Descent of the Ether

"You were unwilling to be dragged into a meaningless contest of strength." "You freed yourself from the entanglement in a manner the other party could not refuse." "Evaluation +1." "Total evaluation +3." Ye Huan had no time to dwell on this new notification. He stomped hard on the gas pedal. For some reason, a dreadful premonition gnawed at him. Fortunately— Liu Le was not actually mortally wounded. Fortunately— They were putting more and more distance between themselves and the mining district, entering what could be considered safe territory. Yet in the next instant, a series of urgent beeps suddenly shrilled inside the cab. "What is that?" Ye Huan yelled. "Damn it, damn it! I really don't want to die!" Looking half-crazed, Liu Le tore open his backpack. A device resembling an old-fashioned pager was emitting a piercing, relentless screech. "What is that thing? Can you make it stop?" Ye Huan asked. "Step on it! Fast, fast, fast!" Liu Le urged. Ye Huan had no choice but to floor the accelerator, shooting Liu Le a bewildered look as he did. Liu Le took a deep breath, clutching the palm-sized device tightly, and spoke: "Xiao Ye, do you know about the Ether?" "No." "Damn it, you don't even know what the Ether is, and you're about to die with me…" Liu Le's voice began to choke up. "Don't panic. Take it easy—what is the Ether?" Ye Huan asked. "Do you use the internet?" "Yes." "Simply put, the Ether is a 'network' that permeates the world, but it possesses boundless power that no regular network could ever have. It can manifest anything." "Is it divine power?" Ye Huan asked. "It is supposed to be the highest achievement of civilization before the great rupture." "—When it 'collapses,' it materializes in the real world!" "The entire mining district is being invaded by the Ether!" Liu Le shouted in despair. Ye Huan frowned and was about to speak when he suddenly realized the truck was gone. Gone. Just a moment ago, he had been driving the truck. Now the vehicle had vanished into thin air. He took several steps forward on his own two feet, then froze where he stood. His surroundings had completely changed. No streetlights. No road. Even Liu Le was nowhere to be seen. Wait, no. A faint groan seemed to come from the bushes to his left. Wind and rain howled violently. Ye Huan dashed forward, parted the dense branches, and saw Liu Le lying beneath a large tree. Liu Le's modern clothing had transformed into a crumpled, mud-stained coarse tunic, with straw sandals on his feet. "Ye Huan!" Liu Le cried out in wild relief the moment he saw him. "Why do you look like someone from ancient times?" Ye Huan asked, stepping forward to help him up. "Look at yourself—you're the same. The Ether changed our identities. No human strength can resist it," Liu Le said. "Me?" Ye Huan looked down at his own attire for the first time. He froze in disbelief. "We need to get moving. Forests and mountains are dangerous places. We have to find human architecture immediately if we want any hope of surviving," Liu Le said. Ye Huan slowly raised his head and surveyed the terrain around them. "Impossible…" he whispered. The landscape felt hauntingly familiar. He wore a grayish-brown short robe over tied-cuff monk pants, with hemp shoes on his feet. He reached up and touched his head. It was completely bald. A Buddhist monk. Damn it! How could this be? "Stay here for a second while I check the surroundings." Ye Huan released his grip on Liu Le, bolted from the thicket, and rushed up the hillside. Leaping onto a pine tree beside a wide road, he peered into the distance. Not far away, an overturned horse carriage lay on the slope. Further off, a horse was bent low, grazing quietly on wild grass. Several hundred meters behind the carriage, a dilapidated temple stood amidst the bleak wind and driving rain, flickering with a faint trace of firelight. "It's real…" Ye Huan murmured. No wonder everything felt so familiar. Yet this defied all belief. —Not long ago, he had gained three skill points and invested them all into Iron Cloth Shirt to comprehend the art's developments. In that vision, he had also taken the identity of a monk, and right here in this ruined temple, he had saved a man and a woman, who then bestowed Golden Bell Shield upon him. The scene the Ether had materialized was the exact setting of his martial comprehension! Wait. Could it be… Every time he comprehended an art, had he actually been entering the Ether? A tempest raged in Ye Huan's mind, yet he showed no emotion on his face. Dropping down from the tree, he caught the horse, hitched it to the carriage, and drove it back to the thicket. Seeing the carriage, Liu Le was overjoyed. "Where did you find that?" "I heard a horse whinnying just now. When I stepped out to look, I found this," Ye Huan said. "We're so lucky! If there's a carriage, human buildings can't be far. We have to find one," Liu Le said. "Are buildings really that important?" Ye Huan asked. "It's not the structures themselves, but what they represent—we need to find a human settlement. That's much safer than the wilderness," Liu Le explained. Ye Huan fell silent. During his simulated training sessions, he had always been completely safe, never encountering any strange hazards. Was that because the sole purpose then had been "practice"? What about now? The carriage rolled out of the woods and onto the mountain road. "Look, there's a temple over there," Liu Le pointed. "I see it." Ye Huan urged the horse forward. Before long, the carriage pulled up before the temple gates. Ye Huan helped Liu Le down, and the two walked into the shrine together. "It's a martial art manual!" Liu Le cried out. Disregarding his injuries, he broke into a frantic dash, leaped onto the altar, and snatched a booklet from the hands of a female statue. He flicked through several pages, then suddenly let out a dejected sigh and tossed the booklet to the ground. "What are you doing? Have you forgotten you're injured?" Ye Huan stepped forward and picked up the booklet in curiosity. Emblazoned across the cover were three words: Golden Bell Shield. Yet when he opened it, the dense lines of small text and diagrams had all vanished. The pages inside were completely blank. How could that be? "I thought it was a cultivation art, but the whole thing is blank. Guess it was just an ornament for the statue," Liu Le muttered resentfully, suddenly grimacing as he collapsed to the floor. Only now did he remember his wounds. Listening to him, Ye Huan stared at the blank pages in silence. —Why had all the words disappeared? "If it's just an ornament, why did you think it was a martial art?" Ye Huan asked. "Books in the Ether preserve all kinds of knowledge and skills from before civilization collapsed. They are extraordinarily precious—you can never let one slip by if you spot it," Liu Le explained. "I see," Ye Huan said with sudden realization. Glancing at the booklet, a phrase surfaced in his mind. Lost martial art. Right. When he had learned this technique, there was a specific note attached to it: "Lost Martial Art." Could it be cultivated only by someone who met certain prerequisites? The two looked down toward the floor. A campfire was still burning. Inside this dilapidated temple, over in the corner sheltered from the rain, someone had arranged a small circle of stones around a fire. "There's a fire going? Where are the people?" Liu Le asked, puzzled. "…Right. Where did they go?" Ye Huan echoed. That fire was something he had built himself. In this world, he had taken monastic vows and shaved his head as a boy, cultivating martial arts and religious practice. At seventeen, having mastered Iron Cloth Shirt, he had ventured out to wander the realm. Seven years later, on this very day, a torrential storm broke out. Having missed his night's lodging, he had taken shelter in this temple, kindling a fire to boil water and warm himself. He had acquired Golden Bell Shield, and then departed from this world. Now he was back. …How marvelous.