Chapter 21

Chapter 21

We came out of the temple and climbed back up the mountain along the steps we had taken before. Everyone was a complete mess, so we stopped where we were to rest.

Before long, the sky began to brighten.

Song Tianming shot to his feet in shock and pointed behind me.

“Look, all of you-”

I turned around.

There was no deep pit. No temple. No pagoda.

All that stood before us was a battered stone stele, with three large characters carved into it: Xumi Hall.

One corner of the stele had broken off. It gave off an ancient, weathered air, as though it had been standing here since a very, very long time ago.

Someone in the crowd let out a sound of sudden realization.

“Xumi Hall… I’ve heard of this place!”

The one speaking was Song Tianming. Seeing everyone look his way, he flipped his hair with great confidence and said he was a hardcore guide-researcher. Before coming here, he had looked up Phoenix Mountain in detail.

Apparently, Phoenix Mountain hadn’t always had Little Western Paradise. There had only been Xumi Hall, its name taken from the Buddhist saying that a mustard seed can contain Mount Sumeru.

A mustard seed was tiny, no bigger than a grain of rice, while Xumi referred to one of the legendary sacred mountains in Buddhism. The phrase meant that even within the smallest of spaces, a vast world could be hidden.

“This stele is kind of like something that connects to a parallel space.

“Back in the day, lots of locals came into the mountains to gather firewood and got lost. They all said they had entered a temple and were trapped inside for several days before they got out.

“After enough people said the same thing, the locals decided it must have been a divine message in a dream, telling them to build a temple here. That’s how Little Western Paradise came to be later on.”

Still shaken, Song Tianming patted his chest.

“And they call it some Buddhist holy land. Who knew it was full of monsters? Good thing we were lucky enough to escape.”

I stared at the stone stele, lost in thought.

This place really was mysterious. I had no idea how Ji Kang had found it.

But he had trapped us inside, then done nothing else.

What exactly was his goal?

Once we emerged from the dense forest, there was no longer anything blocking the blue sky above us. It stretched endlessly, a clear, washed-clean azure.

Lu Lingzhu tried to comfort me.

“Don’t think about it so much. See? The sun always rises.

“But I can’t appreciate this beautiful sky at all. Do you know why?”

“Why?”

Lu Lingzhu ground her teeth.

“Because I’ve been carrying Huahua the whole way. She’s been weighing down my back, and I can’t even lift my head. What do you think?

“She’s your best friend. Why aren’t you carrying her?”

“Ow, my ears hurt.”

I stuck a finger into my ear and dug around, then suddenly pointed ahead.

“Look! There’s a car coming to pick us up!”

Then I took off running.

Zhao Tian shuffled over to Lu Lingzhu, looking awkward and bashful. Rubbing his hands together, he asked,

“Um-

“Lingzhu, are you tired? Why don’t you let me take over?”

Lu Lingzhu looked furious.

“What do you mean by that? Are you looking down on me? I am the heir to ancient martial arts and the chief disciple of Maoshan. You think this tiny little distance can tire me out? Get lost!”

As she spoke, she gave Hua Yuling on her back a firm hitch upward and lifted her chin proudly.

“Feifei, let’s go!”

After the two of them had gone some distance away, Zhao Tian slammed his fist hard into a tree trunk.

“She’s so damn cruel! She doesn’t give me even the tiniest chance!”

“Hey, wait for us-”

…