Chapter 501

I steadied my mind and continued looking down.

The subsequent images progressed from humans to various large animals, such as a molting python, a splitting giant slug (mucus worm), a Ghost King Butterfly reborn from its cocoon… and finally, a Nirvana phoenix!

That phoenix was exactly the same as the one on the Screen Wall, practically a miniature version of it.

Its body had shrunk, yet the sutures appeared even denser, making that eerie feeling all the more obvious.

Among these pictures, there were three arched blank areas, each corresponding to a stone door.

They were respectively distributed on the east, west, and south sides.

The stone door on the west side opened with a push; inside the space wasn't large, but the walls were densely packed with small stone caves.

Inside the stone caves were placed some boxes, porcelain bottles, books, and so on.

I hastily skimmed those books, and they were all records of various immortality arts; one of them was even about the three-eyed toad……

The more I looked, the clearer I felt that all of this was once again tied to the topic of immortality.

Or, more precisely, it wasn't just immortality—there was also metamorphosis!

I came out of that stone cave and stood again before the stone door on the east side.

Beside this stone door, I felt a mechanism.

In fact, this mechanism was broken, serving no purpose at all, and the stone door opened smoothly for me.

Only when I stepped inside did I realize why that mechanism had been left broken and unrepaired—it had been abandoned.

The entire stone cave was covered in bloodstains, dark and blackened, unknown how long they had dried.

In the corners of the stone cave lay piles of white bones; in the middle was a sizable stone pit, which also contained dried bloodstains and broken bones.

Just looking at these, I could already imagine how brutal and bloody the events that had taken place in this stone cave must have been.

This could be considered a laboratory.

And the one on Wangting Mountain was likely modeled after this place.

The stone door to the south wouldn't open; I could find no mechanism, and dripping blood on it did nothing. More importantly, the stone door felt Yin Cold to the touch—blood dropped on it froze instantly, and after pressing my palm against it for a moment, icy granules appeared at the edges.

I thought for a moment, stepped back two paces, and tentatively summoned: "Feng Wu, come forth!"

The next moment, a longbow was firmly grasped in my hand.

Although what emerged wasn't a humanoid Feng Wu but a longbow, it already filled me with delight.

I held the longbow in my left hand, formed a seal with my right, pointed my sword finger at my brow, and an arrow feather appeared.

Nocked the bow, drew it full.

Whoosh~

As the arrow feather shot forth, several flames also flew out simultaneously, striking the stone door.

Just now I felt an extremely intense Yin Sha Qi on the stone door; the flames fired by Feng Wu happened to be its bane.

Sure enough, the moment the flames touched the stone door, they spread like a prairie fire, instantly engulfing the entire door.

Boom!

As the stone door opened, a powerful suction force, like an invisible hand, grabbed me and hurled me into the endless darkness.

The sudden change caught me off guard.

I reached out to grab the stone door's side walls, but there was no time.

Just as my whole body was about to be sucked into the stone cave, the Soul-guiding Lamp lying on the ground had several ghost faces on its chamber lunge forward, bite my clothing, and yank me out bodily.

The stone door slammed shut behind me with a thunderous boom.

I lay on the ground, my soul still unsettled.

That force came too suddenly and was excessively Yin Cold; even now my lower half feels somewhat numb and frozen.

Where exactly does it lead?

Why would the Feng Clan have such a place?

I realized that along the way I've come, the temperature inside the stone caves has been steadily dropping.

At first, beneath the mass graves, I thought it was due to the excessive Yin Sha Qi of the burial ground.

Now it seems, that's not the case at all.

Even the Yin Cold Qi beneath the mass graves likely seeped out from behind this stone door.

That area became a mass grave precisely because of this.

I clambered to my feet, lifted the Soul-guiding Lamp, and felt the myriad-work key I carried on my person.

All along this journey, I've swept through nearly every corner of every cave, and I'm confident there's no place that needs this myriad-work key.

Dian Lan wouldn't be idly bored, playing with me.

This can only mean one thing: the two matters Dian Lan arranged for me have no one-to-one correspondence.

In other words, he both wanted me to know the secret of this cave and additionally arranged something else to leave for me.

He knew full well that once I appeared in the Phoenix Lord's palace, Snow Phoenix would come seeking me and bring me here.

He also knew this would cost me a great deal of time, be extremely dangerous, and expose me to eight or nine out of ten risks.

Therefore, when making these decisions, he must have weighed everything thoroughly, with the risks factored into his primary considerations.

For instance, I would surely be lured to the cave first.

If I lingered too long in the cave and got exposed, upon returning most would be placed under surveillance or even imprisoned.

When I struggle to move, I'll still need that myriad-work key… which shows that the lock requiring this key is located in the Phoenix Lord's palace, even in the very room I reside in!

Thinking this through, I immediately turned around, preparing to leave.

Dian Lan knows my measure; what he wants me to see, I have surely already seen.

Now I must hurry back!

But as soon as I turned around and saw the back of that Screen Wall again, I immediately halted my steps.

Just now, when I turned around from the front, I saw that the back of the Screen Wall was completely empty.

But now, a carved pattern has appeared on the back of the Screen Wall.

In the middle of the pattern is still a sewn‑together phoenix, smaller than the one on the front, located exactly at the center of the Screen Wall.

Around it, a ring of patterns encircles it.

Around the pattern there also seem to be some strange characters.

The characters are too small for me to see clearly; I can only stride over and get close to look.

Upon looking, I found that most of the things surrounding the sewn phoenix are very familiar to me.

First to catch my eye is the formation of the Nine Dragons Baptism, but what's important now is not a dragon head baring its teeth and claws, but a dragon egg.

Below this formation comes the scene of the Phoenix Nirvana; notably, the abdomen of the fire‑bath phoenix is swollen high, actually pregnant!

Next I saw a bone wrapped in some kind of gas, with some script carved beside it.

Strangely, I've never learned this script, yet I can strangely read it: Netherworld Yin Bone.

I turned back to look at those two pictures again; beside them are labeled: Pureblood Dragon Egg, Mother‑Child Nirvana Phoenix.

The longer I looked, the tighter my brows furrowed.

Further down, I saw the Cinnabar Spirit Bone!

And what frightens me most is the final picture, which is carved with…… the Five Blessings Immortals……