Chapter 24: Lost (4)

“Let’s take a rest.” Zuo Qingcang called out to the Old Man and they sat down together. “You are too nervous. If this continues, both your energy and physical strength will be used up much faster than normal.”

“My reaction is normal. Someone like you, facing such a hopeless situation without any change in expression, that’s what I find strange.” the Old Man retorted. But seeing that the Old Man still had the mind to argue back like this, Zuo Qingcang knew his mental state was not too bad yet.

Looking at the dim light around them, Zuo Qingcang comforted him. “Don’t worry. Our food is enough to last for two months. It’s enough time for us to uncover the secret of this Labyrinth.”

“Is it really enough?” the Old Man said somewhat irritably. “But so far, we have no clues. We don’t even know the principle behind this Labyrinth.”

“At least we’ve ruled out some possibilities.” Zuo Qingcang said. “I was just thinking. For this Labyrinth to be built on the scale of the hundreds of rooms we’ve encountered, it means it must extend continuously underground. It’s likely a three-dimensional structure. These rooms and passages might be shifting up, down, left, and right.”

“That’s even worse.” the Old Man said. “And how huge would the construction effort be? Maybe we really are under some kind of illusion spell, or there’s some spatial Dao Arts array hidden here.”

“Let’s keep trying.” Zuo Qingcang said. “We still have plenty of time anyway. Maybe after another dozen rooms, we’ll see a mark.”

When he heard Zuo Qingcang say ‘we still have plenty of time,’ the Old Man gritted his teeth in frustration. He simply couldn’t understand where a young man like Zuo Qingcang got so much patience.

After saying a few more words, they rested for half an hour before starting to explore again. Even in the dim Ancient Tomb, the Old Man’s nerves were still strained and he was irritable. But having Zuo Qingcang’s company, plus Zuo Qingcang always looked so calm and confident, slowed down the deterioration of his mental state considerably.

Three days later, the number of rooms they had explored reached four hundred and fifty-two. But everywhere they went, it was still the same rooms, the same passages.

“Damn it!” The Old Man’s eyes were now full of red veins. He hadn’t managed to sleep at all the entire previous night. The surrounding passages felt like the gates of the Underworld’s Yellow Springs, ready to devour the soul of every passerby.

Because of his poor condition, the speed of their exploration had slowed down greatly. In fact, they had already given up on the possibility that the entire Labyrinth changed through mechanical traps. After all, even if all the rooms were identical, judging by the number of rooms they passed, if it were mechanical changes, the number of rooms would be at least in the thousands.

“It must be an illusion!” the Old Man said, sounding a bit neurotic. “A ghost wall! Have you heard of a ghost wall? We must have been going in circles these past few days! All the marks we made were erased like this!”

“Calm down.” Seeing the Old Man’s state, Zuo Qingcang patted his shoulder. “Relax. Sit down and rest first.”

“It’s no use. We can’t get out.” The Old Man giggled foolishly. “Those tomb raiders, there were dozens of Taoist Priests, even they were trapped and died here. How could we possibly get out?” After saying this, he started laughing hysterically like a madman.

Zuo Qingcang frowned. In the next moment, a hand chop struck the Old Man’s neck. The sudden lack of oxygen to the brain caused the Old Man to immediately pass out.

“You should get some proper sleep first.”

The Old Man had not slept for over 30 hours and had been highly strung for too long. In this situation, perhaps a good sleep could help him relax.

And Zuo Qingcang, looking at the Stone Chamber before him, also began to think about what the Old Man had said earlier.

‘An illusion, huh…’

‘It is indeed very possible. But within the Dao Arts, if one wants to use illusions, external methods involve using drugs, images, sounds, movements, language. Internal methods involve directly using Mental Force…’

Zuo Qingcang recalled the knowledge about Dao Arts that the Old Man had taught him over the past six months. Unlike Authentic Transmission Martial Arts, Dao Arts sought power from the outside, influencing external elements through fields created by visualization. And this field, or wave, that Zuo Qingcang speculated about, was what the cultivators in this world called Mental Force.

The propulsive force of Mental Force was very weak at first. The Mental Force push of most cultivators was roughly weaker than an infant’s hand. But Mental Force, as a special kind of field or wave, could seep through almost anything. It could accomplish many things ordinary people couldn’t, helping Taoist Priests perform their spells.

‘The strongest illusions are those that directly use Mental Force to alter another person’s senses.’ Zuo Qingcang touched his chin and continued thinking. ‘It’s somewhat similar to the brain releasing special Electromagnetic Waves, creating special magnetic fields that interfere with the operation of other people’s brains. In short, it’s a special kind of illusion that, for now, only humans can perform.’

‘There are clearly no humans in this Labyrinth. So, is it still some external object creating illusions for us?’

Zuo Qingcang didn’t know if this was the first time he was observing every part of the entire Stone Chamber inch by inch, carefully, but he still couldn’t find any clues.

‘No extra images, no unreasonable structures, no hidden rooms, no secret passages, no sounds, no special smells either.’

‘Then what exactly is interfering with our senses?’

Zuo Qingcang kept thinking, recalling all their actions since entering the Labyrinth. Looking at the dim light before him, he always felt there was something, something important, that he had forgotten.

‘What exactly is it?’

Two hours later, the feeling of having forgotten something, yet being unable to recall it no matter what, still faintly troubled Zuo Qingcang. It was at this time that the Old Man next to him, holding his neck, slowly climbed to his feet.

“You hit too hard. If I hadn’t also practiced martial arts, that blow might have broken my neck.”

“Feeling better?” Zuo Qingcang looked at him and said.

“Mmm.” The Old Man nodded, a trace of confusion appearing on his face. “Don’t you think the light in this room is a bit strange?”

“The light?” It was as if something suddenly exploded in Zuo Qingcang’s mind. He shot to his feet, his eyes fixed intently on the Eternal Lamp on the wall, and murmured, “Finally remembered. Could it be this?”