Secret World: I Became a God Through Lies

Chapter 493 Water Moon Cave Heaven: Seven Mountains and Fourteen Tombs
The mountain is reflected in the water, and there is a tomb in the mountain.

Seven lives, seven deaths, fourteen shadows.

The living must stay away, for the dead live on forever.

—Inscription on the Water Moon Stele

The two walked side by side down the corridor where the crowds were thinning.

The boy carried a long sword on his back, his steps were hurried, yet he still tried his best to maintain a polite tone.

"My name is Xiao Jinyan, and I come from the Xiao family of Luohong Mirror Village in the Central Plains World."

As he spoke, his eyes kept glancing at the giant portal in front of him, his tone revealing barely suppressed anxiety.

"The Fallen Red Mirror Village?" Siming tilted his head slightly, his eyes behind the mask flickering.

He asked casually, "Do you know Xiao Lianyin?"

The boy paused, his expression suddenly darkened, and a clear look of shame appeared on his face.

"...She is my older sister."

The voice was very low, but it sounded like something was pressing down on it, making it hard to breathe.

Suddenly, he realized what was happening, looked up at Si Ming, and stared wide-eyed: "Huh? You, how do you know my sister's name?"

As if she had been expecting this, Si Ming shook her head slightly, her tone indifferent: "I met her once during a guild mission. Was it the Mysterious City incident? I remember, she was injured at the time and was sent out first."

"The City of Bones..."

The boy repeated it in a low voice, as if to confirm.

The next moment, he suddenly stopped, gripped his longsword with both hands, and stared straight at Si Ming.

That look in his eyes carried a mixture of doubt and expectation.

"you……"

"Could it be that his name is Si Ming?"

The air stagnated for a moment.

Si Ming paused for a moment, a half-smile playing on his lips, and finally nodded.

"……Um."

The boy's eyes lit up, as if he had suddenly seen a spark in the darkness.

He slammed his longsword on his back, making a crisp sound.

"Damn! It really is you!"

"What a coincidence! I knew my sister had mentioned someone when she came back, and it turned out to be you!"

As he spoke, he revealed a smile typical of a young man, with a hint of relaxed frankness.

"Since we're old acquaintances, you'd better give it your all in this dungeon, Siming!"

Si Ming sighed softly, a bitter smile playing on his lips.

"understood."

In the center of the hall, beneath a towering giant light screen, a teleportation device stood silently.

It was a giant gate, like a lake standing upright.

Ripples spread across the surface, reflecting the shadows of countless people.

Whenever someone approaches, the lake surface ripples with light, engulfing them completely and sending them to an unknown instance.

A constant stream of people flowed in and out, their noise mingling with the sound of footsteps.

Someone called out to their teammates, and they stepped into the doorway hand in hand.

A lone figure, with a cold gaze, disappeared into the ripples.

The scene was lively, yet oppressive.

Because every person who steps through the door represents a new risk of death.

Xiao Jinyan stopped and stared at the massive door, his eyes filled with both longing and heaviness.

He raised his hand and introduced it to Si Ming: "This is—the Gate of Realms."

“We can use it to go to any ‘known’ level and copy.”

"Known?" Si Ming tilted his head.

The boy nodded and explained in a deep voice:
"The beginner dungeon is only available once. There's no save function, it's unique. If you die, it's gone forever."

"Most normal dungeons have an escape gate."

"But the cost is that those who leave will lose almost all their points, which is a kind of 'pseudo-save'."

He paused, a bitter smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"And in higher-level dungeons, there is a small chance that a 'real save point' will spawn."

Si Ming listened quietly, his eyes flickering beneath the mask.

"So, your sister..."

"Trapped in a dungeon," the boy interrupted him, his voice a little hoarse. "Trapped in a time-based mystery."

He stared at the massive gate before him, his gaze gradually becoming blank.

"My points are almost all gone."

"If I fail again this time, I won't have a chance to come back."

As he said this, he turned to look at Si Ming, his eyes sincere and heavy.

“You can still consider it; you don’t have to take the risk with me.”

Si Ming looked at him.

The white clown mask reflected the ripples on the facade, its smile grotesque, yet its eyes remained calm.

He did not answer immediately.

He simply reached out and gently patted the boy's shoulder.

Si Ming reached out and patted the boy's shoulder, his tone light and teasing:
"Kid, when did you become so sentimental? Hurry up and lead the way."

The voice behind the white clown mask was understated, yet carried an undeniable certainty.

Xiao Jinyan paused for a moment, then muttered softly:

"Kid? We've only known each other for a short time, but you're talking as if we've known each other for a long time."

Si Ming simply shook his head and smiled, offering no explanation.

But those eyes, hidden behind the mask, seemed to be watching a predetermined answer.

The two walked side by side toward the Gate of Boundaries.

Before the colossal gate, ripples surged, and a lake-like curtain of light seemed capable of swallowing everything. Countless players watched from the sidelines, but none noticed the pair.

Xiao Jinyan took a deep breath, and the long sword on his back trembled slightly.

He walked to the door and raised his hand to touch the ripple-like light screen.

His voice was low, yet resolute:

"Star Calamity - Voidwalker, Xiao Jinyan".

He paused, then turned to look at Si Ming.

"Team up with Star Calamity, Lie Weaver, and Fate Master."

The names of the two appeared on the light screen, as if branded into the ripples.

"Requesting another challenge, the sixth level dungeon—[Water Moon Sky]."

boom--

The gate to the boundary trembled violently, and ripples spread outward like the surface of a lake, with layers of light patterns echoing like heartbeats.

The entire door seemed to be awakened, slowly waking up from its slumber.

Si Ming stood beside him, quietly watching this scene, a slight smile playing on her lips, and chuckled softly:
"Captain, that's quite formal."

The ripples from the Gate of Boundaries suddenly engulfed the two of them.

In an instant, the world turned upside down, and all four limbs and five senses were as if they were being stirred into a vortex, with even the sense of direction being completely stripped away.

A flash of white light appeared before Siming's eyes, followed by a dizzying spin.

When he opened his eyes, he felt his head was throbbing with blood and his feet were dangling in the air.

"...Damn it."

Looking down, I realized I was hanging upside down on a branch of a giant tree.

The leaves rustled, and the branches creaked under his weight.

"Damn it, this door! Next time, can't you just open it right in the middle?"

He couldn't help but complain, reaching out to push aside the leaves blocking his way.

Under the tree, Xiao Jinyan landed steadily, carrying his sword on his back, and sat on the tree root as if he had just stepped through a small door.

He looked up at the spirit hanging in the tree and smiled slightly: "The landing point was lucky; at least we didn't fall into a quagmire."

Si Ming rolled his eyes, skillfully swung himself down from the tree branch, landed steadily, and dusted himself off.

"What a warm welcome ceremony!"

He turned his head, and all around him was a deep, secluded forest.

Ancient trees reach for the sky, their branches intertwined, a thin mist swirls around, and the air carries a damp, chilly scent.

"Is this the instance where your sister was trapped?"

Xiao Jinyan shook his head, his expression becoming even more serious than before.

"No."

He slowly raised his hand and pointed into the distance.

Si Ming looked in the direction the boy was pointing.

The white mist in the distance slowly dissipated.

A wondrous sight suddenly unfolded before our eyes.

Seven mountains stand side by side.

They tower into the clouds, their outlines identical, as if copied by the same hand using a mold.

The undulations of the mountains, the cracks in the rock walls, and even the distribution of the trees are all exactly the same.

At the top of each mountain, a waterfall cascades down.

The white, ribbon-like water cascaded down from the mountaintop, its roar echoing through the mist before flowing into a lake below.

The lake water is as clear as a mirror, reflecting the seven mountains.

Then, a horrifying scene unfolded between heaven and earth:

Seven mountains stand amidst the white mist, and their reflections linger on the lake's bottom.

The real and the unreal, the true and the illusory, are perfectly intertwined.

Seven mountains and fourteen shadows.

The mist surged, the waterfall roared, and the reflections and the real mountain trembled simultaneously.

After looking at it for a while, you can't tell which side is real and which side is an illusion.

Si Ming stared silently, his gaze behind the mask darkening slightly.

He knew that such an "extremely orderly" landscape could never be just scenery.

It must be a rule.

Xiao Jinyan stood beside him, her gaze fixed on the extraordinary sight.

His voice was deep, as if he were reciting some ancient inscription.

"Water Moon Cave Heaven".

"Seven mountains and fourteen tombs".

Just then, the mist dissipated, and the roar of the waterfall seemed to echo those words.

He added, his voice icy:

"Keep out, strangers."

"May the dead live on forever."

The wind howled, and white mist swirled around.

The fourteen layers of mountain shadows reflected in the lake seemed to come alive at this moment.

The boundary between death and life blurs and disappears between these reflections in the water.

Seven mountains stand side by side, waterfalls roar, and white mist fills the air.

A story about life and death, reality and illusion, slowly unfolds.

Seven mountains are like mirrors, fourteen are like tombs.

Anyone who enters will surely get lost.

Only the dead can live forever in the moonlit water.

—The Water Moon Cave Stone Carvings

(End of this chapter)