The secret passage was plunged into complete darkness."How strange!" Bensheng waved his five fingers and called out, "Ananda, where are you? Oh right, you're so black... definitely can't see you."Ananda responded irritably, "Still making jokes! Who was it that lost their soul when they saw Yeluo earlier?"Bensheng ignored the remark and continued forward.Eventually, a faint glow appeared ahead from eternal lamps on the stone walls. Bensheng took down a lamp and discovered paintings on the walls. He gently blew away the dust.After the dust settled, the soft light revealed a huge portrait of the Patriarch. Further ahead, other Patriarch portraits were drawn sequentially on the stone walls.They sat in various positions - some in full lotus, some in half-lotus, kneeling, reclining, squatting. The sitting postures alone were diverse, not to mention standing and lying postures, too numerous to count. Their gazes were compassionate and solemn, as if contemplating suffering humanity.Ananda marveled, "These are all Patriarchs who have saved all living beings!"Bensheng asked curiously, "Did they all come from the Great Continent? They feel very familiar."Ananda said, "The Kunlun Realm has twenty-eight layers, divided into Desire Realm, Form Realm, and Formless Realm. We are in the lowest Desire Realm with four heavens. Each layer of heaven is a world, naturally producing those with perfect merit who become Patriarchs."Further ahead, the stone walls no longer had simple Patriarch portraits but instead colorful celestial maidens.The flying celestial maidens had flowing dresses and floating ribbons, their jade feet delicate. Bensheng looked for a while, trying to find Zhong Lixi's likeness, but none resembled her. Compared to the exquisite flying celestial maidens, Sister Celestial was more like a straightforward young man.After a long walk, the walls had no more paintings, only wildly cursive text. The carving technique was rough and urgent, completely different from the previous refined work, and upon closer inspection, it was carved over dense scripture text, directly damaging the entire scripture."How dare someone be so bold as to damage scripture!"
Bensheng exclaimed, unable to look at the scripture words, so he turned away, only looking at these words, reading them one by one."First, all conditioned phenomena are impermanent, with arising and ceasing in every thought; second, all phenomena are without self; third, tranquil extinction nirvana."He looked puzzled at Ananda, who waved its wings, "I haven't heard these words before.""These words must have profound meaning. How should they be interpreted?" He raised the eternal lamp and searched back and forth, finally seeing a line of small text in the corner. "...'Comprehending the Three Seals', Kasyapa." Still didn't understand.After passing through the passage, the dust in the air gradually decreased. Stepping into another area, the view suddenly opened up.A huge palace chamber three zhang high unfolded before them. The floor, walls, and dome - every brick was bright and clean, emitting constant light, leaving no shadows in the entire underground palace.Bensheng threw aside the eternal lamp and waved repeatedly, "Ananda, look, there's not a single shadow here!"He turned back and found only the dark passage behind him, even Ananda's shadow was gone."Strange?"Bensheng searched around for Ananda but couldn't find it. Remembering Yeluo said they must act quickly, as staying too long would attract the Royal Enforcement Department guards patrolling the underground palace, he had to prioritize the task."Not this scroll, not this one either..."The pile of scrolls at Bensheng's feet grew into a mounting pile. After searching another bookshelf fruitlessly, he looked up, distressed, when his eyes suddenly caught on a simple latch on the stone wall behind the shelf.The latch hung crookedly, as if pulling it would open.This was like an invisible temptation - fine if you didn't look, but once you saw it, you couldn't resist - with the curious nature of living beings... commonly called "asking for trouble," wanting to pull it and try.So, "click," the latch opened as expected.The stone wall slowly opened to both sides, shaking the entire underground palace.Bensheng finally realized - this was a mechanism!!!He turned to escape, but a strong aroma of alcohol wafted
straight into his face.On the pile of treasures in the mechanism chamber lay a dirty drunkard, hugging a wine bag, sleeping soundly.At the foot of the back mountain, Yeluo and the disciple watched Bensheng enter the dark mountain path, both showing strange smiles.The disciple said to Yeluo, "I never expected this kid to be so easily fooled."Yeluo smirked cunningly. "This girl is the Academy's 'goddess.' It's no wonder anyone would be captivated." As she spoke, she waved a hand before her face. Instantly, her features wavered like a mirage, faintly revealing a much more wretched face beneath the illusion.It was Wuni!The disciple laughed upon seeing this, "The old woman's 'Transformation Spell' is really good. Not just appearance, but voice and scent changed too. We 'Marvelous Hands Empty Empty' have wandered the martial world for so many years, but no one has ever stolen from the King's underground palace. This time we'll really make a name for ourselves! But speaking of which, the King's underground palace has ten layers of protective boundaries. Zhouku Academy actually has a disciple who can penetrate boundaries, and this disciple is foolish enough to be used by us - truly surprising!"Wuni took out a curved hook hidden in the grass and smiled meaningfully, "All thanks to my planning."The disciple removed his disguise and took out a compass, "If what you say is true, that he passed through the boundaries just by 'walking,' he should have broken through all ten by now. We can follow his footsteps and reap the benefits!"