Over the next few days, Lynn Lin left the garden several times, always accompanied by Evan Yang. Since word had already spread that Prince Adrian Wood intended to marry Lynn Lin, everyone treated her with considerable respect—some even tried to curry favor. So every time she returned, Lynn had managed to collect quite a few valuable items.
"You've gotten a lot of good stuff these days," Evan Yang said with a smile.
"Of course! Otherwise, how could I be sure I could leave this place? All these things are important. After today, tomorrow, I can make the antidote—and I've figured out how to escape, too. When the time comes, we'll be able to get out." Lynn Lin said, smiling.
"That's great," Evan Yang replied with a smile, though he couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed—he still hadn't met that mysterious woman.
He thought today would be another peaceful day, but then a squad of guards arrived, asking to see Evan Yang. Evan and Lynn Lin, curious, went out to meet them and saw the group of guards.
The lead guard handed something over and said, "Here, this is your competition token."
"Competition token? What's that?" Evan Yang asked suspiciously.
"It's all recorded on it. You'll understand once you look," said the guard, then left with his group.
Evan Yang examined the token curiously. Inside, it contained detailed information. After reading it, he laughed, "So that's what this is about. Prince Adrian Wood really isn't letting me off the hook."
"What's wrong?" Lynn Lin asked, puzzled.
Evan Yang frowned. How could such a large clan allow random tunnel digging? If it were possible, everything would be chaos. Curious, Evan Yang asked, 'How did you dig it?'
'This,' Lynn Lin said, taking out a shovel.
Evan Yang saw that the shovel was no ordinary item and asked curiously, 'What is this?'
'I found it when I was young in a deep mountain near Southspirit Palace. At first, I thought it was just an ordinary shovel, but I discovered that with a light stroke I could dig a huge, deep hole. Realizing its power, I kept it with me and used it for many things,' Lynn Lin laughed.
Evan Yang laughed at Lynn Lin's story, 'You're lucky to have found such a treasure. I wonder who made it.'
'Doesn't matter, as long as it works,' Lynn Lin laughed.
'Alright, let's go down.' Evan Yang was curious about how the tunnels below were formed—surely not everyone had such a shovel. He noticed the shovel could break through barriers, since there were barriers below that Lynn Lin had pierced to make a hole.
Lynn Lin, unaware, thought others had dug the tunnels. So the two went down one after another. Seeing the tunnels below, Evan Yang asked suspiciously, 'Have you walked through these tunnels?'
Lynn Lin replied, 'I've walked a bit, but I was afraid of getting lost, so I didn't go all the way. Why?'
'These tunnels aren't simple. Let's hurry and move on,' Evan Yang said.
Lynn Lin nodded. Although she didn't know what was going on, it was best to move quickly, so she led Evan Yang along the tunnel she had dug. Suddenly, she stopped, her eyes wide in shock. Evan Yang saw her and asked suspiciously, 'What's wrong?'
'It's gone,' Lynn Lin replied.
'Gone? What's gone?' Evan Yang asked.
'The marks I left—the way out of House Wood,' Lynn Lin said in shock.
Evan Yang asked curiously, 'What marks?'
'I scraped small marks with my shovel all the way. They stop here,' Lynn Lin replied.
Evan Yang looked closely and saw there were indeed marks on the original path, so he crouched down and began to examine the end of the tunnel.
After finishing his inspection, he muttered, 'So that's it.'
'What's wrong?' Lynn Lin asked curiously.
'Someone's been here,' Evan Yang said.
Hearing Evan Yang's words, Lynn Lin looked around nervously. 'Who? Who's been here?' She thought if someone from House Wood discovered them, they'd be in trouble.
'Don't worry, they've left for now. Besides, they probably didn't notice—otherwise, they could have followed the marks to your room,' Evan Yang said.
'That's true. Good thing,' Lynn Lin sighed.
Evan Yang continued to examine the area, then looked at the footprints and noticed they weren't human. No wonder the original path wasn't found. Curious, he wondered if there was something underground and told Lynn Lin about it.
Lynn Lin exclaimed in shock after hearing this, 'What? You said they're not human?'
'Yeah, look at the footprints,' Evan Yang said.
Lynn Lin crouched down, lit a fire in a special way, and looked ahead. There were indeed unknown footprints ahead—three-clawed and strange-looking.
'What do we do? Do I have to dig all over again?' Lynn Lin muttered.
'Don't worry. Let's follow the footprints and see what it is,' Evan Yang said curiously.
'No way! What if it's House Wood's guardian beast?' Lynn Lin exclaimed.
'Guardian beast?' Evan Yang asked suspiciously.
'That's right. Some say Wood Imperial City hides a huge group of guardian beasts. They're rarely seen, only appearing when the city faces a crisis. Once, some Gods brought armies to attack Wood Imperial City, and the guardian beasts appeared to resolve the crisis,' Lynn Lin said.
Evan Yang listened to Lynn Lin's words, looking skeptical. He hadn't expected House Wood to be even more frightening than it appeared. But since there was no way out, they had to follow the path—maybe they'd find an exit, which was better than digging a new tunnel. So Evan Yang said, 'Let's go. If it's a guardian beast, we'll leave quickly.'
'But guardian beasts are powerful. I'm afraid we'll become their food before we can escape,' Lynn Lin said gloomily.
'Don't worry, I've got a way,' Evan Yang said, confident in his Strange Spiral Shell—even if he was eaten, he'd be fine, so he wasn't worried.
Lynn Lin was curious. She had no way to avoid the guardian beasts, so how could Evan Yang? But seeing Evan so confident, she decided to trust him for now. They followed the footprints.
After about half an hour, they reached a blue-glowing underground space. There, a spirit beast was sleeping—the guardian beast, according to Lynn Lin. It had three claws, and many smaller spirit beasts were around.
'Wow, so many! It'd be great to take one,' Lynn Lin said excitedly.
As soon as she finished speaking, the sleeping spirit beast seemed to hear her voice, opened its eyes, and looked toward Evan Yang and Lynn Lin.
Evan Yang was shocked, 'Damn, let's go!'
He pulled Lynn Lin to run back. The spirit beast sensed danger and quickly charged toward them.
'Didn't you have a way?' Lynn Lin said gloomily, not expecting this outcome.
'Use your shovel—dig here and fill it in,' Evan Yang said.
Lynn Lin glared, not expecting to have to do it herself. She took out her shovel and dug furiously, filling the tunnel behind them with earth, angering the spirit beast.
Evan Yang knew this would definitely alarm House Wood, so he told Lynn Lin to fill in all the paths they'd taken. Evan Yang added special confusing formations, making the underground maze even messier. When they returned to their room, they quickly blocked the tunnel entrance.
'Whew, it's fine now,' Lynn Lin said gloomily.
'Who says it's fine? I still need to seal the tunnel entrance. Move aside,' Evan Yang told Lynn Lin. He started working on the entrance, even using Painting Arrays. The tunnel vanished, leaving no trace.
Lynn Lin was stunned, 'How did you do that?'
'I'm not strong, but I learned some formations as a kid. This is nothing,' Evan Yang replied.
'So that's it,' Lynn Lin replied. Then she quickly recovered, 'It's all your fault! Now we're trapped, all because you wanted to see the guardian beast.'
'Hey, you're the one who spoke so loudly and woke it up,' Evan Yang said gloomily.
Lynn Lin knew it was her fault, but refused to admit it and insisted on blaming Evan Yang. The two started arguing until a voice came from outside, 'Steward Yang, the competition is about to start. Prince Adrian Wood has been calling for you.'
Evan Yang then remembered the competition.
'Damn, there's still that,' Evan Yang muttered.
'Now we're in trouble,' Lynn Lin frowned.
'Don't worry, when the boat reaches the bridge, it'll straighten out. Let's go,' Evan Yang said, deciding to go to avoid suspicion.
As expected, the guardian beast's rampage drew the attention of House Wood's leaders. In the Wood Immortal Hall, an elder opened his eyes and asked three subordinates, 'What's going on? Why is the underground guardian beast agitated?'