As if it were a clay jar sealed for ten million years, and once opened the disturbance of the outer airflow would drag out the Ai Chen inside—on the far side of the Teleportation Gate, the wind that blew out carried a heavy dusty smell that was enough to make people cough.
The linking of the two spaces also damaged the stability of the Poison Dragon Realm, allowing the toxic miasma to escape along the Teleportation Gate.
Yet this was precisely what everyone present did not want to see—the space behind the gate was their current escape destination. If it were contaminated by the Highly Poisonous fumes, then Fafnir’s influence would truly cling to them like a shadow.
A Xiang immediately whipped up a gale, but with the Sword of the End having timed out, the strong wind he could now conjure was far weaker than during the battle just moments ago. Seeing this, Diao, who had just finished her Healing Spell, also began Casting, calling upon the Wind Spirit to disperse the poison.
Farlonio poured everything into maintaining the Teleportation Gate, widening it, while Elaphia controlled the Flying Ship and drove it straight through. To prevent any unknown hazards in the new area, she raised a Pure Magic Shield before the Golden Flying Ship.
The Golden Flying Chariot plunged headfirst into the darkness, its radiance starkly visible against the pure black curtain, actually illuminating a circle of things around it—but no one had the leisure to look around. They all turned back first, trying to stop Fafnir from forcing its way through the closing Teleportation Gate.
The Demon Dragon’s gelatinous skin and liquid body, after two rounds of blows from the Spirit Casting Art, had basically dissolved entirely into a mass of sludge. Having become a fluid, it was in fact easier for it to surge in along the edges.
"Get the hell back!"
Liluliss brought her two claws together and unleashed a Destruction Fluctuation. The Power from the Dragon God immediately resonated with the Dragon Factor; Fafnir’s outer skin split open, and the shrill screech was like steam forced out under pressure—you couldn’t even tell whether it was actually screaming or if that was just the sound of combustion.
In the end, the closing Teleportation Gate cut off the sound, the violet-red flames, and the Demon Dragon’s Magic Power fluctuations all at once, leaving only Fafnir’s final vicious words.
"...This isn’t over. I will find you..."
Elaphia steered the Flying Chariot down onto a flat stone-tiled floor, kicking up a cloud of dust.
She lit a lamp. In the previous battle, there had been lamps hanging all around, but there had been no time to recall them; now she could control no more than ten. And unlike in the Dwarf Imperial Palace, here there were not so many treasures to reflect the light. The vast space swallowed the glow, and they could only vaguely make out massive shapes hidden in the dark.
"Looks like we’re safe," A Xiang said.
Lily ran up beside the Golden Flying Chariot, reverting to the appearance of a black-haired nun.
Once the Flying Chariot settled, all sounds were devoured by the surrounding darkness, quickly erasing any lingering sense of the fierce battle just now.
This sound-dampening effect clearly defied common sense, and everyone felt a strong sense of dissonance.
They caught their breath for a moment, and once they were sure there was no more fighting or immediate danger, they all started paying attention to their surroundings.
"Hey? Can you hear me?" A Xiang called.
"We can." "No problem." The Cloud Wanderer members responded.
"Then it’s not too bad," the young man chuckled.
"I can barely even hear the voices of All Spirits. Everything here feels like it has sunk into silence and faded away with time," Diao said, peering into the darkness. "The battle just now almost feels like..."
"Like it wasn’t real, right?" Li Ang said.
The Young Girl nodded.
"This should be the legendary ’Ernest’s Secret Vault’, right?"
Elaphia’s gaze wandered between the shadows around them and the hovering Divine Artisan’s Five Swords. Once the five swords were assembled, their resonant Power had naturally opened the Teleportation Gate, and what it led to should be the long-rumored destination.
At the same time, she was questioning Farlonio—it was this Crafty Merchant Douding who had pushed for opening the Teleportation Gate to escape, so she ought to provide an explanation.
"Mm, even if this place isn’t our ancestor’s Treasure Vault or his workshop, it should still be somewhere highly related to him, I’d say."
"What do you mean, ’even if it isn’t’?!"
Elaphia raised her brows and glared at the brown-haired Douding. "You weren’t sure, and you still dared to recklessly bring everyone in here?"
"Relax, relax. I’m at least fifty percent sure, you know. Besides, it’s all because Valarg has too many little secrets."
Farlonio’s voice was hoarse; she still hadn’t fully recovered from the injuries of having the curse broken. But her tone was light and breezy, as if this bit of pain didn’t mean much to her.
"They wanted to lure people here," Li Ang said then.
From the Dragon Language just now, he had understood that the Demon Dragons’ scheme was to make people chase after the Five Swords and ultimately open the Teleportation Gate.
"That part I do know. And the dissemination of information about the Five Swords..."
Farlonio brought up a previous paradox about the Divine Artisan’s Five Swords—although all five were forged by Ernest, they were products of different stages in his life. After leaving his hands they had each scattered, and no one had ever gathered all of them. Not even Ernest himself.
So "Divine Artisan’s Five Swords" had always been more of a symbolic term. Until he saw them open the Teleportation Gate with his own eyes, Li Ang had never fully believed they could actually do that.
Even now, there were still many things he couldn’t make sense of.
"The spreading of the Five Swords’ information was secretly pushed by Valarg, but it wasn’t only Valarg."
The first half of the brown-haired Douding’s sentence answered part of Li Ang’s doubts, while the second half added a new layer of confusion.
Li Ang subconsciously shifted his gaze toward Elaphia, and found that she had done the same. As they met each other’s eyes, both sensed that the other was thinking exactly what they were.
The Blondie Douding’s cheeks flushed slightly as she turned her gaze away. "Who else has been spreading all this?"
"No idea."
Farlo shook her head. "Even the method to let the five swords resonate and open a gate was something I pieced together from fragmentary information I’d collected."
Li Ang stared at the brown‐haired Douding for a few seconds. This fellow, even when telling the truth, habitually holds things back; who knew what else she hadn’t confessed. But right now, she had no reason to hide the most critical information.
A Xiang summed up, "So we did come to the place in the rumors, but it might not match our expectations. That’s what you mean, right?"
Li Ang nodded. "Anyway, let’s first find a shelter and settle down, then carefully explore this space."
Adventurers are best at finding answers on their own.
"Leader, Professor Zelas is gone." At this moment, a Cloud Wanderer member suddenly spoke.
"What happened? You didn’t keep an eye on her?" A Xiang turned his head in surprise. With his perception, he actually hadn’t noticed.
The orange‐haired young girl was surrounded by Cloud Wanderer members; her petite stature had instead helped her slip out of sight.
Seeing this, Li Ang’s expression barely changed. Elaphia, who was watching him, seemed to be pondering something.
"That girl isn’t simple. The Secret Technique she used before is something we’ve never even heard of. This time we’ve basically let her play us." a Cloud Wanderer member said.
"I’d guess she’s also a stakeholder in the Five Swords." another person speculated.
"Did she escape using Transfer Magic? She might be hiding somewhere in this space—let’s search for her." A Xiang said
As soon as he finished, a member of the Cloud Wanderers used Magic to shine a light.
Previously, when they had just come in, they’d been afraid of disturbing the surroundings and alerting unknown threats, so they hadn’t explored immediately. Now that they’d sensed there were no threats that would appear right away, they began to investigate with more ease. They no longer needed to save their energy, and simply relied on Attack Magic to—
Relying on Elaphia’s lamp alone, the light source was insufficient. Diao had wanted to Summon some phosphorescence, but the Spirits in the whole space were extremely weak, and as an Ancient Witch she couldn’t perform well. In the end, it was the Cloud Wanderer members who used their Fire Attribute Staffs to launch several Fireballs into the sky.
Firelight hung high overhead, and in an instant everyone saw the situation of the space they were in—this place was somewhat similar to the Mountain Copper Furnace. The entire space was also circular in structure: the outer ring was for storing materials, the middle ring for various devices, while the huge, complex structure in the very center made Li Ang immediately think of a Mechanical Creation Furnace.
There were no monsters lurking here, no Golems that had awakened because of visitors from the outside. That alone was enough for people to lower their guard.
The Sky Knights were positioned at the outer ring. Not far away was a storage cubicle; someone immediately floated over to take a look. Inside, a portion of materials still remained, but compared to the standards of the Dwarf Imperial Palace it fell far short, and most of it had already been used up.
The Firelight lasted for only a short time, as if something were sucking it away. Before the glow vanished, they saw the floor and stone bricks that formed the entire space swallowing the Spirits and Magic Power.
Darkness returned. Without rushing to conjure more light, everyone began to discuss what they had just seen.
"We didn’t find that professor."
"No rush, we can search later. For now we haven’t seen an exit to this space—she should be nearby."
On that side they were more concerned about the client’s whereabouts, while Elaphia said, "It seems this isn’t some ancient civilization ruin, but a structure built by near‐modern Artisans. And everything here is still unfinished. Judging from the completeness of the forging equipment, there’s a high chance this place was left behind by Ernest."
"That should be right," Farlonio said. "It’s said that in his later years, our ancestor often went off mysteriously to do something, and most of his life’s savings were spent; he didn’t leave much for the family at the end."
The brown‐haired Douding shook her head. "That’s really excessive. The previous generation ought to leave some wealth for those who come after."
Elaphia’s expression was hard to read; she made no comment, while Lily and Diao both looked utterly unconcerned.
After some discussion, everyone began to explore further ahead.
On the way, Diao said a bit dejectedly, "Great Witch, I’m sorry. Earlier you told me to keep an eye on that girl, but at some point I was controlled by her Magic without even realizing it."
"That wasn’t your fault. That kind of Power comes from Demons." Li Ang shook his head.
"So it’s confirmed?" Elaphia flew a little closer and spoke softly.
"I wasn’t sure at first, but when she left, I became completely certain."
Although he himself was already inseparable from Demon Power, Li Ang had truly not expected that Sif could also come into contact with Demons.
Is there something wrong inside Thousand Tower City?
"Where did she go?"
"When we were crossing the Teleportation Gate, we were in a state where dimensions were intersecting. That’s also the easiest time to perform dimensional traversal. At that moment, Demon Power suddenly surfaced on her body, and she used that to escape."
Li Ang paused for a moment, then added, "This Power is very well hidden, so only I sensed it."
He recalled the sight back then: the young girl’s eyes were once again dyed utterly Bloody Red, and the Power surrounding her—judging from its level—had to be a Demon’s true body working from behind the scenes.
They had all been banished by the Creator to the far side of the world and couldn’t return to Nebis, but since the Six armed Saint King could come over through residual Spirituality, it’s hard to say what methods other Demons might have.
At the time, that Demon was preparing to do something, and Li Ang had also Summoned the Bloody Hand, ready to confront it. But when their gazes met, a struggling expression appeared on Sif’s face, and her eyes regained clarity once more.
She seemed to possess the ability to guide and interfere with the Demon Power transmitted onto her. She reversed the effect of the Demon Power, triggered some kind of teleportation, and left this place.
Li Ang estimated she had returned to Thousand Tower City. If one thought of the worst case, it could also be a Demon lair, but that seemed unlikely. Given this young girl’s experience, the territory that truly belonged to her was limited to Frost Heaven Island and Thousand Tower City; she probably wouldn’t go back to the former.
Her struggling expression was very similar to when she saw Viel’s Phantom—there were still family members in that girl’s heart. When she finally succeeded in releasing the Teleportation Spell and leaving, she also showed a look of relief.
Seeing Li Ang somewhat wrapped in Silence, his companions all held their tongues. Elaphia, who knew Sif’s true identity, was also considerate enough not to comment.
"Thousand Tower City—after this matter I’m heading there anyway. When I get there, I’ll thoroughly investigate this ’Zerlase Calio’." Li Ang said.

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