The courtyard behind the Peaceful Inn was piled high with miscellaneous goods.

Under the man in brocade robes’ leadership, Su Yi entered a cellar, then walked along a dimly lit path for about seven minutes.

A grand hall built underground soon entered his field of view.

Su Yi had long since sensed that something was amiss. When he saw the hall up ahead, he couldn’t help but ask, “What is this place?”

The middle-aged man in brocade robes stopped, then turned and chuckled. “You’ll know once we’re inside.

His smile was amiable, but there was something strange about it.

“Oh,” said Su Yi. This was the place Weng Yunqi once saw as a way to get in touch, but Su Yi sensed that something had almost certainly changed since then.

The underground hall was hewn out of a giant boulder, and a pair of strange stone sculptures stood before the open gates.

The left stone sculpture was of a giant, pitch-black three-headed dog. It sat there, its heads raised, looking hideous and ferocious.

The stone statue on the right was of a lithe, graceful woman, but beneath the waist, she had the body of a coiling snake.

Her arms were crossed in front of her, and she carried a lantern shaped like a lotus...