After Zhang Yu emerged from that battle void, he did not hurry back. Instead, he said, "Fellow Daoist Ming Zhou, I wish to remain here and see one more person. Would that be possible?"
Daoist Ming Zhou asked, "Guardian of Rectitude, whom do you wish to see?"
Zhang Yu said, "Yu Chang, Venerable Profound."
Daoist Ming Zhou said, "Let Ming Zhou ask Martial Executive." He paused briefly, seemingly communicating with someone. After a while, he said, "Guardian Zhang, please follow Ming Zhou."
He went ahead to lead the way, and Zhang Yu followed. After the two had crossed a straight, broad platform whose sides vanished into bottomless depths, they turned back, their feet gradually descending along a zigzagging stair-platform.
Zhang Yu noticed that all along the wide stair-platform, each level bore an ancient and towering stone statue of a warrior. Their forms were imposing, each helmeted and armored, ten zhang tall. There were also all manner of Mystic Wonder beasts that seemed to have come from primordial antiquity, clinging one after another to the enormous wall whose end could not be seen.
He could sense vitality concealed beneath these stone statues, as if living creatures were covered by a shell of stone. At some critical moment, they seemed capable of immediately shattering their outer layers, coming alive, and joining the battle.
There was no doubt that these stone statues had been refined through special means and were likely part of the Prison of Suppression's defensive force.
Once they had finished descending the stairs, the two arrived upon a platform. Far ahead stood a colossal pillar that pierced the heavens, its top unseen and its bottom unfathomable.
Daoist Ming Zhou walked to the edge of the platform, took out a talisman, and tossed it into the abyss below. The talisman drifted