The underground old lady.

Falling hundreds of feet like this on to solid ground could only result in death; but as soon as Yang Guo felt himself splashing into water, he was delighted; he knew that his life was not in danger. The current was strong and he had plunged deep into the water; he felt himself sinking downwards without end as if the water was depthless. He held his breath and waited until he slowed down before he swam upwards with his right hand while holding Lu E in his left hand. As soon as he reached the surface he took a breath and a sudden stench filled his nose; at the same time, the water on his left was breaking in waves, as if some large aquatic animal was coming towards them to attack.

A thought went through his mind, “That scoundrel trapped us down here, how can it be something good?” With his right hand he chopped a fierce palm towards the left side. A loud sound was heard as he struck a large solid object; a fierce turbulent wave followed. Yang Guo used the force from his palm to move to the right with Gongsun Lu E.

He wasn’t a great swimmer; the reason why he was able to last so long underwater was because he used his internal energy to hold his breath. It was pitch black; all he heard was urgent splashing sounds from behind and to the left of him. He sent his right hand out and suddenly brushed against a cold and coarse object. It appeared to be the scales of that creature, he was shocked, “Could it be that there’s such a thing as a Venom Dragon in this world?” He used the force in his hand and soared upwards with the strange creature forced under water by him. He took a deep breath, since he planned to dive underwater once again; but his right foot actually landed on solid ground. He wasn’t prepared for this and the impact on his leg was all wrong; his right leg was in great pain.

But he was too happy to care about the pain in his leg; he stretched out his hand to examine the surroundings and found a rock face by the pool. He was afraid that the strange creature would continue its attack so he quickly climbed to higher ground. Once he sat down, he became calmer. Gongsun Lu E had swallowed a few mouthfuls of water and she was half conscious. Yang Guo rested her on his lap and let her throw up the water. Then he heard scraping sounds on the rocks and a stench that was gradually becoming stronger and stronger; a few of the strange creatures from the pool had climbed out.

Gongsun Lu E sat up and hugged Yang Guo’s neck; alarmed she said, “What’s that?”

Yang Guo said, “Don’t be afraid; hide behind me.”

Gongsun Lu E didn’t move, she just held him tighter and quivered, “Crocodiles, crocodiles!”

When Yang Guo was living on Peach Blossom Island, he had seen countless crocodiles on the island; he knew that they were extremely vicious and violent, much more than the tigers and wolves of the land. One day, he, Guo Fu and the Wu brothers saw them but they didn’t try to annoy them and kept their distance from them. Today unexpectedly, he had come across some crocodiles in this underground pool. He listened carefully and from the sounds, he could tell that there were three crocodiles getting closer step by step.

Gongsun Lu E whispered, “Brother Yang, who would have thought that you and I would die in such a place?” Her voice was full of joy and comfort.

Yang Guo laughed, “Even if we are going to die, we first need to kill a few crocodiles before doing anything else.”

At that time, the first crocodile was already within ten feet of Yang Guo’s leg; Lu E called out, “Hit it quickly!”

Yang Guo said; “Just a little longer.” He stretched out his right foot and hung it down by his side; the crocodile advanced a few feet and opened its mouth, biting viciously at his leg. Yang Guo pulled his leg back and sent out a kick, striking the crocodile squarely in the jaw. The crocodile somersaulted in the air and landed back in the pool. The pool splashed and the other crocodiles in it clamored; but the other two crocodiles kept on advancing.

Though Yang Guo was poisoned by the Passion Flowers, his martial arts had not been affected in any way; the kick he just performed had a force of hundreds of kilos behind it. After he kicked the crocodile his foot ached slightly. However, the crocodile that he kicked was still moving freely after it landed back in the pool. He thought, “I can’t do anything to all these crocodiles empty-handed; if I continue like this me and Miss Gongsun will eventually end up in their stomachs. I must think of something else; how can I kill all these crocodiles?” He stretched out his hand in search of a large rock to use as a weapon; but there wasn’t anything on the rock face, not even a speck of sand. He heard the other two crocodiles getting closer and quickly asked, “Have you got a sword with you?”

Gongsun Lu E said, “With me?” She remembered how she took off her gown and dress; all she was wearing now was her underwear. Now, she was in the arms of Yang Guo; she immediately became embarrassed and her body flushed with heat. But deep in her heart, there was a sweet feeling of joy.

Yang Guo was just worried about being attacked by the crocodiles at the moment; he did not notice anything wrong with her. He heard the two crocodiles were now within ten feet of him, and there were another two behind him. It would be of no use to send out a palm and knock them back into the pool; after a short while they would come back again. It would just be a waste of effort; so he gathered energy and waited for the crocodiles to get within three feet of him before sending out both palms, striking the crocodiles on the head. The crocodiles weren’t that swift in turning and they couldn’t move out the way when the palms arrived. But their skin was thick; they were just knocked unconscious and slipped back into the pool. Just at that time, the other two crocodiles behind him arrived; Yang Guo kicked one off the rock face with his left foot. The kick was very heavy; he could not hold Gongsun Lu E steady and she slanted to the side, slipping downwards off the rock face.

Gongsun Lu E called out in shock; her right hand braced against the rock face and she circulated her internal energy to leap back up. Yang Guo stretched out a hand to grab her and pulled her back up. This setback allowed the other crocodile to press close to him; it opened its jaws and bit down towards Yang Guo’s shoulders. There wasn’t enough time to punch or kick it away, he could only move out of its way. As soon as its jaws close, it might actually bite down on Lu E. With this danger in mind he quickly sent out both hands; one pulled the upper jaw and the other pulled the lower; he circulated his internal energy and gave a shout, a cracking sound was heard as the jaws of the crocodile snapped and it immediately died.

Though Yang Guo had killed this vicious crocodile, his back had broken out in a cold sweat.

Lu E said, “Are you hurt?”

Yang Guo heard her voice was gentle and concerned; his heart was moved slightly and he said, “No.” But the force he had just used was too ferocious and his arms ached.

Lu E observed that the crocodile was not moving and was lying there on the rock dead; she was in awe of Yang Guo and said, “How did you kill that crocodile empty-handed? And how can you see so clearly in this darkness?”

Yang Guo said, “I’ve lived with my Gu Gu for many years in the ancient tomb; all I need is the faintest light and I’ll be able to see things.” When he mentioned living in the tomb with his Gu Gu, he couldn’t stop himself from letting out a sigh. Suddenly an excruciating pain broke out in his body. It was extremely difficult to endure, and he hollered and shouted and at the same time, he kicked the dead crocodile back into the pool.

Two crocodiles were climbing up onto the rock face just at that time; when they heard his inhuman calls, they were so frightened that they slipped back into the water.

Gongsun Lu E quickly held his arm and with her other hand, brushed across his forehead gently, hoping that she would be able to lessen his pain.

Yang Guo knew that even if he hadn’t fallen into this dangerous situation, he would not live for more than a couple of days because of the poison; he had heard the Valley Master say that the pain would keep on increasing over the next thirty-six days before he finally died. The pain was so unbearable that even if he endured it a few more times, he’d eventually give in to the pain and kill himself. But when he dies, Gongsun Lu E will have no one to protect her; that would be terrible for her and he thought, “The reason she’s in this danger is because of me. No matter what pain I’m in I must endure it; hopefully the Valley Master will still have some love for his daughter and will come to save her.” As he thought about this, his thoughts of Xiao Longnu disappeared for the time being and the pain lessened; he said, “Miss Gongsun, don’t be afraid, I think that your father will come for you. He hates me only and has always loved you; he must be feeling very regretful right now.”

Gongsun Lu E cried, “When my mother was alive, father really did love me. But after mother died, he became cold towards me. However, I know that… I know that in his heart he doesn’t hate me.” She stopped for a while and thought of many strange and hard-to-explain things; she said, “Brother Yang, I’ve suddenly thought of something; my father has always been afraid of me.”

Yang Guo said surprised, “He’s afraid of you? That’s strange.”

Lu E said, “I just feel that whenever my father sees me he doesn’t seem to be at ease; it’s like he’s got something hidden in his heart and is afraid that I will find out about it. Over the past few years, he’s been avoiding me and doesn’t want to see me.”

She had noticed that her father’s expression had been strange; though she wondered about this, she reached the same conclusion every time; the reason he’s changed is because he was deeply hurt by her mother’s passing away. But this time, falling into the crocodile pit was definitely her father’s plan. He had moved the pill cauldrons in the pill room to activate the collapsing floor. If her father hated Yang Guo and wanted to kill him, all he had to do was keep the antidote for the Passion Flower poison away from him and he would have little chance of living. Now that Yang Guo had fallen into the crocodile pit, the chance of him escaping death was next to none; so why did her father push her into the crocodile pit as well? What fatherly love was there in that push? This wasn’t a slip due to anger, he had planned this. The more she thought about it, the sadder she became because it was becoming clearer and clearer to her. There were many words and actions of her father that she did not understand and just used the reason ‘eccentric behavior’ to explain it all. Right now, as she thought, it appeared that the word ‘fear’ was more apt. Her father fearing her was something that she could never have conceived.

The crocodile pool broke out in a thrashing roar as all the crocodiles fought over the dead crocodile; they’d stopped climbing up onto the rock face for the time being.

Yang Guo saw that she was deep in thought and asked, “Maybe your father has some kind of hidden secret and you’ve somehow stumbled upon it by accident?”

Lu E shook her head and said, “No. My father’s actions are honorable; he is very fair, and everyone in the valley had great respect for him. His treatment of you really is wrong; but he has never done such uncharacteristic things like this before.”

Yang Guo did not know about the past affairs of the Passionless Valley and so it was hard for him to help her guess what the reasons were behind all this.

The crocodile pool was deep underground and was cold like an ice cave; the two were wet and felt the effects even more. Yang Guo had trained on the Chilled Jade Bed and took no notice of such insignificant coldness; but Gongsun Lu E kept on shivering and searching for warmth in Yang Guo’s arms. Yang Guo knew that this girl would be feeling frightened and sad right now; as he watched the struggle in the crocodile pool he wanted to make her laugh. The crocodiles were opening their mouths and showing vicious teeth, looking extremely terrifying, so he laughed, “Miss Gongsun, we’re going to die together today; when you reincarnate in the next life, what do you want to reincarnate as? Whatever happens, I don’t want to change into one of these unsightly crocodiles.”

Gongsun Lu E smiled a little and said, “Then you should change into a narcissus flower; it’s beautiful and fragrant, and it’s something that everyone loves.”

Yang Guo laughed, “The only types of people who are worthy of changing into those kind of flowers are people like you. If it’s me, I’ll get changed into some ugly daisy or chrysanthemum.”

Lu E laughed, “If the Yan Luo Wang (ruler of hell) tells you to change into a Passion Flower, would you?”

Yang Guo was silent and did not reply. He was feeling great resentment and thought, “With Gu Gu’s and my “Pure Heart of the Jade Maiden Sword”, that scoundrel is not our match. At the time he was on his back foot he was about to lose. But things had to happen this way. Gu Gu had been pierced by the Passion Flower in the sword room. When we were about to use swordplay which requires the users to be as one and to be filled with love to make use of its power, the poison prevented it. This is fate; I can’t do anything about it. I wonder how Gu Gu is right now?” As soon as he thought about Xiao Longnu again, his body broke out in pain all over.

When Gongsun Lu E heard him stay silent, she knew that she shouldn’t have mentioned the Passion Flower; she quickly changed the subject and said, “Brother Yang, you’re able to see the crocodiles while all I see in front of me is darkness.”

Yang Guo laughed, “The crocodiles are extremely ugly, it’s better not to see them.” He patted her on the back gently to console her; but as soon as he touched her, he felt something cold, smooth and soft. Then he remembered how she undressed herself in front of her father in the pill room. She only had on her underwear; her shoulders and neck were uncovered. Yang Guo was slightly alarmed and quickly pulled back his hand.

Lu E thought about how he could see things in the dark; her semi clothed self would be seen clearly by him and she couldn’t stop herself from calling out ‘Oh no!” She automatically moved away a little.

Yang Guo sat a little distance away from her and took off his gown to cover her with. As he took it off, not only did he think about Xiao Longnu, but he also thought about Cheng Ying who made a gown for him and Lu Wushuang who was willing to die for him. He blamed himself for letting down the kindness of all these beautiful girls, and he felt guilt for not being able to repay them. He couldn’t stop himself from letting out a long sigh.

Gongsun Lu E straightened the gown and tied the belt around herself. Suddenly she felt a small package in the gown’s pockets; she took it out and handed it over to Yang Guo, saying, “What’s this? Do you need it?”

Yang Guo took it in his hands and felt that it was fairly heavy; he said, “What is this?”

Lu E laughed, “I found it in your pockets, why are you asking me about it?”

Yang Guo looked at it and saw that it was a small package covered in rough cloth; he had never seen it before and immediately opened it. There was a sudden light in front of his eyes; four objects were within that package. One of them was a little dagger; on the handle was a pearl of the size of a long yan stone. It glimmered and sparkled, the light shining on Gongsun Lu E’s graceful face; he thought, “People say that pearls are lights of the night, it appears that this isn’t a lie.”

Lu E suddenly screamed, “Yi!” She stretched out her hand towards the package and picked up a small emerald colored jar; she called out, “This is the Passionless Pill.”

Yang Guo was shocked and delighted; he asked, “This is the medicine that cures the poison of the Passion Flowers?”

Lu E shook the jar a few times and felt that something was in the jar. She said with delight, “Yes, I was looking for this in the pill room for half a day; when did you take it? How did you take it? How come you haven’t taken it yet? You don’t know that this is the Passionless Pill, right?” In her delight, her questions were non-stop, not allowing Yang Guo any time to reply.

Yang Guo scratched his head and said, “I don’t know anything about this, this… this jar of medicine; how did it get into my pockets? This really is strange.”

In the light of the pearl on the dagger, Lu E could see clearly what other things were in the package. Besides the dagger and the emerald colored jar of the Passionless Pill, there was a square piece of sheep skin about seven or eight inches in length and half of a Spirit Fungus (Lingzhi). A thought went through her mind and she said, “This piece of Spirit Fungus was the piece that was broken off by the Old Urchin.”

Yang Guo said, “The Old Urchin?”

Lu E said, “Yes. I’m in charge of the fungi room and this is the fungus from the ‘Hundred Jade Plate’. The Old Urchin turned the sword, pill, fungi and library rooms upside down. He destroyed books and stole swords; he kicked over the cauldrons and ripped up the fungi; this is all the handiwork of the Old Urchin.”

Yang Guo suddenly understood and said, “Yes, yes.”

Lu E quickly asked, “What?”

Yang Guo said, “This package was placed on me by Senior Zhou Lao.” He now knew that Zhou Botong had the intention of aiding him; because of this, he changed his naming of ‘Old Urchin’ to ‘Senior Zhou Lao’.

It also became clear to Lu E, she said, “So he gave it to you.”

Yang Guo said, “I didn’t even know that he gave it to me. This Wulin Senior does as he pleases in the world; his movements are mysterious. When he took my mask and scissors I didn’t notice it; when he put this package on me I felt nothing. My abilities are not even half as good as his.”

Lu E nodded and said, “Yes, father said that he stole things from the valley and said that he must be captured but… but he took off all his clothes in front of so many people and showed that there was nothing on him.”

Yang Guo laughed, “He had hidden the package on me before that and actually managed to deceive the Valley Master by taking off his clothes.”

Lu E opened the emerald colored jar and covered it with her left hand, shaking the contents into the palm of her hand. A square looking pill came out of the jar onto her palm; the pill was extremely dark and its smell was overpowering. Most pills are round so one can easily swallow it; but if it was from a slab of medicine, it will be long and flat.

Yang Guo had never seen a square pill before; he took the pill from Lu E and examined it closely.

Lu E shook the jar a few times again and patted the jar into her palm a few times before saying, “That’s it, there’s only one pill; take it now, it’ll be terrible if it falls into the pool.”

Yang Guo was about to put the pill in his mouth when he heard her say ‘there’s only one pill’, he was stunned and asked, “Only one? Has your father got any more?”

Lu E said, “That’s why it is so precious; because there is only one pill. Otherwise why would my father get so angry?”

Yang Guo was shocked and quivered, “My Gu Gu has this poison as well; how will your father save her?”

Lu E sighed, “I once heard from my senior apprentice brother that there were originally many Passionless Pills in the pill room; but for some reason, there was only one left. This pill is extremely hard to produce; there was no way to gather all the precious herbs and medicine to make any more. Because of this, my senior apprentice brother warned us that we must be extremely careful of the Passion Flower; if it’s a little pierce from it, one will recover from it after a few days; if that happens it’s not too serious. But if the poison is deep, it will be difficult for the Valley Master to act because one pill can only save one person.”

Yang Guo kept on saying ‘Oh no’ and then said, “How come your father hasn’t come to save you yet?”

Lu E immediately knew what he was thinking and saw him placing the pill back into the jar; she let out a light sigh and said, “Brother Yang, how can my father feel no shame in light of your love for Miss Long? You’re hoping that I’ll be able to take the pill back up and save Miss Long’s life.”

Yang Guo showed a little smile as his thoughts were revealed, he said, “Of course I hoped that such a kind girl as you will leave this dangerous place safely; but I also hope that my Gu Gu’s life can be saved. Even if I cure my Passion Flower poison, I won’t last long if I stay down here in this crocodile pit. Of course saving my Gu Gu is more important.” He thought, “Gu Gu’s beauty is unparalleled; it’s normal that someone like the Valley Master would want to marry her. But when Gu Gu refused to marry him, he lured her to the sword room to harm her. He really is evil; now he knows that the only Passionless Pill has been taken away, there is no way to cure the Passion Flower poison in Gu Gu. She just has thirty six days to live and all he’s concerned about is making her submit to him; even the crocodiles in this pit have more heart than him.”

Lu E knew that no matter how hard she tries to persuade him to take the pill it will be of no use; she regretted telling him that there was only one pill so she said, “This Spirit Fungus can’t cure poisons but it can strengthen one’s body, eat it quickly.”

Yang Guo said, “Yes.” He broke the piece of Spirit Fungus into two; he put one piece into his mouth and put the other piece in front of Lu E’s mouth, he said, “We don’t know when your father will let you go, so eat this piece to help protect yourself against this cold.”

Lu E saw that he was concerned for her and couldn’t bear to refuse, so she opened her mouth.

This Spirit Fungus had been grown for hundreds of years; not long after the two ate it, they felt an extremely comfortable warmth throughout their bodies, a boost in their energy and they felt sharper.

Lu E suddenly said, “Father must have known that Zhou Botong had stolen the Passionless Pill. He was lying to Miss Long when he said he was going to cure you; and when he was forcing me to hand over the Passionless Pill, he was acting then as well.”

Yang Guo had thought about this awhile ago but he didn’t want to make her sadder so he kept quiet about it. When he heard her realizing this on her own he said, “When your father let’s you out, you need to be extremely careful; the best thing for you to do is leave the valley as quickly as possible.”

Lu E sighed, “You don’t know my father; since he’s pushed me down here into this crocodile pit he will never change his mind and rescue me. He was already worried about me; after this event, how can he allow me to live? Brother Yang, will you let me die with you?”

Yang Guo was about to say a few words to comfort her when he suddenly heard another crocodile climbing onto the rock face, its front foot stepping onto sheepskin from the package. Yang Guo had a thought, “That sheepskin looked kind of strange.” He picked up the dagger and stabbed it between the eyes of the crocodile; a ‘pu’ sound was heard as it went straight through. The dagger that he was holding was actually extremely sharp and was capable of chopping gold and cutting jade. The crocodile struggled a little bit before falling back into the pool on its back, dead. Yang Guo said with delight, “Now that we’ve got this dagger, those crocodiles in the pool have run out of luck.”

He picked up the sheepskin with his left hand and brought the dagger over, using the faint light from the pearl to carefully study it. The sheepskin was coarse on one side and there was nothing odd about it; but turning it over revealed drawings of many buildings, rooms, rocks and the like.

Yang Guo looked at it for a while but didn’t find anything strange about it, he said, “This sheepskin is of no use to us.”

Lu E had been looking over his shoulder all along and suddenly said, “That’s a map of our Narcissus Manor of the Passionless Valley. Look, that’s the brook that led you here, that’s the main hall, that’s the sword room, that’s the fungi room and that’s the pill room…” She pointed to the map as she said this.

Yang Guo suddenly called out and said, “Look, look.” He pointed to a drawing of water underneath the pill room.

Lu E said, “That’s the crocodile pool. Ah… there’s a passageway here.”

The two could see that there was a passageway drawn next to the crocodile pool and their spirits rose. Yang Guo matched the map to the crocodile pool and said, “If the map’s right, after passing through the passageway there’ll definitely be an exit. But…”

Lu E interrupted, “But what’s strange is that the passageway is going downwards; this crocodile pool is already deep underground; where will the passageway lead if it keeps on going further down?” The passageway on the map finished at the edge of the sheepskin, they didn’t know where it leads.

Yang Guo said, “Has your father or senior apprentice brother ever mentioned this crocodile pool before?”

Lu E shook her head and said, “I only learned today that there were so many terrifying things hidden underneath the pill room; even senior apprentice brother may not know about it. But… but to keep all these crocodiles alive will require regular feeding, why does father…” She trembled all over as she thought about how evil her father was.

Yang Guo took a look around and noticed a dark circular shape behind the rock face; it appeared to be the entrance to a tunnel but it was too faraway. He wasn’t really sure; he thought, “Even if that is the passageway, I don’t know what other kinds of vicious creatures might be lurking around in there. If we come across them it might be even more dangerous for us than the situation we are in now. Even so, we can’t sit here and wait for death; we’re going to die anyway, so we might as well take the risk in trying to find a way out. All I want is for Miss Gongsun to get out of this danger and pass the antidote on to Gu Gu.” So he passed the dagger into the hands of Lu E and said, “I’ll go take a look; be careful of the crocodiles.” His right foot touched the rock face and he flew away into the pool. Lu E called out in alarm. Yang Guo’s right foot landed on the stomach of the dead crocodile and used it to leap forward; he then landed on the back of a crocodile with his left foot. The crocodile sank into the water while Yang Guo leapt to the other shore; he pressed his body against the rock and searched the surface with his hand. He called out, “There’s a large cave over here!”

Gongsun Lu E’s lightness kung fu was not anywhere as good as his; she didn’t dare to leap over to the cave like he did. Yang Guo thought that if he went back to carry her on his back, their weight will increase. Not only will their leaping be inconvenienced, they will not be able to use the crocodiles as supports. But since it had come to this he had to risk it and called out, “Miss Gongsun, soak your gown and throw it over to me.”

Lu E did not know what he was going to do but did as she was told; she took off her gown and gave it a quick soak in the pool then hurriedly pulled it back up. She made two knots in the gown, forming a ball; she called out, “Its coming!” She circulated her internal energy and shot it over.

Yang Guo caught it and untied the gown. He found a place to secure his footing and used his left hand to grab tightly onto a piece of jutting rock. His right hand swung the wet gown and he said, “Listen carefully.”

He swung the wet gown forward and waved it about, a ‘pai’ sound was heard as he struck the mouth of the cave. He struck it three times in a row and asked, “Can you tell where the cave is?”

Lu E had listened and could tell where it was, she said, “Yes.”

Yang Guo said, “Jump forward and grab the gown, I’ll pull you over.”

Lu E opened her eyes wide and tried to see but all she saw was darkness; she was really frightened and said, “I… I can’t…”

Yang Guo said, “There’s no need to be scared. If you miss the gown and fall into the pool, I’ll dive in immediately to save you. We were afraid of the crocodiles when we first came here; but now we’ve got this dagger which can slice metal like butter, what have we got to fear?”

He then sent the gown forward.

Gongsun Lu E clenched her teeth and pushed out with her feet against the rock face; her body flew up into the air and she heard the noise from the flapping gown and stretched out her hands towards it. Her right hand grabbed the lower half of the gown but her left hand grabbed thin air. As soon as Yang Guo felt his arm go heavy, he immediately swung the gown towards the cave. He was afraid that she would slip so he quickly leapt over to her and lightly grabbed her waist, holding her steadily by the cave entrance.

Gongsun Lu E was delighted and called out; “Brother Yang that was a great idea.”

Yang Guo laughed, “We don’t know what kind of vicious beasts are hiding in this passageway; we’ll just let fate decide.” He then bent his body and went into the cave.

Lu E handed the dagger to Yang Guo and said, “You take it.” Yang Guo gave her the gown and she covered her body with it.

The cave was extremely narrow; the two of them could only go through it on their hands and knees. The dampness from the crocodile pool caused the cave floor to be damp and slippery and the stench was extremely unpleasant.

Yang Guo crawled along and laughed, “This morning we were enjoying the beauty of the Passion Flowers; flowers were everywhere, birds were singing and we were surrounded by fragrant scents. After just a few hours the scenery has changed to this; I really have caused you great trouble.”

Lu E said, “How can it be blamed on you?”

After crawling along for a while, the passageway gradually became higher and they were able to w