The group waited outside for a while before Xin Yueling's spirit beast flew out of the fissure.
Zhang Zhenqian emerged with it, his expression rather ugly.
"Please don't be upset, Fellow Daoist Zhang. It's not that I don't trust you. I was merely taking a casual look."
Seeing Zhang Zhenqian's dark expression, Xin Yueling felt somewhat embarrassed herself. She offered a perfunctory explanation, then put her spirit beast into her storage bag.
But her excuse was so flimsy that she would have been better off saying nothing.
"All right, since the situation inside is as described, let's head in!"
Yue Tianyi stepped in to smooth things over.
Naturally, Zhang Zhenqian could not fall out with them over this. They had been on fairly good terms before, after all, or he would not have invited them to join his team. He and the others filed into the fissure.
Beyond the fissure lay a broad natural passage. After descending its sloping length for several hundred zhang, they reached a stretch of rock wall riddled with holes.
"This is the special area I mentioned. Once we pass through this perforated rock wall, we'll reach the actual Earth Cave. Be careful of the yin nether qi inside, as well as the yin souls and ghostly creatures that could appear at any moment!"
Zhang Zhenqian gave them this warning, then continued forward.
The others followed.
Chen Lin hung back. Once he saw that everyone else had entered, he released a Golden Core Puppet.
"What are you doing?"
The puppet had barely left when a figure doubled back from inside and eyed him suspiciously.
It was Xin Yueling.
Chen Lin had not expected her senses to be so keen. He explained calmly, "Nothing. I'm just leaving a mark outside so I can find my way back