Chapter 126: Gap

At that time, I had no understanding at all of ancient tombs, let alone any knowledge of their structure or taboos. With the pitiful bit of middle school history knowledge I had back then, it was even less possible for me to make any meaningful judgment based on the characteristics of that tomb.

The three of us moved forward through the tomb passage with the most primitive equipment. All we could rely on was an oil lamp, some agarwood beads, a tiger claw amulet whose use I did not understand, Hua Feifei, which was already somewhat listless, a kitchen knife, a rolling pin, a few steamed buns, and a water flask.

Although I was a practitioner of metaphysical arts, Ling Ruyue was a Gu technique heir, and Su Rou was a fat guy who was decent at fighting, our survival ability in an ancient tomb was even worse than that of an experienced tomb raider.

And that was not even the worst part. The worst part was that I was completely unaware that my fortune had already dropped to its lowest point, and that with even the slightest trigger, everything would start heading in the fastest possible direction of collapse.

The tomb passage looked parallel, but there was a subtle downward slope. The three of us did not notice this at first. It was a visual trick. Only after we had walked for a full three minutes did Su Rou suddenly turn around and realize that the place where we had started was almost no longer visible.

“San Wa Er, I thought I was walking straight. Look,” Su Rou said, grabbing me and forcing me to turn around.

Ling Ruyue also noticed the problem. She pouted slightly and said softly, “Why is it the chubby brother who noticed first?”

After she said that, my expression also turned ugly. If we were talking about spiritual perception, both Ling Ruyue and I should have been stronger than Su Rou. How did we miss it? Do not think that so called spiritual perception is only about sensing ghosts or spirits.

Spiritual perception is, in simple terms, the ability to detect subtle changes in the surrounding environment through feeling. It is a kind of human sensory ability, or in scientific terms, intuition.

Su Rou was still unconvinced and arguing with Ling Ruyue about how he should not be the first to notice it, but my mood had already sunk into gloom. Spiritual perception was almost my greatest reliance. If it failed at a time like this, we would be in serious danger in this tomb.

Could it be caused by opening the heavenly eye earlier? I thought to myself, keeping my head down as I moved forward. My silence also made Su Rou and Ling Ruyue stop arguing.

At that moment, Su Rou grabbed me again, his expression showing an urgency I had never seen before. Ling Ruyue’s face also turned pale in an instant.

“What is it?” I snapped. Being suddenly grabbed without explanation made me angry. This was not some irrational anger caused by evil influence, but a mix of environment, pressure, and chaotic thoughts.

In a dangerous environment, even in a simple ritual, there is one major taboo, an unstable Dao heart. In normal times, laughter and anger are actually ways of release and expression that help stabilize the Dao heart.

It is a simple process of emotional separation. If emotions cannot flow naturally and are suppressed for too long, the heart becomes buried. Thus, truly skilled cultivators are not the ethereal, detached figures often shown on television. They are more direct.

Yet at that moment, a huge gap still appeared in my mental state. This showed just how bad my condition was.

“San Wa Er, look for yourself,” Su Rou said cautiously, probably frightened by my sudden anger, pointing at the ground.

I looked down and realized there was no path beneath my feet anymore. Below was a drop of nearly 2 meters (~6.6 ft), and beneath that drop, everything was pitch black and impossible to see clearly.

At that moment, I felt the fine hairs on my back stand on end. It was not because the drop itself was terrifying, but because there was a drop right under my feet, and I had not even noticed it.

“I did not notice it either. Luckily, chubby brother pulled me back,” Ling Ruyue said, her face still not fully recovered. It was clear that stepping down consciously and falling down unconsciously lead to completely different outcomes, and all of us understood that.

Why was this happening? My confusion grew deeper and deeper, like something was stuck in my chest.

“I also thought there was a path. Look ahead,” Su Rou said, pointing forward.

Ahead, there was unexpectedly a bridge. At the bridgehead stood two statues, but due to the dim light of the oil lamp, it was impossible to see what the statues were.

This gap appeared right at the connection point between the bridge and the tomb passage. At the same time, the passage here tilted upward in a strange angle. The gap happened to lie right in the middle, forming a visual blind spot. If one was not careful, it would be very difficult to notice.

As for what lay beyond the bridge, I could no longer see it.

The gap was not deep, but its width was not something we could simply step across. There was no wind in the ancient tomb, so it was difficult to judge whether the space under the bridge was hollow or not. In any case, from my perspective, this tomb was far too complex. Not only did it have long passages, it even had bridges.

“San Wa Er, I think something is wrong with you and Ling Ruyue. Who comes to a place like this without being careful? Why are you both acting like you are possessed? That gap was right under your feet, and you did not even notice it?” Su Rou complained.

Ling Ruyue and I looked at each other, but neither of us could respond. In truth, we did not know the reason at that time.

I could only attribute it to the fact that I had opened my heavenly eye earlier, while Ling Ruyue could only attribute it to the fact that controlling Hua Feifei had been too exhausting. She did not realize that after killing the blocking ghost, the venom Hua Feifei expelled had also been added to her karmic burden.

“Forget it. Let us rest for a bit,” I said helplessly. I took the water flask, drank a large gulp, then closed my eyes and began silently reciting the Mind-Calming Mantra my master had taught me.

They did not understand why I had suddenly become so exhausted, and could only wait quietly on the side. The atmosphere became even more oppressive.

After a long while, after silently reciting the Mind-Calming Mantra seven times, I finally opened my eyes and said, “You see it now. We cannot continue straight ahead, because we cannot jump across that gap.”

“Then what now?” Su Rou asked. Clearly, that terrifying laughter was still lingering in his mind, and at this moment he was unwilling to turn back.

“Do we stay here?” Ling Ruyue interjected. The various horrors of this Hungry Ghost Tomb had already stripped away her initial curiosity and excitement, especially after repeated mistakes. That feeling was very unpleasant.

Spiritual perception was important to a Daoist priest, and for a Gu practitioner, it was just as important.

“Otherwise, should we retreat?” Su Rou said the option he least wanted to say. He did not want it, which was exactly why he said it.

I shook my head. “We still have a third option, and that is to go down.”

Indeed, that was also an option. On the surface, staying here seemed best. Retreating was better than going forward into the unknown. Humans are always fearful of the unknown, especially when it appears as a dark gap in an ancient tomb.

“What did you say? San Wa Er, are you crazy?” Su Rou shouted involuntarily.

“No, that feels like burying ourselves alive,” Ling Ruyue said sharply, her words making it even more chilling.

“No, I have reasons for this. Do you know about ritual formations? Not the mystical kind, but something even people with basic architectural understanding can use. I think this passage is too strange. If we keep following it, we might get lost inside a formation and never come out.”

This was my judgment, and I did have some confidence in it. Ritual formations are best at visual tricks, exploiting blind spots in human perception.

If a path shows this kind of behavior, it can basically be judged as part of a formation.

“That is not convincing, San Wa Er. You cannot persuade me to go down with that reason,” Su Rou said, pointing at the dark opening.

“Let me finish! Every formation has a life gate. The life gate is not necessarily a direct path. It could be a hint. Did you see that bridge? A bridge must have support structures underneath, meaning there has to be space below it. Have you ever seen a bridge with an arch built on flat ground?”

In truth, I was not an expert in architecture. It was just basic common sense.

After reciting the Mind-Calming Mantra, my mind had calmed down, allowing me to analyze more clearly.

“But what does that have to do with anything? I can either go back or stay here,” Su Rou said, still unconvinced.

“Yes, Third Brother, what does that have to do with anything?” Ling Ruyue also asked.