The crowd was walking in the woods.

No one has passed through this mountain for a long time, and the original stone steps have decayed and weathered, and are covered by countless vines and weeds.

Wei Dongliu was seen holding the Meng Huan sword in his palm, and leading everyone to walk in the direction indicated by the sword tip, sometimes climbing upwards, sometimes moving sideways, and sometimes even turning around and walking downwards.

"Fellow Daoist Wei, are you sure?" Long Xiaoqi suddenly said, "If I remember correctly, it seems that we have turned back now."

"Fellow Daoist Long," Wei Dongliu said gently, "The magnetic field here is disordered. You thought you were going in a straight line, but in fact you were going back and forth in a circle."

"Instead of trusting your own sense of direction, why not trust my sword?"

"Hmm." Long Xiaoqi stopped talking, as if he had just asked casually.

The group started climbing the mountain at noon and finally reached the lake at the top of the mountain in the evening.

There is a huge lake on the top of the mountain. From a distance, it looks like a bright blue mirror, and from a closer look, the lake water is so clear that even the gravel on the bottom of the lake can be clearly seen.

There are a lot of densely planted trees along the lake, which are lush and tall.

However, there was no sign of any shrine.

Jiang Li'an pulled up the bottom of his robe, squatted down by the lake to check the water surface, and said:

"There are fish in the lake, so there shouldn't be any problems."

"There are deer, muntjacs and monkeys in the forest opposite." The ghost that Wen Yang sent out to detect came back and told everyone.

Everyone was speechless. The surrounding ecological environment was so rich, it didn't look like there were any ruins!

Wei Dongliu took a look at the golden sword and saw that the tip of the sword was pointing towards the center of the lake.

"We have to go to the lake," he said.

"Cut trees and build boats?" Jiang Li'an asked.

"No, fly the sword." Wei Dongliu said.

Jiang Li'an looked hesitantly, only to see that there was no miasma on the lake... He couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.

The five of them then each drew out their flying swords and flew straight ahead.

When we arrived at the center of the lake, we saw the golden sword suddenly spinning around.

Everyone: ...

"Is it malfunctioning?" Gu Lie asked with a twitching eye.

"No." Wei Dongliu turned his palm sideways.

The golden sword that was still spinning suddenly turned downwards as if moved by some invisible hand and stopped moving.

"At the bottom of the lake?" Wen Yang looked down, "There is nothing at the bottom of the lake."

Everyone looked down and saw that although the lake was deep, it was so clear that they could still see the sand, rocks, water plants and migrating fish at the bottom...where was the shadow of the palace?

"Use that little sword to open it." Long Xiaoqi, who had been silent, suddenly said.

"That's right." Wei Dongliu swung the sword, and the golden sword suddenly turned into a stream of light and sank into the lake.

Then, the entire lake changed color... To be exact, a palace appeared in the reflection of the lake.

Seeing this, Jiang Li'an's mind moved slightly, and he immediately released the demon from his sleeve and jumped into the lake.

"There's another world beneath the water," she said quickly.

"Then let's go." Wei Dongliu suggested.

Everyone agreed and followed him down on the sword.

The moment I rushed into the lake, I saw the sky and the earth hanging upside down, and then I broke out of the water.

This place still seems to be the top of Ailao Mountain, but there are no mountains in the distance, only gray fog.

There were no animals in the lakeside forest, only the rustling of leaves, swaying in the breeze.

In the lake stands a huge palace, with jade bricks and glazed tiles. Against the backdrop of the sparkling lake water, it looks extremely magnificent under the sun.

Wei Dongliu looked at the palace, and a word suddenly popped up in his mind:

What a beautiful “Crystal Palace”!

Of course, the Crystal Palace here doesn’t refer to the one with a bunch of hatchet-wielding female protagonists… but it means it in a purely literal sense.

Facing the Mirror Lake Palace, everyone had different expressions.

Wen Yang and Gu Lie were extremely surprised. Obviously, judging from the style of this palace, it was some kind of unexplored ancient relic. The probability of encountering a Huafu inside was greatly increased.

Jiang Li'an and Long Xiaoqi were fascinated. This magnificent yet exquisite palace perfectly hit the aesthetic tastes of these two female monks.

"Let's find an entrance first and then go in." Wei Dongliu reminded.

They flew around the temple on their swords and saw that a large number of step foundation stones in the lower part of the palace were submerged in the lake.

The upper part consists of pavilions and towers, which are lined up one after another with a very clear structure. The style is also magnificent and gorgeous, with all kinds of grace and splendor.

But all the doors and windows were closed and there was no entrance to get in.

"Do you want to try to break in?" Gu Lie's eyes showed a sinister look.

"Okay, Fellow Daoist Gu will go first." Wen Yang said with a smile, "If anything happens, I will collect your body."

Gu Lie laughed and said:

"I just said it casually."

If it were an ordinary building, let alone closing the doors and windows, even the blue brick walls could be broken with just one sword from a cultivator.

But in this secret realm, the doors and windows that are tightly closed from the inside cannot be forcibly broken from the outside. Unless your rank is much higher than that of the secret realm, and you can violently crush everything, but such a secret realm is not worth exploring.

The crowd circled around a few more times but still couldn't find the entrance.

All the doors and windows were tightly closed, leaving no room to open them.

"Daoyou Wei." Jiang Li'an couldn't help but ask, "Did Master Qilin tell us how to deal with this situation?"

"It didn't say that." Wei Dongliu shook his head. "It just told me to go to the Jinghu Palace. There is a 'Taiwei Palace' in it. There are 'Jiahe' and 'Zhucao' in the palace."

"Among them, Jiahe looks like rice, with twelve ears per plant. Zhucao looks like a small mulberry tree, with stems like coral and juice flowing like blood."

"Jiahe is useless to the human race, so I was asked to pick one for it. As for Zhucao, take it and put it in a bowl, add gold and jade to it, and it will turn into 'golden juice and jade liquid'. If the human race drinks it, it can increase their strength by 70 years each time, but they cannot drink it twice."

Everyone was so thirsty after hearing this that they started to think secretly in their hearts.

From ancient times to the present, the world has changed dramatically, things and people have changed, and no one knows how the Mirror Lake Temple has changed.

What if everyone found the Taiwei Palace and there were only good crops but no red grass inside?

If there is no red grass, it's fine. At most, we can just admit our bad luck. But if there is red grass, but less than five, how can everyone divide it? Can we play rock-paper-scissors?

As a cultivator of the magic path, of course he has his own unique way of solving problems.

Since the red grass has not been found yet, there is naturally no need to tear each other apart. Once it is found, it will be the beginning of another war.

After flying around the shrine for a few more laps, Long Xiaoqi suddenly said:

"Could the entrance be at the bottom of the lake?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was enlightened.

For humans, the entrance built at the bottom of the lake is obviously inconvenient for daily entry and exit, but who knows what the ancient demons were thinking?

So everyone flew into the bottom of the lake on their swords again. This time, there was no golden sword to lead the way. Instead of returning to the real world, they went straight underwater.

...That golden little sword is the key to travel to and from the secret realm.

If there is an internal fight among the teams later, they must seize the key, otherwise they will be trapped here...

Everyone took note of it in their hearts, and then they saw the jade wall of the underwater area of ​​the shrine revealed among the water plants and corals in front of them.

There is another huge opening in the middle, without a door, open to the outside, and you can see the eternal lamp embedded in the wall inside.

"The entrance is indeed at the bottom of the lake!" Jiang Li'an was overjoyed when he saw this, and he looked around to see if anyone was willing to go first.

But they only saw Wen Yang, Gu Lie and others looking at each other... They were all old demons, and no one was willing to go to the temple first. They were all waiting for the first person to test the waters, and then compete for the second position.

In this way, if there is any mechanism at the door, such as a trap specifically targeting humans, it will be easier to get rid of it in time.

"I'll go first." Wei Dongliu clapped his hands and said, without waiting for anyone to say anything, he flew forward on his sword.

Rushing to the entrance, he suddenly stopped and shouted in his heart:

"Ajing, scan!"