Seeing Kalen's miserable appearance, looking as though he desperately wanted to vomit out his internal organs.

Controlling Gandalf, Zhou Huai also cautiously crept forward, leaning toward the pitch-black opening and gently sniffing.

The next second.

Even though Zhou Huai had mentally prepared himself long ago, he was still struck with blackness before his eyes by the terrifying stench rushing straight at him, almost dying on the spot.

It was a composite stench that was simply impossible to describe in words.

It was like a thick soup brewed from a rotting corpse of over a hundred years, mixed with fermented salted fish of over a thousand years, combined with a public toilet that hadn't been flushed for ten years, and finally simmered over low heat for forty-nine days.

Just by sniffing it once, Zhou Huai felt his brain matter boiling, and the top of his skull was almost blown off by that smell.

What kind of mythical beast's corpse was this?

This was clearly a mobile biological weapon!

Zhou Huai felt even the corners of his brain throbbing dully.

He couldn't understand.

This mythical beast had clearly been dead for an unknown amount of time, and its bodily functions should have stopped running long ago.

Even the excretion port shouldn't retain such a terrifying lethality after experiencing such a long passage of time.

"Blech—!"

Supporting himself against a huge coral reef nearby, Kalen retched again in an earth-shattering manner.

He felt as though even his bile was about to be vomited out.

He raised his head, his already pitch-black face now turning greenish-black, his eyes filled with despair.

"We... are we really going to go in from here?"

Controlling Gandalf, Zhou Huai replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Since we're already here, is there any reason not to go in?"

"Thor and the others have probably gone in long ago; if we hesitate any further, the Pendulum of Life really won't be left for us."

The muscles on Kalen's cheeks twitched violently, his expression uglier than crying.

"But this stinks way too much!"

"I'm afraid that before I even find the Pendulum of Life, I'll be suffocated to death by the smell!"

However, Gandalf's face showed a calm, unbothered expression.

"If they can go in, naturally we can go in too."

"It's just a mere stench, endure it for a bit and it will pass."

With that, under Kalen's dumbfounded gaze, Gandalf didn't hesitate at all as he stepped into the pitch-black opening.

Kalen widened his eyes, silently exclaiming what a good fellow.

This Gandalf was truly a ruthless person!

At a time like this, he could still remain so calm and unbothered.

"Damn it!"

Kalen hardened his heart and gritted his teeth.

"I'll risk it all!"

Taking a sharp, deep breath like a warrior heading to the execution ground, he followed closely behind Gandalf's footsteps and plunged headfirst into that darkness and stench capable of devouring the soul.

However, what Kalen didn't know was.

The very moment Gandalf stepped into the opening, Zhou Huai's main consciousness disconnected from Gandalf's body instantly, like getting an electric shock.

Are you kidding me?

With such a terrifying stench, he, Zhou Huai, didn't want to smell it for even an extra second.

He only needed to observe the environment inside the cave from a god's perspective through Gandalf's eyes and continuously send instructions to the Intellect Core AI.

As for the stench comparable to a biological weapon, let the AI, which lacked a sense of smell, endure it.

...

The moment he stepped into the cave, a soft and viscous tactile sensation came from underfoot, like stepping onto some thick moss.

The interior of the cave was not pitch black.

Embedded along the fleshy walls were strange stones emitting a soft blue light, flickering dim and bright like breathing, bringing a hint of eerie light to this dark passage.

Through Gandalf's perspective as he moved forward continuously, Zhou Huai quickly discovered that his previous judgment seemed to have been mistaken.

He had originally thought that Thor and those four people had also entered from this opening.

But looking at it now, it didn't seem to be the case.

The soft fleshy walls underfoot would leave a clear footprint with every step.

However, there wasn't a single footprint on the path ahead.

Clearly, no one had ever set foot here before.

It seemed Thor and the others couldn't stand this terrifying stench either and chose other entrances.

Yet he and Kalen had gritted their teeth and plunged headfirst in.

Oh well.

Zhou Huai muttered inwardly.

Since they were already in, they might as well roll with it.

Perhaps this path could lead them to the location of the Pendulum of Life even faster than Thor and the others.

Venturing several hundred meters deeper.

From Gandalf's perspective, Zhou Huai saw even more stones emitting blue light.

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

Zhou Huai recognized this material at a glance.

He had seen it on the twenty-third floor of the Dungeon Tower at the Imperial Capital Academy.

【Heart of the Tides】.

A rare forging material containing extremely rich Water-element elements.

Weapons forged with it could greatly enhance the power of water-type skills.

On the market, just a single one could sell for a sky-high price of over a million Daxia Coins.

And here, the quantity was actually so immense!

Looking out, densely packed, there were at least over a hundred of them!

He struck it rich!

Zhou Huai felt a burst of joy in his heart and immediately instructed Gandalf to step forward, preparing to pry one off and try it out.

Gandalf extended that withered palm, his five fingers curled like hooks, and clamped fiercely onto one of the 【Heart of the Tides】!

With a mighty pry!

"Pop!"

A soft sound.

That million-worth 【Heart of the Tides】 was easily pried off the writhing fleshy wall by him.

However, the exact moment the stone was pried off.

A sudden change occurred!

Hisss—!

A thick, inarticulable green gas, like a volcano suppressed for ten thousand years, suddenly gushed out from the gap in the fleshy wall!

Seeing this, Zhou Huai was startled.

He thought some trap had been triggered.

He quickly instructed Gandalf to pull back and retreat.

However, he soon discovered.

Gandalf's health value didn't decrease by even a shred.

On the contrary, Kalen following right behind him—whose face had already turned flushed red from holding his breath—completely snapped the moment he came into contact with that green gas.

"Blech—!"

Supporting himself against the fleshy wall beside him, he let out a soul-rending bout of dry heaving.

That already charred-black face had now turned completely pale.

Clearly, this green gas wasn't any kind of poisonous gas.

But rather a super invincible enhanced version of the stench that was a hundred times more concentrated than the previous smell!

"Quick... hurry up and run!"

Feeling as though his internal organs were about to be rotted by the stench, Kalen pointed at the pitch-black passage ahead and roared in a hoarse voice.

"I'm reaching my limit! Every second I stay here, I feel like I'm eating shit!"

"At this rate, I'm going to be suffocated to death alive right away!"

With that, he couldn't even be bothered to care about Gandalf anymore.

Like a mad wild bull, he crashed blindly and sprinted toward the deeper parts of the cave!

Seeing this scene, Zhou Huai almost laughed out loud.

Seeing that the green gas didn't pose any substantive danger.

He simply stopped rushing forward.

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

In the span of just a few minutes.

The blue stones on the fleshy walls on both sides of this passage were completely looted clean by Gandalf.

Roughly estimating, there were at least over a hundred and thirty of them.

And with each 【Heart of the Tides】 pried off, a large amount of green gas would be released from the fleshy walls.

At this moment, the green gas inside this passage had reached an extremely terrifying state of concentration.

Good thing Kalen ran fast.

Otherwise, he likely would have become the first SS-Rank Expert in this world to be stinking-dead alive.

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

Directing Gandalf, he quickly crossed this reeking corridor.

Walking past the narrow corridor.

The path ahead suddenly opened up.

However, an even bigger problem followed.

Gandalf seemed to have entered a gigantic maze.

Right before him appeared a dozen or so pitch-black passages.

Every single one led in a different direction, and even two were suspended right above their heads.

Kalen was standing not far away, panting heavily.

His complexion had improved a lot.

Clearly, the stench here had dissipated quite a bit.

Seeing this, Zhou Huai finally transferred his consciousness back onto Gandalf's body.

Sure enough.

The air here was much fresher.

Although some faint stench still lingered, it was already within his acceptable range.

Seeing that Gandalf had stayed in there for so long before coming out, Kalen's face immediately revealed heartfelt admiration.

He gave Gandalf a thumbs-up.

"To be able to stay in such a stinky place for so long."

"I really have to admire you!"

Controlling Gandalf, Zhou Huai smiled indifferently.

"A minor matter."

"If there were still Heart of the Tides inside, I could stay even longer."

Kalen: "..."

He felt that he wasn't from the same world as this Forbidden Spell Mage from Great Xia Nation at all.

He shook his head and stopped dwelling on this topic.

Instead, he cast his gaze toward the dozen or so pitch-black passages ahead with a solemn expression.

"Never mind the Heart of the Tides for now; we'd better think carefully about where to go next."

"There are simply too roads in front of us now; the inside of this big guy is a giant maze."

He irritably scratched his already messy hair.

"We can't possibly try them one by one, right?"

"When on earth would that take us?"

Controlling Gandalf, Zhou Huai calmly looked around.

Indeed.

Without any clues, trying to find the correct path from these dozen passages was no different from searching for a needle in a haystack.

But did he really have no clues?

Zhou Huai's gaze flickered slightly.

He silently controlled Gandalf to take out the six bronze keys emanating an archaic aura one by one from the Storage Ring.

Seeing this, Kalen first froze for a moment, then suspicious doubt appeared on his face.

"Why did you take this thing out?"

"Isn't it already useless?"

Zhou Huai did not answer.

He calmly placed the six keys neatly upon the soft fleshy wall underfoot.

Still that same standard circular pattern.

However, this time, the bizarre light anticipated didn't appear.

The six keys simply lay quietly there like six pieces of unremarkable scrap metal.

Seeing this, Kalen's face immediately showed an I-told-you-so expression.

He waved his hand somewhat impatiently.

"Look, didn't I say this thing was already useless?"

"Let's just hurry up and randomly pick a path to walk, don't waste time here."

"If we dawdle any longer, that Pendulum of Life is really going to be snatched away by that bastard Thor!"

Zhou Huai still ignored him.

He controlled Gandalf to slowly squat down.

Extending his palm, he gently pressed down onto one of the keys.

A trace of faint magical power, like a trickling stream, slowly poured from his palm.

Hum—!

A sudden change occurred!

At this very moment, the six bronze keys that had already lost their luster burst forth simultaneously with a dazzling golden brilliance without any warning!

The light was so dazzling that Kalen even instinctively raised his hand to block his eyes!

Immediately following.

An aged, primordial voice, as if crossing endless spacetime, exploded boomingly and directly within the depths of both people's souls without any warning!

That voice was genderless and devoid of any emotion.

Yet it was filled with a certain irresistible majesty and vastness.

Just hearing it made one's soul tremble involuntarily!

"Come... find... me..."