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

Niannian walked at the front, counting at first, but forgot when she got to the thirties and started counting again.

I was halfway through counting when my attention was drawn to the carvings on the stone wall next to me, and I stopped counting altogether.

Qiqi followed behind her, trying to count the steps like Niannian did. But as she counted, she yawned, forgot how many steps she had counted, and simply stopped counting.

At the end of the steps was a stone door, thicker than the previous ones, with a spiraling line carved on its surface, extending from the lintel to the edge of the door seam.

Niannian crouched down by the crack in the door and looked inside. The light coming through was brighter than the light coming from above, with a golden halo and not very sharp edges, as if it were shining through a thin layer of mist.

"It's bright inside, but not with a blue light; it's golden."

"Golden?"

Xiao Xiao walked over to her and squatted down to look inside.

"Is there anything else inside?"

"I can't see it very clearly, but it looks like there's something in the middle."

Niannian reached out and pushed the stone door, but it didn't budge. She applied a little more force, but it still wouldn't move.

She turned around and called to Xiao Jin, "Xiao Jin, come and give it a push."

Xiao Jin walked up from behind, placed his hands on both sides of the stone gate, and pushed hard with his feet against the ground.

The stone door first emitted a dull creaking sound, then slowly slid open inwards, revealing the full light behind it.

Niannian was the first to walk in, then stood at the doorway, stunned.

Inside was a small, square room, not very spacious, but arranged very neatly.

The four walls are made of polished dark stone, and there is a stone platform in the very center.

The stone platform was about waist-high, and the surface was flat. A sword was placed horizontally on it.

The scabbard is dark in color, with a very faint dark pattern on its surface, like some kind of flowing texture.

It is not inlaid with any gemstones, nor is it decorated with any extraneous ornamentation. The winding patterns on the hilt are worn so much that they are almost invisible, but the overall outline is intact.

Niannian stood in front of the stone platform for a while, but did not immediately reach out.

"Little sister, look, this sword is so clean."

Niannian turned her head and glanced at Xiaoxiao.

Xiao Xiao walked over and stood beside her, glancing at the dark patterns on the sword sheath:

"This sword must have been here for a long time, but there isn't a speck of dust on the scabbard."

Niannian looked at it for a while longer, then reached out and grasped the sword hilt.

The moment she grasped the hilt, the sword emitted a soft hum, like the first response of being awakened.

She tried to pull the sword out a bit, and the part of the blade that came out of the sheath gleamed with a silvery-white light.

A very thin layer of spiritual light flowed across the surface of the blade, like a breathing membrane of light.

She drew it out a little more, and when the entire sword was fully drawn, the spiritual light on the blade extended along the spine towards the tip.

The sword's luster was even and soft, as if it had been repeatedly polished by an invisible hand.

"It seems to be glowing."

Qiqi tiptoed over to look from behind, and Niannian held the sword horizontally for her to see. The light from the blade cast a pale silver shadow on Qiqi's cheek.

Qiqi blinked and reached out to touch the blade, but before she could, Qianqian grabbed her wrist from behind.

"Don't touch it, the blade has spiritual energy flowing through it, it's easy to cut yourself."

Kiki pulled her hand back, but still stood on tiptoe to continue watching.

Nian Nian gripped the sword hilt, and the layer of silvery-white light spread along her arm, then receded on its own, like a line that had confirmed its presence and was retreating back to its original position.

She felt the temperature of the sword hilt rising, like the slight warmth after being held in the palm of someone's hand for a while.

"It seems to recognize me."

Niannian held up the sword and looked at it. A very faint golden halo was gathered on the tip of the sword, slowly rotating, like a star that had been shrunk many times over.

Xiao Jin squeezed through from behind and took a look:

"Hey, this sword is pretty good. It's two or three levels better than your previous Taiyi Sword."

Niannian ignored him and swung her sword again. A light golden sword aura shot out from the tip of the sword and landed on the stone wall in the corner of the small room, leaving a shallow mark.

The shallow mark had smooth edges, like a cut made by a knife.

Niannian looked down at her hands, then at the sword, and a smile crept onto her lips.

"I'll give it a name."

She thought for a moment: "Let's call it... 'Morning Dew'. The dewdrops before sunrise are pretty and a little cool."

"Morning dew?"

Qiqi repeated the two words and then nodded.

"It sounds nice."

Niannian sheathed the sword, and as the blade disappeared into the scabbard, the silvery-white light lingered for a moment on the last section of the blade.

Then it was completely sheathed, like a lamp being slowly extinguished.

She hung the sword at her waist, and after hanging it, she gently pressed the hilt with her hand to feel its weight.

"Then I'll have a sword again."

Xiao Xiao walked over and looked at the sword at her waist:

"The material of this sword doesn't seem to be ordinary iron. The fact that it was placed in this location deep within the secret realm suggests that someone left it here waiting for the right person to retrieve it."

Niannian looked down at the sword hilt, then looked up at Xiaoxiao:

"So, am I the right person?"

Short story: "Perhaps."

Niannian smiled, lowered her head and gripped the sword hilt, saying nothing more, but the corners of her mouth were still upturned.

Qianqian stood at the entrance of the small room, her gaze sweeping over the corners and gaps of the four walls:

"There are slight wear marks on the inside of the wall, as if they were left after being repeatedly washed by water, indicating that this small room was once flooded, but it is now completely dry."

Niannian followed her gaze to the corner of the wall and indeed saw some light-colored watermarks.

But she was far more interested in the sword than in the marks, and she looked down at the sword at her waist:

"Let's go and see if there's anything else good there."

"Wait a moment."

Qianqian's voice came from the corner of the wall.

"There's still something here."

Niannian turned her head and saw Qianqian squatting in the corner, her finger tracing a barely visible crack.

Niannian walked over and squatted down: "Is it hidden inside the wall?"

Qianqian did not answer. She pressed the end of the slit with her fingertip and gently pressed it down.

The stone wall loosened slightly, and a small section popped out, just big enough for a hand to reach inside.

Qianqian reached inside and rummaged around for a moment, then pulled out a flat iron box. The lid and body of the box were rusted together, and there was a thin layer of reddish-brown powder on the edges.

Niannian reached out and took it, then tapped the seam of the iron box with the end of the scabbard.

A crack appeared in the rusted layer. She pried open the lid and found a layer of dry straw mat inside, with a jade slip placed in the middle.

She picked up the jade slip, probed it with her spiritual energy, and several pieces of information entered her mind.

The jade slip contained little information, resembling a brief note:

"The sword is named Frostbite. I used it in my early years and have kept it in this secret chamber, waiting for a destined person. If you obtain it, I hope you will treat it well."

A coordinate was also marked, pointing to a location deeper within the secret realm.

"Frost?"

Niannian read the contents of the jade slip aloud.

"This sword is called Frost, but we renamed it Morning Dew."

She looked down at the scabbard at her waist and thought for a moment: "But Morning Dew is also a nice song."

She carefully put the jade slip away, closed the iron box, and returned it to its original place. Then she stood up and clapped her hands.

"Then let's go take a look at the location marked on the jade slip."

Qiqi's legs were numb from squatting at the door of the small room. When she stood up by supporting herself against the wall, she swayed slightly.

"How much further?"

While checking the clasp of the sword sheath, Nian Nian casually replied:

"It shouldn't be too far. The map says it's still a while away."

Upon hearing this, Qiqi immediately perked up, ignoring her still-numb legs, and quickly followed:

"Let's go then!"

When Niannian stood up from beside the metal box, she glanced at the empty inner wall of the box.

The bottom edge of the dried straw mat was a darker color than the surrounding area, as if something had seeped into it and dried completely, leaving it there without fading.

She glanced at it, but didn't reach out to touch it or say anything; she simply stood up.

The group left the small room and continued along the corridor.

Niannian walked at the front, a sword now at her waist, her steps lighter than before.

After walking for a while, she suddenly turned her head and said to the little girl beside her:

"Miss, what kind of person did this sword originally belong to?"

Xiao Xiao thought for a moment: "If it could be placed deep in the secret realm specifically for someone to retrieve it, it probably wasn't just left there randomly."

Niannian nodded, as if she was thinking about something:

"If we encounter his descendants in the future, will we have to return it?"

Xiao Xiao was taken aback by the question:

"I guess... we don't need to. This is a relic kept in a secret realm, with a note saying it's waiting for someone destined to find it."

Niannian said "Oh," relieved, and her steps became lighter. She glanced down at the sword sheath at her waist and then quickened her pace.

Xiao Jin caught up from behind: "Does this sword have a spirit?"

Niannian paused, looking down at the sword hilt:

"A spirit? I don't know..."

She gripped the sword hilt briefly, felt nothing, and then released it.

"Probably not, it didn't talk to me."

Xiao Jin said, "That's a pity. Only artifacts with spirits can be considered true artifacts."

Niannian thought for a moment: "What if it wakes up on its own later?"

Xiao Jin clicked his tongue: "That depends on fate."

Niannian didn't reply. As she walked with her head down, she reached out and touched the end of the sword hilt, as if to confirm that it was still there.

She held the sword in her hand, and it gleamed with a very faint silver light in the dark blue light of the passageway.

It slipped through her fingers and then retreated, as if responding to the warmth of her palm.