He changed Tiwat

Finally, Han Fulai resorted to the means he used to make a living when he first arrived in Liyue.

Yeah, storytelling.

He casually picked up a stone to use as a gavel, and used Yan Fei's case file box as a podium. He set up his posture and began to tell the story of "The Three Heroes and Five Gallants." He quickly gained four people and a loyal storyteller as fans, and once again confirmed that even now he was capable of taking away Tian Tiezui's job...

But no matter how you try to kill time, the difficult time is still difficult to endure.

They had already eaten three meals, and Han Fulai's storytelling was almost over. Paimon yawned again: "Sigh, there's nothing to do here, so boring... I really want to run freely in the outside world!"

Ying's retort was also a bit weak: "...Aren't you always flying?"

"Then let's fly freely!" Paimon slowly circled around Yingmei. "Anyway, I really want to go out."

Ying shook her head listlessly: "A whole day has passed without me even realizing it..."

Paimon frowned upon hearing this: "A whole day? It feels like months have passed. Even if it hasn't been months, it must have been more than twenty days, right?"

"More than twenty days?"

The other three people present were simultaneously taken aback.

Chapter Thirty-Three: A Dead End

It's impossible for it to last more than twenty days—if it really were more than twenty days, their rations would have run out long ago, but they still have plenty of food and water.

"Paimon, are you confused?" Ying looked at Paimon strangely. "We only ate three meals, didn't we?"

Jiaming, who was in charge of cooking, tilted his head and thought for a moment, then said, "Actually, we don't eat our meals on time. I thought we might be staying for a long time, so we actually saved on ingredients... The sundial underground is useless, but I think it might take three days."

"Wait a minute," Yanfei interjected, "Ying, speaking of food... are you hungry?"

Ying shook her head: "I'm not very hungry."

“I’m not hungry either…” Yan Fei paused, “Let me rephrase the question: Who’s the biggest glutton among us?”

Everyone... including Wenzai, was staring at one person.

"Huh? Why...why are you looking at me?" Paimon pointed to his nose.

Yanfei asked again, "Paimon, are you hungry?"

Paimon rubbed his belly: "Huh, I'm not hungry, what's wrong?"

Everyone fell silent instantly.

After a long silence, Han Fulai gently tapped his gavel.

"I know where the problem lies."

Ying and Yanfei exchanged a glance and nodded in unison.

Paimon was still completely bewildered: "Huh, what do you guys know?"

Ying glanced at Paimon: "Paimon said it felt like more than twenty days had passed."

Yan Fei glanced at Paimon: "If that's really the case, not feeling hungry for more than twenty days... is that even possible?"

Jiaming nodded: "That's true... No matter how strong you are, you'd collapse long ago if you didn't eat for more than twenty days."

Han Fulai looked around at everyone: "Paimon said it's been twenty days, Ying said it's been one day, Jiaming said it's been three days, Yanfei, what do you think?"

Yan Fei looked up and thought for a moment: "I think it felt like two days."

"That's the problem."

Han Fulai slapped his gavel again.

"Different people perceive the passage of time differently... Even if there are individual differences, the difference shouldn't be this great."

"Do you remember which episode of the story I told you?"

Yan Fei, who always prided herself on her memory, immediately replied: "In the eighty-fifth chapter, Gongsun Ce encountered Mao Sheng while exploring the water, and Jiang Ze met Wu Kou while traveling along the lake."

Han Fulai smiled and said, "Well, based on my feeling, it should be a day and a half. Each of my stories lasts about ten minutes, and since we've told more than eighty stories, it must have been at least a dozen hours. In addition, we talked for a long time before and took some breaks in between, so I estimate it should be a day and a half."

According to his childhood memories, a storytelling episode broadcast on the radio was twenty minutes long. Of course, he wasn't as professional as the storytellers on the radio, but he could only learn about 70-80% of the material and tell the gist of it. Therefore, his version of "The Three Heroes and Five Gallants" was an "edited version".

Even with an edited version, telling a story still takes a lot of time and breath.

"But... I've been telling you stories for over ten hours, and I don't even feel thirsty or hoarse. Don't you find that strange? If it were Tian Tiezui, he probably would have been lying down by now."

After he mentioned it, even Jiaming noticed something was off: "Yeah, Tian Tiezui always says 'to be continued,' but Sect Leader Han hasn't had much of a break... And you even kept watch for everyone last night, aren't you tired?"

"Hmm, I'm not sleepy."

Although his mental state is actually very bad right now, and even storytelling is his way of fighting against the voice in his head and diverting his attention, he doesn't really feel much physical reaction such as fatigue, thirst, or drowsiness.

Oh, except when Yan Fei reads the legal articles.

Han Fu glanced at Yan Fei and quickly added, "I wasn't sleepy even when Yan Fei was reading the law."

Yan Fei sighed, "...Well, thank you so much."

Jiaming lowered his head and thought for a moment: "Although I grilled food, I didn't eat it because I was hungry, but just to change my mood. Actually, Paimon said he had no appetite when he came out of the secret realm that day, and so did I... or it wasn't a matter of appetite, but rather that I hadn't felt hungry since I came out of that secret realm."

Han Fulai added, "Not only am I not hungry, but I also don't feel noticeably tired... Whether I sleep or not doesn't seem to have any effect."

Yan Fei nodded: "I feel the same way. Resting doesn't improve the original condition, nor does it increase the existing fatigue. It's very strange, it's almost like the body's condition has stagnated."

"Wow, this is getting scarier and scarier... Ugh, I can't bear to think about it!" Paimon immediately hid behind Ying again.

Just then, Ye Lan, who had been away for a long time, finally returned.

"Everyone, I've made a discovery."

Yelan led everyone back into the tunnel.

The discovery she referred to was a bare rock face.

"What's here?" Paimon asked, puzzled.

Ying opened her elemental vision and looked around... but the stone was still just a stone.

"This is an illusion; you can't see it or touch it... it has to be like this."

Ye Lan raised her right index and middle fingers and pressed them against the stone wall, softly chanting: "Heavenly Cave, Heavenly Truth, swiftly descend your mighty spirit! Ascend to the Heavenly Gate, open the boundless path! So be it!"

Wherever the incantation reached, the stone wall suddenly opened up.

This place wasn't rock at all, but another cave entrance—it turns out the tunnel did have branching paths, they were just hidden.

"There really is a road ahead!" Paimon immediately beamed with joy.

"Thanks to Ye Lan." Ying looked at Ye Lan with more respect.

Jiaming also sincerely exclaimed, "Sister Yelan is truly amazing!"

Only Yan Fei seemed a little worried: "Ye Lan, you haven't had any rest these past few days, have you?"

She didn't know how Ye Lan's sense of time was, but whether it was one or two days or three or five days, Ye Lan hadn't come back during this time... Based on her understanding of Ye Lan, Ye Lan probably hadn't even had a moment's rest. Even if her body didn't get tired in this space, her spirit was inevitably exhausted.

Ye Lan gently shook her head, "It's okay, I'm not tired."

Then she clapped her hands: "Alright, everyone's here, let's go in and take a look."

"Hurry up, hurry up, I can't wait to escape."

Paimon was the first to fly out, followed closely by Yingmei.

Yanfei and Jiaming followed suit.

Only Han Fulai deliberately lagged behind, saying, "You just said 'go in and check it out'... It sounds like you're not sure if this is the way out?"

“…Hmm.” Ye Lan’s voice sounded somewhat tired. “This Qimen formation changes on its own. What is a path to life at this moment may be a path to death at the next moment… I have calculated seventy formations and luckily encountered this path. I only know that this path does not lead to the ominous gate. As for which gate it leads to, we’ll see when we get there. In short, it cannot be calculated in the ‘Shock Gate’.”

Han Fulai suddenly realized: "Ah, no wonder... so our current location is the 'Gate of Shock'?"

Among the eight gates, the Shock Gate governs matters of fear, trauma, and legal troubles. It is most suitable for setting up ambushes and traps. The "ghost wall" they encounter is indeed the same as the principle of the Shock Gate.

"It seems our demise here was preordained," Ye Lan said, watching Yan Fei's retreating figure. "Besides setting up ambushes and diversions, the Gate of Shock is also suitable for lawsuits, and we happen to have a legal consultant here; for apprehending thieves, we have bodyguards and adventurers; for gambling, that's me; and also, for bewitching and confusing the masses..."

She glanced at Han Fulai.

Han Fulai discovered that Qimen Dunjia could actually be used to retaliate against people.

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

Similar to the tunnel they had passed through before, this new tunnel was also a straight road leading straight to the end.

Paimon, determined to escape the underground, flew at full speed and soon reached the bottom.

Before her stood yet another entrance to a secret realm, exactly like that "fairyland."

"Is this... really the exit?"

Even if Paimon was naive, after experiencing the previous "ghost wall" incident, he knew that there was definitely something strange about the entrance to this secret realm.

Ying, who came with her, was also a little unsure.

Jiaming, however, maintained his optimistic spirit: "No matter what, this is a new path. You won't know until you see it, right?"

Yan Fei nodded in agreement: "Jiaming is right. If we want to get out, we have to try."

Rather than staying in this eerie space where time seems to stand still, Yan Fei would rather experience a few more "ghost wall" experiences, at least there's still hope of catching those "ghosts" who build the walls and beating them up, right?

"Please wait a moment while I confirm."

Out of caution, Ye Lan laid out another Bagua formation on the ground. After some calculations, she determined the current location of everyone.

"This is the 'Gate of Blockage' among the Eight Gates... Even if it's not a way out, it should be a safe place."

Among the eight gates of Qimen Dunjia, there are three inauspicious, three auspicious, and two neutral gates. The Du and Jing gates are the neutral gates.

Han Fulai also said, "Du is a place for hiding one's form, suitable for avoiding disasters and seeking refuge. For us, this should be a place similar to a 'refuge,' right? I don't think there will be any more 'ghost walls' (a type of maze-like illusion)."

In fact, the gates of Zhongping are also divided into auspicious and inauspicious. Strictly speaking, the Du gate should be considered "minorly inauspicious" because "Du" means "block," symbolizing that staying there for a long time will lead to blockage and misfortune. It is fine to hide in the Du gate temporarily, but it is probably not a good thing in the long run.

Of course, it's still much better than staying in the Gate of Terror living in fear. And as long as they "get moving," the "blockage" will naturally disappear. So this secret realm is still worth exploring.

The group that entered the secret realm soon discovered that there might indeed be a way out.

Because as soon as they entered the secret realm, they heard a voice—

"...Is...She...right?"

"Hey, did you guys hear that? It's scary!" Paimon hid behind Ying again.

Jiaming and Yelan had obviously heard the voice and were wary, but Han Fulai and Yanfei exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with surprise.

"Yanfei, did you hear that?"

"I heard it! It's the Great Sage Who Subdues Demons!"

Although the voice was somewhat intermittent, like a cell phone signal being weak, and it was impossible to understand what Xiao was trying to say, it was definitely Xiao's voice.

Ying also thought of the young immortal who always appeared and disappeared without a trace: "If we can find that Yaksha...wouldn't we have hope of getting out?"

"That's right! Immortal Xiao possesses the supernatural powers of a Yaksha, allowing him to traverse space. No matter what kind of secret realm he's in, he can break through space and escape!"

Han Fulai's mood has not been this good since he fell to the ground.

This was not only because they saw hope of getting out, but also because they confirmed Xiao's safety.

The auditory hallucinations in his mind, along with the burning pain from the contract marks on the back of his hand, had been making him worry that something was wrong with Xiao. Now, hearing Xiao's voice as usual, he breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Perhaps Xiao received his distress signal sent through the contract mark and came down here to rescue him, but the space at the bottom of the Abyss of Layered Rocks was different, and Xiao and he were trapped in different secret realms, so they lost contact.

Han Fulai and his group's current mission is to reunite with Xiao.

"Come to think of it, the sound seemed to come from above...?"

This secret realm was built in the boundless deep space, and the stone platform beneath their feet was surrounded by stone platforms floating in the air.

Yanfei led everyone to look up, only to find that there was also a similar stone platform above them, just like the "upside-down city," where gravity was reversed... Moreover, they all saw a faint shadow flash by on that platform; Xiao always left such afterimages when it moved.

So the problem they faced was how to catch up with them.

Ye Lan carefully observed the platform they were on and quickly found the mechanism—there was a stone platform in the center of the platform, and four engraved runes that looked like talismans were distributed on the floor around the stone platform.

"This is a magic array, similar in structure to the magic array we found in the 'Thousand Rock Army Treasure' before. It needs to be activated with elemental power."

She then pointed to the four platforms around her.

"After activating the stone inscriptions, new mechanisms will appear on the corresponding platform. Once those mechanisms are solved, the magic array will be activated, teleporting us to the platform above our heads."

Although it was everyone's first time entering this secret realm, Ye Lan spoke with great certainty, as if she had seen this magic circle before.

However, she already had many secrets, so no one bothered to investigate them at this time. They had already found this way out thanks to Ye Lan, so trusting her was the right thing to do.