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Only one arrow remained.\n\nHe had not flinched when he gambled away his travel money, nor had his resolve wavered when a stray arrow struck a hornet's nest and forced him to leap into a raging river.\nBut now, standing in the crushing dark of Gasping Cliff, Feng Jisheng's hand trembled with a slight, uncontrollable shudder as he gripped his bow.\n\nBelow the target before him lay a massive ratchet mechanism. A single hit might trigger the gears and hoist him and the stranger behind him out of this abyss. But if he missed...\nFeng's gaze slipped downward. The rotating ratchet components around them seemed almost sentient, inhaling and exhaling the frigid mist of the ravine. The bottom of the cliff was invisible, leaving only the faint sound of flowing water.\nHe did not know where he was, who this girl was, or why she was trapped here with him. He only knew he could not abandon her to seek his own escape. Driven to action, he had scrambled to jam the gears and decipher the pivots. The result was dragging them both into an even deeper dead end.\n\nThe arrow flew.\n\nA hair's breadth off. Feng heard the sound of the fletching being deflected. A few breaths later, a faint splash echoed from the abyss below.\n\n"My apologies, Miss," Feng said. He was still frozen in his release stance, his voice dry. "It seems I have only succeeded in dragging you into my ruin."\n"Why do you seek Mohist Hill?" The girl suddenly asked, catching him off guard.\n"I am not afraid to make a fool of myself," he smiled bitterly. "Look at this place. The interlocking mechanisms form a natural stronghold. Even without the bite of cold steel, it has trapped us completely. That is exactly what I pursue."\n"If I could apply such mechanics to archery, perhaps one day anyone could shoot true from a hundred paces and repel enemies from a thousand miles away..."\n\nHis voice trailed off into the dark. He had expected to be turned away by the Mohists, and he thought they might scoff at his unorthodox skills. Yet he never imagined he would end up buried alive in these sunless cliffs alongside his arrows.\n\n"Do you think Mohist Hill would ever take in a disciple of the Inkbound Order?"\n"Countless Ways all lead to the same Truth. Does where we start or how we walk truly matter so much?" Feng muttered, his eyes fixed on a thin thread of light seeping through the stone.\n"I am no prodigy with a bow. When I first learned, barely a few out of a hundred arrows would hit the mark. But I would keep my eyes glued to the target and never look away. If I missed once, I would try again. If I missed a hundred times, I would try for the hundred and first."\n"Alas, it seems my quiver is spent."\n\nAs soon as the words left his mouth, the faint light vanished. A deeper shadow swept through the darkness. A gargantuan bird lunged at them with the roar of a gale.\nWithout a second thought, Feng stepped forward. He placed himself between the girl and the creature, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the center of his bow.\n\nThe great bird drew closer. Twenty meters. Fifteen. Ten.\nAt least he had witnessed such an incredible mechanism before his death; he could die with no regrets.\n\nFive. Three.\n\nWell, perhaps one regret. His flaming arrows were not finished yet, and the world had not seen the bows he dreamed of making. He still longed to see the legendary Divinecraft Pavilion of Mohist City and the mechanical oxen tilling the fields.\n\nJust as he was bidding a silent farewell to the world, the gargantuan bird swept over him. It shook loose a single wooden arrow from its body before vanishing back into the night.\n\nPerhaps his stray arrow had struck the beast and roused this guardian of the cliffs. Thinking this, Feng retrieved the shaft from the ground. He fixed his gaze upon the heart of the target, not letting it waver by a hair's breadth.\nHe did not hesitate and released the bowstring.\n\nThe earth shuddered. Within the cliff, the ratchets roared to life with a thunderous grind, and his nearly stopped heart began to beat again. Before he could catch his breath, the great bird snatched him up and soared toward the summit.\nSunlight cascaded through the fissures of the mechanism, bathing the depths of the ravine. A small mechanical bird, resembling the giant guardian, landed gently on the woman's shoulder.\nShe looked up at the silhouette on the cliff.\n"Welcome to the mountain, Feng."