Yet, despite exerting every ounce of my strength, no matter how hard I tried, the Great-Mouth Monster remained completely oblivious. It meticulously sniffed me from top to bottom, and then, whether intentionally or not, it turned its head and cast a glance in my direction, imbued with a certain mocking leer. It then turned back, fixed its attention on my back, hissed twice—as if warming up—before opening its massive maw and slowly drawing closer. It moved back and forth, seemingly searching for the perfect spot to bite, all while copious amounts of saliva dripped down its jaws…

Already frightened half to death, this sight caused me to let out a piercing scream, my vision immediately went dark, and I fainted.

...

“Technician Luo… Technician Luo…” My shoulder was being grasped and shaken relentlessly. My head felt like it was splitting open, and the real nuisance was the persistent voice calling my name right next to my ear—it was Old Li’s voice.

My entire body felt limp, my mind a complete fog. I hadn't snapped back to reality yet, nor did I intend to open my eyes to confirm if it was truly Old Li calling me. Hadn't he and Zhuoma Yangjin turned into the Faceless One to tear me apart? Forget it, don't look. It’s a hallucination, all of it is a hallucination.

“Technician Luo, it’s me, Li Zeng. Open your eyes and look at me…” Old Li’s voice sounded anxious, perhaps afraid I was dead? I should be dead.

I remained unresponsive, telling myself these were illusions, the deathbed visions. Death-bed visions must be like this, making you fully believe in a miraculous escape, that everything is fine, only to reveal—just as you cling to life—that all beauty was a phantom, a trick played by God to make people cherish life, to leave them wanting more, so they’ll yearn for another lifetime as a human.

If there were another life, I wished I were a plant. Regardless of whether life was short or long, if I truly had to enter the cycle of reincarnation, I hoped I would be a plant. No joys or sorrows, no partings or reunions, no anger or happiness—perhaps then I would finally be content.

Thinking this, a sudden calm settled over me. The events of the past twenty-odd years flickered through my mind like passing shadows. There were beautiful memories, but they were all in the past. The present and the future were nothing but pain and terror. Fine, if that’s the case, I might as well cease existing right here. I had the courage to live, but since God wouldn't allow me to survive peacefully, sending the Great-Mouth Monster and the Faceless One, then neither my life nor my death could be blamed on me. No one could call me a coward for not wanting to live.

“Technician Luo, Luo Lian!” Old Li’s voice sounded distant, yet strangely tangible right by my ear.

Having nothing left to cherish about life, to die under such an illusion might not be so bad. With this thought, a faint smile touched my lips as I settled in to await the arrival of death. I wondered if I would cross the Bridge of Helplessness and drink Meng Po’s soup—I hoped so. There were too many things I desperately needed to forget entirely.

“Slap!” A loud smack landed on my face, the searing pain causing me to flinch violently.

“Luo Lian!” Old Li’s frustration erupted, and as his voice faded, a palm, accompanied by the rush of wind, moved toward me again. For some inexplicable reason, my hearing was acutely sharp; I instinctively jerked my head sideways, dodging the blow.

“Luo Lian, if you don’t open your eyes and look at me now, I won’t hold back my hand,” Old Li huffed, though the anger was laced with genuine concern.

It didn't feel like an illusion. I groggily forced my eyes open and saw—it really was Old Li! It really was! It really was!

“Old Li…” I frantically reached out to pinch him, needing to feel if he was the real, flesh-and-blood Old Li. Old Li didn’t flinch; he willingly extended his arm for me to grab. I squeezed hard—there was warmth, there was resilience; he was a living person… Wait, hadn’t he turned into the Faceless One earlier? How could this be? At this realization, my face drained of color, and my hand recoiled as if seared by a branding iron. I stared at Old Li in sheer terror.

“Technician Luo, everything you saw before was an illusion, it was fake. Don’t be afraid, I am real now. Trust me,” Old Li said gently. “Whatever you saw before, it was false. Only the Li Zeng standing before you now is a concrete reality. Don’t be scared; trust me.”

All fake? I pinched my own palm hard. Fake? The lingering sting from Old Li’s slap still burned fiercely on my cheek.

But… I was still confused. When I first fell, didn't I feel a dull ache in my chest and even vomit blood?

“No, you’re the fake one,” I mumbled blankly, pointing at him.

Seeing that I finally reacted, Old Li was overjoyed. He quickly insisted, “I am real, I am real. Technician Luo, there is a strange power here that manifests different illusions according to a person’s inner state. The more you fear, the more you see what terrifies you most. If you let your fear and despair consume you, you will indeed die here very quickly.” His tone became earnest as he spoke, and he helped me sit halfway up. I didn't resist, but I quickly closed my eyes again—I dared not hope that the Old Li before me was truly real.

“Technician Luo, believe me. From this moment forward, completely discard every thought in your mind. No matter how regrettable your past was, no matter how terrified you are now, don't think about any of it. Follow me without distraction; I will lead you out.” Pausing here, he continued slowly, “Technician Luo, there are actually no monsters or traps here. If you die now, you will die from your inner demons. In other words, you are simply scaring yourself to death.”

Old Li’s words were a sudden awakening: “Dying from inner demons!”

“No!” I shouted, “I don’t want to die from inner demons!”

“That’s good. Now…” Old Li gently patted my shoulder. “Now, slowly open your eyes, and… look, there are actually no monsters around you at all. There’s even… look, there’s light! We can completely figure out a way out.”

Old Li’s words held a certain magic. I slowly opened my eyes and looked where he directed. Sure enough, just as he said, a large weight lifted from my chest, and I began to tentatively believe he was real.

“What about Zhuoma Yangjin?” I suddenly asked. “Didn’t she turn into the Faceless One with you?” As soon as the words left my mouth, my hazy awareness registered that I had asked the wrong thing, and I looked at Old Li with some embarrassment.

Old Li smiled slightly. “Technician Luo, Zhuoma Yangjin’s fate was unknown even before we left Mount Qiangbako. How could she appear here with me?”

Hearing him say the words fate unknown, a pang of grief struck me, and I became fully lucid.

That’s right, this was the real Old Li, his face etched with worry as he looked at me.

“Old Li, I’m fine. I’m okay,” I managed, suppressing the indescribable sorrow in my heart, and speaking in a completely normal tone as I met his eyes.

Old Li scrutinized my expression carefully. Once he confirmed that I was genuinely alright, he let out a breath of profound relief. “Technician Luo, you’ve finally come back to life.” He added, “When your eyes were closed, your complexion shifted from ashen gray to flushed excitement. If I had arrived any later, you truly would have died here—died from your inner demons.”

My mind lingered on Zhuoma Yangjin, whose fate was unknown. In those illusions, her frightened eyes were so clear and helpless. We survived, but she remains lost.

Still, I didn't want Old Li to know my true feelings, so I forced a smile onto my face. “I’m fine, how could I die!” Saying this, I felt certain that I had truly returned to life.

“But… your expression just now was really frightening,” Old Li said, still worried. “Technician Luo, come here. For now, treat me as the older brother you trust most. You don’t need to do anything, you don’t need to think about anything. Give yourself over to me completely, treat yourself as a simpleton without a single thought, and let me lead you out.”

I had never heard Old Li speak such sentimental words. My eyes involuntarily grew hot. I reached out and patted his shoulder, unable to utter a word.

“Technician Luo, luckily I understand Qimen Bagua and always carry a treasure with me. Otherwise, both you and I would have been finished here,” Old Li said with a slight smile, trying to sound casual.

I returned a weak smile. “What treasure are you carrying? Does it have such great power?” Though I said that, the sorrow in my heart couldn't be suppressed.

Perhaps Old Li sensed it, because he didn’t rush to lead me out immediately. “How about we rest a bit first? It turns out I also have a few things I haven’t told you,” Old Li said, sitting down on the ground himself before beckoning me to join him.

I sat down next to Old Li, my mind drifting to other matters, and asked somewhat blankly, “What story?”

Old Li didn't reply. He first took out a small, circular bronze disk from his own person. It was no bigger than his palm, exquisitely crafted and shiny. It was densely etched with fine lines and featured three circles of varying sizes, marked with small characters. The light was dim, so I couldn't make out the specific writing, but I immediately understood—it was a Luopan, a geomantic compass.

As for how precious it was, I couldn't tell. I looked at Old Li with suspicion. “Isn’t this just a Luopan?”

Old Li’s expression grew serious. “Technician Luo, don’t underestimate this compass. My master passed this to me on his deathbed; it contains his life's work. I always keep it close to my body and would only use it in the direst of emergencies.”

“Alright, even so—can we walk out using it?” I made no attempt to hide my skepticism.

Old Li didn't argue. He thrust the compass in front of me, signaling me to look closely. Unfortunately, I didn't understand much about these things. Beyond knowing that the innermost small circle was the Heaven Pool, the middle circle was the Inner Plate, and the rest was the Outer Plate, at most I knew the fine characters inscribed on the compass indicated the Eight Trigrams directions and the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. But I had absolutely no idea about their function or how to use them.

I shook my head dumbly. “I don’t understand.”

Old Li was greatly surprised to hear this. “Technician Luo, you can’t even see what’s so obviously anomalous about this?”

His words only made me more bewildered; I truly hadn't noticed anything wrong… So I shook my head again, still perplexed. “I don’t know.”

Old Li pointed to the compass and gently instructed, “Look, what’s different between the Three Mountains in the East and the Three Mountains in the West?”