Behind the Waterfall

He quickly passed through the churning curtain of water. Behind the waterfall lay a small space of only six or seven square meters. He Lingchuan produced a fluorescent spore and held it high to illuminate the area. Behind him was the roaring torrent; before him, a greenish rock face! The rock wall was a single solid sheet, mostly smooth, save for a groove two palms wide that showed no signs of artificial carving. He Lingchuan channeled his vision to search thoroughly, pressing around the groove for quite some time, but found no traces of an illusion. But where was the bear? How could a beast as massive as the White Bear King just vanish upon reaching this spot? The colossal brute could not have vanished into thin air, meaning the black wolf had spoken the truth—behind this curtain of water lay either a secret passage or a cave abode! He Lingchuan searched all around for a long time, but found no mechanism to open it. Above the groove, however, he spotted a bloody bear claw print. The White Bear King had indeed escaped from here. He Lingchuan pressed on the bloody mark several times, but the rock wall offered no response. Reversing Fusheng, he tapped the hilt against the stone face a few times. The echo was dull and heavy; the massive rock was completely solid. Excavating would be useless. "Is this place guarded by a spirit of metal?" He Lingchuan pondered for a moment, then walked out from behind the waterfall. As soon as he stepped out of the pool, however, Hu Min and Door Plank jogged over at the head of the Panlong guards. Upon seeing He Lingchuan, they asked: "Boss, are you alright?" The brothers on night watch had heard beastly roars from this direction, and when He Lingchuan did not return for a long time, they came searching. When they arrived at the gravel beach, whoa—the ground was strewn with wolf carcasses and blood. Door Plank initially assumed He Lingchuan had killed them all, but examining the wounds revealed they had been torn apart by beasts. "I'm fine. I saw the White Bear King," He Lingchuan said succinctly. "It went behind the waterfall and vanished." Amazed, the others ducked behind the waterfall to see for themselves. He Lingchuan counted for them. By the time he reached sixty, they slunk back out, dripping wet. "Nothing." "If the boss couldn't find it, what good did your tapping do?" "There's no secret path behind the stone wall either, so could it be... a minor world?" A'luo pushed back the wet hair from his forehead. "Then that's trouble. Not just anyone can enter a minor world." "Otherwise, the great white bear wouldn't have fled here. It wanted to evade Julu Kingdom's pursuit." Hearing this, He Lingchuan was reminded of the Dao-Seeking Tree on Mount Xu in Lingxu City. Its minor world was hidden within a spring, requiring Master Dongli's Dao plaque to open. Anyone else could swim there a thousand times without ever reaching the subterranean depths. The White Bear King hid in the minor world behind the waterfall precisely because it was certain no one could find it. Without anything to bribe a spirit of metal, He Lingchuan had no choice but to let the matter rest. Soon afterward, dawn broke. The Panlong squad brought Old Liu out of the mountains, passing by the location where the fireworks had been launched the night before. It looked as if a tornado had swept through: trees snapped, boulders overturned, and mud was everywhere. The ground was covered with drag marks. Grass, stones, gravel, and tree trunks were smeared with vast patches of blackened crust—blood dried stiff. Corpses of demons and humans lay everywhere, some tangled together so tightly in death that they were hard to pull apart. Flocks of crows had already been drawn in by the stench of blood, refusing to scatter no matter how they were shooed. This was not the only battlefield. They passed three such sites in succession, each in the same grim state. At least a thousand humans had died, and the carcasses of demons were beyond count. The Panlong squad were battle-hardened veterans who had crawled out from piles of the dead, yet walking through this scene, they still paused, sighing with heavy hearts. The White Bear King's martial prowess was truly formidable. And to completely eradicate the demon threat, the King of Julu had been willing to pay such a staggering price. Before leaving Baimao Mountain, He Lingchuan caught sight of Wang Gesheng again, though only from a distance on the opposite slope. Wang Gesheng spotted him as well and waved toward them. After a full night of bloody battle, the youth's limbs were still intact, though his broken left arm was splinted with tree branches against his chest. Even He Lingchuan could not help but marvel at the boy's incredible luck. After departing Baimao Mountain, the Panlong squad rode on horseback toward Julu Port, dropping off Old Liu along the way. He Lingchuan also paid a visit to the Wang family inn to inform Wang Wei that Wang Gesheng was safe and had distinguished himself. Wang Wei was overjoyed, bringing out plenty of wine and dishes from the kitchen to gift to He Lingchuan and his party for provisions aboard their ship. This ordinary innkeeper surely could never have guessed that his son would one day establish his own school and found a century-spanning sect. Early the next morning, He Lingchuan and Dong Rui went to see Sect Leader Li of the Xiaoyao Sect. He asked a peculiar question: "Does anyone else know the passphrase for the Bright Lantern Cup?" "This passphrase has been handed down through the generations in our sect. For fear of it being lost, only the sect leader and at least three elders know it, and it must be recorded in our secret scrolls." He Lingchuan promptly asked, "And where are those secret scrolls kept?" "In my study," Sect Leader Li said. "There are warding restrictions there; if an ordinary person approaches, I will know immediately." He Lingchuan nodded, then asked, "Well then, could past passphrases and red cords still work?" This question was somewhat tricky. Sect Leader Li froze for a moment before replying, "We actually did test that. Previously used red cords still work, but old passphrases do not." "In other words, a previously used red cord, paired with the current passphrase, can also summon the Bright Lantern Grass?" "Yes." "Is the passphrase changed every time?" Sect Leader Li nodded repeatedly. "Indeed, indeed. It changes every thirty years—that is our ancestral rule." He Lingchuan pondered for a moment longer. "Then where are all the previously used red cords kept? There should be four by now." "Also in my study, but there are only two." Dong Rui chimed in casually, "Why only two?" "It has been over a century, and our sect has weathered successive upheavals; surviving to this day has not been easy," Sect Leader Li said with a wry smile. "For whatever reason, when it was passed down to me, there was only one. Thirty years ago, I harvested a Bright Lantern Cup and left behind another, making two in total." That made sense. What kind of place was the Shanjin Plain? How many factions surviving here could endure forever? Things remaining while people pass away, or people remaining while things are lost—that was the normal state of affairs. Now it was Sect Leader Li's turn to ask, "Does Special Envoy He suspect that someone stole the Bright Lantern Cup beforehand?" That did not seem right either; the Bright Lantern Cup had only been stolen after the Shadow Tooth Guard took it down from the mountain. "Nothing, just asking out of curiosity," He Lingchuan smiled. "Would it be possible for us to take a stroll into Baimao Mountain?" "Of course. I will find a guide for you." Baimao Mountain was a restricted area for the Xiaoyao Sect, but if the Cloud-Turning Envoy wished to visit, the forbidden ground turned into a sightseeing resort. "No need," He Lingchuan waved a hand dismissively. "We'll just look around on our own." Sect Leader Li naturally had no objection. He Lingchuan was about to turn and leave when a sudden thought occurred to him. "By the way, Sect Leader Li, have you ever heard of a White Bear King that once inhabited Baimao Mountain? Incredibly strong, devoured countless men, and even the local authorities couldn't handle it." "Oh, yes. That was over a century ago."