The Demon King is back, leading adorable kids on an adventure around the world!

The valley was still shrouded in a thin layer of cool air in the early morning.

When Niannian woke up, it was already daylight. She sat up in bed, the blanket slipped down to her waist, and her hair was a mess.

I can't tell which ones were crooked from sleeping on them and which ones were messed up by myself tossing and turning at night.

She sat for a while before getting out of bed, walking to the window and pushing open the window sash. The window frame made a short, rough sound.

The air outside smelled of a mixture of earth and grass, and was a bit drier than yesterday. The wind was light, just enough to refresh you when it blew on your face.

When she went to the well to wash up, Xiaoxiao was already standing in the yard.

Today, Xiaoxiao changed into a darker-colored short-sleeved shirt, with the cuffs tied up and the hem tucked into her belt, as if she had prepared to go out in advance.

Niannian glanced at her: "You're all ready?"

Xiao Xiao said, "I prepared everything last night, afraid that you would be in a hurry to leave when you woke up in the morning and would have to wait for me."

Niannian didn't reply and lowered her head to wash her face.

Water droplets clung to the edge of her eyebrows. She wiped them away with the back of her hand and looked up to see the figure of the Fang family elder walking out from the direction of the main hall.

Holding a cloth bag in her hand, she walked up to Luo Tian and stopped. Inside the bag was a stack of neatly folded dry rations.

"The crack to the north lit up again last night, brighter than during the day. Some people were still rushing there in the middle of the night."

The old man spoke softly, as if he were instructing someone on a routine matter.

"If you're going today, you'd better leave early. If you go late, all the good stuff will be gone."

Nian Nian wiped the water droplets off her face and draped the cloth back over the edge of the well.

She walked to Luo Tian's side, looked up, and asked, "Dad, are we going again today?"

"Go," Luo Tian said. "You'll be the same as yesterday, with Xiao Jin and Luo Nannan following behind."

Niannian nodded, and as she turned to walk back to the door, she casually put the thin rope that she had left on the windowsill the night before into her pocket.

She picked up the rope from the ground in the secret realm hall yesterday. It was just long enough to wrap around twice. She wasn't sure what use it would be, but she thought it might come in handy later.

When Niannian stood on the edge of the valley again, she noticed that the marks around the entrance to the crevice were different from yesterday.

There were more footprints on the ground than yesterday, some deep and some shallow, and some pointing in different directions.

Some people went in, and some people came out.

At the edge of the crack, a piece of rock had been knocked off its edge by something hard, leaving a brand new cut surface, light in color and with sharp edges, as if it had just been knocked off last night.

Niannian stood at the entrance of the crack and examined the footprints for a moment, as if counting whether their directions overlapped.

After counting the distribution and direction of the footprints, she squeezed into the crevice, with Xiaoxiao following behind her, followed by Qiqi, Qianqian, Xiaojin, and Luo Nannan.

The rotunda was as empty as it had been yesterday, but something had brushed away some of the dust from the murals, revealing clearer lines and outlines underneath.

Niannian stood in front of a mural that had been brushed over for a while and looked at it. The mural depicted several figures forming a circle.

There is a depression in the middle of the floor, and the shape of the depression is very similar to the outline of the stone platform base in the center of the main hall.

There were some small symbols around the figure, which didn't look like words, but rather like markings.

She didn't stand in front of the mural for long before turning and walking toward the side passage she had taken yesterday.

The passage was a bit darker than yesterday, and the light from the few glowing ores at the top seemed to have dimmed slightly.

There was a very faint smell of dust in the air, as if someone had just passed through before she arrived, taking away some of the air and leaving something else behind.

Niannian walked ahead at a moderate pace, her hands hanging at her sides without holding onto the wall.

The small hall at the end of the passage was the same as yesterday, but the gray marks on the floor had changed.

New scratches have appeared near the two corners of the wall that were cleared yesterday, and the direction of the scratches doesn't seem to have been left randomly.

One end is deeper and the other end is shallower, as if it was formed by being dragged across by some thin, hard object.

Niannian squatted down and looked at it for a while, then followed the direction of the scratches toward the entrance of the passage on the other side of the small hall.

The entrance to that passage was so narrow that a person could only squeeze through sideways.

Yesterday, Niannian didn't choose to go in, but today she stopped outside the entrance and looked inside.

The light was dim, and you could see that the passageway was winding; it disappeared after turning a corner.

She squeezed in sideways. The passage seemed longer than the entrance. After turning a corner, there was a straight section. The rock walls on both sides were smoother than the outside, as if they had been artificially treated.

When she reached the end of the passage, she saw light, not a glowing ore, but a ball of spirit fire floating in the air.

The fireball was placed in a groove at the top of a stone pillar, and its light covered an area of ​​about ten feet square.

In the center of that area stood a stone platform with a flat surface, smooth edges, and no carvings.

On the table was a small wooden box, most of the paint had peeled off, revealing the wood grain underneath. The box was unlocked, the lid was closed, and there was a very thin gap between it and the table.

Niannian stood in front of the stone platform and leaned down to examine it for a moment.

She didn't reach out immediately, but squatted down on the edge of the stone platform.

She glanced up at the ball of spirit fire; its brightness was steady, and it didn't seem to have any mechanism. Her gaze then fell back to the wooden box.

She reached out and lifted the lid of the box a crack, peeked inside, then closed it again, turning back to Xiaoxiao: "It's empty inside."

Xiao Xiao walked over, lifted the lid of the box, and took a look; it was indeed empty.

There was a light gray lining at the bottom of the box, with a rectangular crease in the center, as if something had been there for a long time and had just been taken away.

Niannian pressed the lining with her hand, found nothing unusual, closed the box lid, and stood up.

She turned and walked back, but stopped after a few steps and glanced at a protruding rock at the corner of the passage.

The raised surface is darker in color than the surrounding rock walls, and it doesn't look like it was formed naturally. It looks like it has been touched repeatedly, and the edges have been worn down to a rounded shape.

She stopped, her gaze lingering briefly on the protruding rock before looking away without pausing to examine it closely.

When I emerged from the crevice and returned to the ground, the sun had already reached its zenith.

The sunlight shone directly down from above, making the gravel underfoot appear white, forcing one to squint to see the path ahead.

A person stood at the edge of the valley, with their back to this side and facing out of the valley, looking down at something in their hand.

Nian Nian recognized the outline of the object—it was a rolled-up animal skin.

It looks very similar to the one that the person she saw yesterday had, but the wear and tear on the edges is different, making it look like an older copy.

The man seemed to sense the movement behind him and turned around.

Niannian saw his face clearly. He wasn't the young man from yesterday; he was older, with a few gray hairs mixed in.

The edge of the animal hide in his hand was rolled up, revealing a curved line drawn underneath.

He glanced at Niannian, then at Xiaoxiao, Xiaojin, and the others who came out from behind her.

As if he was used to seeing all sorts of people near the secret realm, he didn't pay much attention, put the animal skin into his pocket, and turned to leave.

Niannian watched his departing figure, walking in the opposite direction from the Fang family, with long strides, and quickly disappearing behind the low slope.

She took the rope she had picked up from the windowsill out of her pocket, wrapped it around her finger twice, then untied it, put it back in her pocket, and turned to walk back the way she had come.

When the wind blew, her hair was ruffled again. She didn't brush it off, but just squinted and continued walking.