Chapter 435: 410 Demon Prison

"Meng Huazhou is truly a man who can keep his cool."

Deep in the mountains, Tang Zhao reeled in the line bit by bit; the thread turned into a light, fluffy ball in his hands, growing larger as he wound it.

To say it was large, it wasn't actually that big. The thread was incredibly delicate; even though he had already reeled in two miles of it, the ball of thread, when compressed in his palm, was not even the size of a soybean. They say spider silk is extremely thin and tough, but the thread unraveled from that white flower was a hundred times thinner and a hundred times tougher.

He had been winding the thread for a long time now, yet the other end remained completely motionless. Not only had the position not shifted, but there hadn't been a single superfluous movement; Tang Zhao hadn't even felt any vibration at the other end of the line. If it hadn't detached from that flower, then it must have found an absolutely safe place, staying perfectly still and waiting for nightfall.

"Actually, you don't need to keep looking." The white fox climbed down from Tang Zhao's shoulder and leaped forward along the path of the thread. "I already know where he went. I guessed it as soon as we got here. Follow me, I'll take you straight there."

Tang Zhao shook his head. With Black Widow and Yue Lai behind him, it was inconvenient to say too much, so he only said, "I feel the Yin energy getting stronger. Is there a Demon Cave ahead?"

Black Widow asked curiously from behind, "Eh? Is there Yin energy?"

Yue Lai, following at the very back, said with certainty, "There is."

Tang Zhao looked back at Yue Lai—his Inspiration was indeed quite good.

The Yin energy of a Demon Cave is mostly limited to a certain range, growing thinner the further one is from the cave. Moreover, any Yin energy is only released more intensely at night; during the day, it is entirely faint, present yet elusive, and only those with extremely strong Inspiration can perceive it.

Black Widow's Inspiration was actually decent; she had a bit of innate talent, and after practicing the Mysterious Technique, her Inspiration had gradually risen, now reaching the passing grade for a Sword Guest, otherwise she couldn't have hoped to become one. But she could not detect the subtle Yin energy, and since Yue Lai could, it meant Yue Lai's Inspiration was far stronger than Black Widow's.

This was a young expert with outstanding talent, powerful martial arts, and disciplined training. Tang Zhao compared him to Jiang Shenyi and found that, excluding the factor of being a Talisman Sword Master, Yue Lai was only stronger, not weaker, than Jiang Shenyi.

I wonder where such a brilliant talent came from?

To have such an expert chasing Meng Huazhou relentlessly is truly a blessing for the Meng Family father and son.

The white fox answered from the front: "Calling it a Demon Cave is fine, but there are no Heavenly Demons inside. It is not the culprit of that catastrophe, just a Fragment of some Demon Cave from back then. We at Baiyujing have wiped out many Yin Calamities and collected quite a few such fragments. His Highness used them as materials, but after that shocking change, they all scattered. Actually, the danger isn't great; in today's terms, it counts as a Wind-type Demon Prison."

"

Wind-type means a Demon Cave that only has illusions, without mass or changes in nature; it is considered one of the lower-threat types of Demon Caves.

Tang Zhao said pointedly, "The Demon Prison should be eradicated."

The white fox continued, "I would like to, but any Demon Prison that has taken root is not easy to eradicate. That place is in a mountain gully, the harm it causes is limited, and there aren't even any Phantoms. I used to go and clear out some Fierce Beasts from time to time, but later I stopped going. It's been decades, I wonder how it is now? That kid knows quite a lot to be able to escape there. How on earth did he find out?"

These words reminded Tang Zhao. Tang Zhao was someone who had listened to the music with Meng Huazhou, and he knew well that half a month ago, he didn't even know the name of Xishan County and was still in a dream-like state. How could he now have a feeling of knowing everything?

Can so much be found out in half a month of investigation?

Or did he obtain a reliable source of information?

Just like how Tang Zhao met the white fox?

To be honest, when the Immortal Palace collapsed, there might have been more than one Sword Image that escaped, right? The Suisui Sword is the third subordinate sword of the Ruyi Sword; who knows if the first, second, or the fourth, fifth, and sixth didn't come down as well?

This will have to be confirmed with the white fox.

Tang Zhao was very willing to let the white fox lead the way. His actions in reeling in the line here were incredibly cautious, not even daring to breathe loudly, and he had to carefully coil the thread bit by bit, like trying to pick up raw rice with a needle; it was a test of patience, so if he could reach the goal in one go, that would naturally be better.

Just as he was about to ask the white fox to lead the way, he suddenly raised an eyebrow and said to the two people behind him, "Someone is coming."

As Tang Zhao spoke, he opened a light-refracting mirror, an Art Tool that distorts light to hide one's form, similar in effect to his light illusion, and signaled for the two to hide inside.

No sooner had he set up the illusion than he heard the sound of hooves.

Hoofbeats?

Someone riding horses in the mountains?

That is absolutely impossible; the mountain roads are rugged, and many paths are difficult even for apes to climb, so how could one ride a horse?

Then it must be...

Horses.

Just as he was surprised, Tang Zhao clearly saw a cavalry troop galloping from afar from behind the light-refracting mirror.

The troop had about ten riders, all dressed in light, deep-red outfits, neatly packed, each one young and upright, while the horses they rode were short and small, clearly a special breed accustomed to mountain paths.

However, even if these horses could climb mountains, it would be one thing to pass through valleys and gullies between mountains, but how could they cross the high cliffs and peaks that stood like screens in front?

Unless... they lived in the mountains and only traveled within them.

Tang Zhao saw clearly, and his mood was a bit complicated: those deep-red clothes were the uniforms of the Imperial Court, these young people were clearly military officers, and it went without saying that these people were the troops stationed in Xishan.

He had long known that there was a garrison here in Xishan, directly under the Dudu Mansion of Yunzhou, defending against the barbarian tribes of Liangzhou in the west crossing the border; it was an important elite garrison. But Xishan was so large, how could they run into them? If both sides minded their own business, that would be fine, but the direction this troop was heading today gave him an ominous premonition.

Black Widow and Yue Lai both looked grim—they both had their own goals, so naturally, they felt the simpler the better; any new force entering the scene would increase the difficulty. But the light-refracting mirror could only block light, not sound, and they could not make a noise.

Only the white fox had no such concerns and called out, "I see their direction is wrong; could it be that we've bumped into them? I'll go ask."

Tang Zhao paused, but the white fox had already darted out, circling behind the troop. No one knew how it did it, but the last horse neighed, stumbled, and fell forward.

The rider was shocked, unable to control the horse, and quickly pulled their feet from the stirrups and leaped off, only to see the horse lying on the ground twitching, unable to get up for a while.

With such an incident in the troop, the cavalry slowed down slightly, but the formation remained completely orderly. The leading officer gave a couple of orders, and the troop picked up speed again, leaving the last rider behind.

Only the second-to-last rider turned back, dismounted, and said, "Little Huo, what's wrong?"

The last rider was a very young lad who, after checking the horse, shook his head helplessly and said, "I don't know why, but this horse had a seizure. Brother Wang, go ahead first, I'll catch up slowly."

That Brother Wang said, "Whether I go or not doesn't matter; I've been to that Demon Cave several times, there's nothing new. You're a newcomer to the battalion and haven't been confirmed yet; you need this training opportunity. If you go late and they've finished everything, will there be any share left for you? Here, you ride my horse. I'll walk behind and catch up slowly."

That Little Huo said, "Brother Wang, there's no need for that. This time we are going to eradicate the Demon Cave root and branch; how can it be the same as the periodic cleanups we did before? We won't see the Demon Cave again in the future, so this opportunity is important for everyone. It's my fault for not taking care of the horse; how can I let Brother Wang bear the loss? You go ahead, I'll just walk."

That Brother Wang said, "You are really stubborn. Fine, leave this sick horse here, I'll ride, and you run after me. Within an hour, you won't be slower than a horse, will you?"

That Little Huo agreed, took off his own saddle and gear, carried them on his back, left the horse, and ran behind Brother Wang's horse.

The white fox bared its teeth, about to stop the two again, but Tang Zhao made a gesture, telling it to stop.

The white fox gave Tang Zhao some face and stopped making things difficult for them, so the two men and one horse successfully left the area.

Tang Zhao's mood was somewhat complicated. He stopped the white fox from hurting them, firstly because he had enough information; knowing their purpose was indeed that Demon Cave and that they intended to clear it out was enough. What could he ask from the rest of the pawns?

Secondly, Tang Zhao actually recognized that Little Huo; he was Huo Chaoqun, a trainee in the New Sharp Battalion when he presided over the examinations. He still remembered him as an excellent student who not only had strength but was also good at commanding and leading teams; he had even appointed Huo Chaoqun as his own Main Rider.

With such a connection, even if he wasn't as close as his own student, he couldn't harm him.

Tang Zhao hadn't expected the military's assignments to be so fast; not even a month had passed, the year hadn't even ended, and the newcomers had already been assigned to different teams. Their Land Inspection Division didn't have this efficiency; Qin Yongcheng and the others were still resting at home.

After the two had gone far away, Black Widow said, "Are they people from the military? They are also going to the Demon Cave and want to level it? This is getting more and more chaotic."

Tang Zhao said, "If there are many people, it's possible to fish in troubled waters, but when the Xiancheng descends, it won't be possible to hide it from people."

Not only will it be impossible to hide, but if the people in the military see it, they might report it to their superiors. If the Dudu Mansion finds out, the Gaoyuan Marquis will also know. If he cannot win a quick battle, once the big shots arrive, how could the Ruyi Sword ever fall to Black Widow?

Fortunately, Tang Zhao had just taken a glance, and there were actually no Sword Guests in that team; they all seemed to be young people. It appeared that the Demon Cave truly posed no great danger, not requiring a massive mobilization, and letting the young people gain experience was sufficient.

This posed no great threat to Tang Zhao, but it also posed no threat to Shangguan Jianke; if this person were not afraid of opposing the Imperial Court and launched a fierce attack, these young soldiers would be in danger again.

Tang Zhao only felt the situation was chaotic and had a bit of a headache, saying, "The only benefit is probably that we don't have to be so secretive. With a group of people going to the Demon Cave, as long as Shangguan Jianke isn't blind, he will likely be able to see them. He will definitely be able to reach the Demon Cave, so let's go too."

Tang Zhao immediately took the Refraction Mirror in front, made a gesture of Storage for the silk threads, the white fox led the way in front, and the three of them maintained a steady pace forward.

After traveling for more than an hour and passing through a canyon, the view before them suddenly opened up; the Demon Cave had arrived.

Seeing the Illusion Demon Cave, Tang Zhao suddenly understood why Meng Huazhou dared to hide here—

This Demon Cave was actually a sea of white flowers.