.
"Let's go, we should hurry and catch up." Seeing Xiao Yixian leading the way into the cave, Xiao Ling nodded to Qinglin and Ziyan behind him. He extended a finger, and a flash of fire leaped up, completely dispelling the surrounding darkness.
Walking in the quiet and dark cave, a faint chill lingered around them. The quiet passage was only disturbed by the faint sound of the four people's footsteps.
The gloomy surroundings made Xiao Yixian's arms involuntarily hug each other. She looked up at Xiao Ling, who was walking slowly ahead of her. After a moment of hesitation, she quickly took a few steps and followed closely behind him. In this situation, only the young man before her could give her a sense of security.
Feeling the atmosphere was a little awkward, Xiao Ling tried to find some topics to discuss, just in case she had some questions before the time travel.
Xiao Ling looked at Xiao Yixian, his face filled with confusion. "Xiao Yixian, is that your original name?"
"Yes, I haven't seen my father since I was born. My mother died in an accident..." As she spoke, Xiao Yixian's mood darkened, tears glistening in her eyes.
"I presume the accident you're referring to is the first outbreak of the Evil Poison Body, which implicated my mother. This incident must have been a knot in my heart." Xiao Ling rubbed his chin, a sense of inexplicable emotion welling up in his heart. He
looked at Xiao Yixian with a somewhat apologetic look, his face thick with guilt. "I'm sorry for bringing up these sad memories!"
"It's okay. It happened many years ago. I've long since forgotten it..." Xiao Yixian shook her head nonchalantly, her face suffusing with a caress, but a hint of sadness lingered in her eyes.
Seeing this, Xiao Ling habitually reached out to rub Xiao Yixian's head, offering comfort.
However, recalling that they had only known each other for a short time and their relationship wasn't that close, he slowly lowered his outstretched hand.
Xiao Yixian also sensed Xiao Ling's intentions, but surprisingly, she wasn't angry at him. She gave a faint smile, clasped her hands behind her, and continued walking into the cave.
Shaking his head, Xiao Ling sighed softly, no longer dwelling on the incident. Peace returned to the cave.
Illuminated by the flame in Xiao Ling's hand, the group continued along the cave's passage. After a while, a stone gate appeared before them. Seeing this, the four of them stopped and took in the stone gate.
Xiao Ling pointed at the stone gate ahead and turned to look at the three of them. "The road ahead is blocked by this stone gate."
Hearing this, the Little Medical Immortal frowned slightly. She took two steps forward, looked at the stone gate, and mused, "Beyond the stone gate should be our destination. Since this predecessor forged a cave here, I don't think he would have left it impassable."
She extended a slender finger and tapped it. "Look at the yellow glow on the stone gate. It's clearly been equipped with an earth-based mechanism. With a little care, opening it shouldn't be difficult. I've read some books on mechanisms. Give me some time, and I'll have this stone gate open in no time."
With that, the Little Medical Immortal rolled up her sleeves, revealing a wisp of her wrist, and stepped forward to decipher the mechanism.
Zi Yan, standing behind the group, saw the Little Medical Immortal's eagerness and curled her lips. She walked over to her and gently pushed her open.
After being pushed away by Zi Yan, Xiao Yixian stared back with a puzzled look. "Why did this little girl push me? She had been so nonchalant just now. Could she have some grudge against me?"
However, Zi Yan's next move dispelled Xiao Yixian's doubts.
Zi Yan raised her tender pink fist, a hazy purple light emanating from it. As she twisted her body, a series of sonic booms erupted, and she smashed it down on the stone gate before her.
"Boom!" With a resounding bang, the stone gate was instantly shattered by Zi Yan's punch, turning into dust all over the ground. The terrifying power of this punch was evident.
Clapping her hands to shake off the dust, Zi Yan said calmly to Xiao Yixian, "It's just a small stone gate. I can break it with a single blow."
Seeing Zi Yan's smug expression, Xiao Yixian's mouth twitched slightly. She hadn't expected this little girl to be so violent. However, recalling what Xiao Ling had said earlier, this little girl was a transformed demon beast, her power having reached the Dou Wang realm. Such violence was understandable.
Zi Yan shattered the stone door blocking their path, and without further delay, the four of them entered the secret chamber beyond.
Within the stone doorway lay a vast stone chamber, seemingly simple and bare. Moonstones illuminated the walls. In the center, a chair sat atop a withered skeleton, its sunken skull resting on a pale thighbone. This presence created a rather eerie atmosphere in the quiet atmosphere.
In front of the chair stood a rather wide bluestone platform, upon which three locked stone boxes lay neatly arranged.
Furthermore, in the three corners of the chamber, piles of glittering gold coins and other valuables were piled. The sheer number of gold coins must have been in the hundreds of thousands.
Xiao Ling and his companions had no shortage of treasures and money, and the original owner of these treasures had placed them in a casual manner, seemingly not placing much value on these valuables.
As the four entered the stone chamber, Zi Yan's gaze remained fixed on a corner. Xiao Ling and his companions, observing this, followed her gaze.
In the far corner, a small flowerbed of earth was built, filled with a variety of flowers and plants, a strange fragrance lingering around.
Gazing at these flowers and plants, Xiao Ling suddenly realized that it was the aroma of these medicinal herbs that had attracted Zi Yan. The Taixu Ancient Dragon's nose was indeed more sensitive than that of an ordinary person.
Upon seeing these herbs, Xiao Yixian's eyes were instantly captivated. However, remembering the unfathomable strength of the individuals around her, and fearing their displeasure, she could only observe from the corner of her eyes whether Xiao Ling and his companions were in line with their plans and whether they would abide by their previous agreement.
Seeing Xiao Yixian like this, Xiao Ling was truly afraid she'd misunderstood him. "Don't worry, Miss Xiao Yixian, what I said before certainly holds true. As long as you like these herbs, you can take them all." Xiao Yixian,
who had been a little nervous, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief after hearing Xiao Ling's words. Now that they were in this cave, since the other party hadn't attacked her, it seemed he was a man of his word. She pulled a small shovel from her backpack, rolled up her sleeves, and began carefully digging for the precious herbs in the flower beds. She then took out the jade bottle she carried with her and put them into it one by one.
Purple-blue leaves, white spirit ginseng fruit, ice spirit flame grass, snow lotus seeds…"
Her beautiful eyes stared blankly at the small flower bed, and the names of rare and hard-to-find high-grade medicinal herbs popped out secretly from the little medical fairy's rosy little mouth.
The little medical fairy had only seen these medicinal herbs in some books introducing medicinal herbs, especially the ice spirit flame grass, which seemed to be the main ingredient for refining sixth-grade elixirs. She didn't expect that the harvest this time would be so great. For a medicine lover like her, getting a rare medicinal herb is far more exciting and exciting than getting hundreds of thousands of property.
Xiao Ling rubbed Zi Yan's little head, looked at her regretful little look, and said with a smile: "Don't take it to heart, these medicinal herbs are of no help to your cultivation. When we get to the imperial capital, I'll give you a whole Tianfei fruit. "
When Zi Yan heard this, her eyes lit up immediately. It was the Tian Fei Fruit, one of the few medicinal herbs that could be eaten directly and tasted super good. Xiao Ling treasured it so much in the past that he was reluctant to take it out. This time he was able to eat a whole one. It seemed that he was in a good mood now. "Then it's a deal. I have to pick the biggest one to eat."
At this time, Qing Lin had walked to the stone table in the center of the stone room, and looked at the three quaint stone boxes placed on it with curiosity.
He found that there were three metal locks on each stone box. He stretched out his little hand and twisted one hard, but found that it did not move at all, and there was no sign of corrosion by time. This was obviously not ordinary metal, so the method of using brute force to unlock it was not feasible.
"Where is the key? "After muttering something, Qinglin's eyes moved and stopped at the dry bones behind the stone table. His sight moved downwards, and his eyes lit up. He saw three black keys hanging on the bones in the palm of the skeleton's hand. Rubbing his hands, Qinglin walked forward and looked at the dry bones. With a feeling of trepidation, he put his palms together in front of it, then carefully grabbed the key and pulled it gently.
"Crack." Due to the passage of time, the withered skeleton's arm was actually broken by this small force.
At this time, Zi Yan and Xiao Ling also walked to Qing Lin's side, and seeing this funny look, they couldn't help laughing.
Hearing the laughter of Xiao Ling and Zi Yan, Qing Lin's pretty face flushed, and she glanced at the withered skeleton behind the stone table with a bad temper.
When her eyes passed through the fracture above, she faintly discovered that there seemed to be a small scroll hidden in the gap between the bones.
Seeing this scene, Qing Lin pointed to the small scroll and looked at Xiao Ling with curious eyes, "Master, it seems that there is something hidden there. Hearing Qinglin
's question, Xiao Ling followed the direction of his finger and spotted the familiar small scroll.
With a wave of his hand, the scroll fell into Xiao Ling's palm. After Xiao Ling removed the scroll, Qinglin picked up the severed arm and carefully placed it back on the skeleton.
Untying the black string that bound it, the full scroll appeared before Xiao Ling.
He saw a piece of parchment made of an unknown material. On the slightly yellowed parchment were patterns painted in seemingly irregular patterns. In the corner of the parchment, a vague object resembling a lotus flower appeared.
Perhaps due to age, the lotus-like shape looked slightly yellowed and blurry, but the general outline of the painting was still discernible.
The lotus flower was black, and a thin layer of black flames seemed to cling to its surface. Upon closer inspection, the entire flower gave off a faint, eerie feeling.
"The second fragment of the Pure Lotus Demon Fire Map, I finally found you." Holding the fragment in his hand, Xiao Ling could not hide his excitement.
Now Xiao Ling already had two fragments of the Pure Lotus Demon Fire Map in his hands. One was right in front of him, and the other was naturally the one he got from Hai Bodong. Xiao Ling, who had read the original novel, naturally knew where the other two fragments appeared. One could be easily obtained in Black Seal City, while the last one could only be auctioned at the Space Trade Fair before the Ancient Bodhi Tree was born. However, by the time of the Space Trade Fair, everyone knew the true origin of this fragment, so it could not be obtained as easily as the other three fragments of the Pure Lotus Demon Fire Map. Without some effort, he would be able to obtain it. A priceless treasure cannot be obtained without sufficient strength.
Possessing the complete map of the Pure Lotus Demon Fire could awaken the dormant Pure Lotus Demon Saint's consciousness within. Whether or not he could learn a single move from this Half-Emperor was beyond question. Given his ability to format the Pure Lotus Demon Fire trapped within the demon fire space, reducing the difficulty of taming it from hellish to difficult, Xiao Ling must collect all four remaining copies of the map.
The Little Medical Fairy, who had just finished gathering herbs, approached the stone table. Seeing Xiao Ling and the other two staring at the ancient scroll, she wondered, "What is the origin of this thing? It's so surprising that even a sixth-rank alchemist is so delighted."
Seeing the Little Medical Fairy's curious gaze, Xiao Ling showed her a glimpse of the remaining map. "I want this. Is that okay with you?" "
Looking at the incomplete map in Xiao Ling's hand, Xiao Yixian examined it carefully and found that not only could she not find any clues from it, but she also felt dizzy. She
quickly retracted her gaze and shook her head, "Since you want it, then take it."
"Thank you, then I will accept it without hesitation. There are three more boxes here. Let's open them together. If there are any items that you like, just take them all. I'm still younger than you, so there's no need to be so reserved with me. It makes me feel a little uncomfortable." Putting the incomplete map of the Pure Lotus Demon Fire into the sodium ring, Xiao Ling smiled at Xiao Yixian, raised the three black keys in his hand, and then pointed to the three quaint boxes on the stone table.
Taking a look at the three boxes on the stone table, Xiao Yixian nodded slightly, indicating that she understood.
(End of this chapter)