The Crew-Cut Man nodded his thanks to Twin-Tails. "Thanks for your help."
"You're welcome." Twin-Tails returned to her position and helped Cloaked Man and Earring Woman fend off the vines.
Zhao Xun began clearing a path to the side.
He cut away the thorns on the left and kept moving forward until he was past the pit.
He carefully examined the lawn ahead. Seeing nothing unusual, he drove his Bone-Cleaving Knife into the grass a short distance away.
With his strength boost, the Bone-Cleaving Knife sank deep into the earth, leaving only its handle exposed.
But neither the lawn nor the soil showed any unnatural sinking.
"It's safe here." With that, Zhao Xun was the first to step out of the thorn bushes and onto the lawn.
Seeing this, the others hurried after him.
Together, they crossed the lawn and finally reached the castle gates.
The barred gates were already somewhat rusty. Boston ivy wound around every bar, seemingly filling even the gap between the two gates.
The gates stood slightly ajar, leaving an opening just wide enough for one person to pass through.
There was no telling whether the gates had always been half-open or whether the ivy had forced them apart over the years.
Without needing to discuss it, everyone refrained from pushing the gates any farther open and slipped quietly through the gap.
The others got through fairly easily. Only Bald Scorpion Man, with his burly build, struggled to squeeze through even sideways.
Annoyed, he put some strength into pushing the gates open, only to find that they wouldn't budge.
Only then did he notice that the ivy on either side crossed over from one gate and wound around the other.
Above his head and beneath his feet, dense tangles of ivy intertwined to form extremely sturdy