Chapitre 11: The Copper Bell in the Darkness

The cliffs that bordered the chasm were very steep and not a lot of light could reach the bottom. In fact nearly nothing could be seen from high above.

It gave the place a dark and mysterious feeling that conferred no want to go explore it.

But just as she decided to retreat, Shin Sumi caught a light from way down in the chasm.

It was a fleeting light that only lasted a second. Intrigued by it, Shin Sumi decided to wait around a bit longer while she calmed down from her earlier fright.

She didn't have to wait for long before the light shone deep down once again. This time Shin Sumi knew where to look.

"There is no mistaking it ! That is the reflection of the sun on water !"

Observing the other side of the chasm, Shin Sumi saw a number of big trees that plunged into the abyss in almost constant shadows. With the wind, sometimes the leaves would part enough for a tiny ray of sunlight to reach the bottom a few hundred meters below.

As the waters below scintillated in rhythm, Shin Sumi caught a glimpse of a rainbow.

"There is definitely a waterfall down there !"

***

Circling around the borders of the chasm for half a day, Shin Sumi finally found what she was looking for.

There, between the roots of an ancient tree with a trunk the size of a small house, she found a passageway that reached inside the ravine by a steep slope.

It was a tedious process to climb down, grabbing roots and stones here and there, and Shin Sumi was starting to wonder whether it was really a good idea or not. Any wrong step she took could be her last.

It took almost four hours for her to reach the bottom of the chasm. She had stopped a few times to rest sitting on boulders but the further down she went the longer it took to progress.

The cause behind this was because of the light. As it dimmed progressively it became harder and harder to find climbing holds. Added to that the fact that the day was reaching its end soon, it was night time when she finally reached the bottom.

"At least I'm sure that this place is not often visited by disciples !"

Shin Sumi was completely blind during the night and decided to rest in a large anfractuosity a few meters from the bottom.

She could only sit against the hard wall and it was very uncomfortable but she didn't want to risk her safety by exploring without light.

The whole time the nut had stayed out of her wrist, installed between her breasts as usual, ready to warn her of any danger to come.

Shin Sumi couldn't sleep for the entire night, the noises of the jungle above her reminding her at all times of the beasts lurking in the vicinity.

***

The sun had already been out for a few hours before it was high enough for its light to reach the bottom of the chasm. Shin Sumi could see the clouds bright in comparison to the dark rocks that made the cliff sides.

When she was confident enough in her sight to explore a bit, she left her resting cave to go South.

She had walked a long time to find a way down after she had seen the waterfall and she knew it would take at least an hour to find it.

Thankfully the chasm was in the form of a line and there was only one possible direction in which to walk.

There were two reasons why Shin Sumi had decided to enter the ravine instead of leaving, each one as good as the other.

The first reason was because of her quests. She had selected the ones with the name of plants she knew, and White Cloud Lotus was one of them.

White Cloud Lotus were small flowers that had leaves in the shape of lotus petals but the flower itself was round and white. It's appearance could definitely described as soft and cloudy. Shin Sumi had seen one or two of them in the market of the lower valley while she was shopping with Xiao Yue.

She had found the flowers beautiful and had asked the stall owner about it. Shin Sumi remembered him clearly saying that although not too rare, the White Cloud Lotus were hard to find because they only grew in dark places with a lot of humidity.

The plant required a lot of Yin Shinsoo energy to grow and was useful in the cultivation of spirit arts with cold attributes. A lot of Liquid Realm disciples adepts of such arts would pay a good amount of spirit stones for these flowers.

The second reason why Shin Sumi was excited to find waters was because of her own plans. She had come to the training grounds to use the little nut to refine seeds and plant them.

"I was careless the first time and the plants absorbed a lot of Shinsoo from the high grade spirit stone in the pond" she had thought, "this time I will plant them after they are refined and keep the spirit stone for myself !"

She needed as much Shinsoo as possible to cultivate and although it was nice to have spirit plants grow in just one night, Shin Sumi felt that it was a huge waste of resources.

According to her senses, Shin Sumi felt it strange that the darkness of the chasm didn't seem to go away as the sun rose higher above the clouds.

Even in the Dark Sky Starry Sect valleys obscured from the sun by the grey clouds as always, a difference could be seen between hours of the day.

But not here, not in the ravine.

"This darkness is strange. I can barely see a few meters in front of me even though the clouds are bright." said Shin Sumi with furrowed brows.

She walked for two incense sticks worth of time, comforting herself in the feeling of the little nut between her breasts.

"The nut will tell me if there is any danger. I don't have to worry, it has never failed me so far ! I just have to trust it again and keep going."

Shin Sumi felt that something was off without knowing what. The further along she went the more the feeling grew inside her.

She could hear her heart thumping a little bit quicker than before and ...

"My heart ! I can hear it beating !"

It was nothing too strange, she was alive after all. But it made her understand what was wrong all this time.

"Why is everything so silent ? I can't hear any beast nor the sound of the wind entering the ravine. Even the rustling of the leaves is gone... What is going on here ?"

Shin Sumi took out the little nut from her robes. There was no mistaking it, the nut was still alert but judged that nothing was dangerous.

That helped Shin Sumi calm down a bit.

She was walking in nearly a straight line, only changing directions when she needed to avoid a tree or a rock. The whole ravine was only a few meters wide but since she couldn't see the sides, just the opening above her head, Shin Sumi was under the impression of it being way larger.

At one point she stopped to observe the sky above her. It looked like a giant scar in the earth with ragged edges, traced like a lighting bolt towards her horizon on both sides.

"I recognize the shape of the opening there. This is where I saw the trees. And right on the other side is where I almost fell the first time !"

Speaking out loud just to hear sound, she said "I should be right where I saw the waterfall. It must be on this side !"

Shin Sumi had been keeping the middle of the chasm as her reference during her journey in the darkness but now she needed to find the wall.

The reason she had been avoiding the borders was something she had picked up during the last trial for entering the Dark Sky Starry Sect.

In the Foggy Maze the normal technique of following a wall didn't work. It was due to the strange magic at work but here her thoughts were similar.

"Who knows what kinds of caves there are in the rocky walls ? Maybe some animals like the darkness and silence better and sleep in the shadows."

Maybe she was being overly careful but that was still better than being reckless. The brave version of her was courageous, not stupid !

Shin Sumi advanced with small steps, turning her head all around before advancing again.

That was all she could do to progress safely, but it still wasn't enough as suddenly the ground seemed to disappear under her feet.

Splash !

The sound of the water receiving her body off balance was almost non existent.

Even when the waters rippled and she took a big gasp of air upon resurfacing, no noise was emitted.

The waters were ice cold and instantly dispelled all the fatigue Shin Sumi's body felt.

But is still was definitely not a nice feeling to be plunged into cold water.

Panting and reaching for the rocky ground she had left involuntarily, Shin Sumi cursed in her heart "Little nut ! Why did you not warn me ?! The next time you pull off something like this I will kill you !"

Her anger was talking, of course she wasn't in real danger. It helped her redefine what the word 'danger' meant for the sentient nut though.

She meant to grab it inside of her robes with her arm numbed from the cold but her fingers simply closed themselves around air and soaky fabric.

Her first instinct was to look at the water surface, but all movement had already stopped and she couldn't differentiate it from the ground.

It took a few seconds for Shin Sumi to remember the fact that she had a magic compass engraved under her skin.

Taking her wrist to her face to see the leaf pattern, Shin Sumi followed it to retrieve the nut.

The whole point of coming here in the first place was to have the nut help her in cultivation, not to lose it !

Laughing bitterly, Shin Sumi thought of how much she would have loved for a situation like this to arise a few weeks before when the nut was nothing but a biting nuisance.

Shin Sumi followed the red leaf pattern around the edges of the pool. This time she tested with her feet for solid ground first. Her robes were soaked and she was already shivering from the cold.

She stopped a few minutes later when she arrived next to the waterfall.

Now that she had traveled this far inside the chasm, she could barely see her feet.

The waterfall flowed from a crevice in the rocky walls a few meters above her head but she couldn't see it's source. The waters seemed clear but there was no way to tell because of the profound darkness.

It was the strangest thing she had ever seen ! The water was flowing right in front of her and she could touch it with her hand but she couldn't hear even the slightest sound.

It was as if the waterfall was somewhat illusory even though she could feel it.

Not wanting to stay for longer in a place that seemed more and more mysterious by the second, Shin Sumi quickly followed the leaf behind the waterfall. There was a stone passage carved naturally into the wall opening access to a cave.

Shin Sumi didn't know how wide or deep the cave was and there was no reverberation of sound to help her.

"I'll retrieve the nut and then I will leave this place ! Screw the White Cloud Lotus !"

She had spoken out loud but even her own voice felt muffled in her ears.

She walked for what seemed like an eternity. She was starting to become really scared and considered abandoning the sentient nut a few times. Although, every time the thought surfaced in her mind she would grit her teeth and push forward.

"If you weren't my only hope of cultivating, I would definitely leave you here. When we're back, we're going to have a talk !!"

Shin Sumi's wrist had been showing an unmoving dark red leaf up to this point but suddenly it started turning to her right.

A few minutes later, at least Shin Sumi knew she was on the right path when the cave passage turned.

She had been in complete darkness for hours now, the only light being the dim blood red from her wrist. She was surprised to suddenly see a brilliant white dot appear in the distance.

Hastening her steps, Shin Sumi accepted the light as a deliverance. Or more like a moth approaching a flame.

Unknowingly she had almost started running.

The light shining more and more brightly came from a small object on the floor. It illuminated its surroundings enough to allow Shin Sumi to see the end of the cave behind it.

It was a tiny white bell.

The nut was right next to it and rolled back to Shin Sumi when she got close enough.

Intrigued by the bell, Shin Sumi observed it carefully. It was covered in six rows of scriptures in a language she couldn't understand. Had she been able to sense them, she would have found powerful Yin Shinsoo energy fluctuations rippling from the inside of the bell.

Shin Sumi picked it up. The bell was weightless in her hands and felt warm to the touch. Shaking it a few times, she was almost disappointed to hear nothing.

Such a strange artifact, here in this dark cold and silent place, for some reason she thought that since it was giving off light and heat, maybe it would make a sound too.

She was going to put the bell into her bag of holding and leave the place when the nut which had returned to her bit her finger.

It seemed like its only way of communicating and Shin Sumi would have let out a long exasperated sigh, had the pain not been so intense.

A drop of blood fell from her index onto the bell.

At the same time, a melodious sound rang to Shin Sumi's ears. It was so soft and gentle, and truly was like a manifestation from the Heavens.

The drop flowed from the top of the bell, passing the first row of characters. It didn't stop there and quickly flowed past the second and third rows too.

In the exact same instant, light slowly spread out from the bell, scattering the darkness as if it was suddenly daytime. The cold that Shin Sumi could feel right down to her bones was slowly dissipating as well.

The strange thing was that the light emitted no shadows, and Shin Sumi could see the water vapor coming out of her mouth, indicating that it was still cold all around her.

The droplet of blood continued down the side of the bell as Shin Sumi observed her surroundings become clearer and clearer.

Past the fourth row, the smell of the wet earth as well as a very distant disturbing stench assailed her nostrils.

She hadn't even realized that her sense of smell had become altered too since she had been too preoccupied by the darkness and the silence. But now that her sense of smell had returned, she realized she had been missing that too.

The fifth and sixth rows of characters were unlike the others and Shin Sumi didn't feel anything change when the blood touched them.

"Since the other lines were respectively about sound, sight, feeling and smell, maybe this one has to do with taste ? And the sixth one... " Shin Sumi had no idea but her instinct was telling her that she was probably onto something.

It only took a few seconds for the blood to reach the opening of the bell after it first made contact with the white surface. It left a dark trail perpendicular to the scriptures which quickly expanded to cover the whole bell.

The dried blood had completely changed the appearance of the bell and made it seem like copper.

Shin Sumi was unsure of what to do now and put the bell in her bag of holding.

Since she could now see perfectly clearly it took a much shorter time to reach the entrance of the cave than before.

This time Shin Sumi could hear the waterfall before even seeing it.

The waters were exceptionally clear and the curtain formed over the opening was translucent, almost transparent.

Shin Sumi followed the stone path and froze in place when she opened her eyes to the bottom of the chasm.

After the copper bell had shone onto her, Shin Sumi could now see everything perfectly. The abyss of the ravine was suddenly a lot less scary. In fact, to Shin Sumi it was a wonderful location !

Many small caves were engraved in the light brown rocky walls. Some of them were covered by the many trees present.

Although different kinds of trees were visible, they all had their color in common, which was a translucent blue that made them seem like spectral apparitions.

The gentle sound of the water filling up the natural pool was like celestial music to the ears and the small patches of flowers lightly swayed, tempted by an invisible breeze.

"This place is not so terrible after all ! I kind of like it actually" thought Shin Sumi. She was looking at the flowers and plants.

All of them were light colored and many were translucent just like the trees. None of them had shadows.

Shin Sumi pondered about the strange properties of the copper bell. Somehow she had the feeling that the light she was seeing around her was just an illusion.