ninety thousand miles

Chapter 458 Path
The spire is grayish white, like a slender bamboo shoot. The body of the tower is mottled and covered with cracks, and a faint blue light shines through the cracks.

"Is this the tower?" Li Chuan said as he took a tentative step forward. He did not miss a step, so he tried to take a few more steps forward, but found that the distance between him and the spire did not change. He was just marking time.

"How are we going to get through?" Li Chuan asked while looking ahead intently.

As the layers decomposed, it seemed as if countless transparent chambers surrounded him, each hiding a corner of the spire, connected in some mysterious way, seemingly complete as they were projected into their eyes.

The whole tower is illusory.

He heard Wen Guying ask Yao Shuang, "Senior Sister Yao, do you know how to get there?"

Yao Shuang said, "I know." Then she made a few gestures as she did before.

In Li Chuan's vision, black runes gradually emerged in the void, interweaving into an intricate pattern.

As the pattern gradually became complete, the base of the spire shook slightly, and then a path meandered out from the tower gate and extended to their feet.

Yao Shuang said, "Let's go."

"Wait." This time Li Chuan stopped them. He told them what he saw and said, "This road is not connected to any chamber, but continues forward in the void. I don't know where it will lead us."

Yao Shuang said: "But this is the only way ahead of us."

She hesitated for a moment and said, "The day before yesterday, I didn't feel it deeply. But this time, I can clearly feel that this relic does not exclude intruders. As long as you pass the verification, you can enter."

"Verification? What verification?" Li Chuan asked.

"Verification of the spire." Yao Shuang repeated, "This path is part of the verification."

"Why?" Li Chuan was still puzzled. "After verification, it recognized us as demons? Impossible?"

"No..." Yao Shuang frowned and began to stare at her toes, as if trying hard to think of how to explain to Li Chuan.

Wen Guying spoke up at this time. "Let's talk as we walk," he advised. "Only by walking into the tower can we find the truth. Even if this road does not lead to the tower, but to some dangerous and terrible place, we have no other choice now."

"That's right." said Li Chuan.

"Let's go." Yao Shuang said, and then stepped onto the path and walked forward.

Li Chuan followed Yao Shuang. He felt a slight tremor under his feet, turned around and looked back, and found that the road he had just walked was gradually disappearing, and the passage he came from had disappeared without a trace.

The three of them walked slowly along the path.

"How do you think the hunter got here?" Li Chuan had many questions again, "We have Senior Sister Yao. Evil cultivators can rely on unorthodox methods, but what does the hunter rely on?"

"Mortals have climbed to the top of Locust Mountain, so it is not impossible for hunters to get here." Wen Guying said.

"That's right." Li Chuan said, "By the way, it seems we didn't encounter the vine monster this time?"

“Perhaps after the formation started working again, the vine monster also fell into a deep sleep.” Wen Guying replied.

"But we didn't recite any scriptures?" Li Chuan said.

"The formation should also have a certain suppressive effect." Wen Guying replied.

After talking with Wen Guying for a long time, Li Chuan suddenly realized that Yao Shuang had not spoken for a long time.

He looked at Yao Shuang's back and called out, "Senior Sister Yao?"

"What's the matter?" Yao Shuang asked.

Li Chuan breathed a sigh of relief and asked casually, "How long will we have to go?"

Yao Shuang raised her head and looked forward for a while before saying, "It's almost there."

They didn't talk anymore after that, just walked along the path in silence and concentration.

Li Chuan began to study the path. He used his butterfly spirit to shine on the ground, and as he concentrated, the road surface began to decompose layer by layer. "Huh?" Li Chuan stopped.

"What did you see? And don't stop." Wen Guying said.

"Oh," Li Chuan said as he continued to walk forward, "This section of the road is discontinuous. We...we are now walking in the gaps between the chambers."

"So we are already in the tower now." Wen Guying said.

"That's right." Li Chuan replied. He looked around at the chambers and the part of the tower that was displayed, and once again felt like he was walking in the body of a creature.

"We're here." Yao Shuang said.

Li Chuan came out of his state and saw the tower standing in front of them.

The black door was closed, with mysterious patterns painted on it.

Li Chuan looked around. The winding path they had come from had disappeared, and the tower base was surrounded by some gray-white gravel. He took two steps to the side, and the trembling feeling was still there.

"What is that?" Li Chuan found that there seemed to be something in the rubble near the wall.

"Don't go over there." Wen Guying called out to him.

Li Chuan stopped immediately.

Wen Guying raised his hand, and the rubble parted to the sides, revealing a hatchet. He reached out again and the hatchet was in his hand.

"Is it a hunter's knife?" Li Chuan asked.

"It's very likely." Wen Guying took a look and said, "He hit something, and that thing escaped here with the knife..."

He handed the hatchet to Li Chuan. Li Chuan took it. The handle was very smooth, and there were many notches on the blade. "So what is he doing now..." He looked around, trying to find more clues, but found nothing else.

"Let's go into the tower." Yao Shuang said.

Li Chuan felt that Yao Shuang's tone was different from her usual tone. He turned to look at her and saw that her eyes were fixed on the patterns on the tower gate, as if she was looking at a treasure.

Are you crazy?
Seeing Li Chuan looking at her, Yao Shuang calmed down again and said, "I already know how to open the door."

"How?" Li Chuan asked.

Then, he saw a black shovel in Yao Shuang's hand. She held the shovel and shoveled towards the door.

The black shovel hit the black door. The pattern on the door merged with the runes extending from the shovel head. Then the door shook slowly twice and opened to both sides by itself.

Yao Shuang put away the shovel and strode in.

Li Chuan hurriedly followed.

Behind the door was a circular hall. As they arrived, the lights on the top lit up one by one, illuminating the walls. The walls were like jade, constantly changing different scenes, like a series of murals.

Except for the murals on the wall, the entire hall was empty.

"What are these?" Li Chuan asked as he looked at the vague and changing scenes on the wall.

Yao Shuang said: "I understand."

Li Chuan was about to ask her what she understood when he heard Wen Guying say, "This secret realm was built after the great catastrophe of gods and demons."

"Why?" Li Chuan was even more confused.

"Because the murals record what happened during the great catastrophe of gods and demons." Wen Guying said.

(End of this chapter)