I was utterly bewildered by such professional terminology; I understood nothing. I stared blankly at Old Li and said, "I couldn't tell."

Old Li looked at me with resignation, thought for a moment, and then suddenly realized, "Oh—so you young people don't understand these things!" He said it as if he were the elder.

I managed a helpless smile. "We really don't."

Old Li scratched his head, looking troubled. "How should I explain this to you? Let's put it this way... you must know this. The Three Mountains of the East correspond to Jia, Mao, and Yi, and the Bagua correspond to Zhen and Li positions." This was even more technical, and I was completely lost.

"Don't rush," Old Li said good-naturedly. "It's fine if you don't understand, but look, look at the compass. Didn't I just tell you that Jia, Yi, and Mao belong to the East? Look at the compass..." He pointed with his finger at the position of the characters Jia, Yi, and Mao on the compass, "Didn't you notice that this direction is not East?"

It was then that I saw the clue. Indeed, the characters Jia, Yi, and Mao were positioned exactly where the true West was marked. However, even though I understood this detail, I was still confused about what exactly was wrong.

Old Li continued, "Technician Luo, you are a very clever person; how could you miss this point? Look again at where East is marked on the compass." He pointed at the compass and had me look again. "In the true East, aren't those the characters Geng, You, and Xin, and the Bagua signs Dui and Kan?" He looked up, his face full of expectation, hoping I would grasp it immediately.

Now I understood: the positions for East and West were completely swapped. Therefore, perhaps everything in this cave was the opposite. I quickly shared this thought with Old Li.

Old Li hesitated for a moment. "Yes, you could put it that way, but not entirely... It's not that everything is reversed. Rather, most of what you see should be an illusion. Here, the Heavenly Stems, Earthly Branches, and Bagua are all scrambled, which in turn affects everyone here, causing their thoughts to become chaotic, leading to phantoms."

So that was it. I finally understood that everything was an illusion. With this realization, I presumed that Zhuoma Yangjin couldn't possibly be as miserable as she had seemed. That unbearable sorrow immediately lessened considerably.

"Don't underestimate these illusions; they can kill people invisibly," Old Li solemnly warned me. "If you sink into grief and despair and cannot pull yourself out, then it will manifest what you fear most, first destroying you psychologically, and then scaring you to death."

I nodded to show I understood. Old Li still looked uneasy and cautioned me, "Technician Luo, you are impatient, and your emotions fluctuate greatly; you are the most susceptible. I am somewhat worried about you."

I couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed. I was twenty-five or twenty-six, yet I didn't know how to control my joys, anger, sorrow, or pleasure. In contrast, Old Li was not much older than me, yet he handled matters with great composure and experience.

Just as this thought crossed my mind, Old Li suddenly vanished before my eyes, replaced by myself, being pointed at and gossiped about by a crowd in broad daylight—as if saying what a useless man I was. A feeling of self-abandonment immediately surged into my heart.

It’s an illusion! I quickly reminded myself: "Illusion!" Fortunately, I snapped out of it quickly, and the phantom vanished immediately, Old Li reappearing before me. Even so, I broke out in a cold sweat; I hadn't realized this place could affect a person so swiftly.

Old Li seemed to notice I had nearly lost control and asked with concern, "Technician Luo, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I said, discreetly wiping the cold sweat from my face, repeating, "Fine, fine."

Old Li said earnestly, "Technician Luo, in here, you must trust me completely. Also, you must treat yourself as an idiot who knows nothing and thinks nothing—I really worry about you. You have too many thoughts churning inside; that is a major taboo."

I looked at Old Li; his eyes were full of sincerity and concern. However, I still had one question that needed answering before I could truly relax and stop thinking. "How do you know so much? How did you escape the illusions?" I asked.

Old Li smiled with a hint of undisguised self-satisfaction. "I am a legitimate descendant of Mount Mao. With a pure heart, evil things naturally cannot draw near to harm me—that’s what my Master told me on the first day of entry. As soon as I fell, I sensed something was wrong. I immediately calmed my mind, closing my eyes and focusing my breath. Then I faintly heard what sounded like your voice, but it was dark everywhere. I planned to take out the compass to find you, but then I discovered all the directions on it were chaotic. I immediately understood what was happening. Don't press me on why I understood; I told you I am a Taoist disciple and understand many things you don't. Hehe, Technician Luo, actually, the voice I heard, the one that sounded like you, was my own illusion. I walked a long way before finding you here. Since you were so far from me, there was no way I could have heard your voice."

Hearing his words, I completely relaxed, forcing myself not to think about anything, trusting Old Li implicitly to find a way out and lead us through.

"Technician Luo, I also have some good news," Old Li said cheerfully. "Precisely because all the directions here are reversed, we fell through the Shengmen (Gate of Life). If the directions weren't scrambled, the Shengmen would lead nowhere, let alone the Simen (Gate of Death). But here, this Shengmen is the Simen. That means there must be a genuine Shengmen for us to exit the cave!"

I didn't understand Old Li's talk of Shengmen and Simen, but I understood his ultimate point: we had a chance to live.

"That's best, let's hurry and look," I said, standing up impatiently.

Old Li stood up as well. "Finding the Shengmen is my job. You must remember my words: keep your mind focused on nothing else, or else—" He didn't finish, but I understood. So, I truly treated myself as a simpleton and stopped thinking about anything, just following Old Li.

Old Li strode forward. Several times he nearly bumped into rock formations but walked straight ahead without dodging. I presumed these too were illusions, so I followed him without hesitation, passing through the rocks.

As we walked, my mind gradually became clearer and emptier. I saw no more strange things, not even rocks. It seemed I wasn't someone heavily afflicted by inner demons, so I couldn't help but praise myself secretly. But before my pleasure could settle, another illusion appeared: I saw Matias lying on the ground, his face etched with despair.

I froze. I hadn't thought of him; how could his illusion appear? "Old Li, Old Li..." I quickly said, "Something's wrong. It seems illusions of things I didn't think of are appearing too?"

Unexpectedly, Old Li pointed calmly at the ground. "Do you see Matias?"

I nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes! Why can you see him too?"

Old Li didn't speak; he squatted down, reached out a hand, and gently patted Matias, calling his name.

"It's useless," I told Old Li. "It's an illusion... At first, I thought you were all living people, and the feel and touch were identical to real people, but in reality, it wasn't you at all, just air."

Old Li looked up at me, a half-smile on his face. "Technician Luo, this time it doesn't seem to be an illusion... it's Matias."

I still didn't believe it. "How is that possible? Didn't he set a trap for us to fall into? Is it necessary for him to come down himself to check if we're dead?"

Old Li shook his head. "No, it wasn't his trap. The layout here is completely set according to the Qimen Bagua's life and death gates; this was clearly the work of a master. Matias, no matter how skilled or how much Chinese classics he knows, couldn't achieve this... So, rest assured, he is also an innocent victim, and he is real. Come... help me lift him up to sit. He is still useful; we can't just let him die here." As Old Li spoke, he began helping Matias up, and I immediately moved to assist.

It was likely similar to my own awakening situation; soon, Old Li also woke Matias up. The first thing Matias said upon seeing Old Li was, "Li Zeng, why didn't you kill me?" He must have seen Old Li attacking him in his own illusion. If he had a clear conscience, why would he think that? I couldn't help but let out two cold laughs.

Old Li didn't say much, only repeated the explanation about the illusions to him. Matias was extremely intelligent and immediately grasped the situation. "I understand what you mean; I just need to empty my mind," he said.

Old Li nodded, then asked him if he could walk. If he could, he should lean on us and hurry, as they needed to find an exit quickly. Matias patted his chest and declared loudly, "I'm fine, I'm fine!"

If he was fine, that was good. Old Li stopped talking, stood up to lead the way, and told us to follow behind.

Matias walked beside me. Several times he tried to open his mouth to say something, but the words died in his throat. I watched clearly but ignored him, just following Old Li.

After walking for perhaps ten minutes—I didn't know how far or where we were—Old Li suddenly stopped and looked up at something. I quickly moved forward and followed Old Li's gaze. On the stone wall was a dense collection of Tibetan script, carved there, every stroke neat and orderly, showing no sign of panic. Analyzing the script, such composure suggested it wasn't carved while seeing a terrifying illusion.

"It must be recording something," I stated firmly to Old Li. "I can tell from the flow of the strokes. However... I can't make out the specific content; I don't know Tibetan." I finished with a look of helplessness.

Old Li also frowned. "This Tibetan script must be very important... but, but... neither of us knows Tibetan. What do we do?"

However, a miraculous thing happened. Matias ran over, approached Old Li and me, and volunteered, "I know Tibetan. What's written here is..."

"Wait, wait, wait... You said you know Tibetan?" I scrutinized Matias from head to toe. "I remember you claimed before you were a sinologist, a geologist. When did you become a funerary scholar?" I showed my suspicion openly.

"Can't a sinologist know Tibetan? Don't forget what my grandfather did. If I didn't know Tibetan, would I have been sent to Tibet to continue searching for the Eye of the Earth?" Matias expressed his dissatisfaction with my undisguised suspicion.

"Fine, then tell us what it says here?" I asked.