Wind Howl Canyon was like the gaping maw of an ancient beast, a mouth leading to the heart of the world, swallowing all sound and light.
Ling Feng stood at its entrance, as small and insignificant as a speck of dust. The gale, laden with metal shards, whipped against him like countless tiny blades. The chaotic energy field here was a constant, splitting headache. If not for the cooling presence of the jade pendant guarding his mind, he feared he would have lost his sanity long ago.
He leaned behind the wreckage of a giant gear, forcing his breathing to steady as he considered his next move. The legends of the Rust Belt had told him only that "The Echo" was here, but not how to communicate with it.
Just as he was about to risk using his own spiritual energy to probe this unknown territory, a voice, as hoarse as grinding metal, emerged from the shadows beside him.
"Another one, come to die..."
Every hair on Ling Feng's body stood on end. He spun around, tightening his grip on the hidden alloy staff, and assumed a defensive stance.
In the shadows, a hunched figure slowly rose from behind a pile of scrap.
It was the half-mad, half-crazed old scavenger he had encountered in the middle layers of the Sea of Scrap, the one who survived by roasting lizards.
Ling Feng hadn't sensed his approach at all. The old man was like a lifeless stone, perfectly blended into this land of death.
"Who are you? Why are you following me?" Ling Feng's voice was cold, filled with vigilance.
"I'm not following you. I've always been here." The old man grinned, revealing a set of yellowed, blackened teeth. His murky eyes, however, held a glint of worldly-wise cynicism. "All the fools who try to challenge 'The Echo' end up here. I just like... watching them get swallowed by the canyon."
His words were laced with venom and despair.
A thought stirred in Ling Feng's mind. He recalled the backstory we had set for him—a failure, rejected by "The Echo."
"You seem to know this place well," Ling Feng probed, not letting his guard down.
"Know it?" The old man laughed as if he'd heard the funniest joke in the world, a sound uglier than the howling wind. "Of course, I know it. Every scar on my body remembers the taste of the wind here."
He took two steps forward, his cloudy eyes fixing on Ling Feng. "Go back, kid. This is not a place for you. 'The Echo' is not a god; it won't answer all your questions. It's more like a demon. The answers it gives you often come at a price far more terrible than death."
Ling Feng watched him in silence.
The old man seemed to see a reflection of his younger self in Ling Feng's determined gaze. The cynicism on his face gradually faded, replaced by an extreme weariness.
"...Forget it." He waved a dismissive hand and turned to leave. "If you want to die, no one can stop you."
"Wait!" Ling Feng called out. "If you know about 'The Echo,' then you must know how to make it hear my voice."
The old man stopped but didn't turn around.
"Voice?" he said hoarsely. "In this place, where even the soul can be blown to bits, a voice is the most useless thing. You have to shout with your 'mind.' You have to use the question that burns deepest in your heart to knock that door down."
He paused, then added in an almost cursed tone, "But I advise you to think it through. Some doors, once knocked down, can never be closed again."
With that, he lingered no longer. His hunched form, like a ghost, slowly disappeared into another patch of shadow at the canyon's entrance.
The old man's appearance and departure were a bizarre interlude, but they had cleared the final layer of fog for Ling Feng.
"Shout with your mind..."
Ling Feng looked into the darkness of the canyon, his gaze becoming incredibly firm. He pressed the jade pendant tightly against his forehead and began to gather what little spiritual energy he had left.
He condensed all his desires, his confusion, and his hopes into a single, pure thought:
"—How do I recognize and control my own power?"
He pushed this beam of thought with all his might into the roaring gale!
Voom—
The moment his consciousness was drained, Ling Feng dropped to one knee.
Amidst the endless howl of the wind, he awaited his judgment.
A moment later, the roar of the canyon changed.
A low, rhythmic hum began to sound.
On the metal cliff face directly in front of him, dozens of indicator lights lit up in sequence, outlining a floating staircase that led up to a dark cave opening.
"The Echo" had answered him.
Ling Feng looked up at the path leading to the unknown, then glanced in the direction the old man had disappeared.
He didn't know what the "price" the old man spoke of was.
But he knew he had no way back.
He gritted his teeth and, with his last ounce of strength, grasped the first cold step, pulling himself up, one step at a time, towards the deep darkness.