After this group of people disappeared into the cave, the Iron Faced Man and others hiding nearby slowly emerged again, their eyes filled with shock, suspicion, and caution.
“Sir is wise, these people indeed have to enter from here when they arrive, hiding here in advance was indeed appropriate.”
Granny Rat lightly flattered him.
The Iron Faced Man muttered in thought, “They went straight in again…”
When Ning Chaoyi mentioned it earlier, he was still a bit suspicious. Now, having witnessed it with his own eyes, he confirmed that no tricks were needed. Those who knew the method could indeed go straight in.
He turned back and asked the group, “They must have used some technique. Did any of you figure out how they did it?”
Granny Rat said, “It might be related to the golden birds they carried.”
The Iron Faced Man asked, “What makes you say that?”
Granny Rat replied, “Ning Chaoyi said that someone called Wu Hei gave each of them a golden pill, and only then did they enter. In other words, there is no trick to the method of entry. They just took a certain item with them.”
The Iron Faced Man immediately understood her meaning and hesitated, “Can the golden pill and the golden bird be the same thing?”
Jiang Shan, standing nearby, said, “The golden birds they held in their hands did indeed look too out of place. Why take those things? They cannot be eaten. Deliberately catching a few birds to enter the Immortal Palace seems wrong no matter how you look at it. They must have caught them for a specific purpose.”
Upon this reminder, comparing the two facts, the Iron Faced Man nodded thoughtfully. “Regardless, let us try it first. Gao Yuan, you go catch a few birds to test it as well.”
“Alright,” Gao Yuan agreed.
The Iron Faced Man then sent a subordinate to leave with Gao Yuan.
Inside the Golden Grand Canyon under the moonlight, three demons with wings carrying a reclining chair flew out from the cliff and were severely startled, quickly looking around in panic.
Old Master Wu, sitting on the reclining chair, shouted, “Do not panic, it is fine. This is exactly what the inside of the Immortal Palace looks like. Fly up, go upwards.”
Only then did the three demons calm down and carry the reclining chair to fly towards the top of the grand canyon.
After flying over the canyon, Old Master Wu pointed towards the highest peak nearby. “There is a building up there. Those guys Wu Dao saw should be inside. Let us go over and see if my eldest nephew is still there.”
He only considered Wu Hei and his son to be of any consequence. He did not care about the others at all.
The group immediately flew quietly in that direction.
Fortunately, Yu Qing and the others had prepared in advance. Mu Aotie had been keeping a close eye on the entrance. As soon as he saw the targets appear and approach, he quickly flashed back and shot golden pebbles he had picked up outside towards the flickering light spots around him, creating a series of sharp snapping sounds.
Hearing the alarm, the scattered search personnel quickly revealed themselves and jumped down to gather.
Mu Aotie said just one sentence, “Leave quickly, Old Master Wu is here.”
The group quickly hid the glow of their fluorescent stones and swiftly darted towards the nearest area. They broke directly through the outside of the pavilions, passed through the void ripples, and urgently ran out of the Immortal Palace to find a blind spot outside to hide.
Yu Qing was among them. This time, he did not carry the golden coffin. Having heard that Wu Dao might attract Old Master Wu, he had hidden the golden coffin in the highest dome inside the palace.
Facing a character like Old Master Wu, carrying the golden coffin made movement inconvenient, which was one reason. Secondly, the golden coffin had already been delivered to its destination. Since it was already inside the Immortal Palace, there was no need to bring it out again. The remaining task was to find a way to locate the Heavenly Spring, or rather, the Human Spring.
He also wanted to test if the Human Spring could resurrect Qiao Qieer. Did not Wu Hei and his son want to become normal humans through the Human Spring? He wanted to see if the remains of Qiao Qieer could be resurrected into a normal person.
Before the reclining chair even approached the building, Old Master Wu could not hold back his eagerness to see his eldest nephew. He flashed away from the chair and darted into the building like a phantom under the starry moonlight.
In order to conserve his strength to deal with his younger brother’s harassment, he had used the carrying chair as a means of transport. He originally intended to avoid expending his cultivation if possible, but at this moment, he had to use it. He cast a spell and floated lightly inside the Immortal Palace, hovering above the Earth Spring in the very centre of the palace. His eyes gradually turned red, and his whole body slowly floated and spun, occasionally turning his head rapidly to scrutinise every corner of the pavilions on the inner walls immersed in darkness.
The three demons, having retracted their wings and slipped into the building, transformed back into humans, resuming the appearances of the three masters of the Rift Valley Villa. Only then did they realise that the space inside the building was huge, large enough for them to spread their wings and soar.
They possessed night vision and did not need to light any illuminating objects.
The three walked over to the Earth Spring. Seeing the pool water occasionally bubbling, Wu Heyun asked in surprise, “There is actually a pool of water here. It looks quite deep. Can it be drunk?” He lowered his head to investigate and sniffed lightly, trying to identify it.
A voice came from the air, “This is the Earth Spring.”
The three looked up and saw Old Master Wu slowly drifting down, landing on the pool platform.
Hearing that this was the Earth Spring capable of turning humans into demons, the three, despite already being demons, subconsciously took a quick step back.
Old Master Wu looked around. “This is the inner hall of the Immortal Palace that you saw from the outside.”
The three were delighted to hear this. Wu Dao asked respectfully, “Ancestor, is the Heavenly Spring also here?”
Revisiting his old haunt, Old Master Wu also seemed deeply moved and sighed. “It is not in the hall. Back then, I searched this hall thoroughly and did not see the other two springs. I suppose they are still outside.” He turned his head to look at the entrance they came through, but said, “Let us search this place anyway, to see if my eldest nephew is still here. Remember, the restriction here is bounded by the eaves. If you break through the restriction, you must circle back from the outside.”
“Yes.” The three masters accepted the order, instantly transforming back into fierce demons with two wings, and spread their wings to fly towards the surrounding pavilions to search.
Old Master Wu stood on the pool platform with his hands behind his back, his eyes emitting a faint red glow as he continued to scan the surroundings.
Yu Qing and the others, looking for a blind spot to hide, found a good place. It was the cave entrance to the Immortal Palace. The terrain here dropped abruptly, making it invisible even from the towering Immortal Palace.
The problem was that a place they thought was good was also considered good by others, such as the Iron Faced Man and his group, who were currently staring wide eyed at them.
The Iron Faced Man and his group were hiding here perfectly well. Hearing the noise of approaching people, they thought Gao Yuan had returned from his errand. After observing, they realised it was not him. Watching helplessly as this group of people hopped over, they did not know whether it was better to hide or not to hide.
After all, they had wanted to find these people before. Now that they had delivered themselves, what should they do?
With just a slight hesitation, the two groups were already face to face.
The Iron Faced Man smiled, guessing that these guys had been scared out of the Immortal Palace by Old Master Wu, and took the initiative to break the silence. “I did not expect you to come up here as well. No wonder you refused to cooperate. It turns out Brother Wu has his own way of getting up here.” While saying this, he also casually glanced at Ning Chaoyi.
He was obviously pretending not to know that Wu Hei and the others had already entered the Immortal Palace.
Since the other party insisted on acting this way, Wu Hei and the others had no choice but to pretend they did not know that the other party knew.
Everyone also noticed the clash of glances between Bai Lan and Yu Qing.
The Iron Faced Man suddenly pointed to the pitch black, huge cave entrance and said, “When we were hiding in the dark just now, we witnessed with our own eyes three demons carrying your uncle in here. Now that Brother Wu has also come here, it seems this is indeed the entrance to the Immortal Palace. Under the circumstances, does Brother Wu not feel that more people means more strength?”
Wu Hei finally spoke, “I think so too.”
The Iron Faced Man’s eyes immediately lit up with spirit. In this groping and uncertain place, having someone who knew the situation to assist was truly the best thing. Otherwise, they would not dare to act rashly anywhere. He had thought about giving up, but found it hard to suppress his inner desire. He immediately cheered up and said, “Good, it is a deal! Brother Wu, what do you think we should do next?”
Wu Hei said, “First, have your people go find a few living creatures. Golden animals.”
The Iron Faced Man asked, “Does Brother Wu intend to use the golden animals to get in?” Seeing the other party staring at him with a cautious gaze, he hurriedly explained, “To be honest with you, Brother Wu, I was hiding nearby earlier and saw how your uncle and the others got in. They brought a few golden birds. I was suspicious at the time and have already sent someone to look for them. It should not be difficult to find a few living creatures around here, and they should return very soon. However…” He observed Wu Hei’s expression and tentatively asked, “Your uncle has already gone in. Can we still go in now? Or perhaps we should wait a bit longer until they leave?”
Wu Hei replied, “The space inside is very large. We can avoid them.”
“Good! Then we will follow Brother Wu’s lead.”
The Iron Faced Man readily agreed. Since this person was not afraid and dared to go in, he could finally rest assured. Otherwise, his heart would remain suspended in anxiety.
Wu Hei asked again, “Did they discover you?”
The Iron Faced Man replied, “No. They came quietly, slipping out of the clouds with ease, and went straight into this cave. If we had not happened to be hiding nearby, we probably would not have noticed they had been here at all.”
After speaking, he scrutinised the other party, wondering what the deeply serious Wu Hei was thinking.
His gaze accidentally fell upon Yu Qing, and he remembered something. He immediately addressed his own people, “Listen up, everyone. Now that both sides are joining forces, any grudges must be put aside temporarily. The overall situation is the priority. Otherwise, do not blame me for being unkind!” He turned back and asked Wu Hei, “Brother Wu, what do you think?”
Wu Hei probably understood his meaning. He glanced back at Yu Qing. Seeing that Yu Qing showed no unusual signs of opposition, he just gave a faint “Mm”.
Just then, the sound of breaking wind came from the clouds and mist. A giant eagle with a white head pierced through the clouds and arrived. On its back was a person holding several birds in each hand. The latter jumped down to the ground, and the giant eagle also folded its wings, transforming into the appearance of Gao Yuan as it landed.
Seeing that they had met up with Wu Hei and the others, Gao Yuan was somewhat surprised.
The Iron Faced Man had already signalled his subordinate to show the captured golden flying birds to Wu Hei, asking, “Brother Wu, how is it? Are they usable?”
Wu Hei said, “Let us divide them between the two sides.”
The Iron Faced Man had no objection, but upon counting, he found there were only nine. They had been caught purely based on the number of people on their side. He had not expected there to be more people earlier. He immediately said, “Brother Wu, please wait a moment. I will have them catch a few more.”
Wu Hei replied, “There is no need for that much trouble. This is enough. As long as our bodies are touching, we can even share one and still get in.”
He revealed this defensive loophole of the Immortal Palace simply because he did not want to delay any longer. The information provided by Mu Aotie when they came out proved that his uncle and his group had all rushed towards the palace. Entering from the entrance as quickly as possible might be safer now.