Outside the cave, the hidden Jiang Shan emerged, silently crept to the entrance, reached out to touch the rippling barrier, pushed hard, and found he still could not enter. He quietly withdrew.
He leaped and dashed halfway down the mountain, where he was spotted by the secretly approaching Iron Mask and his men.
After the two groups met, Jiang Shan led them back down the mountain to the giant cave entrance.
The Iron Mask man touched the rippling barrier, found he still could not enter, and said in a deep voice, “Are you sure they went in so easily?”
Jiang Shan pointed at the bright moon in the sky. “I saw it clearly. Even that golden coffin was carried in without trouble.”
Iron Mask: “Did you notice what method they used?”
Jiang Shan thought for a moment, then shook his head. “I did not notice anything unusual. I did not see them use any method. They just walked straight in.”
The Iron Mask man pushed hard again at the barrier that refused to open for him. “How is this possible!”
Jiang Shan: “They must have used some unknown method. Sir, Ning Chaoyi and the others must have already mastered the way in and out.”
Slap! The Iron Mask man struck his palm with a fist, slightly excited. “Exactly. They must know now. Letting them stay over there has achieved our goal. Contact them immediately at the first opportunity!”
The problem was, how to contact them now? The people were already inside. They could not shout and make a fuss, nor could they risk exposing their planted informants.
While they were trying to figure out how to contact Ning Chaoyi and the others, Ning Chaoyi and his group were slapping and knocking on the cliff wall at the foot of a sheer precipice.
They had not noticed anything strange when they first entered the cave. After walking a few dozen steps, the scene before them suddenly changed, as if they had returned to the giant spider abyss from before, except the stone walls on both sides had become golden cliffs. Stars were still visible in the night sky, and the bright moonlight shone into the abyss.
What the hell? They had clearly entered a cave.
They turned to look back. Where was the cave? The cave entrance was gone. It was just the end of a deep canyon.
How could it change in one turn? They thought it was an illusion, so they slapped and knocked, only to find it was solid, real golden cliff.
Not an illusion. Then how? Everyone immediately turned back and spotted Wu Hei not far away, gazing up at the stars, not surprised at all. He clearly knew the truth.
At that moment, the little boy Xiao Hei also came running barefoot, stepping deep and shallow, not afraid of hurting his soles.
The little fellow climbed to the cliff and imitated the adults, slapping it for a while. Then he picked up a golden block and knocked on the cliff wall.
After knocking for a while, he turned to look at the group of adults, his dark, round eyes bright and sparkling.
The group of adults also looked at him.
After a moment of staring at each other, Xiao Hei suddenly shouted at Wu Hei, “It’s gone!”
Wu Hei looked at him quietly and gently beckoned, signalling him to come over.
Xiao Hei immediately threw away the golden block and ran back, pulling his father’s sleeve and pointing at the way they came, looking up. “It’s gone.”
Wu Hei rubbed his head and told him, “It’s fine. We can get out.”
Xiao Hei calmed down.
The group heard this and came over. Nan Zhu asked, “Sir, what is going on? How did the Immortal Palace turn into an abyss?”
Wu Hei pointed at the rugged valley floor. “It has not changed. It has always been like this. This abyss is the advanced path for those golden animals outside. They enter from this end, complete their advancement through the abyss, and exit from the other end.”
Nan Zhu said, “Oh, so we can also leave from the other end.”
But Wu Hei denied it. “We cannot leave from the other end.”
“……”
Everyone was speechless, staring at him blankly.
Lu Xingyun spoke softly, “Sir, are you joking?”
Wu Hei: “Touch the golden eggs I gave you earlier.”
Hearing this, everyone immediately reached out to feel for them, but could not find them anywhere. They looked at each other and realised that the golden eggs on everyone had vanished.
Ning Chaoyi: “How could they disappear into thin air?”
Now that they had successfully entered, Wu Hei no longer hid it from them. “Only golden animals can enter the cave entrance. And this place, only animals that have gathered enough evil energy can enter to complete their advancement. Golden animals that do not meet the requirements are absorbed upon entry. You can also say they are killed.
The eggs I gave you were indeed eggs of some unknown golden animal. I found them along the way outside and casually collected them. In other words, we used a trick to get in, pretending to be golden animals to intrude here. There was no other way. Besides this, we had no other method to enter. This was also the method my father and my uncle accidentally discovered back then.”
Everyone roughly understood his meaning.
Yu Qing asked, “So, it is not just that egg. We can enter using any golden animal?”
Wu Hei nodded. “It should be so.”
Nan Zhu suddenly realised, “We cannot leave from the other end because we no longer have the golden eggs. If we had the golden eggs, or some other golden animal, we could leave from the other end.”
Wu Hei: “Probably.”
Having guessed correctly, Nan Zhu was about to smile when he suddenly saw everyone looking at him with contempt. He immediately realised he had said something stupid.
Wu Hei had already scooped up his son and soared into the air, rising straight up the cliff wall.
In this unfamiliar place, everyone did not know what to choose. They could only follow him.
Soon, everyone arrived at the cliff top. Looking at the vast surroundings, they could not help but be astonished again.
Looking up, they could see the same cosmic starry sky as the outside world, with stars and moon clearly distinct.
All around were mountains, flatlands, and valleys. However, every visible landform was golden, making it look particularly desolate.
In short, the moonlit earth stretched to the horizon without end.
Ning Chaoyi said in surprise, “The Immortal Palace actually has such a large space? Then… where is the way out?”
Nan Zhu gestured towards the abyss. “Is there even a need to say? Of course, we wait for the advancing golden animals to enter, then hitch a ride with them to leave from the other end.”
Everyone thought that made sense.
But Wu Hei said again, “Leaving is actually very simple. There should be a house nearby. If we find that house, we should be able to get out.”
A house? Everyone immediately looked around. Then Wu Hei pointed at the highest nearby mountain peak. Everyone followed his finger and saw that there really seemed to be a building on the mountain.
They had found it, so naturally they wanted to go see it. Even Wu Hei himself was here for the first time.
No discussion was needed. They immediately headed there.
After the group ran to the highest mountaintop, they found it was actually a golden pavilion. At night, it blended into the mountain, so it was easy to miss. Even in broad daylight, it would probably be hard to see, as its colour merged perfectly with the surroundings.
The main door of the pavilion was open. Inside was pitch black. Everyone raised their light sources and walked in.
Upon a brief inspection with the light, they immediately noticed something wrong. The interior space was far too large to be contained by the volume seen from the outside.
Nan Zhu immediately turned and ran outside, checking the exterior of the pavilion. He found entry and exit were unobstructed, and the outside was still the same. It was just that the interior had another world.
After that, they saw him run back.
He said to everyone, “The outside is the same as when we entered. Nothing has changed.”
Before anyone could ask, Wu Hei took the initiative to explain, “The inside here matches what the Immortal Palace looks like from the outside. Every entrance and exit seen from the outside is connected to here. All exits from here to the outside can be used to leave normally. As I said, you can only exit, not enter. Once you break out of the seal barrier, if you want to come back in, you have to start over and enter from the previous entrance again.”
While listening to his explanation, everyone followed him forward. The space was large and empty. The golden floor beneath their feet was carved with various exquisite patterns.
Later, Wu Hei stopped beside a large pool that jutted out from the ground, frowning as he gazed at it.
Children like to play with water, and Xiao Hei was no exception. He instinctively wanted to climb onto the pool edge to reach for the water, but Wu Hei grabbed him.
The group also approached the pool to look. Their light sources illuminated the water, which was quite clear, but they could not see the bottom. It gave a feeling of unfathomable depth.
Gurgle. Bubbles rose from the bottom of the pool from time to time.
In this place where everything was golden, in this place where the dazzling yellow made one sick of looking, where not even a common stone could be seen, the appearance of a pool of clear water was truly rare.
Nan Zhu also wanted to reach out to touch the water to investigate, clicking his tongue. “The water used by immortals must be extraordinary. Sir, is this water poisonous?”
Wu Hei said calmly, “This is the Earth Spring. I do not know if the Earth Spring counts as poisonous. If you want to turn into a monstrous creature that is neither human nor ghost, you can go down and soak in it.”
Everyone’s gazes immediately snapped towards Nan Zhu.
Nan Zhu’s fingers were only half a palm’s distance from the water surface. He was bent over, frozen in place, his face twitching as if he might fall in at any moment.
Mu Aotie quickly went over, patted his shoulder, and pulled him back.
Nan Zhu glanced awkwardly at everyone, subconsciously wiping his hand on his clothes. He tried to cover it up with words. “I did not expect that the legendary Immortal Earth Spring would be placed here so plainly. It really does not look like much.”
Yu Qing, who was carrying the golden coffin, said with exasperation, “Can something that appears here still be simple? What kind of display did you expect?”
Wu Hei ignored all this and suddenly tossed the glowing stone in his hand upwards.
Everyone looked up and vaguely saw some spatial contours above. It was roughly an irregular conical space. The inner walls had seamlessly integrated steps and carved railings, as well as corridors and entrance gates.
The light from the glowing stone was limited, so the details were unclear.
Meanwhile, among the group outside the Immortal Palace, Gao Yuan suddenly pointed at the Immortal Palace and said urgently, “Look!”
The Iron Mask and his men turned sharply, only to see a trail of descending light flickering intermittently.
The group immediately chased the light’s direction and flew down the mountain…
Beside the pool, Wu Hei caught the falling glowing stone and withdrew his gaze from examining the surroundings.
Yu Qing asked the question he most wanted to know at that moment. “Sir, where is the Heavenly Spring?”
Wu Hei: “I would like to know that too.”