Chương 409: Chapter 353: The Pit

~~~"When I was a child, I held a great affection for the woman in the house next to mine. It didn't matter that she was nearly two decades older than me. Such was nothing for a true cultivator. I told myself that I would take her as my wife once I became a respected disciple of the Xiao Sect. It was a stupid fantasy, but I believed it… I stole her undergarments once. It was low of me, but they were hanging by her window, and the jump was so easy to make. I never got the chance to admit my crime or apologize to her.

She's most likely dead along with the rest of Eastern Port City, so I never will." Silence takes over the Flame-Wheeled Wagon. Su Daji is staring at the window, pretending as though she hadn't heard anything. Dog and Soaring Feather, the latter of whom can fit inside the wagon thanks to it being larger on the inside than on the outside, sleep curled next to each other in a corner. Liu Jin stares at Big Nose Li.

"Why would you assume I needed to know even a single sentence of that?" He asks him calmly.

"I didn't," Big Nose Li replies with complete serenity.

"To be honest, I never planned on telling anyone about this. Who would? It's too embarrassing. However, every single one of my old shames seems like nothing now. To think I was ever so small. Ah, youth is so fleeting."

"Big Nose, I badly want to make fun of you, but I can't muster the will to do so. Remind me to think of something later," Su Daji says. She sounds exhausted.

"Why do we do things, Boss? I am having a hard time remembering." Liu Jin looks from the serene Big Nose to the exhausted Su Daji and sighs deeply.

"I believe the two of you are overly fixating on this situation," Liu Jin says.

"That's easy for you to say, Boss," Su Daji counters.

"Unlike you, we're here in our own flesh and blood. If we fall, we'll go into… That!" The exhaustion vanishes from Su Daji as she insistently taps the window to make her point. Outside, there is nothing other than an endless void. They have ventured into the dark depths of the pit created by Xiao Nan's battle with the Duke, an odd course of action, but Big Sister Bai claimed that she might be able to find the trail of energy left by the two as long as she can position herself perfectly in the center of the hole.

Hours have passed, and they have yet to reach it. They are so deep into the pit that they can no longer see any land, and since they are inside the wagon, even the sky is hard to make out from their position.

"You and that woman who likes being called Big Sister are both in the Heaven Realm, so even if something happens to the Flame-Wheeled Wagons, you'll just fly away," Su Daji says.

"However, Big Nose and I are in the Earth Realm. We'll sink like stones due to the Curse of Nuwa!" Liu Jin frowns.

"How much of what that term really means do you remember?"

"Not enough to answer any meaningful questions, but enough to regret being more human than before right now," she replies, glaring at him. Liu Jin considers her in silence for a moment. It is just not the never-ending darkness that has everyone so rattled. There is a reason why Soaring Feather could not stand being outside the wagon and had to be let inside. The energies left by the battle between Xiao Nan and the Duke are still swirling within the void.

Such ferocious energies would naturally make anyone feel uncomfortable. Big Sister Bai could have gone into the pit alone while they waited near the edge. However, they would have had to wait for her to reach the center of the pit and return, and only then could they have begun their trip towards Xiao Nan. It would have wasted too much time.

"One, even if you are not in the Heaven Realm, Big Sister Bai and I would have no trouble catching you if something happened. Two, even if we didn't, it is highly unlikely a fall will kill you. At worst, you will break a few bones," Liu Jin says, raising a finger for each of his points.

"Three, your regeneration should have no issues healing damage done without any weight behind it. Four, any dangerous Spirit Beasts in this area have been killed or have been scared away. The trek out of the hole would be tedious but not dangerous. Unnerving as this all feels, there is no point in actually worrying." Su Daji and Big Nose look at him, then at each other.

"He no longer has any concept of danger," Big Nose whispers to her.

"His mind was warped a long time ago," Su Daji confirms. Liu Jin's eyebrow twitches.

"Your whispers are nowhere near quiet enough to go unheard."

"Boss, sometimes the best way to tell someone about their failings is by speaking behind their back," Su Daji tells him without a shred of shame.

"Oh!" Big Nose snaps his fingers and points at her.

"You said something really good just now! There are so many things I want to tell the Young Master behind his back!"

"You're not behind me. You're in front of me," Liu Jin points.

"And if you try to talk to Xiao Fang about his failings, I'm sure he will-" Before he can continue, Big Sister Bai's voice, projected by her Qi, echoes throughout the wagon.

"We have reached the center of the pit," she announces. The view through the window is not any different compared to every other part of the pit, but the energies swirling within the void tell a different story. On this part of the pit, the flow of energy is even more violent. That is not enough for Liu Jin to fully identify this place as the center, but Big Sister Bai must be looking at things from an even higher perspective. This book is hosted on another platform.

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"Does that mean we can leave now?" Su Daji asks.

"You already know the answer," Liu Jin says, grabbing the controls to stop the Flame-Wheeled Wagon in place.

"Reaching the center only means Big Sister Bai can finally begin working. Until she is done, we'll need to stay here." Su Daji's cry of despair echoes throughout the pit. ~~~ It takes hours for Big Sister Bai to sift through the energies in the pit. Liu Jin has almost fallen asleep before her Qi resonates throughout the wagon, carrying a single word. West. The Flame-Wheeled Wagon takes off at top speed, leaving a fiery trail across the inky blackness of the pit. Even so, it takes them hours to get out.

If not for having to synchronize his memories with the original Liu Jin every twelve hours, it would have felt far longer. It is hard to keep track of time when surrounded by darkness. Upon reaching land, everyone jumps out of the wagon. Big Nose Li cries as he kisses the dirt and lies on the ground with his arms spread open as if trying to hug the earth. Soaring Feather takes off to the skies at top speed while Marrow runs around, yipping and barking with his tongue hanging out.

Su Daji does not lower herself to such displays, though she looks at all of them enviously. Pride can be such an inconvenient thing sometimes. Instead, her tails carefully brush across the harsh ground, sweeping as much dirt as possible to reveal the hard rock under it. Only then does she lie down. Liu Jin does not know whether it is acceptable for him to think so, but the way she curls herself into a ball to sleep and snuggles into her tails as though they were pillows makes him think a lot of a fox.

It is clear that their journey is not going to continue anytime soon. The experience in the pit has left them all rattled and in need of rest. Liu Jin grabs some supplies from the wagons and sets up a small camp for them. The heat and light from the campfire, usually unneeded by high-level cultivators, are welcomed by pleased hums from Big Nose and Su Daji's sleeping forms. Unfortunately, it also attracts predators. Four hours later, Liu Jin is cutting down a gigantic insect.

It is the eleventh he has killed in the past second. To his left, Big Sister Bai has already frozen a few dozen of them. Now that they are no longer inside the pit, the creatures of the Dead Plains have become a concern once more. Su Daji and Big Nose remain asleep. Liu Jin shakes his head. For all that they argue, those two are remarkably similar in a lot of ways.

"Do not think ill of them," Big Sister Bai tells him as she and Liu Jin sit by the fire.

"That they can sleep simply means they trust us to take care of them."

"That's not the issue, Big Sister Bai," Liu Jin says.

"It's just…They are exactly the same as they were in Eastern Port City."

"Is that a problem?" Big Sister Bai asks. A beat passes. She realizes it.

"Ah. I see." Liu Jin smiles mirthlessly. The relationship between Big Nose Li and Su Daji is exactly like that of Big Nose Li and Su An. Maybe it is because Big Nose Li cannot grasp the difference between the two that he treats her as though there isn't one. For him, she is not a new person but a friend he has not seen in years. Liu Jin wishes it had been just as easy for him.

"Is it petty of me?"

"Perhaps," Big Sister Bai says, looking at the crackling flames.

"However, it is also natural. We envy that which we lack. The relationship between my Master and Lady Meng Yue is sometimes like that."

"What does Lady Bai Lianshi do when she finds herself envious?" Liu Jin asks. A small smirk appears on Big Sister Bai's face, perhaps because Liu Jin never once considered that it could be Lady Meng Yue who found herself envious.

"I do not dare speculate about my master's methods," she says.

"However, that you can recognize a failing of yours is already a good start." It strikes Liu Jin that Big Sister Bai is sitting closer to the fire than is normal. The light from the campfire reveals that her porcelain skin is even paler than usual.

"Are you okay?" Liu Jin asks her.

"It is nothing," she replies a little too quickly. Liu Jin holds his stare. She relents.

"Sifting through such vast energies is daunting. The added challenge presented by the pit was bothersome."

"Even you were affected by it?" Liu Jin asks, a little surprised. She smiles.

"You think too highly of me," Big Sister Bai says.

"I aspire to overcome the Renegade Realm. Being in such a vast space, constantly reminded of what I am not… It has a way of making one feel insignificant. No one enjoys that, especially cultivators like us who have already climbed so high. That you spend the whole time largely unbothered is striking."

"No, there is nothing special about it," Liu Jin says, looking up at the starry skies. An endless void that seemingly goes forever. What is that if not the image of his Dao?

"By the way," Liu Jin says, trying to change the subject.

"I wasn't sure when we were in the pit, but now that we are outside, it is easier to orient myself. We are heading west. That means we are heading to..."

"Yes," Lady Bai Wen says.

"It is exactly what you think. We head towards the True Dead Plains." Liu Jin does not sleep that night. ~~~ Vast as the Dead Plains are, it only takes them a little over a day to arrive at the border. It is proof of the speed of the Flame-Wheeled Wagons, but also of how deep they have already ventured into the monster-infested wasteland. Liu Jin, Big Nose Li, and Su Daji are all cultivators of great power, and Big Sister Bai's presence further ensures their safety.

However, as Liu Jin looks at the land ahead of them, he is forced to reevaluate several assumptions.

"Amazing," Big Nose says.

"It's a pretty sight," Su Daji says. She has her arms crossed.

"A pity it is something so dreadful." Endless white lies before them. Not a field of white sand. Not a plain made of salt deposits. Not some white stone that happens to be found in abundance in this area. That's not it at all. The entire area is a perfectly flat, unnaturally white surface. Just like how extreme heat turns sand into glass, something has twisted this land into something unnatural, an empty white space without end.

These are the True Dead Plains, an unfathomable wasteland that actively preys on the Qi of those who dare enter. Those who attempt to cross them become withered husks. That is the real reason why travel between the two sides of the Dead Plains is so difficult. This is the place where the strongest 108 cultivators of the land sacrificed themselves to seal off the continent four thousand years ago. It is where their descendants must return for the ritual to maintain the barrier.

And, if Liu Jin's senses do not lie, it is also the place where Xiao Nan has very recklessly ventured into. ~~~