Chapter 84

The deeper he went, the smaller the valley became. Lin Xiao cautiously walked for over half an hour without any incidents, but he didn't let his guard down. The deeper he went, the more cautious he became.

Suddenly, all the weeds and trees disappeared, and a man-made stone path appeared at the deepest part of the valley. Lin Xiao frowned.

'This place might have been inhabited before,' Lin Xiao thought.

Lin Xiao continued to move forward slowly. The signs of human activity were obvious, and there were occasional household items scattered along the way. They looked familiar from their shapes, but many of the wooden ones had rotted.

'It seems that even if someone lived here, it was a long time ago,' Lin Xiao thought to himself.

Step by step, following the stone path, he soon reached the end. In front of him was a cave and a stone door.

Above the cave, in traditional Chinese characters, were three large words: "Dust World Abode." Lin Xiao looked up, not understanding what it meant.

Lin Xiao didn't dare to act rashly at the stone door. He was wary of the traps that might be set by the predecessors. He picked up a few stones and threw them at the stone door from about twenty meters away.

'Clunk'

The sound of the stones colliding with the stone door, but nothing else happened. Lin Xiao threw a few more stones to make sure everything was safe before slowly approaching.

There were two stone handles on the stone door, also made of stone. Seeing these handles, Lin Xiao was reminded of the handles in ancient tombs.

'Should I pull them or not?' Lin Xiao pondered.

'It should be fine, right?'

'Try it, maybe there's something interesting inside.'

'If I don't try, I'll regret it later.' Lin Xiao's mind was filled with these thoughts.

Finally, a determined look flashed in Lin Xiao's eyes. He gripped the handles tightly and pulled with all his strength.

'Click' 'Click' 'Click'

The stone door gradually opened, and a musty smell mixed with dust rushed towards him. Lin Xiao, who had momentarily forgotten about it, started coughing.

He coughed so hard that tears almost came to his eyes, and his eyes turned red as if he had taken medicine. The smell was truly disgusting.

After a long while, when all the musty smell had dissipated, Lin Xiao returned to the entrance of the cave. He pulled the partially open door fully, revealing the entire cave.

The cave was simple, with a stone table, stone chairs, and a stone bed, nothing else.

There were no skeletons or secret manuals as he had imagined. The simple setup left no place to hide anything.

"What a disappointment, this is so different from what I imagined." Lin Xiao punched the stone wall in frustration, saying, "I spent so much effort, and the result is so far from what I expected."

Dust fell from the stone wall with Lin Xiao's punch, and the smooth surface became uneven.

"Huh?" Lin Xiao noticed this and had an idea. He excitedly ran into the space and brought out a broom.

He swept the stone wall with the broom, and instantly the entire cave was filled with dust. Lin Xiao covered his mouth and ran out again, coughing.

After the dust settled, Lin Xiao ran back into the cave and hurriedly approached the stone wall to see what was written on it.

"Huh, what is this?" Lin Xiao saw a large picture on the stone wall, with a star marked in the center. His eyes scanned the area and saw some words next to the picture.

Lin Xiao could only guess the general meaning of the words, understanding some of them.

It talked about the Yuan dynasty invading the Song dynasty. A city's lord and the general defending the city, seeing that the city could not be defended, decided to die with it. They instructed a trusted subordinate to take all the city's wealth and bury it at the location marked on the map. This was to be used as initial funds for future Song loyalists to lead the resistance against the Yuan.

The general idea was that, but Lin Xiao lost interest after a few glances. What he lacked was not this.

Moreover, the map didn't indicate where the wealth was buried, only some symbols that looked like secret marks.

The biggest gain for Lin Xiao was the information about the strange flower in the lake outside, as mentioned on the stone wall. The trusted subordinate who lived here came during the period when the strange flower bore fruit, and the scent attracted all the beasts in the mountains.

A fierce battle ensued, and all the beasts went mad, attacking any other beast they saw. In the end, a bloodied tiger with numerous scratches and bites emerged victorious.

Strangely, all the blood from the dead beasts disappeared, absorbed by the strange flower. At the last moment, the general's trusted subordinate struck, killing the unguarded tiger instantly.

The fruit ended up in the hands of the trusted subordinate. In ancient times, people were very superstitious, and the subordinate was no exception. Seeing the beasts fight over the fruit, he believed it was a call from hell and sealed the fruit in the cave.

Until one day, the subordinate was severely injured and dragged his wounded body back to the cave. He carved the map and the text on the stone wall and saw the white, jade-like fruit in the wooden box on the table. With the mindset of a dead man, he decided to eat the fruit as his last act.

He took the fruit and ate it in a few bites. A miracle happened; his severely injured body instantly recovered.

He also felt his strength tripled, and he was stunned. He felt it was the will of heaven and decided to stay in this place, guarding the strange flower. On the other hand, he had completed the general's task and had no more attachments.

He lived in the cave for decades, only going out to buy necessary supplies and gather information about the rise of the Song dynasty.

On the stone wall, the trusted subordinate had carved detailed descriptions of the strange flower, but he never saw it bear fruit again before he died.

"Ah~ It seems the only gain from this is this unknown strange flower. The fruit's use is known; it's a good thing for healing injuries and strengthening the body. Among strange flowers, it's considered average," Lin Xiao said to himself after reading.

"Since the trusted subordinate could go out to buy supplies, it means there's a direct path to the outside," Lin Xiao analyzed.

Thinking this, Lin Xiao started to explore the way out. Having a direction was good; otherwise, he might end up lost in the deep mountains, and it would be troublesome if he ran out of food in the space after a few months.

PS: Newbie seeking favorites and recommendations.

Page flip AD starts

Page flip AD ends