That Hammer Had Some Muscle

The canyon resembled a gruesome wound slashed across the mountain, its sheer rock faces rising on both sides as if split by a colossal axe, piercing straight toward the churning black clouds. The rain suddenly intensified. A torrential downpour hammered the rock faces, kicking up a hazy mist. High upon the thousand-fathom precipices, a few dark specks struggled through the rain and dense fog—solitary birds flying against the wind. Beneath where the bird shadows skimmed past, several ancient pines miraculously clung gnarled to the near-vertical cliff faces on both sides of the canyon. "There are birds here?" Zhou Mo, traveling with the convoy, sounded rather surprised. It had been a long time since they last saw a bird—or any living creature other than ghost creatures, for that matter. The sight of these few birds brought a sense of security, a reminder that they were not the only living souls on this desolate wasteland. "Before we entered the mountains, I saw plenty of trees on the slopes. Maybe there are wild boars or something. We might catch some game." "We can save the bones to simmer broth when winter comes." "Sounds wonderful." "..." Chen Fan did not join in their chatter. His brow merely knitted slightly as he stared in confusion at the mist raised by the downpour pelting the ground. The wasteland had a peculiar way of draining floodwaters. Under normal circumstances, continuous rainfall of this scale would have triggered floods long ago. Yet on the wasteland, countless fine cracks crisscrossed the ground, swallowing every drop of rain until the land was drained clean. Here, it was different. Once they entered the canyon, the cracks vanished. The ground beneath the convoy was solidly packed, looking entirely incapable of draining water, yet the rain that struck it collectively dissipated into mist and vanished. It simply... disappeared. He had been watching for quite a while, and practically no puddles had formed. It defied common sense. Normally, rainwater should have gathered and flowed down the canyon into the sea. ... After passing through the thousand-meter-long canyon, they finally reached the village hidden inside the mountain. It was enormous, far wider than the canyon itself. Less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea remained before Eternal Night fell. A golden glow had already begun to emerge, enfolding the entire village like an eggshell. It spanned an area far larger than the camp around Chen Fan's Level 4 ghost fire, completely sheltering the village and its sea of abandoned houses. "..." Standing before the village, Chen Fan looked up at the cliffs enclosing them on all sides. They were extremely sheer. Sparse ancient pines and other plants grew along the cliff faces, making the place feel like the bottom of a dry well. Yet... he could not shake the feeling that this landscape looked like something familiar. Right then, Zhou Mo's voice sounded beside him. "Stationmaster, look at this." Zhou Mo fetched a hammer from one of the convoy's crates, walked up to a dirt mound in front of the village, leaped into the air, and brought it crashing down with immense force. When he lifted the hammer back up, a massive crater was left in the mound. "Doesn't this crater look a lot like where we're standing?" "It does." Chen Fan nodded slightly. It finally struck him what this place resembled: it looked as though someone had swung a massive warhammer straight down from the mountain's peak, smashing out a crater. "Huh? Well, look at that—it really does!" Wang Mazi ambled over, squatted beside the mound, and said in astonishment, "Look, isn't this crater where we are right now? And the impression from the hammer's handle would be that canyon! It just so happens that canyon is dead straight, without a single bend." "Have to admit, a Level 2 cultivator really has some strength to throw around." "That swing of yours even cracked the surrounding ground." "That hammer had some muscle." His voice cut off abruptly. A sudden thought struck him. Freezing where he was, he looked up instinctively at the others, only to find them all standing in dead silence. Not a single person spoke; clearly, the same realization had dawned on everyone. The wasteland was covered in cracks. Where those cracks came from was unknown. The wasteland experienced a rainy season every year and caught occasional showers during normal days, so it was hardly a place of eternal drought; the cracks could not have been caused by dry spells. And the moment they stepped into this canyon, the cracks had vanished. "Impossible." After a long pause, Zhou Mo took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in his heart, and shook his head firmly. "I'm a Level 2 cultivator. I know better than anyone how much physical strength a cultivator gains with each level." "If someone really could smash a crater into this mountain with a single strike and shatter the wasteland with cracks..." "They'd have to be at least a Level 100 cultivator." "I might not know where the end of the cultivation path lies, but I'm certain there's no such thing as Level 100. Even with infinite ghost stones, human lifespan wouldn't allow anyone to cultivate that far." "All right," Chen Fan spoke up, breaking the tense atmosphere. Standing in the rain, he said softly, "Even if that were true, wouldn't it be a good thing? At the very least, it would prove the outside world is far more wondrous." "Wasn't your dream to go see the outside world, Wang Mazi? It suits your hopes quite well." "Besides..." "This is just our speculation. If a mighty expert had truly smashed this deep hollow with a hammer, the ground here should be thoroughly compacted—after all, the original mountain mass would have been driven deep underground. It wouldn't crack just from a strike of your hammer." "True enough." Zhou Mo scratched the back of his head with a grin, and the atmosphere gradually eased. Standing behind Zhou Mo, Da Yu hesitated for a moment before speaking in a faint, timid voice: "That dirt mound is my father's grave. When I built it, I mixed tree sap into the earth so the torrential rains wouldn't wash it away. The ground around the grave is made of that soil too." "The earth here is rock-hard. You wouldn't be able to crack it anywhere else." "Before I left, I gathered scraps of clothing from everyone and built a grave for them here." "..." "..." The group instantly froze. Zhou Mo was the first to react, dropping to his knees before the battered mound and knocking his head against the ground in three crisp kowtows, muttering frantic apologies before hurriedly scrambling to push the loose dirt back into the crater. "Da Yu... I..." "It's fine." Da Yu shook his head, not minding in the least. "If Father saw that I've found a new family who treats me well, he'd be happy for me. He won't hold this against you." "All right," Chen Fan said, taking the lead toward the heart of the village. "It's getting dark. Everyone move. Let's put together a makeshift camp first to get through tonight." Quehou hurriedly hoisted a crate from the convoy and followed. Standing at the rear of the group, Wang Mazi patted the still-frozen Zhou Mo on the shoulder with deep emotion, grinning as he teased, "I'm no saint, and I've done plenty of dirty deeds in my time." "But no matter how low I sank, I never smashed someone's ancestral grave right in front of their eyes." "Not bad." "That hammer had some muscle." Zhou Mo had no retort. Looking toward Da Yu's back as the boy went off to work, his face fell in utter mortification. There hadn't even been a headstone; how was he supposed to know that was a grave? ... Eternal Night fell. Darkness swallowed the world, while the radiance emanating from the natural ghost fire zone enveloped the entire village. It spanned a vast area. In the center of the village, several defensive walls rose, forming a simple bunker. Within the silent village, only the soft patter of rain tapping against the ground could be heard. The downpour had subsided. No longer frantic or violent, the sound of the rain turned utterly tranquil.