Becoming an immortal against the will of heaven

Contrary to everyone's expectations, the inside of this black hole was not pitch black. Instead, it shimmered with various magnificent lights, reflecting each other in a dazzling display.

After Chen Tian and the others jumped into the black hole, their bodies involuntarily plummeted downwards at a rapid pace. But at that moment, a gentle force surged from all directions, supporting their bodies and preventing their descent from being too uncomfortable.

After an unknown amount of time, the beautiful radiance gradually disappeared, and endless darkness surged back, making everyone feel as if they were in a night where they couldn't even see their own fingers.

At the same time, the opening began to narrow downwards, and stone walls that had been artificially chiseled appeared around them. Clearly, they were not far from the ground.

Sure enough, after falling for a while longer, everyone's feet touched a soft patch of mud. This was the bottom of the black hole, the entrance to the ancient ruins.

At this moment, Cao Fangcun snapped his fingers, and several sparks of flame flew out from his fingertips, dispelling the darkness and revealing the surrounding scenery to everyone.

They saw a space similar to a cylinder, with hard stone walls all around. In the southeast direction, there was a huge stone door with the words 'Smoky Wave Grotto' engraved on it in an ancient seal script.

"How is everyone? Is anyone injured?" After roughly scanning the surroundings, Cao Fangcun asked the gray-robed elder and the others.

The others shook their heads, indicating that they were fine.

Immediately afterward, they gathered around the stone door. Everyone knew that the ancient ruins were likely inside.

However, after carefully searching for a long time, the gray-robed elder and the others could not find any gaps in the stone door, not even a keyhole. This strange situation could not help but make the recently calmed crowd feel puzzled again.

Chen Tian also took this opportunity to repeatedly examine the stone door, but ultimately found nothing. It was as if the stone door was connected to the surrounding stone walls, merely an ornament.

Just as everyone was in a state of shock and uncertainty, Cao Fangcun suddenly gave a strange smile. Then, he walked to the stone door and smiled at everyone, saying, "Everyone, please be patient. Let our Cao family open this door."

Hearing this, the gray-robed elder and the others all looked at him, their eyes filled with surprise.

However, Cao Fangcun ignored them. He exchanged a glance with the other two Cao family elders, and then they simultaneously silently chanted a series of obscure and difficult incantations. After a long while, bursts of dazzling light suddenly erupted from the space between their eyebrows, shining on the huge stone door.

Under the illumination of this light, the stone door, which had been tightly sealed, suddenly emitted a chaotic roar like 'Rumble... Rumble...', and then opened from the bottom up, revealing a narrow tunnel.

Seeing this scene, Chen Tian was not too surprised. He knew that the Cao family had guarded the ancient ruins for many years and must be very familiar with its structure, which was why they could open the stone door so easily.

However, one thing that Chen Tian was very concerned about was that Cao Fangcun could have stood up earlier, but he did not. Instead, he waited for the gray-robed elder and the others to run into a wall before calmly coming out to open the stone door.

The purpose of his doing this was nothing more than to warn the gray-robed elder and the others: if it were not for their Cao family, then everyone would be unable to move forward, reminding the gray-robed elder not to go against them.

The gray-robed elder was not a fool. How could he not see such a simple demonstration of power? It was just that they were now under the control of others and could not say anything, so they could only swallow this resentment back into their stomachs.

"Alright, now that the entrance is open, please, Senior Ning, go in first." After the stone door was fully opened, Cao Fangcun turned to the gray-robed elder and smiled.

"Young Master Cao is joking. We were invited by your Cao family to come and help, so naturally, you should go first. We will follow behind," the gray-robed elder said, waving his hands repeatedly in the face of Cao Fangcun's 'kindness'.

For a moment, the two were extremely polite!

"Hey, Senior Ning, you're being too polite. We had an agreement that although the treasures in this ancient ruin belong to our Cao family, you also have a share, so why bother distinguishing so much between you and me? You are older, so please go first," Cao Fangcun continued to invite.

"Young Master Cao, if you say that again, you will really embarrass this old man. We were able to come in entirely thanks to the light of your Cao family. You are the host, and we are the guests. If the host does not go first, how dare the guests move?" Unlike his previous arrogance, the gray-robed elder was obviously much more restrained at this time, and continued to decline.

Hearing this, Cao Fangcun finally did not insist any further, smiled slightly, and said, "Alright, since Senior Ning has said so, then our Cao family will not be polite. Thank you, Senior, for your understanding."

With that, Cao Fangcun led the two Cao family elders and took the lead in walking into the opened tunnel.

However, just as Cao Fangcun and the others had just left, the gray-robed elder's smiling face instantly turned gloomy, and he felt quite angry in his heart.

Despite the smiles and politeness between the two of them just now, in reality, they were silently competing!

Cao Fangcun's invitation for the gray-robed elder to go first was intended to test him. However, after the incident just now, the gray-robed elder had already understood his situation, so he dared not be arrogant and humbly stepped aside.

Just as he said, the Cao family was the master here, and they were the guests. If they took over the role of the host, it would definitely provoke retaliation from the Cao family.

If it were just Cao Fangcun and the two Cao family elders, the gray-robed elder might not be afraid of them, but the difficulty lay in the fact that, in addition to them, there was also a Chen Tian!

Although Chen Tian's cultivation was the weakest among them, the gray-robed elder understood that even if the three of them joined forces, they would probably not be Chen Tian's opponent. And it was clear that Chen Tian and Cao Fangcun were old acquaintances and would definitely stand on the Cao family's side. As a result, the gray-robed elder dared not act rashly.

Thinking of this, the gray-robed elder turned around and gave Chen Tian a meaningful look, his eyes flickering, wondering what he was thinking.

"Brother Chen, come in quickly. It won't be long before we reach the periphery of this ruin." At this moment, Cao Fangcun, who had been walking forward, suddenly stopped and turned to call out to Chen Tian.

Chen Tian nodded upon hearing this, and then moved his feet slightly, intending to walk inside.

But at this moment, the gray-robed elder moved his lips slightly and used the method of sound transmission to secretly say a few words in Chen Tian's ear.

After hearing this, Chen Tian suddenly stopped, frowned, and looked at him deeply, but did not say anything and continued to walk forward.

At the same time, the gray-robed elder and the other two also followed in.