Warhorses and Beasts of Burden
When a person is unable to defy gravity, any sensation of falling will become a deadly nightmare for them.
Unfortunately, for players, simply falling is not scary.
In the instant she lost all feeling beneath her feet, Tao Yi swiftly grabbed a piece of driftwood and unleashed the power of "Prosperity" throughout her body, transforming the only piece of wood into a giant wooden parachute.
Seeing this, everyone grabbed her before she fell.
In this way, while the surrounding objects fell straight down, the six players drifted down from the sky extremely slowly, almost like kites on a string.
The sudden upheaval was thus silently smoothed over.
"Sharp!"
Even Cheng Shi had to admit that Tao Yi's mind was really sharp after she had eaten her fill.
"Hehe, you flatter me!"
Tao Yi smiled and accepted her teammates' praise, adjusting the direction of the umbrella to ensure that the angle of descent remained perfectly straight.
The players beneath her, taking advantage of the absence of other dangers, began to look down at their feet.
To be honest, the moment the seawater disappeared, their environment was drastically altered.
Players could not see any of the former mountains and ground within the visible range; all they saw was endless darkness.
Above them was Blue Sky and White Sun, but below them lay an unfathomable Abyss.
This seamless splicing of images evoked a sense of absurd rupture in everyone's hearts.
And that clear black-and-white dividing line was not far from their feet.
The ever-cautious Zhao Qian, with a solemn expression, gathered a rocket in one hand and flung it downwards.
The moment the arrow, wreathed in flames, crossed the dividing line between black and white, the flames vanished from everyone's sight.
The speed was so fast that Cheng Shi felt his eyes were playing tricks on him.
The persistence of vision told him that there was still some light there.
"Disappeared...?"
"Danger! Tao Yi, slow down!"
"There's a problem with the dividing line! We can't go any lower!"
"I can't do it; this is already the slowest speed possible!"
"Then let's go up!"
Su Yida suddenly spoke up, pointing to Gao Yu beside him:
"Gao Yu will build the tin stove, Zhao Qian will provide the fire, Tao Yi will hold the umbrella, and we'll make a hot air balloon and fly up!"
"This colleague reacted quickly enough," Cheng Shi raised an eyebrow and looked up at him again.
Su Yida was on top of Cheng Shi, holding Tao Yi's ankle, while Cheng Shi held onto his.
Gao Yu was below Cheng Shi, and after hearing this, he immediately responded:
"Feasible!"
He immediately took out the residue from the previous medicine furnace, hammered and shaped it into a thin-skinned furnace with hooks. He even thoughtfully left a small opening at the bottom of the furnace to put fuel in.
As for what the fuel is...
It was naturally Zhao Qian's left hand, which could only breathe fire.
"..."
Zhao Qian clearly didn't want to use the power of [war] in this kind of place, but there was indeed danger beneath his feet. His gaze swept over everyone's faces, and in the end, he sighed and helplessly accepted this reality.
Cheng Shi almost burst out laughing when he saw this.
This is so interesting. It's like a warhorse that once galloped across the battlefield has been blindfolded and turned into a millstone, exuding a sense of "suffocation".
Despite the frustration, the warhorse's horsepower was still stronger than that of an ox or horse.
As the flames of war erupted in the furnace, the parachutes formed by the players' own bodies instantly stopped their descent and propelled them upwards.
It's done!
At this very moment, above the Abyss, they actually started doing some fancy tricks.
"Tsk, I never expected that my first time riding a hot air balloon would be during Trials," Cheng Shi remarked with considerable emotion.
Gao Yu chuckled upon hearing this:
"Is it possible that every first time you experience something has to happen during Trials ever since the [Gods] descended?"
Cheng Shi was taken aback, then suddenly felt embarrassed:
"Well, there aren't that many kinds."
"...?"
The others automatically ignored the conversation between the two and focused their attention on the dividing line.
Su Yida frowned, seemingly wondering what was hidden there: was it a darkness that devoured everything, or a rule that meant certain death if you crossed the line?
"Thinking is useless; practice makes perfect."
Cui Ding Tian peeled off the skin from his hands, stripped it into a rope, and put it around everyone's hands.
"Keep the fire down, stay still, I'll go down and check."
With that, he released Tao Yi's hand and leaped into the Abyss.
This gave the group quite a fright.
"Holy crap, old man, are you out of your mind?!"
"Old Cui, be careful!"
They quickly grabbed the rope made of skin, fearing that the old man would never return.
Under the combined effects of gravity and pulling, Cui Ding Tian's skin peeled off in layers, like waving ribbons, gradually stretching into a long white line behind him.
The old man was falling very fast, and soon he reached the height where the flames had disappeared.
He tensed all his muscles, stopped releasing the "line," and precisely hovered above the black-and-white dividing line.
From his perspective, the entire world was divided into two equal halves, black and white.
The upper half is the reality of existence, the lower half is the Abyss of Nothingness.
"What did you see?"
"White plus black".
"???"
The passengers in the hot air balloon were clearly taken aback by Cui Ding Tian's sudden remark. They were all stunned for a moment, and then at a loss for words.
What kind of ancient, lame joke is that?
It's so cold.
Cui Ding Tian didn't let the cold awkwardness last long. He took out a small handful of wood chips that he had prepared beforehand and gently flicked them toward the black and white boundary that was so close at hand.
The moment the sawdust crossed the line, the firelight vanished, and the scene repeated itself once again.
The sawdust has disappeared.
Even though it was right in front of him, Cui Ding Tian couldn't see what was happening.
His expression instantly turned serious.
"What did you see?" Zhao Qian asked again, noticing the old man's gloomy expression.
Cheng Shi thoughtfully added:
"Besides day and night."
"..."
"It disappeared, it just vanished."
"Huh? What disappeared?"
"Wood chips, a handful of wood chips, all gone."
"Wood chips?"
Is it possible to misread something so small?
Everyone on the hot air balloon had the same idea, so they started collecting whatever they could throw and tossing it downwards.
Zhao Qian fired another rocket, Su Yida threw away the food in his hand, Gao Yu kicked off a shoe he had just knocked off, and as for Cheng Shi...
He spat.
If Tao Yi hadn't glared at him from above when he was pulling at the rag around his waist, he could definitely have provided more water for the test.
These miscellaneous things fell from the old man toward the dividing line, but without exception, they all disappeared the moment they crossed the dividing line.
Now, the players weren't laughing anymore.
The item is really gone.
Therefore, it seems that players have no way to cross this dividing line.
Even worse...
Although Tao Yi's wooden umbrella canopy can last indefinitely once it's made, and Gao Yu's thin-skinned stove can exist indefinitely as long as it's not rebuilt, another crucial element of a hot air balloon is fire...
No.
"Think of something! My Divine Power is running low!"
Zhao Qian was ashen, as if his body had been hollowed out by the crowd.
Without saying a word, Cheng Shi immediately used Mental Technique on him.
"Don't be afraid, I'm here!"
Originally, these words were quite encouraging, but paired with his meaningful smile, it clearly seemed as if he was saying:
"It doesn't matter if the oxen and horses are lazy; a couple of lashes and they'll get moving."
"..."