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

Little Jin peeked in from behind: "What did Master say?"

Niannian said, "It's nothing, they just asked where we are."

Xiao Jin said "Oh" and then went back.

After walking for a while, the passage suddenly opened up, the stone walls on both sides receded, and the height above our heads suddenly increased a lot.

Niannian stood at the intersection of the passageway and the open space, first looking up at herself, then looking down at her feet.

There was a thin layer of dust on the ground, and several shallow indentations on the surface of the dust, as if something had dragged it, extending forward.

She looked in the direction of the indentation and saw something vaguely ahead.

"There seems to be something ahead, little sister. Look, there are drag marks on the ground."

Niannian pointed to the shallow marks on the ground and turned to call Xiaoxiao to come and see.

She squatted down and examined the indentations carefully, then gently brushed away the surface dust with her hand. The edges of the indentations below were dry, and the depth was uniform.

"It looks like something left behind by a dragged stone slab or box. It's not a living thing, and it's quite heavy. It's possible that someone transported it somewhere for storage."

Nian Nian followed the drag marks a short distance forward, and a stone gate appeared ahead.

It wasn't completely closed; a fairly large gap remained, allowing a warm light to shine through.

Niannian poked half her head in through the crack in the door:

"It's so bright inside!"

She simply squeezed in sideways, then exclaimed in surprise, "Wow!"

Kiki squeezed behind her, poked her head in, and also exclaimed "Wow!"

"So much light!"

After the others squeezed in, they all stopped in their tracks.

The space behind the door was larger than any they had seen before, with dozens of glowing minerals embedded in the ceiling, illuminating the entire space.

The layout of the space is also different. The ground is made of polished, flat stone slabs, and there are neatly arranged stone shelves and stone platforms around the perimeter.

There were also several circular depressions of varying sizes on the ground, as if they were used to put something.

Niannian stood at the door and looked around. She recognized the pattern of those round indentations.

It's exactly the same depression I saw under the tree roots before.

She crouched down to examine the nearest dent in the inner wall; the edges were smooth and there were no cracks.

"These spaces are used to store things, but the items may have been moved or hidden elsewhere, and you need a key to open them."

Xiao Jin stretched: "Then we need to find the key."

"Go ahead and look for it..."

Niannian stood up, dusted off her hands, looked around, and glanced at the stone shelves and platforms.

"Anyway, no one's rushing us here, so let's take our time looking."

She turned to look at Qiqi and said, "Come on, let's look around."

Qiqi followed behind her, and the two of them began to weave in and out between the stone platforms.

Niannian tiptoed to rummage through the things on the stone platform, while Qiqi squatted down to look at the gaps under the stone platform.

Xiao Xiao stood next to the several circular indentations, examining the inside and edges of each one, trying to determine the purpose of these grooves from the details.

A thin layer of dust had settled in the cracks beneath the stone platform, and there were several fine marks on the edges that differed from the surrounding wear.

She brushed away the layer of dust with her hand, glanced at it, stood up, and called out:

"Niannian, come and look at this."

Niannian jumped down from the stone platform next to her, ran over and squatted down next to Xiaoxiao:

There are words underneath.

She leaned closer to examine it closely and saw a line of very small characters carved on the bottom of the stone platform. The characters were faint, as if they had been ground down after being carved.

She squinted and examined the area for a while: "The key is hidden in the stone wall outside."

"What does 'hidden' mean? Where is it hidden?"

Niannian stood up, scratched her head, and looked back at the passage she had come from. She took a few steps toward the exit and stopped in front of the stone wall at the entrance of the passage.

She reached out and touched the surface of the stone wall, then tapped it. When she tapped a section near the bottom, the sound became hollow.

She squatted down, tapped the hollow area with her knuckles, and then looked up at Xiaoxiao.

Xiao Xiao walked over and squatted down next to her, also tapping the area to assess its thickness and extent.

"The back is empty; it must have been opened up and then sealed up."

Niannian reached out and pressed the edge of the stone wall. There was an extremely narrow gap at the edge of the stone wall.

She reached into the crevice and pried it outwards with force. The stone wall loosened slightly, then stopped moving.

She gritted her teeth and tried to pry it off again. The stone made a creaking sound, and the cracks at the edges widened a bit, but it still didn't completely fall off.

Xiao Jin squeezed through and said, "Let me do it, you're not strong enough."

Niannian moved aside to let Xiaojin bend down and grab the edge of the rock with both hands.

He gathered his strength, then pulled hard, and the entire stone slab snapped off the wall.

The dust kicked up covered Niannian's face. She covered her nose and took several steps back, coughing and waving her hand.

"Cough cough cough... Xiao Jin, you... you didn't even say anything!"

Xiao Jin casually placed the stone slab on the ground, dusted off his hands, and raised an eyebrow smugly:

"Here it is."

The space behind the stone slab was small, just enough for one person to reach in.

Niannian wiped the dust off her face, leaned closer to look inside, and saw a slender stone box at the bottom with no clasp, only a seam.

She reached out, took out the stone box, and opened it. Inside was a slender key.

The material is the same as the metal block found in the stone chamber before, with a darker color, no rust on the surface, and very smooth edges.

"Found it! The key!"

Niannian held up the key and shouted over there.

"Little sister, look, the key is here, it matches those grooves perfectly."

Xiao Xiao walked quickly over from that side, took the key, looked at it, and then walked back to one of the circular recesses.

I squatted down and compared the end of the key with the cut edge of the groove; the size and shape matched perfectly.

"This is the one."

She handed the key back to Niannian.

"Just insert it and it will open."

Niannian held the key, squatted down next to the central indentation, aligned the key with the cut, slowly inserted it, and gently turned it.

A slight tremor came from the ground, as if some mechanism was being triggered.

A continuous buzzing sound came from underground, and then a circular depression at the bottom began to slowly descend, revealing a downward entrance.

There are stone steps along the edge of the entrance, arranged neatly and extending downwards, but it is not clear where they lead.

Kiki lay on the edge of the depression and looked down:

"Sister Niannian, there's still a road ahead."

Niannian took out the key and put it away, stood at the edge of the depression and looked down at the stone steps, then looked up and waved to the people behind her:

"Let's go see what's hidden down there."

She was the first to step onto the stone steps, took two steps down, and then turned back to call up.

"The steps aren't slippery, you can walk on them."

The group filed down the stone steps.

After the last one came down, the gaps in the stone slab above their heads slowly closed, gradually shutting out the light from above.

The dark blue mineral light on both sides of the passageway reappeared, illuminating the stone steps that stretched into the distance beneath our feet.

A dry wind swept up from below, brushing against their faces, carrying a temperature different from the earth's crust above.

In the distance, a faint golden light was slowly rising in the darkness, as if waiting for them to approach step by step...

……