She stepped through the stone gate.
Light and shadow fractured into a kaleidoscope, and the world spun around her.
By the time her feet found solid ground again, the wind and snow outside had fallen silent.
Jiang Yuechu narrowed her eyes slightly.
This was an immense hall.
Its ceiling soared out of sight, and its walls were built entirely of massive stones.
At the center of the hall stood only a staircase winding upward.
The stairs were broad enough for more than a dozen people to walk abreast, but a gray haze shrouded the steps, obscuring where they led.
At this moment.
The hall was far from deserted.
The groups that had entered before them now occupied separate positions, their boundaries drawn as clearly as two rivers of different colors.
Jiang Yuechu entered with her saber in hand, making no effort to soften her footsteps.
As her footsteps rang out.
Every demon turned to look at her.
Her expression remained unchanged as her gaze swept the hall, finally settling on the winding staircase.
"Why aren't they moving?"
She turned her head and glanced at the Old Red Flood Dragon cowering behind her.
The Red Sun Demon Venerable looked equally bewildered.
Although he had entered the Mountain-Viewing Realm and was an ancestor of the Southern Abyss lineage... this was his first time here, after all.
Still, he had lived a good many years and heard the accounts preserved by his tribe. He soon hazarded a guess. "Despite its name, the Dragon-Washing Pool is actually a tower. It has eight floors, each a heaven unto itself. Only those who overcome all eight trials and reach the summit can see the Dragon-Ascending Platform."
"The True Dragon Cast-Off Shell is unfathomable even to gods and ghosts, and extraordinarily dangerous."
"Every time it opens, the