Once she was at the edge, she exhaled as she sought to calm herself and then closed her eyes.
Immediately after, she started walking, with her eyes closed as she slowly counted her steps.
Once she was at the thirteenth step, she hesitantly opened her eyes and was pleasantly surprised when she found herself in surrounded by different trees, and the tree she stood in front of had a swallow perched on one of its branches.
"It seems this is the key," muttered Zou Liqin in excitement as she closed her eyes and turned to the left of the tree, and started counting her steps just like before.
She now walked eight steps before she opened her eyes, and in front of her was a small pond that had a bull drinking water from it.
A small smile appeared on her face as she turned towards the north of the pond and closed her eyes, and started counting her steps again. Just like this, she walked from place to place, counting a select number of steps before she opened her eyes, realigned her direction, closed her eyes, and counted her steps again.
She finally opened her eyes when she was next to a jagged cliff, and at the edge of that cliff was a silver-coated goat that jumped off the cliff and disappeared into the fog that had enveloped the whole cliff.
"Where do I go from here? There wasn't any other noise," muttered Zou Liqin in confusion as she dragged the coat containing Zou Yi and the rest to the position the silver goat had just jumped from.
Zou Liqin felt a frigid cold once she reached that position. She hesitantly went close to the edge to see if there was a way down, but all that met was white endless fog and a newfound fear of heights.
She hurriedly stepped back, almost as if in fear the ground below her would suddenly cave, leading to her fall and eventual death.
With no other options or way in sight, Zou Liqin decided to use the one thing that helped her get this far, hearing. Just like before, she closed her eyes and tried to sense if there was maybe a voice around the cliff or within the fog, which could point her way forward.
Almost ten minutes passed by with no sound. Zou Liqin started second guessing herself, that maybe her assumption was wrong, and hearing wasn't the solution for the way out of this cliff. However, just as she was about to open her eyes, she had this primal roar that shook her to her very core, and with it came a frigid coldness that froze everything within her, from her body to her thoughts, down to her very soul.
It barely took two seconds for her to feel she was about to die. However, just as she was at the brink, the roar and its effects disappeared instantly.
Two minutes passed by with Zou Liqin still terrified to open her eyes or move an inch from her position.
"What…what was that?!" Zou Liqin frightfully muttered when she got enough courage to open her eyes.
She touched her face, arms, and legs to confirm she was still intact. It was only after she confirmed she was okay that she dared look around.
She had no idea what the beast that made that sound was. All she knew was it was the incarnate of coldness, and never had she felt such a fear as she did now.
"Looks like it came from there," Zou Liqin said, fear still pervading her entire body as she stared at the white fog at the exact place the silver goat had jumped off from.
"But it can't be…."
Zou Liqin found it hard to believe the voice came from that direction, a bottomless abyss that would swallow them whole if they dared take a step.
She tried to recall the direction of the voice but was shocked to find she couldn't, no matter how much she tried.
She stood for quite some time in a constant debate about what to do before she finally sighed in defeat and then gritted her teeth as she firmly tied the coat containing Zou Yi and the rest to herself.
Once she was sure they wouldn't fall out of the coat or get unfastened from her, she slowly walked towards the edge of the cliff, her heart pounding with every step to the point she could feel its echoes in her ears and throat.
"There wasn't even a frequency to follow. How many steps I'm I supposed to take?" she muttered to herself once she was at the edge.
"Should I guess it?"
Zou Liqin was flooded with worry as she muttered over and over the number '96' in hopes something may come to her in the mutterings.
Sadly, two minutes in, there was nothing. No sudden enlightenments, all she had was a bottomless abyss calling for her and a stomach about to eject its contents.
"Brother Yang Qing set this test, and it he comes off overly cheeky, maybe this might be it…."
"I hope it's 12…." she added as she bravely took a step forward with her eyes closed.
She expected to plummet down with her first step, but she felt her footstep on a cloud of frigid coldness.
Still fully afraid, she took another step and another until she had taken 12 steps, which was when she stopped. She didn't dare open her eyes even after the 12th step.
Luckily for her, she didn't have to stay in fearful wonder if her guess was right or wrong because ten seconds after she made the 12th step, she heard the croaks of bullfrogs, and the frigid coldness that had surrounded her was replaced with gentle warmth.
With the sudden happenings around her, Zou Liqin hesitantly opened one of her eyes and was met with a gigantic tree with a bullfrog tree sculpted on its trunk that was croaking.
"The…. special…zone," Zou Liqin muttered, half choked up in tears and disbelief.
She passed out immediately after.
….
The peak of the Autumn Mountain
"Congratulations Liqin, you did well."
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