Feng Bujue traversed the field with the two beautiful women for a while, and they were greeted with the same sight—a slate of azure green grass. The land was smooth with mountains in the distance, but no matter how far they travelled, the mountains did not seem to move closer. When Feng Bujue turned back to look, he realized that he could still see the stone plaque carved with the name 'Realm of the Bell'.
After walking for another stretch, Feng Bujue suddenly stopped to announce, "We need to go back."
"Aren't we looking for the way back?" Lu Qingning answered. She thought that Feng Bujue meant that they had to go back to Chang Lin, and he was stating the obvious. Lu Qingning had arrived at this place earlier than Passing Rain and Feng Bujue. She had gotten there the previous morning, and then she had spent three hours in there. With a person's biological clock as reference, Lu Qingning was equal to someone who had not slept for a whole night after being chased after… so she must be very tired and irritable.
"I mean… go back to the stone plaque," Feng Bujue explained.
Lu Qingning turned around. "There's nothing there. Why are we going there?"
Actually, she understood the situation. They were unable to leave the area around the stone plaque no matter what. However, she had studied the stone carefully for a long time and could find nothing useful. Before Feng Bujue and Passing Rain arrived, when Lu Qingning first fell into the realm, she had appeared around the same spot as the two players. She had been trekking around the area for a long time, but whenever she turned around, the distance from the stone had not changed. She had continued to move and stopped to rest several times. She had also returned to the stone plaque to study it, but she had come up with nothing, so she could only continue to move down the plain. Yet, when she turned her head back for the umpteenth time, she finally spotted something different… two new figures.
"That is the only actual item that we can reference," Feng Bujue said. "Since we're stuck…'
"Item of reference?" Lu Qingning's clear brows frowned as she repeated this strange term. Obviously, she had no idea what it meant.
"An object that we can use to determine whether we have moved or not," Feng Bujue explained.
"Hmm?" Miss Lu was even more confused.
"Sigh… We'll continue this conversation when we return to the place." Feng Bujue abandoned the explanation. Even though she did not get a convincing reason, Lu Qingning did not have a better idea. From her perspective, since they were a couple, that Miss Li naturally would not reject Feng Bujue's idea, so she had no choice but to follow. It did not take long for them to return to the stone plaque. It was exactly how their eyes told them it would be. With each forward step, they got closer to their destination. When the three were standing before the large stone plaque, Feng Bujue said, "Miss Lu, have you tried walking backward while staring at this stone plaque?"
"Right… if we use that method…" Lu Qingning's eyes lit up. "Wait, then why did we return? We should have done this when we were…"
"I've tried it. It was useless." Feng Bujue cut her off, splashing her with cold water.
Miss Lu was angered by this and tutted. "Master Feng, are you toying with me? Since you've already tried it, why did you ask me to repeat?"
"Miss Lu, please don't be mad. It's his habit to trick people like this. He doesn't mean anything malicious by it." Passing Rain came out to rescue Feng Bujue. It was not that she was worried about him—she was worried that the NPC might turn on them.
"Just from an experiment standpoint, the result gained from my single attempt might not be one hundred percent reliable," Feng Bujue said. "So, I wish for you to give it a try."
"I don't understand most of what you said," Lu Qingning replied.
"That doesn't matter. Most of what I said is not important anyway." Feng Bujue changed the subject. "In any case, I believe this kind of 'equal distance' phenomenon is a clear hint. It has been telling us that we've been going the wrong way."
"The wrong way?" Lu Qingning said with confusion as she instinctively looked to the other side…
There was the steep drop, an abyss covered by clouds.
"This stone plaque is like a boundary marker, and this line…" Feng Bujue turned around and stretched his arms forward in a straight line. "This is the boundary line."
He turned toward the sea of clouds that looked like the end of the world. "This place that we're at is the entrance of the Realm of the Bell.
"Which side do you think the actual Realm of the Bell is? Is it this side?" Feng Bujue turned his head again to point at the plain behind him. "Or that side?"
"Are you mad? It's a sharp drop down the hills. It's more than one hundred zhang drop. Will any of us still be alive if we talk that route?" Lu Qingning argued with widened eyes.
Feng Bujue continued as if he had not heard her. "When we entered this place, we were standing on the boundary line, but we thought that compared to the steep drop, the plain on the other side looked more like the conventional road. However, it is an endless dead end. After our distance is pulled to a certain point away from the stone plaque, the distance will not change anymore. No matter how far we move, we will be walking on the spot."
"Then, tell us the solution." Passing Rain cut straight to the point.
"What kind of solution would I have? I have nothing like a rope. Even if I did…" Feng Bujue leaned forward to look at the thick layer of clouds. "Just how far would it be able to support us down this cliff?"
That was not wrong, for the players, this kind of geographical difference… could be explained with an analogy. They were like ants standing at the edge of a washing machine. Even though the shape might not be a cliff going a straight line down, one could imagine how deep the fall would be from the ant's perspective.
"Sigh… What do you suggest we do, Master Feng?" Lu Qingning gave a long sigh and sat on the ground. Even though she was a Qinggong expert, after a day and night of no sleep and endless moving, as well as a lack of food and water, she had almost reached her limit.
Feng Bujue answered with determination, "A leap of faith."
This term baffled Lu Qingning. Her expression appeared to say, Even though I have no idea what you're talking about, it sounds impressive.
After hearing that, Passing Rain used her habitual cold gaze to look at Feng Bujue for two seconds before her gaze took on the shade of condescension. Finally, her red lips moved, and she said pointedly, "You plan to use this extremely eye-catching method to make me a widow?"
Feng Bujue's face that was thick as a castle did not move. He replied with ease, "Ha ha… Wife, don't you worry. Just give me a chance to try."