"It’s truly beautiful. I felt the exact same way the last time I entered this place, haha, quite breathtaking, isn't it? This radiance seems capable of drawing one’s very soul in."

Jonathan laughed heartily, then murmured softly, "A pity this crystal is harder than diamond; even bullets just bounce off, leaving not a single mark... Damn it, otherwise, turning this stone into ornaments would be worth far more than diamonds—a gem that glows..." Money, money, money. Jonathan, as always, was mad about money; his trade, after all, was solely for profit. Even though he no longer needed to worry about money and was a wealthy man in his own right, he still risked everything for it... Perhaps he and his sister were both true adventurers, only one sought thrills, and the other, lucre.

Zheng Z was also stunned by the beautiful scene before him. He asked Chu Xuan dumbly, "Are these energy stones? Chu Xuan, is this entire expanse composed of energy stones?" Chu Xuan shook his head, "I don't know. Although this glowing crystal resembles some kind of radioactive material, cultivators wouldn't logically place radioactive substances here... In any case, let's take a piece back for research."

Zheng Z nodded at this, raised the Tiger Soul Blade, and approached the nearby rock wall. After he channeled his True Essence into it,

The Tiger Soul Blade swept down with a mighty slash, bringing down a large swath of the crystal rock face with its blade-light. But before Zheng Z could pick up any of the larger crystal pieces, Jonathan and Ana Suna beside him cried out excitedly, both rushing over simultaneously. Ana Suna specifically targeted finger-sized glowing crystals, while Jonathan began hoisting up crystal chunks the size of his fists.

He strained with all his might, but unfortunately, the crystal’s density was extraordinarily heavy. A fist-sized crystal weighed easily forty or fifty jin. In the end, Jonathan could only reluctantly settle for picking up finger-sized shards from the ground.

Zheng Z shook his head in resignation. He said nothing more, hefted a large crystal block roughly one cubic meter in size, and then slipped it into his space pouch. This action stunned Jonathan into silence. The man looked at the crystal granules in his hands,

Then glanced at the piles of large crystal blocks on the ground. He finally couldn't hold back and asked, "Zheng Z, how about you give me a pouch? Such a huge crystal block, and you just tucked it into such a small package, and lifting it didn't seem to weigh you down at all... Give me a pouch? Considering we are partners... please, give me a pouch!" "Spare me the theatrics,"

Zheng Z said casually while putting away his space pouch, "What would you use a space pouch for? To carry your gold and money? Stop talking about such boring things near me. Besides, don't you have enough money already? Be careful you don't get crushed to death by gold someday..." (Though, come to think of it... being crushed by gold might actually be this guy's dream...) Regardless, Zheng Z and the others finally focused their attention on the lotus platform in the center of the plaza. According to Jonathan’s account, this was the farthest point the previous expedition had reached.

Subsequently amazed by the crystal walls, they relentlessly tried to chip off some of the glowing crystals. Some Chinese guides claimed these crystals were similar to Yemingzhu (night-shining pearls) and were worth a fortune.

Besides the crystal wall, the Buddha statue on the lotus platform was also emitting light. The accompanying officer immediately ordered the soldiers to lift the statue off the stone lotus platform, but what happened next was... "Then the Yellow Turban Warriors appeared. We don't know where they came from, but those Yellow Turban Warriors weren't as exaggeratedly huge as they are now, and their speed and strength weren't overwhelming, but those things were unkillable.

We tried our bullets, bombs, and close-quarters combat; nothing could harm these monsters. However, fortunately, those monsters were afraid of fire back then. Even though everyone died, at the last moment, we managed to burn the final Yellow Turban Warrior. Otherwise, even I probably wouldn't have survived..." Jonathan sighed.

(Wait a minute... if everyone died, how did he survive? Does he actually possess a talent for running away?) Zheng Z muttered internally. By this time, Chu Xuan had begun reassembling the Buddha statue components. He had already put together most of them before entering the mausoleum; now, he only needed to carefully arrange them on the stone lotus platform. At the base of the statue were rune markings that resembled small plugs, and the stone lotus platform had perfectly matching engraved runes. He simply needed to place the statue carefully onto the platform.

Chu Xuan's movements were swift. Within minutes, the Buddha statue was completely secured. However, after fixing the statue, he didn't stand up; instead, he carefully stroked the area around the stone lotus platform. Countless dense strands of light appeared on the surface of the Buddha statue. These light strands coalesced into a multitude of intricate runic patterns covering the statue's surface. These light-formed runes flowed across the statue's surface like running water, making the entire statue appear as if it were a light source.

"As expected..." Chu Xuan muttered to himself after running his hand over the stone lotus platform. Then, he took out several energy stones from his space pouch. It wasn't clear what he did, but once those energy stones were installed on the stone lotus platform, the surface of the platform itself began to show flowing radiance, similar to running water. This light gradually gathered and merged with the light emanating from the Buddha statue. Instantly, the light from both the statue and the platform flashed brightly and began to spread across the ground.

Everyone nearby was stunned. Zheng Z immediately asked Chu Xuan, "What did you do? Aren't you afraid of accidentally damaging the Buddha statue?" "It’s fine..." Chu Xuan replied, "As Jonathan mentioned, the statue was glowing from the very beginning. So, even if we re-install the statue here, at most, we only restore it to its original state—merely preventing the Yellow Turban Warriors from reappearing. It certainly won't allow us to proceed further inside. Therefore, there must be something we overlooked, and that overlooked spot is likely this stone lotus platform... You see, when the statue was still in separate pieces, I examined their composition and discovered the presence of energy stones within them. In other words, this statue relies on energy stones to maintain the energy radiance on its surface; otherwise, the statue would be no different from ordinary stone. The stone lotus platform is likely the same entity as the statue, only it lacks the energy stones to provide power..." Chu Xuan placed the remaining energy stones into his space pouch before saying, "Weathering. The energy stones for the lotus platform were placed on its surface, unlike the statue's stones hidden inside. So, after thousands of years of erosion and weathering, the platform's energy stones have long since vanished... Only now have we truly stepped across the threshold of this side mission. This entire subplot has finally begun, and we have about eleven hours remaining..." As Chu Xuan finished speaking, the light from the Buddha statue and the lotus platform fully flowed into the ground, spreading outwards along the artificially carved lines on the floor. Upon closer inspection, these carved lines were also strange, oddly shaped runic patterns. As the flowing light spread out, the entire plaza seemed enveloped in a mysterious, ineffable hall of runes. Then, the plaza shuddered violently. In everyone's momentary stupor, the plaza began to descend at an extremely rapid pace, as if the entire floor had transformed into an elevator, carrying everyone straight down into the earth.

The plaza descended for about one or two minutes. By now, the group had no idea how many meters beneath the surface they were. The surroundings of the plaza were plunged into absolute darkness and emptiness. Even Zheng Z could not penetrate the blackness. If not for the plaza’s massive size and the absence of a giant light sphere in the center, this place would have borne a slight resemblance to the 'Main God' space. Only then did everyone snap out of their shock. Jonathan and Ana Suna started babbling first, followed by Liu Yu’s continuous exclamations of alarm.

"...It's alright, everyone calm down. See? Ahead is our destination... the Suspended Pavilion of the Heavens!" Zheng Z had been prepared to tell everyone to take out their Green Goblin Gliders as the plaza continued its descent, but just then, he spotted a faint light in the extreme distance of the blackness. After a few seconds, the light was bright enough for him to make out a general shape: a wash of silver brilliance, resembling a pavilion. Only then did he confirm that the plaza was indeed taking them toward the Suspended Pavilion of the Heavens, not plunging them to the deepest core of the earth.

Gradually, the others also noticed the pavilion in the distance. As the plaza drew closer to the structure, everyone realized something was amiss... The pavilion was too vast! Apart from a central library pavilion, the rest of the structure was just empty space, much like the plaza they stood upon—utterly vacant, yet impossibly huge, at least a thousand times the size of their plaza which spanned thousands of square meters. The expanse was nearly boundless, looking like a continent suspended in the void of darkness. Beneath their feet was a dim, reddish glow; thousands of meters below that was the earth's interior, brimming with magma... This truly was the so-called Suspended Pavilion of the Heavens! "So, that 'First Divinity' they mentioned... surely it isn't the thing standing over there? Damn it, how could it be that thing? No wonder it's designated with the word 'First'! Holy crap! The 'Main God'!" Zheng Z, possessing the best physical constitution, was among the first, after Zero Point, to clearly see what stood atop the Suspended Pavilion. The moment he saw it clearly, he began cursing loudly.

In fact, the other person who clearly saw it, even Zero Point, muttered a curse under his breath... This was the 'First Divinity'!? Leaping to