At that moment, a clap of thunder rumbled, long and unceasing, as if the entire cornfield shook with it. William Clark glanced back, but could see nothing behind him, and the thunder drowned out the sound of the person chasing William Clark crashing through the stalks.

Suddenly, William Clark had a flash of inspiration and instantly changed direction, running off to the side. By the time the thunder faded, William Clark had already put some distance between himself and his pursuer, and he could faintly hear curses coming from far behind.

“Crack... crack...”

Huge raindrops began to pour down, pounding on the corn leaves with a sound that, to William Clark's ears, was like the most beautiful symphony in the world, drowning out all other sounds between heaven and earth. William Clark changed direction again, sprinting for five or six minutes, thinking to himself, “This time I’ve probably shaken them off for good.”

As soon as William Clark relaxed, exhaustion surged over him. William Clark lay on the ground, gasping for breath, letting the rain beat down on his body and face, too tired to move.

After resting for a while, William Clark finally felt some strength return to his body. He stood up and staggered off into the distance.

“Hm? What’s going on?”

Just as William Clark was stumbling along, he suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet give way. Looking down, he saw the soil where he stood was slowly sinking, and he was sinking with it.

“Damn, Heaven, I haven’t done anything truly evil...”

As William Clark tried to climb up, the patch of earth he was standing on suddenly collapsed with a ‘boom...’ and dropped faster. William Clark didn’t have time to climb up before he fell down with it.

“Bang!”

“Ah... ah...” William Clark felt as if he had slammed hard onto a ‘table’, which shattered into pieces beneath him. But the resistance from the ‘table’ managed to save his life, though the pain made him cry out.

“Thud.”

“Ow...” An object fell from above and landed right on William Clark’s head. Because the scalp is rich in capillaries, blood immediately streamed down from William Clark’s head. His vision went black, and he lost consciousness.

Outside the pit, the rain poured down even harder. Lightning slashed across the sky, raging overhead, casting flickering light into the pit.

Not far from William Clark’s head, a wooden box lay on its side. A thick calligraphy brush, a book, and a wooden sword lay beside William Clark’s head. One corner of the wooden box was stained with dark blood—clearly, this was what had just struck William Clark’s head. The blood from William Clark’s head flowed toward the brush, the book, and the wooden sword.

After being stained with William Clark’s blood, these items suddenly began to emit a faint, eerie glow.

If anyone had been in the cave at that moment, they would have seen that the glowing brush, book, and wooden sword were all covered in dense, intricate patterns—strange and mysterious.

Originally, these items were dull and colorless, but once they were stained with William Clark’s blood, it was as if they came to life, absorbing his blood. The dense patterns looked like dried-up blood vessels, now filled with William Clark’s blood, shifting into one pattern after another.

Suddenly, a clap of thunder sounded outside the pit, as if it had exploded right at the entrance. The entire pit was suddenly illuminated, and the blood-filled patterns seemed to detach from the items, faintly appearing above William Clark’s head, transforming into a wisp of blue smoke that drilled into the center of William Clark’s brow. At the same moment, the items on the ground lost all their luster and spirit, as if their souls had departed. Now, even if these things were thrown onto a trash heap, no one would bother to pick them up.

A flash of lightning tore through the pitch-black sky, snaking down like a serpent or a dragon. In the afterglow, William Clark’s body could be seen lying on the ground, trembling slightly.

……

The next morning, after the rain, the sky cleared. Wisps of mist hovered over the corn stalks. Compared to the menacing darkness of the night, the cornfield now looked like a fairyland from afar.

A man led more than a dozen figures weaving through the cornfield. Though the ground was muddy, the leader never paused for a moment.

This man radiated exhaustion. His young face was filled with guilt and sorrow, his back bent from fatigue, dragging his weary legs as he pressed on through the cornfield without rest. This was none other than Brian Cooper, who had been with William Clark.

“William Clark... where are you?”

“William Clark...”

……

The dozen or so people advanced in a fan shape through the cornfield, calling out as they walked.

It turned out that last night, after William Clark lured the pursuers away, Brian Cooper kept his head down and slowly made his way out, not daring to make a sound. Only when the heavy rain started did Brian Cooper dare to run quickly.

Brian Cooper ran to a nearby village, hoping to find someone to help rescue William Clark, but because of the heavy rain, no one was willing to go. It wasn’t until after 4 a.m., when the rain let up a bit, that Brian Cooper managed to hire people to help search.

Chapter 3: The Celestial Master’s Inheritance

“William Clark...”

……

Brian Cooper had hired more than a dozen villagers from a nearby village to help him search for William Clark in the cornfield.

Early in the morning, William Clark slowly woke from his coma, faintly hearing Brian Cooper calling for him. He immediately shouted toward the entrance of the pit, “Brian, I’m here...”