Who let him join the Sword Sect?!

"Do you guys really not know there's a secret passage here?"

Not only Pei Zhen and the others, but even Chen Qin shook their heads.

Zhang Ze thought for a moment and felt it was normal for them not to know.

When this secret passage was being dug, Pei Zhen and the others weren't here, and Chen Qin happened to have returned to the Main Pavilion.

The Thousand Mechanism Pavilion has many secret passages, half of which were initially dug by Fuji, originally intended as staff passages for the Underground City, but temporarily left unused for various reasons.

The other half were planned by Zhang Ze and Lily, and then dug by Fuji upon their request.

But these grand plans also collapsed for various reasons.

Like the secret passage in front of them and its associated Underground City.

This matter started with Old Tang. After witnessing the Paper Girl drawn by Old Tang, Zhang Ze came up with a new idea.

He planned to build a new Underground City, where various high-quality paper male figures and barely clothed paper girls would be refreshed based on the situation.

Then, in those caves illuminated with small pink lights, and under the beds, on the wallheads and other blind spots, they would ambush some Thousand Mechanism Puppets wielding knives and axes.

It must allow the cultivators of Cyan Thorn to truly understand the meaning of "no woman in heart, drawing the sword naturally divinely" and "the character for lust is topped with a knife."

To achieve perfection, Zhang Ze not only teamed up with Old Tang but also sought out Mr. Wang Buyu.

Under the guidance of these experienced seniors, scenes like Peach Garden Flower Street, Hundred Turn Silk Cave, Weak Water Immortal Market were all perfectly planned.

However, when they were about to fill the Underground City with goods after deceiving the innocent Fuji to dig it, this matter was discovered by Li.

Li, as a righteous good master, immediately took down Zhang Ze and hung him up for a lesson.

But because he couldn't take down Old Tang and Wang Buyu, the matter continued to progress.

Peach Garden Flower Street was already half-built.

For the sake of the Sword Sect and the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion's reputation, Li went to find the Pavilion Master.

Zhengyi stepped in and took down Wang Buyu on the spot, punishing him with ten years of salary.

As for Old Tang...

Zhengyi felt that only the person who tied the bell could untie it, and this is what he told Zhang Ze.

"Think about it, what would happen if the Sect Leader found out about this."

Zhang Ze thought this made sense and persuaded Old Tang to back down, and only then was the matter officially concluded.

"That's the story." Zhang Ze walked in the secret passage, several blue light clusters spinning and flying around him, illuminating the surroundings.

Chen Qin nodded and then asked, "Was Peach Garden Flower Street demolished?"

"I don't think so, but it was only half-built. I suspect the so-called ghost might be the paper men left behind there." Zhang Ze said.

"Anyway, let's go over there and take a look first."

...

On the ground, Pei Zhen looked at the entrance to the secret passage, seeming as though he wanted to follow in and take a look.

But before he could decide, Old Man Lu smacked the back of his head.

"What are you looking at? You want to be a third wheel?"

Pei Zhen held his head, feeling speechless.

He only learned the term third wheel after joining the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion, and he couldn't believe Old Man Lu, at his age, learned it so quickly.

"If you want to find a wife, focus on cultivation. With improved cultivation, you'll have everything. Let's go, let's go." Meng Jiang casually patted him too.

Watching the two elders with youthful vigor, Pei Zhen rubbed his head and followed them back to the courtyard.

...

Underground, Peach Garden Flower Street.

Pushing open the hidden door of the secret passage, Zhang Ze led Chen Qin out.

After the project was put on hold, no one had come here. The half-built Flower Street now looked eerie, with a chilling wind blowing inexplicably from somewhere.

"This is quite the atmosphere.

Senior brother, why not just change it to Ghost Street?" Chen Qin suggested.

Zhang Ze closed the secret door, looking at the ghostly Peach Garden Flower Street, and thought his junior sister was spot on.

To prevent customers from getting aesthetic fatigue, they must come up with new tricks. Plus, adding a couple of female ghosts to Ghost Street would be perfect; no one could say anything this time.

"Such places as Ghost Street become uninteresting when crowded; turning it into a small-scale single-player Underground City is just right." Zhang Ze pondered.

"We can build a temple and plant a big locust tree." Chen Qin proposed.

"Sure, I've already thought of a name for the new Underground City. Let's call it Rulan Temple." Zhang Ze said.

The senior brother and junior sister chatted idly as they walked.

But as they were about to reach the main building of the Flower Street, they suddenly stopped and simultaneously fell silent.

They heard sounds coming from the building.

A faint metallic clanging sound came intermittently from the third floor of the main building.

Chen Qin took out the Flying Sword, Shadowless, the three-inch gray flying sword circled them once, a gray misty curtain shielding Zhang Ze and Chen Qin.

But when they flew to the third floor, the sound had vanished.

Looking through the window, the room was empty, with no one moving around inside.

However, because this Flower Street had been abandoned for a long time, the dust on the ground pointed the way for Zhang Ze and Chen Qin.

There were many small footprints on the ground, all leading to a wall where they disappeared.

Climbing in through the window, he and Chen Qin cast spells to sense the area and confirmed no one was there.

Zhang Ze recalled the design details of this main building and walked over to the wall, gently tapping it with his fingers.

According to the initial design, there shouldn't be any mechanism behind this wall; it should be a solid mountain wall.

But listening to the sound, it was hollow behind the wall.

The two exchanged a glance. Chen Qin took out a bronze bell and shook it softly. A brass-colored shield of light appeared in front of them, briefly flashing and then disappearing.

After ensuring their safety measures were in place, they simultaneously used an escape technique to step behind the wall.

Behind the wall was a passage.

"Was this dug by your people?" Chen Qin asked.

Zhang Ze shook his head, not recalling having done such a thing.

He then put away his playful demeanor and took out a small walnut to ask the group a question.

[Zhang Ze: Lily, did you mess around digging tunnels on Flower Street?]

[Lily: Why am I always the first suspect for bad things! It wasn't me.]

[Fuji: Flower Street? We haven't been there again.]

[Fuji's Smurf: Yeah, never been there!]

[Tang: Not been there.]

[Qiao Lezhi: What's Flower Street?]

...

Zhang Ze asked around, but no one knew anything about a hidden passage here.

"Let's go over and take a look first."

The tunnel was long and haphazardly dug, with some places barely passable, leaving it unclear who it was meant for.

They spent about half a stick of incense walking time before reaching the end of the tunnel, which led to a cavern.

Exiting the tunnel, the two hid behind a stone pillar and peered into the cavern, where Chen Qin let out a small gasp.

Zhang Ze and Chen Qin saw a large group of Five Elements Little Ghosts.

The cavern at the tunnel's end resembled a market, bustling with various colors of Five Elements Little Ghosts.

Some of them, wearing stolen shorts, were showing off the patterns on their shorts to their companions with great pride.

The other little ghosts sat or stood, making a cacophony of sounds; they seemed to be chatting.

These little ghosts, summoned with the five-element power condensed by the Five Ghost Transport technique, were now displaying intelligence beyond their kind.

Looking at the shorts and other trinkets, it seemed likely that these little ones were behind the haunting at the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion.

"Senior Brother, what's going on?" Chen Qin asked.

With the flying sword Shadowless masking their presence, the little ghosts remained unaware.

Zhang Ze wasn't quite sure what was happening but felt it likely had something to do with him.

These little ghosts were clearly related to the first spell he stitched together: the Spirit Recognition Technique combined with the Five Ghost Transport, forming the Qi Cultivation Stage spell, Golden Armor Soldiers.

Though the spell held sentimental value and still ranked in the top ten of Thousand Mechanism Town's bookstore sales, Zhang Ze hadn't used it for a long time.

For him now, the spell's power was somewhat inadequate.

This low-level cultivation technique, which should have disappeared from Zhang Ze's immortal cultivation journey, brought about an unexpected change.

Just as Zhang Ze intended to call someone over to enjoy the spectacle, he saw someone unexpected.

It had truly been a long time since he last saw this person; it was somewhat impolite, but Zhang Ze had nearly forgotten about him.

"Sword Spirit Senior?"

As one of the founding elders of the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion, Sword Spirit Senior appeared among the little ghosts in a flash of golden light, holding a box.

Inside the box Sword Spirit held were the magical artifacts stolen from Pei Zhen and the others.

Sword Spirit Senior raised his hand, and one of the silver-white artifacts floated into the air, changing colors continuously until it settled on blue, forming ice crystals in the surrounding air.

The flying ice crystals transformed into blades before exploding in the air and then turning into gently falling snowflakes.

This magical artifact, which human cultivators couldn't easily control, functioned smoothly in Sword Spirit Senior's hands.

The surrounding little ghosts clapped and laughed gleefully at the sight of the snowflakes.

Sword Spirit took out several other artifacts, maneuvering them just as skillfully, and watched them zip around the cavern while mumbling to himself.

"Indeed, it works, how interesting."

"I'll go find Zhang Ze tomorrow; he'll surely be interested in this."

After speaking, Sword Spirit clapped his hands to catch the attention of the little ghosts.

"Stop stealing things from now on, and return all of these tomorrow."

"Gua!" The little ghosts made a strange, unintelligible cry.