He changed Tiwat

Yan Fei also remembered: "Ah, Grandma Ping told me that in ancient times, in order to suppress the evil dragon, the immortals used Qimen Dunjia to set up an array to seal it, and performed a ritual to hide the 'Gate of Life' among the eight gates, so that the evil dragon could never come out."

Paimon spoke up in a low voice: "Although I don't understand anything about Thunder Gate... are you saying that we'll never get out?"

Chapter Thirty-One: A Dead End (Part One)

"The monsters we just fought... could very well be the same monsters that fought against our ancestors five hundred years ago. Since those monsters are long dead, only illusions remain...?"

Yan Fei muttered to herself.

And following this line of reasoning—

According to legend, an unnamed yaksha did indeed accompany the Thousand Rocks Army soldiers into the depths of the Great Abyss. The celestial realm they just passed through, with its aura of immortals, was very likely set up by that celestial yaksha.

Furthermore, the reason why the Thousand Rock Army soldiers risked their lives to lure the enemy deep underground was to block the monsters' path to invasion. It would be more reasonable to set up a dead end with no exit, just like the "Palace of Unjust Retribution"...

Although she didn't say it aloud, her implication was clear. Most people's expressions darkened, and even Jiaming, who was usually very cheerful, lost his smile.

After experiencing this "ghost wall" situation, anyone can see that this is indeed a "dilemma".

Just like Paimon said—they might never get out.

Ye Lan then spoke up: "It's not time to despair yet. Let's split up and search. Maybe there's a hidden exit that I missed before."

Han Fulai nodded: "Let's do it that way."

Ye Lan had been insisting that everyone stay together, fearing the risks of being separated. But now she suggested that everyone split up because the risk of being trapped and dying together was higher than the risk of getting separated. In fact, it should be said that being able to get separated was a good thing, because it proved that there were hidden teleportation arrays or passages in this place.

Yan Fei immediately understood Ye Lan's meaning: "You're right, everyone, let's get moving!"

If you keep moving, you won't overthink things and scare yourself unnecessarily.

In such a dark and oppressive environment, if one is further tainted by despair, then the chance of survival will turn from nine out of ten to a certain death.

Without further hesitation, everyone sprang into action. Some activated elemental vision, others raised their mining lamps, and even Paimon fumbled along the rock face like a blind man touching an elephant.

The space here wasn't very large; it was basically the bottom of the cave they had fallen into, plus a mountain tunnel leading to the secret realm. After the six of them split up, their efficiency increased significantly, and they had explored their respective areas in less than half an hour.

After the search, Han Fulai and the other four returned to the bonfire where Jiaming had barbecued meat. Only Ye Lan was still searching. From the sounds coming from her, it seemed that she was tapping on every rock wall she could reach...

About ten minutes later, Ye Lan returned to the meeting point.

When Yan Fei saw Ye Lan return, she quickly asked, "Ye Lan, we split up and searched, but there's no exit nearby. What about you? Did you find anything?"

If anyone among them has a chance of discovering the hidden mechanism or passage, it must be Ye Lan, who is most skilled in this area.

But Ye Lan's answer extinguished Yan Fei's small hope once again.

"No."

"And... although I don't want to say it, let's be prepared. We might be underground... for a while."

Yan Fei lowered her head in disappointment: "...I thought so too."

"I'm sorry, everyone... If it weren't for my insistence on fulfilling that will, none of you would be here... It's my fault, I've dragged you all down with me..."

Seeing Yan Fei begin to blame herself, Han Fulai quickly said, "This has nothing to do with you. If anyone is to blame, it's me who made a wish on that 'wishing stone'..."

"No, no, Mr. Han, you only got involved because you were trying to help me..."

Seeing the two of them start arguing over who should take responsibility, Ye Lan coldly interrupted them: "Stop arguing. It's not time to settle accounts yet. You can do whatever you want to write your self-criticisms after you get out of here."

Hearing Yelan's words, Paimon's hope was rekindled: "After we get out... have you thought of a way to get out?"

Ye Lan snorted coldly: "I just haven't found it yet, but that doesn't mean I don't have it—I only said I would stay for a while, not until I die. With me here, there is no such thing as a 'dead end.' Even if we reach a dead end, I will definitely find a new way out."

Although Ye Lan hadn't actually found a way out yet, her words were so resounding that they put everyone at ease.

"Oh... Yelan, thank you."

Yan Fei threw herself into Ye Lan's arms; Ye Lan was now incredibly reliable.

Ye Lan patted Yan Fei's back reassuringly, signaling her to calm down, while giving Han Fulai a look—this kind of calming-down work should be what this guy is best at.

Han Fulai understood and clapped his hands: "Judging by the time, it's probably night outside now. Everyone has been working hard all day, so it's time to have dinner and get some rest. Even in the worst-case scenario, we can still hope for rescue."

Although the current situation is not optimistic, they were well prepared before they came. They had stored enough food and drinking water for at least half a month in their storage space, and if they used it sparingly, they could last even longer.

Moreover, Mu Ning, the chief steward of the Layered Rock Abyss, and Jin Wu of the exploration team both knew their whereabouts—Han Fulai was not someone who could simply disappear, and Yan Fei was doted on like a granddaughter by Grandma Ping. If they were truly lost at the bottom of the Layered Rock Abyss, the Liyue Immortals would likely unite and flatten the abyss.

If the immortals really have to come and rescue him, Han Fulai will never have the chance to look them in the eye again in this lifetime...

Of course, due to the unique nature of the space beneath the giant rock abyss, even the contractual connection cannot be transmitted here, and the immortals may not be able to find anyone... However, having hope is better than having no hope at all.

His words clearly reassured everyone, and Jiaming immediately squatted down to make the campfire burn even brighter: "Master Han is right, nothing is more important than eating. Paimon, didn't you say you like char siu? I'll grill a few more skewers for you."

Faced with the temptation of delicious food, Paimon shook his head, a rare occurrence for him: "I... don't seem to have much of an appetite."

"Hey, are you serious?" Jiaming leaned back in surprise.

Although the time spent together was short, Jiaming had experienced firsthand how Paimon could eat Ying out of house and home in the past few days—this gluttonous king actually had no appetite.

Yingmei glanced at her sideways: "Did you eat too much for lunch?"

"No, no, it's a matter of mood!" Paimon stomped his foot in the air.

Jiaming shook his head: "To be honest, I also hate the winter melon and tofu shirt with long pants and short trousers... but if you walk across the threshold, you'll be exposed to the sun all day!"

Paimon looked completely bewildered: "What do you mean? I love winter melon and tofu, and my clothes always fit perfectly."

"Ah, this..."

Jiaming found himself unconsciously blurting out a couple more phrases in dialect. He frantically tried to gesture to Paimon to convey his meaning, and Yelan smiled slightly as she watched: "He's saying that after hardship comes happiness, and he wants you to cheer up."

Han Fulai was surprised to hear this: "Eh, Ye Lan, are you also from Qiaoying Manor?"

Ye Lan glared at him: "Don't ask me anything if you don't have to. I not only know the dialect of Qiaoying Village, but also the local dialect of Mingyun Town, and the boat songs of Yilongbu... Do you want to hear them all?"

Han Fulai nodded honestly: "I want to hear it."

Ye Lan twitched the corner of her mouth: "Foolish boy."

Chapter Thirty-Two: A Dead End (Part Two)

It turns out that Paimon's "lack of appetite" is completely different from the average person's standard.

...She ate three large bowls that meal.

Of course, this is also thanks to Jiaming's efforts.

The residents of Qiaoyingzhuang not only love food, but they are also very good at cooking.

That night, Jiaming not only grilled char siu for Paimon, but also brought out a large clay pot to make claypot rice for her.

According to Jiaming, this is called "Claypot Brothers, Cooked and Cooked Together".

After a hearty meal, everyone, exhausted from a long day, took out their sleeping bags and went to bed early. Han Fulai, feeling that he hadn't made any contribution, offered to keep watch for everyone—after all, he didn't dare to sleep anyway.

Bored on night watch, he asked Yan Fei for the Ye family history book containing the letter from the Narumi True Lord, and read it by the firelight.

The first half of the night was calm and peaceful.

In the middle of the night, someone got up.

It is night orchid.

Ye Lan simply gestured to him, indicating that she wanted to go somewhere further away.

After a while, a rustling sound came from the darkness, like the sound of water.

...Han Fulai turned the pages of the book a little louder, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

But after a few minutes, he realized something was wrong—because the sound of water kept coming.

How long does it take to get up at night?

Han Fulai flipped through the book for a while, but still couldn't suppress his curiosity, so he decided to go and see for himself.

Following the sound, Han Fulai quickly found Ye Lan in the cave tunnel.

Ye Lan is actually telling fortunes!

She used water to create a Bagua formation on the ground, making hand gestures and chanting incantations while constantly shifting her position.

Each time she moved, she would manipulate the water element to make a mark in the Bagua formation, and the sound that Han Fulai heard just now seemed to come from this.

"You also know Qimen Dunjia?" Han Fulai couldn't help but ask.

Ye Lan clearly knew he was coming, and without turning her head, she said, "I know more than you think."

As a half-baked scholar of Chinese classics, Han Fu had read the Book of Changes and could recite some of its formulas, but he couldn't actually perform divination like the Liyue Celestials.

Ye Lan's appearance was clearly much more professional than his.

Although he couldn't understand Ye Lan's methods, Ye Lan's purpose in divining was very clear: "Are you calculating... the Gate of Life?"

“Yes.” Ye Lan’s hands continued moving as she spoke. “I was just thinking back, and something you said today reminded me.”

"What?"

"Heavenly thunder is without cause."

Ye Lan pointed to the entrance to the secret realm that was shimmering with a faint light in the distance.

“Heavenly thunder is without error, Qian above and Zhen below.”

Upon hearing Ye Lan's words, Han Fulai immediately recalled the "Wu Wang" hexagram in the Book of Changes.

The interpretation of the hexagram is: "A bird that has lost its chance is trapped in a cage. Even if it tries to fly, it cannot soar. For now, it is best to stay within its bounds and not to try to climb higher."

It means that when you are in trouble, you should not act rashly, otherwise disaster will surely follow.

But for them, "keeping to their place" means waiting to die in the same spot.

Ye Lan continued, "Assuming what you say is true, and the secret realm we passed through today is designed in the same way as the 'Palace of Unjust Retribution,' then that secret realm should just be a decoy used to trap intruders. No matter how many times we go through it, we will always return to the same place. Because of 'Unjust Retribution,' whether we move or not, the disaster we are destined to suffer will not be less."

"So I decided to try and see if I could uncover that hidden 'gate of life'."

She then pointed to the ground beneath her feet.

“I think that the underground space we are in now is actually in the same formation. ‘Death, Shock, and Injury’ are the three ominous gates. The secret realm and the underground space we are in now must be two of the three ominous gates. What I need to do is to calculate which gate we are in now and find the location of the ‘life gate’.”

Han Fulai's eyes lit up.

"I see!"

If Yelan's theory is correct, then they might indeed be able to escape using it.

"So... have you figured it out?"

Hearing his excited tone, Ye Lan rolled her eyes at him with a hint of helplessness: "It's not that easy. There's no sun or moon in the cave, and without the guidance of the stars, we can't know the timing... Time, space, the interaction of the four elements... We've been missing several parameters from the very beginning. I can only exhaustively list them."

“Exhaustive search…” Han Fulai grinned. “How long would that take?”

"I don't know. If I can't get it out in 18 games, I'll try 72. If I can't get it out in 72 games, I'll try 1,080. If I can't get it out in 1,080, I'll try 4,320. I'm sure I'll get it right at least once."

Ye Lan's tone was quite calm, but Han Fulai gasped.

"The original system was 1,080, which Taigong reduced to 72. During the Han Dynasty, Zhang Liang refined it into 18 formations." This verse describes the evolution of Qimen Dunjia.

Legend has it that Qimen Dunjia had 4,320 variations in ancient times. The Yellow Emperor ordered Feng Hou to improve it to 1,080 formations. Later, Jiang Ziya reduced it to 72 formations. It was then passed down to Zhang Liang in the Han Dynasty, and finally became the modern Qimen Dunjia with 18 formations.

Exhaustively listing over four thousand variations would take days, let alone calculating them, even just showing the main battle formation diagram to someone would take several days.

Judging from Ye Lan's attitude, she seems determined to try them all...

"Um... is there anything I can help you with?" Han Fulai asked.

Ye Lan nodded.

"Of course."

"what?"

"Shut up and stop bothering me."

Han Fulai was speechless. He finally realized that although winning by doing nothing was easy, it was quite humiliating.

Around the morning of the next day, Han Fulai had already read through the Ye family history book twice before everyone got up.

But Yelan still hasn't returned.

Yan Fei inquired about Ye Lan's whereabouts, and Han Fulai told her the truth, asking everyone not to disturb Ye Lan.

Knowing that Yelan was working hard to find a way to survive, everyone understood the importance of the task, and even the most unruly Paimon stayed obediently in place.

With nothing else to do, we can only chat.

Starting with Paimon, Luminous shared her travel experiences in Mondstadt and Liyue, Jiaming also talked about some interesting things that happened during his escort missions, and Yanfei pulled out her dossier and picked out some interesting cases to give everyone a legal education lecture—and successfully put Paimon and Luminous to sleep.