As I walked toward Vigilance Pavilion, the sound of flowing water grew louder, and the forest deepened. At the road's end, a solitary peak suddenly rose before me, sharp and isolated like a sword piercing the heavens. Surrounded by boundless sea and misty waves, it looked like an immortal mountain rising from the ocean. This was Goldentone Ridge.
Atop the ridge stood a towering stone tower, built of brick and stone, blending seamlessly with the mountain itself, growing ever more rugged through wind and rain. Below it stretched a broad courtyard several arm-spans wide, with a hanging ladder leading up. Climbing to the tower's summit, one beheld endless blue waves, gulls skimming low, distant sails like tiny beans fading in and out along the horizon. A wooden bell hung at the peak. Each strike rang out like thunder, rolling across the land. When the wind rose, the bell's tone mingled with the roar of the pines, rising and falling as though heaven and earth resonated together.
Beside the ridge, a plank road hung suspended, carved into the sheer cliff face. Artisans first drilled holes into the rock, then set wooden beams across, laying thick planks atop them, winding upward. Standing here, one saw endless blue waves far below, clouds churning like a sea, a chilling wind rising from beneath one's feet, enough to make the legs tremble.
Reaching the very summit, I stood facing the wind, gazing out at the boundless expanse of heaven and earth. In the distance, sea and sky blurred into one, vast and indistinct; nearby, the pines rustled in waves, swaying with the breeze. The bell tower stood firm behind me, silent as a boulder. In that moment, all the pent-up cares in my chest seemed washed away, and the clamor of the mortal world fell utterly silent.
The tolling of Goldentone carries not merely a hundred miles, but straight into the human heart. Scholars throughout the land, upon hearing this bell, shall know that this mountain holds a bell, and this bell holds the Way. A thousand years hence, the bell's toll shall not cease, nor shall the lineage of the Way.
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