The group had just flown to the front of the stone gate when the yellow-robed cultivator's token dimmed, and the passage vanished without a trace.
"Follow closely," he said, casting a cold glance at the few of them.
Then his ten fingers danced ceaselessly, forming complex hand seals, before he abruptly turned and thrust both hands forward.
Two piercing beams — one crimson, one golden — shot from his palms and struck the stone gate, which was covered in restrictions.
Instantly, the runes carved into the tightly shut cyan door lit up one after another. With a deep, resonant hum, the gate slowly opened to reveal a long, rectangular passage within.
The yellow-robed cultivator strode inside without another word.
The others exchanged glances and hurried after him.
Han Li walked among the junior disciples, his gaze fixed straight ahead. In truth, however, his spiritual sense was sweeping over everything in his vicinity.
The rectangular passage appeared to have been carved directly into the mountain's interior using magical tools. Not only were the four walls remarkably smooth, but every few steps, the walls bore inscriptions of profound and cryptic runes and talismanic script.
Though he couldn't study them in detail right now, Han Li knew these markings were far from mere decoration.
The passage wasn't particularly long — after only a hundred or so zhang, the group's vision brightened as they emerged into a spacious, tidy stone hall.
The hall was roughly fifty or sixty zhang wide and about seven or eight zhang tall, quite sizable.
In the center of the stone hall sat a green stone platform several feet across. Across its surface, lines crisscrossed to form an enormous Go board, with black and white stones spread across it, seemingly at a critical juncture in the game.
On either side of the board sat an old man and a child, each holding black and white stones. The elder was a long-faced man in brocade robes, appearing to be in his fifties. The child was no more than seven or eight years old, with rosy lips and white teeth, as if a jade boy had descended to the mortal world.
"Grand-Uncle Lan! How is it that you're here?"
The moment the white-surnamed cultivator laid eyes on the child, he cried out involuntarily, then hurried forward and dropped into a deep bow of respect.
"Grand-Uncle Lan?"
The grey-robed elder and the middle-aged cultivator from the Hundred Transformations Institute were first startled to see an unfamiliar child present. But upon hearing the white-surnamed cultivator's address, their expressions changed dramatically. A glance at the child — with his braided queues, bare feet, and golden rings adorning his wrists — and a legendary figure immediately surfaced in their minds.
"Junior Du Hui and Yu Shan'an pay our respects to Senior Lan!" Without a moment's hesitation, both men bowed hastily.
"Rise. Can't you see I'm at a critical point in my game with Nephew Hu? Quiet — whatever business you have can wait until I've finished this game." The child's skin was fine and smooth, his voice tender and youthful, yet the words he spoke carried the weight of age and authority.
"As you command!" The white-surnamed cultivator and the other two Core Formation cultivators agreed without thinking, then stood nearby with their hands at their sides, not daring to show the slightest displeasure.
The long-faced old man playing Go with the child gave the three of them a helpless smile, but said nothing.
As for the yellow-robed cultivator, from the moment he had entered the stone hall, he had obediently taken up a position behind the child, standing with the deference of a disciple.
The young cultivators who had followed them inside were thrown into a commotion when they heard these three grandmasters address a seven- or eight-year-old child as grand-uncle.
What that address implied — how could they, mere Foundation Establishment disciples, not understand? One by one, their eyes widened as they stared at the child, their hearts pounding with excitement.
The instant Han Li saw this child, his heart skipped a beat. This was a genuine early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. What was someone like that doing here?
However, he quickly regained his composure.
While he was no match for an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator now, escaping from one was no longer impossible. Besides, he was fairly certain that this person's presence here had nothing to do with him.
So outwardly, Han Li's expression didn't change, but inwardly he was silently calculating what unforeseen complications this person's appearance might bring to his plans.
In the end, after the child and the long-faced old man played on for nearly a quarter of an hour, the old man finally pushed the board aside and said respectfully: "Senior Lan's skill at Go is extraordinary. This junior is no match and readily concedes defeat!"
Hearing these words, a flicker of pleasure crossed the child's face, but then his jet-black eyes rolled slyly, and he said with a hint of suspicion: "Nephew Hu, you weren't going easy on me on purpose, were you? I told you — anyone who plays Go with me must give it their all. No holding back."
"How could this junior dare deceive Senior? Your skill has genuinely surpassed what it was before." The long-faced old man's face seemed to grow even longer at these words as he hastened to explain.