### Chapter 7: Exploration (6)
As Lin Nan climbed upward, her mind was blissfully unaware of the chaos around her; she simply didn’t want Trissa to slow her down.
However, as she trudged upward, she suddenly felt the temperature behind her soaring, like someone was about to turn into a walking furnace.
She stopped abruptly and turned around, asking, “Are you feeling okay? Dizziness?”
Trissa, caught off guard by Lin Nan’s sudden stop, shook her head vigorously, “No, no, I’m fine, really!”
Lin Nan shot her a quizzical look but continued her ascent.
Trissa pressed her hand against her wildly thumping heart, letting out a deep sigh.
For some inexplicable reason, she suddenly felt as if she could never return to the way things used to be.
After about ten minutes, the group of seven finally reached the top of the Sky Tower, standing in front of a circular building roughly the size of a basketball court.
Lin Nan dropped Trissa unceremoniously and asked, “Feeling better?”
Trissa’s cheeks were flushed, and she nodded hurriedly, “Don’t worry, I… I’m already fine.”
Just as Trissa finished speaking, seven towering giants, standing two meters tall, suddenly appeared around the entrance, brandishing sharp weapons and staring coldly at Lin Nan’s group.
“Please present the decree from the Right Protector.”
Lin Nan nodded, “Sure, here you go.”
Under Trissa and the others’ concerned gazes, Lin Nan slowly approached the first giant, her right hand dramatically diving into her pocket as if pulling something out.
But just when she was less than a meter away, Lin Nan swiftly drew the long kn*fe issued to patrolling soldiers, slicing through the giant’s neck in a graceful arc.
“Thud…”
The giant’s head plopped off cleanly and his body wobbled for a moment before crashing over the railing and plummeting to the ground below.
“Enemy attack! Enemy attack!”
The remaining giants immediately bellowed.
Their shouts pierced through the air, reaching the ears of the people in Cold Wind City.
Everyone instantly grabbed their weapons, and the tiger demon nervously looked toward the top of the tower, completely taken aback that anyone could sneak up to the top under such tight security.
Zi Yi promptly leaped a few times, landing on the side of the Sky Tower, then began to scale it with the speed of a spider.
Lin Nan, anticipating the commotion, yelled at Trissa and the others, “What are you waiting for? Go, go, go!”
The long-simmering killing intent from the seven exploded forth, slicing into the giants’ defense like tigers descending from the mountains.
Although the giants were massive and strong, their agility was not their strong suit.
Perhaps they were merely nominal guards; after all, the soldiers of Cold Wind City were stationed on the outer defenses, and they never expected to encounter unidentified invaders at the top of the tower.
Trissa was about to summon her four-stringed harp but was stopped by Lin Nan.
“You stay behind me; we can’t reveal our identities yet.”
Trissa nodded and immediately trailed closely behind Lin Nan.
In her eyes, this mysterious and powerful harpist, blessed by the God of Harmony, seemed all-knowing. The kn*fe in her hand was like an extension of her fingers, striking down half of the obstructing giants with ease.
She felt a rush of excitement, her heart racing like a wild deer.
The bl**d and gore splattered around her resembled dazzling fireworks celebrating Lin Nan’s victory; the brighter the colors, the faster her heart thumped.
In the blink of an eye, the group had cut down all the blocking giants and stormed into the Sky Tower.
The ruckus behind them was deafening, and Zi Yi climbed with the speed of a shooting star.
However, when she jumped into the top railing, the sight of corpses and bl**d on the ground sent a chill down her spine.
d*mn it, no time!
She thought about pursuing them inside, but then remembered the instructions left by Left Protector Fu, which were to guard Black Stone City. If she disobeyed… well, the consequences were too terrifying to contemplate.
Alright, the Sky Tower below was filled with the organization’s elites.
These small fry probably couldn’t stir up much trouble even if they snuck in.
All she could do was secure the Sky Tower and ensure no one else infiltrated.
Zi Yi glared darkly at the ground, the tiny figure of the tiger demon flickering in and out of the shadows.
She licked her lips; perhaps that useless guy could take a break for now.
…
“Ahhh…”
Just as Lin Nan and her group burst into the circular room at the top of the Sky Tower, an oval entrance that looked like an endless void appeared before them.
With pursuers hot on their heels, Lin Nan didn’t want to waste any more time battling enemies.
So, she grabbed Trissa, who was taken completely by surprise, and they jumped into the entrance that resembled a deep forest pool.
The others followed promptly.
With their feet dangling in mid-air and plummeting rapidly, Trissa couldn’t help but let out a bl**d-curdling scream.
Lin Nan had snuck up beside her at some point and softly shushed her.
Trissa immediately forced herself to suppress her fear, focusing her attention on Lin Nan, who was almost holding her hand.
“Be careful.”
As soon as Lin Nan spoke, Trissa barely had time to react before she felt herself soaring through the air, twirling gracefully before a strong hand gently caught her rear end and set her down on the ground.
Trissa’s cheeks turned crimson as she mumbled, “Thank you.”
She realized Lin Nan had cushioned her landing to prevent her from getting hurt.
Lin Nan simply replied with a casual, “No problem,” and shifted her gaze to their surroundings.
Trissa stared blankly for a moment before noticing that everything around was pitch black, with only a few flickering phosphorescent lights indicating their location.
“Underground? Is this underground?” Trissa exclaimed.
She looked up in disbelief, “But we just climbed to the top of the Sky Tower!”
Lin Nan explained, “That’s what I was trying to tell you. The reason the Sky Tower doesn’t have a ground level is because its upper entrance connects straight underground. Or, you could think of it as a separate Small Cave Heaven.
The whole Small Cave Heaven is underground.”
Lin Nan hadn’t fully pieced this together before Zi Yi arrived.
In general understanding, one would expect to access underground levels from a ground entrance.
But, the Fu she mentioned had already gone into the Sky Tower.
So Lin Nan and her group had always been near the palace on the ground level. If Fu Yetian was nearby, how could she not notice anything?
Thus, there had to be something off about the top of the Sky Tower.
What they were seeing now undoubtedly confirmed her suspicions.
From the outside, the Sky Tower looked like a solid tower, but inside it was actually a Small Cave Heaven that went down a hundred levels.
The top was the only entrance.
Now that they had burst into the Sky Tower, they were undoubtedly beneath the ground level.
But just then, they heard faint voices coming from above their heads.
