I took off the iron mask and said to Fatty and Rouyi, "It's me."

Fatty seemed a little disbelieving. He rubbed his eyes, pinched my face, and hugged me tightly. "Damn, Master, you really are a miracle maker!"

I was suffocating from Fatty's embrace, so I gently patted his back and coughed a few times before he let go.

Rouyi tugged at my sleeve, her eyes filled with tears, and said, "Master, it's so good to see you again."

I touched Rouyi's hair and flicked her nose, saying, "Don't cry. Shouldn't reunions be a happy occasion?"

"You won't leave us again, will you?" Rouyi looked at me earnestly, hoping I could give her a definite answer.

I didn't answer Rouyi, but gently hugged her.

Fatty sized me up from head to toe. "Hey, Master, I saw you die in the underwater stone city with my own eyes. How did you survive? And you've even rejuvenated. At first glance, you look younger than me."

Rouyi also asked me many questions, such as where I came from, how I infiltrated the Blackwater Security team, how I arrived at the underground ancient city, and why I knew Tocharian.

I gave a wry smile—

"Well... that's a long story."

I led them to the bank of the underground river and said to them, "Let me tell you another part of the history of this ancient city."

"This story begins with Zhang Jiao seeking medicine. The immortal mountain that Zhang Jiao was looking for was Kunlun Mountain, also known as Kunlun Xu, which is a legendary immortal mountain. In ancient times, the main peaks of Kunlun Mountain floated in the sky. It was a veritable immortal mountain in the sky. I don't know what methods Zhang Jiao and Fu Xiumo used, but they finally successfully found the entrance to the immortal mountain and also saw the supreme true immortals from Kunlun in the Western Regions.

"That immortal on Kunlun Mountain is the Queen Mother of the West."

Fatty was stunned and asked, "The Queen Mother of the West? The one we commonly call Wangmu Niangniang? Did this legendary figure really exist?"

I answered Fatty's question seriously and earnestly: "The Queen Mother of the West not only existed, but was also a god-like being."

Fatty was so shocked that his jaw dropped.

Fatty asked again, "Since the Queen Mother of the West is an immortal who exists in this world, with her abilities, it should be easy for her to rule the world. Why has she been guarding Kunlun?"

I shook my head and continued, "When Zhang Jiao and Fu Xiumo arrived at Kunlun, the Queen Mother of the West was actually on her deathbed. Her control over the immortal mountain was getting weaker and weaker. The peaks floating in the sky were crumbling. Perhaps Zhang Jiao and Fu Xiumo were able to sneak into the immortal mountain precisely because the Queen Mother of the West's control over the immortal mountain was weakening.

"But the key to entering the immortal mountain did not lie with Zhang Jiao and Fu Xiumo, but with the person who let them in and came out with them."

Rouyi exclaimed, "That iron-masked man?"

I nodded: "That's right. The iron-masked man was once a servant of the Queen Mother of the West. As the Queen Mother of the West became weaker and weaker, the power controlling the iron-masked man also became weaker and weaker. The power of the Queen Mother of the West was intertwined with the immortal mountain. When the Queen Mother of the West was present, the iron-masked man had no way to leave the immortal mountain. He had served the Queen Mother of the West for thousands of years and was already tired of it, and Zhang Jiao and Fu Xiumo were the straw that saved him."

Fatty's brows furrowed tighter and tighter, as if he had many questions in his mind.

"Then, the iron-masked man stole the three magical artifacts of the Queen Mother of the West, which are the three in my hand, namely the iron mask, the crystal skull, and the nine-section staff. Most of the nine-section staff was destroyed in the Yellow Turban Rebellion. The slingshot in my hand is made from the fragments of the nine-section staff. Its power is limited, and it can no longer change mountains and rivers and summon wind and rain like Zhang Jiao did back then, so I can't safely send Professor Chen out. I can only open a path for them and let them find a way out with their own abilities."

Fatty suddenly asked, "In other words, Professor Chen and the others... may still be in danger?"

I shook my head regretfully and put the skull in front of him: "You have all seen the power of the fluorescent skull. It can control life and death. All the vitality of this underground palace comes from this skull. The only place on this skull that can be touched is its bottom. Duan Pengfei and Wang Tienan were corroded by the skull because they touched other places. This kind of corrosion penetrates the internal organs and bone marrow. You can't see the internal situation from the outside. Their vitality has been closely linked to the skull. Although the river water has temporarily healed their hands, the healing power of the water also comes from this skull. As you can see, this skull is absorbing all the vitality and will also take the lives of the two of them."

I took out the iron mask again and said, "I have already told you the power of the nine-section staff... This iron mask has neither the ability to change mountains and rivers nor can it bestow vitality or revive the dead. It seems to have no magic power at all, but it is the strongest of these three magical artifacts. Because it can see what happened in the past and can deduce the future based on history, so I know everything that happened in the ancient city and also deduced that Professor Chen and the others will not be able to get out of this underground desert."

"Deduce the future..." Rouyi asked me suspiciously, "What did you see?"

"Deducing the future is just a possibility. You can see all the possible situations, but these situations cannot necessarily happen. Let me give you an example. For example, the Queen Mother of the West did not foresee that she would be betrayed by her servants, causing her treasures to be stolen; the iron-masked man did not foresee my appearance, causing his plans and waiting to ultimately fail." I explained to Rouyi.

"The iron-masked man foresaw the present thousands of years later?" Fatty asked in surprise, "Are you saying that everything happening in the underground palace now is within the iron-masked man's expectations?"

I nodded to Fatty: "That's right. He foresaw your arrival, but he didn't expect that I would take off his iron mask, causing his plan to fail... It all started when the iron-masked man secretly put on this iron mask in the immortal mountain."

I continued: "...After the iron-masked man put on the iron mask, he foresaw the death of the Queen Mother of the West, and also foresaw the fall of the immortal mountain. Even Zhang Jiao's insistence on returning to the Central Plains and Zhang Jiao's subsequent sudden death, he foresaw. Even thousands of years later, your encounter with the black sandstorm, falling into the quicksand, arriving at the underground ancient city, finding the fluorescent skull and triggering the restriction, were all within his expectations. He originally wanted to use you to revive all the citizens of the ancient city, including himself. He and Fu Xiumo had already planned this matter thousands of years ago. The coffin, the metal box, the stone gate, including the final arrival at the temple, were all designed by him."

Fatty was deeply shocked, but he suddenly asked another question: "If I had shot you dead when you and Fu Xiumo were negotiating, what would have happened?"