Chapter 687: The Shrine of the Fire Calamity and the Pillar of the Seal

At the edge, far from the center of the Chaotic Strike Waterfall.

Led by Wuli and Danyu, Luo Mu and Pava and the others arrived at this place where they had discovered an anomaly.

This place resembled a small hill more than a waterfall.

Water flowing from who-knows-where cascaded turbulently from the mountainside, finally merging into waterways connecting other deep pools and lakes, only to cycle through unknown paths and pour down again from above.

Although it possessed some unique features, it appeared rather ordinary compared to the array of larger waterfalls nearby.

Pointing toward a direction on the mountainside, Wuli said timidly, "When my sister and I were chasing a Woobat and reached that spot, we accidentally discovered a cave behind the waterfall, within the pool."

Picking up where Wuli left off, Danyu placed one hand on her hip and said, "It was also inside that cave that we found the strange lid we just mentioned."

Initially, Wuli had spotted traces of a wild Dragonite in the mountains; remembering that Luo Mu also raised a Dragonite, he excitedly dragged Danyu along, hoping to catch up with it.

However, the wild Dragonite flew too fast, vanishing without a trace before they could catch up.

Shortly after, they happened to spot a Woobat, and while chasing it, they ended up here.

Since they were not natives of the Paldea region, they had no idea what that lid actually was, whether it was man-made, or if it held any significance.

Therefore, after a brief stay, the siblings decided to return to camp to inform Luo Mu of the matter and await his judgment, just to be safe.

"You did the right thing."

Gazing up at the waterfall, Luo Mu already had an answer in his heart.

But to confirm whether this answer was correct, he still needed to verify it with his own eyes.

"Serperior, let's go in first."

Exchanging a glance with Serperior, Luo Mu said in a deep voice.

At the same time, he looked toward Pava and the others.

"Stay close behind me; don't fall behind."

His professional ethics as a teacher would not allow him to leave several students unattended in such a wilderness.

This held true even though Pava and the others had experience traveling outdoors, and Danyu and Wuli were far from ordinary people incapable of tying up a chicken.

Given this, it was safer to keep them directly by his side where he could protect them.

If what the siblings Wuli and Danyu saw was truly what he suspected, then under the premise that accidents might occur, this approach was definitely more secure.

"With just this slope... aside from riding flying types or other mountable Pokémon capable of climbing mountains, we can only attempt to climb it ourselves."

Luo Mu murmured as he observed the contour and condition of the mountain body.

Because almost no one ever climbed this mountain, there simply existed no "path" to walk up; to ascend, one could only scale the rugged mountain face.

Luo Mu then glanced unexpectedly at Danyu and Wuli.

Danyu was fine to speak of; being tall and slender, she was the type of girl like Pipa, so her physical fitness should be quite good, unlike Hearing Hearing Nimo who was good to look at but useless in practice.

As for this boy Wuli, his thin and Bai Xi arms hardly looked like they could support him climbing up the mountain.

Due to his personality, Wuli was extremely sensitive to the gaze of others.

Therefore, the moment Luo Mu stared at him, he noticed.

Because they were close, he heard Luo Mu's earlier murmur, so he could roughly guess why Luo Mu was staring at him.

Lowering his head, he raised his hand weakly and stated, "I'll have my Incineroar carry me up."

For the robustly built Incineroar, carrying him, this frail little boy, up to the mountainside was like child's play, easier than running.

Danyu also indicated that she hadn't exerted much effort either, having been carried up on the back of a Mightyena.

Luo Mu: "."

Fine, making reasonable use of a Pokémon's characteristics was also a virtue.

His gaze shifted toward Pava and the others.

Pava nudged Koraidon, who was sticking out its tongue with a dazed and cute expression, using his elbow joint, and chuckled.

Pipa stated that she could have her Ursaluna, which was good at climbing, carry her and Peony up together.

In the end, the problem fell upon Luo Mu himself.

How was he supposed to get up there?

Climb by himself? Let Serperior tie him up with vines and drag him up?

Either option would somewhat damage his image.

Indeed, there was only one answer.

Luo Mu looked at the cold and tsundere Miraidon beside him and put forward his bargaining chip.

"When we get back, I'll make you sandwiches; eat until you're full!"

Despite Miraidon seeming to have completely transformed into a mechanical creature, its main food sources, besides electricity, surprisingly included the ability to normally consume various foods.

Just as Koraidon loved sandwiches immensely, sandwiches were also Miraidon's favorite.

Having slyly used its electromagnetic field to interfere with the propagation of Luo Mu's voice, Emperor Yan Di flashed a look of satisfaction in its eyes and arrogantly tossed its head.

"Gao~" (Come on up~)

Luo Mu smiled triumphantly, and amidst Pava's incredulous expression, picked up Cubchu and directly mounted his beloved Purple Electric Flying Motorcycle.

Yes, this matched his style!

Unlike Luo Mu, who was secretly rejoicing quietly, Pava, sitting on Koraidon's back at this moment, felt as if the sky were collapsing.

A whole month!

Throughout this entire month, he had failed to build a good relationship with Miraidon, let alone ride on its back!

But what was he seeing now?

—Miraidon had voluntarily invited Luo Mu to ride it!

What? My mentality is collapsing!

That was the very Miraidon that treated even its own father as if serving a master all day, fearing that any slight neglect would cause it to coldly ignore people!

Even though Fandaoshi's mental state was on the verge of collapse, after some simple preparations, the group followed Uli and his Hisuian Typhlosion, who led the way, all the way to the mountainside.

After circling around the front where the waterfall rushed down violently, a deep cave entrance, hidden so cleverly that it would be nearly impossible to discover without guidance, came into view.

If not for that wild Woobat leading the way, the siblings Uli and Danyu likely would never have known there was a cave behind the waterfall.

Upon entering the cave, an entirely new space came into view.

The space wasn't large; at least, it didn't have the labyrinthine complexity of most caves, being merely a relatively open area.

The moment the few of them entered, a large group of wild Woobats living in the cave, as if startled, flew out all at once with a "Whoosh!"

Strangely, no evolved Noivern were seen; no one knew why.

At this moment.

"Gah-lok."

As if sensing something, the Serperior cast its proud gaze toward a corner of the cave space.

There lay a rather large rock, and behind it, a Pokémon with a deep purple body, a small stature, a pair of glowing gem-like eyes, and an appearance resembling the Hopkinsville Goblins, was quietly observing them.

"Is that... a Sableye?"

Biwa whispered softly.

As a trainer specializing in Fighting-types, she naturally knew about Ghost-types, one of the natural enemies of Fighting-types, so she recognized the Pokémon hiding in the corner at a glance.

"Mm, Sableye mostly live in the dark corners of caves; they are hard to spot unless they actively 'open' their glowing eyes."

Luo Mu nodded slightly, taking the opportunity to educate the few of them with some relevant knowledge about Sableye.

Sableye use their sharp claws to dig horizontal tunnels everywhere in caves, finding raw gemstones and then crunching them up with their coarse teeth, going "crunch crunch."

It is precisely because of this that gems grow on their eyes and chests, emitting light.

Because they love eating gems so much, many Sableye specifically seek out the traces of Carbink, wanting to gnaw on the diamonds on their bodies.

What's even more interesting is that some Gible, who also live in caves, really like the diamonds on those Carbink, but their liking is purely out of possessiveness; Gible will even help Carbink drive away Sableye that are attacking them.

—However, the price Carbink pay for this is being treated by Gible as a "Dragon's Treasure."

It wasn't that the Serperior discovered the Sableye because the Sableye lit up its eyes first; rather, the Serperior first sensed the Sableye's presence through its aura, and the Sableye, feeling tense due to the Serperior's aura, subconsciously activated "searchlight" mode.

"Teacher, is it okay to just leave it alone like this?"

Danyu asked with a hint of worry.

Sableye are Dark and Ghost-type Pokémon; at a glance, they look very capable of doing bad things.

"No need to worry about it." Luo Mu shook his head and explained, "Due to some unspeakable reasons, most Sableye choose to stay away from humans; even the bold ones among them, or those with rare Abilities, would only play pranks on humans or Pokémon."

Human food is just a taste of novelty for them; gems and diamonds are forever Sableye's true love.

Not to mention, on our side, we have Serperior, Koraidon, Miraidon, and Mudip and her group of physically robust Pokémon.

This Sableye is more likely to choose to observe for a while, then sneak away quietly while no one is noticing to find a new home elsewhere.

Judging from the not-so-obvious and dense scratch marks on the surrounding cave walls, this dwelling should be one the Sableye found not long ago; the emotional attachment isn't that deep, the kind that can be abandoned just like that.

Luo Mu's gaze fell on a spot not far away that was emitting a faint blue glow.

It was precisely because of this light source that they could see everything inside the cave.

The source of the light was a round, mysterious object that looked like a lid.

The surface of the lid was carved with strange patterns, resembling a variant of the character "Fu" (Fortune) or a longevity knot pattern; Luo Mu remembered that before his transmigration, both of these symbolized "warding off evil."

The lid, emitting a faint blue glow from its patterns, was firmly bound by four thick, large iron chains extending from the rock walls, looking as if there was something inside that absolutely had to be sealed away.

"Bei-ah..."

Kubfu's keen intuition made its whole body shudder.

It always felt that behind the lid lurked an ominous aura.

Serperior and the rest of the Pokémon also vaguely sensed it.

On the contrary, apart from feeling somewhat alternately cold and hot, Fandaoshi and the others didn't have much of a reaction.

It could be said that at this moment, Luo Mu was able to confirm it completely.

Behind that lid was the former Auspicious Vessel, now sealed away, which had been eroded by various desires and curses encountered during the merchant's journey, and finally went completely berserk and out of control under the provocation of the ambitious King of the Paldea Empire.

—In other words, this was the Shrine of Fire, one of the four Shrines housing the Treasures of Ruin in the game, sealing the Legendary Pokémon Okidogi! (Note: Text says "Ancient Jade Fish" but context implies Treasures of Ruin; translating literal term used).

Fortunately, the Sableye hadn't lived here for that long.

Otherwise, if it had really dug a hole right next to the Shrine of Fire, who knows what might have happened.

However, in Luo Mu's view, since Okidogi had been sealed here for such a long time, the seal here was most likely not something that could be broken by simple physical means.

"... As expected, to break the seal, we must find the eight stakes belonging to the Shrine of Fire."

Murmuring in a voice only he could hear, Luo Mu turned to look at the crowd of students who were gazing at him.

Fandaoshi asked hesitantly, "Teacher, do you know what's going on?"

He wasn't sure if it was his illusion, but he felt this place was inexplicably uncomfortable.

That glowing lid and the chains looked quite sinister too.

In short, no matter how you looked at it, something was off.

"Mm, I mostly know what's happening, but explaining it here is somewhat difficult; we need to return to the school library so I can supplement some prerequisite knowledge for you."

Luo Mu nodded slightly, revealing a comforting smile.

His smile dispelled quite a bit of the tension in the few of them.

As long as Teacher Luo Mu was still smiling, there probably wouldn't be any major incident; even if something happened, it would be within his expectations and wouldn't stir up any great waves.

Even though Uli and Danyu still lacked this understanding, Fandaoshi, Mudip, and Biwa had long since established such cognition.

A moment later, Luo Mu led the few of them out of the cave.

However, he didn't immediately go down; instead, he looked thoughtfully toward the waterfall further up, seemingly pondering whether there were other hidden things inside.

Although this place differed slightly from the game, the location of the sealing stakes shouldn't have changed too much; at most, they would just be hidden deeper, just like the cave entrance from earlier.

And within the game, directly above the mountain body where the Shrine of Calamity existed, a sealing stake stood brazenly in broad daylight.

After having the others follow him, Luo Mu mounted Milotic's back again and began to investigate this mountain body.

Fortunately, his luck was good; soon, he discovered a not-so-conspicuous platform hidden within the waterfall flow higher up, just like the Water Curtain Cave of Flower Fruit Mountain.

After a moment of thought, he had Milotic carry him charging straight into it.

As expected, right in the center of the platform, he saw a pitch-black stake emitting an ominous aura.

In the game, pulling out this stake would weaken a portion of the seal.

There were 32 such stakes in total, scattered across the lands of the Paldea region.

Every eight stakes represented the seal of a shrine; when all eight stakes scattered across the area were pulled out, the seal on the Treasures of Ruin could be broken.

Furthermore, only a person with a pure heart, free of ulterior motives, could pull out these stakes without imposing stronger desires and curses.

(End of this chapter)