Chapter 016: The Secret Passage of the Altar

Du Fan took a few glances and vaguely remembered that the chieftain of the Aldais tribe had once mentioned this place as a gateway to an abyss haunted by demons. It didn’t seem like demons were really present now, but something strange was definitely there—only he didn’t know what exactly.

After looking again, reason overcame his curiosity. He knew there must be some secret beneath this abyss, but what good would it do if he discovered it on his own? It would be better to figure out what was on this altar first.

That bell-like voice had mentioned something called the “Shaman Priest Space Tear Slash.” Perhaps it was the result of a former shaman priest’s head being kicked by a pig, leaving behind the secrets of those three techniques engraved on that stone altar. Although Chenchen might also know a technique called the “Eye of Truth,” nothing is absolute. If he could obtain this technique here, it might be even more useful than asking Chenchen for it.

With these thoughts, Du Fan’s curiosity surged again. He carefully approached the stone altar, took a few looks, and then couldn’t help frowning. There were indeed some inscriptions on the altar, but those symbols, resembling scribbles, didn’t resemble the Roland language at all. They seemed to be a barbarian language, or even an ancient one.

Though Du Fan had learned a lot in his life, his knowledge wasn’t extensive enough to understand an ancient barbarian language. After examining them, he couldn’t figure out anything. He tore a piece of cloth from his robe and took out a colored magic potion from his storage ring to imprint those characters.

After finishing this, Du Fan quickly packed up his things, feeling somewhat disappointed. He hadn’t expected the so-called secret he had approached so carefully to be just such trivial things. Apart from High Priest Gannon on the Roland Continent, perhaps no one else could understand those inscriptions. He wasn’t sure if imprinting them would be useful at all.

With these thoughts, Du Fan shook his head and turned to leave.

But at that moment, he suddenly frowned as a very faint sound seemed to come from beneath his feet. Du Fan listened intently for a while, but heard nothing this time.

Confused, he bent down to listen again and tapped the ground a few times. Then his expression grew serious.

The sound of tapping the ground was clear and resonant, meaning the space beneath the stone altar was likely empty.

Du Fan hesitated for a moment, then reached out and felt around on the stone platform. He found a slightly raised stone on the ground. He pressed down on it a few times, but nothing happened. After another pause, he gently pulled at it. This time, as he moved, a “chirping” sound came from beneath the stone platform—it seemed he had pulled open a dark hole. Indeed, there was another world beneath the platform, but it was completely dark, clearly empty! Du Fan was indecisive, unsure whether to go down. Clearly, since such a secret passage existed in this Great Divine Palace, it must involve some major secret of the barbarians. If he went down, he didn’t know what he might encounter, but if he didn’t, he would feel frustrated—having discovered such a place only to not explore it would be a shame. Though his situation was precarious, finding such a secret made him uneasy. After some thought, curiosity overcame reason. Du Fan knew that if he didn’t go down to check, he would dwell on it for the rest of his life. With a sigh and a shake of his head, he shrank back and crawled into the dark hole. The air seemed slightly humid, but his nose detected a foul smell. He squeezed into a narrow gap. Though it was pitch black, he could sense that the gap could barely accommodate one person. Fortunately, he had always paid attention to his weight; if he had been fatter, he might have gotten stuck. Du Fan pulled the stone slab above him down, then used the walls on either side to slowly squeeze downward. After moving blindly for a while, the passage turned from vertical to horizontal, which eased his worries slightly. But he dared not make any noise—since this passage existed here, it couldn’t be simple, so caution was better. After walking carefully for half an hour, Du Fan calculated and was slightly surprised. At his pace, after such a long time, he must have left the palace grounds and even the so-called Sacred Mountain. He wondered where he would end up next. But just as this thought crossed his mind, the passage seemed to reach its end. Du Fan almost bumped into something ahead and couldn’t help but mutter in frustration.

Realizing they had left the Great God Temple’s vicinity, Du Fan felt somewhat relieved. He drew out his magic wand and recited a few spells, summoning a small fireball. As soon as the spells were finished, Du Fan was secretly surprised—he could sense that the magical elements in this secret passage were several times stronger than those outside, though he didn’t know how that was possible.

It was only then that Du Fan had time to examine his surroundings. The passage he was in wasn’t very wide, wide enough for only one person to pass at a time, but it was extremely smooth, clearly built with great care. There seemed to be some reliefs on both sides of the passage, but due to moisture, most of them had already corroded. In front of Du Fan lay a huge round stone, with empty spaces in all four corners.

Frowning, Du Fan controlled a small fireball to fly slowly inside. He faintly saw that there seemed to be a similar passage behind the stone, but he didn’t understand why the stone was there. After hesitating for a moment, he still reached out and pressed his hands on the stone, pushing it slowly to one side.

A few “click” sounds were heard, and the stone indeed moved slightly. Du Fan shook his head and muttered, “It’s definitely a trap. But what’s its purpose?” After thinking for a while with no clue, he sighed and pushed the stone again. This time, he used his combat energy, pushing the stone just enough for one person to pass through before stopping.

Given the situation, Du Fan knew he needed to save every bit of his combat energy and magic, so he wouldn’t waste them recklessly here. He carefully squeezed through, waving his hand to extinguish the other fireballs, leaving only one to light the way ahead.

There was no other light in the passage except for the bright red fireball, drifting slowly like a will-o’-the-wisp. Gradually, the darkness around them became like a viscous liquid, refusing to disperse. The exposed skin could even feel a sticky moisture. Du Fan knew this was due to water vapor condensing in the ground. He definitely couldn’t stay here for long, or who knew what might happen.

Yet, in such a situation, his position was truly awkward. Giving up and leaving would feel unacceptable to him. After hesitating for a while, Du Fan gritted his teeth and continued moving forward.

The range illuminated by the small fireball grew smaller and smaller, until in the end only an area less than the width of a palm remained. The secret passage also seemed to have lost its initial flatness, becoming rather uneven, and its direction became increasingly strange—sometimes left, sometimes right, sometimes up, sometimes down, and even sometimes backward…
Du Fan walked in frustration. Eventually, he extinguished all the small fireballs. He had thought about giving up countless times, but at this point, he became more determined—no matter what, he refused to give up…
He didn’t know how much longer he had walked when suddenly everything around him became bright, and his vision cleared up. Du Fan moved too fast to stop in time, only to realize he had reached the entrance of a cave. Before he could react, he fell through it.
Halfway down, Du Fan finally saw clearly that he had fallen from a height of over ten meters…
He hit the ground hard, feeling dizzy and disoriented, but he quickly got up, not daring to relax even for a moment.
Looking around, although he had sensed something was wrong earlier, he was still surprised upon seeing it. This place was clearly a cave carved inside a mountain. From where Du Fan stood, he could see a patch of sky the size of a palm just a few dozen meters away, with faint starlight shining in, illuminating everything inside the cave.
The ground was covered with the bones of various creatures. With a quick glance, Du Fan spotted the bones of several common animals, as well as some strange ones. He even saw some human bones, but they were all mixed together, making it hard to tell which kind was most numerous.
In addition to the bones, there were also some oddly shaped objects. Du Fan picked one up casually and was astonished to find that they were all made of gold.