The soil of this depression should have been fragmented, but it didn't feel that way underfoot. The depression beneath me felt more like it had been compacted, even compressed into a single piece of something. The overall structure was very dense, like stepping on a smooth slab of marble—neither soft nor resilient.

But when you stepped hard on the depression, it didn't provide the reactionary force of a marble floor. It was like stepping on water. The moment you applied force, that energy was dissipated by the water's surface.

The Fatty looked at me, lost in thought, and urged, "Stop thinking and let's get moving. I don't want to stay in this place a moment longer."

So we strode forward, quickly crossing the strange depression.

...

Since we entered the Kunlun Mountains, it hadn't snowed.

On the sacred mountain was a snow path, scattered with various footprints, extending up the mountain and into the clouds.

It wasn't hard to deduce that the Z organization had used this snow path to ascend and descend.

Everyone from the Z organization should have retreated by now.

I gazed at the mountain peaks hidden in the clouds. Sunlight occasionally streamed through the gaps, shining on the snow-covered slopes, lending them a somewhat ethereal quality.

The wind on the mountain was strong, the clouds swirled, and the afterglow of the sunset reflected on the rapidly moving clouds, giving the impression of soaring dragons and rising phoenixes.

I was now absolutely certain that the mountain Han Yu had found was the destination mentioned in the poem, and my ultimate destination.

We took off our airtight protective suits, carefully folded them, and placed them in our backpacks.

Then, the Fatty called out, "It's getting late. Let's hurry up the mountain. If we can't find a place to camp before dark, we're in trouble. It's cold up here, and shelter is hard to find."

I stopped the Fatty and said to the others, "No, we're not going up the mountain."

The Fatty looked at me incredulously and asked, "Not going up the mountain?"

I nodded firmly at the Fatty.

"Damn it, if we're not going up the mountain, did we come all this way for a vacation?"

Hearing my words, the Fatty was somewhat confused, and the others were also a bit bewildered.

"No, listen to my explanation." I pointed to the mountain peaks hidden in the clouds and said to the Fatty, "My subconscious tells me that the entrance is not on the mountain. Han Yu chose to set up camp on the mountainside because it was the closest position to the meteorite. And she had a way to deal with the 'water droplets.' We are powerless against the 'water droplets,' so for us, there is only one path, and that is to find the entrance."

The Fatty's agitated mood calmed down slightly. "Then where is the entrance to the sacred mountain?"

"I... don't know yet..."

After I said that, everyone fell silent.

The Fatty's mouth hung open, as if he wanted to say something, but his throat seemed to be blocked. He was like a fish trying to spit out bubbles, opening and closing his mouth for a long time without uttering a word.

Afraid that the Fatty would start complaining again, endlessly rambling, I quickly went up and covered his gaping mouth, saying, "It's windy. Letting in the cold air can easily cause a stomachache."

I said to everyone, "I have a preliminary idea. You see, we found this place based on the poem, which coincides with the target point Han Yu found through various scientific instruments. This shows that the direction indicated by the poem is correct. So, let's start with the next two lines of the poem: 'chanxiu chang xiang ying, zhu wu zhao chang heng; jingguang tianzun jiang, fanchen ru xiantu.' (Those who practice meditation often gather, candle dances illuminate eternal constancy; Golden Light Celestial Venerable descends, mortal world enters the path of immortals.) As long as we can understand their meaning, we should be able to find the entrance soon."

I refuted Han Yu's answer, and then immediately raised a question, which made everyone rack their brains.

Jennifer and Dodge, who didn't understand much Chinese, looked blank, while Zoey and the Fatty's faces were filled with helplessness.

Zoey suddenly had a flash of inspiration and said, "Back in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, when Zhang Jiao and his two companions came to find the medicine, how did they find the entrance? I remember, back in the ancient underground city in the Taklamakan Desert, Zhang Jiao and Fu Xumo entered the Kunlun Mountains with the help of the Iron-Masked Man. The three of them worked together from the inside and outside to enter the sacred mountain."

The Iron-Masked Man...

In other words, the Iron-Masked Man was originally from the sacred mountain. He let Zhang Jiao and Fu Xumo in through some means, and then left Kunlun with these two after the deed was done.

Then, what about the stone coffin in the desert and the Iron-Masked Man inside?

Did entering this sacred mountain require the Iron-Masked Man's remains from the stone coffin?

For a time, countless possibilities surged in my mind.

Did entering the sacred mountain, or rather, entering the interior of this mountain, require finding the right opportunity? But how should we find this opportunity?

What kind of fortunate encounter did Zhang Jiao and Fu Xumo have back then?

Countless possibilities and countless questions collided fiercely in my mind.

Just as we were racking our brains about the relationship between the ancient underground city in the desert and Kunlun, the sky suddenly became turbulent, with dark clouds gathering, covering the sky. The thick clouds piled up and stirred together, and this state continued, and the sky suddenly darkened.

Before long, it started to snow.