Chapter Twenty

Mo Yinghuo suddenly reacted, swiftly grabbing the wrist of the person in the coffin with one hand, and tightening his grip on Chang Geng with the other, preparing to retaliate. In the darkness, a force suddenly grabbed both of his wrists and pressed them down tightly, rendering him unable to move.

Having witnessed the skill he had acquired, Mo Yinghuo felt a jolt of fear. Just as she was about to kick the person on top of her, she heard a deep, powerful voice, accompanied by suppressed gasps, whisper in her ear, "General, it's me."

"Zhao Shu." Mo Yinghuo was taken aback, immediately retracting his feet that were about to kick upwards, and asked in surprise, "Why did you run into this white jade coffin?"

Zhao Shu did not answer Mo Yinghuo's question, but hurriedly said, "Don't move around."

Mo Yinghuo seemed to have thought of something, and in the dim light, her tone was somewhat gloating, "Zhao Shu, this has nothing to do with me."

"I know." The person above said softly, trying to control his trembling voice.

Mo Yinghuo's slender fingers gently traced the inner wall of the white jade coffin. Based on the shape of the coffin she had just seen and the struggles she had witnessed inside, she roughly estimated that the white jade coffin was not particularly large. It would be more than enough to fit one person, but it would be quite crowded for two.

In the darkness, Mo Yinghuo sensed Zhao Shu carefully releasing his grip on her wrists and gently placing his hands on either side of her head to support himself. Mo Yinghuo was already tall and elegant, but Zhao Shu was a head taller than her. At this moment, with his hands and feet braced against the inner wall of the white jade coffin, he was leaning over Mo Yinghuo. In this way, the two maintained a certain distance between their bodies in the cramped coffin, without touching each other.

The darker it is, the more sensitive we become.

Mo Yinghuo could clearly feel the intense heat of the person above her. Her breath was heavy and labored, and she trembled slightly with tension and caution, as if afraid of accidentally hurting the person beneath her. Her feet unconsciously shifted slightly, trying to ease the awkwardness.

To her surprise, Mo Yinghuo only moved one foot slightly, and just as she was about to bend her other knee slightly, she suddenly felt a rapid panting from the person above her. Her cheeks suddenly burned, and she clearly felt the knuckles of the person supporting her head crack from excessive force. She froze, immediately holding her breath, not daring to move her body any further.

"Don't move!" Zhao Shu suppressed his anger and forced out these two words from the narrow white jade coffin.

The white jade coffin was actually quite large, but it felt much more crowded when it contained two adults.

Mo Yinghuo felt a surge of resentment, thinking, "But you suddenly dragged me into this coffin, and before I could even say anything, you got angry." However, she only thought it to herself and didn't dare to actually say it.

For some reason, even when the revered Marquis of Beiding appeared before her, Mo Yinghuo could still chat and laugh. But when facing this person with so many mysterious auras whom she had only known for less than two months, Mo Yinghuo was always extremely cautious. Even though her heart was surging, this person didn't even need to give her a glance. As long as he was there, she would be too cowardly to be anything else. She could only silently explain to herself that this person knew how to deal with the equally mysterious Wugu Kingdom.

There was no other way but to coax, support, and pamper them.

Helpless, Mo Yinghuo could only play her fingers like a piano, the soft, rhythmic tapping of her fingertips against the inner wall of the white jade coffin. She complained, "Zhao Shu, I didn't touch you anywhere. I just wanted to move around and stretch my muscles."

"Stretch out properly outside later," Zhao Shu replied coldly, though his anger had noticeably subsided. He probably understood that he was the one who dragged Mo Yinghuo into the coffin, so he couldn't really blame her.

Mo Yinghuo asked helplessly, "Why did you drag me in here?"

Zhao Shu: "The two men in black and white wanted to move the Yangshi Formation."

Mo Ying asked, puzzled, "How can such a large mystic stone array be moved?"

Zhao Shu: "General, stones are everywhere."

Mo Yinghuo chuckled softly, her fingertips still rhythmically touching the inner wall of the coffin, and said, "Zhao Shu, you can joke now."

"Is it funny?" Zhao Shu asked in an extremely serious tone. It was a question, but it was nothing more than a statement.

Mo Yinghuo sighed deeply in her heart again, feeling helpless. Couldn't things be a little less serious at this moment? After sorting out her thoughts, she coughed lightly and said, "You mean, as long as they take the white jade coffin away, they can build another Yang Stone Array. Without the coffin, the Xuan Stone Array is just a pile of ordinary stones, right?"

Zhao Shu gave a soft "hmm" and then said, "However, even without the coffin, the Xuan Stone Array still retains some residual power, which is why I had you destroy the Yin Stone Array without the Emperor's Black Jade Urn when you broke through Chen City."

Mo Yinghuo seemed to remember something and was about to ask when she suddenly sensed that the person above was breathing erratically, struggling to suppress their gasps, and seemed somewhat impatient and agitated.

Suddenly, the blood in her limbs rushed upwards, and a strange feeling surged up like a tide, igniting a fire of unknown origin in her heart. Unable to move her feet or her body, she could only tap the inner wall of the coffin with her fingertips, her frantic and restless tapping losing all rhythm.

"Stop hitting me," Zhao Shu said, sounding somewhat uncomfortable.

Mo Yinghuo gasped for breath, her resentment shooting straight to her internal organs. This resentment seemed to have been summoned within the white jade coffin, and at this moment, the perfect match seemed to have opened up her Ren and Du meridians. Her mind had never been so clear. She frantically recited the essence of the Tao Te Ching and the Analects a hundred times in her mind, word for word. After each chapter, she would angrily add at the end—"Heaven has destroyed me, I can't even move a finger!"

Just like before, despite her pent-up frustration, grievances, and resentment, even a single strand of hair from the person on her body could make her cower to the ends of the earth.

As one can imagine, Mo Yinghuo could only reluctantly stop tapping his fingers.

The air suddenly became quiet for a while.

"Um, what was I trying to say just now?" Mo Yinghuo was a little annoyed by the sudden silence and ambiguity. Remembering what she hadn't finished saying, she continued to ask.

Zhao Shu did not answer her question, but instead, as if remembering something, he began to explain himself. Mo Yinghuo did not mind, firstly because it was rare for him to speak, and when he did speak, it was always something important; secondly, at least someone spoke, breaking the annoying silence, so she listened attentively.

His deep, resonant voice spoke in a gentle, measured tone, giving the listener a sense of steadiness and reliability.

"General, do you know of anything called Kun Cave, which represents a place where the heavens are round and the earth is square?"

"Kun Dong, do you mean the black hole?" Mo Yinghuo suddenly remembered the spherical object that disappeared with Zhao Shu under the Su Zang city wall.

Kun represents black.

As if he could read Mo Yinghuo's thoughts, Zhao Shu nodded slightly. "That's one way to understand it. However, 'black' doesn't mean she's black, but rather that people can't see her. If you light a fire and shine it into Kun Cave, you still won't be able to see her."

"What does that cave mean?"

Mo Yinghuo, upon hearing Zhao Shu's words, guessed that the cave in Kun Cave was not the kind of cave one would normally recognize.

“The cave is a true bottomless pit. Anything, including people, once it enters its boundaries, can never escape. It sucks in everything, even light. In fact, the black jade urn is empty.” Zhao Shu paused, then spoke in a low, patient voice, “And emptiness doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It’s visible in the daytime but invisible at night because there’s no light. If even light can’t escape, then its existence cannot be detected. That’s the magic hidden inside, and it truly exists.”

Mo Yinghuo pondered, "Zhao Shu, there's a contradiction in what you're saying. If the black jade urn contains a Kun Cave, then the urn itself wouldn't exist, the stone array wouldn't exist, and even Chen City and Dongliang might not exist. If, as you say, this thing called the Kun Cave can devour everything around her, then there's nothing that can contain her, right?"

Zhao Shu: "Yes, General. But what if she is in a higher dimension? Or what if she is just a relatively low-dimensional cave?"

"Higher dimension..." This was the second time Mo Yinghuo had heard this term from Zhao Shu. She always had a feeling of not being able to figure it out, as if she had caught a mudfish. It was slippery. The more she tried and the more she thought about it, the less she could hold onto the mudfish. So she unconsciously whispered it to herself, repeating it three or four times. It was as if each recitation would allow her to delve a little deeper.

Zhao Shu noticed her confusion, chuckled softly, and said gently, "General, there's no need to be confused. Even we Nightfall Star people can only touch the surface of the four-dimensional universe."

“A four-dimensional universe…” Mo Yinghuo repeated, puzzled.

Zhao Shu seemed to be pondering for a while before explaining, "To put it this way, a one-dimensional universe is a straight line made up of countless points, which can only move forward and backward; a two-dimensional universe is a sheet of paper made up of countless straight lines, which can move forward and backward as well as left and right; a three-dimensional universe is a thick book made up of countless sheets of paper, which can move forward and backward, left and right, and up and down. General, do you understand what I'm saying?"

Mo Yinghuo could feel Zhao Shu trying his best to explain things to her in simple terms. She gently closed her eyes, replaying Zhao Shu's words in her mind. After a while, she slowly opened her eyes and said, "Hmm, I roughly understand the meaning of one-dimensional, two-dimensional, and three-dimensional. We live in a three-dimensional universe, right?"

“Yes,” Zhao Shu said. “However, we do not simply live in a three-dimensional universe, because there is another magical dimension within this space.”

Mo Yinghuo suddenly recalled her experience in the Yin Stone Array of Chen City. She keenly sensed something and blurted out, "The scene."

Zhao Shu was a little surprised and nodded unconsciously, not expecting that his hair would accidentally brush against Mo Yinghuo's face.

Mo Yinghuo let out soft "hmm" sounds, her face itchy but not daring to scratch. But that unbearable groan, like a needle piercing a sensitive, taboo spot on the person above her, caused Zhao Shu's body to tremble violently, remaining silent for a long time. The word "scenery," which had just escaped Mo Yinghuo's lips, was now frozen in place. She didn't think she had done anything wrong, yet her heart pounded, and she held her breath, her breath catching in her throat.

A very long time passed, and Mo Yinghuo didn't know how much time had passed, but she knew that she had started reciting ancient books in her heart again, this time "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu.

"The form of an army is like water. Water avoids high places and flows downhill, just as an army avoids the strong and attacks the weak. Water follows the terrain to control its flow, and an army adapts to the enemy to achieve victory. Therefore, there are no constant formations in warfare, just as there are no constant shapes in water. One who can adapt to the enemy's changes and achieve victory is called a master. Therefore, there are no constant victors in the Five Elements, no constant positions in the Four Seasons, days have varying lengths, and the moon has its waxing and waning..." [1]

Mo Yinghuo discovered a peculiar phenomenon: within this white jade coffin, her memory was astonishingly good. Thus, she recited the scriptures fluently and smoothly, her mood becoming relaxed, and the tension quietly dissipated. She even became addicted to reciting them.

Indeed, it is still necessary to read more classic texts in daily life. Putting aside the importance of managing one's family, governing the country, and managing the world, they are truly a panacea for self-cultivation and character building.

"Throw them into a place of certain death and they will live; trap them in a deadly situation and they will survive..." [2]