Then there was a sudden nothingness beneath his feet, and he plummeted downwards. Instantly, Zhou Zishu understood why they had all vanished, and in the split-second, he only had time to shield Zhang Chengling with his embrace, the pitch darkness all around him. As if it were alive, the spot where he had missed a step earlier sealed itself back up unnoticed.

He did not know how deep this pit was--Zhou Zishu silently questioned, did this not mean that they were falling to their deaths? Thus he abruptly gathered his qi, and slapped his palm on the rock wall diagonally downwards from them. Using an unknown amount of force, he smashed a crater into the rock wall. Chunks of rock and dirt went flying, but the speed at which they were falling was reduced by quite a bit. Zhou Zishu took this opportunity to kick the wall lightly, demonstrating his expert mastery of that qinggong which left not a single trace.

Except that his figure jerked to a halt for a second, like it had stuck itself to the wall; ultimately, he had overestimated himself a little, and forgotten that his martial ability was long incomparable to what it used to be. Combined with carrying such a big lad like Zhang Chengling, this single strike caused his internal qi to stagnate where it was vital. Not good, Zhou Zishu inwardly thought, but glimpsed the rock wall which he had smashed in quake once again. Before he could react, a sharp blade popped out of a crack in the rock wall, and nearly speared the two of them like candied hawthorns on a stick.

The two people suffered a fright; with no other choice, Zhou Zishu could only withdraw the force he exerted on his leg, and let them continue falling.

Luckily, they were already nearing the bottom at this instant. Zhou Zishu landed on his feet and let go of Zhang Chengling. Thankfully, the small luminescent pearl[20] he had used to illuminate their surroundings when he had fallen into the underground cave with Wen Kexing that time was still on him, and although there was only a weak glow, it was enough for him to see. Zhou Zishu did not know how he had so much affinity for tunnels; he thought, could it be that his luck in life clashed with that of a gopher[21]?

At this moment, Zhang Chengling piped up in a small voice, “Shifu…”

Zhou Zishu shushed him and whispered in reply, “Don’t make a sound.”

But Zhang Chengling was so frightened that even his voice had changed pitch. “No...shifu, look…”

This time round, he did not need Zhang Chengling to point it out. Zhou Zishu had seen it too--in this narrow, cramped stone chamber, not far away from them, there were two glowing eyes looking back at them.