Gu Fangchen took a leap of faith and plunged into the darkness.
He fell through the air for about ten minutes.
He was no longer just a player behind a screen who could jump and then go idle. The psychological strain of freefalling in endless blackness was indescribable.
If he hadn't already known the sequence, and if not for Gu Yuye's long years of confining his original body in darkness, allowing him to grow somewhat used to it, he might have lost his mind.
With the foundation of an eighth-grade Shell-Leaving Realm spirit, even without cultivating soul-strengthening techniques, his mind could endure far more than a normal person's.
Otherwise, he would have fainted from sheer terror during the fall.
No, not just that.
The gale that rushed against him during the descent was strong enough to tear flesh apart. Even his sixth-grade body struggled to withstand it.
Now Gu Fangchen understood why the guide writers had emphasized that martial cultivation had to reach at least the seventh grade, with both vitality and willpower attributes meeting the threshold, otherwise, one would simply die mid-fall.
This, too, must have been part of the Patriarch's trial. Anyone who could endure this descent would surely be able to comprehend true Sword Intent on the battlefield above.
Ten minutes later, Gu Fangchen saw a white light appear below him.
It grew rapidly larger in his vision.
A moment later, his surroundings went pure white, and a gentle force lifted his body.
As if falling into invisible water, he floated briefly before his feet found solid ground again.
"Phew..."
Gu Fangchen exhaled deeply. The sweat on his back had already dried three times over.
When he raised his head, he saw an endless sea of blue flowers, each glowing faintly like fireflies across a dark surface of shallow, red-tinged water.
He stood upon that water's surface.
Not far away, at the heart of the flower sea, rested a stone coffin.
Gu Fangchen sat and regulated his breathing for a while before standing and walking toward it, recalling what he knew of this hidden place.
Some players had speculated that this was one of the borderlands of the "Nine Netherworlds," located in a rifted pocket known as the "Intermediate Underworld." But it had been sealed by the Sword Pavilion's Patriarch, preventing any immediate disintegration of the soul.
This thin layer of water connected directly to the Yellow Springs.
Players generally believed that the world of Mirror in the Dust was composed of three overlapping layers.
The first layer was the human world, the mortal reality.
The second layer was the Nine Netherworlds, the Yellow Springs.
The third layer lay beyond the half-opened Heavenly Gate, a realm thought to be the Celestial Court.
But after studying the in-game texts, Gu Fangchen disagreed.
If these layers truly overlapped, they should share similar ecological functions.
Yet in the game's cosmology, the cycle of all things, birth, death, and rebirth, was already complete within the first two layers.
Mortals and cultivators alike entered the Nine Netherworlds upon death, where their souls were crushed and remade before returning to life. Two layers were all that was needed.
The so-called Celestial Court didn't fit into this cycle at all, it had no role to play.
Even the "Path of Revelation" described the Heavenly Gate merely as a limit to be reached, not as a missing part to be filled.
Thus, that theory didn't hold water.
Sometimes, however, cracks formed between the boundaries of the Nine Netherworlds, allowing fragments of shattered souls to seep into the mortal world, turning into malevolent spirits.
Many of the game's evil entities originated this way.
Such events were rare, usually serving as minor side quests, tragic love stories between humans and ghosts.
Until the main quest "Lord of the Four-Phase Calamity" triggered the [Descent of the Nine Netherworlds] arc, unleashing these spirits in hordes across the land...
"Ku-ku-"
Gu Fangchen reached the stone coffin and pushed open its heavy lid.
The grating sound echoed through the endless field of flowers.
Inside the coffin lay a bed of blue petals, and atop them rested a breathtaking beauty in a gauzy blue dress.
Despite the passage of thousands of years, her face remained flawless, crimson lips, lifelike complexion, as if she were merely sleeping, her eyelashes ready to tremble open at any moment.
This was the Patriarch of the Sword Pavilion, Shi Qingguang.
Yes, because the era was so distant, later generations had mistaken her gender. The true "Patriarch" was, in fact, a woman.
Gu Fangchen stroked his chin, carefully studying her features.
Conclusion: more beautiful than her game model.
If the developers had given her a proper portrait, she could easily rank among the top five most beautiful female characters.
Judging from the tomb's location, the Patriarch's personality must have been quite interesting too.
He had always suspected that the Sword Pavilion Patriarch's tomb was the developers' hidden tribute, a secret Easter egg honoring the first player to discover it.
Either that player was absurdly lucky, falling down by accident and idly waiting long enough to trigger the hidden zone,
Or a devoted wuxia enthusiast who swore to leap off every cliff in search of ultimate martial secrets.
Whichever the case, that player was undoubtedly a legend.
After finishing his observation, Gu Fangchen's gaze swept once more over the beauty's corpse before he finally chose to take Shi Qingguang's cold hand in his own.
After all, she was the Sword Pavilion's Patriarch, and she was long dead, the least he could do was show some respect.
"Though what I'm about to do next is quite offensive," he muttered.
Gu Fangchen whispered under his breath, patiently waiting for his Thief profession skill to take effect.
The skill [Passing Through the Garden of Ten Thousand Blossoms] only required physical contact to activate. It didn't matter whether the target was living or dead,
Or even whether the body was whole or in pieces.
Because of this, the skill had another, darker but extremely practical use.
If one was willing to pay the price of bodily harm, or could repair the damage afterward,
they could sever a part of their own body and hide it upon their target.
In this way, they could steal something without the target's awareness.
However, there was one hidden condition:
The contact area had to exceed ten square centimeters, about the size of a finger.
Still, since it involved harming oneself, the technique was mostly used mid-battle.
[You have maintained physical contact with Shi Qingguang for 5 minutes. You have successfully stolen "Dust-Avoiding Robe"!]
Gu Fangchen: "..."
He hadn't expected to hit the jackpot on the first activation.
Then again, it made sense,
Anything related to the Patriarch had long vanished into history. The least valuable thing she still possessed was probably the robe on her body.
And he couldn't give it back.
Because the skill remained active and would eventually steal it again anyway.
Gu Fangchen forced himself to keep calm, eyes fixed on his nose, his nose on his heart, doing everything possible not to look at the perfect, jade-like form before him.
...
Five minutes passed. Then another.
After what felt like an eternity, his palms were almost warming the Patriarch's icy hands when his eyes suddenly lit up. He had finally obtained what he wanted.
[You have maintained physical contact with Shi Qingguang for 5 minutes. You have successfully stolen "Sky-Piercing Sword of the Seventy-Two Peaks"!]
In that instant, a thunderous boom resounded.
The entire Patriarch's tomb began to tremble violently.