Sword and Madness

The air was thick with blood. A sweet, cloying malt smell filled the cramped, dilapidated room. Xia Lun knew it was the smell of wood rotting after years of damp.

Xuan Yan leaned against a decaying partition. Blood stained her delicate face, and her eyes had turned cloudy, as though veiled by a cold gray mist.

"We're in Little Cave Ward, the part of Sorrow Hill City closest to the original mountain. The Man in the Flesh's true body is hidden in the Nexus, and the Nexus is inside the mountain beneath our feet. That's why no one has found it all this time."

What left Xia Lun with mixed feelings was that, although Xuan Yan's sanity was on the verge of collapse, her words had become far more logical.

She no longer sounded like someone whose mind was failing. She sounded like an ordinary, intelligent person.

"Before the Yuanwater Festival, the Prefectural Office stood here in Little Cave Ward. But after the whole city fell into an endless dream, this place became a slum. The Man in the Flesh destroyed the original office with her own hands.

"Listen, Xia Lun. Head north and find the Prefectural Office. It should be a flooded ruin now. Find the Mirror Pool near the main hall and jump in. Swim north along the channel, then dive into the waterway. It will take you inside the mountain, where you'll find the Nexus."

Xuan Yan's voice was weak, but her instructions were remarkably clear.

"So I have to dive through the waterway?" Xia Lun thought for a moment, then asked, "How long is it?"

"Very long, with nowhere to surface for air. You can't make it by swimming normally." Xuan Yan raised her cloudy eyes, immediately catching his implication. "Do you have any Underwater Breathing