"Although I know you have many questions and your mind is probably in chaos despite your outer tranquility. Unfortunately, I cannot answer all those questions," Long Bai shook his head and sighed: "The only thing I can tell you about what is happening is that no one is trying to manipulate you or use you."

After saying these words, Long Bai looked at Xie Feng in a complicated way, and continued, "The path you are walking will be very thorny. You will have to overcome a lot of challenges, each one more difficult than the other... But everything will be for your own good. If you succeed in overcoming the obstacles that stand in your way, then good. Otherwise..."

​​

Although Long Bai did not continue, somehow Xie Feng felt that he knew what his next words were. Just a few words made Xie Feng's heart heavy and he felt that the weight on his shoulders had become hundreds,if not thousands of times heavier than before.

Xie Feng unconsciously tightened his grip on the Calamity Spear and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, there was no longer any hesitation within him.

No matter what or who it is. Whoever dares to interrupt his peaceful life or tries to hurt those close to him will have to pay with his life!

For a moment, Xie Feng's aura had changed and surprised Long Bai in the process. The middle-aged man seemed to realize that Xie Feng no longer had any doubts in his heart and he couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Good gaze! Your eyes tells me that the hesitation weighing on your heart is gone," nodded Long Bai: "Though I do not know the reason for your change of heart, it is good this way. Child, come, follow me... There is something more that has been waiting for your arrival for a long time."

Xie Feng smiled slightly and nodded... Apparently, the surprises and 'gifts' were not over yet.

***

"This... Are you kidding me?... Are you?" The edge of Xie Feng's lips contracted a few times and he asked a little worried while looking at the view in front of him.

"No. It is the truth. You have to do it." Long Bai shook his head and said calmly.

"But I will die! I will definitely die!" Xie Feng looked at him with tears in his eyes.

"Don't worry, if you die you can come back later. The rules are clear; every time you come here, you must do so obligatorily." Long Bai waved his hand and told Xie Feng to give up.

A bottomless abyss!

Xie Feng could not describe in words his current feelings.

Xie Feng looked at the dark abyss in front of him and felt like crying. After he followed Long Bai for about thirty minutes, Long Bai brought him to the edge of a cliff and told him to jump without further explanation.

"Is this Nangong Chen's revenge?" Xie Feng murmured unconsciously.

"Em? Who is Nangong Chen?" Long Bai looked at him in confusion.

"Ah... No, it's nothing" Xie Feng shook his head.

Knowing that he had no margin for retirement and his only option was to jump, Xie Feng hardened his nerves and repeated to himself several times that if the worst comes to the worst, he only had to return to level 0... Well, that thought did not help him so much.

In the end, Xie Feng closed his eyes and took a step forward. His body lost the firm support of the ground and was immediately pulled down by gravity. In less than two seconds, Long Bai was no longer visible and all Xie Feng could see around him was darkness. The darkness was so dense that it seemed to condense into a real substance, just like the darkness that covered the room in which Xie Feng previously obtained the Calamity Spear, he could not see his surroundings.

Xie Feng continued to fall deep into the abyss for almost five minutes! All he could feel was the wind blowing in his ears and all he could see was absolute darkness.

"At this height there is no suspense, I will definitely die," Xie Feng was depressed because he felt he had won a ticket of return to Eminentis City.

As a last hope, Xie Feng took out a teleportation scroll and tried to canalise. However...

[Ding!... You are currently on a special map and cannot return to the city.]

"Ha ha... Of course." Xie Feng laughed stupidly.

Just as Xie Feng was slowly beginning to lose hope of surviving such a fall, he noticed that gradually, his surroundings began to lighten slightly and a small point of bright light became more and more prominent with each passing second.

A source of light! That means the end of the abyss was near! In addition, Xie Feng suddenly had an inspiration. His Wind Barrier skill only blocks damage from monsters, players or NPCs, and does not mitigate damage from falls. But maybe, just maybe, the wind of the skill itself can reduce a little bit his falling speed and the impact blow!

The only inconvenient was that the skill only had 10 seconds. Therefore, if Xie Feng made a mistake and activated the skill too soon, then he would die. However, if he activates the skill too late, then the skill will not have enough time to slow his speed down the necessary amount.

Xie Feng narrowed his eyes and stared at the point of light that was approaching "slowly". At the same time, he focused his hearing on the wind blowing around him to catch the slightest change in the wind pattern. All his senses were completely focused on his current task and all unnecessary thoughts were thrown away.

Thirty seconds

One minute

Two minutes

"Now!"

After another two minutes of constant falling, Xie Feng finally felt the wind around him change slightly. This change was due to the proximity of the ground and was a change that 99.9% of the world's people would not notice, but he did. Without delay, he immediately activated the Wind Barrier.

*Swoosh!*

A light wind covered his body and although it was not too obvious, his falling speed slowly began to slow down.

Xie Feng clenched his teeth and silently counted the duration of the skill. The space around him became clearer and clearer and the bright point on the ground approached more and more slowly, indicating that his falling speed was undoubtedly slower than before.

The ten second duration of Wind Barrier passed very quickly and the skill soon re-entered reuse time. However, Xie Feng had not yet reached the ground!

"Shit!" he could not help but curse.

*Bang!*

-3095!

Xie Feng's body hit the ground hard and a sudden pain assaulted his avatar's body. However, that small pain soon disappeared and Xie Feng was surprised.

"I didn't die?"

Not hearing the system's announcement of his death and seeing where he was, Xie Feng laughed:

"Hahaha damn it, even a fall like that couldn't kill me!""

Xie Feng stood up slowly and removed the dust from his body. Then, he looked carefully at his surroundings.

Surprisingly, the floor under his feet was very flat and without imperfections, as if it had been carefully prepared by someone. The place itself was not very big, only about fifty square meters; as if it were a room.

A few steps away, there was a ball similar to an egg but not looking like an egg... It was a very strange ball with red, white, black lines; as if they were pulsating veins.

????.????

The only information that Xie Feng got from using Soul Eyes on the strange sphere was nothing more than question marks.

Knowing that he would get nowhere if he continued to stand by and do nothing, Xie Feng carefully approached the strange object.

Seeing that nothing was wrong, Xie Feng looked to his sides as if he were looking for someone. Seeing that there was really no one else here, he rubbed his hands together and touched the strange ball with his fingertips.

*Touch*

*Touch, Touch!*

Xie Feng gently touched the sphere several times but nothing happened.

More than forty minutes passed but there was no sign that he could leave this place. Upset, Xie Feng took out his anger on the only object in the room and kicked the sphere.

*Bang!*

The sphere hit one of the cliff walls and soon, Xie Feng saw a small crack appear over the object...

*Crack*... *Crack!*... *CRACK!*

The crack was extended more and more until finally they were united. Soon, the strange sphere was opened completely.

A small black foot was extended from inside the strange sphere, causing Xie Feng to swallow audibly.

Then, another small leg came out of the sphere, and a creature's butt was exposed to Xie Feng. Apparently, the thing living inside the now well-known egg was reversed so it had to walk out backward.

*Plop!*

The creature's head was stuck so when it finally came out completely, it fell on its butt to the ground. The creature shook its head ferociously and then looked with its big eyes at Xie Feng.

***

Read author notes!