“I noticed she hasn’t been causing trouble for Captain Jing during the last two missions.” After saying that, Feng Heng looked at Jing Yue.

Jing Yue didn't want to offend these veteran team members because of Wu Nian, so she quickly chimed in, laughing, "Yes, he just graduated, so it's inevitable that he'll have some rough edges. He'll be fine after a while."

The Peng brothers listened silently, but their eyes revealed a peculiar expression as they exchanged glances.

They secretly communicated, and Peng Kang said, "Brother, did you hear that? Everyone can see that Wu Nian is no good. Luckily, you and she have already distanced yourselves."

Peng Jian said, "Who says otherwise? If I had known that the situation at school was so different from that in the military, I would never have looked for a partner at school."

Jingyue said, "Alright, we've rested enough, let's continue."

They planned to explore the cave on the cliff face first to see if there were any other paths at the end of the cave, and what they were like.

At the top of the cliff, Chu Nian, through the sound of the pipa and her own singing, and the refraction and reflection of the sound waves, discovered an event that shocked her greatly.

The reason she thought of using the reflection and refraction of sound waves on the cliff top to explore the depths of Huai Mountain was because she felt that behind the barrier at the bottom of the abyss, there must be a passage leading to the deepest part of Huai Mountain.

She had previously explored deep into the Huai Mountains, hundreds of feet underground, to a place where extreme cold and extreme heat coexisted. She suspected that there was a passage behind the barrier leading to this place of extreme cold and heat.

Now, it's possible that her sound waves truly reached that land of extremes. From there, they refracted in a strange and familiar way, producing an energy fluctuation that Chu Nian found extremely familiar.

She had sensed this energy fluctuation before, from Lin Jingting, who was a ghost immortal; it must have been the energy fluctuation emanating from his soul.

However, this fluctuation was fleeting. What's more, when Chu Nian used the sound waves to track it, what he sensed was... a zombie, similar to the old zombie Lou Qianzong, only it seemed to be much stronger than Lou Qianzong when he first woke up.

The zombie was in that place where the temperature was extreme.

A moment later, Chu Nian's sound waves successfully penetrated the barrier and discovered that behind the barrier were several rivers of lava. Although they came from different directions, they all went in the same direction.

Because of the barrier, the heat that the lava river should have emitted was completely isolated on the other side of the barrier.

Chu Nian now understands why the hanging coffins on the Shenyuan Wall are full of snakes.

Snakes, being amphibians, thrive in tropical regions. Although the heat from the lava river is isolated by the barrier, it ensures that the abyss maintains a consistently high temperature from bottom to top, preventing any "winter" season from occurring.

The lava river must have flowed all the way to those hot and cold poles, so that we would know where the heat at those poles comes from.

Is it cold?

Chu Nian couldn't suppress her curiosity any longer; the slight fluctuation of Lin Jingting's soul that she had just caught had shaken her to her core.

She said to Qi Meili, "Meili, my stomach is a little upset, and I'd like to find a place to relieve myself. Can you stay here by yourself for a while?"

Qi Meili said, "It's alright, you can go!" After a pause, she added with concern, "Make sure you keep in touch via communicator!"

Chu Nian nodded and got up to leave. Once she was somewhere Qi Meili couldn't see her, she released Lan Dian, instructing it to secretly protect Qi Meili.

Chu Nian rode the wind and quickly arrived at the polar region of hot and cold that he had previously explored: it turned out to be a large lake.

Chu Nian reached into the lake and found the water was warm, not cold. After thinking for a moment, she set up a waterproof shield and then plunged into the water.

She had just entered the water when a figure sped towards her from afar – it was none other than the male protagonist, Han Chao. He looked at the now calm lake surface with a puzzled expression, muttering to himself, "Hmm? Could I have sensed something wrong? It doesn't seem like someone has intruded..."

Although the Lord is asleep, the protective magic can always guard against external disturbances. Any unrelated people who approach this lake will be swallowed up by the lake water: there is a large array inside this lake.

Han Chao strolled along the lake for a while. Even someone who had guarded his lord for thousands of years wouldn't dare enter the lake, let alone an outsider. Therefore, seeing that the lake water appeared normal, he was certain he had misjudged the situation and flew away.

Meanwhile, Chu Nian had already ventured deep into the lake using the protective shield. She could now clearly sense the soul energy of the Ghost Immortal Lin Jingting, but this soul energy was extremely complex.

When she first met the ghost immortal Lin Jingting, her abilities were still very weak. It was under Lin Jingting's guidance that she opened up the Soul Ruins and truly began to cultivate spiritual power.

In a way, Lin Jingting was her mentor on her cultivation journey!

However, she later encountered the young Lin Jingting, took him as her disciple, and taught him the methods of cultivating spiritual power. She and he could be said to have no debts to each other.

Back then, her investigative abilities were far less powerful than they are now, so her ability to detect Lin Jingting's soul aura was likely far less accurate. Therefore, considering this, discovering that Lin Jingting's soul aura is complex now shouldn't be considered anything unusual!

But something felt off: why was there still a zombie aura? Could Lou Qianzong be here too? But this zombie aura was very different from the aura on Lou Qianzong.

Even with advancements in cultivation, the fluctuation patterns of one's magical energy and aura remain unchanged. Therefore, if that zombie truly was Lou Qianzong, Chu Nian couldn't possibly have failed to detect it.

She felt that the zombie was not Lou Qianzong.

Upon reaching the bottom of the lake, Chu Nian discovered a massive whirlpool. Deep within the whirlpool lay an extremely hot place, presumably the end of the lava river.

However, this vortex was formed from condensed magical power. Chu Nian sensed Lin Jingting's magical energy aura within it, which, like the soul aura she had captured, was extremely complex and chaotic—making Chu Nian feel as if there was more than just Lin Jingting.

Jumping into that vortex would turn you to dust instantly, preventing you from ever reaching that extremely hot place. Chu Nian flashed into a spatial artifact and used it to rush into the vortex.

With the protection of the divine artifact, Chu Nian reached the source of the vortex effortlessly. Just as Chu Nian had expected, this was the end of the underground lava river.

A barrier above its head separates it from the vortex.

However, the spatial artifact controlled by Chu Nian was not hindered in any way. It was not that the barrier was not divine enough to block the artifact, but that Chu Nian sensed a familiar aura within the barrier.

She believed that the person who set up the barrier had made special settings to make it able to recognize her magical energy.

Ahead, a fiery red river of lava could be clearly seen rolling and rushing in one direction. Chu Nian walked along the only remaining path along the riverbank in that direction.