Chapter 146: Unconventional Approach.

It was too late for Shu Li to regret it now.

How was he supposed to know that a pretty decorative bead was actually the trigger for a trap?

He was still falling. Where would he land? Would the impact break him?

He struggled to beat his wings, trying to slow his descent, but the suction was too powerful. It did nothing.

Refusing to give up, Shu Li opened his mouth and recited a wind spell.

“Great Wind God Wendis Inor, I am Sperien of the Faerie Forest. Please grant me the power of flight—”

Unfortunately, the Wind God did not hear his prayer. The spell failed.

Falm, sprawled against his chest, shouted, “It’s no use! Magic is forbidden here! You’d be better off praying to the great Fire God not to let you smash into pieces!”

In a flash of inspiration, Shu Li suddenly thought of something. He withdrew his innate power, and dazzling light burst from his body. In an instant, he shrank back to his tiny form.

With nothing left to support him, Falm immediately went into free fall.

It roared, “Why did you shrink?”

Shu Li shouted back, “Because I don’t want to smash into pieces!”

A large body and a small one had different densities and were affected differently by the air’s buoyancy and resistance. His smaller body was falling noticeably more slowly, giving him at least a slim chance of survival.

He spread his wings again and shifted into a glide, slowing his descent as much as possible.

The facts proved that he had made the right choice.

The suction weakened farther down, and his fall gradually slowed. Just before reaching the bottom, he beat his wings at high speed and landed safely.

His feet touched the ground. He stumbled two steps before steadying himself.

Splat—

The little magical beast crashed onto the floor with its bat wings spread wide, smacking its chin against the stone.

“Awooo! Awooo!”

Seeing that its hide was too thick for a fall like that to do any real damage, Shu Li raised his head and surveyed their surroundings.

They were in a spacious secret chamber. The passage above them had sealed shut, and rock walls enclosed them on all four sides. At the center stood a stone pillar half a meter tall, with a sea-moon stone embedded at the top to provide light. A magical array on the floor was gradually fading, and, unexpectedly, there was plenty of air.

Once the light of the magical array had completely vanished, the force that had drawn them down disappeared. Shu Li beat his wings and flew into the air, circling the chamber once.

Falm climbed to its feet and covered its aching chin with its short, pudgy forelegs.

“Stop flying around. Unless you solve the mechanism, you won’t be able to get out.”

Shu Li stopped and landed beside the little magical beast. “Solve the mechanism? As long as we leave this chamber, can we return to the temple?”

“Of course it isn’t that simple.” Falm hopped over to one of the walls and pointed at the relief carved into it. “Solving the mechanism means completing the puzzle. Once all the pieces are in the correct positions, a door will open. Outside that door is a huge labyrinth. You’ll have to find the right path before you can leave. But...”

It gave two disgruntled grunts. “Don’t think the labyrinth will be easy. It’s filled with countless mechanisms and traps. One wrong step, and you’ll be crushed to pieces.”

By the light of the sea-moon stone, Shu Li looked up at the relief on the wall.

It was a sliding puzzle carved from stone, five meters long and four meters wide. It had been divided into twenty pieces, with one additional empty space along the bottom.

To solve it, they would have to slide the pieces. But each piece was a square one meter wide, and without magic, moving them would be no easy task.

“Have you been here before?” Shu Li asked Falm.

As the magical beast guarding the underground palace, it ought to know every mechanism inside and out.

He had been out for almost three hours already, and he still had to sneak into Wanaku at midnight to steal Fruit Number Three. He had no time to waste here.

Falm shook its head. “Of course I—haven’t!”

It bared its teeth at Shu Li and complained, “I’ve never seen a Little Fairy as stupid as you! I told you not to touch things, but you went and touched them anyway!”

Shu Li’s cheeks reddened slightly. He defended himself in embarrassment. “I didn’t know a mere decoration could conceal a mechanism.”

“I’ll tell you the truth. There are traps hidden near every valuable treasure in this underground palace.” Falm swished its tail, fixing Shu Li with a meaningful stare from its golden beast eyes. “You should be grateful you didn’t touch any of those expensive decorations on the way here. Otherwise—you would’ve gone snip a long time ago!”

It swept a claw through the air, miming a beheading.

Shu Li pursed his lips innocently.

He had come to find the fire spirit, not to hunt for treasure. Out of respect for the Fire God, he naturally would not touch any of the underground palace’s rare decorations. All he had done was dig up a few Blazing Sun Crystals.

Blazing Sun Crystals were not decorations, and nothing dangerous had happened while he was digging them up. That meant they were meant to be taken.

But if even Falm had never been here, would he really have to spend an enormous amount of time finding a way out?

What if... What if he still had not returned to the Elven Kingdom by sunrise? Would the Elves and his friends be worried?

He did not want the Elven King to spank him!

Shu Li cupped his cheeks, his face creased with worry.

It was all his fault for being unable to keep his hands to himself and poking that bead.

What could he do now?

What else was there to do except accept his fate and solve the puzzle?

Shu Li sniffed. Then his eyes suddenly lit up. He beat his wings and began circling the secret chamber again, flying up and down, left and right, without overlooking a single spot.

Falm thought the shock had driven him mad.

“Hey, hey—that person—Sperien! Calm down!” The little magical beast spread its bat wings and flew after the Little Fairy, trying to reason with him as it went.

“Found it!” Shu Li abruptly stopped in midair, staring at a certain spot in the corner. His pale green eyes sparkled.

Falm nearly crashed into him and hurriedly swerved upward.

“Found it? Found what?” it asked, utterly bewildered.

Shu Li pointed and broke into a delighted grin. “The air vent!”

There was air circulating inside the secret chamber, which meant it was not completely sealed.

Where was the air coming from?

The vent, of course.

After searching the entire chamber, he had indeed found an air vent hidden in an inconspicuous place.

The opening was tiny, only ten centimeters in diameter. It might keep adventurers out, but it could not stop a Little Fairy only a few inches tall.

Falm stared at him in astonishment. “Th-That works?”

Shu Li chuckled. “Why wouldn’t it? No one said we had to solve the puzzle.”

He took out a cylindrical magic lamp and used it to illuminate the ventilation shaft. Gripping the edges of the opening with both hands, he stuck his head inside, folded his wings, and easily began crawling through.

He had crawled about five centimeters when Falm’s anxious cry came from behind him.

“What about me?”

It copied Shu Li and tried to squeeze into the vent, only for its chubby body to become stuck.

Shu Li looked back and saw the little magical beast desperately scrabbling with its short, pudgy forelegs.

Although the creature was about the size of a chinchilla, its entire body was packed with solid flesh. There was not an ounce of softness to spare.

“Try squeezing harder!” Shu Li said. “Can’t you make yourself any smaller?”

Falm nearly ran out of breath. “I’m sealed!”

While the seal remained in place, it could not use any of its power.

“Then... breathe in and make your belly smaller,” Shu Li suggested.

Falm had no choice but to do as he said. It sucked in a deep breath and finally managed to move, crawling another two or three centimeters.

“My scales are getting rubbed so much they itch,” it complained.

“As long as it doesn’t hurt.” Shu Li continued crawling forward.

With the cylindrical magic lamp illuminating the way, the inside of the ventilation shaft was clearly visible.

The shaft appeared to be about a meter and a half long. Beyond it lay pitch-black darkness, making it impossible to see what awaited them. A fierce wind blew into the shaft, creating some resistance as they crawled.

For Shu Li, however, such slight resistance was no problem.

He soon reached the other end. Falm crawled in fits and starts, repeatedly getting stuck halfway and constantly holding its breath and sucking in its stomach. It was having an absolutely miserable time.

When it finally reached the end, it gently prodded the Little Fairy ahead of it with one horn.

“Get out already! I’m going to suffocate!”

Shu Li wanted to go out, but what lay beyond the vent looked rather frightening.

“Are you sure the labyrinth is outside the secret chamber?” he asked, turning back toward the little magical beast.

“Probably!” Falm replied. “That’s what he told me back then, anyway.”

Shu Li’s pointed ears twitched. “He?”

Who was “he”? The person—or god—who had sealed the little magical beast?

Falm’s eyes darted around. It urged him onward again. “Oh, never mind who he is! Just hurry up and get out. Being stuck like this is awful!”

Shu Li knew perfectly well that the way ahead was their only option. He put away the cylindrical magic lamp and crawled out of the vent. Spreading his wings against the powerful wind, he clung to the rock wall beside the opening.

Once the Little Fairy was out, Falm struggled forward. Its head emerged first, and it let its forked tongue hang out as it panted.

Its belly was still stuck inside. Pressing its stubby claws against the edges of the opening, it tried with all its might to “pull” itself free.

If it had known it would have to crawl through a vent, it would never have greedily eaten those fruits!

“Awooo—”

If it regained its power, it could punch through the secret chamber’s wall with a single claw!

“Awooo!”

At last, it popped free. Its bat wings swiftly spread, and it nimbly clung to the wall before turning to ask the Little Fairy, “Why are you just hanging here?”

Shu Li pursed his lips toward the supposed labyrinth, indicating that Falm should look for itself.

Falm turned its head, and its beast pupils instantly narrowed into vertical slits.

It had been so preoccupied with pulling itself out of the vent that it had not paid any attention to their surroundings. Now that it looked properly, it could not help trembling.

Outside the secret chamber lay an enormous underground cavern whose end could not be seen. Jagged rock formations loomed overhead, while an unfathomable abyss yawned below. Hundreds of stone pillars rose from the depths, arranged without any discernible order. Thick chains connected them, forming a bewilderingly complex labyrinth.

Thanks to the sea-moon stones embedded at the tops of the pillars, they could see the underground cavern in its entirety.

Shu Li swallowed.

Had the owner of the temple robbed the merfolk? Otherwise, where had he gotten so many sea-moon stones to squander like this?

“Do we have to pass through the labyrinth to find the exit?” he asked the little magical beast. “And once we reach the exit, can we return to the temple?”

The Mother Tree’s roots had taken hold in the temple’s outer wall. Shu Li could reunite with the Mother Tree only by returning there.

“Uh... probably...” Falm mumbled evasively.

Shu Li eyed it suspiciously. “Are you really the magical beast guarding the underground palace? Why don’t you know the answer to anything I ask?”

Falm puffed up indignantly. “I only guard the upper levels. What happens down here has nothing to do with me.”

Unable to obtain any useful information, Shu Li had no choice but to work things out for himself.

There was no passage leading upward from this side of the secret chamber, so they could not return the way they had come. Outside lay an intricate labyrinth, with no way of knowing where its exit was.

After weighing the two options, Shu Li decided to enter the labyrinth.

Since its designer had gone to such trouble to construct an underground labyrinth, it had to serve some purpose. Otherwise, all that effort would have been wasted.

Fortunately, Shu Li was not an adventurer who had broken into the underground palace. He was a winged Little Fairy.

As long as he could fly against the wind, he did not have to follow the intended route at all.

He tried reciting a magic spell. Just as expected, it failed again.

Seeing him fail once more, Falm advised, “Stop struggling. Magic is forbidden throughout the entire underground area.”

The labyrinth had been built specifically to trap intruders who entered the temple. If they could use magic, would that not defeat its entire purpose?

“Then—we fly!” Shu Li abruptly released the rock wall, beat his wings, and flew toward the first stone pillar.

“Whoa! You’re just going to fly over there?” Falm hesitated briefly before releasing its grip and following him.

The air flowed swiftly through the underground cavern, producing powerful winds. Shu Li beat his wings with all his strength as he pushed against the resistance. Several times, the wind sent him pitching and rolling through the air. Only after an exhausting struggle did he finally reach the first stone pillar.

“Whew—I’m exhausted!”

The little magical beast sprawled across the stone pillar, panting with its tongue hanging out.

Shu Li was exhausted as well. It had taken them ten minutes just to reach one pillar, and hundreds more lay ahead. How long would this take?

He could fly in a straight line, but the distances between the pillars grew wider farther ahead.

“Pant, pant—why did today have to be Fire Day? Why do I have to accompany a Little Fairy through an underground labyrinth? Awooo, awooo—”

Falm complained incessantly, scraping its fat little claws against the stone.

Unable to tolerate the grating sound of its claws, Shu Li tossed it a fruit.

Falm caught it at once and began munching noisily.

Shu Li decided to release his innate power.

Although magic was forbidden here, nothing prevented a Fairy from changing his size.

Light flared around him, and his body rapidly expanded. In moments, he went from a tiny figure only a few inches tall to a youth the size of an ordinary human.

Bending down, he scooped up the little magical beast, which was still gnawing on the fruit. Then he beat his broad wings and flew toward the second pillar.

Sure enough, flying was much easier this time.

No longer having to fly under its own power, the little magical beast nestled comfortably in Shu Li’s arms, eating its fruit while directing him.

“Fly that way, that way—yes, yes, that pillar right there—”

“Don’t veer off course! The exit isn’t in that direction!”

“Whoa, the wind is too strong over here! Hold steady! Don’t start tumbling—I’m going to fall—”

The little magical beast kept chattering in Shu Li’s ear until a vein throbbed on his forehead. Unable to endure it any longer, he reached down and pinched its mouth shut.

At last, the world was quiet.

“Mmph, mmph, mmph?”

The little magical beast struggled with its mouth clamped shut.

“Stop moving. If you keep struggling, I’ll throw you down there,” Shu Li threatened.

The little magical beast glared at him accusingly. Shu Li remained unmoved and continued feeling his way forward according to his own reasoning.

After an unknown amount of time, he spotted the cavern wall on the opposite side. A large platform carved with a magical array protruded from it.

“The exit! That’s the exit!”

The little magical beast, having regained the use of its mouth, shouted excitedly.

“I see it.” Shu Li pinched its mouth shut again.