Chapter 465: [Dragon Drawing Water] (Part 1)

We had already arrived at the foot of Ethereal Mountain, and Qiqi began to float upward. Although she could go a long time without needing to breathe, after all she couldn't hold her breath underwater forever, and now it was time to surface for air. Hu Xiaotian only just realized how miraculous the old beggar's "playing dead dog" technique was—he had been swimming underwater for so long without feeling the slightest suffocation; it was truly spooky, but I liked it! Even though he had no need to breathe, he still followed Qiqi up to the surface. The two boats on patrol had already drifted far away, and everything in Jade Pool remained as usual.

Qiqi leaned close to Hu Xiaotian's ear and said, "You liar, you haven't spoken a single truth."

Hu Xiaotian couldn't be bothered to argue; even if he told her the truth, she wouldn't believe it. Qiqi took another breath and dove back into the water, and Hu Xiaotian followed her, keeping close to the slope of Ethereal Mountain as they descended. With the light from the Bright Pearl in Qiqi's hand, Hu Xiaotian discovered that beneath the mountain's body a long dragon was carved—a third one, in addition to the two that clung to the mountainside. This dragon coiled around Ethereal Mountain, its head buried deepest, half sunk into the lakebed silt, forming the motif of a dragon drinking water. Because the carving lies entirely underwater, people usually only notice the two dragons on the mountain and are unaware of the third one below.

Hu Xiaotian went from reluctantly complying to being full of curiosity. Qiqi seemed very familiar with the terrain of Ethereal Mountain—could there be some treasure hidden beneath it? After swimming a distance, they felt an opposing current that created many obstacles for their progress, but it was because they had already approached the base of the waterfall. The waterfall of Ethereal Mountain is man-made, its design ingenious. Although it drops nearly a hundred zhang from the summit, the sound of water merging into the lake is not loud. It enriches the scenery without creating excessive noise that would disturb people's rest.

Going against the current was obviously much harder than before; the closer they got to the waterfall, the greater the resistance. They pressed themselves again against the mountain face, using hands and feet, continually inching closer to the base of the waterfall. The area beneath the waterfall is where the dragon's head is located.

Qiqi swam into the dragon's left ear; the ear cavity was about five feet in diameter and roughly two zhang deep.

Hu Xiaotian wondered secretly whether a hidden passage lay inside. Qiqi raised the Bright Pearl, but saw that the far end was covered in moss, with a small hole in the center. She took from her waist pouch a curved, snake-like iron rod and handed it to Hu Xiaotian, gesturing for him to insert it into the hole.

Hu Xiaotian lifted the iron rod and carefully inserted it. Judging by the situation, the rod seemed to be the key to opening a secret door, and a hidden passage might be concealed within the coiling dragon's body. He pushed the rod in until it hit the end. It gave a slight shake, as if it had engaged, leaving an outward-curving section like a crank. Qiqi made a counterclockwise turning gesture, and Hu Xiaotian, following her directions, exerted all his strength to shake the rod. Despite using the strength of nine oxen and two tigers, it didn't budge at all. Mainly because the water cavern was too cramped to exert force. Qiqi came over to help, but even together they could not move the rod.

After several attempts with no result, Qiqi finally lost hope and signaled Hu Xiaotian to pull the rod out. Inserting it was easy, but pulling it out proved extremely difficult—the rod remained completely immobile. Hu Xiaotian told Qiqi to step aside, changed his stance, planted his feet against the wall, and pulled upward with both hands, performing a reverse pull like uprooting a willow. This tug produced a reaction: he felt the ground rumble beneath him. Qiqi also felt the vibration, overjoyed, she moved in to grip the rod and help. The rod moved out about two inches and then stopped. Hu Xiaotian then turned it counterclockwise again; this time it actually moved. He gathered all his strength, pushing the crank through a full turn, leaving his arms sore and numb.

Qiqi made a "seven" gesture before his eyes, and Hu Xiaotian stared, astonished—did she mean he had to turn it seven times? One turn was already this hard; seven turns would surely leave him exhausted and collapsed in the water cavern.

Qiqi needed to breathe, pointed upward, and led the way out, surfacing for air. Since Hu Xiaotian had mastered the secret of the "playing dead dog" technique, he could actually stay underwater for a long time. Fortunately, the iron rod became easier to turn the more he rotated it. By the time Qiqi returned to his side, Hu Xiaotian had already completed the seven turns. He felt continuous vibrations all around; Qiqi signaled him to push the rod all the way in again, and the wall before them slowly slid upward, revealing a hollow space. The surrounding lake water rushed toward this opening, and a powerful current swept Hu Xiaotian and Qiqi inside, then carried them upward with the rapidly rising water. Without expending any effort of their own, they were delivered into an unfamiliar cavern.

Hu Xiaotian surfaced first, not pausing to take in his surroundings, but immediately searching for Qiqi. A beam of light illuminated the dark cavern—it was Qiqi holding the Bright Pearl as she rose to the surface, gasping heavily. After a moment she caught her breath and her first words were: "Hu Xiaotian, where are you?"

Hu Xiaotian replied, "Here!" Their voices echoed in the cavern for a long time.

Qiqi followed the sound and saw Hu Xiaotian not far away; a rare smile flickered across her face.

Hu Xiaotian looked around using the light from the Bright Pearl in Qiqi's hand and saw they were in a spacious cavern. This should be the interior of Ethereal Mountain—who would have thought the mountain concealed a cave like this? The opening at the left ear of the coiling dragon leads into this mountain interior, but the interior was dry until they opened the sealed stone gate, after which lake water poured in. Now the water level inside the cavern is still rising, eventually to equal the surface of Jade Pool outside.

They swam to the shore and climbed up, only to see four large characters carved into the cliff ahead: Long Ling Shengjing.

Hu Xiaotian murmured, "Is this an underground treasury?"

Qiqi said, "I'm not sure either, but I've always known that our Long family hides a secret cavern beneath Ethereal Mountain. Hu Xiaotian stood beneath the four characters Long Ling Shengjing, tapped the stone wall with his hand, and felt that the rock was solid all the way through—definitely not hollow. He turned to Qiqi and asked, 'Is there another secret passage here?' Since Qiqi could find this place, she must have mastered the map of Ethereal Mountain's secret cavern."

Qiqi said, "Look carefully—see if there's any dragon-shaped relief." The two searched along the surrounding rock walls for a long time but found no dragon-shaped carving. Qiqi muttered to herself, "No, it should be here."

Hu Xiaotian lifted his head and saw a coiling dragon carved into the rock above, and exclaimed delightedly, "So it's up there!"

Qiqi said, "Take a look—what's special about that dragon?"

Hu Xiaotian examined the dragon from tail to head and finally discovered that the dragon's left eye socket was empty. Qiqi said, "Lend me your shoulder." Without waiting for his reply, she climbed onto his back.

Hu Xiaotian had no choice but to let her stand on his shoulder; fortunately Qiqi was light, and lifting her took no effort. Even standing on his shoulder she was still a palm's breadth short of reaching the dragon's head, so she simply stepped onto his forehead. Hu Xiaotian couldn't very well throw her off, so he gritted his teeth and bore her weight. Qiqi stood on Hu Xiaotian's head, just high enough to touch the coiling dragon relief above, and carefully set the Bright Pearl into the dragon's left eye.

Hu Xiaotian had thought that once the Bright Pearl was set into the dragon's eye socket, a secret door would open immediately, but after inserting it, the dragon showed no reaction.

Qiqi was also puzzled; she slapped the dragon's head hard twice, yet there was still no response.

Hu Xiaotian said, "Get down first, then we'll talk."

Qiqi, unwilling to give up, slapped a few more times before jumping down from his head, looking somewhat confused and said, "In theory we should be able to find a secret passage."

Hu Xiaotian asked, "Could it be that the mechanism has failed from disuse over such a long time?"

Qiqi said, "Impossible." Yet deep down she already agreed with Hu Xiaotian's view—the cavern has existed for hundreds of years, its mechanism has never been activated, let alone maintained; it might well have rusted away.

Hu Xiaotian gazed at the dragon; before he had placed the Bright Pearl into the eye socket, it had been a one-eyed dragon. Now, although he had inserted the pearl, one eye shone while the other remained dark, making the one-eyed appearance even more pronounced. He felt the dragon was staring at him, so he lowered his gaze—and saw a halo of light on the floor, like a stage spotlight. His heart stirred, and he pulled Qiqi backward, away from the Bright Pearl's illumination.

Qiqi noticed the same situation at the same time; she crouched and brushed away the dust on the floor, revealing a small bronze mirror set flush with the ground. Because it lay level with the floor and was covered in a thick layer of dirt, it was easy to overlook. The mirror's reflected light shot up to the ceiling, where another bronze mirror was placed, sending the light back down to the floor. Qiqi located the light spot on the ground, brushed away the dust above it, and sure enough, found another bronze mirror underneath.

Hu Xiaotian silently marveled at the ingenuity—using the principle of light refraction to guide the way, the designer of this cavern was truly clever. Following the light, they searched; the bronze mirror set in the ceiling, though a hundred years old, remained crystal clear, while the floor mirrors, dulled by years of accumulated dust, needed to be wiped clean before they could reflect light. Qiqi, this little princess, transformed on the spot into a floor‑scrubbing maid, occasionally bending down to mop the ground. In Hu Xiaotian's memory, she had never shown such dedication to cleaning, and this was the first time he discovered her talent for scrubbing floors.

Hu Xiaotian followed behind, watching her movements with great delight; if he dressed her in a maid's outfit, seeing her kneel to wipe the floor would still be a pleasure.

Suddenly Qiqi turned her head and caught Hu Xiaotian's ill‑intentioned smile; her brows furrowed and she snapped, "What are you laughing at?"

Hu Xiaotian replied, "That's just how I am."

Qiqi said, "You do the scrubbing—this sort of rough work ought to be yours."

Hu Xiaotian silently cursed, "What right do I have to do this? Are you really treating me like your servant?" He sneered, "Princess, it looks like there's no one else around; if anything happened, nobody would know."

It's the last day; the monthly tickets in everyone's hands will expire if unused, so please cast them for Zhangyu. At midnight tomorrow Zhangyu will release three more chapters, with a total update of at least five chapters, and you can subscribe now for next month's guaranteed monthly ticket. (To be continued…^~^)