Late at night, light and shadow blurred, and the scenery warped.
Ren Ye stood in the woodshed and waited a little while, only to discover that he had not been teleported away, nor had a Star Gate appeared.
"Let's go. We're heading back to the manor." The guide picked up his simple bundle and called softly to him.
Huh?
No teleportation? We're walking there?
This was Ren Ye's first time encountering an opening like this. Slightly puzzled, he followed the guide out of the woodshed.
Once they were outside, he deliberately glanced toward where Ai Fei and the others had been. The scenery there looked unchanged, but the muddy ground they had walked over earlier had returned to its original state. Both trails of footprints were gone.
Oh, so I'm already inside the gate. That spatial distortion earlier already completely isolated Immortality Mountain's exploration area from the outside world.
The two hurried through the night, heading straight for Immortality Mountain Manor.
As they walked, the guide, dressed as a hunter, spoke softly to Ren Ye. "The Witch Lord urgently recalled the six of you because relations between our White Python Tribe and the Imperial Court have become increasingly delicate. Something earth-shattering may be about to happen. Once we return to the manor, you must not meet anyone else. Just wait for the Witch Lord's orders."
Ren Ye paused, then immediately nodded. "Oh, understood."
Before he could think it over, the Star Gate's notification sounded in his ears.
``` [A ruler fears a subject whose achievements overshadow his own; a subject fears being discarded once his usefulness ends. With the Wuyao Kingdom firmly established, relations between the White Python Tribe's Witch Lord, who commands eighty thousand troops, and the kingdom's sovereign and Court have recently grown increasingly delicate...]
[Over a year