the shoulder. Zha Wenbin knew that in a place like this, the probability of encountering people was extremely low. So, the Seven Stars Sword "swooshed" out of its scabbard, and he turned around ready to strike, only to find that the person standing behind him was someone he was all too familiar with.

  Looking at that face, Cha Wenbin's five-flavor bottle in his heart was as if it had been knocked over. He felt a moistness in his eyes and muttered: "Master!"

  The old man looked at his apprentice with a hint of kindness and shook his head towards him, meaning don't go in.

  Cha Wenbin didn't care about so many things, he had too many questions to ask him. He hastily wiped away his tears and wanted to seize the opportunity to ask the crazy Taoist who had given his life to his aunt all those years ago, but when he turned around, he found that there was no one behind him anymore...

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