Fifteen minutes later.

Hu Li stepped onto the stone steps, his feet lightly tapping on them. The patterns on the steps were deep, buried in the darkness underground, and the steps were damp. The sound of water was not far away.

Fang Yue urged, "Don't stand there, keep going forward."

At that moment, Jiang Yu reached out and lightly supported Hu Li's arm. Hu Li turned his head to look at him, and Jiang Yu just said, "Be careful, it's slippery."

With that, Jiang Yu let go of his hand and descended the steps first.

Perhaps dissatisfied with the mere expansion downwards, the builders had not only built stone steps but also constructed a relatively easy path. If it weren't for the unsuitability of the ground for plant growth, they might have even created an underground garden.

Hu Li had never seen much of the world before sixteen years old, having climbed no more than three mountains. The path to the mountain temple was always a wide stone staircase, thousands of steps, looking like a black dot from below. Climbing up and looking down, it was another black dot on the ground. Although the stone steps were underground, they were even more impressive than the shock brought by the mountain temple. The winding stone steps led them around, and they couldn't see the sky or the ground until they reached the end.

Then, the sky opened up.

The surroundings were empty, and Hu Li's head was struck by water dripping from above.

But what shocked him even more was what he saw.

He finally understood where the sound of water was coming from.

There was actually an underground river here.

A boat was already moored on the riverbank. The person rowing the boat lifted his hat, revealing a face scarred in half. It was the scar-faced man they had seen before.

No wonder they hadn't seen him today. He had already entered the cave.

"You brought them in." Scarface said in a deep voice, his coldness evident on his face.

"So what if I did?" Fang Yue replied coldly, then turned away from Scarface and said to Hu Li and Jiang Yu, "Get on the boat."

Hu Li stepped onto the boat and found a seat. Jiang Yu sat down on his left.

Scarface was not happy, but he still paddled the boat. "Fang Yue, if you mess up again this time, your worthless life won't be enough to compensate."

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"You don't need to worry about it. Without them, can you find a way to the underground palace?" Fang Yue said ruthlessly. "If you can find it, we would have returned with honors three years ago."

"Do we need two imperial lackeys when we have the old monk in our hands?"

The two did not get along well and stopped talking. Fang Yue found a seat and fixed her gaze on Hu Li.

Hu Li didn't care. He was just thinking about what the two had said earlier. It seemed that the scar-faced man had pretended to be Fang Yue's attendant at the inn. Perhaps to avoid revealing himself in front of the Shen family in Jiangnan, but now, in front of them, he didn't need to hide.

Scarface should be on the same level as Fang Yue at the Moonlit Pavilion, otherwise they wouldn't talk like this. And now they knew that the old monk of Qinglong Temple was in their hands.

Hu Li pondered deeply, meaning that the old man was not in their hands, and Jiang Yu's men were still outside the temple. However, distant water cannot put out a nearby fire.

They had already reached the depths of the cave. They had seen Liu's martial arts skills were cunning and cruel. And now Fang Yue and Scarface, who were on the same boat with them, were no less formidable. If they made a move, before the people outside could rush in, the two would have already lost their lives.

The oars slowly paddled, and the sound of water spread.

Hu Li glanced at Scarface, jesting, "Mr. Jiang, does this look like the road to the Yellow Springs?"

He threw a glance at Scarface and raised his chin, and Jiang Yu also glanced, but said nothing for a long time.

There were only four of them here, and everything they said was clearly audible. Hu Li's words obviously reached the ears of the other two.

"Looking for death," Scarface said angrily.

"Yes, looking for death, we've even found the road to the Yellow Springs," Hu Li retorted, then shifted his center of gravity, leaning to one side of the boat.

Scarface raised his hand, intending to throw the oar, but Fang Yue suddenly stood up, blocking in front of the two, "What are you doing?"

"You'd better not forget which side you're on." Scarface said, waving his hand.

Taking advantage of their distraction.

Hu Li silently plunged the dagger hidden in his sleeve into the side of the boat.

The boat swayed.

Jiang Yu, borrowing the force of the boat, leaned backward.

Originally just a temporary boat, unable to withstand the two's antics, it had been slightly tilted before, but now it completely overturned in an instant.

Fang Yue and Scarface fell onto the overturned boat. The river was calm, and Scarface leaped up, flipping the boat back in mid-air, washing it clean with water.

Jiang Yu and Hu Li, however, seemed to disappear into thin air.

Fang Yue's face changed, she jumped into the river, creating a splash on the riverbank, and then disappeared as well.

The underground river flowed only in one direction.

Rivers were always like this, seemingly calm on the surface but turbulent underneath.

The two didn't follow the direction Fang Yue and the others had gone, but chose to return the way they came, and fortunately, they found the depression of the underground river.

It was a shallow shoal.

A loud bang came from a distance.

The two climbed ashore along the shoal and saw the difference here from elsewhere.

Along the route of the underground river, the walls were unscalable, but here it was well concealed. At first, it was narrow, only allowing one person to pass through. Once past this point, there was another world on the shoal.

Jiang Yu stood still and wrung out his clothes. Hu Li glanced at him, and Jiang Yu, seeing that he was still wet after wringing, didn't bother with it anymore. "Is the dagger hidden?"

On the stone steps, Jiang Yu had handed the dagger to Hu Li when he supported him. Then he saw Hu Li insert it into the side of the boat.

Hu Li nodded, "The dagger is quite useful, where did it come from?"

"Confiscated by the court," Jiang Yu said without changing his expression.

Hu Li almost rolled his eyes, "Mr. Jiang, you make it sound so nice, but it's just robbery, isn't it?"

Jiang Yu ignored Hu Li's nonsense. He reached out and touched a seemingly inconspicuous position on the wall, where there was a hidden triangular pattern. Jiang Yu said in a low voice, lifting his foot to walk inside, "Let's see what we can find here. They won't find this place for a while."

He was right.

They were two coincidental companions. Hu Li said, "According to what they said, they seem to have known about this place for a long time, but they haven't found a way in."

Jiang Yu walked ahead and said, "Maybe they haven't found the right direction at all."

"If there really is a treasure, what will you do?" Hu Li suddenly asked.

Jiang Yu paused for a moment and then said suddenly, "You should know better than anyone."

"Mr. Jiang's official style is really good," Hu Li sarcastically remarked, then added, "The map we have in our hands is just an approximate indication of the location of the palace. If this place is really the palace, having the map or not makes no difference."

"That's right, so we need to figure out this place first before discussing anything else."

With that, the two walked inside together.