Xi Yan raised the Night-Luminescent Pearl, illuminating the place where they stood. The Secret Chamber was not particularly large, and its structure showed that it had been carved out by human hands. Symbols of the sun, moon, and stars covered the stone walls. Less than thirty feet ahead lay an opening. They entered it and soon reached a flight of stone steps. Looking up, they saw the stairs winding upward, apparently leading to the level above.
Hu Xiaotian wondered, Could we have accidentally discovered a secret passage to Spirit Firmament Palace on the mountaintop?
Xi Yan had already started up the steps, leaving Hu Xiaotian no choice but to follow her. Relief carvings covered both sides of the passage. As he examined them, he saw that the images joined together to tell a continuous story, like scenes in a film. They began with mountains, rivers, and lakes, followed by a great fireball falling from the sky. It plunged into a lake, drawing countless onlookers. Farther along was a scene of people taking boats out to retrieve it.
"Something seems to have fallen from the sky into the lake. A shooting star?" Xi Yan said. As far as she knew, a fireball falling from the heavens could only be the sun or a shooting star.
Hu Xiaotian suddenly grew tense. An indescribable premonition stirred within him, filling him with an excitement he could not explain. He continued forward. Several carvings depicted the efforts to retrieve the object. Seas of people crowded the scenes, showing the enormous scale of the undertaking. At last, he saw horses, carts, and laborers hauling something out of the lake-an oval object.
No matter how Hu Xiaotian looked at it, the thing resembled a flying saucer. Suppressing his excitement, he continued studying the images ahead. Countless craftsmen