The boundless wasteland lay utterly silent.
A lone rider traveled through the night.
The closer he drew to the location circled on the Military Map, the fiercer the cold became, its sinister chill piercing straight into his marrow.
Another two hours passed before the Heavenly Horse stopped in a valley.
Jia Huan gazed into the distance. There lay an abyss a thousand feet deep, wreathed in dense black mist. Ice coated the vegetation along its rim, and fierce winds howled.
This was the secluded cultivation ground of the Zhishi Clan of the Northern Mang Golden Family!
At the cliff's edge, he could vaguely make out the outline of an upturned eave, with a tiny emblem at its tip.
Jia Huan took out the thumb-ring-shaped Tiger Bone. It matched the emblem exactly!
Without hesitation, he swept onto the eave in a single step and fitted the Tiger Bone into the emblem.
Rumble-
The eave split down the middle, opening into a huge hole.
A wooden staircase appeared before him.
Jia Huan slowly descended the wooden stairs.
After more than a hundred paces through the darkness, he came upon a faint candle flame in the passage.
An old man approached with faltering steps.
Jia Huan said with a smile:
"What a place-carved by ghosts and fashioned by gods!"
He had seen far too many secret chambers, but none came remotely close to this abyss.
The old man gave no answer, coldly leading the way.
These were rules established by the Zhishi Family themselves: regardless of how someone obtained the key, they could come here on pilgrimage, study martial arts, receive instruction, and have their doubts resolved.
After another half an incense stick's worth of walking, a lake came into view, with a dozen or so low houses scattered around it.
An old