Before Cen Ji could explain, she stretched out her hand and touched Cen Ji's face.
Cen Ji was taken aback, then reached out and grabbed her wrist, taking her hand away, and said, "Ban Lan, don't be silly."
Ban Lan said, "Foolish? Fine, then I'll show you how foolish I can be."
She reached out and pointed to the black hole beside her, saying, "If you won't let me follow you, then I'll jump down."
Cen Ji angrily said, "Are you forcing me?"
Ban Lan tilted her head back and said, "Yes."
Cen Ji took a deep breath. He couldn't meet Ban Lan's resolute gaze. After a long while, he uttered a single word: "Okay."
Eighth day
Ban Lan followed closely behind Cen Ji, groping her way down the steps.
Cen Ji felt as if Ban Lan was about to bruise his left arm.
Ban Lan gripped Cen Ji's arm tightly with one hand and groped at the cold wall with the other, seemingly too exhausted to even speak.
The further down you go, the colder it gets. Before long, the small opening in the cave disappeared from sight.
And so, the two walked slowly in the darkness for a long time, until Ban Lan finally couldn't help but speak up: "It's so dark..."
That's just a pointless statement.
However, she seemed very afraid of the dark. Cen Ji recalled the scene in Qingluan Forest, his expression changing several times in the darkness, before finally saying, "If you're scared, hold on tight to me."
After saying that, Cen Ji realized that he had said something even more superfluous than "It's so dark".
Because Ban Lan was gripping him very tightly. So tightly that half of his arm was numb and blood couldn't flow through it.
Upon hearing this, Ban Lan simply gripped Cen Ji tightly with both hands, not letting go for even a moment.
At that moment, Cen Ji suddenly wished he had a prosthetic leg.
After an unknown amount of time, the road beneath our feet suddenly became flat.
Cen Ji felt as if they had come from a narrow, dark passage into a spacious inner room.
He stopped in his tracks. He had practiced night vision since he was a child, and even though he was in a dark room, he could still vaguely see some blurry outlines.
He slowly moved to the wall, reached out and touched it, trying to find some mechanism.
Ban Lan seemed to be glued to Cen Ji, not daring to leave him for even a moment.
Cen Ji felt the hands on his arms trembling slightly. He sighed, "I told you not to come down."
Upon hearing this, Ban Lan hugged his arm even tighter, as if Cen Ji would push her away.
“You want to save your senior sister, do you think I don’t?” Ban Lan retorted.
Cen Ji ignored her and focused intently on feeling the damp, cold wall. After a while, he found a bump the size of an egg. He turned it gently, and dozens of torches flickered and crackled on the wall, instantly illuminating the surroundings.
Cen Ji looked around in the light.
The two were indeed in a small stone chamber, with a closed bronze door in front of them. Above the door was a line of vigorous cursive script: Crane Feather Palace.
"No wonder I couldn't find it; it turns out the Crane Feather Palace is hidden inside the mountain," Ban Lan realized.
Cen Ji stepped forward, hesitated for a moment, and was about to push the door open.
"Be careful," Ban Lan said hurriedly.
Cen Ji paused, a warmth rising in his heart. He released his inner energy, and the bronze door swung open.
Ban Lan had expected that it would still be pitch black behind the door, but to her surprise, it was brightly lit, with thousands of torches illuminating the narrow passageway.
However, what appeared before them was a fork in the road.
Cen Ji looked down and saw the words "Life" and "Death" carved at the entrances of the two roads beneath his feet.
Cen Ji pondered for a long time, but had no clue whatsoever.
Ban Lan stood behind him, peeked inside, and suddenly said, "Let's roll the dice. Odd numbers go 'live,' even numbers go 'death.' What do you say?"
Cen Ji was both amused and exasperated. "Is life and death decided so easily? Besides, where did you get dice?"
Ban Lan reached into his clothes, felt around, pulled out a set of dice, and handed it over, saying, "Here you go."
Cen Ji asked in surprise, "You carry dice with you?"
Ban Lan nodded.
Cen Ji glared at her and said coldly, "Confiscate it!"
Ban Lan shrank back and said, "If you like it, you can have it. Why are you being so fierce?"
Cen Ji choked. How could he like that thing? But if he didn't like it, why confiscate it?
Cen Ji clutched the two dice, inexplicably feeling agitated. Poor two bone dice, crushed to pieces under the grip of Cen Ji's iron fist.