Chapter 32: Breaking Through the Barrier

The Tang poet Li Bai wrote the famous lines, “I raise my cup to invite the bright moon; facing my shadow, we become three.” In the Mirror Illusion Abyss, there was no need to invite the moon—the wonder appeared of its own accord. Unfortunately, the place was exceedingly remote, utterly beyond the reach of ordinary people, Miss Snow said.

Ding Jun could not help raising his right hand to touch his left shoulder. There was a secret there, one connected to the mark of the Sutra Repository, the Mirror Illusion Abyss, and the three moons.

“What are you thinking about?” Miss Snow asked, her eyes as still as water as she looked straight at him.

Ding Jun smiled and hurriedly concealed his thoughts. “Could such a strange stone wall really exist in this world? I once heard that when the beauty Xi Shi washed silk, she would gaze into the lake and comb her hair, and her beauty was enough to make the fish sink to the bottom in shame. If there were such a stone wall, a beauty would not need to bend over the lake at all. She could simply use that wall as the greatest bronze mirror under heaven.”

He had meant it as a joke, but to his surprise, the corners of Miss Snow’s lips lifted, and a faint smile appeared.

“A stone wall like that could only be used by a true beauty. How could ordinary people have the chance?”

Ding Jun sighed deeply. “I suppose you must have looked into it there—”

Miss Snow gently shook her head. “How could I possibly be worthy?”

“You aren’t worthy, even with beauty like yours?” Ding Jun blurted out. “How strange, how strange—truly strange!”

The remark was exceedingly abrupt, but it was also his sincere opinion, spoken with complete honesty and without the slightest exaggeration.

Hong Kong was known throughout the world as the Pearl of the Orient. Every year, countless beauty pageants were held there, drawing lovely women from every nation. In Ding Jun’s eyes, those so-called beauties among beauties, selected from thousands, could not compare with Miss Snow—not even to one ten-thousandth of her. The difference between them could be summed up in a single word: the former were beauties, while the latter was an immortal.

Miss Snow froze for a moment. When she came to herself, crimson clouds suddenly rose across her face, and she blushed in earnest.

At that instant, her beauty struck Ding Jun’s heart like one of Holyfield’s lethal hooks. It hit him so hard that he stopped breathing for a moment. Golden stars whirled before his eyes, and his body swayed twice, nearly causing him to lose his balance and fall.

“What kind of beauty am I? Xue Youyan, the foremost beauty of Guge, is the true beauty. The four phrases used to describe the four great beauties of ancient times—‘the moon hides in shame,’ ‘the flowers blush,’ ‘the fish sink,’ and ‘the geese descend’—even if all four were piled upon her, they would still fail to describe half her beauty. It is said that when she entered the Mirror Illusion Abyss, the fish beneath the water, the geese in the sky, the flowers in the valley, and even the moon above all withdrew their radiance and hid themselves. Ever since she visited the Mirror Illusion Abyss, everyone in Guge has felt ashamed of their own appearance, and no one has dared mention the Still Shadow Sinking Jade again. So I say, since a beauty like Xue Youyan exists in this world, there must also be a fairy river like the Mirror Illusion Abyss for her to bathe in, and a Still Shadow Sinking Jade for her to admire her reflection…”

Miss Snow was completely lost in her own narration.

Every girl, whether ugly enough to be compared with the infamous Saltless Beauty or dark-faced as charcoal, was happy to hear others praise her beauty.

Thus, Miss Snow’s blush came entirely naturally—and such natural shyness had long since vanished from the faces of Hong Kong girls. For that very reason, there was not a trace of affectation in her beauty. It was utterly pure and untainted.

When she spoke of Xue Youyan, the foremost beauty of Guge, her longing and admiration were plain to see. Ding Jun could not help sighing inwardly. A beauty who surpassed even the combined loveliness of the four great beauties of antiquity—would she not possess beauty at its absolute peak, beauty unrivaled through the ages? Could such a woman truly exist? If she did, would she not drive every lecher in the world into madness?

“Does such a beauty truly exist?” he asked.

“Of course,” Miss Snow replied.

Ding Jun smiled. “I only wish I could witness such beauty with my own eyes. But for now, escaping alive is what matters most!”

Miss Snow tilted her head back and looked upward, seemingly lost in thought.

“In a little while, once we escape, I’ll have to kill someone—and that someone will be your man. I’m afraid I owe you an apology,” Ding Jun said.

Miss Snow nodded. “A traitor general deserves death. That is nothing. The truly powerful enemy is hidden deep within the labyrinth. This time, there must be an end to it all.”

Ding Jun sighed. Some things were still premature to discuss. After all, he had yet to determine exactly what sort of person Shi Miaoshou was. In a sudden battle, he could kill the Ten Eagles without hesitation. But if, one day, he found himself facing Shi Miaoshou, what should he do?

After that, he drilled without pause. At last, around the edge of an area one meter long and half a meter wide, he bored sixteen holes that were almost through.

The area consisted of eight irregular geometric sections. The construction of the bronze plates was exceptionally ingenious: unfolded, they formed a flat surface; assembled, they became a bronze sphere. It had unquestionably been designed with extraordinary scientific precision. As long as he drilled through the connecting points between the sections and then struck them with sufficient force, the bronze sphere could be destroyed.

His escape depended entirely on the hand drill. Perhaps the original designer of the bronze sphere had never imagined that one day it would trap a master carrying a drill bit. Thus, human schemes could never match the workings of Heaven. In this world, people might plan, but success ultimately lay with fate.

After finishing the drilling, Ding Jun sat cross-legged on the ground to rest. He was in no hurry to act, because what was about to begin was not an uncontrollable chance encounter, but a surprise assault whose timing he could choose for himself.

He needed the right opening. Chosen correctly, it would double the result with half the effort.

No one knew how much time had passed when the brightness inside the bronze sphere began to rise again. The two men outside were evidently adding fuel to the fire.

“I’ll break open the exit above us. You’ll step on my legs and shoulders to get out first, then take the high ground and cover me. Once I’m out, regardless of where the two men are standing, I’ll kill the spearman first. After taking his weapon, I’ll shoot the one-eyed man. You’ll provide support and deal with any other unknown dangers besides those two. The key to this operation is that we must take every potential threat seriously. The unseen are the most terrifying, like man-eating sharks beneath a calm lake. The battle should last between thirty seconds and one minute. You must not relax until I give the all-clear. Understood?”

Ding Jun issued the battle orders in a deep voice, just as he had once instructed his teammates in the Delta Force.

Miss Snow nodded.

“We have no firearms—” Ding Jun began.

Miss Snow picked up the rest of the sentence. “That’s even better. Nothing will hold us back, and we’ll be able to give everything we have in battle.”

Ding Jun smiled silently. He rose, clenched both fists, and lifted his arms above his head, pressing his knuckles against the bronze sphere.

“Five, four, three, two, one—go!”

When the countdown ended, his arms bent and straightened. His fists slammed into the designated section of the sphere.

With a thunderous bang, the bronze plate, one meter long and half a meter wide, shot upward, and the hot air inside the sphere rushed out.

Ding Jun dropped to one knee and spread both palms flat across his thighs. Miss Snow stepped onto his palms with the tips of her feet. Using the upward force as he rose, she floated out of the bronze sphere.

Ding Jun followed like a carp leaping through the Dragon Gate. He touched the edge of the opening with his toes and saw the spearman ahead to the right and the one-eyed man ahead to the left.

He pounced downward, seized the spearman’s head with both hands, and hooked up the long spear with his toes. Spinning once, he snapped the spearman’s neck. At the same time, he leaped three meters sideways. The spear that had been beneath his foot was now in his hands, its tip thrusting directly into the hollow beneath the one-eyed man’s throat.

“Don’t shout. Don’t move. Don’t force me to kill you!”

He drove forward with all his strength, pinning the one-eyed man against the wall.

While strangling the spearman, he had already surveyed the entire area and confirmed that no new enemies had appeared. That was why he had changed his plan at the last moment and decided to leave one man alive.

The one-eyed man raised both hands, rolling his eyes as he made two choking sounds. He could not utter a single word.

Holding the spear in one hand, Ding Jun bent his knee, removed the one-eyed man’s shoelaces, and swiftly bound him with his thumbs tied behind his back. Only then did he withdraw the spear.

“You… you’re still alive?” the one-eyed man stammered, shaking his head in horror as though he were looking at ghosts.

“Of course we’re alive. If you answer my questions honestly, you can live as well,” Ding Jun replied.

He then clapped his hands, giving the signal that the area was secure and the operation over.

Miss Snow drifted lightly down from the northwestern corner of the cellar roof. The moment she had emerged from the bronze sphere, she had planted her feet against the two adjoining walls at a right angle and hidden herself at the highest point, far from the sphere.

Ding Jun had acted too quickly for her to reveal her own abilities.

The ground beneath the bronze sphere was piled high with first-rate coke. A large blower had been installed on either side, roaring as it drove air into the fire. Blue flames from the blazing coke licked the bottom of the sphere. If the two men inside had been anyone else, they would already have been roasted dry. That was why the one-eyed man was so utterly terrified.

“I imagine you can find an opportunity to earn merit and redeem yourself, can’t you?” Ding Jun asked.

“I can… I can. I know what I’m supposed to do. I’ll cooperate, I swear I’ll cooperate…” The one-eyed man had completely surrendered.

Not only had he never imagined that Ding Jun and Miss Snow could fight their way out of the bronze sphere, even Ding Jun himself considered their escape a matter of extraordinary luck.

The drill and Miss Snow’s ability to lower the temperature had both been indispensable. If either of them had been trapped alone, Ding Jun would have been burned unconscious and died before he could finish drilling his way out. Miss Snow, meanwhile, could only lower the temperature; she had no way to escape. In the end, the cold would have been overwhelmed by the flames, and she would have died as well.

“All right. I believe you,” Ding Jun said with a smile.

“There’s a huge labyrinth underground. I only know where the entrance is; I’ve never gone inside. That place is haunted and sinister. Only Shi Miaoshou can enter it. He assigned me to stand guard around the perimeter and wait for a chance to betray and trap Miss Snow. He said that luring Miss Snow into the bronze sphere would serve a special purpose. We never expected Mr. Ding to come. That was purely an accident,” the one-eyed man said honestly.

“Where is the entrance?” Ding Jun asked.

The one-eyed man walked to the westernmost part of the chamber. Pressing his right hand against the stones in the wall, he counted several times, then repeatedly pressed more than a dozen stones whose color was slightly darker than the others.

The wall slowly slid to the left, revealing a doorway two meters wide.

“Go through here and walk straight for thirty paces. That will take you to the entrance of the labyrinth,” the one-eyed man said.

An even stronger strange odor drifted from beyond the doorway, mingled with a faint, sweet, fishy scent. Ding Jun drew in a sharp breath.

To ordinary people, the sweet fishiness resembled the smell of raw royal jelly. It was unpleasant, but not truly foul. Ding Jun knew, however, that it was the poisonous vapor naturally produced when certain venomous insects gathered together. The more insects there were, and the more toxic they were, the stronger the sweetness became.

“Excellent. Excellent.”

Miss Snow walked to the doorway and gazed into the deep, dark passage before letting out a soft sigh.

“Excellent? I really can’t see what this place has to do with the word ‘excellent,’” Ding Jun said with a bitter smile.

The blazing bronze sphere had nearly cost them their lives. Now they faced an endless labyrinth filled with hidden poisonous creatures—a ghost gate that could separate them forever at any moment. It ought to have been called terrible, terribly terrible.

“Everything must come to an end eventually. Finding the enemy’s lair and bringing everything to a close—isn’t that a good thing?” Miss Snow replied.

Ding Jun suddenly questioned himself inwardly.

An end? Was the end Miss Snow wanted the same as the end he imagined?

Certainly not.

She wanted the jade tablet and the lives of three members of the Shi family. What did he want? Was what he wanted simply to help her accomplish this, to wipe out the entire Shi family?

That could not possibly be the reason he had traveled all the way from Hong Kong to Tholing Monastery. Nor would it do justice to Shi Hai, whose ashes had long since gone cold.

It was only a doorway. Stepping through it would be easy, but the consequences that followed were impossible to predict. Ding Jun felt that what lay before him was an examination question with only one answer, yet every answer would be marked wrong—a multiple-choice question of unimaginable difficulty, utterly impossible to cross.