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The stoic little one swiftly grasped her Hubby's hand and followed closely.
As expected, a pitch-black pit yawned beneath the ice tree, its steep passageway descending into an unknown realm.
"I'll go down and investigate," Mo Lian stated as she squeezed her hand.
Qiao Mu vigorously shook her petite head. "Let's go together."
The young monk hastily grabbed her hand. "Benefactress, I'll accompany you."
"Why are you insisting on coming, little monk? Stay here. You're so young, and reciting the Rebirth Mantra with so many people isn't suitable. We need to find a monastery for you…"
Before Qiao Mu could complete her sentence, the young monk firmly shook his petite head. "I sense something amiss down here."
"The aura is incredibly malevolent."
Qiao Mu couldn't help but chuckle. This little monk was both amusing and endearing.
The elderly monk had referred to himself as "This old monk," yet he was as agile as the wind. Here, the young monk was now known as "Little Monk."
"Even if it's sinister, stay here," Qiao Mu advised, pointing to his forehead, before taking Mo Lian's hand and descending the steep passageway.
"Amitabha," the young monk mumbled. "Benefactress, it would be wiser to take me along. My Buddhist seal can offer some assistance… Oh! Huh? Benefactress! Benefactress!"
It was perplexing. Why did Benefactress rush down the sinkhole alongside Crown Prince Mo as if fleeing from something?
"Chen Qi and Lu Zheng, be vigilant," Qiao Mu called out before departing.
Hand in hand with Mo Lian, she floated down the lengthy ladder.
The ladder stretched for several hundred meters, and when they finally reached the bottom and set foot on the ground, the uneven rocks beneath their feet proved rather uncomfortable.
Qiao Mu kicked her little feet and furrowed her brow slightly.
Mo Lian lowered her head to glance at her. A black flame spread over the ground, reducing the stones hundreds of meters ahead to powder, forming a path.
Soon, a trickle of groundwater seeped out from beneath the powdered stones, without hindering their movement.
Her Excellency Lady Qiaoqiao found the powdered rock quite comfortable to tread upon. She gazed up at Mo Lian and remarked, "There seems to be an underground water source here, doesn't it?"
Mo Lian nodded. "Likely."
"I wonder what lies ahead. The young monk must have been quite perceptive. If he deemed the aura beneath sinister, there's likely something extremely unsavory ahead."
It was better to keep the child from witnessing those unsettling sights to avoid nightmares.
The two of them moved swiftly, arriving at a corridor before long, facing a locked iron door.
Mo Lian wordlessly liquefied the metal door…
Her Excellency Lady Qiaoqiao calmly crossed a pool of liquid that had been melted by the black fire, her expression contorted.
The stench was highly unpleasant, causing both of them to instinctively step back and swiftly suppress their senses.
With their senses numbed, they ventured forward, encountering a large, pitch-black stone chamber at the corridor's end.
As they regained their senses, they took in their surroundings.
Towards the end of the chamber, they spotted three peculiar beings squatting at the entrance. They were not quite animals, for each had a human head, although they varied in size and appearance.
One of them possessed a robust and muscular physique reminiscent of a lion, another sported hawk-like wings sprouting from its back, and the last exhibited bronze-hued skin and iron-like bones, draped in the hide of a steel rhinoceros.
The lion-bodied individual boasted a massive head, resembling a winter melon atop a lion's frame.
