Evan Yang led the three downwards. The tunnel was so deep that after about half an hour, he finally reached the bottom—an Underworld Palace, complete with a dedicated waterway.
Seeing this, Evan Yang finally understood why water hadn’t worked—it was practically a bottomless pit.
When Evan Yang, Hannah Nangong, and Hector Xiang reached the Underworld Palace, they were visibly shocked.
"Do you two want to go inside for shelter?" Evan Yang noticed the others weren’t as fearless about poison as he was and asked, curious.
"No, I want to see for myself," Hector Xiang replied, gritting his teeth.
Hannah Nangong also refused to go in, so Evan Yang had no choice but to lead them through the palace.
It was easy to get lost in the Underworld Palace. The three moved cautiously, careful not to touch the walls to avoid getting poisoned.
"There are so many marks here," Hector Xiang said after a while.
"Marks? You mean these?" Evan Yang asked, noticing the ground was covered in spirit beast footprints of all sizes.
"Exactly. These marks are all from toads—some big, some small, but most are covered up by the bigger ones," Hector Xiang explained.
"You mean there are a lot of toads here?" Evan Yang asked curiously, scanning the tracks. Suddenly, a strange voice echoed: "Despicable human, you're not afraid of my poison?" Evan Yang was startled for a moment, but quickly regained his composure. "I didn't expect you to become sentient."
"Yeah, that's my guess. But it's strange—why would these toads come here?" Hector Xiang replied, puzzled. The strange voice continued, "That's right, I've become sentient and was about to head to the Demon Realm, but you damned humans injured me badly just as I was about to leave. So I had to hide here and recover."
"Let's follow these footprints and see where they lead," Evan Yang decided after a moment's thought. He glanced at the toad and said, "I see. No wonder there's a toad like you here—it turns out you came to this planet long ago."
Hannah Nangong nodded to Hector Xiang, then followed Evan Yang deeper inside. After a while, the space opened up, and a curved chamber appeared before them—like a meeting hall, but still cluttered with rocks. The toad snorted, "Hmph, you humans can ascend to immortality, so we spirit beasts can naturally go to the Demon Realm too. But you're too selfish. I never harmed you—why do you want to catch me?"
"What is this place?" Evan Yang asked suspiciously. He turned to the toad, "No harm? Then I'd like to know—how did you leave poison at the well?"
Hector Xiang looked at the rocks and the footprints, then said, "Could this be a toad gathering place?" The toad sneered, "You noticed? I was just taking revenge on some people—and besides, I needed some blood to heal the wounds humans gave me."
"A gathering place? What do you mean?" Evan Yang asked curiously. "Oh? So you've already harmed some people?" He was surprised the toad was answering so directly.
"I've heard that the older a toad gets, the stronger its influence. All the toads in the area have to obey it. That's what people in my sect say, but I don't know the details," Hector Xiang explained. The toad continued, "That's right. Every so often, I go seek human blood—but that's your fault, not mine."
"That's incredible," Evan Yang said in surprise. He faced the toad, "Enough talk. Running into me today is just your bad luck. I'm taking you down to prevent further harm to others."
"Yeah, judging by these footprints and this place," Hector Xiang said. The toad grumbled, "You humans are so despicable. You can harm us, but we can't harm you."