I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

But the commotion came and went quickly; soon after, the elven archer spoke:

"That commotion just now... is gone."

Ji Tian stopped and rubbed the moss under his feet with the tip of his boot.

The soft, living skin-like feel had indeed disappeared, and the tundra had returned to its appearance as an ordinary wetland.

Ophelia caught up from behind, the tortoise shell in her hand already put away, her fingertips pinching a few almost invisible strands of silver-blue light, as she was trying to detect the source of the tundra's remaining aura.

She pointed to a spot deep in the tundra, slightly to the left. "The divination only gave me one direction: a huge, labyrinthine underground cavern structure. The source of that aura is shrouded in something; I can only vaguely sense that it's there."

"Could it be that the so-called 'Sleepers' are truly asleep? What is this all about?"

Ji Tian asked, "Where's Shadow Fiend?"

"He was there too, but not with the demigod; he seemed to be searching for His place as well."

Ji Tian nodded and looked at Legolas: "Where have you traveled the farthest?"

Legolas's gaze fell on the increasingly deep silver-blue expanse in the distance. "It's about half a day's journey to the edge of the tundra. Beyond that, it's not marked on the map."

"That's perfect."

Ji Tian started walking again, this time he walked faster.

As night fell, they arrived at a slightly raised patch of ground.

The moss thins out here, revealing the bluish-gray rock underneath, its surface smooth and not appearing to be naturally weathered.

A semi-circular archway juts out from the ground at an angle, its frame covered with silvery-blue moss that almost completely obscures it.

Ji Tian raised his hand and brushed aside a few drooping vines.

Three lines of ancient Elvish script are carved on the lintel. The strokes are rounded and simple, and the edges have been blurred by time, but they are still faintly visible:

Settlement, shelter, reincarnation.

Legolas, being a four-hundred-year-old elf, clearly understood the deeper meaning of these ancient Elvish words. He lowered his voice and explained to the group, "These three words are synonyms for 'grave' in ancient Elvish, and also represent the starting point of 'new life.' This should be the door leading to the dwelling place of the 'Sleepers.'"

Lilith subconsciously moved closer to Elena, muttering softly, "You're making me almost not want to go in..."

"Then you'll stay outside?" Elena tilted her head to look at her.

"That won't do. What if those Shadow Demons escape from inside?"

Ji Tian stepped through the archway first, followed closely by the others.

The stone steps extend downwards, with tiny crystals embedded in the walls on both sides, providing a dim but just enough light to see the path beneath one's feet.

The air grew cooler, carrying a very faint scent of decaying vegetation. After walking for about 15 minutes, the path beneath their feet gradually became flat, and the space opened up.

The dome of the cave hall is several dozen feet high, and the stone walls are covered with fine silver-blue patterns.

Seven or eight branch paths extend from the main hall, each leading in a different direction.

Just as Lilith was about to ask, "Which way do we go?", Legolas, who was beside her, had already crouched down and discovered fresh signs of soil being turned over at a fork in the road.

"Shadow Fiend is taking the third path from the left."

Just as Ji Tian was about to take a step, he suddenly heard a soft "clucking" sound coming from ahead.

He looked up and saw a round creature, about the size of a watermelon, slowly emerging from the shadows of the side road to his left.

The thing was pale purple all over, covered with a layer of short fuzz, and had two large black eyes set in front of it, staring at them without blinking.

Four short tentacles extend from its sides, making a soft "gurgling" sound with each step.

Lilith instinctively gripped the wooden stick, holding her breath: "There's...there's an enemy—"

The little purple ball tilted its head and then made a "gurgle" sound.

"Wow! It can even make noise!"

Ji Tian didn't sense any malice.

He tentatively held the holy sword horizontally from his shoulder, and the holy mountain on the hilt, shrunken to the size of a fist, emitted a soft golden light.

The pale purple sphere seemed to have seen something extremely tempting. Its entire body expanded at a visible speed, then rolled over with a "gurgle gurgle" sound and stopped right next to Ji Tian's feet, rubbing its head against his boot.

Lilith's stick remained suspended in mid-air, unable to fall.

"What...what is it doing?"

Ophelia rarely spoke up, "It probably sensed the aura of the Holy Sword and the Holy Mountain. After all, they carry the beliefs of mortals for protection for thousands of years, so it's quite reasonable for a creature that loves holy light to show goodwill towards them."

As soon as he finished speaking, another "clucking" sound came from all around.

One after another, round little creatures of various colors peeked out from the shadows in the corner of the cave. Some were pale pink, some were light blue, some had fine silver spots, and some were as big as winter melons and as small as fists.

As if drawn by some force, they slowly gathered around Ji Tian, ​​forming a loose semicircle, raising their heads and emitting continuous "clucking" sounds.

Legolas maintained a vigilant posture with his hand on the bowstring throughout, his gaze lingering on these creatures for a long time, revealing a rare surprise: "Its fondness for holy light suggests it doesn't come from the demon realm, but I haven't seen such creatures in any elven tome."

Ji Tian glanced down at the clumps of furry "gurgling" creatures at his feet, feeling that these little things could probably understand human speech. He tentatively asked, "Does anyone know which path the Shadow Fiend takes? It's...

Ji Tian then gestured to them the appearance and ability characteristics of the Shadow Fiend.

no respond.

It seems that Shadow Fiend used Shadow Cloak and other methods to avoid contact with these small animals.

Having learned from his previous mistake of deliberately putting on a smiling face only to frighten the elven children into tears, Ji Tian suppressed his smile and asked, "Where is your master? I mean no harm; I just wanted to visit him."

After a few moments of silence, many of the creatures, clearly lacking intelligence, continued to chirp softly.

Fortunately, there were still some reliable ones among them. The largest, a round little monster with a pale golden luster squeezed out from the herd, gently touched Ji Tian's boot tip with its head, then turned around, took a few steps toward the third fork in the road from the left, stopped, and looked back at him.

Elena had a soft spot for these cute and harmless creatures. "Did it understand?"

"It might be more than just understanding." Ji Tian, ​​carrying the holy sword, stepped forward to catch up with the pale golden monster. "Let's go, let it lead the way."

The round little beast seemed quite pleased with its role as a "guide," stopping every so often to look back and see if they were keeping up, before continuing to roll forward once it was sure no one had fallen behind.

"Coo-choo—"

"Coo-choo—"

Deep within the cave, the calls of those round little creatures echoed one after another, as if welcoming guests from afar in an ancient language.