Seeing Kalen’s miserable state, looking as if he wanted to vomit out all his internal organs,

Zhou Huai, controlling Gandalf, cautiously approached and gently sniffed the pitch-black opening.

The next second.

Even though Zhou Huai had mentally prepared himself, the terrifying stench that assaulted him still made his vision go black, almost causing him to perish on the spot.

It was a complex odor that simply defied description.

It was like a thick soup made from a hundred-year-old rotting corpse, mixed with thousand-year-old fermented salted fish, and a public toilet that hadn't been flushed in ten years, all slow-cooked over a gentle fire for forty-nine days.

Just one sniff, and Zhou Huai felt his brain boiling, his skull almost being pushed open by the smell.

This was no corpse of an exotic beast.

This was clearly a mobile biochemical weapon!

Zhou Huai felt a dull ache behind his eyes.

He didn't understand.

This exotic beast had been dead for countless years; its bodily functions should have long ceased.

Even its excretory opening shouldn't retain such terrifying lethality after such a long time.

“Ugh—!”

Kalen, leaning against a giant coral reef, let out another earth-shattering dry heave.

He felt as if he was about to vomit out his bile.

He looked up, his already dark face now greenish-black, his eyes filled with despair.

“Are... are we really going in through here?”

Zhou Huai, controlling Gandalf, replied with a matter-of-fact tone.

“Since we’re already here, why wouldn’t we go in?”

“Thor and the others have probably already entered. If we hesitate, the pendulum of life will truly be out of our reach.”

Kalen’s facial muscles twitched violently, his expression worse than crying.

“But it’s too smelly!”

“I’m afraid I’ll be suffocated to death before I even find the pendulum of life!”

Gandalf’s face, however, showed a calm indifference.

“If they can go in, so can we.”

“It’s just a smell; we’ll endure it, and it will pass.”

With that, under Kalen’s dumbfounded gaze, Gandalf stepped into the pitch-black opening without hesitation.

Kalen’s eyes widened, marveling at the sight.

This Gandalf was truly a ruthless individual!

Even at a time like this, he could remain so calm.

“Damn it!”

Kalen steeled his heart and gritted his teeth.

“I’m going all out too!”

He took a deep breath, like a warrior heading to the execution ground, and followed closely behind Gandalf, plunging into the darkness and stench that could devour a Soul.

However, what Kalen didn’t know was that

the moment Gandalf stepped into the opening, Zhou Huai’s main consciousness instantly disconnected from Gandalf’s body, as if he had been electrocuted.

Are you kidding?

He, Zhou Huai, didn’t want to smell such a terrifying odor for even a second longer.

He only needed to observe the environment inside the cave through Gandalf’s eyes from a god’s perspective and continuously send commands to the Smart Core AI.

As for the biochemical weapon-like stench, let the AI, which had no sense of smell, bear it.

...

The moment they stepped into the cave, a soft and sticky sensation came from beneath their feet, like stepping on some thick moss.

The inside of the cave was not completely dark.

Embedded in the fleshy walls were strange stones emitting a soft blue light, flickering on and off like breathing, bringing a strange illumination to this dark passage.

Through Gandalf’s continuously moving perspective, Zhou Huai quickly realized that his previous judgment seemed to have been mistaken.

He had thought that Thor and the other four had also entered through this opening.

But now, it seemed not to be the case.

The soft fleshy wall beneath their feet left a clear footprint with every step.

However, there were no footprints on the path ahead.

Clearly, no one had ever set foot here before.

It seemed that Thor and his group couldn’t stand this terrifying stench and chose other entrances.

But he and Kalen had stubbornly plunged in.

So be it.

Zhou Huai thought to himself.

Since they were already in, they might as well make the best of it.

Perhaps this path would lead them to the pendulum of life faster than Thor and his group.

After delving several hundred meters deeper,

Zhou Huai saw more blue-glowing stones from Gandalf’s perspective.

They were densely embedded in the surrounding fleshy walls, like stars in the night sky.

Zhou Huai recognized this Material at a glance.

He had seen it on the twenty-third floor of the Imperial Capital Academy’s Instance Tower.

【Heart of the Tide】.

A rare forging Material containing extremely rich water-elemental Qi.

Weapons forged from it could greatly enhance the power of water-elemental skills.

On the market, a single one could sell for a sky-high price of over a million great xia currency.

And here, there were so many of them!

At a glance, there were at least over a hundred, densely packed!

He was going to get rich!

Zhou Huai’s heart rejoiced, and he immediately directed Gandalf to step forward, preparing to pry one off to try.

Gandalf extended his withered hand, his five fingers like hooks, and fiercely clamped onto one of the 【Heart of the Tide】!

With a forceful tug!

“Pop!”

With a soft sound,

that million-great xia currency-valued 【Heart of the Tide】 was easily pried off the wriggling fleshy wall.

However, the moment the stone was pried off,

a sudden change occurred!

Hiss—!

A thick, unresolvable green gas, like a volcano that had accumulated for ten thousand years, suddenly erupted from the gap in the fleshy wall!

Zhou Huai was startled at the sight.

He thought he had triggered some trap.

He quickly directed Gandalf to retreat.

However, he soon discovered that

Gandalf’s health showed no decrease whatsoever.

Instead, Kalen, who was following behind, his face already red from holding his breath, instantly lost control the moment he came into contact with the green gas.

“Ugh—!”

He leaned against the nearby fleshy wall, letting out a heart-wrenching dry heave.

His already dark face had now turned pale.

Clearly, this green gas was not poison.

Instead, it was a super-invincible, enhanced version of the stench, a hundred times more potent than the previous one!

“Quick... quick, go!”

Kalen felt his internal organs were almost rotted by the smell. He pointed at the dark passage ahead, his voice hoarse with a scream.

“I’m almost at my limit! Every second I stay here, I feel like I’m eating shit!”

“If this continues, I’ll be suffocated to death!”

With that, he didn’t even bother to manage Gandalf.

Like a mad bull, he charged headlong into the deeper parts of the cave!

Zhou Huai almost laughed out loud at this scene.

Seeing that the green gas posed no substantial danger,

he simply stopped rushing forward.

Instead, he continued to direct Gandalf to pry off all the 【Heart of the Tide】 embedded in the fleshy walls, one by one.

In just a few minutes,

the blue stones on both sides of the passage’s fleshy walls were completely plundered by Gandalf.

He roughly estimated there were at least one hundred and thirty-odd pieces.

And with each 【Heart of the Tide】 pried off, the fleshy wall released a large amount of green gas.

At this moment, the green gas within this passage had become terrifyingly dense.

Fortunately, Kalen ran fast.

Otherwise, he might have become the first SS-rank powerhouse in this world to be suffocated to death by a stench.

Seeing that he had collected enough, Zhou Huai no longer lingered.

He directed Gandalf to quickly pass through this foul-smelling tunnel.

After walking through the narrow passage,

the path ahead suddenly opened up.

However, an even bigger problem arose.

Gandalf seemed to have entered an enormous maze.

Before him, there were a dozen pitch-black passages.

Each led in a different direction, and there were even two suspended above his head.

Kalen was standing not far away, gasping for breath.

His complexion had improved considerably.

Clearly, the stench here had dissipated quite a bit.

Seeing this, Zhou Huai then shifted his consciousness back to Gandalf’s body.

Indeed.

The air here was much fresher.

Although there was still a faint residual odor, it was within his acceptable range.

Kalen, seeing that Gandalf had taken so long to come out, immediately showed genuine admiration.

He gave Gandalf a thumbs-up.

“You could stay in such a smelly place for so long.”

“I truly have to admire you!”

Zhou Huai, controlling Gandalf, smiled calmly.

“It’s a small matter.”

“If there were more Hearts of the Tide inside, I could stay even longer.”

Kalen: “...”

He felt that he and this Forbidden Spell Mage from the Great Xia Country were simply not from the same world.

He shook his head, no longer dwelling on the topic.

Instead, he turned his gaze to the dozen pitch-black passages ahead, his expression solemn.

“Never mind the Hearts of the Tide for now; let’s seriously consider where to go next.”

“There are too many paths before us now; this giant creature’s body is a huge maze.”

He irritably ran his fingers through his already messy hair.

“We can’t just try each path one by one, can we?”

“How long would that take?”

Zhou Huai, controlling Gandalf, calmly surveyed his surroundings.

Indeed.

Without any clues, trying to find the correct path among these dozen passages was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

But did he truly have no clues?

Zhou Huai’s eyes flickered slightly.

He directed Gandalf to silently take out the six ancient-looking bronze keys from his Storage Ring, one by one.

Kalen was first stunned at the sight, then a suspicious expression appeared on his face.

“Why are you taking that out?”

“Isn’t it useless now?”

Zhou Huai did not answer.

He simply calmly arranged the six keys neatly on the soft fleshy wall beneath their feet.

It was still the standard circular arrangement.

However, this time, the strange light he had anticipated did not appear.

The six keys lay there quietly, like six ordinary pieces of scrap bronze.

Kalen saw this and immediately showed an “I told you so” expression.

He waved his hand impatiently.

“See, I told you this thing was useless, didn’t I?”

“Let’s just pick a path and go; don’t waste any more time here.”

“If we dally any longer, that pendulum of life will truly be snatched away by that scoundrel Thor!”

Zhou Huai still ignored him.

He directed Gandalf to slowly squat down.

He extended his palm and gently pressed it onto one of the keys.

A faint trace of magic power, like a trickling stream, slowly flowed from his palm.

Buzz—!

A sudden change occurred!

The six bronze keys, which had been dull and lifeless, at this moment, without any warning, simultaneously erupted with a dazzling golden glow!

The light was so brilliant that Kalen instinctively raised his hand to shield his eyes!

Immediately after,

an ancient, timeless voice, as if spanning °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° endless time and space, without any warning, exploded directly deep within their Souls!

The voice was genderless, devoid of any emotion.

Yet, it was filled with an irresistible majesty and vastness.

Just hearing it made one’s Soul tremble involuntarily!

“Come... find... me...”