CHAPTER 598: CHAPTER 598: TIAN JIZI’S POSTHUMOUS WORK

It was not until Feng Bailing submerged into Ruo Gully that she realized she had underestimated the situation.

Although equipped with an oxygen tank, her visibility was severely limited upon entering Ruo Gully; it was pitch black and she couldn’t see anything at all.

At that moment, she also couldn’t control her body as it kept sinking down, a feeling that puts immense psychological pressure on anyone, enough to break most people.

Fortunately, Feng Bailing’s mental resilience was exceptional, and she quickly calmed herself down.

Using her Seventh Sense, she paid attention to her surroundings, groping in the darkness like a blind person; after an unknown period, Feng Bailing took a breath from her oxygen cylinder.

Feeling her feet touch a wet, slippery ground, Feng Bailing knew she had reached the bottom of Ruo Gully.

The gully was much deeper than she had anticipated— at least fifty or sixty meters, and the water flow changed as she reached the bottom, becoming more turbulent.

Carried forward by the water flow, about half an hour later, Feng Bailing finally touched a river bank.

The area beneath the gully turned out to be a hidden gem.

Feng Bailing climbed up the riverbank and finally saw light.

She opened her eyes, and involuntarily gasped.

The first thing she saw were bones.

These bones must belong to the people who had unfortunately fallen into Ruo Gully previously.

These people were washed here by the water, but starved to death due to the lack of food and water.

Ahead was more like a small underground maze, with stone chambers connected one after another.

Climbing ashore, Feng Bailing took out clean clothes from the first aid kit, changed into them, drank a few sips of Monkey Wine to warm up, then started walking towards the first stone chamber.

After passing through a doorway, Feng Bailing saw a familiar figure lying in front of her, and she hurried forward with a delighted heart.

"Brother Zhang."

Feng Bailing gently tapped the man’s cheek; the man lying unconscious was Zhang Dafa, who had been missing for several days.

Zhang Dafa was groggy, but when he opened his eyes and saw Feng Bailing, a trace of joy appeared in his eyes.

"Feng San, it’s you. I thought I’d never see you again."

"Don’t talk yet."

Feng Bailing fed Zhang Dafa a few sips of Monkey Wine, which helped revive his complexion somewhat, allowing him to catch his breath.

"How did you end up here? Weren’t you in the Red Scorpion Desert?"

Zhang Dafa was still somewhat dazed.

"I have returned from the Red Scorpion Desert already. I met Second Brother Zhang and learned you were pursued by the people from Soldier Inn and Underworld Market. When I returned to the city, I heard you had jumped into Ruo Gully. So I dived in to find you."

Hearing this, Zhang Dafa’s eyes, despite being a man of great stature, reddened.

"Are you out of your mind? Coming to a place like this alone, there’s only a dead-end once you enter."

Even so, Zhang Dafa was deeply moved.

Having been in the mercenary world for so long and seen countless people, only Zhang Erfa, his own brother, would share life and death with him.

Feng Bailing, with no blood relation to him, was willing to risk her life to save him; this solidified his resolve that if he survived this ordeal, he would swear to follow Feng San to the death.

Moved, Zhang Dafa recounted his experiences over the past few days.

That day, he had been forced to jump into Ruo Gully and sank to the bottom.

He was injured at the time and in a daze, he found himself in this part of the underground maze.

He had no food or water on him, fortunately, he still carried a flask of Monkey Wine given to him by Feng Bailing earlier, which helped him survive these past few days.

But after he finished the wine, he couldn’t find a way out and ended up trapped here, dead. If Feng Bailing hadn’t come looking, he might have ended up just like the other skeletons.

"This place is somewhat strange."

Feng Bailing looked around.

Her gaze paused, noticing a skeleton in the corner of the wall not far away.

Unlike the other skeletons, this one was sitting cross-legged, apparently dead for many years.

There were several lines of characters engraved on the ground beside the skeleton.

Feng Bailing stepped forward, her gaze fixed on those characters, which were carved by the person sitting cross-legged before his death.

Although many years had passed, the handwriting was strong and forceful, clearly that of someone practised in martial arts.

What caught Feng Bailing’s attention even more was the signature at the bottom of the lines, she exclaimed.

"Nan Huo?"

She had heard this name before.

Nan Huo, like Lady Nan Feng and others, was a disciple of Tian Jizi, but it was said that he had disappeared many years ago.

He actually died here.

Feng Bailing heard from the dean that Tian Jizi had once taken ten disciples, each gifted and talented in different ways, receiving parts of Tian Jizi’s legacy. After their training, they were each sent to assist the kings of the Ten Countries.

Among them, Lady Nan Feng went to Beiqi.

Mr. Nan Chen went to Daye, the dean went to Great Chu, and the others also found their own paths.

This Mr. Nan Huo was supposed to have gone to one of the Ten Countries, but instead, he died here, and the others probably didn’t even know.

Through what he left behind, Feng Bailing roughly understood that not only Gan Liu and Lady Nan Feng harbored ill intentions towards Tian Jizi’s legacy.

Nan Huo had early intentions to find the legacy of Tian Jizi; somehow, he found out that the legacy from the elder Tian Jizi was hidden near Qinghe City.

Knowing that there was an ancient array map here, he traveled all the way here, but unfortunately, he underestimated Ruo Gully and couldn’t find a way out, ultimately dying trapped here.

Before his death, unwilling to give up, he left these characters hoping that one day someone would find his body and the ancient array map, fulfilling his wish.

"This elder really helped the future generations by planting the seeds. He wrote out the mechanisms in the underground maze, unfortunately dying here before he could escape the maze, benefitting those who came after."

In the message left by Nan Huo, Feng Bailing confirmed that the underground maze would have mechanisms of the five elements - metal, wood, water, fire, earth.

Once these five mechanisms are overcome, the exit from Ruo Gully can be found.

She bowed to Mr. Nan Shan’s skeleton as a form of thanks.

Beside her, Zhang Dafa said with a bitter smile,

"Feng San, don’t be too happy too soon. Although this elder left the method to break the maze, it’s not that easy to get out of here. Those five levels, I can’t get past them."

Zhang Dafa came in earlier, so he had also seen the characters left by Nan Huo.

Zhang Dafa considered himself fairly skilled and tried to break through those five levels to escape the maze.

Saying this, Zhang Dafa scratched his head sheepishly, pointing to several key wounds on his body.

"These injuries are all from traps in the maze."

The day Zhang Dafa was pursued by the people from the Soldier Inn, although he was wounded, they were not serious. But it was the traps in this underground maze that plotted against him several times, causing him to sustain serious injuries and fainting from exhaustion.