'Since this foolish scholar likes older women, my little sister should be safe.'
Xie Yunliu chuckled and continued lifting heavy weights in the clearing, bellowing out a rhythmic count.
"One! And two! And three…!"
Zheng Xiu walked behind Xiaotao.
Xiaotao remained silent the entire way, quietly ascending the spiral staircase.
Zheng Xiu mulled it over. 'Did my health class, a lesson that leaped across the chasm of ages, frighten the poor girl speechless?'
After some more walking, Zheng Xiu and Xiaotao reached the top of the cavern.
It was only then that Zheng Xiu noticed dozens of rope ladders bundled up near the cavern's opening to the sky. One ladder was already lowered, leading up to the mountaintop. It didn't take long for Zheng Xiu to discover the ladders' hidden mechanism: in a dark corner, a rope was tied to a large net. If the rope was cut, the net would release, and all the ladders would unfurl and drop down.
