Chapter Fifty-Three: The Invisible Stone Steps

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Shen Wan moved through the golden mulberry grove, his eyes ceaselessly searching the entire underground cavern for an exit. Every opening was at least seven or eight meters high up the cave walls; truth be told, there was no way he could reach them. Gu Zhiping had been following Shen Wan the whole time, and soon the two arrived at the precipice Yun Yi had mentioned. Sure enough, the cliff below was bottomless, a chasm that seemed to plunge into the abyss.

Gu Zhiping was also looking around, though not for an exit. He was searching for an entrance that might lead deeper inside. Usually, in places like this, if one inadvertently wandered into a mysterious cave, it could very well be the treasure vault or final resting place of some ancient being. After circling the area several times, however, there was nothing but the sheer cliff before them. The surroundings were utterly barren, and Gu Zhiping's initial hope began to wane, giving way to disappointment.

"Brother Shen, it really seems there's nothing here," he said.

Shen Wan nodded ambiguously.

"Now we're truly doomed. There's absolutely nothing here—not even an exit..." He glanced at the three-eyed fellow beside him, and Shen Wan was increasingly tempted to wring his neck. Well, this is just great, isn't it? You carried me down here, and now there's no way out.

Suddenly, he heard the faint sound of footsteps behind them. Turning, he saw that Yun Yi hadn't left after all, but had followed them over.

"Weren't you leaving? Why are you back?" Shen Wan asked, instinctively putting some distance between himself and the edge of the cliff. Is this girl thinking about pushing me off? After all, his earlier actions had somewhat compromised her reputation. Of course, Shen Wan hadn't done it on purpose, but he had no idea how she felt about it, and it was better to stay cautious.

Yun Yi had no time for his worries. She strolled to the edge and fixed her gaze firmly on the opposite side. "Did you sense it just now? There's a presence over there—something ancient."

Hearing this, Shen Wan followed her gaze across the chasm. The cliff was vast, stretching at least a kilometer to the other side. There seemed to be nothing over there except for a small protruding platform, surrounded by dark, oppressive cliff walls.

Gu Zhiping raised his brows at Yun Yi's words. "An ancient presence?" he murmured inwardly. Could it be... He quickly turned to look, even sending out a thread of spiritual sense, but found nothing.

The three of them stood silently at the edge of the cliff, each lost in thought, the space between them growing heavy with quiet. Shen Wan found himself wondering what was wrong with these two, talking about ancient presences as if there was a royal tomb buried within the mountain.

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Seeing that the other two were silent, Shen Wan felt awkward breaking the silence, so he pretended to scrutinize the surroundings as well. If they were both putting on airs, he certainly couldn't afford to look weak.

"Hmm?" Shen Wan suddenly made a low sound. He thought he saw something on the platform across the way. He quickly took a couple of steps forward, narrowed his eyes, and looked carefully. It was a stone staircase—yes, he could see it clearly now. It was definitely a flight of stone steps, not large, but they floated at the edge of the platform. Darkness swallowed the lower part, and the topmost step was so far away that, without careful observation, it was easy to miss.

"What's wrong, Brother Shen? Did you find something?"

Shen Wan said nothing, but after a closer look, he pointed toward the distance. "Isn't there a stone staircase over there? Don't you two see it?"

"A staircase?" Gu Zhiping and Yun Yi were taken aback. They both looked in the direction Shen Wan was pointing, but saw nothing. "No, it's just a bare cliff wall over there. What staircase?"

"Huh?" Shen Wan began to wonder if they were blind. He double-checked—he was absolutely certain he wasn't mistaken. "Look at the lower part of the platform right across from us—the perfectly square bit that sticks out, kind of like a rabbit's tail. Do you see it?" Shen Wan gestured emphatically toward the spot, leaning so far over the cliff he nearly toppled out.

But Gu Zhiping and Yun Yi only frowned. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't see the stone steps Shen Wan described.

Suddenly, Yun Yi seemed to realize something and quickly asked, "Platform? You're saying there's a platform over there?"

With that question, Shen Wan began to doubt his own eyes for a moment. "Good grief, can they not even see the platform?" Gu Zhiping's suspicious expression appeared genuine—maybe he really couldn't see it either.

Waving his hand, Shen Wan tried to calm himself. After blinking several times, he muttered, "Damn it, there's definitely a platform there. It's not that I'm blind, it's these two who can't see." Deciding not to doubt his own vision, Shen Wan ignored them. Since the staircase led downward into darkness, there must be a matching set on this side as well—he just didn't know if it started here or somewhere below.

He edged along the cliff, careful not to lean out too far, just enough to see the cliff face below.

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The three of them weren't standing directly opposite the platform, and Shen Wan hadn't searched toward the sides yet. He moved cautiously along the edge, step by step, toward the center. Sure enough, as he neared the middle of the precipice, the staircase on their side came into view.

The steps were about two meters below the cliff's edge, and he could see at least a dozen more descending into the gloom. Unless one pressed right up to the cliff wall, the stone steps were almost impossible to spot. The stairway curved in a downward arc, so the middle section was hidden by darkness and couldn't be seen at all.

Upon seeing this, Shen Wan wanted to call the others over, if only to prove he wasn't imagining things. However, his intense concentration had kept Yun Yi and Gu Zhiping from interrupting—they'd simply followed quietly behind him. When he turned and saw them, Shen Wan nearly jumped out of his skin, his foot slipping dangerously close to the edge.

Fortunately, Gu Zhiping reacted quickly and grabbed him, pulling him back to safety.

"Good grief! Could you two stop sneaking around like ghosts? You nearly scared me to death." He patted his chest, taking a long moment to recover.

"Brother Shen, what are you looking for?" Gu Zhiping finally asked. He'd been following along, searching the cliff edge just as Shen Wan had, but found nothing.

Yun Yi nodded in agreement.

"You still can't see it?" Shen Wan asked, pointing below. "You should at least be able to see the staircase on this side, right?"

The two of them peered down where Shen Wan was pointing. The abyss was bottomless—there were no stairs in sight.

Now all three were at a loss.

Shen Wan frowned, a sudden memory surfacing of the Ten Hells Tower in the Owing Mystics Sect. Could there be some kind of spell here, so only I can see it? If that was the case, then these two truly weren't pretending. There was only one way to make them believe.

Glancing once more at the stone steps below, Shen Wan stopped hesitating, took a deep breath, and leapt straight down.