A hand gripped the edge of the opening, revealing a white work glove, though its white fabric looked rather "mottled."
Lin Feng did not stop the newcomer from approaching.
Because as the man climbed out from below,
the wind brushed his face, and Lin Feng already knew who he was.
It was precisely because he knew that he was shocked.
Even more shocked than when he had seen the Mount Tai God's Shed Remains.
It was an absurd feeling, a sense of just how strange the world could be.
That sense of unreality left Lin Feng at a loss for words.
The man hauled himself through the opening with some difficulty, revealing a face somewhat familiar to Lin Feng.
A face he had seen in the man's books, in photographs, and deep in the mountains of Western Hunan.
"Teacher Xun."
Xun Yanyu wore white work gloves and a dark navy Zhongshan suit, its pockets crammed with fountain pens and ballpoint pens. His stern black-framed glasses made him look as though he was out doing fieldwork.
It was Xun Yanyu, without a doubt. He climbed up from below and saw Lin Feng, Hong Ni, the "big Golden Retriever," and that door.
Then he suddenly heard a stranger outside call his name.
Teacher Xun's first reaction was shock.
He did not quite know what to say.
His eyes fixed on the two of them.
Only after a long while did Lin Feng speak. "Teacher Xun? What are you doing here?"
In that instant, Lin Feng felt a greater sense of dislocation than he had when confronted with a sky full of gods and Buddhas.
Xun Yanyu had never expected things to turn out this way either.
He had only come out to seek help.
He opened his eyes and looked at the