Nie Chuan seemed to suddenly realize something at that moment and exclaimed, "No! Your plan isn't right!"

I smiled faintly, thinking it was a good thing he was only realizing it now, and waved him off.

Nie Chuan continued, "Your plan lets both of us get through, but you can't get up!"

Though my heart ached, I forced a smile and said, "It's alright. I believe the two of you can rescue Jie Yuting. As long as one person can get out, we have hope. Just as you said, you can come back for me later."

Nie Chuan shook his head and said, "The situation now is different from before; in that secret room…"

I turned and glanced toward the deep shadows, saying, "It's fine, I'll just wait for you here. I won't go back to the secret room. It's very safe here."

Nie Chuan hesitated, then looked up at Da Xiong, whose face was blank with confusion on the rooftop, and said, "Alright then, but you must wait for us to return."

I nodded, forcing a calm demeanor, and said, "Don't worry, just be careful."

Nie Chuan gave me one last look and said no more, lifting his foot and stepping forward.

This time, the staircase allowed him passage directly, without even the slightest shift in direction.

It was likely that the Fisherman knew if the path shifted again, I would reach the top floor much faster than the last time.

Watching Nie Chuan walk safely to the rooftop, I finally breathed a sigh of relief, waving to them under the faint glow of the cold flame.

The cold flame Da Xiong held was our last one. This meant if they left the stairwell, I would only have a few glow sticks left for light.

Of course, I didn't tell them about this situation, as it would only make them worry for me.

The two of them watched me from the rooftop, their faces etched with worry, unwilling to leave.

I told them, "The cold flame is almost out. Go quickly. Instead of lingering, it’s better to finish the mission sooner and come back to get me."

They exchanged a glance, then looked at the cold flame in their hands, before finally sighing and slowly heading toward the exit.

As the light gradually vanished, my heart grew steadily colder.

At first, I could still hear Da Xiong asking Nie Chuan, "What was the principle behind getting out of the maze just now? It looked so miraculous…"

Later, even their voices disappeared, and I was plunged into absolute darkness.

To conserve the little remaining light source, I didn't activate the glow sticks.

Even so, thanks to my Night Eyes, I could still make out everything within ten meters around me. If anyone wanted to ambush me, it wouldn't be so easy.

Once enveloped in absolute darkness, I realized my Night Eyes seemed to have improved; I could even clearly see the fingerprints on my own hands.

Absolute darkness, coupled with absolute silence, initially made my heart pound wildly.

Recalling the disturbances in the secret room, I felt a distinct apprehension.

However, as time passed and nothing happened around me, my agitation gradually subsided.

I sat in place for about twenty minutes. Feeling bored, I reached into my backpack and discovered something bulky in the side pouch.

It was then I remembered the ancient book I had retrieved from the safe.

I hadn't had a chance to look at it before, and now was the perfect opportunity to study it.

Moreover, the characters in the book were all written in luminous ink, so even without light, I could clearly make out the faintly glowing diagrams and script using my Night Eyes.

I took the book out of my backpack and opened to the first page.

"The Method of Qi Cultivation: Draw the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into the body, circulate it through the celestial orbit, forging the four limbs and a hundred frames. Over time, the sinews and bones become strong, like iron. After years, one can fly and burrow underground, controlling all elemental forces of heaven and earth."

Reading this description, I was instantly speechless.

It was practically copied from modern cultivation novels, reminding me of countless knock-off martial arts manuals.

"Could it be that I am about to embark on the path of cultivation, endure eighty-one tribulations, and finally achieve true immortality?" I mimicked the tone of a protagonist from a cultivation novel, uttering the line.

Then I made myself break out in goosebumps all over.

After managing to smooth down the goosebumps, I turned to the second page and saw a diagram showing an anatomical dissection of a human body. The figure was sitting cross-legged, and all the acupoints within the body were drawn on the chart.

"Well… no one can see me right now anyway, might as well give it a try?" I muttered to myself in the dark.

After conquering the sensation of tens of thousands of goosebumps once more, I began to sit in the cross-legged posture shown in the diagram.

The diagram indicated that if I concentrated my mind in meditation, I would feel the qi and nian (energy/intent) between heaven and earth continuously flowing into my body from the Baihui point on the top of my head.

But after sitting for a long time, I didn't feel so much as a fart.

Only when my legs went numb did I suddenly stand up, toss the book aside, and stretch.

"What kind of nonsense is this? That old dead man must have had a sick sense of humor. If you can believe this stuff, you can probably buy the manual for the Nine Swords of Dugu at Xinhua Bookstore," I grumbled to myself.

Yet, just at that moment, I noticed that my body seemed different; it was as if enveloped in a faint halo of green light.

I waved my hand through it and discovered that this gaseous substance scattered like mist.

And I also smelled a fresh fragrance, the kind emitted by plants after a rain shower.

This fragrance was invigorating, and I couldn't help but take several deep breaths.

As I did, I felt a wave of comfort wash over me, a tingling sensation between my bones and muscles.

"Damn it all, could this zhenqi and nianli scattered in the air actually be real?" I felt a surge of disbelief.

Taking a few more breaths of the green gas, I resolved to meditate again according to the book’s instructions.

This time, I was truly stunned. When I tried to draw the qi using the method described, the green gas actually grew denser and no longer entered my body through my nose or mouth, but was instead drawn directly into my head from above.

My head felt as if it had been struck by a faint electrical current—tingling yet clear. My mind was exceptionally lucid.

This sensation was addictive, like drug use, although I had never taken drugs.

Absorbing the gas like this, before I knew it, I entered a state of Ding (meditative absorption).

Ding, in essence, is a state where the brain is in a dormant phase, yet not asleep. Specifically, although the body and brain are at rest, I was perfectly aware of everything happening around me.

Modern cultivation methods, such as meditation, can also induce this state, which scientists have yet to fully explain.

In any case, it was an utterly marvelous sensation.

The numerous mysteries that had plagued my heart and the images of life-and-death moments kept flashing through my mind. But upon entering the state of Ding, these worries seemed to be cast aside. I only felt an unprecedented comfort.

Ding and sleep are separated by only a single thought. As a novice, my state of Ding lasted less than an hour before I truly fell asleep.

But sleeping in that position was clearly unwise. Soon, I felt my head smack against the stair railing beside me, and I woke up instantly.

Just as I woke up, before I could even wipe the drool from my mouth, an odd sound drifted up from the darkness below.

It was the sound of gongs and drums, accompanied by the low murmurs of opera singers.

This time, I heard it very clearly, and crucially, the sound was approaching me, growing nearer and nearer.

Moreover, I could hear countless footsteps ascending the stairs—clearly many people or other entities were climbing up.

What kind of procession was climbing the stairs? A wave of panic washed over me.

But I had nowhere left to hide now; I could only brace myself to meet whatever was coming up.

As I was thinking this, two or three small, masked, slender monkeys appeared in the stairwell not far below my feet, capering wildly.

Behind these few monkeys came a massive procession, arriving with their gongs and drums beating, and their singing and humming filling the air.