The group followed the tunnel all the way down. At first, the tunnel was slanted downwards, but then it became a seventy-degree angle.
After walking for the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn, they turned a corner and finally saw a ray of white light in front of them. After walking for another ten breaths, Zhang Songhui suddenly stopped in his tracks.
"Wait a moment, everyone." He raised his hand. "We're about to see the guardian beast. Don't panic."
"Pfft."
The woman in the red dress snickered for no reason. No one knew if she was laughing at Zhang Songhui's fuss or something else.
Zhang Songhui didn't care and pretended he didn't hear anything. He raised his hand and lightly made a few simple hand signs in the air.
"Rumble …!"
With a slight tremor, a black hole with a diameter of more than ten meters slowly appeared in front of them.
A dot of gold suddenly lit up in the middle of the black hole. It was a ball of golden flame the size of a fist.
The golden flame gradually expanded, became bigger, wider, and longer. Finally, it exploded with a loud bang, forming a square golden door.
The door was inlaid with countless broken diamonds and gems. The colorful gems in the center formed a huge face, quietly staring at the people in front of the door.
"Hiss …"
At the top of the golden door, a giant white-gold python with a human head slowly crawled down from the door. The python's human head was a beautiful woman with long platinum hair. She opened her golden eyes and quietly glanced at Zhang Songhui and the others.
"Go in," the python said slowly. The sound of metal clashing was very ear-piercing.
"Thank you, Master." Zhang Songhui bowed respectfully. The others also bowed, including the man and woman who were shouting that they were rich. Looking at their expressions, it was obvious they knew who the person in front of them was.
Lu Sheng, on the other hand, glanced at the human-headed giant python with interest. Then, he lowered his head and bowed.
"Buzz …"
The door slowly opened, revealing a golden vortex inside.
"Just imagine yourself walking in," he instructed in a low voice.
They all understood and took a step forward. Chi chi chi, they turned into streams of golden light and shot into the inner vortex.
…
When he opened his eyes again, Lu Sheng found himself standing in a small room covered by a light blue curtain.
Beside him were the others who came in with him.
Zhang Songhui was standing at the very front, looking back at them.
"Since you've come back to your senses, please come out so that you don't block the others from entering," he said with a smile.
Only then did they react and walk out of the cubicle.
Lu Sheng glanced back and saw that the cubicles looked like fitting rooms. There were more than ten of them in a row. These cubicles were located in an even larger platinum hall. There was a round arched door in the small hall, and the other three walls were all similar compartments.
They had only come out from one of the cubicles. Occasionally, there would be people coming in and out of the other cubicles.
"Now, show everyone around. There was a map of this place on the crystal in the center. You can check where you want to go. And … "Before Zhang Songhui could finish, he was interrupted by the woman in the red dress.
"Alright, alright. Someone's here to pick me up. I'll take my leave first." After saying that, she walked out of the small hall.
The rest of them also took their leave, saying that they were being picked up.
Soon, only Lu Sheng and Zhang Songhui were left.
Zhang Songhui shrugged helplessly and looked at Lu Sheng.
"Don't look at me. I don't have anyone to pick me up." Lu Sheng smiled.
"That's fine. I've accepted this task more than ten times in the inner yard, and there aren't many that can make me finish my sentence." Zhang Songhui also smiled.
"You're new to the inner yard, so I'll take you to arrange a place to stay. You can stay for a month for free, but you'll have to pay after that. A word of advice: Devil Gold is the most important thing in the inner yard. Everything else is secondary. "
"Understood …" Lu Sheng nodded. "How many people are there in the inner yard?"
"I don't know. I've never counted, but there should be more than a thousand," Zhang Songhui said after some thought. "Because people are always being eliminated, and people are always joining. No one knows exactly how many there are. "
"Then do all the prefecture-level Thousand Sun Sects ask for money like this?" Lu Sheng couldn't help but ask.
"The others are fine. They also ask for money, but not as much as our Moling Prefecture. The atmosphere is much better, "Zhang Songhui said helplessly. Zhang Songhui said helplessly. "Don't be angry about this. Since you've entered the Thousand Sun Sect, you should know that the founder of the Thousand Sun Sect was originally a merchant. It's only natural that things like this would happen."
"Alright …" Lu Sheng was speechless.
"Let's go. I'll take you to register and get you a place to stay."
Zhang Songhui led Lu Sheng out of the small hall.
Outside the door was a pure white space. It was as if they were standing in a giant white church that had been magnified hundreds of times. Above them was a white hemisphere, with a golden ball of light in the center that emitted a soft and bright light.
Below them were all kinds of white buildings of different heights, with the occasional faint golden house.
The two of them walked out of the small hall and into a plaza. They walked up to a hexagonal crystal in the center of the plaza.
The crystal was more than ten meters in diameter, and laid flat on the ground. Its insides shone with a faint golden light, and runes flashed on its six corners.
Apart from a few people standing in front of the crystal, there was no one else in the plaza. Occasionally, one could see beams of light from Dharma Tools flying through the air, or some extremely fast shadows flashing across the plaza in a few blinks of an eye, disappearing between the buildings in the distance.
Zhang Songhui stood in front of the crystal and wrote on one of its corners. With a few swishing strokes, he filled in Lu Sheng's information.
"Alright, this is the address the higher-ups gave you. Take it." He quickly put a palm-sized crystal into Lu Sheng's hand.
"You'll live with this in the inner sect. Don't lose it. "
"Alright." Lu Sheng nodded.
"Then, we'll meet again if we have the chance. I'll be going now." Zhang Songhui didn't wait for Lu Sheng to say anything else and quickly left.
Lu Sheng watched him leave. He held the crystal in his hand and carefully observed how it was used.
He injected True Qi into it, and the crystal slowly lit up. A golden line that looked like a worm floated in it, pointing to the right.
He roughly understood what this thing was used for.
He took the crystal ball and walked across the plaza. He wandered around the deserted streets for a while.
This place was similar to the outer sect. There weren't many people outside, and most of them were either walking in a hurry or looking anxious.
The layout of this place was similar to the outer sect on the surface. Other than the difference in the color of the buildings, and the rare golden ball of light above his head, everything else was similar to the daytime on the surface. Holding the crystal ball, Lu Sheng quickly found his assigned residence.
It was an extremely spacious square courtyard, and his room was in the 67th courtyard. There was no one to serve him, and no one to explain things to him. He had to figure everything out on his own.
As soon as he entered the courtyard, the first thing Lu Sheng saw was a notice board opposite the courtyard's gate.
There were all kinds of black leaves stuck on it. Each leaf was as long as a forearm, and all kinds of advertising content was written on it.
Which elder was coming out of seclusion to give a lecture, when the Secret Arts Library would have a new secret art exhibition, which creatures from the outside world had been recorded in the Spirit Training Grounds, and so on.
Lu Sheng reached out and plucked a leaf. He tested the material of this thing. The leaf didn't break no matter how he bent it.
"This place is interesting." He grinned and looked up at the golden ball of light above his head.
In his perception, the ball of light wasn't a light ball at all, but a huge ball of essence.
The white essence that filled the air below flew up like threads and burrowed into the ball. Then, a small amount of golden essence was released and scattered.
"What a powerful formation …" Lu Sheng took a deep breath. He felt that the essence in the air was extremely pure. Although it wasn't as thick as in the Secret Area, it was purer and had no impurities. He could absorb it faster.
He also noticed that the golden essence that scattered down from the ball of light only corresponded to the residences of the buildings. It wouldn't land anywhere else.
"So, even the residences are charged. That makes sense." He immediately understood.
Entering the courtyard, he took out the crystal ball and found his assigned room according to the directions. There was no key to the door. He only needed to touch it lightly with the crystal ball, and it slowly opened with a click.
Lu Sheng didn't waste any time. He locked the door, closed the curtains, and checked the corners of the room. After making sure there were no problems, he quickly sat cross-legged on the bed and started chanting his master's name to communicate with the Secret Area.
… …
"Hiss …"
Opening his eyes, Lu Sheng looked around. He was still in the same place, in the underground cave of his master, Su Ningfei.
Su Ningfei wasn't there. There was a black stone platform that looked like an altar in the cave. There were some things on the stone platform.
Lu Sheng walked over to take a look. It was a light yellow stone tablet with some knife marks on it.
There was a small line of words carved next to the tablet. "Understand the tablet thoroughly. Great Divine Lord."
Lu Sheng was surprised. He knew that this was the guidance Su Ningfei had given him to break through to Demon Master.
"What I lack right now is the gap between my mind and my spirit. Teacher knows this, but she still left this clay tablet for me. That means that the things on it can improve my spirit." He understood this and picked up the irregularly-shaped clay tablet to examine it carefully.
But there were no words or hints on the tablet. It was very likely that Su Ningfei was waiting for him to complete the mission before giving him a hint.
Putting down the clay slab, Lu Sheng surveyed the surroundings of the cavern. The cave walls were inlaid with green gems to illuminate the surroundings. There was a large piece of crystal on top of the ceiling that projected the golden sunlight from outside, forming beams of light.
He searched around and confirmed that there were no exits or new hints. Helpless, he returned to his original spot and sat down to think carefully in front of the tablet.
"Demon Master, Holy Master. This level is close to the level of Divine Weapons and Devil Blades. It is the sublimation of one's own life. If I want to reach this level, my body should be fine. While my soul is lacking, if I can understand this tablet … "
Lu Sheng stared at the tablet. He carefully studied the knife marks on it. But he couldn't find anything even after a long time. These knife marks looked no different from normal knife marks. He even suspected that Su Ningfei had purposely made this tablet for him to see.
"Deep Blue." He summoned the Modifier.
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