He Lingchuan rolled his eyes, scooped up a handful of pebbles, and tossed them through the doorway.
A clatter echoed as the stones skittered down what sounded like a downward slope, soon coming to a halt.
It was fairly deep.
The two waited a moment to let the air circulate between the cave and the outside.
"After you!" Dong Rui made a sweeping "be my guest" gesture toward He Lingchuan. "Your cultivation is higher. You take point."
He Lingchuan began to miss Da'niang.
Taking out a fluorescent spore to use as a lantern, he led the way through the entrance.
The ghost ape remained outside on lookout.
Years ago by Xianling Lake, He Lingchuan had entered Master Dongli's cave abode; that place had contained a small hill and an unknown source of light. But this... this was merely a crude cavern, chilly and dry, reeking of stale rot and mildew from centuries of stagnation.
This accumulated stench was quite on par with the fishy stink at the Julu Port docks.
Dong Rui suddenly pointed ahead. "Look, there's your bear!"
In the depths of the cavern lay a shadow. Looking closer, it was a massive bear curled up on the ground.
Reaching this point, the divine bone necklace grew hotter still, practically threatening to leap from his collar.
What on earth was it so excited about?
Although the White Bear King He Lingchuan had seen in the Panlong World was heavily wounded, its body had still been thick and stout. The bear before them, however, was sunken and withered all over, its fur brittle and lusterless, its lips drawn back to reveal rows of pointed teeth—
It was already a dried husk.
Yet He Lingchuan could still recognize its identity, for half of its forepaw was missing, and its left eye was blind.
The great bear lay on its side, facing the cave entrance.
Seeing the carcass, He Lingchuan let out a long breath. Fortunately, it had died quietly right here without causing any nasty surprises.
The White Bear King had probably intended to hide in its cave abode to escape pursuit, perhaps even using a long hibernation to nurse its wounds—a natural talent of bears, after all. Who could have known the black wolf would clean out its lair beforehand, hauling away all its provisions and hoard?
Its wounds too grievous and deprived of nourishment, the White Bear King had died a miserable, suffocating death.
In life it had raged across battlefields, slaughtering its way through entire armies, only to die in utter silence in the end.
Dong Rui produced a candle, which ignited spontaneously with a soft hiss.
He inspected the color of the flame, even blowing on it twice, before saying, "Not bad. No curses, no lingering spirits."
He Lingchuan squatted beside the carcass and examined it closely. "Its posture is strange."
The White Bear King's forepaw clutched a dark scale larger than a man's palm. Somewhere between oval and diamond-shaped, it was completely smooth, even reflecting the glow of the spore.
A bloody hole had been ripped into the bear's chest. Dong Rui brought the fluorescent spore closer and gasped in surprise. "Huh? What happened to this bear's heart?"
Having desiccated in the cave for over a century, the White Bear King's internal organs had long shriveled along with its flesh. Yet both could clearly see that the bear's heart was like a honeycomb, riddled with tiny holes.
Dong Rui cracked a dry joke: "People talk about a heart with seven apertures; looks to me like this bear has thirty-six."
He Lingchuan drew Fusheng to flip the scale off the ground.
To his surprise, the instant the tip touched the scale, a tremor surged through the blade, jolting He Lingchuan's hand.
The blade struck the scale with a clear chime—sharp, lingering, ringing like a bell or chime stone.
It sounded just like two musical instruments striking one another.
Dong Rui was startled as well.
To be honest, though Fusheng shared a connection with He Lingchuan's mind, even he could not fully grasp the divine artifact's emotions at this moment.
In any case, it was just as thrilled as the divine bone necklace.
Steadying himself, He Lingchuan flicked his wrist to lift the scale on the tip of the blade, holding it beneath the fluorescent spore.
By the light, he could see faint embossed patterns on the scale, compact, precise, and full of aesthetic linear grace. Along its edges ran tiny serrations.
Dong Rui asked as he looked, "What creature is this scale from? Snake, turtle, crocodile?"
He knew more about demons than He Lingchuan, recognizing at a glance that this was not something grown on the White Bear King itself.
"Not a turtle scale, and not a crocodile scale." He Lingchuan had dealt with the old turtle at the bottom of Xianling Lake, and had naturally pried away one of its... scales. "Neither turtle nor crocodile scales look like this."
Dong Rui chuckled. "Dare to touch it with your bare hands?"
He Lingchuan shot him a sidelong glance. "This scale originally grew in the White Bear King's chest. It ripped it out even on the verge of death, which proves it isn't anything good. You want me to touch it with my hands?"
Dong Rui cleared his throat. "How did that thing end up in the White Bear King's chest?"
"The White Bear King wasn't unusually huge, but its cultivation was profound. In its prime, it commanded thousands of wolves, and they devoured hundreds of routed soldiers who fled into the mountains down to the bone. During the Julu Kingdom era, they even attacked cities and devoured the populace."
Dong Rui had grown accustomed to his way of speaking. "You mean it gained such terrifying power with the help of this scale?"
"When the White Bear King fled after its defeat, another demon pursued it specifically for this scale, calling it a 'heart scale.'"
Dong Rui said thoughtfully, "Rising because of it, falling because of it. This scale certainly has character."
The divine bone necklace pulsed with heat relentlessly, sending repeated impulses urging He Lingchuan that it wanted to eat, eat, eat. But He Lingchuan paid it no heed, merely wrapping the scale in a piece of deerskin before storing it inside his storage ring.
The object seemed extraordinary; until he figured out its origins and use, he couldn't let it go to waste.
As soon as the scale was put away, the divine bone necklace settled down as well, seemingly understanding it wouldn't get a taste and giving up the fuss.
Next, the two continued searching the cavern, uncovering over a dozen magic artifacts along with horns, hides, teeth, and other materials from demon beasts, likely collected by the White Bear King.
During its years lording over Baimao Mountain, many practitioners had entered the mountains to hunt the bear, only to be slaughtered by it instead. Their carried weapons and magic artifacts had been stashed in this cave as battle trophies.
However, cut off from spiritual energy for so long, these artifacts were dull and grimy. If a few of them were to be used again, they would probably need to be consecrated anew.
Just then, an odd noise came from behind Dong Rui.
He Lingchuan looked over and was surprised to see Dong Rui's knapsack squirming.
The rarely seen bat demon puppet crawled out of the pack, flapped its wings, and pounced onto a large swath of soft brown leather, devouring it voraciously.
From the look of it, it seemed like it hadn't eaten in centuries.
Moreover, the bat demon puppet's appearance had changed once again since He Lingchuan last saw it.
Then again, this creature's looks changed every few days; it was the demon puppet Dong Rui tinkered with the most. He Lingchuan didn't bother to ask, knowing the bat would probably look entirely different the next time it appeared anyway.
He pointed at the soft hide. "What is it eating?"
It looked fragrant and delicious.
Dong Rui also squatted down to inspect the material. After rubbing it between his fingers for a while, he suddenly beamed with delight. "Splendid! This is a piece of soft throat-skin from a treasure lizard! I've been searching for it for ages just to feed it to the demon bat. Who would have thought I'd find it in this rotten cave!"
He Lingchuan gave an "oh," recalling that among the list of items Dong Rui had drawn up for Fang Canran roughly a month ago, this material had indeed been included.
Fang Canran had never managed to obtain it, though; it was the sort of item with a high price tag and no market supply.
Chapter 1128