So this was the master of the cave dwelling, the so-called "immortal"? In death, at least, he looked no different from an ordinary mortal. Shrivelled, desiccated skin clung to withered bone, his features long ruined beyond recognition, to say nothing of any transcendent immortal bearing.
He wore loose robes with billowing sleeves in an undeniably ethereal cut. The material was neither silk nor satin yet exceptionally smooth, making it impossible to identify the weave. But when He Lingchuan reached out and tugged at it, the cloth tore.
Why was everything here as flimsy as paper?
The youth rose and walked a circuit through the courtyard, inside and out, only to find that this cave master had been truly penniless. Not a single item of value was left behind.
Returning to the prayer mat, he noticed the skeleton was sitting in a standard meditative posture, its right hand balled into a fist with only the index finger pointing at the floor.
The floor?
He brushed aside the thick layer of dust and saw several hundred characters neatly carved into the flagstones, looking as if they had been etched with a fingertip.
Was this the master's testament from before his death? Surely the immortal had realized that no ordinary medium could withstand the endless erosion of time, so carving it into the black stone floor would prove far more durable.
Unfortunately, though the calligraphy was elegant and fluid, He Lingchuan couldn't understand most of it.
After a moment's thought, he laid paper over the ground, brushed ink across it, and peeled it away, producing a successful rubbing. Just because he couldn't read it didn't mean others couldn't; once he reached Xiazhou or the imperial capital, it wouldn't hurt to find a few elderly scholars to solve the riddle.
He carefully put the rubbing away. Just as he was about to get up, the divine bone necklace abruptly grew hot, scorching him twice.
What did this mean? Was there still something here?
He Lingchuan paused, surveying his surroundings with care once more.
Everything remained unchanged. What was dilapidated stayed dilapidated, and what was desolate stayed desolate.
This time, however, he noticed a black ring slipped onto the little finger of the skeleton's left hand—only it had previously been concealed beneath the sleeve.
"Pardon my offense, Senior." He Lingchuan bowed to the skeleton before gingerly sliding the ring off.
It was a black jade ring of simple design, devoid of any ornamentation. But when he probed inside with his mind, he couldn't help letting out a gasp of wonder.
It was a storage ring, and the space within was massive—equivalent to a room of seventeen or eighteen square meters.
Without exaggeration, the ring itself was priceless. In the present age, a storage space of one or two cubic meters was already considered impressive. The one He Lingchuan currently wore was practically stuffed full after fitting two low wooden tea tables inside, so he usually only stored small, valuable items; keeping food and fresh water in it was considered a waste of space.
With this treasure, it was like carrying a small warehouse with him everywhere he went.
Inside the space lay various odds and ends, including a stack of jade slips. Each was only as long as an index finger and shaped like a bookmark. In the immortal legends He Lingchuan had heard, they appeared more frequently than almost anything except magical artifacts.
From the sound of it, these things were the hard drives of the immortal era, capable of storing vast amounts of information. But when he eagerly held them in his hands and examined them, he found they were all blank.
Of course. Without spiritual energy to nourish them, the contents stored within would also fade. He Lingchuan felt a twinge of disappointment; he had hoped they might contain supernatural arts and cultivation methods left behind by the immortal.
Almost everything in the world was powerless against the ravages of time. Immortals and their dwellings were no exception.
He walked out of the small courtyard and wandered about.
The "cave dwelling" spanned around seven or eight hundred square meters, with sheer, upright crags. If there were lush greenery and flowing water, it likely would have been quite scenic. Alas, it was now nothing more than a barren, bald hill.
Gray mist churned around the perimeter of the dwelling, obscuring whatever lay beyond.
He Lingchuan climbed over the knoll, approached the gray mist, and poked it with a tree branch.
At first it felt light as nothing, but the deeper it went, the firmer it grew. It felt somewhat like jabbing a thick cotton quilt with a finger; in the end, it couldn't pierce through at all.
This was probably the boundary of the cave dwelling.
His tour of the immortal's cave dwelling had reached its end, so he retraced his steps. The brief expedition was about to conclude, and He Lingchuan was thoroughly disappointed. Still, having been discovered first by the spiritual turtle and later visited by the crocodile demon, he didn't even know which wave of visitors he belonged to; it was only reasonable that the dwelling was stripped bare.
Just as he was about to step out of this so-called "cave dwelling," the divine bone necklace grew hot once more.
Was there really something valuable left here?
He Lingchuan had no choice but to turn back.
Whenever he walked too far, the necklace would heat up as though growing anxious; the closer he came to the center of the cave dwelling, the calmer it became.
Finally, He Lingchuan walked over to the dried-up pool. "Here?"
Only when he stood here did the divine bone necklace remain quiet.
What was he supposed to do now?
There was only stone and sandy soil, without the faintest breeze. Aside from himself, everything was entirely still.
Using his broken saber as a shovel, He Lingchuan scraped away at the dirt a few times, only to find the sandy ground exceedingly hard; ordinary blades probably couldn't even chip it.
This didn't look like a place where anything was buried.
Digging into the ground was too foolish a method. After some thought, He Lingchuan simply took off the divine bone necklace and pressed it against the surface.
*Didn't you take a liking to this spot? Figure it out yourself, then.*
He was growing impatient, but to his surprise, the moment the divine bone necklace touched the earth, it sank straight in as though falling into water.
He Lingchuan missed his grab, and it vanished beneath the surface.
"Hey!" he blurted in alarm. If this thing couldn't surface on its own, he was going to take a catastrophic loss!
He dug down several feet, but there was no sign of the necklace, nor even an existing pit.
Fortunately, after several dozen breaths, just as He Lingchuan was burning with anxiety, the thing popped back out on its own, blazing with crimson light. Who knew what it had encountered underground?
No sooner had he scooped up the necklace than he heard a dull, bizarre sound.
It was like a person's spine snapping, or thick vines rupturing, with the noise amplified dozens of times over.
Immediately after, cracks began to spiderweb across the ground, multiplying and deepening as small pebbles began tumbling down from above.
He Lingchuan knew instantly that this upheaval was tied to the divine bone necklace. Turning on his heels, he ran for the exit as fast as his legs could carry him.
The ground shook so violently he could barely keep his balance.
Pausing before the entrance to cast one last glance back, he saw the immortal's house and the cliffs collapse together, plunging into the boundless gray mist.
Not daring to look any longer, He Lingchuan stepped through.
Darkness fell over his eyes, and he was back in the pitch-black cavern.
With a sharp *crack*, the coconut-sized shell beside his feet shattered into pieces across the ground.
The sound alerted the other two creatures. The Crocodile God and Wu Shaoyi looked over together. "What happened?"
He Lingchuan reached back and pressed against the stone wall. It didn't budge.
Where an entrance had stood moments ago, there was now only solid rock.
"The cave dwelling seems to have disappeared."
The other two were somewhat astonished. The Crocodile God asked, "What did you do?"
He Lingchuan lied without batting an eye. "I didn't do anything. I just took a look around and came out."
He even turned to the crocodile demon. "Why do you think that happened?"
"No idea." The Crocodile God didn't care either; it was completely empty inside anyway, devoid of anything.
Only He Lingchuan understood that the divine bone necklace had definitely pulled some trick within the cave dwelling.
Hampered by his injuries, Wu Shaoyi could only gaze at him eagerly. "Was it truly an immortal's cave dwelling?"
Chapter 131