Hello, is this a letter addressed to Demon Fortress?

The moment Shadow Blade Lin rushed into the Rift.

The familiar gray fog swept over us.

The surrounding light suddenly dimmed, leaving only occasional glimmers of eerie green light in the fog.

The points of light floated erratically, like countless eyes peering from the shadows, sometimes near, sometimes far, their flickering carrying a strange rhythm.

Beneath my feet lies an endless abyss, and above me, an equally endless gloom.

There is no direction, no reference.

There was only fog.

The suffocating fog was exactly the same as she remembered.

Shadow Blade Lin's soul light rippled slightly, creating a series of tiny waves.

That deep-seated fear surged up once more, like cold tentacles wrapping around her consciousness.

She suppressed her emotions and fixed her gaze ahead.

Lin Gui was sitting on his staff, slowly drifting downwards.

His posture was stiff, his eyes were slightly unfocused, and his pupils seemed to be covered with a layer of gray.

Shadow Blade Lin snorted coldly.

This guy has definitely lost his way.

The nightmare woven for him by the Silent Abyss has probably already dragged him into it.

She floated forward.

Yeah.

Before we go too far, drag him out.

To avoid actually dying here and causing myself to wait for hundreds of years.

Shadow Blade Lin reached out and tugged at Lin Gui's robe.

Just as my finger was about to touch...

Lin Gui shifted his body to the side, nimbly dodging the attack.

He turned his head, his eyes clear, and looked at her warily.

What are you doing?

Shadow Blade Lin was stunned.

He then angrily said:

"Of course I'll take you out, you lunatic!"

"I don't want to wait hundreds of years for the next soul mage!"

After saying that,

She suddenly realized what was happening.

Those pale blue eyes were fixed on Lin Gui, the pupils slightly contracted.

"How are you still conscious?!"

Her voice was filled with disbelief.

"A spell of clarity cannot withstand the overwhelming mental chaos surrounding us!"

Lin Gui looked at her somewhat broken expression.

His eyebrows were slightly raised.

"What is the incantation time for your Awakening spell?"

Shadow Blade Lin replied subconsciously:

"Twelve seconds."

Lin Gui nodded knowingly.

He pointed to himself.

"Mine is..."

"Zero seconds."

"Spellcasting without chanting."

Shadow Blade Lin raised an eyebrow.

"You mean, you can cast basic soul magic without chanting..."

"A spell to awaken consciousness?"

Lin Gui nodded.

He raised his hand and waved it gently.

A wave of soul power rippled out from her fingertips, spreading like waves and empowering Shadow Blade Lin.

Shadow Blade Lin could clearly sense it...

That's a sobering technique.

Moreover, there was absolutely no chanting.

Completed instantly.

She opened her mouth.

For a moment, I didn't know what to say.

After a few seconds of silence, she looked at Lin Gui strangely.

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Why waste so much energy on such a basic spell?"

She paused.

"Although it is soul magic, it has no practical use in combat."

The mage is the most complex of all classes.

Five lower-level elemental magics, three mid-level elemental magics, and two higher-level elemental magics.

There are also things like soul magic, and each type of magic corresponds to thousands of spells.

It is impossible for a magician to master everything in his career.

Only when they are certain that they can no longer advance in rank will they delve into the strongest magic they have mastered.

So this was the first time Shadow Blade Lin had ever seen her...

A magician who specializes in studying basic magic?

But Shadow Blade Lin had to admit...

The other party's idiotic behavior did indeed play a huge role here.

Lin Gui did not reply, but continued to delve deeper.

Shadow Blade Lin frowned slightly, then followed closely behind.

If the opponent can actually withstand the fog, instead of losing all their senses entirely...

Maybe we really can go deep inside.

It's also possible...

Shadow Blade Lin flew to Lin Gui's side.

Through telepathic communication, I said to him:

"As you go deeper, the fog will become increasingly dense."

"No matter how powerful your sobriety spell is, you won't be able to withstand it if you don't find the Demon King along the way."

"The deepening fog leads to a loss of sensation, confusion, and ultimately, complete disorientation, plunging one into a nightmare."

She paused.

"I can help you."

"To protect you when you are lost."

Lin Gui did not reply.

It continued to drift downwards.

Just when Shadow Blade Lin thought the other party had lost their way...

His voice came through:

"What kind of help?"

Shadow Blade Lin's lips curled into a smile.

"Help me find something."

The ghost's staff, which had been fluttering about, suddenly stopped.

He turned his head and looked at Shadow Blade Lin's exquisite face.

His eyes were filled with speechlessness.

Do you want me dead?

He paused.

"Even Roger and Gushin were suppressed by that guy."

"You want me, a high-level mage, to compete with her for something?"

His voice was tinged with helplessness.

"Do you have some misunderstanding about the rank of High-Rank Mage?"

Shadow Blade Lin looked at him calmly.

"It's not that thing."

She paused.

"It's something I left behind when I fought against Hunter."

"You don't need to change your route."

"As long as I sense that thing's existence..."

"Give me your power of clarity."

"I'll go find that thing myself."

Lin Gui looked at her.

"What if you don't come back?"

Shadow Blade Lin smiled.

It was impossible to tell whether that smile was self-deprecating or something else.

"Then I'll pretend I'm dead."

This time, Lin Gui did not refuse.

He agreed readily.

Seeing this, Shadow Blade Lin raised her hand, her soul light surging slightly.

Several invisible secret techniques floated from her fingertips and entered Lin Gui's body.

The first one landed deep within his soul, like a thin membrane covering the surface of his consciousness.

The second wave spread throughout his body, carrying a slightly cool sensation.

The third one slipped into his ear and disappeared.

Lin Gui could sense it.

The auditory hallucinations in my mind, those noisy, chaotic whispers, are fading.

It felt like being shut out by something.

Although I can still hear it, it's no longer as clear, no longer as... aggressive.

He looked at Shadow Blade Lin.

Shadow Blade Lin withdrew her hand, and the soul light dimmed slightly compared to before.

"I've done everything I could."

She paused.

"The rest is up to you."

Lin Gui nodded.

He gripped his staff tightly again and continued to float downwards.

The abyss seemed to have no end.

Time loses its meaning here.

I don't know how much time passed.

The surrounding mist began to solidify.

It was no longer as light and thin as gauze when I first entered, but rather felt substantial.

The grayish-white mist slowly surged, clinging to the rock wall and to the body of the forest ghost.

Like countless invisible hands, touching and probing.

At first, it was just auditory hallucination.

One voice after another echoed in my mind.

Familiar, unfamiliar.

Gentle, sarcastic, ironic, abusive.

The sounds intertwined, rising and falling, like an endless clamor.

Lin Gui remained expressionless and continued downwards.

Then, the sense of touch began to appear.

It was clearly just a fog.

There was nothing around except the rock walls.

But Lin Gui's skin felt a clear pain.

First came the burning sensation.

It felt like being roasted over a fire, my skin cracking inch by inch.

Then came the cold.

It felt like falling into an ice cave, where even your blood would freeze.

Then comes the piercing pain.

It was as if an invisible dagger pierced through my back and came out through my chest.

Every cut was terrifyingly precise.

Every cut was terrifyingly clear.

Lin Gui could feel the tearing of his skin as the blade pierced through.

I can feel the cold metal moving through my body.

I could feel the blood gushing out along the blade.

But none of these are true.

He looked down at himself.

The robes were intact.

The skin is intact.

There is no fire.

There is no ice.

There was no dagger.

There was nothing there.

There was only fog.

Those pains were so real they could drive you crazy.

And the scariest thing is...

He lost his true sense of touch.

He couldn't feel that he was sitting on an oak staff.

I couldn't feel the slight coolness emanating from the staff.

I can't feel my own posture, my own breathing, or my own heartbeat.

If it weren't for the field of vision, I could still see my surroundings clearly.

Lin Gui truly believed that he was standing in a sea of ​​fire.

Or, they are embroiled in a fierce battle.

The assassin, lying in ambush, plunged his knife into the chest again and again.

He paused for a moment.

Take a deep breath.

Then, raise your hand.

Begin chanting.

He needs to set up spatial coordinates.

One should be set up every time you go a certain distance.

That way, we'll have a way to go back.

The chanting echoed in the silent abyss, so faint it seemed as if it might be swallowed up at any moment.

A glimmer of light shone from his fingertips and landed on the rock wall behind him.

Coordinates, forming.

The ghost continued downwards.

The loss of senses is intensifying.

The sense of touch was the first to completely disappear.

He could no longer feel his body.

It felt as if all I had left were my eyes, floating in endless darkness.

Then comes the sense of smell.

He can't smell anything anymore.

There was no musty smell of gray fog.

There was no damp smell from the rock walls.

There was nothing there.

Then comes hearing.

Those noisy auditory hallucinations gradually faded away.

It didn't disappear.

Instead, they were isolated in a much more distant place.

All that Lin Gui could hear was...

My own heartbeat.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

It got louder and louder.

At last……

Visual.

The crack in front of them suddenly disappeared.

All the light, all the shadows, all the gray fog, all the rock walls.

In that instant, they all vanished.

Only darkness remained.

Absolute, endless, all-consuming darkness.

Lin Gui stopped.

He floated in the darkness.

There is no direction.

There is no reference.

There is no up or down.

They don't even have their own bodies.

He was like a speck of dust, abandoned at the end of nothingness.

In the pocket of the monk's robe.

Shadow Blade Lin watched all of this quietly through the glass bead.

She watched Lin Gui's retreating figure.

Looking at his stiff posture.

Looking at his gradually unfocused eyes.

she knows.

The opponent's sobering technique and his own secret technique both became ineffective.

He was just one step away from completely losing himself.

Shadow Blade Lin's soul floated out of the Soul Pearl and drifted in front of Lin Gui, silently observing the current Lin Gui.

On that pale face, the eyes were so unfocused that they were almost impossible to see.

He floated there in the darkness, motionless.

Like an empty shell that has lost its soul.

Shadow Blade Lin remained silent.

She knew that at this moment, any external interference would be meaningless.

To survive in the silent rift.

I want to travel through this place.

High-ranking perception magic? Useless.

Overwhelming strength? Useless.

Powerful equipment? It's useless.

The only thing that can allow those who enter to survive...

Only a sense of direction.

That inexplicable instinct that, when you're completely lost, tells you which way is right.

Shadow Blade Lin watched him quietly.

She was weighing her options.

She didn't know what the so-called "magic that doesn't use conventional power" that Lin Gui had set up at the exit was.

If that thing really works.

He should still be able to find his way.

If that thing is useless too...

Then he was left with only instinct.

Can a person who has lost all their senses find their way by instinct?

Shadow Blade Lin didn't know.

But she will soon know the answer.

If Lin Gui's next step is not downward.

Instead of continuing along his original path, he went deeper.

That proves that his magic was also useless.

At that time, she will forcibly take him away.

of course……

We've gone too far this time.

Even Shadow Blade Lin couldn't guarantee that she could take the other person away safely.

Now, in her spirit form, she can indeed largely avoid the sensory deprivation caused by extreme mental disorder.

Because the soul has no five senses.

It won't hurt, it won't feel cold, and you won't be deceived by those fake sensations.

but.

She couldn't escape the terrible nightmare that was weaving within her.

That directly affects the soul.

More deadly than any sensory deprivation.

So if on the way back, she felt that she had reached the limit of her abilities.

She felt those nightmares beginning to erode her consciousness.

She would leave Lin Gui here without any hesitation.

A cold glint appeared in Yingrenlin's eyes.

She looked at the figure frozen in the darkness as if it were a chess piece that could be discarded at any time.

Kid, don't blame me.

It was your own choice.

Thinking of this, Shadow Blade Lin shrank back into Lin Gui's robe.

Then, under Shadow Blade Lin's observation, Lin Gui made a move.

It did not continue to descend further along the trajectory.

Instead, it drifted around while chanting that strange spell that didn't even seem like magic.

Shadow Blade Lin watched as the other person drifted aimlessly around like a headless fly, chanting magic as they slowly moved about.

A strange glint flashed in her eyes.

Is this... considered being lost?

The third entrance to the Silent Rift has a diameter of approximately thirty meters.

The surrounding rock walls were faintly visible in the darkness, occasionally illuminated by the faint magical light emanating from Lin Gui.

The light revealed the jagged protrusions and deep cracks.

And Lin Gui, in this not-so-large space, was doing things that no one could understand.

He first floated straight to the left.

The chanting continued, lips moved, uttering syllables that had no rhythm whatsoever.

boom.

His shoulder slammed into the cliff face.

Gravel fell in a flurry, slicing a bloody gash on his shoulder, from which dark red blood seeped out, soaking his robes.

But he continued singing as if he felt no pain.

Then he turned to the right.

It floated past.

boom.

It was another solid collision.

His forehead struck the protruding rock, blood flowed down, trickling down his brow bone and cheek, gathering at the bridge of his nose and dripping.

He still didn't stop.

Sing, turn, drift again.

Shadow Blade Lin raised an eyebrow.

Watching the other person crash into the cliff face, bleeding profusely from the head, she gave a cold, speechless laugh.

I was fooled by your weird magic.

I thought it could guide you and give you the ability to enter this forbidden area.

In hindsight, it was overestimated.

She shook her head, her soul light surging slightly, preparing to make her move.

Just as she was about to drag this headless little mage away.

Suddenly.

Lin Gui stopped moving.

He hovered in mid-air, less than a meter away from the cliff face.

The chanting stopped.

Then, he slowly turned around.

The movements were very steady.

very slow.

Yet it carried a certain certainty that was impossible to ignore.

He drifted toward the center of the cave.

Shadow Blade Lin was stunned.

She watched as Lin Gui, in the complete darkness, precisely moved to the center.

then.

Let's continue delving deeper.

Shadow Blade Lin frowned.

She silently watched Lin Gui the whole way.

Let's delve a little deeper.

He stopped.

They began to chant again.

Then it drifted away in all directions.

boom.

boom.

boom.

boom.

Four impacts.

Four different directions.

Every impact was solid, and every impact created new wounds.

But each time, he was able to return to the center point precisely after the collision.

then.

Let's continue delving deeper.

Shadow Blade Lin's brows furrowed more and more tightly.

She looked at the figure, covered in blood, that kept repeating the strange process.

Suddenly, she realized something.

This kid...

He is not lost.

He was... measuring?

To draw a map of the silent fissure...?