Zhang Tian had been wondering if his current predicament might be a plot point from "Ghost Lantern," but he hadn't dared to speculate too deeply. Now, seeing the scene before him, he couldn't help but recall a specific event from that story.
"Holy crap, am I about to end up in the Yellow Pízi Tomb this time?" His heart skipped a beat.
Originally, Zhang Tian had planned to visit Beidong and Qingfeng Temple, hoping to find some tombs. If they were to go to the Yellow Pízi Tomb, even with "Little Brother" around, it would be difficult to survive. It was said that the Yellow Pízi Tomb was inhabited by "immortals" and "kings of hell!"
"White-eyed caves, giant corpse fungi, witches, myriad bones, ghost yamen..." How could any of these compare to an underwater tomb? He suspected even just the white-eyed caves would be a formidable challenge.
"Boss, stop joking! What kings of hell? This is clearly a treasure mountain!" Fatty exclaimed, already shouldering his backpack and preparing to descend. "Fatty sees it! Countless treasures are waving at us!"
Indeed, ignorance was bliss, and Fatty embodied that perfectly. However, since Old Hu and Fatty were the protagonists of "Ghost Lantern," blessed with destiny, his team should theoretically survive this.
Zhang Tian gently stroked the wolf cub on the ground. "You all go back. Don't follow us in," he said softly.
"Awooo!" Hearing this, the wolf cubs quickly turned their carts around and ran back. Clearly, they also feared entering Qingfeng Mountain.
"Holy hell, these things run fast! Faster than when they brought us here. They must have been slacking off before," Fatty grumbled as they headed towards the undulating mountain range.
"Brother Wang, you've also plundered tombs before, right? Can you tell me about the dangers inside?" Xie Yuchen asked with great interest.
Fatty chuckled and began recounting his heroic past to Xie Yuchen. Meanwhile, Zhang Tian, Hu Bayi, and Zhang Qilin walked behind, with the little fox trotting along happily.
"The yin energy here is very heavy," Zhang Qilin observed, scanning his surroundings. He confirmed he had never been here before.
Hu Bayi's compass was also acting erratically. "Boss, it seems there's a magnetic field here interfering with the compass's normal function," he reported. "We'll have to rely on the terrain for our exploration."
Hu Bayi frowned slightly. Relying on terrain alone would be incredibly confusing. After all, terrain could be faked. Perhaps the slopes were steep when the tomb was buried, but after years of soil erosion, how would they know if it had been altered?
"We haven't even entered yet. We're still two kilometers from the mountain. Don't rush," Zhang Tian said, waving his hand to calm Hu Bayi.
Hu Bayi also felt something was amiss. He was rarely this anxious. Could the surrounding atmosphere be causing his unease? Pondering this, he quickly took out his fan and fanned himself. His mind felt much clearer.
"Old Hu, if someone didn't know better, they'd think you were an idiot," Fatty commented, seeing Hu Bayi fanning himself in the cold weather.
Xie Yuchen also glanced over, noticing that Hu Bayi's fan was extraordinary, similar to something he'd found at a flea market before. "It seems to be a divine artifact as well," Xie Yuchen mused, greatly impressed. He knew that in their prominent families, such artifacts were extremely rare, let alone a fan-type one, which was almost unheard of.
"Boss, why did you just call this place the Hall of Kings of Hell?" Hu Bayi asked, recalling something as they walked. The sky was a vast expanse of white, hinting at the prelude to snow. Their cultivation allowed them to withstand the cold, and they could easily sleep in a tent at night.
Zhang Tian gazed at the distant mountain range. "The old man mentioned before that this was a battlefield. Old Hu, look at the surrounding mountains. Three large mountains form a circle, with even a gap in the center. In the central area of these mountains, there's a vast space. I believe the center of those three mountains is where the Xiongnu were encircled and annihilated. But, have you noticed? Behind those three mountains, there are more mountains, with extremely good feng shui. I suspect these three mountains might be a formation designed to protect the mountains behind them! And with so many people dying here, the yin energy is extremely heavy, possibly forming the Hall of Kings of Hell."
Zhang Tian explained, and Hu Bayi nodded, a look of sudden understanding on his face.
"A formation? Young Master Zhang, you understand formations?" Xie Yuchen's eyes widened with surprise. In the Xie family, there was no one who knew formations; it was incredibly difficult and required innate talent, not just desire.
"A little bit. Those three mountains are very strange. Let's try to skirt around them," Zhang Tian suggested, and everyone nodded in agreement.
Soon, they had walked about a kilometer. Suddenly, Fatty's startled cry drew everyone's attention.
"What's wrong?" Hearing the shout, they instantly went on alert and ran towards Fatty's direction. Despite his bulk, Fatty always liked to take the lead.
"What's going on?" Zhang Tian and the others looked over.
"Boss, there are flowers blooming on this cliff!" Fatty pointed to a small cliff nearby, exclaiming in surprise.
Zhang Tian, Hu Bayi, and Zhang Qilin looked. In the next moment, all three felt a surge of joy.
"Edelweiss!" they said almost in unison.
"Edelweiss, combined with snow lotus, can be refined into a snow lotus pill. Boss, is this a good omen for our trip?" Hu Bayi was excited. Zhang Qilin's hands were itching; they had been talking about refining pills, and he had recited the methods and incantations countless times, only lacking the herbs.
"Fatty, gently pull it down," Zhang Tian instructed. Fatty hopped forward, his bulky body surprisingly agile as he climbed up. Fatty had been eating well lately, and his physique had been steadily increasing.
"Still an agile fatty," Xie Yuchen's eyes lit up at the sight. He hadn't expected the usually boastful Fatty to possess such skills. At this point, Xie Yuchen's curiosity about Zhang Tian, who hadn't shown his hand yet, and Zhang Qilin, grew even stronger. What kind of person was Zhang Tian, and how did he manage to lead geniuses like Hu Bayi?
Fatty quickly brought down the edelweiss. It was a small flower, about the size of a child's palm, pure white, looking like a spirit of the snow.
"Edelweiss can only be seen in snowy fields during winter. I never expected to find it here. I'm becoming more curious about what's inside," Zhang Tian's heart began to burn with anticipation. Since they couldn't find the pills, they would refine them themselves!
The group then quickened their pace. Along the way, they encountered a few more edelweiss plants but not a single snow lotus. Soon, Zhang Tian's team reached the edge of the boundless mountain forest. Behind them was a plain, and ahead lay a bottomless forest, with the distant roars of wolves and white bears faintly audible. A gust of cold wind blew through, filled with yin energy.
Zhang Tian and the others stood at the edge, hesitating to enter. Meanwhile, in the observation room, seeing Zhang Tian and his companions arrive at such a place, everyone held their breath for them.