Entering the mist, all sense of direction was lost.
Li Zhengguo gripped his wife's hand, trying to orient himself by feel.
After wandering for a long time, he stopped. "We've been going in circles."
"Let me try."
Tian Jing coaxed vines from seeds and continued walking, wrapping them around trees or smaller rocks she encountered.
After a while, they found themselves back at the same spot.
"Is there a formation here too?"
Li Zhengguo disagreed with his wife. "I think this is just the characteristic of the Misty Valley."
"Then what do we do?"
"Let's try to go back."
But they couldn't find the way they came. Following the marked vines, they walked in a circle again.
Touching the vines in her hand, Tian Jing thought of a plan. "I'll block my senses and try to go straight with the vines."
The vines indeed managed to penetrate the mist and move forward.
The couple closed their eyes and followed the vines.
The result, of course, was that they fell into a pit in the path.
In the pit, the mist was much thinner, allowing them to see its contents.
What they saw startled them both, for in the pit, besides themselves, were many white bones.
Judging by the color and decay of the bones, they were very ancient.
Tian Jing used her powers to grow vines and climbed out of the pit with her husband.
As they moved forward again, they tested every step cautiously.
This time, they avoided two pits.
After avoiding these two pits, the mist before them suddenly dispersed.
Above, bright sunlight streamed down.
Looking up, they saw heavy snow falling under the direct sun, yet not a single snowflake landed within the valley.
They were now in a crescent-shaped grove of trees.
Behind them, the mouths of the pits they had fallen into or avoided were slowly, softly closing.
The perfectly sealed openings were indistinguishable from the stone slabs beneath their feet, making it impossible to tell which was an opening and which was ground.
Li Zhengguo was the first to recover and urged his wife, "Quick, we need to leave this grove. The mist dispersing must mean it's high noon."
"Okay."
Tian Jing moved her hand, and the vines that had extended inward retracted, coiling in her hand.
The couple quickly and cautiously walked towards the center.
This time, they emerged from the grove unharmed. However, upon seeing what lay before them, they were so astonished they didn't know whether to curse or weep.
For what appeared before them was a Bagua maze.
The Bagua walls, made of piled stones about a meter high, allowed them to immediately recognize the maze's design.
And in the center of the Bagua maze, on the giant Taijitu, the eyes of the fish were two tall graves, one black and one white.
After being blocked by the formation, Tian Jing had considered many possibilities, the most significant being the level of danger.
This was due to the difficulty of the map.
However, the ease with which they entered the formation, followed by the circling like a ghost haunting a wall, had been one easy followed by two difficult.
Tian Jing had thought the next would be easy, but instead, it was both difficult and extremely difficult.
Tian Jing could only ask the person beside her, "Do you understand Bagua?"
Li Zhengguo shook his head. "I've never studied it."
Tian Jing wanted to try leaping over, but her husband stopped her.
"If you could leap over, there would be no point in building this maze. Try with the vines first."
Tian Jing flicked the vines in her hand. Visibly, the vines shattered into countless pieces, leaving only the section she held.
Ugh...
A cold sweat broke out on Tian Jing's back. If it had been her, her energy shield wouldn't have worked.
She had clearly sensed annihilation.
An annihilation like the rules of heaven and earth, beyond human reach.
Rules of heaven and earth?
Xiao Song had mentioned that this Misty Valley was naturally formed.
But this Bagua maze was clearly man-made, built from stones.
She shared her doubt with her husband. "Zheng Ge, do you think this Bagua maze is like those formations outside?"
"I think it's more mysterious."
Li Zhengguo mused, "The Misty Valley is natural. Whoever designed this Bagua maze must have utilized the natural aspect of the mist, meaning the rules of heaven and earth you sensed."
"Therefore, I believe it's more mysterious and dangerous than the formations outside. We must be careful."
"Okay."
Tian Jing grew another vine. "Let's still use the vines to find our way."
"Alright."
After walking along the outer edge for a long time, they made only slight progress, perhaps a few dozen centimeters in a straight line.
Li Zhengguo looked up. The sun had shifted.
Anxious, he could only follow his wife, moving slowly.
As the sun slanted completely away, Li Zhengguo turned and indeed saw mist rising again.
However, the mist only reached the outside of the maze, not drifting into it.
Though puzzled, Li Zhengguo breathed a sigh of relief. They still had time.
As dusk deepened, they had only reached the middle section of the maze.
Hopefully, the path ahead wasn't a dead end.
Tian Jing, who had been focused on exploring, also grew anxious. "No, if we continue like this, even if we can get through this path, it will take us another day. And what we'll encounter in the center is still unknown."
"Do you have any ideas?"
"I want to try my blood and the golden key again."
Li Zhengguo hesitated for only a moment before agreeing. "Then be careful."
"Okay, okay."
She flung out a handful of blood, and above the maze, a transparent, glass-like dome appeared.
Tian Jing climbed onto the maze wall and extended the key towards the dome. The dome stood silently, showing no signs of being broken.
Tian Jing dared not use brute force and instead jumped down. The couple continued navigating the maze.
Upon reaching a dead end, Tian Jing, frustrated, sat down on the ground.
Li Zhengguo squatted beside her. "Tiantian, I suddenly have an idea."
"Tell me."
"Just now, you couldn't poke open that dome with the key. Perhaps the golden lock can, or maybe both are needed."
"But the golden lock isn't from my lineage, is it?"
Li Zhengguo hugged her and stood up, pointing to the center of the maze. "Look, the two graves are at the eyes of the Taijitu."
"Following you all this time, I've been thinking about the meaning of the two graves."
"I feel that this design might require two parties to work together, not their individual defenses."
"Like Grandpa Chen's defenses, and the defenses of Chen Yaoshi's branch, should be something Chen Shan'er wouldn't want..."
"Wait."
Tian Jing held back her husband's outstretched arm. "Say your last sentence again."
"Should be something Chen Shan'er wouldn't want."
Tian Jing frowned. "Further, further."
"Like Grandpa Chen's defenses."
"The sentence after that."
"The defenses of Chen Yaoshi's branch."
"Yes!"
Tian Jing slapped her hand. "Yes, yes, it's Chen Yaoshi's defenses. I think I understand why Chen Yaoshi made Xiao Wei pregnant."
Li Zhengguo didn't understand. "What reason?"
"Do you remember what flashed through my mind when Xiao Wei said she would give the child to Chen Yaoshi?"
"I remember."
Li Zhengguo nodded. "And I said no matter what, we would face it together, you and I, through life and death."
"What time is it, and he's still saying this?" Tian Jing gave him a look.
"I always felt that Chen Yaoshi wanted Xiao Wei's child for a purpose."
"Just now, when you said 'the defenses of Chen Yaoshi's branch,' I had a sudden thought: could he want offspring from both branches?"
"And if these two offspring were from the same mother, then the defenses you mentioned couldn't exist."