Chapter 295: Secret of the Grotto, A Mysterious Ritual

"It's just a stone carving. Scared the crap out of me!"

"Fuck! That was terrifying!"

"I thought we ran into a ghost!"

"Temple Master Ning is so brave. Just looking at the darkness around him makes me want to pee my pants!"

"Scared me to death. I'm covered in cold sweat."

"I'm almost too scared to watch."

The chat rolled rapidly across all eight streaming channels.

And more viewers continued to flood into the broadcast.

Ning Fei broadcasting his entry into the Kunlun Heavenly Palace had already become a massive event on the internet.

At that moment, a stone carving stood before him. This one was different from the statues in the previous stone chamber.

It wore light armor and had a Sword at its waist, looking every bit like a guard.

"Now I can be certain this place was built during the Zhou Dynasty," Ning Fei said.

"The armor on this guard statue is leather. Iron armor didn't exist back then due to the era's limited technology."

Hearing Ning Fei's explanation, the viewers commented that they had learned something new.

Several knowledgeable experts watching the stream also nodded repeatedly, agreeing with his assessment.

Below the stairs stood a stone wall and a single stone carving.

Beside the carving was an arched doorway. Above the opening sat a rectangular groove containing two large characters written in highly complex traditional script.

"That's Zhou Dynasty writing. It says 'Kunlun'."

Ning Fei examined the entrance.

It wasn't particularly large—a simple square opening bordered by carved patterns.

The tension among the audience continued to rise.

A second later, Ning Fei raised his Glow Stick, walked straight through the doorway, and stepped inside.

The drone followed closely behind.

Everyone stared fixedly at the live stream.

The light scattered outward, attempting to drive back the shadows, but it was completely swallowed by an even greater darkness.

The space inside the entrance was massive!

It looked as though the entire mountain had been hollowed out!

"What a huge grotto!"

A viewer couldn't help but exclaim.

The Kunlun Mountain Range stretched for thousands of miles, reaching altitudes of several thousand meters, which meant the volume within the mountains was enormous. Still, no one expected a place like this to be hidden deep inside.

"I can't even imagine how much manpower and wealth it took to excavate a cave this size."

"Human lives weren't worth much back then. Just like the Great Wall or the Terracotta Army, a single decree from the king could force millions into slavery to get it done."

Ning Fei sighed.

Scattered rubble covered the ground.

The earlier avalanche had shaken the mountain, dislodging plenty of loose rock.

Ning Fei inspected his surroundings carefully.

He was currently standing on a platform.

As the drone's lights swept across the area, the viewers could see just how expansive the platform really was.

Ning Fei walked further in. The path ahead remained completely dark; without any obstacles to reflect the light, the illumination from the Glow Stick barely reached a few feet.

"This is too scary!"

"I don't even want to look!"

"Is this real? Could it be a scripted setup by the streamer?"

"Are you an idiot? Go watch the VOD. Everything has been real since Temple Master Ning started climbing the snow mountain. Do you think you could just dig out a massive grotto at the peak of the Kunlun Snowy Domain?"

"Don't bother replying to them. This is definitely going to make the news later. Just wait and see."

"Not later, it's already on the news."

Ning Fei took a few more steps forward.

Suddenly, a dark silhouette appeared at the edge of the light.

Everyone froze.

The more timid viewers outright threw their mobile phones in shock.

"Holy shit! Fuck!"

Countless messages flooded the screen as people vented their terror.

It was simply too frightening.

When the light swept over it again, they realized it was just another sculpture.

Behind the statue stood a palace without a roof.

"What is that?"

"A building with no roof? Just a few walls?"

"What's going on?"

The audience kept their eyes glued to the live broadcast.

At that moment, Ning Fei spoke up.

"This should be a sacrificial site, or rather, a place designed for holding some kind of ritual."

"In ancient times, theology made up a huge part of how people understood the world. Ever since the era of the Yellow Emperor and Chi You, the ancients were caught up in a fanatical worship of nature and gods."

"Emperors, in particular, hoped to use specific rituals to stand equal to the gods and achieve immortality."

"A roofless palace means they didn't want anything obstructing it."

"In other words, there's something right above us!"

Ning Fei aimed his light upward.

The drone immediately shifted its high beams to follow.

As the intense light swept across the highest point of the ceiling, something flashed with a sudden yellow gleam!

"What was that?"

"What's reflecting the light?"

"They actually installed something at the very top of the grotto?"

"What is this ritual supposed to mean?"

Everyone watched the apex of the cave as the drone kept its camera trained upward.

Meanwhile, Ning Fei quietly slipped into the palace.

He already fully understood the ritual, so he knew the most likely place for the gemstone was right there inside.

A few moments later, he stepped back out.

With the drone's lens locked on the ceiling, the viewers strained their eyes to see what was up there, but the distance was simply too great to make anything out.

The broadcast stayed fixed on the ceiling for seven or eight minutes before the camera finally panned back down.

"What was that yellow light?"

"A gemstone?"

The audience was bursting with excitement.

Ning Fei began to explain.

"That should be a bronze mirror."

"Based on excavated historical artifacts, bronze mirrors existed as early as the Zhou Dynasty, though they were exceedingly rare."

"The one above us must be of the highest quality from the Zhou Dynasty, seeing as it can still reflect light after all these years."

Hearing Ning Fei's explanation only left the viewers more confused.

"A bronze mirror? Why put a bronze mirror at the very top of a cave?"

"That's so creepy."

"I'm completely lost."

"Look at Temple Master Ning's expression. He definitely knows what's going on."

"Temple Master Ning, stop keeping us in suspense. Tell us!"

The chat grew increasingly frantic.

Ning Fei continued.

"The principle behind the bronze mirror is quite simple."

"This palace behind me has no roof, and there is a bronze mirror positioned directly above it."

"Obviously, whoever built this grotto wanted to use the mirror's reflection to reach the heavens."

"This grotto is incredibly deep. Based on the stairs I descended, it might be over a hundred meters down."

"The world inside a mirror is reversed. People back then didn't fully understand the mechanics of reflection. They likely believed that another world existed inside the mirror, or that it served as a gateway to reach one."

"By hanging a bronze mirror at the highest point of the cave and resting eternally beneath it, their reflection would exist in the mirrored world—meaning they would be resting eternally in the heavens."

"That is why this palace doesn't have a roof."

"This was the Heavenly Palace King Mu of Zhou built for himself."

The more the viewers listened to Ning Fei's explanation, the more shocked they became.

"Is Temple Master Ning saying this whole cave was built because King Mu of Zhou didn't understand how mirrors work and thought there was another world inside them?"

"Or maybe they thought the mirror's reflection would let their souls cross over into that other realm."

"That's just absurd."

"People in ancient times were deeply superstitious and believed heavily in theology. Leaping to mystical conclusions was perfectly normal for them."

Discussions raged on in the chat.

But Ning Fei knew that things weren't quite that simple.

The true key to this ritual was the gemstone resting in his pocket.

If King Mu of Zhou believed the gemstone could condense a wisp of a person's soul, which could then be projected into the sky through the bronze mirror's reflection to reach the true Heavenly Palace, then everything suddenly made perfect sense.

However, just as his master Bai Yuanche had told him, it was best to keep this gemstone a secret from the world.

"Next, I'm going to take a look inside the palace."

Ning Fei said.

The viewers had no idea that Ning Fei had already snuck inside just moments before, nor that he had taken the most important gemstone in the grotto.

Once again, everyone focused their undivided attention on the broadcast.

They waited in anticipation, hoping to see what else lay hidden inside the palace.