Lin Yue carefully scanned the area around the altar, searching for anything she could use to get down from this ridiculous height.
Her eyes wandered across the strange items scattered on the altar until they landed on a pile of unfamiliar fabrics.
Bingo.
Those fabrics should work. She just needed to tie them together tightly enough so she wouldn't splatter on the ground like a dropped dumpling.
She hurried over, grabbing the cloth pieces and knotting them together with as much precision as she could manage.
The fabric felt soft. A little too soft. She wasn't confident it could hold her weight, but she didn't have another choice. Sneaking out the door would practically guarantee running into those creepy robed people again.
Lin Yue secured one end of the makeshift rope to an oval-shaped stone fixture, pulling on it several times to ensure it held. She really didn't want to end up as minced meat at the bottom.
She wedged the stone against the window frame for support, took a firm grip on the fabric rope, and tossed the rest outside.
Her expression hardened. Gripping the knots tightly, she took a deep breath and leaped out the window.
Her hands slid along the rope, descending slowly and carefully.
To her surprise, the knots held, despite the silky texture of the cloth. A tiny part of her wondered what the material was and where she could buy it.
Her feet finally touched the ground. The landing was much softer than she expected.
A pale dust floated through the air, making the entire place look like an ancient painting preserved for centuries.
Lin Yue scanned her surroundings again, her brows furrowing. What kind of place was this? More buildings stretched out before her, arranged in a labyrinth-like formation. She was certain no such place existed in the modern world.
Dozens of pagodas stood in unnatural formation, flanked by towering walls carved with sun and moon motifs. It felt like the building she had been trapped in was sitting at the very center of a massive pattern.
This place was beyond strange.
Lin Yue felt like crying without tears. Why were these weird people putting so much effort into catching her? She hadn't done anything to them. The world was cruel.
She had no idea what pattern this was, but she needed to figure it out if she wanted any chance of escaping.
Her gaze fell on the carvings again. Each one had unique symbols, always incorporating the sun and moon, almost like they formed their own language. And everything seemed to point toward…
A shift in time?
The idea flashed in her mind. Maybe it linked to the structure's layout, though she still had no clue how that would help her escape.
Lin Yue kept moving through the maze-like arrangement, staying alert. Those robed people would definitely come back. She had to avoid them at all costs.
She didn't know how long she'd been walking. Her legs ached, but she refused to lower her guard.
She circled back toward the central building, the place where she had first arrived.
This time, she stepped even more carefully. Eventually, she reached a spot where the sound beneath her foot changed.
A small smile formed on her lips. She had guessed correctly. The mechanism's center should be around here.
She crouched down and grabbed the crystal hairpin she had taken earlier. With practiced movements, she used it to pry open the stone plate beneath her.
Once the slab loosened, Lin Yue quickly pinned the hairpin back into her hair. She lifted the stone with slow, cautious movements… only to freeze at what she found.
What was this? This wasn't the kind of mechanism she expected at all.
A palm-sized jade sphere was embedded in the floor. Its color split cleanly in two: pale blue like moonlight, and warm gold like a sunset. Lin Yue had never seen any mechanism shaped like this.
Hesitantly, she touched the sphere. The crystal hairpin in her hair glowed faintly. Whatever this sphere was, it clearly wasn't ordinary.
Holding her breath, she lifted it carefully, studying the surface. Without realizing it, her fingers rotated the sphere.
The earth rumbled.
The ground beneath her seemed to inhale deeply before a cold draft rushed between the pagodas. In seconds, stone walls shifted. Several pagodas rotated. New corridors formed while old ones sealed shut as if they had never existed.
Who would've expected such a small object to trigger such a massive reaction?
Lin Yue approached one of the newly formed corridors. Soft blue light emanated from moon carvings along the walls. She followed the glow until she reached a silent chamber filled only with reflective carvings.
She stepped toward the center. Each footstep chipped away at the fragile quiet.
The moment she reached the center, a line of text formed on the floor.
"The night's light opens the path west."
Lin Yue froze. It felt like the words echoed from the stone itself. No figure. No voice. Only text.
Beside her, the wall shifted slightly, revealing a new carving: a sun partially eclipsed by a moon. Lin Yue approached it cautiously.
Then she returned to the center. The jade sphere waited, almost as if demanding a second choice.
She turned the sun side.
This time, the rumbling was louder. A warm orange light burst through the corridors like a wave of energy. The blue path behind her sealed, replaced by one glowing with a reddish warmth.
She stepped inside. The air here was lighter, warmer. At the far end, a chamber housed a faceless humanoid statue holding a sun disk above its head. Both hands raised toward the ceiling.
As Lin Yue approached, an inscription beneath the statue lit up:
"The day's light clears the blocked road."
A locked mechanism clicked beneath the floor. Stones shifted again, rearranging the labyrinth. Across the pagodas, the sun and moon lights flickered, waiting for synchronization.
Lin Yue realized something important. It wasn't about choosing sun or moon. She needed to make them align. The night pointed the direction, the day opened the path. They were meant to work together.
She returned to the center of the maze and touched the sphere once more. This time she rotated it alternately: moon a quarter turn, sun a quarter turn.
The pagodas reacted instantly. Walls shifted at high speed, like a massive machine awakening after centuries. The sky above brightened as the two lights merged, forming a thin glowing line toward one final corridor that hadn't appeared in any previous rotation.
This corridor was dark, but the warm wind brushing against her face felt alive. Not threatening… but evaluative, as if something inside was judging anyone daring enough to enter.
Lin Yue steadied her breath, straightened her posture, and stepped into the final corridor.
The labyrinth sealed shut behind her, marking a path she could never undo.