Ghosts and Breaking Through

Cold. Adrift.

The stagnant water was murky. Threads of fungus and scraps of flesh floated in it, giving off a thick, rotting stench that seemed ready to seep through his pores and burrow into his veins.

Xia Lun tightened his core, lowered his head and shoulders, and swam down the narrow channel. A few bubbles drifted slowly from his nose.

For some reason, the unnatural anxiety he had felt above the surface slowly faded as he descended, rising away with the bubbles.

The noise above the water and the Skinned Corpses' screams gradually receded. All Xia Lun could hear was his quickening heartbeat and the swish of his hands parting the murky water.

As it turned out, Xuan Yan's blood really did work like an Underwater Breathing Potion. Though Xia Lun was submerged, he felt nothing unusual. He only had to breathe through his nose, and air flowed into his lungs.

The murk obscured his vision as bubbles rose past him. Following the wall of the channel, Xia Lun soon swam beneath the artificial hill.

Behind the hill was a sealed cylindrical passage like a water pipe. A rusty iron lock hung from its barred gate. Xia Lun grabbed the bars and pulled himself closer, then peered inside.

The passage was pitch-black, but Xia Lun could tell by instinct that it was even narrower than the channel. Once he entered, there would be no room to turn around.

In other words, it was a one-way passage. Once inside, there was no going back.

Xia Lun did not hesitate. He seized the lock and gave it a hard tug.

Click.

The lock was not fastened. It sprang open, and he pulled the barred gate aside before slipping into the pipe.

The water grew murkier, while the darkness narrowed his field of