Perspective: Hei Luoli

So tired...

Climbing up the mountain is really exhausting, I wonder why Baijiang and Xijiang don't seem tired at all. (Note: Actually, it's the benefit of the stamina bar. When you find yourself consuming too much stamina, slow down and eat something from the item bar to restore stamina.)

But since they seem to have no problem, I can't really complain. I can only keep up with their pace.

There are no paths on this mountain at all, it seems like a place where few people have been before. I don't understand why that dragon would run off to this place.

"Oh!"

Suddenly, Xijiang, who was walking ahead, leaped onto a raised rock and looked around.

"The view here is really nice~"

I turned around and though I wasn't as high up as Xijiang, the scenery in front of me was indeed beautiful.

The mist in the valley looked like clouds, making it seem like we were on top of the world.

"But we should be able to see clearly from here, right?"

Baijiang said.

"Look over there, at that tallest tree. It would make a great target for us to aim for, and once we reach it, we can climb up and get a better view of our surroundings. It's near the edge of the forest, so we shouldn't get lost from there, right?"

"Yeah, that's true."

Xijiang nodded and handed me a talisman.

"Hei, tie this talisman to your arrow, then shoot it up to that tree. Aim well, this is my only talisman."

"Come on, who do you think you're talking to about aiming well?"

I laughed as I took the talisman and tied it to my arrow, then shot it with precision to the top of that tree.

"Yeah, not bad."

Xijiang nodded, forming a hand seal, an arrow symbol appearing in the palm of her hand.

"Oh, can it be used like that? It does seem convenient."

"Yeah, if I brought more with me we wouldn't have any issues, but unfortunately I didn't prepare much this time, or else it wouldn't be this troublesome."

Xijiang shrugged helplessly.

"Well, let's not dwell on it. Let's hurry and move on, or else we won't make it back to the academy by tomorrow, which would be troublesome."

"Yeah, let's go."

I nodded.

Click!

Suddenly, I heard a strange sound.

Looking at the source of the sound, Xijiang was still in the position from which she had just jumped off the rock, and the source of the sound was probably beneath her feet, as when she jumped off, she seemed to have landed on a slab of stone that had sunk downwards.

"This..."

I looked at her, then at the floor.

"Are we...?"

"Probably hit the jackpot."

Xijiang chuckled, then moved her foot.

And then, as I had roughly anticipated, the entire floor collapsed. We all fell down!

We had planned to jump out directly, but after the floor collapsed, there was actually a smooth pipe-like structure below, with no footholds.

After a bumpy ride along with the sand in the original pipe, we finally landed on the ground.

"Oh my...what is this..."

I climbed up from the ground, dusting off the dirt from my clothes.

This is terrible, my new clothes are completely ruined, what used to be a black outfit now looks grey.

Oh, this clothing is really hard to wash.

"Xi Jiang! Look at you... Huh?"

I looked around, realizing I seemed to be inside a dark cave with no light at all.

I quickly took out the headlamp that Bai Jiang had given me earlier and turned it on, hanging it on the clothes.

Looking around, I found it was a cave wall that had been artificially polished, with only a small door on the other side of the cave besides the pipe I had fallen from at the top.

"What kind of place is this..."

I walked below the pipe and yelled,

"Xi Jiang! Bai Jiang! Where are you!"

"Ah ..."

Echoes reverberated inside the cave, but after a while, I still hadn't heard a response from Xi Jiang or Bai Jiang.

Oh no, it looks like I have to handle this myself. Ugh, why is it that every time something like this happens, it ends up like this?

I shook my head and walked up to the door.

It was a wooden door, already heavily corroded, and as I gently pushed it, it fell down.

Next was a very wide corridor, with numerous doors on either side, probably leading to similar rooms.

Maybe Xi Jiang and Bai Jiang are in one of those rooms?

I looked at both sides of the corridor, where the light couldn't reach the end, just dark and endless.

"Uh... This is so scary..."

I shrank back.

"Could there be ghosts?"

But suddenly, I immediately felt something was wrong.

"What am I even thinking! Even if there are ghosts, so what? We've been to the abyss, killed several demons, what are ghosts?"

I talked to myself like this and took out a coin.

"Heads left, tails right."

Saying that, I tossed the coin.

The coin spun in the air, then landed on the ground, making a ting sound as it rolled towards the left corridor.

"Hey hey hey! That's not fair..."

I quickly chased after it, only to find the coin rolling faster and faster!

"Hey hey hey!"

I quickly took out my bow and arrow, and shot an arrow at the coin on the ground.

I heard a scream, and the coin stopped rolling, getting stuck in a crack on the wall.

As footsteps echoed down the corridor in the distance.

I shone my headlamp on the floor, revealing some green liquid extending towards the direction of the sound.

"It seems... this way?"