The True Wall of Sighs

The True Wall of Sighs

At Fu Qian's words, the man who had asked him to identify the item shuddered, nearly dropping it on the ground.

"Hair? Have you ever seen hair that even a blade couldn't cut?"

Once he'd steadied himself, the man was clearly a little angry.

"Special hair."

Fu Qian remained expressionless.

He had no intention of scaring the man, but he had no interest in making up a lie, either.

It was a pity that the thing the man had treasured like a priceless object was, in fact, a lock of hair.

Only, a peculiar sheen flowed across the strands, making them look almost alive.

As for why the man couldn't see something so obvious, Fu Qian had already more or less guessed the answer.

When he'd killed the Evil God's Progeny, he'd experienced something similar before: out of everyone there, only he could read the words in the notebook.

It was probably related to inspiration. The others might not see this thing the way he did.

Still, the man's words had given him a very useful clue.

There was more of this hair the closer one got to the ruins' interior. He only needed to follow that trail to easily determine the direction they'd come from.

And, likewise, the direction out of the ruins.

Ji Liushuang had clearly been keeping an eye on what was happening over here, and Fu Qian's reply had reached her ears.

Although the mention of hair made her frown as well, she didn't question him outright. Instead, she instinctively looked around.

She was fairly perceptive.

Fu Qian silently gave her credit.

The next moment, Ji Liushuang's expression changed. She sprang to her feet, drew her long sword, and sent a sharp Sword Light howling out.

A swath of black, like flowing water, had somehow already wound along the ground and reached everyone's feet.

At its closest point, it was just about to crawl onto a young woman's foot, but Ji Liushuang's strike cut it off in time.

"Throw away what you're holding!"

Ji Liushuang landed her strike and shouted toward them.

The young man who'd asked Fu Qian for an appraisal froze before reacting, instinctively reluctant to let the item go.

But Ji Liushuang's words carried an imposing force, and in the end, he threw it away.

The instant the hair left his hand, though, every strand suddenly stiffened like a needle and whipped toward him.

A Sword Light flashed again. Ji Liushuang had somehow already appeared in front of him, slashing through the strands.

Even with her lightning-fast reaction, several strands had already pierced deep into the young man's hand, and his entire right hand instantly lost its color.

"Fire."

Ji Liushuang uttered a single word. The young man snapped out of it, and heat immediately gathered in his hand, as though flames were burning there. The strands buried in his flesh were burned out.

Thank you!

His face was ashen, and his gratitude was heartfelt.

If Ji Liushuang hadn't acted so decisively, he feared he'd be in far worse shape than just having a weak, useless right hand.

Ji Liushuang merely nodded, her eyes fixed on another direction.

At some point, Fu Qian, who had been sitting there, had vanished without a trace.

Several screams rang out just then, as a tide of black strands surged from multiple directions.

These people really had no idea what caution meant. They knew something was wrong, yet they'd still come this far inside.

Fu Qian threaded his way through the fog, reflecting on the matter.

He'd noticed the movement behind the broken wall even earlier than Ji Liushuang, but hadn't chosen to step in. Instead, he'd slipped away from the group amid the confusion,

In his view, although the hair was strange and bloodthirsty, this group should still be able to handle it.

For him, the mission came first.

The ideal outcome was to simply head in the opposite direction all the way out and complete the mission.

Although, based on his past experience, that possibility was practically zero.

He encountered no obstructions along the way. Before long, Fu Qian found himself at the edge of the ruins.

Here, the broken walls and rubble had grown extremely sparse, and the fog had almost completely faded.

He still saw no tangible obstacle.

That was it?

Fu Qian frowned. An ominous feeling made him slow his steps.

The next moment, his body collided with an obstacle.

Staring at the empty space before him, Fu Qian reached out and pressed a hand against the spot where he'd been stopped.

His hand met a smooth surface, as if a completely transparent barrier hung in the air.

So this was the Furnace's boundary.

Thinking of the strange sight he'd seen in the Warehouse—that enormous sphere—

Was this a spherical barrier surrounding the entire ruin?

Fu Qian quickly formed a theory.

If so, then although it was an inert object with no capacity to harm him, his instincts told him it would be quite troublesome.

He'd start with the simplest method.

When faced with the unknown, testing, drawing conclusions, forming hypotheses, and verifying them was the most scientific way to understand things.

Even if the existence of this thing was hardly scientific.

Flexing his fingers, Fu Qian adjusted his breathing and threw a punch at the barrier.

The barrier didn't tremble in the slightest, nor did it make a sound.

The force rebounding from it nearly burst his blood vessels. It felt like he'd punched a mountain.

As expected, brute force wouldn't work.

Although he'd only used about seventy percent of his strength, judging by the feedback, there was no way he could break this thing by relying on his own strength.

Fortunately, Fu Qian hadn't expected much from this attempt in the first place, so he wasn't too disappointed.

Next, on a whim, Fu Qian fired two Air Bullets at the barrier.

The Air Bullets whistled into the barrier but didn't stir up the slightest ripple.

This thing was absurdly tough—so tough it seemed to transcend the very notion of being sturdy. It didn't even react at all.

Looking at the world just beyond the barrier, Fu Qian frowned.

From what Ji Liushuang and the others had said, they'd discovered these ruins by accident while exploring and training outside.

They'd entered without encountering any resistance, either. In other words, unless the barrier had only just appeared, it must allow passage in one direction: entering from outside posed no problem.

Did it reject specific targets? Organic life?

Fu Qian picked up a stone and threw it at the barrier.

The stone flew halfway before inevitably striking the barrier and falling straight down.

So it had the same effect on both living and inanimate objects.

One could enter, but not leave.

Fu Qian seemed to understand how all the strange things inside the ruins had gotten there.

This time, he was in serious trouble!

The key issue was that, judging from what had just happened, there were clearly hostile creatures in here. It was hard to say whether he could stay here indefinitely while looking for a solution.

As he thought, Fu Qian turned around and called out in a certain direction.

"Come out."

Five seconds later, a middle-aged man slowly emerged from behind a half-broken stone stele.

The newcomer applauded as he looked at Fu Qian with approval.

"Very good. You actually sensed my presence."