By the time Chen Chuan drove up to the scene, Ren Shu and his colleagues had already arrived, along with an officer sent by the Municipal Administration to handle the matter.
Upon learning that Chen Chuan hailed from Center City and was an operative of the General Disposal Bureau, the officer was exceedingly polite. He explained that the scene was well-controlled; ever since the incident had been reported, the local constabulary had sealed it off, and no one had entered since.
After speaking with him, Chen Chuan had Ren Shu and the others wait outside while he stepped into the inn where the expedition team had been staying.
The twelve members of the expedition had occupied five rooms: the team members stayed in four of them, the wealthy financier had a private room, and the two security guards shared another. To facilitate protection, the financier's and guards' rooms were adjacent to each other.
Whether by mere coincidence or something else, twelve years ago a wealthy businessman had also arrived here with two personal bodyguards and nine expedition members. That was why no one had found it suspicious when the three men first emerged.
After all, they were wearing goggles, and to many locals, foreigners tended to look practically identical.
If not for the bizarre turn of events that followed, no one would have paid any mind to who they actually were. Even if the truth came to light, it would at most have been treated as an amusing curiosity.
Chen Chuan first did a sweep through the rooms of all the missing expedition members, but his Second Self showed no signs of blurring.
Next, he focused his inspection on the three who had returned and disintegrated into dry bones. He found nothing unusual on the two guards, but while checking the wealthy merchant's belongings, he suddenly sensed something off. A faint blurring manifested in his Second Self, though it was so weak as to be practically harmless to the human body.
He sifted through the items and discovered the source of the anomaly: an amulet carved in the image of a squatting figure with folded arms, wearing a feathered headdress, backed by a blazing sun.
Uncertain of its origins, he set it aside for the moment and examined the remaining items. One detail struck him as particularly odd: the entire expedition had left virtually no written records behind.
This was rather unnatural. On an expedition like this, aside from documenting the cave's location, characteristics, size, and layout, they should have recorded the route, environmental conditions, and points of interest. At the very least, there ought to have been a map and relevant reference materials.
Yet there was nothing here now. Could they have lost everything inside the caverns?
He inspected everything again with greater care, eventually discovering an anomaly on one of their waterproof pouches. Turning it inside out, he found concentric, swirling patterns drawn along the interior. A thought sparked in his mind. Tidying up the belongings, he walked back outside and said to the officer,
"I need the background files on these individuals. It would also be best if we could get the files on the expedition from twelve years ago."
"No problem at all."
The officer readily agreed and, before long, delivered the already compiled files to him.
Chen Chuan skimmed through them and discovered that the financier backing this latest expedition was none other than the son of the wealthy merchant from twelve years ago.
A father and son—this was definitely no coincidence. There had to be an underlying connection.
Thus, this anomaly was very likely not some random urban legend, but rather some sort of esoteric ritual.
He could not reach a definitive conclusion on his own, but fortunately, he knew an expert. He immediately used the inn's telephone to call Bureau Director Lei and briefed him on the situation.
After listening to his analysis, Director Lei said, "Your conjecture makes a lot of sense. I'll bring my people over right away."
After waiting for a little over an hour, personnel from the Esoteric Cult Examination Bureau arrived and took full charge of the site.
Director Lei examined the amulet and waterproof pouch Chen Chuan handed him, then nodded. "You're quite right, Trainee Chen. These people truly are esoteric cultists.
"They belong to the Froberry Cult, which translates roughly to the Sun Worship Cult. While it is recognized as a legitimate faith abroad, it is strictly forbidden within our borders."
"The Sun Worship Cult?" Chen Chuan pondered for a moment. "This cave is called Luoyang Cave—Falling Sun Cave. Is there a connection between the two?"
Director Lei said in a solemn voice, "It's very likely they intended to use this location to perform the Sun Origin Ritual."
He explained, "In the so-called Sun Origin Ritual, believers of the Sun Worship Cult believe the sun goes through a twelve-year cycle of reincarnation. During this cycle, one can steal the power of life and true nature within dark places where sunlight cannot reach.
"The followers of this cult hold the number twelve in high reverence. The team formed this time happened to comprise exactly twelve members. But the ritual requires blood sacrifice, so many among them were likely meant to serve as sacrificial offerings."
Chen Chuan thought it over. "Of those who returned, there was only the merchant himself and the two security guards. If that's the case, were the other explorers the sacrifices?"
Director Lei said, "Deducing from the headcount and the ritual's structure, that seems to be the case. This time, they most likely botched a step in the process or were subjected to some external interference. That caused an issue, so rather than obtaining their coveted power, they brought about their own deaths."
At this point, his expression grew grave. "If that were all, it wouldn't be so bad. But there is another matter requiring our utmost attention. Anyone conducting the Sun Origin Ritual must bring along a special ritual medium. This object is vital—it is the very core of the ritual, known as the Sun Wheel Stone.
"This item is exceptionally valuable, and nations strictly prohibit its export. Its specific uses remain unclear, but it carries a degree of danger, exerting a fairly severe influence on nearby humans and livestock. Therefore, if possible, we must find a way to retrieve it. If it cannot be found, we'll have to seal off this entire area and report it upward for higher authorities to handle."
Chen Chuan thought for a moment, then looked up and said, "Director Lei, this cave is treacherous and notorious in Yangzhi. Ordinary people can hardly enter and leave safely. Let me handle this."
Navigating underground caverns was fraught with peril; an ordinary person could easily be injured or killed with a single misstep. To Chen Chuan, however, none of that posed much of a challenge.
Director Lei deliberated for a moment, then said earnestly, "Very well, Little Chuan, I won't stand on ceremony with you. I leave this in your hands."
He knew this was the right decision. While his subordinates were experts on esoteric rituals, sending them into the depths of a cave to search for an object made them no different from ordinary folk. It was far better to entrust the task to Chen Chuan; the survivability of a third-limit fighter was far beyond that of normal people.
If even Chen Chuan couldn't accomplish it, practically no one in Yangzhi City could.
He quickly took out several sheets of paper, sketched out the probable structure of the ritual along with key details to watch out for, and handed them to Chen Chuan.
Chen Chuan accepted them, carefully committing the information to memory, and began making preparations. He packed some water, nutritional paste, a light source, and necessary tools. Then, under the watchful gaze of the onlookers, he strode into the cave.
He had visited the initial stretch of the path a few days prior. It was fairly wide, cleared of loose rubble, and reasonably well-lit. Beyond that point, however, the passage grew progressively narrower and the light faded, making it difficult to traverse. He switched on his headlamp.
So many people had entered beforehand that their footprints and passage were plain as day to his eyes, allowing him to simply follow their tracks.
He had braced himself to overcome all sorts of hardships, but when he actually undertook the journey, he found it remarkably straightforward. Ledges that required climbing were overcome with an effortless bound; high drops were cleared in a single leap; tight corners and obstacles were bypassed with a deft turn, posing no hindrance whatsoever.
In truth, the biggest difficulty was the lack of light.
Yet beyond wearing a headlamp, his senses were razor-sharp. Even without using his eyes, he could discern the path ahead through temperature, air currents, and acoustic reverberations, not to mention the physical traces left behind. As a result, he moved at blinding speed, advancing more than two li deep in under five minutes.
Along the way, he discovered several man-made rest stops and found an abandoned pack at the bottom of a pit. Inside, he turned up some documents. Lacking the time to inspect them closely, he took the bundle with him and pressed on.
After descending roughly two more kilometers, he finally arrived at a relatively spacious cavern. The floor here was comparatively level, the ceiling arched some seven or eight meters overhead, and the chamber spanned approximately three to four hundred square meters.
As the beam of his headlamp swept across the cavern, his gaze narrowed when it reached the center. A circle of people was kneeling there, numbering around twenty in total, surrounded by scattered bones on the ground.
He walked over and discovered that most of the kneeling figures were desiccated corpses. Only three of them retained faint, almost imperceptible breathing, like animals deep in hibernation. Their bodies were draped in sheets of cloth densely inscribed with ritual symbols in vivid red paint.
Ignoring the three bodies, he looked directly at the ground enclosed within their circle. It was covered in similar ritual symbols. Comparing them against the sketches Director Lei had provided, he confirmed that this was indeed the Sun Origin Ritual.
In the dead center, a pit was hollowed out of the earth, housing a peculiar stone. The stone was crimson, though it closely resembled a crystal. When light fell upon it, its interior seemed to emit a soft, faint glow of its own. This had to be the Sun Wheel Stone Director Lei had mentioned.
Chen Chuan swept his eyes over the surroundings to ensure the area was secure, then stepped toward it.
As he approached the ritual circle—especially as he drew near the Sun Wheel Stone—a blurring manifested over his Second Self. The closer he walked, the more intense the blurring became; by the time he reached the center, the level of influence was no weaker than that of an ordinary urban legend.
Just as he was about to pick the stone up, the Xuejun Saber at his side vibrated slightly. Wisps of white mist drifted out, instantly coiling around the red stone. Yet this lasted only a fleeting moment before the mist swiftly receded.
At the same time, Chen Chuan noticed that the intense blurring had abruptly diminished, falling to a practically harmless level.
Chapter 360