HINLEY Yang and Yao Mei’er shook their heads repeatedly, unable to believe there could be an invisible bridge. Shirley Yang remarked, "In areas where energy is highly concentrated, human physical common sense ceases to function. Given the right conditions, even time and space can warp and distort, but the special air currents formed at the confluence of the valley aren't nearly powerful enough to generate such an intense energy field."

I gave a wry smile and said, "Old Comrade Sun Ninth Master certainly follows leadership directives thoroughly. And Shirley Yang, as a top student from the US Naval Academy, while I've seen my share of strange things in my life, I honestly don't believe in an invisible, intangible bridge either. But I believe the abyss before us is a bridge... a Soul-Scaring Bridge."

Professor Sun immediately refuted, "That’s utter nonsense! Do you intend for everyone to walk across on air currents? The mountain turbulence might be able to hold small stones, but where do they end up? Have you calculated the total weight of us, plus our gear? Forget taking one step to heaven; even half a step would send us plunging into the ravine. We must be rigorous, we must be pragmatic!"

I shook my head. I never said we had to step on air. Since the Guanshan Zhimi Fu mentioned—"Before the Soul-Scaring Platform, the Yin River spans the sky; the Immortal Bridge is unseen by the naked eye; Cast down the rock, take one step to heaven"—based on prior experience, there must be a corresponding element. Moreover, this 'T'-shaped gorge before the Dragon Gate is part of the Huashan Road. Therefore, I trust there should be a Shadow-Seizing Immortal Bridge ahead, 3.139., but we must figure out a way to locate it.

Shirley Yang conceded, "That makes sense, but even if we find the Unseen Immortal Bridge, crossing it is another matter. Have you considered that the unknown deceased at the tunnel entrance, who possessed Daoist texts, might have been a truth-seeker from a former dynasty? If he couldn't find the path into the Earth Immortal Village ancient tomb, he could have simply turned back. But the way he died suggests he did find the Unseen Immortal Bridge, yet lacked the courage to cross, unwilling to leave, and eventually died wandering the tunnel."

Hearing Shirley Yang, I was immediately reminded of the frontline days, the gruesome scenes of soldiers killed or wounded by various landmines—many soldiers feared charging into battle, but dreaded those myriad, complex 'booby traps,' both overt and hidden.

As the saying goes, "All's fair in war." The unnamed corpse in the tunnel died inexplicably. Apart from a few scrolls of Daoist scripture, he had nothing else to reveal his identity. Ancient tombs, meticulously laid out across dynasties, often contained deceptive traps for tomb robbers. Perhaps that corpse and the Guanshan Zhimi Fu are both 'bait,' a 'booby trap' set by the Guanshan Taibao to lure grave robbers onto a path of no return.

These thoughts kept churning in my mind. My intuition, honed from constantly walking the line between life and death, told me: "These signs are too abnormal; we cannot afford to be careless!"

Realizing this, I told Professor Sun and Shirley Yang, "Regarding the Unseen Immortal Bridge, I estimate that even if we find it, crossing it will involve enormous risk. The question now is: can we afford that risk? What if it’s a trap with no return? How do we judge whether the Guanshan Zhimi Fu in the tunnel is genuine or not?"

Sun Ninth Master declared confidently, "That’s very easy. If you can somehow make the Unseen Immortal Bridge appear, with my extensive experience in archaeology, I can certainly verify its authenticity. A fake bridge cannot escape my sharp eyes. However, looking at the latter half of the Guanshan Zhimi Fu, much of the content aligns with my investigation results. So, I believe if the Unseen Immortal Bridge truly exists, the stone carvings on the stele are eighty percent accurate."

I pondered briefly and agreed with the logic. There was no use talking about other things; the immediate priority was finding the "Unseen Immortal Bridge." Shirley Yang and I discussed it briefly, but neither of us knew what kind of bridge could be invisible to the naked eye. Shirley Yang speculated there might be some alternative means...

I thought, "Cast down the rock, take one step to heaven." What does "Cast down the rock" mean? Does it mean leaping into the air while holding onto a stone? A sudden realization struck me: "No, 'Cast down the rock' comes first, then 'take one step to heaven.' If it meant desperately holding a rock and jumping down, it would be 'Take one step to heaven by casting down the rock.' 'Cast down the rock, take one step to heaven' might mean one must first push down a rock before taking the leap of faith."

I scanned the area; there were many shattered rocks of varying sizes in the tunnel. Standing there agonizing over the meaning wouldn't help. Regardless of the exact method, let's pick up a large stone and push it down to test things out first. I called Fatty over for help. The two of us approached a mountain boulder weighing several hundred catties. We pushed it twice; the giant rock barely budged, suggesting it could be moved.

The others started to move forward to help, but Fatty waved them off, "Everyone, stay back. Clear some space for Fatty; don't stand where you’ll crush your own legs." With that, he loosened his belt a couple of notches, worried he might snap it when exerting force.

Fatty was eager to show off and pushed me aside. Fearing he might overexert himself and get swept away by the turbulence along with the rock, I quickly attached the bearing strap of my 'Flying Tiger Claw' to his shoulder, with the other three bracing behind us for protection.

Fatty rolled up his sleeves, spat into his palms, adopted an archery stance, braced his shoulder against the massive rock, took a deep breath, channeled his energy to his core, shook his sturdy muscles, and roared like thunder, "Move!"

The huge boulder crashed forward. Due to its immense weight and proximity to the tunnel exit, it wasn't immediately sucked into the turbulence before the "Dragon Gate." It tumbled against the cliff face and fell into the deep, misty ravine below.

Since the canyon walls were extremely close together, the rock bounced and rolled downward, colliding with the cliffs, creating a dull, rumbling echo. From the tunnel entrance, we perceived the gorge to be bottomless; it took quite some time before we heard the sound of the massive stone finally hitting the bottom.

Seeing Fatty successfully send the boulder down, yet no invisible bridge or any other anomaly appeared before the "Soul-Scaring Platform," the others grew dejected. Just as they were about to devise another plan, we suddenly heard a chorus of buzzing noises close to our ears.

The boulder still hadn't hit the bottom. In addition to the continuous booming echoes against the cliff face, it sounded as if a thousand pots of boiling water had simultaneously erupted. Immediately, the sound of boiling water morphed into the crackling of frying salt beans—a dense, chaotic noise that made our ear bones ache. I thought to myself, "Pushing down the rock caused trouble. What now?"

Professor Sun, Yao Mei’er, and the little sister were all startled and frightened by the dense, chaotic clamor, instinctively taking two steps back. Shirley Yang raised her Vajra Umbrella in front of them, saying, "Don't panic, the Unseen Immortal Bridge is probably appearing."

The complex, dense noise in our ears suddenly intensified. The feeling was akin to standing before the Gates of Hell, facing countless vengeful spirits struggling to escape the netherworld, shaking one's spirit and rendering one helpless. I retracted the 'Flying Tiger Claw' and handed it back to Shirley Yang, secretly clenching my fist, feeling deeply uneasy: "Could it be that the Immortal Bridge before the Soul-Scaring Platform is built by Yin soldiers? The arrangement of the Earth Immortal Village ancient tomb is truly beyond even immortal comprehension..."

Fatty's face also changed color. He assumed a ready stance, aiming his Repeating Crossbow at the empty space. Whatever came up, he'd fire dozens of armor-piercing darts at it first.

Just as everyone was filled with apprehension and fear, a plume of black smoke suddenly shot up from the bottom of the gorge. I was greatly alarmed and completely taken by surprise. I yelled, "What is that?" Looking closely, my eyes nearly crossed: it was countless palm-sized Gold-Threaded Swifts, scared out of their nests, immediately caught in the canyon's turbulence, swirling together in dense flocks. The number was dazzling—easily over a hundred thousand.

Gold-Threaded Swifts are skilled at nesting in sheer, perilous cliffs, and they are colonial creatures. Sometimes, a single swift cave can house hundreds of thousands of them. Their nests, formed from solidified saliva, are extremely precious. Since swift caves are often located in incredibly dangerous terrain, those who harvest the nests must be adept at rock climbing, with high risks matching high rewards.

It turned out that numerous Gold-Threaded Swift nesting caves were hidden on the cliff faces beneath the "Soul-Scaring Platform." The rock Fatty pushed down had startled the massive colony into flight. Swifts are colloquially called "Wind Drillers" in folk lore; they are exceptionally skilled at flying with the wind, and legend even claims they can sleep in the air. Moreover, their speed is astonishing, flashing like lightning when they dart past. Now, tens of thousands of these swifts rushed skyward, reaching the canyon mouth where they were immediately caught by the invisible airflow of the "Yin River."

Gold-Threaded Swifts prefer to flock together. Caught in the vortex, they were packed so tightly that gaps were almost non-existent. More groups of swifts poured up from the gorge bottom, continuously joining the avian formation.

The airflow, which had converged from three surrounding deep gorges high above, was instantly blocked by the dense mass of Gold-Threaded Swifts. The invisible "Yin River" spanning the sky was instantly filled. The tens of thousands of birds, held back by the turbulent currents surging from several directions, formed an incredible "Bird Bridge" in the 'T'-shaped gorge.

I sucked in a cold breath: "So the Unseen Immortal Bridge... is constructed by a massive flock of Gold-Threaded Swifts!" Gazing at the churning, intertwining thousands of swifts before me, seemingly frozen in the wind, what I witnessed was almost unbelievable.

But I knew this spectacular scene could only last a fleeting moment. As more and more swifts poured out from the cliffside caves, the birds would soon break free of the turbulence and scatter with the wind, and the "Unseen Immortal Bridge" would vanish again.

To wait until all the Gold-Threaded Swifts returned to their nests to reform the bridge—who knew how long that would take? If we were to risk mortality for immortality, we had to cast aside life and death now and step onto this "Bird Bridge," treading upon the flying swifts to charge toward the "Dragon Gate" before the tomb palace of the Wuyang King.

I wasn't sure if the tightly packed Gold-Threaded Swifts could bear a man's weight, and crossing this bridge was like flying across waves on foot; one misstep would mean falling into the thousand-foot abyss. Beyond the bridge, at the Dragon Gate, fortune and disaster were unknown. Once we crossed the "Immortal Bridge," we certainly wouldn't be able to retreat anytime soon. Could the Earth Immortal's "Guanshan Zhimi Fu" truly be trusted?

Philosophers say, "Character determines destiny," because character influences the many choices made along life's path. It can also be understood as, "Life is composed of countless choices." I have always been someone willing to take risks, but to make me commit fully, I need at least a thirty percent chance of success. Right now, I don't even have a five percent confidence level. It wasn't that I was afraid to cross; I was afraid of falling into a trap once I made it across.

These thoughts flashed through my mind, but the current situation didn't allow for much deliberation. I glanced at the people around me, wanting to gauge their thoughts—should we remain rock-steady and observe the changes, perhaps waiting half a day until we were fully confident?

Fatty beside me was trembling as he watched, cursing, "What a scheming old grave robber this Guanshan man is! He must have been separated from his lover for years, otherwise, why would he pull a trick like building a magpie bridge on the seventh day of the seventh month? This bird bridge isn't meant for walking!"

Professor Sun, however, was overjoyed, shouting, "This is a miraculous Immortal Bridge! Wang Fatty, you and Hu Bayi are always bragging about being brave men who dare to do anything! What now? Scared? This is the ultimate danger, stepping to heaven in one leap. Just step across boldly! The Dragon Bone Divination Map is right ahead, and the Gold-Threaded Swift Bridge could scatter at any moment—we must hurry across!"

Fatty grabbed Professor Sun, "What brave man? Everyone on that bridge will turn into tofu mush! Fatty I..." Before he finished speaking, he suddenly rushed forward, stumbled, and stepped onto the "Immortal Bridge" formed by the Gold-Threaded Swifts. The turbulence in the gorge buffeted him wildly. He seemed to struggle to stand up on the pile of birds, but wherever his hands and feet landed, they immediately sank, and he tumbled forward along the Gold-Threaded Swift Bridge.

I knew Fatty had always suffered from acrophobia—a psychological barrier. He didn't have unusual reactions, just weak legs and dizziness. Sometimes, under specific material conditions, he could overcome it, like taking medication to sleep on airplanes. In my view, this wasn't a major issue, but the fact that he charged onto the Swift Bridge first was completely out of character. I was unprepared for this and didn't even have time to reach out and stop him.

But I immediately realized that dragging him back was now impossible. Given the situation, we had no choice but to follow suit—we couldn't let him face disaster alone on the other side. I shouted to the others, "Don't be afraid, this bridge can hold people! Everyone cross!"

Amidst the chaotic cries of the swifts, I grabbed Professor Sun, and Shirley Yang pulled Yao Mei’er, rushing onto the bridgehead. I heard nothing but the howling wind whistling past my ears. In an instant, we were sucked in by the air current, feeling almost weightless, unable to exert any force beneath our feet, involuntarily tumbling forward.