Secret Passage

When Su Muxue and Chen Feng heard him, they immediately hurried over.

"There's a spatial fluctuation below, but it's concealed by a subtle force. Unless you focus and examine it closely, you'd never detect it."

"Should we pry it open?" Chen Feng suggested in a low voice.

The three of them joined forces at once. The stone slab was extraordinarily hard, and they exhausted themselves before managing to pry up one corner.

Beneath the slab was a vertical shaft descending straight down. Its inner walls had been polished smooth as a mirror, and it was so deep they couldn't see the bottom.

"There really is a secret passage!" Chen Feng could barely hide his delight.

Lin Ye's gaze was calm, but his tone held unshakable certainty. "Staying here means certain death once the restriction collapses. This passage is our only chance to survive."

"Let's go down!" Su Muxue nodded through gritted teeth, resolve rising in her eyes.

"I'll scout ahead!" Before Chen Feng had even finished speaking, he was about to leap into the shaft.

"Wait." Lin Ye stopped him with an outstretched hand, then took out a long, sturdy rope that had been specially treated for toughness. He secured it firmly to a nearby stone pillar, tying a tight, reliable knot.

"I'll go down and investigate first. You stay up here and keep watch. Come down when I signal."

With everything arranged, Lin Ye said no more. He gripped the rope and leaped into the shaft, sliding first into its pitch-black depths.

After descending vertically for about thirty zhang, his feet finally touched solid stone.

Lin Ye released the rope. A wisp of dark golden qi gathered in his palm, its gentle light instantly dispelling the surrounding darkness and illuminating the entire chamber.

It was a secret room built from solid blocks of green granite. Its four walls were smooth, yet the place carried an ancient, weathered air.

At the very center of the room lay a skeleton. Its body had long since rotted away, leaving only its arms, still wrapped tightly around an old-fashioned wooden box.

Lin Ye bowed respectfully to the skeleton before picking up the box.

The wooden box was astonishingly heavy. At its center was an indentation that perfectly matched the palm of i class="icon icon-uniE022"</i>i class="icon icon-uniE023"</i>. After a brief pause, he pressed his right hand steadily into the palm-shaped imprint. The instant his fingertips touched it, the box shuddered faintly.

He steadied his breath and focused. Inside the box lay three objects: an irregular crystal of dark golden hue, an old-fashioned token carved with star patterns, and a scroll of silver silk.

"Lin Ye, have you found anything down there?" Su Muxue's urgent voice came from above, transmitted in a hushed whisper.

"It's safe. Come down, and be careful." Lin Ye replied, his gaze still fixed on the treasures in the box as his thoughts raced.

The dark golden crystal contained vast, pure energy. It was exactly what they needed to restore their cultivation and reinforce the restriction. The star-patterned token carried an ancient aura; it was probably an identity token and key to the ruins' authority. The silver scroll surely held crucial secrets about this place.

Lin Ye gently pinched the silver silk and slowly unfurled it.

The instant it opened, dazzling silver light burst forth, pouring across the stone room's walls like a cascading river of stars. Moving images and ancient seal script appeared clearly across the stone.

The first half of the scroll was a detailed map of the Ancient Battlefield. It precisely marked the surrounding regions, with Tongtian Tower at its center, and clearly showed the routes and strongholds.

The second half recorded the workings of the Star Dome Array, the patterns of the Guixu Tide's eruptions, and the fatal weaknesses of several common evil creatures, along with ways to deal with them.

Lin Ye's spirits lifted. This information had come at the perfect time.

"Lin Ye, what did you find?" Su Muxue and Chen Feng slowly climbed down the rope.

"I found a map, crucial information, and a lead on how to leave this place!" Lin Ye lowered his voice and quickly relayed the scroll's key contents to them.

Su Muxue and Chen Feng's auras suddenly surged. Hope flared anew in their dim eyes.

"This dark golden crystal contains pure energy. It can restore our cultivation and reinforce the restriction. The token is proof of our identity in the ruins; we'll definitely need it later at the Starwatching Platform and Tongtian Tower." Lin Ye pointed to the treasures in the box, speaking with measured calm. "Our first priority is to use the crystal to recover. Muxue, since you specialize in ice, you can absorb the frigid power of the stars to heal your injuries."

"Chen Feng, your body is injured, so draw on the power of the earth to nourish your bones and muscles. I'll stand guard and repair the restriction according to the scroll, buying us some time to catch our breath."

"Understood!" Su Muxue and Chen Feng answered in unison, then immediately sat cross-legged and closed their eyes to regulate their breathing.

Holding the scroll, Lin Ye focused on studying how to repair the restriction. Following its instructions, he poured his qi into the array's metal plate, strengthening the connections, then firmly set the dark golden crystal into its groove.

"Vmmm—"

A deep array hum rang through the ruins. The long-silent Seventh Star Observation Platform seemed to awaken in an instant!

幽蓝 starbursts flared to their utmost in the eyes of the altar's stone statues. Dark golden array patterns flowed across their stone bodies, and the faint, dim barrier around the outer perimeter solidified in an instant, its power to repel evil surging several times over.

By his estimate of the energy consumption, the reinforced restriction would last three days, giving the three of them precious time to prepare for battle.

A short while later, Su Muxue and Chen Feng opened their eyes almost simultaneously. Their gazes shone, and their auras were several times stronger than before, denser and more robust. The crystal's pure energy had not only healed both their injuries completely but had also improved their cultivation.

"How do you feel?" Lin Ye asked in a low voice.

"I've never felt this full of energy before." Joy gleamed in Su Muxue's beautiful eyes. "The frigid power of the stars matches my Ice Heart Art perfectly. Even my cultivation bottleneck has loosened."

"My physical strength has recovered by more than half, and my combat power is back!"

"Good." Lin Ye nodded. "Next, we'll follow the safe route and break out, then look for an exit."

"When do we leave?"

Lin Ye looked toward the passage entrance, a trace of gravity flashing in his eyes. "According to the scroll and the celestial signs, less than two hours remain before the next Guixu Tide. We must reach the first temporary shelter before it erupts. There's a remnant array there that can protect us from danger for a while. There's no time to lose. We leave now!"

Lin Ye looked toward the pitch-black passage on one side of the stone room. "This secret passage connects the Seventh Star Observation Platform to the start of the safe route. Taking it will let us avoid most of the evil creatures on the outskirts."

Su Muxue and Chen Feng nodded in understanding. Close behind Lin Ye, they entered the pitch-black passage one after another.

After sneaking along for about a quarter of an hour, they came upon a flight of stone steps leading upward. Faint daylight shone from the top.

Lin Ye raised a hand and motioned for silence, signaling the two to conceal their auras. Then, as silently as a phantom, he swept to the top of the steps and cautiously leaned out to look.

The passage exit was hidden in a crevice beneath a massive boulder. Not far away stood the stone bridge marked on the map. Several dark figures radiating sinister, formidable auras wandered slowly beside it, their killing intent spilling over.

Across the bridge, they could faintly make out the ruins of a building resembling the Seventh Star Observation Platform. An ominous energy fluctuation emanated from within.