Several days later, in a small courtyard of the Great Zhou Mansion.
"Youwei, Yao Yao, Zi Yan, get ready. I'm taking you somewhere interesting." Mo Lin set down the book in his hand and smiled at the three girls, each busy with her own things in the courtyard.
Su Youwei looked up curiously. "Brother Mo Lin, where are we going?"
Yao Yao also cast him a cool, questioning glance.
Zi Yan was the most excited. She skipped over and said, "Did you find some delicious spirit fruit again?"
Mo Lin smiled mysteriously. "It's a surprise. You'll know when we get there." With a sweep of his sleeve, an invisible spatial ripple enveloped all four of them.
In the next instant, the scene before them changed. No longer was it the sunlit courtyard, but a dark, damp underground space thick with the scent of earth and decay. They stood at the bottom of a massive pit, surrounded by jagged rock walls.
"Where is this...?" Su Youwei moved closer to Mo Lin nervously.
Yao Yao and Zi Yan also surveyed their surroundings warily.
Mo Lin pointed ahead. "Look over there."
The three girls followed the direction of his finger and saw a gentle yet resilient curtain of light rippling like water along one side of the pit wall. Behind it, they could vaguely make out an ancient, imposing bronze gate!
"Wow! A bronze gate! Is there treasure behind it?" Zi Yan's eyes lit up.
Yao Yao's beautiful eyes narrowed slightly as she carefully examined the light curtain. Her cool voice rang out. "This is a source-rune barrier. It is extremely ancient and complex, and it contains a self-destruction mechanism. If it is forcibly broken, everything within a hundred miles may be reduced to dust."
She paused and looked at Mo Lin. "This