Ultimately someone crafted this Cyan Simurgh Stone Shadow with a master hand.
But seeing this mirror meant his destination was not far.
Sure enough, descending a bit more, he heard a creaking sound, looked down, and saw a platform below his feet.
On the platform, embedded, was an object resembling a phoenix iron piece.
It swayed in the wind, creaking.
Seeing this, Xingzhi made a push with his foot and landed lightly on the platform, finally catching his breath.
Looking up, mirrors surrounded him.
This place, featuring the phoenix iron piece, was rigged with mechanisms. As long as the wind was strong enough, these mirrors could converge the strong light, projecting the phoenix shadow through mirrors embedded in the mountain walls to the topmost white stone wall, creating the so-called Cyan Simurgh Stone Shadow.
"The people of the Taiheng Sect never considered that there may be more to it, knowing the how but not the why, they must surely miss the treasure."
Xingzhi folded his hands together, murmuring to himself.
Turning back, he saw a cave at the platform’s end.
The cave was ablaze with light, despite who knows how many years of disuse, the flames remained undying.
Xingzhi marveled:
"Truly the work of a master, using extraordinary materials. Could these fires be fueled by Mermaid Oil Ointment that never extinguishes?
"I’ve often heard, but seldom seen... today is an eye-opener indeed."
He continued into the cave, yet found no mechanisms along the way.
Walking, he mumbled along:
"That’s right... one Cyan Simurgh Stone Shadow has already stumped so many. If the cave had more mechanisms..."
At that moment, his foot bumped into a corpse.
The body was pinned to the side walls.
The walls had circular holes, which were not originally there, and the spears within them were all pinned into the walls.
"Oh... turns out there are mechanisms, but previous visitors triggered them, so the groundbreaking has been done by others, letting me enjoy the shade. Thank you, thank you."
Saying this, he bowed with folded hands to the corpse, full of gratitude.
But he did not attend to the corpse further, continuing on.
Finally, the path ended at a stone door.
The stone door was open, and inside was as bright as day.
There were only a few things there.
In the center, there was a table. Opposite the table, there was a chair.
On the chair seemed to sit a skeleton, one hand supporting its chin, wearing a plain white mask.
Silent and unmoving, Xingzhi could not hear its breath or pulse.
Thus, he paid no attention to it, placing all his focus on the table.
The table was small, but intricate.
Beside the table, another corpse lay there, having died for unknown reasons, its body stiff, gripping the table edge as if it wished to merge with the table.
Xingzhi approached, casually pulled the corpse away, heedless of breaking bones.
He circled the table, examining it:
"Indeed, this is the ’Cang Shen Table’, one of the most outstanding works of ancient Secret Mechanism Art.
"Made entirely of Profound Iron, even if it could be forced open, it would incinerate from within once opened.
"The contents within would surely turn to ash.
"I’ve heard that this table requires the world’s smartest person to open it...
"Fortunately, they had foreseen everything here, knew every detail thoroughly.
"The Dharma Gate to unlock it is with me, I just need to follow the diagrams..."
Saying so, he took out a book from his waist, but before he could open it, it suddenly vanished from his hand.
Xingzhi looked around bewildered:
"Where is my book?"
Surveying the surroundings, noting no significant changes... well, not entirely.
The skeleton in the chair had spread open a book to read...
Xingzhi realized, heart suddenly racing with alarm:
"Not a skeleton, who are you!?"
"Oh? You didn’t even look at me once after entering, the first to completely ignore me as if I’m invisible... I intended to regard you with esteem, but it seems you’re all eyes but no insight, not discerning whether I’m dead or alive?"
Hearing this voice, Xingzhi’s expression changed dramatically:
"It’s you!?"