Chapter 214: Ordinary People Enter the Secret Realm

Chapter 214: Ordinary People Enter the Secret Realm

These eight guys were ex-military themselves. Before they left, they'd used drones and stuff to check out the mountain, but they could only scope out the outer and middle parts—the deeper areas were out of range for electronics.

The survey showed the mountain was crawling with wild animals, and the water and plants had multiplied like crazy compared to before.

So the survey team showed up, and the military came along too. These eight soldiers were specifically there to guard the survey team.

This survey mission was full of unknown dangers. Bringing three regular civilians along was pointless—if things went south, you'd have to protect them, so it was better to just send them down the mountain.

Professor Ye said, "The dangers in the mountains are no joke. I think you guys should head down ASAP."

Ceng Chunjin was thinking about going down too. He said, "Sir, we want to go down, but we're lost, and with all those wild animals up here, it's not safe for us to go alone."

Zhong Guangqiang thought about it and figured sending them down alone would just put them in danger too. "Alright, stick with us for now. Later, I'll have a few guys escort you down."

"Okay, thank you."

Not long after, the four soldiers who'd gone out to check the terrain came back.

The leader, Chen Jin, reported, "Sir! Captain Zhong, we found a weird pool about 500 meters ahead."

Zhong Guangqiang asked, "Oh? What's so weird about it?"

Professor Ye also asked, "A weird pool? How? Did you take any pictures?"

Chen Jin said, "Yeah!"

"Captain Zhong, we followed a group of Taoist priests there, but by the time we got there, they'd vanished." They'd followed the priests from a distance and found the Five-Colored Pool, but when they got there, the priests were gone. He suspected they'd entered a light curtain.

He pulled out his phone, opened the photo album, and played a video for Zhong Guangqiang. Professors Ye and Hu stepped up to watch too.

Their faces lit up. Professor Hu said, "This light curtain is weird. Look, doesn't it look like a door?"

Professor Ye wondered, "Could there be another world in there?"

Zhong Guangqiang nodded. It did kind of look like a door. As for whether there was another world inside, they'd have to check it out in person.

But first, they had to deal with the civilians. He turned to Chen Jin and said, "Chen Jin, take two guys and escort these three civilians down the mountain."

Chen Jin hesitated because he wanted to check out the Five-Colored Pool himself.

But facing his superior, even though he didn't want to, he had to obey. Just as he was about to speak, Sun Najuan cut in, "I'm not going down the mountain!" With these soldiers around, she felt safe, and she also wanted to know where those Taoist priests had gone—especially her half-sister.

"I'm not going down either," Qiu Xifeng said. She didn't want to leave because the Five-Colored Pool's scenery had her hooked, and she wanted to take pictures there. Since the group was heading there anyway, having soldiers around made her not scared.

Zhong Guangqiang couldn't talk them out of it, so he had to let them stay. But he told them they had to follow orders and not do anything stupid.

Soon, the group got to the Five-Colored Pool.

Qiu Xifeng handed her phone to Ceng Chunjin and said, "Wow! This pool is gorgeous! Chunjin, take a couple of pictures for me."

"Sure."

Professors Ye and Hu gathered around the light curtain, amazed at the sight.

The pool was shallow, only waist-deep, with crystal-clear water showing fish swimming and playing at the bottom. The bottom was nothing special—just regular stones and plain sand.

Even though it was cloudy, a beam of sunlight as big as the pool's surface came down and hit the water. From it rose a five-colored glow, forming a shimmering door.

Looking through it from the front, you could even see a paradise-like landscape inside, making you want to go in.

Zhong Guangqiang broke off a branch and tossed it toward the light curtain. Instead of going through to the other side of the pool, the branch disappeared into the curtain.

Everyone there was stunned. The leaders—Ye, Hu, and Zhong—talked about whether to go in.

Professor Ye said, "We came to Fairy Peak to figure out where these changes are coming from. I think what's inside this light curtain is connected to them."

Professor Hu added, "But no one's ever gone in. We don't know what it's like in there or if it's dangerous." If there was risk, they'd have to think twice about going in.

Zhong Guangqiang grabbed a new phone, inserted a spare SIM card, and after making a video call, he tossed the phone inside.

As soon as it went in, the video cut off.

He said, "There's no signal inside."

Looking up, he noticed Chen Jin standing nearby and asked, "Chen Jin, you said you followed the Taoist priests and found this place?"

Chen Jin replied, "Yes."

Zhong Guangqiang looked down at the faint footprints on the ground, lost in thought. These prints had been there before their arrival. Based on the tread patterns, they weren't from Chen Jin's group—they likely belonged to the Taoist priests.

He said, "Let's set up camp here first. We'll wait for those inside to come out and then make a comprehensive decision."

"Captain Zhong," Professor Ye said urgently, his curiosity about the world inside the light curtain burning. He wanted to enter immediately, but without Captain Zhong's escort, he hesitated to go alone due to safety concerns.

Professor Hu exclaimed in surprise, "Captain Zhong, are you saying there are people inside?"

Zhong Guangqiang pointed at the footprints. "Look at these prints. I suspect a group of Taoist priests has entered. We can wait here for them to come out, ask about the conditions inside, and then decide."

Professor Hu agreed, "That sounds reasonable."

During the break, Zhong Guangqiang again proposed sending Sun Najuan and the other two down the mountain. But they refused.

They were now intensely curious about what lay inside the light curtain.

Could there be cultivation manuals inside? Could they learn to take down a tiger in a few moves?

Qiu Xifeng and Ceng Chunjin stared at the light curtain with gleaming eyes, fantasizing about making great achievements inside. Sun Najuan shared this thought, but her motivation was more about rivalry—her father's ex-wife's daughter had gone in, so she had to go too.

They waited from noon until sunset, but no one emerged from the light curtain. Even after the sun went down, the curtain didn't disappear. The glow above the Five-Colored Pool persisted regardless of the sunset, and inside the curtain, it remained bright as day.

Professor Ye paced back and forth in front of the light curtain, growing increasingly restless. "Why aren't they coming out? Why aren't they coming out?"

Unable to wait any longer, after consulting with his four students, he led them directly into the light curtain, vanishing from sight before everyone.

"Professor Ye!" Their entry was so sudden that Zhong Guangqiang couldn't stop them.