The boy shook his head like a rattle drum upon hearing that, sputtering, "No, absolutely not! Master will kill me if he finds out I led you here."

Daxiong cracked his knuckles, the sound echoing ominously, and said, "Oh? If you won't cooperate, don't blame us for being impolite. You insulted my Master earlier; crippling one of your hands and one of your feet would be a mercy. Tell me, which hand and which foot will it be?"

Although the boy was no longer young, his temperament was childlike. Hearing Daxiong's threat, he was on the verge of tears, waving his hands frantically as he pleaded, "M-Mister, please don't! Even if I can't lead you there, I can show you a shortcut! You don't have to climb the tower floor by floor. There are countless demons and deities inside; they are not people you can handle."

I frowned, thinking for a couple of seconds, and said, "Then tell us about it!"

The boy wiped the tears from his eyes and pointed to the pagoda lying discarded in the distance. "That Precious Pagoda is a crucial passkey. I can give it to you now and explain how to use it. With it in hand, you will naturally discover the hidden routes within this Ghost Tower."

I glanced at the pagoda lying on the ground far away and said, "Very well. Before you tell us how to use it, tell us more about the deities and monsters imprisoned in this Ghost Tower—what exactly are they?"

The boy hesitated, seeming to weigh whether he should speak, but under our menacing gazes, he quickly confessed: "They are all scrap materials from Master's research into the Art of God Creation. However, some of them possess immense magical power and cannot be destroyed, which is why Master had to lock them all in here."

"Art of God Creation?" the three of us asked in unison.

The boy nodded, stating with a hint of pride, "It's a heaven-defying spell invented by my Master. Any monster people can imagine, Master can create it. By utilizing the flesh of the Earth Vein Dragon Ginseng combined with special Shamanic talismans, he could even fabricate the Jade Emperor himself."

The three of us exchanged glances. Our previous guesses, and what Wukong had mentioned, were spot on—the creation of demons was indeed real.

It was just that I had never heard of failed creations existing in this process.

"Then what is your Master's purpose in creating these demons?" I continued to inquire.

The boy pondered for a moment and replied, "I'm not entirely sure about that. Maybe just for fun?"

Nie Chuan scoffed at this, saying, "For fun? I highly doubt that constructing a place similar to hell, equipped with all manner of torture instruments and judges, is merely for amusement. He must be doing this to use his divine power to establish a rule set where he reigns supreme, right?"

The boy shook his head vigorously. "You don't understand Master, so don't talk nonsense. My Master is an incredibly lazy person; normally, besides cultivating, he doesn't want to do anything else. He would never dream of ruling the world. This hell-like place was not created by him. On the contrary, before we arrived here, this underworld already existed. And it was inhabited by a group of strange people possessing considerable power. Master originally maintained a 'well water not interfering with river water' relationship with them, but later, upon hearing that Master had perfected the Art of God Creation, they actively sought him out to collaborate, creating a series of minor devils and judges according to myth. After these creations, Master never interfered with the affairs of the Underworld; he left it all to those strange people to manage."

The boy paused, then added, "About three hundred years ago, another group of strange people arrived here riding on disc-shaped magical artifacts. They quarreled with the original inhabitants, and soon a fight broke out. Then both factions vanished, and the underworld fell into disuse."

People riding on discs? A scene flashed through my mind, reminding me of Atlantis.

So, I asked, "Were those strange people perhaps very long-faced and dressed in long black robes?"

The boy shook his head. "I arrived late; I don't know. I only heard these stories from the senior disciples. For specifics on what they looked like, you really should ask Master."

Seeing that the boy had confessed everything truthfully, a significant mystery was resolved in our minds.

We had asked all we needed to know. The final answers rested with locating that Great Immortal of Wind Power. Thus, I told the boy, "Tell us how to use the pagoda, then scram."

The boy pointed at the pagoda and said with difficulty, "I must hold it to teach you the spell."

Daxiong became enraged, grabbing the boy by the collar. "What if you use that tower to trap us? Don't think you can trick SUPER Xiong!"

The boy frowned. "Fine, then you can bring it to me, right? I need to be close to chant the incantation."

Daxiong looked at me, I looked at the boy, and then I nodded. "Bring it over."

Daxiong cautiously approached and picked up the pagoda, exclaiming, "So cold!"

After taking a few steps, he added, "So light!"

He hurried back toward us, holding the pagoda far away from his body, as if carrying a bomb about to detonate.

Stopping about three or four meters from the boy, Daxiong said gruffly, "This distance should be acceptable, right?"

The boy said nothing, only began chanting softly toward the pagoda.

In less than two seconds, I saw the pagoda boom, and a burst of crimson-purple flame erupted from its exterior, soaring over two meters high.

Startled, I quickly drew the dagger given to me by Xiao Ge, pointed it at the boy's throat, and demanded, "What's going on! Don't try any tricks!"

The boy seemed genuinely intimidated by the knife in my hand and stammered nervously, "Take it away quickly! I am only casting a spell; I won't hurt the fat man!"

I glanced up and indeed saw that Daxiong, holding the pagoda, only looked stunned, not having been burned by the sudden flames.

It was then I remembered that only I could see the specific images of the outbreak of pure mental energy; they could not.

I heard Daxiong say, "Damn it, don't panic. It would be disastrous if the boy made the pagoda explode. Right now, I just feel the pagoda is getting a little cold."

I looked back at the boy and noticed a flicker of guilt in his eyes. I guessed he might have genuinely intended to harm Daxiong, but my threat scared him off before his magic could take effect.

But now, I saw the profound terror in the boy's eyes, which meant he probably no longer dared to deceive me.

So, I slowly withdrew the knife from his neck. He let out a visible sigh of relief and continued chanting.

At that moment, the crimson-purple flames slowly retreated back into the pagoda, and the entire body of the tower began emitting a white glow, slowly lifting into the air.

The boy’s expression looked pained; his face twitched as he said, "Done. Now, follow the pagoda; it will show you the way. I'll be leaving now. However, before you reach the top floor, I will need to retrieve the pagoda, or I won't be able to account for it to Master."

Having said that, the boy stood up, bowed to each of us, and then vanished into the darkness in a flash, apparently fearing we might renege on our promise to let him go.

Daxiong spread his hand, intending to stop him, but I caught his arm.

I told Daxiong, "Keeping one's word is a virtue of the Chinese people. Although that boy is tricky, we promised him, so we should let him go."

As soon as I finished speaking, the boy's voice echoed from the darkness nearby: "You got off easy this time. If you hadn't blown away my mental power with your demonic wind, you never would have beaten me. Just you wait; even knowing the shortcut, I won't make things easy for you!"

Daxiong was instantly furious. He rushed forward in three giant strides, but by the time he arrived, the boy was gone.

Then I saw the pagoda shrink to the size of a palm, floating perpetually above my head, seemingly having chosen me as its recipient of aid.

So, I followed Daxiong and walked over.

At the end of the room, we saw the staircase leading to the next floor.

Arriving at the stairs, I saw Daxiong cursing at the top step and said to him, "If you can't catch him, stop chasing. Wait for us when we come up; don't wander off alone."

Daxiong turned back to look at us and replied, "It's not that I can't catch him. If the terrain on this floor weren't like this, I would have grabbed him already. You two come and see."

Hearing this, the two of us walked up the stairs with confusion.

Reaching the top of the stairs and looking into the doorway, we were all stunned.

This floor had no continuous flooring; instead, the floor was dotted with holes, large and small, some easily tens of meters wide and bottomless.

Before us was an irregularly shaped pit, about twelve meters wide and ten meters long. We looked down into it; it clearly did not lead back to the floor we had just left. Instead, countless wisps of black mist drifted within the deep chasm, leading to an unknown destination.

"What is going on?" I asked.

Nie Chuan stroked his chin and mused, "I suspect the thinking of that Great Immortal of Wind Power is erratic, which is why this floor is also a chaotic mess. After all, this illusory architecture is formed by his single thought."

I nodded. "That's possible, but it could also be a deliberately designed trap."

Nie Chuan countered, "Unlikely. Very few people ever come this high up; he wouldn't bother setting a trap here."

Daxiong interjected, "What it is doesn't matter right now. The key is figuring out how to cross. I still want to catch that boy and give him a good beating!"

I knew Daxiong had a point, so I looked at the pagoda floating above my head.

As if hearing my thoughts, the pagoda slowly drifted forward and positioned itself directly over the deep pit.

At that moment, the crimson-purple light within it flared up again, growing brighter and more intense.

This time, even Daxiong and the others could see the light and instinctively shielded their eyes.

When the intense light finally dispersed, we saw that a series of connections, each about the thickness of an arm, had materialized across the deep pit.

These connecting bands looked as if they were formed from ice; they were hard to make out unless one looked closely.

Any ordinary person seeing these passages would surely be distressed about how to cross, but we were no longer ordinary people.