Chapter 30

Moyingxin's eyes darted around as she stared at Qin Yu and said, "Mr. Qin, you must have determined it based on the old feng shui master's remains, right?"

"Exactly. This river is now artificially designed. From these inscriptions and patterns, it can be confirmed that the construction of this river, from the mechanism to the digging of the riverbed, was not something that could be completed in a short time. If it were you, would you be willing to have a corpse lying nearby while digging the river? Wouldn't that be terrifying?"

Everyone shook their heads. Who would want a corpse nearby? Putting themselves in others' shoes, Qin Yu's reasoning made a lot of sense.

"But who could have done this, to design the flow of the Yellow Spring Water? This skill is truly incredible," He Ping exclaimed.

The Yellow Spring Water is said to be able to corrode everything, dissolving anything it touches. To control its corrosiveness with just these inscriptions and patterns, this person must not be an ordinary figure.

Qin Yu carefully observed the inscriptions and patterns at the bottom of the river, but found nothing. Although he graduated from the Chinese Literature Department, his knowledge of ancient Chinese characters was limited to some common ones, and he did not recognize any of the inscriptions here.

As for the carved patterns, Qin Yu compared them with the Zhuge Nei Jing but found no clues. These patterns were extremely ancient, somewhat similar to Buddhist mantras, and should have special meanings.

"Master He, Mr. Qin, should we go to the other side and see if there is any Dragon Crystal Liquid?"

Moyingxin's sudden voice interrupted Qin Yu and He Ping. The two looked at each other, having forgotten the main purpose of their mission in their excitement over the inscriptions and patterns.

The Yellow Spring Water had already flowed away, and a bodyguard had already taken out a foldable stainless steel ladder and laid it across the river. Everyone stepped onto it one by one.

From the other side of the river, Qin Yu could only vaguely see a stone platform. Now that they were here, he could see a tall, round stone platform standing there, built from grayish-blue rocks, with a stone staircase winding up to the top.

"Is this... an altar?" Even Moyingxin recognized the purpose of the stone platform. In many movies and TV shows, ancient people used such platforms for prayers and sacrifices, didn't they?

The Yellow Spring Water, the sacrificial stone platform, all of this indicated that this cave was not naturally formed, or that it had been artificially designed later to become what it is now.

However, Moyingxin frowned. The presence of the altar suggested that there had been human activity here, making it uncertain whether the Dragon Crystal Liquid still existed. Such a treasure would be taken away by anyone who knew its value.

The only option now was to climb the platform and see for themselves. Moyingxin, unable to contain her impatience, was the first to climb the stone staircase, followed closely by Qin Yu. Qin Yu could sense that Moyingxin's steps were hurried and anxious, which was quite unlike her usual cold and calm demeanor.

"Everyone has the same problem of being overly concerned about gains and losses," Qin Yu sighed.

The tall stone platform, though the staircase was spiral, took only a moment for Moyingxin to reach the top. She looked into the hollow center, and Qin Yu, standing behind her, could see her delicate face turn pale, her body swaying, almost falling.

Seeing Moyingxin's unusual reaction, Qin Yu quickly rushed over, grabbing her and pulling her back a few steps. She remained unresponsive, her eyes vacant, her expression pitiful.

"Miss Mo, are you okay?" Qin Yu called softly.

"I... I'm fine." Moyingxin's eyes went from vacant to confused, then back to normal. Qin Yu breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forward to look into the hollow center of the platform.

A deep pit, about ten feet deep, with animal bones at the bottom and several chains crisscrossing in the air. There was no sign of the Dragon Crystal Liquid. No wonder Moyingxin had suddenly lost her composure. The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

Not only Qin Yu noticed Moyingxin's reaction. He Ping and Moyingxing quickly came to the edge of the pit and looked down. He Ping shook his head in slight regret, while Moyingxing's expression turned agitated. Seeing his sister's earlier dazed state, he burst out in anger:

"Damn it, are they playing with us?"

Still unsatisfied, Moyingxing threw the flashlight he was holding into the deep pit. Before Qin Yu could stop him, there was a "crack" as the flashlight shattered, sparks flying, and the wires short-circuited, plunging them into darkness.

"Brother, what are you doing?"

Moyingxin scolded her brother.

"Sister, we've been searching for so many years. We finally found a clue and came here, but the result is..." Moyingxing didn't finish, his eyes red, turning away.

Over the years, he had accompanied his sister across the country, seeking ways to treat their mother. They had humbled themselves and begged many people, especially some eccentric individuals who had strange temperaments and would easily get angry and drive them away. His sister had to force a smile and endure it. He had seen all of this, but others only saw the glory of being the children of the Mo family, not the hardships behind it.

"It's not certain that there isn't any Dragon Crystal Liquid. Maybe we missed something. Let's look more carefully," Qin Yu consoled, though he knew the hope was slim.

"Is there really a possibility?" Moyingxin's eyes were fixed on Qin Yu, as if trying to see hope in his face.

"Even if we don't consider other places, we haven't seen what's inside the mechanism of the descending stone door. There might be hidden passages or mechanisms here!"

Qin Yu nodded, speaking with certainty. At this moment, Moyingxin was no different from an ordinary girl, fragile and heart-wrenching.

No one noticed that after Moyingxing threw the flashlight into the deep pit, small creatures began to crawl out from under the animal bones at the bottom. These were centipedes, with countless legs, small in size but terrifying in number. In no time, the entire bottom of the pit was covered, and more were emerging from the ground.

If Qin Yu had looked back, he would have recognized these as the "grass shoe bottoms" or "thousand-legged worms" known locally, called "money crawlers" in the north.

Thousand-legged worms are social creatures that like to stay in cold, damp places, usually in piles of dead leaves or under old bricks and tiles, feeding on dead leaves and decaying matter. In old rural houses, you can often find them by lifting bricks or tiles.

"Did you hear something?"

Qin Yu faintly heard a rustling sound, as if something was crawling. The Mo siblings were too sad to notice, but the black-clad bodyguards sensed something was wrong. One of them shone a flashlight into the deep pit, and everyone's faces turned pale.

A sea of thousand-legged worms was crawling up from the deep pit, densely packed, making people's scalps tingle. The flashlight caused the worm swarm to stir, surging up like a tide.

"My God, what kind of worms are these, and why are there so many?" a bodyguard exclaimed, quickly taking out a bottle of alcohol and a lighter to burn the worms.

"Don't use fire. These are thousand-legged worms, and they contain toxic gases. If we burn them, we'll all be poisoned. Quickly, leave here and get back to the other side of the river."

Qin Yu stopped the bodyguard, leading the way, pulling the pale Moyingxin down the stone platform. The others followed, with the bodyguards bringing up the rear.

"Thousand-legged worms usually move very slowly. Why are these so fast?" Qin Yu glanced back and saw that many worms had already climbed up to the platform. Some of the bodyguards at the back were already being caught by the worms. Qin Yu could see that one bodyguard's feet were covered with worms, and in no time, he fell to his knees, overwhelmed by the swarm.

"If we can't run, we'll have to burn them and immediately run to the river."

Seeing that they couldn't run, Qin Yu shouted to the bodyguards at the back.

Hearing Qin Yu's words, the black-clad bodyguards took out bottles of alcohol and poured them on the approaching worms, then took out lighters and threw them into the swarm.

"Boom!"

Instantly, flames rose, accompanied by the sizzling sound of burning. The worms closest to the flames, covered in alcohol, burned instantly, crackling.

Several bodyguards lit the flames together, quickly forming a wall of fire. However, the worms behind continued to crawl forward fearlessly, emitting a foul odor.

"Cover your noses and run quickly. The gas is toxic."

Qin Yu called to the people behind him and continued running toward the river. In a moment, he had already descended the platform, still tightly holding Moyingxin's hand, though he didn't notice why he was holding it.

Moyingxin, now back to her senses, glanced at Qin Yu with a complex expression but didn't pull away her hand, following Qin Yu closely.

"Qin Yu, there... there are more ahead."

Qin Yu looked ahead and saw that the riverbank was also crawling with worms, layer upon layer of black, a sight that was truly shocking. The ladder on the riverbank was completely covered by the thousand-legged worms.

"Damn, this is a worm nest!"

Behind them, more and more worms were crawling out of the deep pit, surrounding them from all sides.

Qin Yu gritted his teeth, took off his coat, and, under Moyingxin's puzzled gaze, twisted it into a rope. He took out a lighter and instructed the people behind him:

"In a moment, I'll light the coat to clear the way. Cover your noses and follow me quickly across the ladder. Open the mechanism and release the Yellow Spring Water."

If they didn't act quickly, the increasing number of worms would make it impossible to escape. The bodyguards were burning things to drive away the worms, but it wasn't very effective. The situation didn't allow for delay, so Qin Yu lit the coat and ran toward the ladder on the riverbank, waving it.