Chapter 3: Hiding in the Secret Cave

Hiding in the Secret Cave

"Civet slave, civet slave."

Ruan Ci followed the civet cat and asked in a low voice, "Where are we going? —Am I not going to survive?"

She took off the wooden talisman and took a look, seeing that the green light on it had gradually dimmed, and sighed in her heart, "Civet slave, stop walking, it's useless."

As Ruan Ci expected, the door broken by the civet slave was not simple. There was a secret door in the room. The civet slave scratched the ground again, telling Ruan Ci to open it. One person and one cat went underground, which was a secret passage extending in all directions. Ruan Ci followed the civet slave and had walked for several hours, and her heart gradually turned gray.

Unless she stayed in the secret passage for the rest of her life, otherwise, once the talisman power was exhausted, she would be sucked of her vitality by the fire miasma Qi and die of thirst when she went out. If she stayed in the secret passage, she would starve to death. The struggle of the great families of Song Guo had never been afraid of missing any fish in the net. Even if ordinary people escaped, without a road pass, the Talisman Master would not infuse talisman power for a living person. Ruan Ci even felt that the civet slave had actually brought the wrong person. If Ruan Rong and Ruan Qian could escape the city from the secret passage, they would be able to survive. They could use talisman power, and their hope of survival would be a bit greater.

But, how could a cat understand human speech? The civet slave still walked unhurriedly in front. It seemed to be very familiar with this place. Ruan Ci could vaguely see many forks in the dark, but the civet slave did not hesitate at all, one turn after another. Ruan Ci was tired from walking, so it lay on the ground and waited for her for a while, and after a while, stood up and led her forward again.

Although Ruan Ci was not afraid of the dark, she felt uncomfortable in such a dark and enclosed environment. She was not afraid of death now, just didn't want to die in such a remote place without anyone to collect her body, and didn't want to face the difficult time before death alone. Although there was no hope of survival, she gritted her teeth and followed the civet slave forward.

The secret passage connected by this room was as tall as a person at first, but now it gradually became low, and the top changed from brick to soil. Ruan Ci gradually could not stand upright, walking bent over for a while. The civet slave turned again and drilled into a small hole. Ruan Ci almost couldn't squeeze through. Fortunately, she was young and narrow, enduring the fear, and squeezed hard regardless of everything, thinking in her heart, "If the hole is too small, what if I can enter but not exit? Then if the civet slave doesn't care about me, I will be stuck to death here."

Fortunately, the hole was extremely narrow at the beginning, but after crawling for a few steps, Ruan Ci vaguely saw light and faintly heard people talking. She was both surprised and happy, and quite careful. Having walked for so long, the direction could no longer be distinguished. Whether she had left the Ruan mansion was hard to say. And Ruan Ci also knew that she was probably not walking on the right path. The road she crawled was very much like a cat hole dug by the civet slave.

Sure enough, after crawling for a while, her hands were empty, her body felt light, and she almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, Ruan Ci was agile and supported the ground, crawling out in a sorry state without making any noise, only her hands were scratched and bloody, and she couldn't even feel the pain. She had gone deep underground, and the space was quite open. The wind was howling, and the people in the distance did not notice her arrival, still shouting something sharply.

Ruan Ci hid the wooden talisman in her clothes, looked around, and this place seemed to be a natural stone cave, extending in all directions. As far as she could see, there were seven or eight cave entrances. Dark winds blew from time to time, bringing "woo, woo" sounds, like weeping and complaining, making people's hair stand on end. In the distance, stone walls stood, surrounding an open space, with firelight faintly flashing inside. Near the open space, green light flashed on the ground, as if there were spirit jade mines growing here, emitting fluorescent light.

Ruan Ci couldn't find the civet slave and didn't dare to call out. She tiptoed and leaned over. When she reached the place with green light, she squatted down and looked, her heart was terrified: this was not any mineral, this was someone who died here, the talisman on their body was not extinguished, emitting talisman light!

This green light on the ground meant...

Ruan Ci didn't dare to think about it, and didn't even dare to look at the faces of the dead. In fact, she already had a guess in her heart. This should be a secret hiding place built by the Ruan family for themselves, or it might also have the function of storage. It was normal for the Ruan family not to tell the children like Ruan Ci. She had walked for several hours in the secret passage. Many Ruan clansmen had probably escaped here, but they still couldn't stop the enemy's footsteps. The great clan was now full of corpses. Even if it didn't mean it would disappear from now on, it was afraid that it could never return to its former glory.

She tiptoed toward the open space. The closer she walked, the heavier her heart became. Along the way, she saw many people lying on the ground. The place where she stepped was wet and sticky, and there was a fresh smell of blood. Some people were not completely dead, and the "woo woo" sound was not just the wind, but the "ho ho" sound made by people on the ground before they died. The civet slave brought her to its own hiding place, but it didn't expect that animals were just animals after all. The place it thought was the safest was actually the execution ground of the Ruan family.

"Eldest Master, are you really not going to hand over the Kun Pendant?"

Ruan Ci leaned closer and could gradually hear human voices. Her heart sank more and more. She peeked from behind the stone wall and didn't dare to get close. She didn't see the whole picture, only seeing shadows in the middle of the open space. A general was standing in the middle talking loudly, surrounded by followers. Someone was bending over in a corner sharpening a knife, making a harsh scraping sound, which was very noisy. A row of soldiers behind was waiting, all in full armor. Ruan Ci had heard Eldest Uncle say that when there was too much killing on the battlefield, guns and knives would roll their edges when they met blood, so they had to sharpen their guns before the battle. She didn't expect to see it for the first time, actually on the mountain of corpses and sea of blood of her own family.

"I won't speak in riddles. Today, not one of the Ruan family can escape. If you honestly hand it over, you can leave a whole corpse for your family. If any remnants escape—as long as they don't have the surname Ruan, whether they are Ruan family members or not is just a word. If you are still unwilling to be accommodating—"

He laughed, "Do you see? This is your beloved wife, your beloved son—"

Ruan Ci couldn't see, and she didn't want to see. She lowered her body, hid in the shadows, and fled outward. Suddenly, light shone from behind. She was startled, pounced on the ground, and pretended to be a corpse. The soldier raised the lamp and walked out, shone a circle lazily, and returned to the open space. Faintly, his voice could be heard, "Nothing, there are still people outside who are not dead, it doesn't matter. After a few more hours, they will all be dead."

Laughter, sharpening sounds, forced confessions, and screams echoed in the stone cave. Ruan Ci seemed to have fallen into an extremely clear nightmare, not knowing where to flee. After the civet slave darted into the stone cave, it didn't know where it went. There was light here, and its eyeballs no longer shone, which was harder to find than in the dark.

With the soldier's fright, she didn't dare to stand up and walk, so she had to use her hands and feet, crawling back along the way. The green light was shining, and everything she saw was familiar faces, Second Aunt's maid Xiao Ji, Xiao Xiang, Thirteenth Cousin...

All the family members in Second Aunt's courtyard were here. Ruan Ci's originally gradually numb emotions became tense again. She was afraid that she would see Ruan Rong in the next moment, but she couldn't help but look very carefully, and was also afraid of missing her. When she checked them one by one, her hands suddenly paused, and she sighed softly, "Second Aunt..."

"Ho ho..." Although she said it in a low voice, she was stimulated by the sound. The middle-aged woman lying on the ground struggled to raise her head. Her face was covered in blood. If Ruan Ci was not very familiar with her, she would almost not recognize her. This was Second Aunt, who was still spirited and decisive yesterday. "Ci, Ci Gu?"

Ruan Ci swallowed the exclamation in her mouth, knelt down to help her, and said in a low voice, "Second Aunt, it's me, don't shout."

Her voice was extremely faint, and Second Aunt didn't know if she heard it clearly. Ruan Ci couldn't help her, only feeling that Second Aunt was heavy, like a piece of dead meat. She felt sad and scared, and couldn't help but tremble and ask, "There's a traitor in the family, right?"

Second Aunt wanted to speak, but had no strength, only gently shaking her head, looking like she was about to die.

Ruan Ci and Second Aunt had always been indifferent. She and Ruan Rong were about the same age, and although she was an adopted daughter, she grew up in the inner courtyard, so they were very close since childhood. But their appearances were similar, and Second Aunt always suspected that she stole the limelight from Ruan Rong. Ruan Ci knew that she had suggested to Eldest Uncle many times to send her away. She had always been careful in front of Second Aunt and was quite afraid of her. At this time, she barely hugged Second Aunt's shoulders, but she was terrified, wishing she could cry out loud, and said in a low voice, "Second Aunt, can you wait for me? I don't want to die alone."

Second Aunt's breathing became heavier, and suddenly she reached out and grabbed Ruan Ci, saying in a low voice, "Don't cry!"

Her breath was extremely low, intermittent, and her voice was light and shallow. Ruan Ci had to tilt her ear to hear clearly, but the tone still carried a bit of decisiveness, which was the taste Ruan Ci was familiar with. "Don't be afraid."

She grabbed Ruan Ci tightly, "Don't blame yourself... live on."

Don't blame yourself? Ruan Ci's heart was full of doubts, but before she could ask, Second Aunt lost her breath in Ruan Ci's arms.

Ruan Ci shook her hands and gently laid her down, reaching into Second Aunt's clothes to explore, but didn't touch the wooden talisman, only pulled out a purse. Her heart moved because of this: Yes, she didn't dare to go out before because her talisman power was exhausted and she couldn't continue. There were many wooden talismans here. Even if she couldn't take them all, taking ten or so was a way.

Moreover, the wooden talismans were all worn on the body and would not be lost easily. So many people died, and the wooden talismans were still worn on their bodies. The wooden talisman on Second Aunt's body was gone. Naturally, someone took it—Ruan Rong was not here, nor was she in the open space. Did she take her mother's wooden talisman and escape to the cave entrance Second Aunt pointed to?

Her spirit was greatly boosted, and she hurriedly picked the wooden talisman from the corpses, fearing that the light would change and attract the attention of the soldiers. She picked one every few people, silently chanting in her heart, "Xiao Zhu, Cousin, may your spirits in heaven bless me. In the future, I will avenge you."

Thinking of this, she ignored the risk and crawled toward another stone wall. Just now she was behind the group of people, only seeing Eldest Uncle, Cousin, and others, all with blood on their faces, in a sorry state, but she didn't see the true face of the enemy. Since she wanted revenge, she had to see the enemy's face clearly.

Just as she crawled halfway, something furry suddenly stepped on her foot. Ruan Ci was so frightened that she almost screamed, lying on the ground and pretending to be dead. The thing brushed past her and darted in front of her, a pair of eyeballs glowing yellow and bright—it was the civet slave that didn't know where it went just now.

Ruan Ci's heart beat like a drum, and she breathed for a long time before barely calming down. She pointed at the civet slave and vented her anger silently. How could the civet slave understand? It tilted its head and took out a piece of wooden talisman from Ruan Ci's arms and jumped away. After running a few steps, it looked back at Ruan Ci. With the green light, the light in its eyes faintly revealed, and it could barely be distinguished in the dimness, so it wouldn't be nowhere to be found.

So, the civet slave didn't leave her behind on purpose, but couldn't lead the way here?

Ruan Ci was secretly surprised. She gradually felt that this cat was full of spirituality, much better than ordinary civet cats, and even had a strange taste. Looking back at the direction of the open space, she hesitated for a while, crawled to the civet slave's side, and said in a low voice, "Civet slave, do you remember the smell of the enemy?"

The green light on the civet slave's mouth moved up and down. Ruan Ci thought, "So many soldiers are wearing helmets, I can't see their faces. I heard the leading general's voice was a bit muffled. If he was also wearing a helmet, then looking wouldn't be useful. But the face can be covered, the smell cannot be covered. The civet slave can recognize it. In the future, I can always find them. For now, it's better to save my life."

She used the stone wall of the open space as a reference, remembered the orientation of the cave Second Aunt pointed to, and then followed the civet slave, dodging all the way, and entered a low cave entrance. The cave wall here was tortuous and the passage was narrow. Ruan Ci felt relieved instead. Even if those soldiers found her tracks, they couldn't chase her.

"How come I didn't know there were such caves under Song Jing."

After escaping the danger, she couldn't help but mutter, "Civet slave, how long have you known? Did you often come here to play?"

The civet cat naturally couldn't answer her. While speaking, the passage turned upward, and finally almost vertical. Ruan Ci climbed with all her might, learning from the civet cat, holding the wooden talisman in her mouth to illuminate. Fortunately, the stone wall was uneven, and there were many places to borrow strength. She climbed for a stick of incense, finally squeezed out of the cave entrance, sat on the ground and breathed heavily, and curiously looked around, thinking, "Where is this place again, why are there still so many green lights."

From the height, this place should have gone up another layer, ten or so feet away from the open space below, but it was brighter. Green light penetrated from the stone walls everywhere, high and low, and some stones themselves had extremely strong green light, almost illuminating people's faces. Ruan Ci touched the glowing stones, feeling cool, and boldly licked them. Her mouth was moist, and she suddenly realized, "Is this what the spirit jade mine looks like before it's mined?"

With jade mines, there was grain rice. Even if she lived here for a year, she wouldn't die. Although she didn't know how to mine yet, Ruan Ci finally felt a little settled in her heart and praised the civet slave, "Good cat, it turns out you are really smart."

She looked around and saw that this place was like a basket leaking everywhere, with passages connected in all directions, but the thickness was different. And there should be other wide passages coming in here. The Ruan clansmen left some tables and furnishings here. Ruan Ci walked closer and looked, they were some sacrifices, ancestral tablets, etc., all old and unrecognizable. In the distance, in the center of the open space, two coffins were still parked far away.

The environment of Song Guo was harsh, and death was a common occurrence. Although Ruan Ci grew up in the deep boudoir, she had attended many funerals and was not afraid of these things. She hesitated for a while, but still walked over slowly, looking at the holes leading down to see if she could see the scene of the next layer. The closer she walked, the faster her steps—the coffins were parked above the open space where the Ruan family was imprisoned and tortured. She had already seen the firelight penetrating through the holes.

"How did you find this place?"

She asked while walking, the civet slave followed her feet in small steps, and ran again. She darted up the coffin, Ruan Ci was startled, and said in a low voice, "Get down! Don't offend people!"

The civet slave snorted, as if expressing disdain. It spat out the wooden talisman, lay on the stone coffin, and began to lick its fur. Ruan Ci couldn't help it, and was more concerned about the things under her feet. It was a pity that the holes here were winding, and she could only see the light but couldn't see the scene clearly. Only the sound was considered clear.

Ruan Ci touched the coffin for a week, but didn't find a suitable peephole, so she had to give up. She felt that these two coffins were one large and one small, as if an adult and a young child. She wanted to find the epitaph, but didn't find it. She felt strange in her heart, thinking, "The ancestral grave of the Ruan family is clearly not here. Who is this sacrificing? And this place is extending in all directions, with caves everywhere. If there is no civet slave to lead the way, how should I enter and exit? If I get lost, I will definitely die inside."

Sound could be transmitted up, and naturally could be transmitted down. Ruan Ci didn't dare to speak, leaning against the coffin and sitting, just letting her imagination run wild. It was already a night, and she was really tired and thirsty. She reached into her sleeve and pinched the embroidered bag containing spirit jade grains, which was already empty, having been eaten by her one after another overnight.

Ruan Ci suddenly remembered the small purse she took from Second Aunt's bosom. She opened it and saw that it was full of spirit jade pieces. She took one and put it in her mouth. The spirit jade melted as soon as it entered her mouth. Ruan Ci held a bag of water, reluctant to swallow it, and burst into tears unconsciously—what Second Aunt didn't forget to tell her to bring even when she was dying was the Sweet Jade she had tasted the day before and liked very much.

Screams came from the bottom of her feet. It was the tone of her foster father she was familiar with. Eldest Master probably wouldn't die, and would be tortured for a while, but it wouldn't be too long. Not one of the Ruan family members below could survive. He naturally wouldn't hand over the Kun Pendant. If Ruan Ci were him, she would do the same.

She closed her eyes and cried, but didn't want to cover her ears, still listening to the last sound of her foster father in the world. While crying, she was still swallowing the Sweet Jade in her mouth. At this time, every bit of supply could not be easily consumed. Second Aunt told her to live on, and Ruan Ci naturally had to listen to her.

Eldest Master Ruan's voice gradually became smaller. Ruan Ci felt some induction in the dark, knowing that her foster father had passed away, and tears couldn't help but burst out. The civet slave didn't know when it jumped down, stood up on her knees and licked her face. The prickly tongue licked her in pain. Ruan Ci cried and hugged it into her arms, madly smoothing its fur. In the past, when she was in a bad mood, she would always fondle the civet slave, but this time she became more and more sad as she touched it, and finally buried her face in the civet slave and cried loudly.

She didn't know how long it had passed, her emotions gradually calmed down, and the civet slave moved again, breaking free from her arms. Ruan Ci wanted to speak, but the civet slave kicked her with a cat claw, and she was blocked by the cat claw, and she woke up. She heard someone shouting below, "Immortal Master! Zhou greets the Immortal Master's carriage! Delaying the Immortal Master's important matters, please punish me!"

With a soft "hmm," the stone cave below suddenly shone brightly, and pure white lights reflected from the holes, looking strange and bizarre. Ruan Ci's heart was in her throat, curled up by the side of the stone coffin, instinctively avoiding being illuminated by the white light.

"Haven't found the Kun Pendant yet?" The Immortal Master's voice was very gentle, but it was extremely clear through the hole, without any loss. That Zhou—mostly General Zhou, his answer sounded vague, saying nothing more than that there were still people who hadn't been found, perhaps on the escapees.

The Immortal Master "hmm"ed, and said unhurriedly, "No matter, this Nine Heavens and Ten Earths Moistening Divine Light can illuminate the lungs and viscera. How difficult is it to illuminate this earth well thoroughly?"

He smiled slightly, "In less than two hours, the light seeds will be born and transformed. You just need to take the light seeds and search for them."

She was ignorant of the divine light and light seeds he spoke of, but she was already calling out "bad" in her heart. If these light seeds could fly, and flew up from the holes, illuminating this place, and the Immortal Master felt the induction, how difficult would it be to capture her?

She instinctively looked at the civet slave in her arms, and the civet slave was also looking at her. Its round cat eyes were still unhurried. It twisted its body, stepped on Ruan Ci's shoulder, jumped onto the big stone coffin, jumped to the edge of the small stone coffin, and swiped its claws. The lid of the stone coffin was pushed open a crack. The civet slave jumped into the coffin, and a cat claw stretched out from the crack, hooked the lid edge from the inside, and covered the coffin tightly again.

Is this civet slave really just a cat?

Ruan Ci was dumbfounded, not knowing what to think, but in any case, the small stone coffin was narrower than a child's body, and she couldn't get in no matter what. Time was pressing, she didn't have time to think, got up and jumped onto the stone coffin, learned from the civet slave to push the coffin board—this coffin didn't use glutinous rice juice to seal the mouth, and it felt extremely light, and it was pushed open a big mouth at once.

Who knew what the coffin looked like after not being opened for hundreds of years? Ruan Ci held her breath and dodged, didn't smell any strange odor, and boldly illuminated it with the green talisman—the coffin was clean and spotless, without any burial objects. Only a white jade coffin lay inside.

The coffins of rich families were not nested tightly, always leaving room for some burial objects. Ruan Ci measured it with her eyes, and she couldn't dodge to the sides, but she could lie on the coffin, and even turn over.

"Civet slave, civet slave..."

She called out a few times in a low voice, thinking that if the civet slave could lie in the coffin with her, she would have a companion. But the small coffin was silent, and the civet slave seemed not to have heard at all. Instead, the white light seemed to have discovered something wrong, and it suddenly flourished. Ruan Ci gritted her teeth, didn't dare to delay any longer, turned and jumped into the coffin, turned her hand to close the lid, and it went dark in front of her eyes.

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I feel that if the titles are all four characters, it will be difficult to name them later...

But there are already three titles that are four characters, and I have a bit of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

This chapter continues to send red envelopes~ In order not to spoil the fun of everyone discussing the plot, I decided not to mention anything about the plot and world view in the author's notes. Let's talk about food. Recently, corn, bayberry, and cherries are on the market in large quantities. Have you all eaten them!

Thanks to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution from 2020-06-23 12:00:14 to 2020-06-24 12:02:51~

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Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!

Thank you to the little angels who irrigated with nutrient solution: Qingqian 160 bottles; Huahua Budangjia 80 bottles; Tang Jiu 40 bottles; A Luo, Yuan Chun 20 bottles; Ye Xiaoyu 15 bottles; Zhaoyueyu Meitou Yizhou, Li Yang, Fanxing Banya, Mr. Cheng, Shao Xia, Qi Ran, Z 10 bottles; Mo Mo Mo Mo 8 bottles; I Am Your Little Treasure 7 bottles; Si Er 6 bottles; sidewalker, momobear, Jingjing Kanwen Shuaping 5 bottles; 18205385, Spadezc, Jiaxin Binggan, Shenxian Huo Yaoguai 1 bottle;

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