A Fellow Countryman

Bai Zhu stepped into the darkness, and the white passage behind him sealed shut completely, cutting off every route of retreat.

Before he could gather Reiatsu to scout the way, rows of ancient murals long buried in dust lit up on the surrounding walls with a gentle glow.

Beneath his feet stretched a suspended black-stone walkway with no railings, extending straight into the depths of darkness. Below it, enormous black discs like clockwork gears turned slowly, while farther down, faint glimmers revealed rock-layer tracks and underground waterways.

As Bai Zhu walked, he took in the outrageously magnificent internal structure and the murals on either side.

The murals recorded how a tribe had gradually grown from a small settlement into a powerful nation.

The most conspicuous figure in them was the protagonist, who looked remarkably like Second Pillar.

After only a few steps, a thick black root suddenly thrust out from the wall to his left, clearly intending to sweep across the path. Bai Zhu halted and was just about to draw his blade.

Yet the root seemed to have seen something terrifying. It jerked back and obediently retreated into the wall.

Almost at the same time, a slab of black stone ahead of him automatically rose, neatly leveling out a slightly damaged section of the walkway.

The Blue Crystal Necklace on Bai Zhu's chest was giving off a soft halo.

"Administrator benefits are this good?"

He stopped before a wall embedded with blue crystals, their nodes arranged like a star chart. He extended a finger, but before he could touch it, the nearest crystal lit up on its own, displaying a brief line of text.

[B-7 Area patrol passage. Energy circuit functioning normally.]

Interested now, Bai Zhu removed the "Soul King's Pen disguised as Piyu" from his hair and imitated