The instant the question left Chen Xiaolian’s mouth, he felt a sense of guilt.
Not because of the answer he expected. Rather, it was because the answer had already presented itself in his mind.
At that moment, the thoughts running through his troubled mind was:
Surely, I can’t possibly be this ‘lucky’!
I’m practically wearing a trouble-attracting halo!
No, I am the trouble-attracting halo!
As expected, when the sighing voice answered, Chen Xiaolian’s heart sank.
“Indeed, I am…”
Chen Xiaolian lost interest in listening to the next set of words.
At that very moment, he wanted to clench his fists, raise his head up to face the sky and laugh and then, while facing the Heavens… naturally, he did not meant the ‘Skyblade’ who was talking to him from the sky.
However, if there was truly a Heaven.
Chen Xiaolian wanted to ask: Are you *** shitting me?!
The entirety of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild had been arduously trying to look for Skyblade for so many years. But now, I found him by stumbling around just like this?
{Are you ***king kidding me?}
If there was one way to describe how Chen Xiaolian felt at that moment, it would be: Not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
When the voice in the sky stopped talking, Chen Xiaolian loosened his clenched fist.
He took a deep breath and exhaled. Then, in a manner that he himself could not describe, he shouted loudly, “You are Skyblade? All right, to be honest, I don’t care about that. What I want to know is, what ***** place is this?
“Also, what do I have to ***** do to get out of here?”
Skyblade became silent for a few seconds. Then, he said, “First, you need to come in and meet up with me.”
“Go in?” Chen Xiaolian frowned. “Go in where?”
“Do you see the buildings before you?”
“I see it.”
“I am inside the building.”
Chen Xiaolian looked over at the dense stack of ancient buildings and knitted his eyebrows. “All right, I will go look for you. Which building are you in?”
“… … … I don’t know.”
“… … …” This time, Chen Xiaolian had to exert a great deal of patience to stop himself from cursing out the word ‘Damn it’.
He said in a ridiculing tone, “What did you say? You don’t know?”
“I don’t know.” Skyblade’s answer was straightforward.
Chen Xiaolian felt himself on the verge of going crazy. “You say that you are inside a building, but you do not know which one? How did you ***** get in then?”
Well, Chen Xiaolian was finally unable to stop himself from swearing.
Skyblade however, did not appear angry at that. He continued speaking in a heavy tone, “How did I enter? Hah! That is a very good question. But the problem is… even though I have been pondering on the question for a long time, I still could not figure it out.”
“I don’t get it.”
Skyblade gave a sigh and his voice took on a faraway quality. “I recall that after I arrived here, I stood where you are standing now for a very very long time. I wanted to figure out which building should I enter.
“Later on, after considering it for a very very long time, I finally figured it out and entered.”
Chen Xiaolian caught onto a troublesome sounding point. “A very long time? How long is that?”
“I can’t remember myself. Perhaps it was a few days, perhaps it was tens of days. I had forgotten everything regarding those memories.” Distress could be heard within Skyblade’s tone.
“What happened then?”
“Then, I entered here. However, I lost my memories regarding which building I entered. My memories about that had disappeared.”
Memory disappeared?
This was not the first time Chen Xiaolian had encountered this issue.
He let out a chuckle and regarded the large number of buildings laid out before him. “It appears I will have to spend quite some effort then? There are so many buildings here. Do I go search for you one by one? Just how many buildings are there anyway? I fear it will take a very long time.”
“For your first question, there are a total of 108 buildings here,” Skyblade was quick to answer. “I can clearly remember that. However, for your second question, my answer is: No, you do not need to look through the buildings one by one.”
“Why is that?” asked Chen Xiaolian with a frown.
“Because you have only one chance.”
“What does that mean?”
“There are 108 buildings here. Each building also has 108 floors. Each floor has one room inside. You only have one chance to find me. That means you must find where I am among all these buildings and floors. When you’ve made your choice, you will enter to meet up with me…
“If you get it wrong…”
“What will happen if I get it wrong?”
Skyblade snickered and replied, “If you choose the wrong one and enter the wrong room, you will be sealed in after entering and be unable to exit it forever.”
“F**k! Why?!” Chen Xiaolian became furious.
“Because this is the residence of an immortal,” replied Skyblade coldly. “We are intruders here. You think there won’t be a price to be paid for breaking into someone else’s home?”
Chen Xiaolian pondered for a moment before replying, “In other words, this is similar to… an access control password?”
“Correct. You can consider this an access control password. Entering into the wrong space means getting thrown into a separate space in the void where you will be locked inside until eternity.”
Chen Xiaolian who had intended to take a step forward stopped his movements.
Regardless if Skyblade’s words were true or not, he had no desire to take that risk.
He did consider that Skyblade might be lying to him. However… Chen Xiaolian dared not take that risk.
Chen Xiaolian creased his eyebrows and said in a hushed tone, “Let me think this through… if I enter the wrong room, I will be thrown into a space in the void and will not be able to get out forever, is that right?
“However, Skyblade, how can you be certain that your room is the right one?”
“I am certain that I chose the right one because you can hear my words right now.” Skyblade sneered. “If I had chosen the wrong room, you would not be able to converse with me at all. I would be thrown into a space made of nothingness, a completely isolated space.
“The fact that we can converse with each other proves that I chose the right room.”
“If so… can you come out?” Chen Xiaolian asked a key question. “Can you come out to lead me?”
“… cannot.”
A sense of vigilance rose within Chen Xiaolian’s heart. “Why?”
“Because I can’t get out.” There was a mocking tone in Skyblade’s voice. “Kid, if I could come out, would I stay in here?”
Chen Xiaolian understood. “You are trapped?”
He instantly spread out both hands. “If so, even if I were to enter and find you, then what? Won’t I also get trapped inside with you?”
Skyblade replied slowly and patiently, “I am unable to tell you the details now. I can only say, I am indeed trapped here. However, I have a way of getting out. Unfortunately, I cannot do it alone. There needs to be two people for this.
“I have been waiting here for a long time. So much so that I myself cannot remember how long it has been. Originally, I had been putting my hopes on my few brothers. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to enter.
“And now, you finally came.
“Kid, enough nonsense. If you want to escape from this place, try to figure out where I am, enter and meet up with me! I have the method to escape this place!”
Chen Xiaolian was silent for a long time before saying, “I don’t trust you.”
He deliberately spoke out loudly, “How do I know you are not trying to bring me harm? Maybe there is a perilous trap inside and you are trapped, in need of someone to enter and save you. However, the one to save you will be trapped instead while you will be able to get away.”
Skyblade sighed. “You think too much.”
“If I’m not careful, I would have died long ago.”
“Fine, go ahead and dilly-dally.” Skyblade laughed loudly. There was coldness in his voice. “Go ahead and waste your time outside. I had already told you, your only way of leaving this place is to find me. Wasting your time outside will not help you find a way back.
“The way out lies inside.”
Chen Xiaolian then ignored Skyblade and walked around.
He did not rashly move closer to the buildings. Rather, he walked around the hole on the blue coloured stone.
Holding onto hope, he crawled back through the cave passageway and got back to the outside area, the place atop the mountain. He observed his surroundings for a long time.
Watching the surrounding cliffs that were hundreds of thousands of feet high, he was unable to figure out how high the cliff was on this mountain. The bottom was filled with mists. Chen Xiaolian considered if he should attempt to climb down the cliff to find a way out.
However, he soon rejected that idea.
The reason for that was simple.
He had been observing his surroundings here and a few hours had passed since.
However, there had been no change to the sky.
This place appeared to be eternally day. The mists covered the sky and the sun could not be seen.
However, it was day.
Another few hours went by but the colour of the sky remains unchanged.
In other words, this place was definitely not part of the outside world.
This was most likely a separate space.
What was beneath the mountains? Heaven knows, it might be an endless number of mountains, or perhaps nothingness.
Chen Xiaolian pulled out a few glow sticks he prepared in reserve. After lighting them, he tossed them down the cliff.
A few moments later, the glow sticks simply disappeared among the mists and could no longer be seen.
Chen Xiaolian found a rope and tied something heavy to it before tossing it down the cliff.
After the 100 metres rope was completely pulled taut, the bottom was still not reached.
Chen Xiaolian sat there atop the mountain for another half hour. Then, he turned around and re-entered the cave in the blue coloured stone.
After emerging before the landscape of ancient buildings, Chen Xiaolian shouted in a throat-ripping loud voice, “Skyblade!”
There was ridicule in Skyblade’s tone as he spoke up, “You’re back? Your patience is even worse than I imagined.”
Chen Xiaolian said in a rather frustrated tone, “There is really no way out outside.”
“Of course not.” Skyblade sneered. “Did you think I did not try to look for it? Back when I fell in here, before entering this building, I had searched outside for a way out. I had climbed down the cliff of the mountain outside. I had climbed down a distance of several hundred metres but I still couldn’t reach the bottom. No, I could not even catch a glimpse of the bottom.”
Chen Xiaolian was silent.
Skyblade let out what appeared to be a sigh. “All right, kid. Forget about being careful. As of right now, you have no other choice. Instead of trying to find a way out through the outside, think of how to find me in here.”
Skyblade paused and said slowly, “You only have one chance. Thus, you had better put every strand of intelligence in your brain into this matter. Save up your physical strength, sit down and think carefully. Although I cannot give you too much help, I can brainstorm it together with you. It might still take a long time, but we should still not waste time.”
Chen Xiaolian let out a derisive laugh.
Hearing that, Skyblade became annoyed. “What are you laughing at?”
Chen Xiaolian replied in disdain, “I might not be able to find a way out through the other side. However, it is too easy to find out where you are. It won’t take long before I go find you.”
“… … …” Skyblade was silent for a moment. Then, he let out a loud burst of laughter. “Ha ha ha ha! Brat! Do you know how long I spent to find the right room back then? How long has it been for you? You have the audacity to say you already know where I am? You can find out the right room so quickly? Impossible!”
“Just because you couldn’t do it, you think others cannot?” Chen Xiaolian deliberately gave a sigh. “Truth be told, I had already cracked this access controls password.”
“I don’t believe it,” replied Skyblade with a harrumph.
Chen Xiaolian laughed out. “Surely, you have not forgotten the poem on this painting?”
“How could I forget?” Skyblade’s tone was hoarse as he continued, “The immortal pats my forehead; the knot is tied as I accept everlasting life.”
“If so, do you know the origin of this poem?”
“… … …” Skyblade fell into a state of silence.
Chen Xiaolian waved his hand and said, “I don’t blame you. You are a military man. From what I know, the level of education in your era is very lacking. It is not surprising that you are not familiar with ancient poetry.
“The immortal pats my forehead; the knot is tied as I accept everlasting life. This is a verse from a poem by Li Bai, ‘Drifting to Yelang due to a favour after the upheaval; reminiscing the years gone by in the travel to Jiangxia, observing the auspicious governance.’
“The verse ‘The immortal pats my forehead; the knot is tied as I accept everlasting life’ is the second one.
“Before that, there is another verse.
“The content of the first verse is ‘Jade white capital of the sky, fifth floor of the twelfth building.’ You’ve never heard of it, have you?”
Skyblade was silent.
Chen Xiaolian smirked. “You say that this is the residence of an immortal? Even if that is the case, the first verse is clearly indicating this place.
“Simplifying it would give: Paradise Avenue, White Jade Capital District, twelfth building, fifth floor.”
As he spoke, Chen Xiaolian took a large step toward that specific building!
Skyblade was momentarily taken aback and he mumbled, “So easy? Could it be that easy? This… how could this be? Ah! Kiddo! Kiddo!”
“What is it?” asked Chen Xiaolian as he continued walking forward.
“You, you can’t be too careless! Things cannot be that simple! You need to know. Back then, I had thought about it for a long time before finding the right room! You must not be so reckless! There is only one chance! If you get it wrong… this senior doesn’t care if you live or die! But, you are my only hope for getting out of here now! You, don’t you be reckless now!”
Chen Xiaolian’s voice undulated somewhat as he said, “It seems those words of yours are quite sincere. You don’t care if I live or die. But, what you care about is the fact that I am your only hope, right?”
Skyblade replied angrily, “Right! That is right! Don’t be rash! Think about it carefully! Think again!”
Chen Xiaolian laughed. “Too late, I have already gone up the building!”
A few moments later, Chen Xiaolian stood before a door. He took a deep breath and pushed open the door.
“Skyblade? I’m coming in.”
…