Tonight.
Yang Tiantian appeared at Baiyun Temple to tell Daoist Du many things.
Then, Daoist Du would relay them to Li Nanfang.
Because Yang Tiantian knew very well.
If she approached Li Nanfang directly, even if she explained everything, Li Nanfang would not believe her.
He would immediately kill her without asking questions upon seeing her and realizing she was the chief executive of the Dark Web!
However, Yang Tiantian did not expect.
Just as she had gotten Old Du to believe her, Li Nanfang suddenly paid a visit to Baiyun Temple.
Absolute fear of Li Nanfang immediately caused Yang Tiantian to hold Old Du hostage, lest he make a move on her as soon as he saw her.
After ensuring her safety, Yang Tiantian then had Dai Paipai ambush Li Nanfang.
She hoped Dai Paipai could gain guidance from Li Nanfang through this sneak attack and make up for his shortcomings.
Everything unfolded as Yang Tiantian had predicted—
When Li Nanfang saw it was her, he, disregarding the knife at Old Du's neck, moved to kill her!
Worried about losing his head, Old Du quickly shouted, urging Li Nanfang to calm down, didn't he see the knife at this Daoist's neck?
After much persuasion, Li Nanfang finally calmed down.
"Knowing people from your Li family is truly this Daoist's misfortune."
Daoist Du complained first, and before Li Nanfang could react, he quickly got to the point.
Decades ago—
Yang Tiantian was warned by Li Nanfang: "If you dare to step foot in the Central Plains again, even if I don't kill you, I will break all your limbs, sever your tendons, and leave you to lie there until the end of your life!"
She believed Li Nanfang was not joking.
She truly dared not step foot in the Central Plains again, nor did she like living abroad, so she was forced to live in seclusion in the Snow-Tibetan Plateau.
This continued for over ten years.
Yang Tiantian finally had enough of drifting alone in a foreign land, unable to be with her family, and decided to end her life.
She wished to see her homeland even after death.
So, she built a single-log coffin for herself and, carrying it on her back, climbed the snow mountain that the nomads called a sacred mountain.
She intended to climb to the highest point of the snow mountain.
To lie in the single-log coffin, her body incorruptible for ten thousand years after death, forever gazing towards her homeland!
However, just as she, after arduous effort, was about to reach the summit with her single-log coffin, she encountered an avalanche.
She managed to burrow into the single-log coffin in time.
The single-log coffin was pushed down the mountain by the snow, which surged like charging steeds.
Just as Yang Tiantian thought she would be buried under the thick snow, the single-log coffin was washed into an ice crevice.
It then began to fall freely, plummeting downwards.
When Yang Tiantian, knocked unconscious by the fall, awoke and climbed out of the single-log coffin, she discovered she was inside the mountain.
The single-log coffin had landed precisely in a pool of water below.
The pool was formed by an underground river.
When the water filled, it flowed murmuring into the darkness.
It turned out.
Inside the sacred mountain, a hidden world existed, containing over a dozen bone-white skeletons.
Yang Tiantian assumed it was an ancient tomb.
But what ancient tomb would have ceramic vessels, flint for striking a fire, and torches for illumination?
Then, she saw many texts and images on the walls.
Decades ago, Yang Tiantian had been the daughter-in-law of the Yue family, one of the hundred prominent clans. She was skilled in the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and her literary attainments were high.
She recognized at a glance that the characters on the walls, besides ancient Tibetan script, also included Lesser Seal Script.
Lesser Seal Script—
This was the script Emperor Qin ordered to be used throughout the country after unifying the six states.
This meant that these white bones, which would turn to ash upon seeing sunlight, could possibly have lived during the era when Lesser Seal Script was prevalent.
The images carved onto the cave walls with sharp tools were only three in number.
The first image—
Depicted a glowing door, or rather, the entrance to a cave.
The second image—
Showed creatures resembling frogs leaping out from that glowing door.
The third image—
Portrayed a figure's back, walking towards that door.
Yang Tiantian was quite confused when she first saw these paintings.
Holding her torch high, she meticulously read the Lesser Seal Script content on the cave walls.
However, due to the great age, many characters were blurred and indistinct.
Yang Tiantian racked her brain to piece it together—
Somewhere in the Snow-Tibetan Plateau, a door was hidden.
This door was what modern people rumored that Old Hitler's forces had desperately sought: the Door of Reincarnation (Time Tunnel).
A very, very long time ago, frog-like creatures had inadvertently opened this door, which led to this world.
But these frog-like creatures could not survive in their natural life forms after arriving in this world.
Upon entering the mountain's interior, they quickly lost their life consciousness.
Some of their bodies were washed away by the underground river within the mountain.
But many corpses remained within the mountain's belly.
Unlike the icy, snowy world outside, the mountain's interior was as warm as spring, with high humidity, and a miraculous moss actually grew here.
This moss surrounded the bodies of "them" and thrived, using them as nourishment.
Thus.
Frog-like life forms continuously emerged from that door.
Continuously dying.
Some were washed away by the water, others were enveloped by moss and served as fertilizer.
After an unknown number of years, someone discovered this hollow mountain interior.
And saw the constantly appearing life forms.
The person who discovered this mountain's interior was a master of the Snow-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism at the time.
The esoteric Buddhist master and "them" were both afraid of each other, and upon meeting, they engaged in a fierce battle.
The esoteric Buddhist master was quite formidable. After killing many of "them," he escaped the mountain's interior using a rope.
However, he was severely injured and was on his last breath by the time he returned to his stronghold.
He struggled to find the legendary Door of Reincarnation and managed to utter that strange life forms were constantly hopping out of that door, before finally giving up his last breath.
The Door of Reincarnation!
The disciples of the esoteric Buddhist master immediately turned grief into strength, formed a team, climbed the sacred mountain, and found this crevice.
Before descending into the mountain's interior, they made thorough preparations, carrying everything they needed to survive for several days in the mountain's belly if trapped, and then followed their master's rope into the mountain's interior.
An accident occurred!
As the last disciple descended by rope, the sacred mountain suddenly became enraged, and an avalanche occurred.
The massive avalanche directly sealed the exit.
These esoteric Buddhist masters were forever trapped inside.
They hoped to find that door and escape the mountain's interior.
However—
They clearly saw the glowing door, and they clearly saw frog-like life forms hopping out of the door.
But when they rushed to the door, about ten steps away, the door suddenly lost its light and vanished into the darkness.
No matter how hard they searched with their torches, they could not find it!
If the life forms they had jointly killed were not beneath their feet, they would surely have suspected their eyes were playing tricks on them.
The Door of Reincarnation vanished.
They knew they were trapped here.
Yet they hoped that one day, when descendants found this place and saw their remains, they would know why they came here and what they had seen!
Thus.
Among them, there happened to be a junior brother proficient in Central Plains culture, who used Lesser Seal Script to carve their entire experience onto the stone walls.
They not only recounted their personal experiences but also, based on the legends of the sacred mountain, analyzed that the Door of Reincarnation would reopen on a specific day.
The life forms on the other side would emerge again.
And people from this world could walk through that door.
Thereby gaining eternal life and eternally youthful appearances.
But the person who could walk through that door would absolutely be a chosen one.
As for who that chosen one would be—
Who knew!
After consuming the food they brought, the esoteric Buddhist masters, not wanting to die immediately, began to eat the corpses of those life forms.
The taste—
Crisp, delicious, sweet and sour, fantastic!
Moreover, after consuming those life forms, they discovered that they themselves had undergone significant changes.
That is, their strength and speed had greatly increased!
Their male vitality was terrifyingly powerful, and their desire for the opposite sex was intense.
The corpses of the life forms were all consumed.
They had no hope of survival anymore.
Realizing that delaying any longer would lead to mutual slaughter and cannibalism of companions.
But in the end, death was inevitable.
So, after solemn deliberation, they decided to commit collective suicide.
And thus, they died.
Their bodies turned to bones, but they were not nourished by the moss.
As for why this was the case, Yang Tiantian, who arrived in this world through an avalanche many years later, did not know.
After figuring out what had happened, she discovered several books beside the remains.
These were the legendary martial arts manuals—
One of them, also written in Lesser Seal Script.
It was named the Divine Maiden Flying Heaven Blissful Technique.
Trapped within the mountain, Yang Tiantian subsisted on moss, clinging to life, hoping the Door of Reincarnation would open again.
Bored while waiting, she began to practice the martial arts from this book.
After consuming the moss, she felt that her speed and strength had also undergone significant changes.
When she pounced, she transformed into a frog-like state.
She knew this was because the moss contained too many characteristics of "them," influencing her transformation.
She could see her skin becoming whiter and more tender.
But what good was that?
Finally, one day, she had had enough.
She decided to risk her life by venturing through the underground river within the mountain.
Thus.
She collected a large amount of moss and placed it in the single-log coffin.
Then, she lay down in the single-log coffin and drifted downstream.
She drifted for an unknown duration.
Just as Yang Tiantian finished the stored moss and was on the verge of starvation, the single-log coffin finally stopped its rapid drift and began to float on the water.
With her last ounce of strength, she opened the single-log coffin.
She discovered she had reached the ocean, and it was the coast, only a few hundred meters from land.
The bright moon was high in the sky.
Yang Tiantian had finally escaped the mountain's interior and wept with joy.
She paddled with all her might, and the single-log coffin reached the shore.
"Upon reaching the shore, Yang Jushi waited until dawn to discover the sea area."
Daoist Du said this and then told Li Nanfang, who was listening with rapt attention, "That was the sea area where the Misty Village of Lingnan is located."