The Grotto-Heaven's Core, the Black Demon Sect's Hidden Piece!

Su Zhan narrowed his eyes.

In other words...

"Is there a secret passage that can bypass the God-Ascending Steps and all the defenses, and directly reach the Grotto-Heaven Core?"

[Shadow Thousand Silk Lock]: Yes.

"Has anyone used this passage?"

[Shadow Thousand Silk Lock] fell silent again.

This time it took even longer.

Then it provided an answer.

[Shadow Thousand Silk Lock]: I've used it, and only recently. The scent lingering on it is very fresh.

Su Zhan slowly straightened up.

He looked at the golden spiral staircase.

The light from the staircase was beautiful and soft, leading to the Grotto-Heaven Core that the Yuan Household had always dreamed of.

But his senses told him...

Under.

Something is waiting for them.

Su Zhan did not go down immediately.

He stood at the edge of the platform for a while, gazing at the soft light emanating from the golden staircase.

The Yuan Household family members were stopped in their tracks by him, and they looked at each other in confusion, not understanding why the Divine Lord had suddenly stopped.

Their enthusiasm is soaring. Home is just below. Thousands of years of wandering, humiliation, and being kept as pawns—all the suffering will come to an end after they step down this staircase.

But once Su Zhan blocked their way, that was it. No one dared to step past him.

Yuan Ji.

"In."

"Sense it; see if there are any living things in that space below."

Yuan Ji closed his eyes, Power of Bloodline extended downwards through the Rune array beneath his feet.

After a few breaths, his expression changed.

Yes!

"What is that?"

"No... I'm not sure. I can only sense a very weak aura hidden in the eastern part of the Core Space. That aura has been deliberately concealed, mixed with the Spiritual Qi of the cave itself; it's completely undetectable without careful examination."

Su Zhan nodded.

This matches the information provided by Thousand-Thread Lock.

Someone—or something—had entered the Grotto-Heaven Core ahead of time through that hidden Teleportation Array and was hiding in the shadows.

The question is, what exactly is the origin of this "existence in the shadows"?

The fact that the three Elders had no information about this secret passage in their memories indicates that its access level was above that of the Elder.

Then there's only one possibility.

"The Sect Master's handiwork."

Su Zhan muttered to himself.

The Black Demon Sect Sect Master set up layers of traps— the Bone Dragon Legion, the Third Elder, the Demon Statue Guardian, and the Myriad Demons Blood Pool —these were the visible lines of defense.

Their purpose is not to block the enemy, but to buy time.

The "hidden chess piece" hidden in the Grotto-Heaven Core is ready.

Su Zhan didn't know what this hidden piece was. But since the Black Demon Sect Sect Master had even used the Ten-Thousand-Li Soul-Locking Curse Kill, whatever he placed on the final line of defense couldn't be anything harmless.

"Elder, you and your men wait here."

"My Divine Lord!" Yuan Ji cried out anxiously, "Then what's below--"

"With me here, you're safer up here than down here."

After saying this, Su Zhan touched the ground with his toes and flew out.

He did not take the golden spiral staircase.

Too slow.

Moreover, that hidden entity may have already noticed the commotion above. Going through the main entrance gives it time to prepare.

Su Zhan chose a more direct approach.

He leaped from the edge of the platform, avoiding the entrance to the steps, and plummeted rapidly along the outer wall of the Altar.

The wind howled.

His figure glided along the black pyramid surface, increasing in speed, and in the blink of an eye, he traversed a height difference of thousands of meters.

The Altar has a thick rock foundation at its base.

Su Zhan condensed the dark golden light of the Immovable Wisdom King Wall in his palm and slammed it down onto the rock layer below.

Boom!

The rocks crumbled, revealing a large hole beneath our feet.

He crawled inside.

At the other end of the cave is a huge, spherical underground space.

This is the core of the Mustard Seed Grotto-Heaven.

The dome of the space was inlaid with glowing Spirit Stone, emitting a soft white light. In the center of the space floated a semi-transparent sphere about three zhang in diameter, with golden patterns flowing inside, connecting to every corner of the entire cave heaven.

That is the "heart" of the grotto-heaven.

Controlling it is tantamount to controlling all the Principle, energy, and space of this world.