As they racked their brains, Ganda suddenly cried out, then told everyone, "Something's wrong, my head is starting to ache intensely. I feel a voice echoing inside my skull, something like, 'Grow, grow.' You all check if the plant on top of my head has actually started sprouting."

Lu Zong rushed over in a panic, asking Ganda to lower his head for a look. He said, "Ganda, pus is starting to seep from the top of your head, and the swelling has burst. It might be a sign that the plant is about to drill out. Don't be afraid, we're here; we won't let it run rampant on your scalp. Ma Xiong, the bone torch, quick."

Ma Xiong hurriedly passed the torch in his hand to Lu Zong. Lu Zong took it, blew on the flame, and then told Ganda, "Ganda, close your eyes and don't think about anything. I'll just scorch it right here."

Ganda obediently closed his eyes; he trusted Lu Zong completely, but this time, Lu Zong let him down.

Lu Zong raised the bone torch in his hand and, with a sharp thwack, struck Ganda right on the head. Ganda collapsed instantly, knocked unconscious.

The Fatty and Ma Xiong looked at each other in confusion and asked, "Lu Zong, what are you doing?"

Lu Zong replied with grim determination, "Sterilizing." After saying that, he blew the flame until it roared, swept the sparse hair on Ganda's scalp aside, and began cauterizing the area where the pus was weeping. A foul, fishy odor filled the air.

The Fatty widened his amazed eyes, staring at Lu Zong, and asked, "Lu Zong, is that sterilization, or are you barbecuing?"

Lu Zong said, "Sterilizing, of course. Would I barbecue you? Look at the top of his head—the plant has begun to germinate. If all that pus becomes infected, it will definitely reach the cerebral cortex, and he’ll turn into an idiot. I certainly don't want our guide to become an idiot. Burning it with fire will not only kill the seed but also act as an antiseptic and anti-inflammatory agent. It's the most appropriate thing here. But we don't have anesthetic needles, so we have to use the most primitive method: knocking him out."

His scalp began to slowly shrivel under the searing heat of the flame, then scabbed over. The bleeding truly stopped, and most importantly, the skin actually sealed together, looking like nothing more than a wound. Ma Xiong gave a thumbs-up, exclaiming, "As expected of Lu Zong! When did you learn that trick?"

Lu Zong chuckled and said, "From a movie, but I'd never practiced it before. Guess I'm getting some practical experience today."

The Fatty said, "Alright, since you're done with your practice, let's see if Ganda is still among the living."

He walked over, knelt by Ganda's face, and called out softly, "Ganda, wake up, wake up."

Under the Fatty's summons, Ganda finally stirred. After a moment of grogginess, he felt the pain on his scalp. He reached up to touch it, then recoiled with a yelp, pulling his hand back. "What's this? Why does it hurt so much? It wasn't this painful just a moment ago."

Lu Zong said, "It's better now; we just performed an emergency cranial procedure on you. It'll be fine soon. Okay, since there are no more problems, let's move on. We should take the middle path."

But as soon as the words left his mouth, they heard that strange sound again—like the creaking noise a plant makes when it tightens around rock. They whipped around in a fright and saw that the plant, severed from Ganda’s head, had already grown larger behind them, completely obscuring the entrance to the cave, and it was slowly creeping towards them.

Lu Zong screamed, "Run!" and immediately bolted, but it was too late. The vine had already ensnared all four of them. Ma Xiong and Lu Zong were bound together, and Ganda and the Fatty were intertwined, slamming violently against opposite sides of the cliff wall.

The four crashed to the ground with a dull thud, spitting up mouthfuls of blood. The plant immediately moved to attack again. They knew that if they didn't fight back quickly, they would likely be thrown off the cliff edge. So, they scrambled to their feet, hastily grabbing a bone torch from the ground to ward off the encroaching vines.

Indeed, the vines recoiled in apparent fear. Lu Zong was overjoyed and quickly shouted to the others across the gap, "You two quickly grab bones from the ground and light them to drive the vine back!"

The Fatty snapped out of his shock, picked up a bone, severed the vine binding him, snatched a lighter from Ma Xiong, ignited it, and the vines rapidly retreated.

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief, having narrowly escaped death. They exchanged glances; their guess was correct—they had indeed been separated.

Lu Zong pointed ahead and said, "Let's keep moving toward the edge of the cliff and see what's down there."

When they reached the precipice, Lu Zong finally noticed that the Ice Crystal Jade Fetus had not fallen. Instead, it was facing upward with its fissure exposed, resting at the very bottom center of the cavern. If they jumped straight down from the middle, they would certainly fall right into that crack. What if they crossed over unexpectedly?

Lu Zong looked at the others, feeling a prickle of unease. "If we jumped from opposite sides before, why did we cross over again?"

Ma Xiong chimed in, "Lu Zong is right. Since we jumped down from two different sides, we shouldn't have landed near the fissure, into that time tunnel. But why did we pass through the time tunnel only to end up back in our original location?"

The Fatty and Ganda also lowered their heads in contemplation, feeling that things were far too complicated.

Suddenly, Lu Zong spoke up, "I feel it! I feel it, I know why now."

Ma Xiong anxiously asked, "Why, Lu Zong? Tell us quickly."

Lu Zong swallowed hard. Having gone days without water, he was already listless enough, and now he had to explain such a convoluted matter. He felt drained and decided to keep the explanation brief. He said, "I feel like what we see below isn't actually in the same space as us."

"Not the same space?" Ma Xiong exclaimed in surprise. "What do you mean? Why isn't it the same space, and what does that have to do with time travel?"

Lu Zong said with confidence, "It has everything to do with it! I believe the space beneath the Ice Crystal Jade Fetus isn't a real space; it's not a section of space existing in the same time and continuum as us. We can only truly enter it by traversing through. Otherwise, we can only wander in this space and never reach the space we truly intend to enter."

The others were left scratching their heads, completely lost as to what he meant.

Lu Zong couldn't be bothered to elaborate further and simply summarized: "What I mean is, if we don't go through the time tunnel, we will never fall in, and even if we do fall, we'll only land in a space identical to our current one. But if we cross over, through the time tunnel, according to Newton's Third Law, we will pass through time and enter another continuum—that's the scene we see below the Ice Crystal Jade Fetus."

Everyone rubbed their foreheads again and shook their heads.

Lu Zong stopped explaining and stated coldly, "Fine then. From now on, you just listen to me. I guarantee we will reach the place below that we want to get to."

With that, he drove back the vine behind him and started walking toward the center. He motioned for the other three to follow him centrally, saying, "As long as we jump down from the middle, we'll be fine and reach the opposite bank, reach the area below, safely."

Just as they had each covered about half the distance, the vines of that plant chased after them, splitting the cavern in two. Ma Xiong and Lu Zong lost contact with the other two.

They hurried forward, using their torches to repel the attacking vines, and shouted, "Fatty! Ganda! Can you hear me?"

The Fatty's voice came from the other side: "Hold on a sec! Damn it, this thing isn't even afraid of my torch anymore. It must be adapting. I'm going to crank up the heat and roast it a bit more. Ganda, go grab me some bones—I'll scare this thing off today!"

Then came the sound of crackling firewood and the Fatty's heavy gasps, followed by a loud thump. It sounded like he had burned the vine into two pieces. The Fatty continued, "Okay, done. Now, should we jump the cliff, or what? It's up to you."

Lu Zong said, "Good. Then we'll jump from the middle. Remember, we absolutely must jump into the time tunnel of the Ice Crystal Jade Fetus, or things will get messy. It's very likely that if the temporal differences are too great, we might lose contact with each other and won't be able to see one another."

The Fatty said, "Alright, same old rules: whoever suggests the plan goes first. Lu Zong, you jump."

Lu Zong froze, then hesitated slightly, saying, "I think the Fatty should jump first. I trust you the most, Fatty; I can't bear to leave you here. So, I must ensure your safety before I seek mine."

The Fatty cursed loudly, "Damn it, jump already! I am not jumping first. Who knows if we're time traveling or drilling straight into hell after the jump? Lu Zong, you jump first, damn it!"

Lu Zong looked at the Fatty's resolute expression and knew it was impossible to persuade him to jump. He stopped pestering the Fatty and hatched a clever plan instead.

He bent down to pick up a bone from the ground, but to his shock, the ground was covered entirely in human bones, a dense, thick layer right at the edge of the cavern entrance. He didn't know why there were so many skeletons here. Even more horrifying, some skulls had massive fissures splitting open their tops. He immediately thought of the plant on Ganda’s head and surmised that this plant must have grown out of these people's heads, which was why they rested here.

He decided not to show Ganda this scene for now, to prevent him from worrying mentally. Pretending everything was normal, he picked up a bone, lit it, and tossed it toward the Ice Crystal Jade Fetus.

The lit bone followed the fissure down into the time tunnel and immediately reappeared in the space beneath the Ice Crystal Jade Fetus.

Lu Zong exclaimed happily, "See? This continuum is different from that one. The Ice Crystal Jade Fetus perfectly divides these two spaces into two distinct realities."

After saying this, he asked Ma Xiong to tie a rope around his waist and slowly began rappelling down the cliff face, until he reached the fissure of the Ice Crystal Jade Fetus.

He peered down with a pounding heart and saw the eyes of a desiccated corpse staring fixedly at him, as if possessing life. Startled, he quickly averted his gaze and looked at Ma Xiong. Suddenly, he remembered something critically important and yelled back to Ma Xiong, "Ma Xiong, don't let go yet! I forgot the most important thing. Pick up another bone from the ground now, light it, and throw it to both sides of the valley to see if they appear below the valley. I forgot to compare them earlier!" Ma Xiong complied, bending down to pick up a bone, igniting it, and tossing it down one side.