The forest was dim and gloomy. Scattered around the roots of the trees grew a few spiritual herbs unique to snowy mountains, though none were exceptionally rare. Nie Shiyun focused his mind, remaining alert to his surroundings, but to his surprise, they encountered no dangers along the way.
After walking for about half a day, just as the two began to wonder if they had lost their way in the woods, they felt the ground begin to slope downward.
"Was there a slope in this area when we arrived?" Zhai Bairong frowned, searching his memory. He could not recall ever ascending a hill.
Nie Shiyun thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps it isn't that we climbed a slope earlier, but that we are heading deeper underground now."
When looking down from their flying swords earlier, they had only seen a flat expanse of white, withered forest. Now, as they continued forward, the trees gradually thinned out, but they were not returning to the edge of the woods. On the contrary, the natural light around them grew increasingly dim, and the path narrowed. Looking back, the incline of the road became more pronounced. Nie Shiyun murmured, "This is the place. No mistake."
In the original book, the group had only been searching for the rare spiritual herb, the Ice Lotus, within the withered forest, and had somehow stumbled upon this place by accident. Seeing it now, it was indeed true; if Nie Shiyun were asked to write down exactly how to navigate to this entrance, he would not be able to describe it clearly.
This hidden treasure trove could be considered a natural wonder. Having followed the downward path for a while, it initially felt as though they had entered a basin. But as they went deeper, the two realized the path spiraled down like a mountain trail. Looking up, the light of the sky had completely vanished; without realizing it, they were already deep within a subterranean cavern.
"No wonder we couldn't find this place while looking down from our swords. The entrance to this grotto is hidden among the withered trees and covered by white snow. Who would know of it without walking in personally?" Zhai Bairong clicked his tongue in wonder. However, if an immortal artifact was indeed left here, it made sense for the cave to be so difficult to find.
As they descended further, the narrow, dark passage suddenly opened up. Looking down from the side of the path, the drop was about a hundred feet to the bottom. Although there was no snow in the cave, ice pillars resembling stalagmites were visible everywhere.
Naturally, the two lacked the patience to follow the winding path to the end. They leaped directly from the ledge, landing at the very center of the cavern floor. Upon landing, they immediately felt themselves surrounded by dense spiritual energy. Looking around, they saw traces of stone curtains on the surrounding walls, faintly suggesting that spiritual springs had once flowed down, though they had dried up long ago.
Glancing down, they saw many spiritual-grade herbs that only grew in snowy plains sprouting from the frozen earth between the stalagmites. If an ordinary cultivator saw this, they would likely go mad with greed.
"Let's pick some and put them away. We don't know what the situation will be like in a moment," Nie Shiyun finally couldn't help but say. The top-tier spiritual herb he had fought his way into the top eight of the Great Cultivation Meet to obtain now seemed as common as weeds, with dozens of them huddled together, waiting to be plucked.
Zhai Bairong nodded and summoned Meiqiu as well. The two men and one bird scoured the area clean.
"You said there are Ice Lotuses here as well?" Zhai Bairong asked as he and Nie Shiyun continued forward.
"Indeed. But they are inside the cave dwelling. They were likely cultivated personally by the master of this grotto thousands of years ago. These growing out here were probably just like common garden flowers to them," Nie Shiyun explained.
Zhai Bairong felt a sense of poignancy. "Things that weren't even worth a glance to cultivators thousands of years ago are now held in the highest esteem." The amount they had just harvested in one go probably rivaled several hundred years of careful cultivation in the spiritual herb gardens of the Sect of Ethereal Music.
Passing through this area, which served as a sort of "front hall" to the cavern, the two stepped from the open space into a slightly cramped passage once more. While it looked like a natural landscape, the night pearls placed at regular intervals on the walls declared that the depths were certainly a man-made cave dwelling. Yet, if it was a residence, the place felt a bit too close to nature.
Nie Shiyun thought of the cave dwelling he had been teleported to via the scroll; it too had been a place of returning to one's original nature. He couldn't help but wonder what kind of eccentric hobbies these departed cultivators had shared.
"Meiqiu, don't touch things randomly," Nie Shiyun instructed without looking back.
"I didn't! I'm just looking...!"
Nie Shiyun walked in front, with Zhai Bairong bringing up the rear, sandwiching the curiously peering Meiqiu in the middle. To an outsider, it would be impossible to guess that this little brat being protected in the center was actually the contracted spirit pet.
"Although this passage hasn't been renovated, the brackets holding the pearls on both walls are in the style of a prestigious clan—very sophisticated," Zhai Bairong noted after observing them.
"You even know about such things," Nie Shiyun smiled.
"I learned a bit about it when I was very young," Zhai Bairong nodded.
"Speaking of which, I don't think I've ever asked. You said you were chosen from the mortal realm and brought into the cultivation world. What about your family there?" Nie Shiyun asked.
Zhai Bairong was taken down, then replied, "You didn't know? Ah, but you were born in the cultivation world, so perhaps you wouldn't. Disciples chosen from the mortal realm at a young age to enter great sects must sever their ties to the past; they have no further contact with their families. Some sects give those around the child a 'Pill of Oblivion,' while others use spells to directly erase their memories. I've heard there are often cases where the technique isn't controlled well, leaving the mortals in a state of idiocy..."
Nie Shiyun was unaware of this, and his expression, turned away from Zhai Bairong, was one of great shock. The original novel hadn't mentioned this at all.
"Then... isn't that no different from kidnapping?"
Zhai Bairong pondered for a moment and said, "Perhaps for some. But in my memory, my father spoke carefully with the sect elder. I was a concubine's son, and they received a fortune because of it. It wasn't a losing deal for them."
Having spent so much time together, Nie Shiyun had never pried into Zhai Bairong's childhood. He himself found it inconvenient to reveal his own past, so he felt awkward asking the other. He hadn't expected that a casual mention today would reveal such significant news. However, when he asked further, it seemed Zhai Bairong had indeed been too young when he left the mortal realm to have many memories. Decades had passed, and as he mentioned his biological parents now, there was truly no lingering attachment or nostalgia in his eyes.
"Stop asking me, I really can't remember much," Zhai Bairong smiled helplessly. "Why don't you tell me about yourself instead?"
Nie Shiyun thought for a moment and smiled. "It is indeed time I told you everything. But this matter is a long story. Once we get the immortal artifact, we'll find a safe place and I'll explain it in detail."
Having received his promise, Zhai Bairong was actually quite satisfied. "There's no rush."
Meiqiu's inherited memories contained nothing about the "mortal realm." Sandwiched between the two, he listened with total confusion. However, he did understand one thing—Zhai Bairong was just like him, unloved by his father and mother.
"We're here."
Nie Shiyun stopped suddenly. The dazed Meiqiu went "thud" as he bumped into Nie Shiyun's back, rubbing his forehead sheepishly.
After walking through the long passage, the two reached the front hall of the cave dwelling. Upon opening the outer door, an exquisite and elegant reception area came into view.
The place where the immortal artifact was kept naturally couldn't be reached so easily. The two bypassed this area and continued deeper. From a distance, Nie Shiyun saw the inner chamber described in the novel. A stone door, reaching as high as the ceiling and looking as if it had naturally stood there since time immemorial, was fitted seamlessly into the rock crevices.
It was difficult for Nie Shiyun and Zhai Bairong even to get close; the door emitted a bone-chilling cold that was incredibly frigid.
"Meiqiu, wrap your Phoenix Essence Fire around me," Nie Shiyun commanded.
Seeing this, Zhai Bairong also summoned his Green Lotus Strange Fire to help Nie Shiyun approach the stone door.
*This is even more troublesome than I imagined...* Nie Shiyun felt a flicker of unease. He struggled to press his hand against the entrance of the dwelling. Had he not activated his fire spiritual root and received help from Meiqiu and the Green Lotus Strange Fire, he had no doubt his hand would have been frozen solid in a single second.
He injected spiritual energy, but the stone door did not accept his power, shutting him out.
"..."
In the original book, this door had never refused Duan Mingyu's touch, let alone required a specific method to open; it was as if it had been prepared specifically for him. Nie Shiyun had anticipated that things would not be so simple when it was his turn, so he had prepared in advance.
A drop of cold sweat rolled down Nie Shiyun's face. From his storage space, he took out an Ice Essence Core he had prepared earlier—something rarely seen even once in a hundred years by ice-root cultivators. He had kept an eye out for it for years and paid a high price to buy it.
The Ice Essence Core shimmered with a cold light, as translucent as real ice crystal. However, when Nie Shiyun brought it toward the stone door, it too was rejected, eliciting no reaction whatsoever.
Meiqiu's essence fire had been blasting continuously for a long time and was growing weak. After several failed attempts, Nie Shiyun had no choice but to withdraw his hand.
"It won't work?" Zhai Bairong asked worriedly.
Nie Shiyun gritted his teeth, not answering for a moment. He believed he had made sufficient preparations, yet now that he stood before the final hurdle, he still could not enter this door. He had previously speculated that if others couldn't open it and only Duan Mingyu could do so easily, then regardless of cultivation level, the restriction on the door was likely either an ice spiritual root or the Heavenly Yin Physique.
It seemed it was the worst-case scenario.
Although Nie Shiyun usually maintained a good mindset, he felt a sense of dejection at this moment. While the absolute worst-case scenario was to "wait for the rabbit by the stump"—waiting for Duan Mingyu's group to find this place, let them open the door, and then truly drop all pretenses to fight them for it—having come this far only to be powerless still left a bitter taste in his mouth.
