I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

Lilith sat on a wooden crate in the corner of the deck, still clutching the thin rope in her hand, but this time she didn't throw it into the sea to fish for amusement.

She fidgeted with the rope end intermittently, her eyes following the occasional flying fish leaping out of the sea.

Ophelia sat quietly in the shadow of the mast, reading a book, occasionally glancing up at the distant horizon before looking away.

The half-day voyage was spent on the calm sea.

After the Haique rounded a shallow area, the outline of a gray-green island gradually emerged on the sea.

From a distance, the entire island is covered with lush vegetation, which glows with a warm green hue under the afternoon sun. The island's mountains are gentle and continuous, with the highest peak located in the center of the island, which is indeed much higher than the surrounding islands.

As the Seagull docked at the eastern beach of Lily of the Valley, Ji Tian could smell the crisp, sweet floral fragrance in the air.

Clusters of pale white flowers peek out from the crevices of the rocks at our feet, stretching all the way up the hillside, covering the entire mountainside.

Evelyn stopped at the ship's railing. "This is Lily of the Valley Island. We'll wait for you here. If you don't return before dark, I'll have the sailors take signal lights up the mountain to search."

Ji Tian jumped off the boat, Elena followed closely behind, Lilith walked beside her, and Ophelia brought up the rear.

The four of them set foot on the island and walked up the hillside along a faintly discernible path.

About half an hour later, the terrain on the hillside became steeper, and the path began to wind its way up the ridge. The vegetation on both sides gradually transitioned from low herbaceous plants to sparse shrubs.

Ji Tian walked at the very front, his steps never faltering.

After walking for a while, he stopped on a relatively gentle hillside and noticed something unusual:

Not far ahead, under a few crooked ancient trees, lay several gray-black wooden boxes, their surfaces covered with cracks and moss, their edges somewhat deformed by the damp sea breeze, but their overall outlines remained intact.

The lids of two of the wooden crates were slightly ajar, revealing glittering gold underneath.

"Wow! This is a treasure chest!?"

Just as she was about to open the treasure chest to see what was inside, Ji Tian grabbed her arm.

"Wait, this isn't an ordinary treasure chest."

Ji Tian took a few steps closer and gently kicked the side of the nearest wooden crate.

The lid of the wooden box suddenly popped open, and a grayish-brown thing emerged from it, looking like some kind of creature pieced together from rags and scrap wood.

It has two button eyes of different sizes, round and staring unblinkingly at Ji Tian, ​​making a soft "click-click" sound.

Lilith took a half step back: "This is... a mimic?! But the mimics in the Demon King's Castle don't look like this!"

The Mimic in the Demon King's Castle is a dangerous mimicry creature, a predator with sharp teeth and a rapidly closing lid.

The one in front of us had eyes made of buttons, a body pieced together from rags, and limbs haphazardly assembled from wood and hemp rope. Its movements were slow and clumsy, making it seem like a cub that was always a beat slow to react, even when it was trying to do something.

Ji Tian crouched down and gently pressed his hand on the top of the mimic's head.

The creature first shrank back, then slowly poked more of its body out of the box and touched Ji Tian's fingertips with its tentacles.

"Click".

It was most likely domesticated by humans, and the instigator was probably the first hero.

The mimic he brought from the Demon King's castle has been raised here for thousands of years, multiplying for countless generations, until its wildness has completely faded.

Lilith cautiously approached, tentatively reaching out to touch the edge of one of the mimics:

"It won't bite me, will it?!"

When Lilith was a child, she was actually frightened by the mimics in the Demon King's castle. The mimics there were very fierce and would bite demons at the drop of a hat.

"No, if you're worried about being bitten, just don't touch its mouth."

Ji Tian stood up and glanced at the few treasure chest monsters scattered among the ancient trees. "Leave them; they're not in the way."

They continued upwards, and after walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the surrounding vegetation began to thin out.

A thin mist gradually appeared in the air, blurring the distant view into grayish-white patches.

Ji Tian stopped and scanned his surroundings. After a moment, he noticed Chinese characters carved on a slightly protruding rock by the roadside, with an English translation below them:

"Follow the road signs."

He led the group to continue in the direction indicated by the road signs.

Another stone slab appeared ahead, half-buried in the soil, with the same inscription:

"Don't trust your intuition; the fog here is specifically designed to prevent strays from entering."

"..."

He continued walking along the road signs.

The third road sign reads: "Take the middle road."

The fourth piece: "When you see a fork in the road, choose the right one."

The fifth piece: "Don't look back."

Following the road signs, they walked through the mist, discovering new sights every so often.

As Ji Tian walked past the last road sign, his view suddenly opened up.

The fog quickly closed in behind them, covering the area once again.

In front of them, in the center of a flat clearing partially surrounded by bushes, stood a low stone platform.

On the stone platform sat a cast iron box.

The box has no keyhole or gaps on its surface, only a bird pattern with outstretched wings cast in the center of the lid. The lines are simple and powerful, completely different from the style described in the letter of the first hero.

Next to the iron box was a palm-sized stone slab, on which was engraved the Common Language:

Hello, kindred spirit who has traveled from afar.

If you've made it this far, it means you have at least three things: patience, luck, and a certain level of skill. If you don't know the password, then sing a song.

The bottom right corner also has Chinese and English annotations:

[The treasure belongs to the time travelers; don't take it.]

Unexpectedly, there was a second challenge: this hero had even prepared a gift for those who weren't time travelers.

Ji Tian was speechless for a moment.

This senior was indeed meticulous in his work, even considering those who were not time travelers.

He took a shovel from Elena, squatted down on the ground beside the stone platform, gently traced a circle along the edge of the stone in the soil, and then began to dig downwards.

The soil wasn't hard, so they dug quickly. After digging about five dwarfs deep, the tip of the shovel hit something hard.

Ji Tian used his hands to clear away the surrounding soil, revealing an iron box.

The box was about a foot square, covered with an oilcloth, and the edges were tightly tied with hemp rope. A small copper bell was tied at the knot, making a clear sound.

Ji Tian took out the iron box, weighed it in his hand, and found that it was neither heavy nor empty, indicating that it was indeed filled with something.

He unwrapped the oilcloth; the iron box was undecorated except for a line of extremely fine characters engraved along the edge of the lid, this time entirely in Chinese:

[For those who can understand.]