The Returnless Abyss was neither a hole nor a valley. It was a city turned upside down.
From outside, the Boundary River suddenly sank here-not as a waterfall, but as though a hand had pressed the entire river surface downward, creating a vast, bowl-shaped depression. The bottom of the bowl was the top of the city. You had to climb down along the river walls to the very bottom before you could see the city's "entrance"-an archway plastered over with black water, with the words "No Return" carved into its lintel.
Serina and Mingchen descended along the river walls. Using chakra footholds and borrowing momentum from frequencies, they took forty minutes to reach the bottom.
"The entrance is sealed." Mingchen crouched before the archway and touched the black-water membrane. The moment his fingers brushed it, black water crawled onto his skin. He jerked his hand back, his frequency automatically repelling it-but the black water gathered again.
"Physical means." Serina drew the Steel Ruler and thrust it straight into the membrane.
The Steel Ruler was iron, carrying neither chakra nor frequency. It punched a hole through the membrane as though piercing a sheet of plastic. The black water around the hole frantically recoiled, as if afraid of the ruler.
"Let's go." She ducked through.
Mingchen followed. Before entering, he glanced back-the sky upstream of the Boundary River was impossibly dark. He gritted his teeth and slipped inside.
There was no light in the city. But they could "see"-not with their eyes, but through frequency perception. The golden light on Serina's left shoulder spread automatically, scanning their surroundings like radar.
They stood on a street. The houses on either side were upside down, roofs pointing downward and foundations upward. Things lay scattered across the street: broken bowls, snapped flutes, rotted Law Staffs,