In the depths of a primeval forest in the Miao region of southwestern Hua Country.
Zhao Fugui was at a camp outside a valley, roasting a rabbit and waiting for Ye Ling to arrive.
A gust of wind blew, and Ye Ling appeared in the camp. Zhao Fugui, who was still roasting the rabbit, quickly stood up and greeted him, "Your Majesty!"
Ye Ling nodded slightly in acknowledgment, then quickly scanned the camp and asked, "Where is Qingyan?"
Zhao Fugui replied, "Miss Ye went to explore the situation inside the valley. She should be back soon."
Hearing Zhao Fugui's words, Ye Ling looked towards the valley and found that it was shrouded in white mist. The spiritual energy within the valley was a hundred times more concentrated than outside, which was very strange.
Seeing this strange valley, Ye Ling asked Zhao Fugui again, "Is the stone gate you mentioned inside this valley?"
Zhao Fugui said, "That's right... I brought a team here before and found a large stone gate inside the valley. However, the valley was full of dangers, and everyone I brought last time died inside. Only I managed to escape."
As Zhao Fugui spoke, Ye Qingyan flew out of the white mist and landed in the camp.
Seeing Ye Ling arrive, a hint of joy flashed in her eyes, and she asked, "Is that little girl's matter settled?"
"En..." Ye Ling nodded slightly, then got to the point and asked, "What did you find inside?"
Ye Qingyan said, "The valley is blocked by a giant stone gate. I was afraid of triggering some mechanism, so I did a rough check of the surroundings. I haven't found anything yet."
"Stone gate?" Ye Ling was curious, "Are there any statues on it?"
Ye Qingyan shook her head, "No, the stone gate is extremely smooth and unusually large. It doesn't look like something humans could have built."
"This is interesting..."
Hearing Ye Qingyan's words, Ye Ling's interest was immediately piqued, and she hurried towards the valley, "Let's go in and take a look!"
"We're... we're leaving already?"
Zhao Fugui saw Ye Ling and Ye Qingyan setting off, and reluctantly glanced at the rabbit in his hand that was not yet roasted. He swallowed his saliva, and finally, with a heavy heart, left the rabbit at the camp and quickly chased after Ye Ling.
After the three entered the valley, the surrounding white mist instantly dissipated. A giant stone gate, a hundred meters high, blocked the entrance to the valley, obstructing their path.
Ye Ling examined the stone gate and asked Zhao Fugui, who was following behind, "This stone gate is extremely smooth, with no gaps. How did you get in before?"
Zhao Fugui saw the tightly closed stone gate and was extremely surprised. He looked around the surroundings with a confused expression, confirming that he had not led them to the wrong place, before saying to Ye Ling, "Your Majesty, when we came before, this stone gate had a crack, just enough for us to pass through..."
Ye Ling frowned, "You mean the stone gate was open before?"
Zhao Fugui nodded repeatedly, "Yes... yes, it was open before, absolutely!"
Seeing Zhao Fugui's certainty, a hint of worry flashed in Ye Qingyan's eyes. She asked Ye Ling, "If the gate here was open before, but is now closed, does that mean someone has been here before?"
Hearing Ye Qingyan's question, Zhao Fugui's heart skipped a beat. Fearing that Ye Ling would misunderstand him as having leaked information beforehand, he quickly swore to the heavens, "Your Majesty, I swear! I haven't told anyone about this place except you and Miss Ye. The Shadow Hall definitely doesn't know!"
Ye Ling gave Zhao Fugui a look and said impatiently, "Alright, I didn't say I suspected you. Just stand still, I'll go take a look at the stone gate."
As soon as she finished speaking, Ye Ling walked to the stone gate, placed her hand on it, and began to probe its composition.
After understanding the composition of the stone gate, Ye Ling muttered to herself, "The material of this stone gate is the same as the previous two stone gates. It seems that even if there is no Creation Legacy here, it is closely related to the person who forged the stone gates... I came to the right place."
Ye Qingyan walked over and asked, "How is it? Can this stone gate be opened?"
Ye Ling said, "It's not difficult to force open this stone gate, but doing so might destroy what's inside. I guess there's some mechanism nearby to open the stone gate, let's look for it first."
"En." Ye Qingyan nodded, then turned to Zhao Fugui and instructed, "Don't stand around either. Search everywhere and see if there's any mechanism that can be triggered. You and I will search on opposite sides."
"Yes, yes..."
Zhao Fugui nodded repeatedly and split up with Ye Qingyan.
Ye Ling also did not rest. She released her divine soul to cover the entire valley, trying to find the special features of the valley.
However, there seemed to be some special magnetic field in the valley that could affect soul power. Ye Ling's soul power search was not ideal here.
Finding nothing with her soul power, Ye Ling then soared into the air, wanting to see the situation behind the stone gate from above. However, she found that the entire valley was shrouded in dense fog, and she could not see anything inside.
"Interesting..."
Blocked by the white mist, Ye Ling's interest was piqued. She leaped into the white mist, but quickly flew out of it again.
"Is this space distorted?" Ye Ling was slightly startled when she flew out of the white mist. She flew into the white mist again.
This time, Ye Ling deliberately slowed down and marked her path with her soul power. However, even so, shortly after entering the white mist, she still flew out of it.
It was clear that there was a special barrier here that could prevent outsiders from entering the valley through special means.
"Interesting, there's actually a place that can make me go in circles..."
Ye Ling looked at the dense white mist below, summoned her white runes, and prepared to use the runes to forcibly destroy the barrier here.
However, just as Ye Ling was about to destroy the barrier, she discovered that the barrier behind the stone gate was connected to the space behind it. If the barrier was forcibly destroyed, the space inside would also be destroyed.
Upon discovering this, Ye Ling had no choice but to stop and sigh, "It seems that the creator of this place clearly doesn't want anyone to force their way in, and is even willing to use what's inside as a threat. Do they really want us to go through the stone gate?"
"What are the creator's intentions?"
Ye Ling muttered to herself and landed back on the ground, just in time to see Ye Qingyan and Zhao Fugui returning from their respective sides.
Ye Ling asked, "How was it? Any clues?"
Ye Qingyan shook her head, "Found nothing. The surroundings are all ordinary stone walls, no mechanisms at all."
Zhao Fugui added, "It's the same on my side, I didn't see any mechanisms."
Seeing that Ye Qingyan and Zhao Fugui had found nothing, Ye Ling frowned and said, "I didn't find any clues here either..."
Ye Qingyan guessed, "Do you think there might not be any mechanism here at all? This stone gate just needs to be broken open with brute force?"
Ye Ling shook her head, "Impossible... the things behind this stone gate are quite fragile. Forcing them open with brute force will definitely damage what's inside. Moreover, since this stone gate was open before, it means there must be something or some mechanism that can open it."
Hearing Ye Ling's words, Ye Qingyan couldn't help but sigh, "We've searched the entire valley and haven't found any mechanisms. Are we going to be stuck here?"
Ye Ling glanced at the tightly closed stone gate again, and didn't dwell on it too much. "Since there's no way for now, let's go back first. After some time, things might change here."
Since there were no physical mechanisms in the valley, it was likely related to time, climate, and other factors. There was no other way to deal with such things but to wait.
Fortunately, Ye Ling had the Unnamed Void Space, which allowed her to adjust the flow of time at will. No matter how long they waited here, there would be no change in the outside world.
Even if they spent too much time here, Ye Ling would still have ample time to deal with the Shadow Hall.
Ye Qingyan also sighed slightly, "That's the only way. Let's go out first."
Seeing Ye Ling about to return to the camp, Zhao Fugui's eyes lit up, and his mouth began to water.
Compared to what was behind the stone gate, he was more concerned about his unroasted rabbit.
Zhao Fugui excitedly followed Ye Ling and Ye Qingyan back to the camp. Just as he was about to go back to roast his rabbit, he discovered that the rabbit he had left at the camp had disappeared.
"It's gone?"
Zhao Fugui exclaimed and quickly searched the entire camp.
That rabbit was a wild rabbit he had caught after much effort. All the animals around had long since fled due to their presence. Now that the rabbit was gone, he couldn't find another one.
Ye Ling saw Zhao Fugui's anxious look and was quite curious. She asked, "What's gone?"
When Ye Ling asked him, Zhao Fugui did not hide anything and replied, "The rabbit I was roasting is gone!"
Ye Qingyan said indifferently, "Perhaps a wild wolf snatched it away?"
Zhao Fugui said, "Impossible! We have set up camp here. Forget about Your Majesty and Miss Ye, even my aura alone can scare away the wild animals around. There's no way a wolf would come to snatch my roasted rabbit!"
Ye Qingyan said impatiently, "Besides wolves, what else would be interested in your tasteless roasted rabbit? It couldn't be us, could it..."
"This..." Zhao Fugui was stunned for a moment, not knowing how to answer Ye Qingyan.
Indeed, besides them, there was no one else present. Who else could have taken his roasted rabbit?
*Crunch, crunch!*
At that moment, chewing sounds came from inside the camp tent. Zhao Fugui suddenly sprang up and directly lifted the tent, only to find a naked little boy with two horns on his head and skin as red as rouge squatting inside the tent, gnawing on the lost roasted rabbit with a greasy mouth.
Seeing the strange boy gnawing on his roasted rabbit, Zhao Fugui froze in place, "My... my roasted rabbit..."
After being discovered, a hint of panic flashed in the little boy's eyes. He immediately threw the half-eaten roasted rabbit aside, turned into a wisp of white smoke, and flew into the mist-shrouded valley.
Ye Ling saw the little boy escape into the white mist and couldn't help but have a thought, "That little guy... could he be the 'mechanism' that opens the stone gate?"