A Secluded Path Leads to the Yellow Springs

Demon Cave, dining hall.

The dining hall was the cafeteria, providing three meals a day for the guards stationed in the Demon Cave.

For free.

At mealtime, the dining hall suddenly became much livelier.

Though free food could hardly taste all that good, it was still Spirit Food and could fill one's stomach. Thus, aside from the very few cultivators who would rather starve than lower their standards, most guards, Wang Chen included, came here to scrounge a serving of Spirit Rice.

Why turn down free food?

The dining hall served set meals as well. After claiming his portion, Wang Chen sat in a corner and ate slowly.

At the same time, he listened to the various conversations around him.

"Tell me, what exactly are these wormholes?"

The question drew plenty of mockery. "Easy if you want to know—crawl in and see for yourself. Or stick an arm in and feel around?"

The one asking was clearly a newcomer, and everyone shamed him so badly that he could not raise his head.

"Did you hear? Master Lu, Lu Yanyi, has gone missing!"

This new question easily stirred everyone's concern and suspicion. "Could he have wandered into a wormhole by mistake?"

Wang Chen's heart sank!

Master Lu, Lu Yanyi, was the veteran guard who had shown him around and taught him quite a few practical tricks. Wang Chen had not seen him for only a few days, yet something this serious had already happened!

Wang Chen felt that the Demon Cave was truly far too dangerous.

Even old hands who had been at it for decades could still overturn their cart here!

The strangest thing about the wormholes was that they appeared without warning and vanished just as unpredictably.

A third of the wormholes that had appeared earlier had disappeared, yet