"If I were still alive, going there would mean certain death."
Shadow Blade Lynn paused.
"But now, I'm already in this wretched state."
She looked down at her translucent palm.
"Going there now doesn't carry much risk for a short period."
She looked at Lin Gui.
A strange glint flashed in her pale blue eyes.
"However..."
Lin Gui cut her off directly.
"If you're going to set conditions, forget it."
Shadow Blade Lynn raised an eyebrow.
Her soul light flickered slightly, carrying a touch of coldness.
"Do you really think you have me at your mercy?"
Lin Gui looked at her.
His expression remained calm.
"That's just what you think."
He paused.
"I never thought that way."
Shadow Blade Lynn stared at him for a few seconds.
Suddenly, she let out a soft chuckle.
It was impossible to tell whether the laugh held ridicule or something else.
"Do you know the Voiceless Abyss?"
"Why has it become a graveyard for so many experts?"
"Even I, a High-tier Epic assassin..."
"...fell inside."
Lin Gui looked at her, his heart stirring slightly.
Very few people possessed information about what was inside.
Even Blackbeard didn't know what was in there.
And over the past sixteen years, Shadow Blade Lynn's party was the only group known to have reached this place on the surface.
"A mist that induces mental derangement,"
he probed.
"An extremely high-concentration mist."
"The mist at the Wall of Sighs is constantly being depleted,"
"yet over these sixteen years, it has shown no signs of receding."
"I guess the Voiceless Abyss is continuously supplying it."
"So the concentration of mist there might be astonishingly high."
"And the resulting mental derangement..."
"...reaches an unimaginable level?"
Shadow Blade Lynn looked at him.
A glint of approval flashed in her eyes.
"Though your strength is weak,"
she paused.
"You are a smart human."
Lin Gui said nothing.
Shadow Blade Lynn continued:
"Regarding information on the Voiceless Abyss..."
"...no one knows except those who have entered it."
Her voice gradually turned cold.
"Yet as long as someone enters, no one ever comes back out."
"The fatal threat is actually very simple."
She looked at Lin Gui.
"It is merely high-concentration mist."
"However..."
She paused.
"There is no way to prevent it."
"Not even that soul spell that allows one to fear no mental pollution from the mist at the Wall of Sighs."
"That spell which is extremely useless compared to other Soul Magic."
Shadow Blade Lynn looked at Lin Gui.
The corners of her mouth curved up in a meaningful smile.
"I know you definitely know that Novice spell."
She paused.
"However, I know it too."
She floated half a step forward.
Her soul light flickered slightly.
"The instant I set foot into that perilous land..."
The smile gradually faded from her exquisite face.
In its place was a heavy seriousness that she could not hide.
"Clarity failed."
Her voice softened.
"In that instant—the exact instant I stepped inside—"
"...all my methods against soul invasion and mental derangement..."
"...Clarity Elixirs, assassin secret arts, even physical pain inflicted directly onto nerves..."
"...all failed."
She looked at Lin Gui.
A trace of profound terror flashed in her pale blue eyes.
"Then I fell into a dream."
"I lost all accurate perception, unable to distinguish reality from illusion."
"Then I lost all direction amid long, painful memories."
"In the end, I lost everything."
"And I ended up in this wretched state."
Lin Gui fell silent for a few seconds.
"Are you saying..."
There was a trace of disbelief in his voice.
"...you entered the rift, suffered mental derangement, and then died?"
Shadow Blade Lynn didn't answer.
But her silence was the answer.
Lin Gui's brows furrowed slightly.
A High-tier Epic expert.
This was already the highest rank a living being could attain.
Just like that...
Dead?
He knew the mist was extremely dangerous for those without defensive measures.
Every year, there were many cases of powerful Transcendent bounty hunters misjudging elixir durations, dying from exposure to the mist, and turning into soulless walking corpses.
Even on his flight over, Lin Gui had seen many such walking corpses.
Their eyes turned white and limbs stiff, walking through the mist like zombies.
Yet those were merely Transcendent hunters, whereas Shadow Blade Lynn was at the peak of High-tier Epic.
She was also an assassin with accomplishments in the domain of the soul.
Furthermore, judging by her tone, she hadn't turned into a walking corpse, but had died outright?
"Can the mental derangement caused by the mist be fatal?" he asked.
Shadow Blade Lynn laughed.
There was bitterness in that laugh.
"No."
"It drags you into the nightmares you least want to face."
"After that, you lose all sense of direction."
"And finally..."
She paused.
"...you starve to death inside."
Lin Gui looked at her.
Shadow Blade Lynn continued:
"Perhaps there's a tiny sliver of a chance..."
"...that pure dumb luck would let you stumble your way out."
She let out a self-deprecating laugh.
"Just like... me back then."
"Unfortunately, I had been severely wounded by Hant at the time."
"By the time I escaped and regained my sanity, I only had a few days left to live."
"Had I not accidentally grabbed a bead inside the rift..."
"...I might have died outside the rift long ago."
Lin Gui's brows twitched slightly.
"Weren't you and Hant the Unyielding Spear companions?"
"Why would..."
Shadow Blade Lynn looked at him and said flatly,
"Mental derangement makes you lose all judgment."
She emphasized every single word.
"Including..."
"...between enemies and companions."
Lin Gui fell silent.
Shadow Blade Lynn looked at him and suddenly laughed.
That laugh carried unhidden ridicule.
"A High-tier High Rank little mage..."
"...planning to enter the Voiceless Abyss where even High-tier Epics lose their lives..."
"...to save a few Legendaries and a Demon King?"
She tilted her head.
"Do you think you can come out alive?"
"Don't you find that laughable?"
Lin Gui did not speak.
Shadow Blade Lynn stared at him, waiting for his answer.
Waiting for him to say...
"Then forget about it."
Waiting for him to snap out of this crazy idea.
Yet Lin Gui merely stood quietly.
Under the moonlight, his pale face showed no sign of retreat.
Shadow Blade Lynn's smile gradually faded.
"You couldn't possibly..."
She paused.
"...actually plan to go throw your life away?"
Lin Gui looked at her.
Still, he did not answer.
Shadow Blade Lynn took a deep breath.
Her soul light surged slightly.
"In my current spirit state, I can indeed move around inside for a short time."
"However..."
Her voice was deep.
"I don't want to experience that feeling of mental derangement ever again."
"One careless step, and I'll sink completely into it."
She stared at Lin Gui.
Those pale blue eyes were filled with disbelief.
Disbelief that he actually dared to go.
Disbelief that he would actually go to such lengths for a few unrelated people...
...to go this far.
Once he arrived at the Voiceless Abyss and experienced that mental sundering, he would back down.
Lin Gui met her gaze.
He gave no explanation and offered no argument.
He simply stood there quietly.
The night wind stirred the ashes on the ground.
Sweeping past his feet slowly.
Rate on N.U.
