Peking Opera Cat: I Became A Zi's Brother

It was just dawn, and the fog at the entrance of the alley was like a white blanket quietly spread out, thinly covering the bluestone.

The wind chimes hung under the eaves, and were occasionally touched by the wind, making a very light tinkling sound, and then sinking down again.

Mo Yun pushed the door open and walked out. Although the ice spear had not appeared, the coldness was already lingering on his fingertips.

He looked back at the room. Mo Zi was holding an ice fan, Wu Song's whistle was leaning on his shoulder, Da Fei had his dry food bag buckled at his waist, and Bai Tang's rosary was swaying gently on his chest.

Xiaoqing stood inside the door, her sleeves gathered together, the cracked bronze talisman pressed against her palm.

"One breath wrong, no opening."

Mo Yun only said these four words.

"rest assured."

Xiaoqing's voice was clear, but there was a hint of tension in her eyes.

The five of them walked through the mist, which slowly dispersed around their feet, as if lifted by an invisible hand.

The further west you go in the city, the colder the air becomes, and a fine white frost forms on the edges of the grass leaves.

When we arrived at the foot of Duanyun Terrace, the stone steps seemed to have grown out of the fog, wet and slippery, with dark green moss in the cracks of the stones.

When they climbed the last step, the sky was just beginning to show a hint of dawn.

The nine stone pillars stood silently, like nine bone needles nailed to the sky. The array pattern on the center of the platform resembled a face with closed eyes, so quiet that it made people feel uneasy.

Mo Yun's eyes swept across every mark, and his fingertips touched lightly, and the icy intent penetrated, as if confirming something.

Wu Song tapped the ground with his whistle stick, and the bell rang softly. The sound waves spread out in circles and were silently swallowed by the stone pillar.

Da Fei took two steps on the edge of the stage, and the friction between his feet and the stone surface made a dry, sandy sound.

"Ok?"

Bai Tang couldn't help but reach out to touch a thin groove, but was held down by Mo Zi.

"do not move."

Mo Zi whispered.

Mo Yun led out the "Erosion Source" from the porcelain bottle, and the thin line wrapped around his fingertips and landed steadily on the point in the center of the formation.

The moment it touched——

The world seemed to have been paused by someone.

The wind stopped, the fog stopped, and even the sounds stopped.

The next moment, all the sounds came back at the same time, like a floodgate being opened.

The nine stone pillars lit up with a pale light at the same time, and the light climbed up from the base of the pillars along the ancient carvings, like countless thin snakes slithering in the stone.

The ground flipped over, and the entire Duanyun Terrace opened instantly like a giant eye.

The five cats didn't even have time to scream before they were pulled down at the same time by an invisible force.

My vision went dark, and I lost track of the world. All that remained was the whistling of the wind from all directions, like countless invisible hands brushing against my skin.

They fell for only a moment before they were caught by a layer of cold wall, as if they were embraced by soft but ruthless water. Then the "wall" closed, and all the sounds were locked out.

This place is like an upside-down well, surrounded by layers of stone rings, one ring after another, and each ring is engraved with fine patterns.

Those patterns are similar to the array patterns on the ground, but different, like a different way of reading the same language, cold and unfamiliar.

A very light black seeped out from the cracks in the stone ring, like fog pressed in the stone, breathing slowly.

On top of the head is a huge round cover with an invisible slit in the center, like a squinting eye.

Occasionally, a ray of extremely cold light leaked out from that crack and fell on them like a needle.

The ground under your feet is not stone, but a thick, translucent "membrane".

Beneath the membrane, a surging undercurrent lurks, countless tiny white threads drifting in it like scattered threads. The surface of the membrane is marked by minute ripples, like a heartbeat.

With every "heartbeat", the surrounding stone rings shrink gently, as if the whole well is breathing.

There was a very faint metallic smell in the air, like the smell of iron soaked in water for a long time.

When I breathe, my nose feels like being gently scraped by ice chips.

Wu Song couldn't help but sneeze. The sneeze was amplified in this enclosed space, hitting the stone ring in circles and being swallowed by the stone ring, leaving only a slightly itchy echo.

"Don't use too much force."

Mo Yun's voice was very soft, but it suppressed the panic in everyone's heart.

He slowly raised his hand at his side. Before the ice spear solidified, tiny frost flowers bloomed on his fingertips. As soon as the frost flowers appeared, they were sucked away by the surrounding "walls", like being licked away by a hungry mouth.

Mo Zi subconsciously opened the ice fan, and when the fan closed, the coldness turned into a thin curtain, protecting everyone's breathing.

The curtain was like a very thin ice leaf, trembling slightly, and soon began to be pulled by the rhythm of the stone ring's "breathing", and tiny white bubbles appeared on the edges.

"The formation is absorbing rhyme."

Mo Zi whispered.

Wu Song held the whistle across his chest, and the bell rang softly. As soon as the sound started, it was suppressed by the round cover above his head, as if a hand was covering his mouth.

"I don't believe it..."

He didn't believe it, so he shook his wrist and the whistle made a series of rapid drum beats on the ground.

The drum beats bounced twice on the membrane surface and were then swallowed up by the undercurrent beneath the membrane, leaving only a few shallow ripples that spread outward and were quickly flattened by the stone ring.

Da Fei stood firmly with his feet apart and his fists slightly clenched.

As soon as he raised his fist intention, the stone rings around him seemed to sense it. The gaps between the rings gently closed, and the pressure in the air instantly increased, as if someone had added an invisible stone to his shoulder.

"stable."

Mo Yun uttered a word.

Bai Tang held the weapon in his palm, his eyes shining, but he didn't dare to wave it.

He could feel that the "stillness" of this place was more terrifying than the "movement" outside.

Every time they tried to utter a rhythm, the stone ring around them seemed to tighten, like an invisible hand slowly tightening on their bones.

The inner wall of the stone ring is not smooth, but has countless tiny "holes" on it.

Those holes looked like honeycombs, or like the respiratory organs of some creature, opening and closing from time to time.

With every opening and closing, a wisp of extremely fine black air seeped out, condensing into an unclear shadow in mid-air, and then being sucked back in by the next "breath".

The shadows opened and closed silently, as if they were talking or laughing.

In the center of the dome above the head, the tiny crack suddenly opened slightly, revealing a ray of brighter light.

The light fell and shone on the membrane under their feet. The white silk under the membrane seemed to be startled and swam towards the light together, like countless small fish rushing to the surface of the water.

"do not move."

Mo Yun spoke again.

He raised his eyes, looked through the crack, and tried to see the sky outside.

Outside the crack, there was only a very light gray, like fog and stone.

Mo Zi brought the ice fan to his chest, slightly opened the fan, and the coldness between the fan ribs was like fine needles, weaving into a fine net to protect everyone's chest.

Her breathing was even, but her eyes were bright. She could feel that every contraction of this "well" was changing the flow of rhythmic energy in their bodies, like someone quietly rewriting a dictionary.

The veins on the back of Wu Song's hand twitched. His whistle stick twirled a half circle between his fingertips, its shadow so light it seemed to draw a small circle in the air.

As soon as the circle was completed, the surrounding stone rings suddenly closed together. The pressure in the air suddenly increased, as if a hand had pushed him from behind. He steadied himself, his lips curled up, but his heart became calmer.

"This thing is afraid of chaos."

Wu Song whispered.

Dafei nodded and took a deeper breath.

His feet pressed closer to the membrane, like a tree sinking its roots into the ground.

Every time the stone ring contracted, he released the force downwards, into the dark tide beneath the membrane. The dark tide was like a huge, invisible beast, slowly turning over under the membrane, occasionally pressing its warm belly against the membrane, giving people a strange illusion:

This "well" seems to be alive.

Bai Tang suddenly whispered:

"Listen."

Everyone held their breath.

A very light, very light sound came from the depths of the stone ring.

The sound was like a cat talking in the distance, or like the wind blowing through countless cracks.

The rhythm of the sound did not match the breathing of the stone ring; it had its own beat, like a clock hidden in the wall.

“There’s a crack.”

A glimmer of light flashed across Mo Yun's eyes.

He slowly condensed the ice spear, pointing the tip of the spear not in any direction, but lightly at the tiny crack above his head.

The coldness on the gun body no longer radiated outwards, but seemed to be gathered into a line, at the end of which was an almost invisible "point".

"Don't force it."

Mo Zi reminded,

"It's waiting for us to use rhyme."

Wu Song pressed the bell in his palm to prevent it from making any sound.

He tapped the whistle stick twice with his knuckles, aligning the beat with the distant "clock".

As soon as the rhythm matched, the surrounding stone rings paused slightly, as if someone had suddenly missed a step while walking.

"found it."

Wu Song's eyes lit up.

Da Fei took a deep breath and slowly pressed down with both fists at the same time.

His force was no longer directed outward, but downward, sinking into the undercurrent beneath the membrane, like pressing an invisible pit in the water.

The dark tide was stagnated by him, and a very fine ripple appeared on the membrane surface.

It's now.

Mo Yun pushed forward with her fingertips, and the coldness that had been concentrated to the extreme was like an invisible needle, piercing the thin crack on the top of her head very lightly and slowly.

Before the needle tip reached it, the light in the slit shrank slightly, like a squinting eye suddenly becoming alert.

The stone rings around it tightened to the extreme with a "whoosh" at the same time.

The metallic smell in the air suddenly became stronger, like someone putting a rusty knife on your tongue.

"Hold still."

Mo Yun's voice was as steady as ice.

His needle did not pierce the center of the seam, but the edge of the seam, the place where the "breathing" was the shallowest.

The moment the needle tip touched, the light in the crack trembled slightly like water, and an almost invisible crack extended outward from the needle point, like a hair scratching on the glass.

Shi Huan's breathing became disordered.

The dark purple ice fan closed at the same time, and the coldness between the fan ribs slid in along the invisible crack, like an extremely thin snake, moving along the inner wall of the crack.

She did not try to hold it in place, but simply "remembered" every texture on the inner wall, every undulation, and every "opening" that might be hidden.

The bell of Wusong rang softly, very lightly, like a grain of sand falling on the water.

The sound happened to be caught in the rhythm of the stone ring's breathing, as if it was gently patting the shoulder of a giant creature while it was taking a nap.

Da Fei slowly retracted his fists, like quietly lifting a stone pressed in the water.

The undercurrent beneath the membrane surged for a moment, then slowly calmed down.

Bai Tang blinked his eyes, and he suddenly understood that the most feared thing about this place is "rules".

Once they disrupt its breathing with their own rhythm, it becomes panicked.

The dome on top of his head trembled slightly.

The narrow gap seemed to be touched by some invisible hand and opened slightly.

"Now."

Mo Yun uttered a word.

The ice spear turned into an extremely thin line in his palm, and the line seeped silently along the new crack, like water along a ravine.

The dark purple ice fan then unfolded, the fan blade tilted, and the coldness was like a thin layer of snow, covering the edge of the crack, preventing it from healing itself in a panic.

Wu Song lightly tapped his whistle stick, and the bell rang out a long and clear sound.

This sound was no longer an attack, but an invisible "rope" tied to the two ends of the crack, preventing it from completely closing during the next contraction of the stone ring.

Dafei took a deep breath and raised his arms as if holding up an invisible stone.

He gently pushed the "stone" toward the crack, and the entire space seemed to be pushed by his shoulder, causing the crack to slightly shift.

Bai Tang finally let go of his hand, and his little bell drew a small arc in the air, making an extremely crisp "ding" sound.

This sound was like a tiny stone falling into a very deep well.

Shi Huan's breathing became completely disordered.

The stone rings around it began to shrink and expand irregularly, like a drummer who had lost his rhythm.

Under the membrane, a dark tide surged, and white silk threads scattered everywhere, like scattered threads. In the center of the dome on the top of the head, the gap finally opened wide enough to squeeze a hand through.

Light falls through the cracks, cold and clear.

Mo Yun's gaze passed through the light and saw a small piece of sky outside.

The sky is blue, as blue as if it has never been touched.

"Walk."

he whispered.

The five cats moved at the same time.

Mo Yun's ice spear was like a slender ladder, placed at both ends of the crack.

The dark purple ice fan flipped over, and the fan surface turned into a thin ice bridge, covering the crack.

Wusong's whistle stick lay across the middle of the ice bridge, like a steady beam.

Da Fei held both ends of the ice bridge with his hands, his teeth clenched. Bai Tang was the first to leap up, his weapon clanging softly in the air, as if clearing the way for them.

They paused for a moment on the edge of the crack, as if on a very narrow bridge, and looked at each other.

"Now."

Mo Yun spoke again.

They exerted force at the same time, like five hands pulling an invisible rope together.

When the stone ring shrank again, they used their bodies to hold up the crack a little bit.

Light poured down from that line.

They didn't cheer, nor did they feel relieved. They knew this was just the first step.

The real door is behind the light.

Together, they walked towards the ray of light.