Gu Qinghe arrived at the snow palace on the fourth peak. Other cultivators had begun to gather, trying every possible way to activate the teleportation mechanism.

They fired their rune arrays, hoping to trigger the teleportation altar.

Dozens of cultivators had gathered inside the white palace. Yet none of them realized.

The inner courtyard floor they were standing on... was the very place where dozens of cultivators had been killed by Gu Qinghe.

Gu Qinghe stepped onto the courtyard floor. His eyes scanned the surroundings, but he could not find the old man anywhere.

There were only male and female cultivators from various sects.

In front of them stood a dark gray stone door at the center of the palace, like a grand gate.

Many cultivators had gathered there, trying to solve the mystery of the door.

But no matter how hard they tried, they failed to open it.

Gu Qinghe narrowed his eyes. He tapped his bag of holding and took out the stone token given by the old man.

After infusing it with his golden qi, he extended his glowing hand forward.

The token shot forward and attached itself to the stone door.

A burst of white qi erupted, startling the other cultivators.

They jumped back and turned toward Gu Qinghe.

"Senior... thank you very much," one of the cultivators said with a sly smile.

As soon as the door opened, he and the others rushed into the portal.

But something shocking happened.

They entered... but five seconds later, they were thrown back into the snow palace in a completely different state.

Their flesh was gone, leaving only bones. Their clothes still hung on their skeletal bodies. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

It was clear that the door meant death for anyone who entered.

"What the—"

"Be careful, fellow Daoists! That door is dangerous."

"Haha."

A laugh echoed through the area, a voice that sounded familiar to Gu Qinghe.

Gu Qinghe turned coldly to the side. The old man appeared in a flash of white light, his hand stroking his long beard.

"You deliberately let them die?" the old man asked.

"No. I didn’t know about that," Gu Qinghe replied.

"Haha!"

"None of you can enter that portal unless you have this stone token," the old man said.

"Activate it with your spiritual qi, and the portal will recognize you."

Everyone listened, then turned to look at Gu Qinghe. Doubt filled their expressions.

First, the old man’s cultivation was only Early Foundation Establishment. Second, his behavior was strange, and he had appeared too suddenly.

Those reasons were enough for them to suspect that the old man beside Gu Qinghe... was a fraud.

"Senior, do you believe him?" a female cultivator asked.

Gu Qinghe glanced at her briefly before looking forward again. "If you cannot see what’s different about him, then you don’t have the capacity to enter the Closed Dimensional Realm."

"HAHAHA!" the old man laughed loudly.

He was impressed. Gu Qinghe did not ask them to believe, but instead forced them to think.

If they could not even grasp something so basic, there was no point in begging the old man for a token.

"You may go, Gu Qinghe."

Gu Qinghe remained silent, cold and indifferent. He moved swiftly and entered the portal to the Closed Dimensional Realm, successfully passing through.

As the portal detected his qi, the stone door began to close on its own, and his token slowly faded away.

The cultivators finally realized the old man had been telling the truth.

The door closed, and Gu Qinghe did not return as bones.

Realizing this, they quickly surrounded the old man, begging him to give them stone tokens.

Now, the old man had become like an idol among them.

Elsewhere, Gu Qinghe opened his eyes and found himself flying through a dimensional tunnel, glowing with rainbow colors and filled with sparkling stars.

Ahead, a bright white light marked the end of the tunnel.

He increased his speed and shot forward, exiting the tunnel. Gu Qinghe lifted his head and looked ahead.

The fifth mountain was different from the others.

There was no dominant yin. Instead, the balance between yin and yang felt stable and harmonious.

Animals moved freely through the forest, completely undisturbed by his presence.

Small yellow fairies fluttered toward him. Gu Qinghe narrowed his eyes and raised his hand, extending a finger.

One of the fairies landed on his fingertip.

The fifth mountain is not what I expected.

He let the fairy fly away and prepared to take off using his qi. But something strange happened.

His eyes focused on the qi in his hand. It was being suppressed by something, preventing him from using his cultivation.

This is strange. This place neutralizes qi.

I need to be careful.

With no other choice, Gu Qinghe began climbing the mountain on foot, moving through the dense forest.

The yellow fairies continued to follow him, circling around him. Some of them even rested on his shoulders.

They seem drawn to something within me.

"It’s rare to see yellow fairies attracted to a cultivator," a voice said.

Gu Qinghe stopped and turned toward the sound, looking at a waterfall pool nearby.

There, a woman sat in cultivator robes, swinging her legs as she splashed water.

"Greetings, Senior Daoist."

The woman heard him and turned slightly, looking at him with a gentle expression.

"You just arrived? Was it old Yan Nan who gave you the token?"

So his name is Yan Nan.

"Yes."

"How did you get it?" she asked.

Gu Qinghe narrowed his eyes. "I don’t understand what you mean."

The woman smiled and let out a soft laugh. She stepped onto the grass, moving gracefully with her long blonde hair and elegant robes.

"Did you win it in a fight?" she asked.

"No."

"Trade an artifact for it?"

"No."

"Then?" she asked, confused.

"He gave it to me after I refused to fight and recognized his status," Gu Qinghe replied.

The blonde woman fell silent for a moment, carefully observing Gu Qinghe’s face.

She had known Yan Nan for hundreds of years and understood his personality well.

Because of Gu Qinghe’s answer, her curiosity grew.

"May I see your hand, fellow Daoist?" she asked.

Gu Qinghe narrowed his eyes slightly but did as she asked.

He opened his palm, and several small fairies immediately landed on it.

The woman formed a simple hand seal and directed it toward his palm.

A sudden burst of qi shocked both of them.

She opened her eyes, sensing the concentration of golden spiritual qi within Gu Qinghe’s body.

"Now I understand why Yan Nan gave you the token so easily... and why the fairies are drawn to you," she said with a graceful smile.

"What?"

"Your spiritual qi... is closely connected to the Heavenly Emperor Palace!"