"The stars incline us, they do not bind us"
It was snowing. Wu Qiong held out his hand to feel the cold. Thereafter, he gazed upwards, acknowledging the mountain; it was massive, reaching far beyond the clouds.
Thereafter, he walked along with the others towards the entrance. There was a contestant named Dang Tou; he seemed charismatic. He tried to gather the attention of others, but no one listened. Then he said something which garnered everyone's attention.
"Good, good." He inwardly smirked. He followed it up with, "I do indeed know the function of this place.
In fact, I know all the different layouts and traps hidden. I can share it with you all on one condition!"
The other contestants shouted, "What do you want, Dang Tou?"
"Your mirrors. Give them to me."
In confusion, they whispered to each other. "Mirror? Why would he want that? I didn't find any use for it, but I took it with me anyway because you could take all the items available with you."
After thinking for a bit, they all took it out of their pouch and gave it to him. Wu Qiong appeared careless; there was a piece of straw in his mouth as he was just observing the place. He walked away, forwards.
Dang Tou noticed Wu Qiong had a mirror as well. He saw the silver luster flashing from his bag. He thought to himself, "He seems like an idiot. I already have a lot of mirrors collected. Do I try to persuade him?"
Dang Tou followed behind Wu Qiong and called out, "Little brother, I have a deal to offer you. I am highly confident that you will enjoy it."
"Ohh?" Wu Qiong turned around and waited in curiosity.
"There is a certain saying about this place. I'm not sure if you have heard it, but it will help you venture upwards. We can exchange my info for your mirror. How about it?"
Wu Qiong took the straw out of his mouth as he appeared to be pondering. Thereafter, he answered, "Why not? Give me your intel first."
"Damn him! If he only gave it to me, then I wouldn't even need to use this." His initial wish was that Wu Qiong gave the mirror to him; the ownership would be transferred, therefore he could not attack him because the rule states such.
"No one is allowed to inflict harm on each other until they have reached the ridge level."
His outward expression, although warm, hid his inner thoughts. "This information is useless anyway. I've used it before; it's just a strange gibberish text. Not a single person has gained any insight from it."
"But of course, I must tell you that I found this in the pocket of a previous contestant. I was allowed to keep it because it did not reveal any classified information. It is written by someone called—Bai Sheng."
Far away in the distance, Xuan Ren was pondering. "Bai Sheng did not appear to be in the possession of that paper, although I heard rumors of someone who had stumbled upon it during this year's examination. What is more killing? As long as I get what I want, I can reach—that place!" His gaze suddenly turned sharp. The fan in his hand extended over his body, making him warp with the air and disappear.
Back to the competition, Wu Qiong completed the exchange and departed from the starting point to venture upwards. In his right hand was the paper. At this moment, he was in deep thought. The text on the paper was quite abstract and subsequently required poetic logic.
Poetic logic is a mode of reasoning in which meaning is established through metaphor, imagery, and emotional coherence rather than formal deduction, yet still maintains internal consistency and intelligibility.
Often, poetic logic was concrete and did not follow strict linear patterns; however, this was something incomplete.
These connections must be found individually, and you must fulfill the conditions in which the meaning is created.
That is, to correct the interpretations yourself using metaphoric thinking and figurative language to create meaning. Thereafter, use fantasia (fantasy), through which one must find the correlation between disparate ideas—ideas that at first glance do not correlate with each other. Think of it as a blend of imagination and fantasy; thereafter, you blend the figurative concepts.
Lastly, then you must derive meaning from them to give it sensibility. This means reconstructing it in its entirety and producing the result.
This was already a very difficult task. Not everyone had the capacity for creative thinking because it requires a degree of transformative thinking.
When Wu Qiong first read this, he too was immediately overwhelmed. "It's simply too absurd and difficult to transcribe meaning from. It appears to have contradictions as well."
"Look at yourself, the world, and the unknown
The inconceivable truth bears weight where it should not
For the forbidden knowledge, a glimpse into the eye of the abyss
For the truthful lies, a glimpse into the eye of the beholder
...the non-transmutable
...the irrefutable
...the insane
...the unyielding
..."
"And the last one in which is yet to be understood"
Wu Qiong folded the paper and placed it into his bag. Currently, most of the contestants had already surpassed the foot of the mountain and had stopped at the slope. Why? They were afraid of the violence that would ensue.
Wu Qiong walked past them, venturing towards the ridge. The ridge was a long, narrow, elevated strip of land extending multiple miles. Subsequently, the reason for not pursuing further wasn't only because of the violence but because of nature. It was impersonal, harsh. Here at the ridge, it was snowing intensely. You could fall off due to the wind, slip, or freeze to death.
"Already at the ridge, it is this dangerous?" Wu Qiong couldn't gaze at the end of the ridge. He was wearing his robe and testing the waters before he would gradually walk. At once, he felt the intense winds trying to blow him off. His left foot slipped, and his right hand held onto the stone. He exerted most of his energy pulling himself up again.
"Hahaha, exciting, truly exciting. How many times can a human die, if not once!"
Wu Qiong was dividing his attention. One was towards walking and keeping himself balanced. The second was thinking in regards to the paper. He knew there was more to it; however, he just couldn't seem to properly understand it right now. This world was simply too vast. This place only amounted to a single star in the sky.
A person who is exposed to too much cold would suffer from hypothermia and frostbite. It was not wise to consume snow, as it would make the body's temperature decrease. This was something people actually did due to water not being readily accessible.
After a long, harsh walk, he appeared to see some crackling lightning in the clouds. In the snow mountains, often things were not as visible due to the fog created by the cold.
"I'm reaching the end soon!"
Back at the base of the mountain—
Groups of people were standing around discussing with each other. One of them was gazing in a specific direction whilst the others were laughing and conversing. Suddenly, he saw a figure from a distance walking towards them. Although it appeared to be just a person, the moment you tried staring at him, things became rather blurry. Instinctively, they lifted their hands as if the sun was shining right into their eyes. On his head, there was a blindfold around his eyes. The moment they saw his right foot touch the ground, he disappeared.
It is said that the time it took for a human to see something was 0.25 seconds.
To receive auditory data, 0.17 seconds.
And for sensation, 0.15 seconds.
From the moment they saw his foot touch the ground, their heads seemed to feel rather heavy. Before they could even realize what was happening, the group of ten had their heads decapitated instantly.
It was a rather horrific sight. The cut had been so clean that only the head had fallen down, and their bodies were standing upright for a few seconds before they too followed. The blood spewed as if it had accumulated for a long time.
He took off his blindfold, and his eyes had a completely pale white color. "Oh? You were hiding."
His heart fell to his stomach as he heard this.
This person had been one of the few working for Tianli. It was Dang Tou. Earlier, he was the one persuading the inexperienced ones to give up their mirrors and had exchanged the paper in return for Wu Qiong's mirror.
It is said that there existed a state in which fear not only became apparent but a driving force in which overrides everything else.
A hollow nothingness permeates inside your heart; as your blood gradually turns cold.
"P-Please, I don't know what you want. However, I can get it for you. Trust me, I—I—" He was crying profusely. The regret he felt in his heart was incomparable. He shouldn't have entered the competition; Dang tou for once knew that this person would actually kill him, if he did not have such intentions, the rules of the competition would apply. This person was simply terrifying and was killing whoever he wanted, alot of thoughts flashed by Dang Tou's mind.
In his tear-filled eyes, a reflection of a dark figure projected. He heard him speak.
"What use is your mouth if it's only for talking nonsense?"
What followed was a sharp blade that penetrated right through his mouth, reaching the back of his throat.
Back at the ridge!
"I'm slowly reaching the end." As he was walking, he felt a sudden inconsistency. Although he appeared to have reached the end, there was simply more. No matter how much he walked, it just would not stop.
"My, my, I already surpassed Yin Ren. I'm sure he dealt with all of them below. Oh? Who do we have here?" His eyes met with Wu Qiong.
Xuan Ren was smiling politely, although repressing his killing intent.
He suddenly spoke out
"Excuse me, sorry to interrupt you. As you seem to be quite busy considering your circumstances, however, I was curious if you had heard of or seen any papers, thats quite a strange question to ask, i know." He chuckled to himself as if he was telling a joke. His dark attire seemed to be enveloped by a strange aura.
"Ohh, paper, you say? Now that you mention it, it does ring a bell." Wu Qiong was looking at Xuan Ren, who was in front of him. He had already deduced that this person was dangerous.
Xuan Ren swiftly opened his fan, then closed it in a continuous motion as he was pondering.
"Yeah, that paper is quite important to me, you see. My father gave it to me in regards to the inheritance left behind for some land. I am quite a simple person, really, and it would mean so, so much to me if you could help me," he said in a solemn tone.
Wu Qiong mirrored his expression as he responded. "That's quite sad to hear. How can I not help you when you are asking so politely?" He appeared to wipe some tears off his eyes.
Xuan Ren thought inwardly, "This guy."
Wu Qiong said, "If you go down to the base of the mountain, you will see a man going around asking people to give him some specific objects in return for some information. If I were you, I would hurry, because someone else was already there inquiring about it. They may be bad people trying to steal your father's inheritance!" Wu Qiong responded with a melancholic tone.
Xuan Ren instantly felt a sense of urgency. This paper was important to him, and although he had plans to kill Wu Qiong, he did not have time. He disappeared on the spot.
Wu Qiong smiled inwardly. "Father's inheritance, you say? This must be some valuable treasure he left behind. I'll take care of it for now."
Although he had left, his life was not the only thing Wu Qiong preserved.
He also confirmed some hypotheses. He immediately understood that there was an underlying need for that paper. When someone is deeply focused on something, the most logical thing would be to keep mentioning it, directing their sense of attention and triggering urgency. He was left with cognitive dissonance.
If he stayed, the paper could've been potentially taken, even though he could have had doubts regarding Wu Qiong's words.
If he left, he could potentially find the paper and not actually lose anything by not killing Wu Qiong, since he appeared to be quite invaluable.
What he did not expect was to get tricked.
This person had an odd connection with his fan. He was constantly holding onto it. When he disappeared, what did he use? His fan. This must be what he uses to continuously make use of his abilities.
Even if Xuan Ren was intelligent or capable of seeing through deceit, he was placed under a critical moment where decisions must be rapidly made, therefore he cannot evaluate everything to any deep extent.
He must prioritize his overall most important needs.
Earlier, when he was speaking to Dang Tou, he realized that he was a high-profile individual. Therefore, he did not hang around much longer and also refrained from giving away any information about himself.
For them to know the paper's overall location they must have sufficient information gathering methods,This was a valid logical conclusion.
"I reached the end! Finally."