Chapter 56: Ancient Immortal Cave Dwelling

Four-colored lights flared simultaneously; the four of them, without prior agreement, chose the lowest Ninth Grade energy and struck the corresponding points at the same time.

The mountain wall silently cracked open a fissure.

Indeed, Lu Xingzhou's lazy judgment was still very correct... Shen Tang and Miss Qingli looked at him with strange expressions. Lu Xingzhou remained unmoved: "Humanity's fantasy of cultivating immortality, aside from wanting to live forever, isn't the greatest meaning simply convenience? So I dare say every Daoist is very lazy."

Miss Qingli thought for a moment, inexplicably feeling it made sense; just like Lu Xingzhou's Five Ghosts Moving Method, it was indeed convenient.

So why practice swordsmanship?

Was she deceived by her master when she was young...

Of course, the Imperial Ultimate Shocking World Scripture was still not a good cultivation method.

"Ahem." Miss Qingli coughed dryly with a calm expression: "Judging by the current situation, it is highly probable the original owner has already passed away inside, causing his external alchemy arrangements to become empty talk. This means our original judgment was correct; this place was indeed a peaceful land without danger... but now there may be a change."

Shen Tang asked: "The original owner's corpse?"

"Yes. Such an unexpected passing was certainly not within the original owner's expectations, so he would not have made any arrangements for what happens after death. That corpse, long situated in this extremely qi-rich feng shui treasure land, could undergo corpse transformation; external living energy is the most common fuse."

A Nuo couldn't help but retort: "Sister Qingli, how many graves have you dug? You're so skilled it's heartbreaking."

Miss Qingli fell silent for a moment, then said faintly: "From childhood to adulthood, what I have seen most is glaciers, followed by dead people. In protecting Shen Tang these past two months, I have spoken more than in my previous ten-plus years."

She said no more, simply looking at Lu Xingzhou and waiting for his decision. Actually, it was hard to say directly... Her meaning was that the inside was relatively dangerous; Lu Xingzhou's cultivation was the lowest here, and his intellect held absolutely no meaning when facing irrational corpse puppets, so it was best not to enter.

But saying this outright seemed to hurt his pride... Miss Qingli didn't know why she thought of this; logically, this shouldn't be something she would consider...

Lu Xingzhou had always been quite silent; only now did he slowly speak: "I cultivate the Ghost Arts of the Soul; it should be useful... The one who truly should not enter is someone else."

Saying this, he sighed and whispered: "A Nuo, you guard outside; under no circumstances enter."

A Nuo was stunned: "Why?"

"You must have some connection with the master of this place. I fear the incident where demon blood suppression caused illness will happen again, and the probability... is quite high." Lu Xingzhou rubbed her small head and said gently: "Tang Yunzhong and those others may not be able to keep the secret steady; if someone breaks in to cause trouble, that would be a nuisance. A Nuo, will you help guard the exterior?"

The words A Nuo wanted to say were choked back into her throat by the second half of the sentence. She looked at him resentfully for a long while, then finally lowered her head and handed over the Bai Fan: "Okay. Take the treasure, Master..."

Clearly knowing Master was just making an excuse... for so many years, A Nuo had never been Master's dead weight, but since returning to Xiazhou, she always felt she was so useless.

No matter what, she must listen to Master and not cause trouble.

With no outsiders here, Shen Tang pushed away her wheelchair and could walk on her own. A Nuo watched with longing as Miss Qingli pushed Lu Xingzhou's wheelchair through the door, then squatted on the ground, hugging her knees and curling into a ball.

Actually, A Nuo felt her ability to sense flowers and grass would still be very useful for exploring the cave dwelling... Pity that outside, though it looked like a vast wilderness and fertile soil, not a single wild grass could be seen. Had the earth veins been exhausted by alchemy? But that didn't seem right; the earth veins were clearly still very fertile, otherwise they wouldn't be sufficient to form a spirit stone mine...

"Eh..." A Nuo suddenly lifted her small head from her knees, her eyes sparkling.

The absence of flowers and grass here was itself an abnormal phenomenon. Master and Sister Qingli and the others weren't thinking in that direction; their train of thought hadn't turned there, but A Nuo had!

Indeed, it was right for A Nuo not to enter; there must be unknown omissions outside that hadn't been explored yet!

A Nuo is the smartest!

"Bang!" The moment the three of them on that side entered the cave dwelling and hadn't even taken a few steps, a violent surge of extremely strong energy rushed straight at them from the front.

Shen Tang, who was leading the way, didn't immediately understand what was on the opposite side and instinctively thrust both palms forward with a heavy push.

Qi forces clashed; the opponent drifted backward, while Shen Tang was also shaken and stumbled back, her feet colliding with Lu Xingzhou's legs, causing her to fall directly into his arms.

Shen Tang: "..."

Lu Xingzhou, very habitually, wrapped an arm around her; his right hand reached out from beside her, and the Bai Fan swayed lightly.

Miss Qingli was about to draw her sword but was stunned to find the enemy had stopped moving.

Looking closely, the enemy was merely a very blurry human silhouette, shaped like a ghost.

"This is a Talisman Spirit; it also has a name called Kui Zhao. It is often used to guard doors or protect certain treasures; classifying it as a type of ghost is not incorrect." Lu Xingzhou said while waving the Bai Fan: "My Soul Banner is the bane of such things; if you force a fight, it will be very difficult to defeat them, as they feel no pain."

Hearing Lu Xingzhou's intent to save face and counterattack for her earlier disdain, Miss Qingli's lips twitched: "Your Soul Banner... is a very formidable treasure, not an ordinary magical tool."

"Yes." Lu Xingzhou put away the Soul Banner and sighed: "It is my life treasure that grew with me; I have delayed it."

Miss Qingli really wanted to ask why he chose such a sinister life treasure, but before she could ask, someone in Lu Xingzhou's arms spoke first: "Let go of me~"

Miss Qingli: "..."

Why are you shouting? Is it very hard for a dignified fourth-grade to stand up on her own? It sounds as if he could restrain you...

Practicing martial arts has made her stupid.

Shen Tang also realized her brain had filled with water; she struggled, her face red and embarrassed. Just then, she heard Lu Xingzhou, unmoved, ask the dazed Talisman Spirit before him: "Who is your master?"

The Talisman Spirit frowned and thought with great difficulty, as if remembering nothing, and a dull echo reverberated through the passage: "In any case... you do not carry your master's scent... you may not enter..."

Lu Xingzhou suspected A Nuo might carry her master's scent, but he dared not take that risk. After a brief pause, he pulled a small lucky pouch from his ring and shook it: "Is there a scent?"

The Talisman Spirit was stunned, did not recognize a master, but simply made way.

This behavior suggested the scent was somewhat familiar, but not to the level of a master; it probably acknowledged you as a friendly guest.

Lu Xingzhou looked thoughtfully at the lucky pouch in his hand. Shen Tang, ignoring her blush, quietly asked: "What is this?"

"This is the lucky pouch A Nuo wove for me on my birthday this year; inside are her hair and a healing pill..." Lu Xingzhou's eyes were gentle: "A Nuo has excellent alchemist talent, but unfortunately lacks fire affinity, so she cannot cultivate fire arts and finds it very hard to refine pills herself. This was painstakingly refined by her relying on the earth fire of Danxia Mountain; at the time, she couldn't control the earth fire, ended up covered in soot, looking like a gray monkey..."

A Nuo's hair... at least it proves A Nuo indeed has a relationship with the master of this place, but it is currently difficult to determine the extent of that relationship, or whether it is familial.

In any case, it was correct not to let her enter; there is no other Immortal Pill now, and we cannot afford accidents.

Seeing Lu Xingzhou say no more, Miss Qingli directly pushed the wheelchair past the Talisman Spirit. In the instant they passed, Lu Xingzhou's Soul Banner rolled up, and the Talisman Spirit zipped into the banner with a squeak. A talisman paper floated down, landing in mid-air.

"Since it is clearly related to A Nuo, I must take it back for detailed investigation." Lu Xingzhou snatched up the talisman paper and stored it: "Let's go."

The entrance passage was very short; after not much time, the three of them arrived at an open area, which, judging by the layout of one's own cave dwelling, should be a front hall. But the moment they stepped in, Shen Tang immediately tightened her entire qi and stopped.

The front hall was in chaos; stone tables and stone chairs and the like had been smashed to pieces. There were even fragments of cups on the ground, and traces of spell scorching could be vaguely seen everywhere.

"A battle took place here... these are very ancient remnants." Shen Tang said in a low voice: "Judging by the situation, it looks like guests visited, and then some dispute occurred between host and guests, leading to a fight."

Miss Qingli's previous deduction of "unexpected passing" was instantly overturned; this was not an unexpected passing, it was deliberate!

Judging by the cup fragments, there was more than one guest; there were multiple guests.

"Then we can skip the routine search for the cave dwelling's core; following the battle traces will lead us to the final place of combat, and that is the most important." Miss Qingli pushed Lu Xingzhou toward the left corridor, and Shen Tang quickly chased after.

The corridor was even more filled with spell remnants everywhere, making the three of them tremble with fear.

Such a cave dwelling lies deep within the mountain's core, making its destruction inherently extremely difficult. Moreover, to avoid accidentally burying themselves inside, the cave masters often set up exceedingly sturdy reinforcement arrays; with Shen Tang's current strength, she could barely create even a small crater.

Yet as they looked along the path, they saw that many sections of the cave wall had been collapsed, with vast swathes of rock fallen and piled on the ground. The walls were pockmarked everywhere, even bearing deep holes several zhang in depth, leaving one to wonder what level of power the two battling sides possessed.

Near the end of the corridor, they finally saw the first corpse; at the corner, a pair of legs protruded.

Based on Miss Qingli's experience, this was highly prone to corpse reanimation. The three each gathered a major technique within themselves and approached cautiously.

Reaching the corner and looking toward the corpse, the scalps of all three began to tingle.

"What do you mean 'a corpse'? There are at least a dozen corpses here! These are all ancient immortals; if they reanimate simultaneously..."

The moment the thought formed, a slight tremor passed through; the dozen or so corpses beyond the corner raised their heads in unison, their eyes glowing with greasy green phosphorescent flames.

(End of this chapter)