The brilliance of the teleportation light faded, depositing Lin Xuanwei and Lu Yao into a suffocating darkness. It was pitch-black, the kind of absolute void where one couldn’t even see their own hand in front of their face. The air was heavy, damp, and bitingly cold, carrying the musty stench of ancient, decaying earth.

“Ah!” Lu Yao let out a short, sharp cry. Her body swayed, involuntarily leaning toward Lin Xuanwei for support.

“Miss Lu, don’t panic!” Lin Xuanwei’s voice rang out, eager to play the hero. He flipped his palm, and a cluster of soft, brilliant Spiritual Fire ignited instantly. It hovered in the air, banishing the encroaching shadows and illuminating the rugged, moss-covered walls of the cave for several zhang around them.

“Whew.” Lu Yao patted her chest, her face pale with a mix of lingering fear and delicate vulnerability. “That scared me to death. I’ve always been terrified of the dark.” As she spoke, she shrank even closer to Lin Xuanwei, her shoulder almost brushing against his.

Lin Xuanwei froze slightly at the sensation of her warmth near his arm. He quickly straightened his posture, puffing out his chest. “Rest assured. I am here.”

With a flourish, he reached into his robes and retrieved the [Connected Branches Token] that Ouyang Chen had distributed. He infused a strand of Spiritual Qi into it, expecting a signal. However, the wooden token remained inert. It didn’t light up, nor did it transmit the faintest hum of connection.

“Eh? That’s strange. Why isn’t this token reacting at all?”

Lu Yao’s expression shifted. She hurriedly produced her own token to check. The jade surface was dull and lackluster, resembling nothing more than a piece of dead wood.

“This is impossible,” she muttered. “The sensing range of the [Connected Branches Token] is massive. Even in the depths of a large secret realm, they should resonate with one another. Unless… something is forcefully suppressing the connection.”

Alarm bells rang loudly in her heart. An ominous premonition began to coil in her gut.

Seeing the gravity on Lu Yao’s face, Lin Xuanwei’s mask of confidence cracked. Panic seeped into his features. “Th-then what do we do?” he stammered, his eyes darting around the shadows nervously. The confident “I am here” demeanor from moments ago had vanished without a trace.

Seeing him crumple so easily, Lu Yao couldn’t help but roll her eyes internally. Her contempt deepened. Just a moment ago, he was acting like a fearless, arrogant young master. The moment we hit a minor snag, he falls apart. Truly, a gilded exterior hiding rotten stuffing.

She suppressed her disdain, pursed her lips, and forced a calm tone. “Don’t panic yet. We need to move. Have your puppet groom lead the way and scout ahead.”

“Wh-which way?” Lin Xuanwei asked, his voice thick with hesitation and cowardice.

Useless, Lu Yao cursed silently. She gathered her focus and attempted to spread her Divine Sense to probe their surroundings. The result made her face turn even paler. Her Divine Sense was slammed back by an invisible pressure, barely able to extend a few zhang beyond her skin.

She took a deep breath, fighting to maintain her composure. “The situation is grim. Let’s hold our position. Have your puppet pick a direction and scout it out first.”

Lin Xuanwei gave a bitter, helpless smile and spread his hands. “Miss Lu, that won’t work. My groom… he can’t leave my side. If he goes beyond a ten-zhang range, he becomes ineffective.” He pointed to a formation disk hanging at his waist, which pulsed with a weak glow. “See? He’s entirely controlled by this.”

Lu Yao felt a wave of exhaustion wash over her. She pointed resignedly toward the dark passageway on their right. “Fine. Then we walk this way together. Put the puppet in front.”

“Okay, I’ll listen to you.” Lin Xuanwei nodded vigorously, looking at her as if she were his only lifeline.

The puppet groom stepped forward silently, his heavy boots leading the way into the right-hand tunnel. Lin Xuanwei and Lu Yao followed closely behind. The pale light of the Spiritual Fire flickered in the deep, oppressive darkness, casting long, distorted shadows that danced nervously against the walls.

The passageway was winding and treacherous. After walking for roughly the time it takes an incense stick to burn, a faint glimmer of light appeared ahead. Their spirits lifted, and they quickened their pace.

The light led them into a relatively spacious stone chamber. In the center stood several decayed wooden shelves, scattered with dusty jade boxes and porcelain bottles.

Lu Yao hurried forward, carefully prying open several boxes. Empty. She grabbed a few jade bottles and pulled the stoppers. A pungent, moldy stench wafted out. The pills inside had long since shriveled into black pebbles, their Spiritual Qi completely dissipated. They were nothing but useless dregs.

“This is a storage room!” A glint of understanding flashed in Lu Yao’s eyes. “Usually, storage rooms like this aren’t too far from the master’s Secluded Cultivation chamber.”

Hearing this, Lin Xuanwei’s face lit up with delight. “Then let’s hurry! If we find his Secluded Cultivation chamber, does that mean we pass this trial?”

“Correct,” Lu Yao nodded. “According to the rules, as long as we find the Senior’s remains and properly collect them, it counts as a success—even if we haven’t fully explored the cave mansion. Once we do that, the jade talismans we carry will automatically activate their teleportation function, and we can leave this damned place.”

“Great!” Lin Xuanwei slapped his thigh. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s clear this and get out quickly. This place… it’s for dead people. It feels eerie and creepy, makes my skin crawl. What if that Daoist Long Wu was a twisted lunatic who set up some vicious trap before he died? Wouldn’t we be doomed?” He spoke with a look of lingering fear, clutching his sleeves.

Hearing his rambling, Lu Yao’s heart skipped a beat. The failed tokens, the suppressed Divine Sense, the inability to contact Ouyang Chen—these abnormalities were piling up, gnawing at her confidence.

However, she reconsidered. Daoist Long Wu was, after all, a Senior of the Guiyuan Sect. Even if he left behind trials, he wouldn’t go so far as to murder his own sect’s juniors. His lineage’s teachings are still being passed down in the sect, after all.

Moreover, these “Keyed” cave mansions had been personally inspected by the sect’s Nascent Soul grandmasters. Unless the exploration team was pathetically weak, death was highly unlikely.

At this moment, Lu Yao had effectively become the team’s pillar. She began directing their path. Although Lin Xuanwei was a coward, he had the singular advantage of being obedient, always keeping his high-level puppet at the very front.

Along the way, they triggered several mechanisms: hidden Spiritual Arrows shooting from the gloom, floors collapsing into spike pits, and corrosive gas spraying from the walls. But every threat was easily blocked or neutralized by the Late Golden Core stage puppet.

Lu Yao secretly assessed the situation. The power of these traps is mediocre. Forget the puppet; even Lin Xuanwei, a mere Early Golden Core cultivator, could handle them if he wasn’t such a coward.

They passed through several more stone chambers: a dusty alchemy room with a cold furnace, and a study filled with decaying bookshelves where the ancient texts had long since turned to dust. Apart from some worthless junk, they found absolutely nothing.

As they proceeded without incident, Lin Xuanwei’s arrogant “young master” confidence began to return. He started intentionally drifting closer to Lu Yao, his tone carrying a hint of frivolity.

“Miss Lu, look, this cave mansion isn’t much to look at. What a waste of this young master’s Spirit Stones. But… having Miss Lu’s company makes it bearable. Not a total loss, eh?”

Lu Yao felt a surge of annoyance but responded perfunctorily, her heart heavy with disappointment.

She had roamed the Guiyuan Mountain Range for hundreds of years; she knew the signs. Having explored this far, she had basically concluded that this [Daoist Long Wu Cave Mansion] was just an ordinary, perhaps even shabby, place where a poor Senior had sat in meditation until he died.

If Senior Brother Zheng hadn’t dragged in Lin Xuanwei, this gullible fool, to foot the bill, she thought bitterly, this expedition would have been a massive financial disaster.