Chapter 102: Chapter 102: Daylight
They moved in flawless unison—a silent action without command, instinct shaped by shared peril. Leng Yue stepped forward first, her blade-arm rising as she pulled at one of the energy-laced threads anchored to the pedestal.
The strands, once taut with latent power, recoiled like wilted roots yanked from sacred soil. They curled inward and withered into shimmering dust. ~shhhfff~
At the same time, Li Wei manipulated the gears humming near the base. His fingers danced along their surface, nudging the mechanisms to quietude. With a final press against a glyph inset into the jade claw’s interior curve, a light winked out.
For one breathless moment, stillness returned. Then the pedestal stirred. It was an event that had come as a surprise to both of them. Numerous qi waves burst forth, creating a scene that would blind a normal human
Soft light poured from its seams, cascading across the floor like water lit by moonfire. The hemisphere turned, slow and deliberate, as though stirred from ages of slumber. Above it, the air shimmered. Shapes began to unfurl—first indistinct, then forming with grandeur.
Dragons of starlight wound skyward, coiling majestically. Phoenixes rose with tail feathers trailing embers, wings outspread in radiant arcs. Their wings beat soundlessly, yet the aura they exuded was deafening in spirit. A holy procession of phantom beasts.
"Such illusions..." Leng Yue whispered. "Not simply for display. These are markers."
Golden rings manifested in succession, rising into the air and circling the pedestal. Each ring bore intricate patterns, characters, and constellations etched with precision. They moved slowly, almost lazily, as if inviting inspection. The light caught their embellishments, projecting glimmers across the murals on the walls.
Li Wei’s gaze sharpened. "These are not mere wards. They are celestial codices. Each one part of a mechanism far older than any forge or hand we know."
He reached forth and touched the nearest ring. It was warm to the skin—unnaturally so. At his touch, the astral gear shifted—click—and slid into a new alignment. The projections overhead wavered, reacting like ripples across a still pond.
~ting~
The chime was clear and bright, like jade struck by a silk-covered mallet. One portion of the projection dimmed, the phoenix fading slightly.
Leng Yue stepped forward, attention seized. "That must be a configuration point," she said. Her voice held more awe than question. "We must set the rings into the correct order. But how many...?"
Li Wei’s eyes narrowed. "Seven scenes," he said, glancing around them. His hand swept the chamber. "Seven rings. Each mural, perhaps, corresponds to one. Their meaning... their sequence—that is the key."
The closest mural caught his eye: a weaver bending over a vast loom, the threads forming mountains and storms in the pattern. Another showed a monk seated upon a burning tree, the flames licking his robes but never devouring them.
Leng Yue studied them with arms folded, her expression tight. "Seven virtues? Seven sins? Seven paths of cultivation?"
"Or the seven guiding principles of this ruin’s makers," Li Wei murmured, almost to himself. "Either way... we must translate story into mechanism."
They separated again, the silence of their motion echoing against the stone. Leng Yue ran her fingers along the carved lines of one mural, tracing a monk’s hand as it pointed toward a constellation carved into the corner. She stepped back, tilted her head.
Li Wei moved among the murals, muttering: "Perseverance... Transcendence... Sacrifice..."
Hints lay in the smallest strokes. A single extra line in a symbol’s edge. A spiral carved subtly into a stone the size of a coin. They deciphered, argued softly, debated over which sequence bore truth. What came first—creation or contemplation? Was the tree of fire a metaphor, or a real trial passed down in rite?
Leng Yue finally stepped away from a mural of a dying sage passing a scroll to a child. "Begin the alignment. I believe I have the third and fifth rings identified."
Li Wei approached the pedestal. With each ring he turned, a sound followed:
~klik... klik... klik... klik... klik... klik... klik~
Seven soft clicks, one after the other, each locking into its chosen place.
The chamber trembled with sudden vigor.
The projections above flared—then exploded into a cascade of motes, vanishing like ashes caught in wind. For an instant, nothing moved. No light, no sound, only the charged stillness of the aftermath.
Then the ceiling above them rumbled.
~WHHRRRRRRRRRR~
A thunderous groan, like mountains moving. Gears unseen rotated. The walls of the ruin vibrated with the magnitude of shifting architecture.
Leng Yue turned her gaze upward. "What was that?" she breathed.
Her answer came in chrome: sharp, metallic spikes emerged from the ceiling, descending slowly. Not falling to impale—but hovering, menacing, rotating.
"It seems our success has woken something," Li Wei said grimly. "Either a defense... or a warning."
Their eyes scanned the chamber. Along one wall, the silver gears began to spin violently, shrieking in protest. Sparks flew. Then the motion faltered... slowed... and stopped entirely. A long hiss of heat and strain expelled into the room.
A section of the wall dimmed. Its glow extinguished as if life had fled it.
~CHUNK~
The pedestal’s base cracked. Stone crumbled from the ceiling. And amidst the rubble—a seam of light. Thin at first, but widening.
Li Wei was already moving. His robes swept behind him as he dashed to the edge, palm extended toward the slit of illumination. When his fingers passed through it, he felt—nothing. No resistance, no solidness. Only cold wind.
"There’s a path through," he said.
Without hesitation, he struck the crumbled edge with his palm. THOOM! The stone gave way and fell into ruin.
And there, waiting beyond, was light. Pure and clean.
Not torchlight, nor crystal glow. Daylight.
They stood still for a moment, breathing it in. Leng Yue’s expression softened, but her eyes stayed wary.
"Let us not trust the end before the final step," she said. "We do not know where this light leads."
Li Wei nodded. "Even a rabbit burrow can end in a tiger’s maw."
Still, they stepped forward.