Chapter 18: Forbidden Ruins

"Then the reward..."

"Hmph, as long as it's useful, it will certainly be generous. Are you afraid that Bai would cheat you?"

The autumn wind was chilly, yellow leaves fell one by one, the mountains and rivers were dyed yellow by the autumn colors, the wild persimmons on the branches turned into little lanterns, and patches of red leaves covered the hillsides.

Su Yuanshan walked on the yellow leaves in the mountain stream, while the little white fox moved nimbly through the forest.

The autumn wind was slightly cool, and fallen leaves covered the ground; every step he took made a rustling sound.

He could even hear the chirping of birds and the light sound of mountain springs flowing.

To be honest, this was the first time Su Yuanshan had stepped out of the temple gate to walk on the mountain paths.

Perhaps because this path had not been traveled for a long time, besides withered branches and fallen leaves, there was only black and white bird droppings.

Passing through a forest, Su Yuanshan finally saw a village at the foot of the mountain.

However, after entering the village, he discovered that it was desolate and uninhabited; even the houses seemed abandoned, with only spider webs in the corners and rusty farm tools telling of the vicissitudes of the past.

Su Yuanshan guessed that the abandonment of his temple was likely related to the abandonment of this small village. He estimated that the villagers here had all moved away; as for the reason, he really did not know.

At the head of the village was a small land temple, which seemed to have not been worshipped for a long time; even the incense burner was covered in dust, burying the incense ash inside.

From the statue of the Land Deity, Su Yuanshan could not sense a trace of divine fluctuation; clearly, the Land Deity of this village had long since left.

Moreover, the further Su Yuanshan walked, the more confused he became. He learned from the village chronicle stele at the head of the small village that this village had existed for over a hundred years. By rights, there should be quite a few gods, large and small.

But he had walked all the way here without seeing a single shadow of a god, as if they had all vanished into thin air. Could it be that they had all moved away? Not even one left behind?

Not far away was an old well; the windlass above showed that this well had also been around for a long time. Su Yuanshan looked down and could even see clear well water; clearly, this well could still be used normally.

But this was strange. Since it could be used normally, by rights, the Well Dragon King here should still be present, but Su Yuanshan could not sense any divine aura in this well. In other words, this well was still without a god on duty.

Where did they all go? Why did they leave? Or could it be... they didn't leave, but just suddenly all disappeared?

Su Yuanshan planned to ask the Night-Roaming God about the situation here next time they met.

He thought to himself, as an Underworld roaming god and a local native, the Night-Roaming God should know better than him.

Su Yuanshan was full of thoughts, following the little white fox's footsteps, leaving the mountain village and heading north.

During this time, to reduce unnecessary trouble, he restrained his aura, making him look no different from an ordinary person.

"Prefect, Prefect, this is the place, please follow me!"

Su Yuanshan looked up and saw an abandoned grave hidden in the weeds and forest not far away, covered with wild grass taller than a person.

The abandoned grave was very large, looking like a small hill from afar. This place was rarely visited, and besides weeds and stones, the most abundant things were trees.

Around the abandoned grave were several fallen stone statues of civil and military officials. Although eroded by time, one could still vaguely recognize the exquisite and ancient craftsmanship.

Besides the statues, there was also a huge broken stele, but the writing on it was already blurred.

Behind the broken stele was a cliff, which looked like a giant sword that had cut the abandoned grave in two.

Bizarrely, when the little white fox crossed that broken stele, it strangely disappeared in front of the cliff.

Su Yuanshan frowned slightly, seemingly realizing there was a mystery here, just as he was confused.

He saw the little white fox's head actually "drill" out from the cliff wall, and it said to Su Yuanshan in a soft voice.

"Prefect, Prefect, come this way!"

Su Yuanshan followed the little white fox and crossed the stone stele. Immediately, the surrounding scenery changed; the original cliff wall disappeared, replaced by a strange cave dwelling.

If it weren't for the huge stone coffin placed in the pool in the center of the cave, he would have almost thought he had arrived at the Water Curtain Cave of Mount Huaguo.

Could this be the Ancient Tomb Forbidden Ruins that the Night-Roaming God spoke of?

He wondered where the opportunity he mentioned was.

Su Yuanshan's gaze fell on the stone coffin and found that it was already broken. The side of the stone coffin seemed to have been hit by some kind of force, breaking a large hole. The inside was completely soaked by spring water, and the edges were covered with water moss.

This was clearly not the opportunity he was looking for!

At this time, the little white fox's voice sounded again.

"Pre.... fect, Prefect, follow.... me!"

It was clearly very familiar with this place.

This cave dwelling seemed to have been a natural rock cave at first, and later it was unknown who had opened it up as a tomb.

Su Yuanshan guessed that it should have been the descendants of the owner of the giant coffin, although it was also possible that the owner of the giant coffin had carved the tomb for himself before he died.

The stone coffin was so huge that it showed the owner was not an ordinary human, but unfortunately, the stone coffin had already been broken open.

When Su Yuanshan flew onto the coffin lid to inspect it, he found that the lid had been shattered in half. Looking inside through the hole, besides water plants and dark silt, there was nothing else.

"Eh.... is that a.... 'Liang' character?"

He discovered that on a fragment of the stone coffin inside the tomb, half of the character "Liang" was actually carved, but unfortunately, the three water drops and half of the wood radical were missing!

"Prefect, Prefect, here.... look quickly!"

The little white fox called him softly from the front, seeming a bit excited.

Su Yuanshan could not help but activate the spiritual energy in the spirit bead. Immediately, a yin wind rose, supporting him as he flew toward the little white fox.

The little white fox was currently hiding behind a rock, carefully peering into the distance through the thatch, seeming a bit agitated.

In front was a cold pool hundreds of meters wide. As for why there would be such a deep cold pool in the cave, that was not what Su Yuanshan wanted to study. At this moment, his attention was on the stone wall across the cold pool.

He saw a pale purple fruit in a crack in the stone wall, emitting an alluring fragrance. Su Yuanshan recognized at a glance that the fruit was the Purple Spirit Fruit recorded in the "Records of Heavenly Treasures and Strange Objects"!

There were two spirit fruits growing on it.

It is said that this Purple Spirit Fruit blooms every hundred years and bears fruit every hundred years, and has a great effect on cleansing the marrow for demon cultivators, but its effect on human cultivators seems limited.

But after all, it belonged to the category of heavenly treasures, which are hard to come by. Su Yuanshan seemed to understand a little why the little white fox was drooling at the fruit.

However, the spirit fruit grew obliquely on the stone wall, and there was a bottomless cold pool blocking the way. For the little white fox, it was clearly impossible to pick it, which was also the reason it looked at him pitifully.

Su Yuanshan laughed dumbly, thinking to himself that this little fox really knew how to order people around.

He chuckled lightly.

"Do you want that spirit fruit?"

The little white fox nodded repeatedly, excitedly raising its fluffy little paws and bowing repeatedly.

"Please.... Prefect, grant.... it!"

Su Yuanshan nodded slightly.

"You wait here first, this lord will be back soon."

As he spoke, he activated the spiritual energy within the spirit bead. Immediately, a gust of yin wind rose, supporting him as he flew directly toward the stone wall. ===== CHAPTER 19 =====