Shen Yuan fell out of the golden portal like an onion being tossed from heaven. He crashed face-first into a patch of glowing mushrooms, barely missing a jagged spirit stone that looked suspiciously like a monkey flipping him off.
Zap-Chan flopped onto his back with a low, offended chirp.
They were no longer in the Temple of the Unheard Howl. Instead, they had landed in what looked like a massive underground garden, lit by thousands of floating crystals shaped like laughing faces. Stone statues lined the walls, each depicting an exaggerated expression: joy, horror, smug confusion, and something Shen Yuan could only describe as spiritually constipated.
The system chimed in helpfully.
Emergency Escape Successful
You have Entered: The Garden of Banished Clowns
Status: Hidden Realm
Sanity Risk: Mild to Moderate
Cultivation Energy: Abnormally High
Shen Yuan sat up slowly and checked his limbs. Everything was still attached. His robe now smelled like burnt jellybeans, but that seemed to be a side effect of entering the tomb's inner sanctum.
Zap-Chan pecked at a nearby mushroom and immediately burped out a puff of purple smoke.
"We're alive," Shen Yuan muttered. "We're probably hallucinating. But we're alive."
The ground beneath him buzzed with spiritual energy. It was different from the normal spiritual qi in the outside world. This one was... joyful. Not in a peaceful, serene way. More like it had just heard a dirty joke and couldn't stop laughing.
Shen Yuan reached into his robe and pulled out the scroll he had earned from the Laughing Tomb. The golden threads still danced faintly across its surface.
He unrolled it.
Cultivation Technique Unlocked: Manual of Chaotic Joy (Part I)
Path Type: Emotionally Amplified Cultivation
Specialization: Laughter, Confusion, Stupidity-Based Enlightenment
Progression: Unorthodox
Warning: May Cause Irrational Confidence
"Unorthodox," Shen Yuan muttered. "That's one way of putting it."
He sat cross-legged on a patch of moss and began following the scroll's instructions.
Breathe in. Think of the most embarrassing thing you've ever done.
Breathe out. Laugh at it.
Repeat until your qi begins to tremble with mortification and mirth.
"Alright," he said. "Let's dig deep."
He remembered the time he accidentally challenged a senior to a duel using only a soup ladle. The time he called the Sect Elder's wife "granny dumpling" by mistake. The time he tried to flirt with a female disciple and tripped over his own sword.
He began laughing.
At first it was awkward. A forced chuckle. Then the memories flooded in, and the laughter became real, raw, and absolutely uncontrollable. He howled. He clutched his belly. He rolled on the ground like a madman.
The energy around him surged.
A vortex formed above his head, drawing in the swirling laughter-infused qi. It poured into his meridians, bouncing off his dantian like a particularly energetic squirrel.
The system pinged.
Breakthrough Detected
Current Cultivation: Qi Disciple Stage 3
Promoted To: Qi Disciple Stage 5
Affinity: Emotional Amplification Path
Constitution Trait Gained: Hysterical Resilience (Minor Damage Immunity When Laughing)
Shen Yuan lay there, panting and red-faced.
"That was... oddly effective," he whispered.
Zap-Chan blinked at him and flapped its wings. A trail of glitter followed.
"You too?" Shen Yuan asked.
Zap-Chan squawked once, then closed its eyes. A faint glow enveloped its feathers. The system chimed again.
Companion Advancement: Zap-Chan has absorbed Ambient Chaotic Qi
Stage Promoted: Spirit Beast Tier 2
Mutation: Lightning Mirage Feathers Gained
Shen Yuan sat up and clapped. "I always believed in you, little feathered freak."
Zap-Chan spun in a circle and released a shockwave that exploded a mushroom patch fifty feet away.
Shen Yuan ducked. "Okay, okay. No need to celebrate with fireworks."
A voice interrupted their moment.
"Well well. What have we here?"
Shen Yuan turned.
From the shadows stepped three figures in mismatched robes. One wore a cracked porcelain mask. Another had a birdcage for a hat. The third carried a fishbowl, sloshing water over his shoulder with every step.
All three radiated cultivation pressure. Not at a threatening level, but enough to let him know they weren't random mushroom hunters.
"You're not from the original order," said the fishbowl cultivator. "You're new blood."
"Guilty," Shen Yuan said, raising both hands. "Very new. Still has the wrapper on."
The mask-wearing one spoke. "We are the Remnant Joyfuls. Disciples of the original Laughing Sect. We've waited centuries for someone to awaken the tomb."
Shen Yuan's eyes narrowed. "So you're not going to kill me?"
"No," said the birdcage-hatted one. "Unless you tell bad jokes. Then we have a policy."
"I can live with that."
The mask-wearer stepped forward and bowed slightly. "You may call me Jester Second. These are Brother Bowl and Cagey Twelve."
"Charming," Shen Yuan muttered.
"We watched your trial," Jester Second continued. "You passed. You've inherited the path. But be warned. Others will come for you now. Cultivators do not respect humor."
"Clearly," Shen Yuan said. "Most of them dress like angry librarians."
Cagey Twelve snorted.
Jester Second looked toward the far end of the garden, where a glowing tunnel now opened like a waiting throat.
"That exit will lead you to the surface. But it will not return you to where you began."
"Story of my life," Shen Yuan said.
"You may train here for a time," said Brother Bowl. "But the longer you stay, the more attention you will attract."
Shen Yuan stood and brushed off his robes. "Got it. Short vacation, then back to being hunted."
Zap-Chan flapped up onto his shoulder.
Jester Second reached into his sleeve and pulled out a small token shaped like a grinning fox.
"Take this. If you find one of our kind in the outside world, show them this. They will aid you."
Shen Yuan accepted the token. "Thank you. For not trying to disassemble my spirit or eat my bird."
The Joyfuls nodded and vanished into the crystal-lit mist.
The tunnel glowed brighter.
The system gave a final notification.
Quest Completed: Survive the Laughing Tomb
Quest Chain Unlocked: Legacy of Joyful Defiance
Next Objective: Return to the Surface, Find the Next Scroll
As he stepped toward the tunnel, Shen Yuan turned to Zap-Chan.
"We've officially joined a cult. A weird one. With masks and birdcages and probably interpretive dance."
Zap-Chan chirped in proud agreement.
They walked into the tunnel.
On the other side, far above, the celestial emissary Yan Lian was burning her way through mountain ranges in search of the fool who had insulted her with poultry.
And somewhere else, far beyond the realm Shen Yuan currently occupied, a pair of ancient eyes cracked open. Their owner smiled.
"The jester is awake again."