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

After walking along the new sign for a while, the path began to fork.

Three holes of roughly the same width appeared ahead, arranged in an irregular arc.

There are no obvious signs of artificial polishing at the edge of the hole, suggesting it was formed naturally, but the location and spacing do not seem to be random.

Niannian stopped at the fork in the road, took out a map from her pocket, unfolded it, and looked at it. The map only had one line marked on it, without any forks.

"Little sister, come and look at this." Nian Nian waved to Xiao Xiao.

"There's only one road drawn on the map, but there are three here. Which one should we take?"

Xiao Xiao walked over and squatted down next to Niannian. She took the map, glanced at it from one side, and then flipped it back over.

"There are no forks in the road on the map. This place is either naturally formed or the person who drew the map didn't go this far."

She stood up and looked at the three holes. The edge of the middle hole had some scratches, as if it had been repeatedly rubbed by something.

"The edges of the opening in the middle are worn, suggesting that a person or animal may have walked through it."

Qiqi leaned against the stone wall beside her, peering into the hole in the middle:

"Let's go in the middle then!"

"Wait a minute, what if it's a dead end?"

Niannian squatted in front of the cave entrance, resting her chin on her hands and thinking for a while.

She always does this when she can't make up her mind; her little face scrunches up as if she's thinking about a particularly difficult problem.

Xiao Jin leaned against the stone wall beside him, a blade of grass he had picked up from somewhere dangling from his mouth, and mumbled:

"Why don't you throw a stone into each hole and listen to the sound?"

The farther a stone rolls, the deeper the tunnel; if it stops rolling after a few rolls, it means there's a blockage ahead.

Niannian turned her head and glanced at him, then bent down and picked up three small stones of similar size from the ground, throwing one into the leftmost hole.

The pebble bounced a few times in the passage, the sound fading into the distance before finally disappearing.

She threw another one into the hole on the right, and it rolled a short distance before stopping.

The last one was thrown into the middle hole, and the sound lasted for a long time before gradually fading away.

"The middle one is the deepest, so take the middle one."

Niannian stood up, dusted off her hands, and stepped into the middle hole.

Qiqi followed her inside, with Xiaoxiao trailing behind.

Qianqian walked in the middle of the group, while Xiaojin walked at the very back.

He would take a few steps and then look back at the way he came to make sure no one was following him before continuing forward.

The passage was longer than I had imagined; it took about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea to walk through it before I reached the end.

The light from the minerals overhead grew dimmer and dimmer until, in the end, the path ahead was illuminated almost entirely by a few luminous minerals scattered on the rock face.

Qiqi walked behind Niannian, tugging at her clothes:

"Sister Niannian, it's so dark here."

"Are you afraid of the dark?" Niannian didn't turn around, but her tone was smiling.

"I'm not afraid! It's just... it's just a bit too dark, I can't see anything."

Niannian slowed down a little, making Qiqi follow closer.

Qiqi loosened her grip on her clothes and then tightened it again, her steps becoming a little more steady than before.

After walking for a while, a glimmer of light finally appeared ahead.

Nian quickened her pace, and after turning a corner, the view became bright.

At the end of the passage was a small, circular stone chamber with a narrow crack in the ceiling through which light leaked in.

The stone chamber had a flat floor and several rows of shallow niches on the surrounding walls, but they were all empty.

However, in the very center of the stone chamber, there was a protruding stone with a flat surface, on which sat a jade box about the size of a palm.

The jade is semi-transparent, and you can see a thin roll inside through it.

Niannian walked over and squatted down, but did not immediately reach out to take it. She first looked at the gap between the edge of the jade box lid and the stone platform.

Only after confirming that there were no traces of connecting arrays did they carefully lift the lid of the jade box.

Inside was a very thin roll of silk. When unfolded, it had several lines drawn on it. The lines were simpler than the previous maps, but the marked locations were very clear.

A new path extends beyond the existing map, ending with a circular marker and the word "藏" (Cang, meaning hidden/concealed).

"Tibetan?"

He muttered the word aloud, then held the silk scroll up to the light and examined it again.

"What are you hiding? Or is this spot where you're supposed to hide something?"

Xiao Xiao leaned closer to take a look and pointed to a small line of text next to the circular mark:

"There is another line of text here, 'Those who are not destined to enter shall not approach,' which means that not just anyone can enter this place; certain conditions must be met before one can enter."

"What are the conditions?"

Niannian turned the silk over and over to look at it, then held it up to the light to examine the back; there were no other words on it.

"I don't know," Xiao said. "I might find out when we get there."

Niannian carefully rolled up the silk and put it back into the jade box, then put the entire jade box into her storage ring. She stood up and looked around.

"Then let's keep going forward, following this newly marked path, and see what's hidden there."

Qiqi was still staring at the empty niches, and Xiaoxiao walked over to her and glanced in the same direction.

"They're all empty. They must have been shelves that used to hold things, but they were taken away later."

Qiqi then looked away and said, "Let's go then."

After exiting the stone chamber, the passage narrowed again.

As she walked, Niannian suddenly stopped, looked down and touched her pocket, taking out a small communication jade talisman that was glowing faintly.

She held the jade talisman to her ear and listened; it was Luo Tian's voice.

Where are you now? Have you encountered any problems?

Niannian held up the jade talisman and replied:

"Dad, we've entered the secret realm and reached the third path."

I just found a stone chamber and picked up a roll of silk inside. It had a new route drawn on it and marked a place with the character "藏" (hide) on it.

There was a moment of silence on Luo Tian's end: "Hidden? What are you hiding?"

"I don't know, we haven't arrived yet. But the silk scroll says 'No entry for those without affinity,' so it probably isn't open to just anyone."

When Niannian said "Those who are not destined to be near should not approach," she deliberately slowed down her speech, as if she was seriously recalling how to write those words.

There was a brief silence on Luo Tian's end.

"Be careful, don't force your way in if you're unsure. How much longer are you going to stay in this secret realm?"

Niannian thought for a moment, "We should probably stay a little longer, we just found a new route. Dad, is something wrong with you?"

"It's nothing, I was just asking. You can decide for yourself."

"Okay!" Niannian put the jade talisman away and stuffed it into her pocket.