Chapter 134: The Surging Cave

At Wu Guangen's command, his men immediately rushed forward. Zhang Qinglin and Cheng Che put up a desperate defense. Seeing Chi Tan crawl across to the other side, Jiang Xinyue quickly scrambled across the mountain ravine, with Bai Weiwei closely following behind. Zhang Qinglin told Cheng Che to get on the rope first, followed by Hu Geming, while he himself stayed behind to cover the rear.

Hu Geming pulled a short blade from his pack, stepped in front of Zhang Qinglin, and said, "You go on ahead. Leave these small fries to me."

Zhang Qinglin glanced back, turned, and scurried up the rope. By the time he reached the other side, Hu Geming was nearly surrounded by their attackers.

Zhang Qinglin shouted for him to hurry across. Hu Geming raised an eyebrow, quickly grabbed the rope, and scurried across like a monkey. The moment Hu Geming’s feet touched the ground, one of Wu Guangen’s men jumped onto the rope. Hu Geming violently shook the rope, causing the man to lose his balance and plummet into the ravine below.

In an instant, the man’s clothes began to smoke and burst into flames. He slapped frantically at the fire, but the more he patted, the larger the flames grew. Wu Guangen and his men stood at the edge of the ravine, watching with panic-stricken faces.

Cheng Che and the others had already approached the cave entrance. Zhang Qinglin waved at Hu Geming to hurry and catch up. Hu Geming used his short blade to sever the rope before following them.

The interior of the cave was pitch black, and a wave of freezing air rushed toward them. Wielding their flashlights, the group scanned the interior and walked slowly forward. The ground was littered with rubble of all sizes. Zhang Qinglin walked in front, warning Cheng Che and the others behind him to watch their step.

Clasping her arms around herself, Jiang Xinyue trembled and said, "Brother, what kind of place is this? It's so cold and dark."

Zhang Qinglin swept his flashlight ahead, turned back, and said, "This must be the cave the villagers mentioned that leads to the Flower Valley. There's too much debris on the ground, so everyone be careful."

Just as Zhang Qinglin turned his head back, a white shadow flashed past the edge of the flashlight beam. The tense, hurried sound of running footsteps echoed ahead. Sensing that this white shadow was the eccentric figure in white, Zhang Qinglin immediately gave chase.

Gazing at the empty cavern ahead, Bai Weiwei sensed something was amiss. Before she could call out, Jiang Xinyue hurried past in close pursuit.

The rest of the group also quickened their pace. Unsure of what might happen in this eerie and bizarre cave, Cheng Che felt his heart in his throat. Shouting warnings, he grabbed Chi Tan and ran forward.

Chasing the white shadow through a person-sized opening, Zhang Qinglin nearly stepped into the void as he emerged from the exit.

Fortunately, the clattering sound of rolling stones dropping into the abyss made him instantly pull back his foot. Aiming his flashlight downward, the sight turned his face pale. He leaned back against the cave wall, sweat streaming down both sides of his temples.

Inside this cave, there were weapons reminiscent of ancient times.

Wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him and preparing to take another look, he heard the heavy panting of Jiang Xinyue running up behind him.

Her foot slipped, and one of her legs plunged into the gap. Though she tried to pull herself up using her other leg, her whole body was dragging downward. Zhang Qinglin grabbed her arm and hauled her upward, shouting, "Yueyue, don't let go! Hold on to me!"

"What's going on?" Cheng Che shouted in alarm as he ran up to help.

The two men pulled Jiang Xinyue to safety, and Zhang Qinglin said with lingering fear, "There are sharp weapons all down there! If you fell, you'd likely lose your life!"

Hearing this, Cheng Che stared with wide eyes, looking down in disbelief.

The three of them stood at the edge, gazing out at a dense expanse of spear-like weapons covering the ground below.

At that moment, the white shadow appeared again. It stood on the opposite side of the cave entrance, gazing at Zhang Qinglin and the others while making strange noises.

Zhang Qinglin’s flashlight beam caught the white shadow squarely. The figure looked like a derraved monster, performing rigid and bizarre movements. With a flash in his eyes, Zhang Qinglin shouted angrily, "Who on earth are you? Why did you lead us here?"

As his voice trailed off, the white shadow raised both hands, wore a ferocious expression, turned, and moved backward, vanishing a moment later.

Terrified, Jiang Xinyue hid behind Zhang Qinglin's shoulder and said, "Brother, let's get out of here quickly."

"This person is too bizarre. I feel like he's guiding our direction. The places he walked were mostly safe, and he seems to live here permanently, extremely familiar with everything around. Perhaps he can take us to Luo River," Zhang Qinglin said, staring at the spot where the white shadow had disappeared.

Blinking, Cheng Che slowly said, "I also feel like he's leading us somewhere, but Lao Zhang, it's too dark here. How are we supposed to get across?"

Just then, Bai Weiwei and the others caught up, and Zhang Qinglin immediately warned, "Careful, there are traps below!"

Swinging his flashlight from behind Zhang Qinglin, Hu Geming asked, "Step aside, let me see what kind of trap this is."

Shining her flashlight on the ground, Bai Weiwei carefully walked to the edge and looked down. In the beam of the flashlight, a vast array of sharp weapons stood upright below, with some objects hanging from their pointed tips.

Bai Weiwei swept the beam around the surroundings, let out a slow breath, and said calmly, "The space here should be quite large, but the lighting is insufficient to see clearly. It shouldn't be too deep down, and there seem to be hanging candle stands along the edge."

Looking bewildered, Jiang Xinyue stared at Bai Weiwei, then glanced at Hu Geming to her left. Hu Geming was holding his short blade, his profile looking terrifying in the dim light. Feeling that he exuded a fierce and murderous aura, Jiang Xinyue grabbed Cheng Che's arm in fright.

Feeling Jiang Xinyue take his arm, Cheng Che subconsciously looked at her, the corners of his mouth curving upward in indescribable joy.

Straightening his posture, Cheng Che faced forward with a calm expression, using his other hand to pat Jiang Xinyue's hand to reassure her, "Don't be afraid, I'm here."

With a gleam in his eyes, Zhang Qinglin retreated to the back, dropped his backpack, and rummaged through it. Hearing Bai Weiwei say the drop wasn't deep and that there were hanging candle stands, he began searching for candles and matches.

Failing to find candles, he pulled out a box of matches instead. Standing up, he asked Bai Weiwei where the hanging candle stand was, and she asked him why.

Glancing at the cave wall on the far right edge, Zhang Qinglin spotted a hanging candle stand—an ancient style of oil lamp. It was rather far from the cave entrance, making it impossible for him to reach directly, and he had no idea if the stand contained a wick and kerosene.

Standing near the edge, Zhang Qinglin said, "If we want to cross from here to the other side, we must find a safe and accurate route. There are candle stands here that we can use for lighting. We need to find a way to light them."

Hu Geming walked over, inspected the hanging candle stand, and then pulled a thick rope and two iron hooks from his pack, saying, "Give me the fire, I'll go light it."

With that, he tied the thick rope to the iron hooks, took the matches from Zhang Qinglin's hand, stepped lightly on his toes, and hooked the iron hook into a small hole in the cave wall. Hu Geming gave the rope a firm tug, then took a stride and suspended himself in mid-air, his feet treading on an extremely narrow crevice in the cave wall as he inched toward the hanging candle stand.

Taking the matches, Hu Geming ignited one and threw it directly into the hanging candle stand before quickly swinging back.

A moment later, the hanging candle stand flared to life with a *whoosh*. Following that, a second, a third—nearly a dozen lamps lit up along the cave wall in succession.

The entire cave suddenly shifted from gloom to brightness, instantly revealing everything within to the group.

Standing at the edge in a daze, Zhang Qinglin saw numerous rocks piled up on the right side near them and along the opposite cave edge, looking as though they had fallen from above.

Beneath the caves on both sides lay a field of bronze blades. Anyone who accidentally fell would be impaled instantly. Seeing seven or eight desiccated skeletons stuck on the spikes above, it was clear others had visited this place before.

The middle of the cave had collapsed, with several toppled stone pillars pressing down upon the rubble.

"Come quickly, we can get down over here," Bai Weiwei called out to Zhang Qinglin and the others as she walked to the left, having surprisingly discovered a flight of stone stairs clinging to the cave wall.

Zhang Qinglin and the others hurried over. The stone stairs were extremely narrow—wide enough for only one foot—and sat more than a meter above the floor with a downward curving slope in the middle. Walking on them was extremely inconvenient, forcing them to shuffle step by step while pressing against the cave wall.

Bai Weiwei went down first. Pressing her back against the cave wall and carrying a large pack, she inched forward bit by bit, followed closely by the others.

After descending a few steps, Cheng Che glanced at the sharp bronze blades and said, "Lao Zhang, this is strange. There were stone stairs here the whole time and we didn't even notice. But this is way too hard to walk on. Xinyue, be careful. Chi Tan, don't look down."

Walking behind Bai Weiwei, Zhang Qinglin moved cautiously while gazing up at the cave ceiling.

He noticed something suspended in the middle of the ceiling, resembling a pitch-black rectangular shape.

Only when Zhang Qinglin reached the middle section did he realize that what hung above was actually a wooden coffin.

How bizarre. Who would set up a tomb in a place like this?

In ancient times, hanging coffin burials were a rather peculiar funerary custom. Unlike burial, cremation, or water burial, coffins were suspended from sheer cliffs or cavern walls. However, this one was hung from the ceiling of a cave, meaning it likely wasn't a traditional hanging coffin burial.

Zhang Qinglin shifted his gaze to the opposite cave wall, where some carved murals seemed to remain on the lower half. As he raised his flashlight to examine them closely, Bai Weiwei suddenly cried out and stopped, looking down with a painful expression at her foot wedged in a crevice.

Zhang Qinglin stepped forward to support her, gently pulling her foot free from the gap, and asked, "Can you still walk?"

"It's nothing, let's keep going!" Bai Weiwei took off her shoe and looked at her ankle, which was flushed red. Fortunately, the bone wasn't injured.

Seeing her frowning as she put her shoe back on, Zhang Qinglin stood up and told the others, "Yueyue, Cheng Che, let's rest a moment before moving on. Weiwei is hurt, come over here."

"No need, we can't stay long in this place, let's go," Bai Weiwei said, getting up and continuing forward.

Cheng Che stepped close, glanced over, and asked, "Who's hurt? Hey, Lao Zhang, what's hanging up there?"

Casting another glance at the cave ceiling, Zhang Qinglin discovered that beside the first wooden coffin, another had appeared—no, more than one...

Staring intently at the cavern, Zhang Qinglin felt it looked different from what he had seen before the candles were lit. Earlier, when they swept the area with their flashlights, they hadn't noticed any wooden coffins. A strange feeling told him that countless pairs of gleaming, thief-like eyes were hidden among those coffins, peering at them from the darkness. Swallowing hard, Zhang Qinglin said, "Hurry up, don't make a sound."

The group reached the opposite cave entrance. As Zhang Qinglin turned to scan the cavern once more, a fierce gust of wind suddenly blew in from the previous opening, extinguishing all the hanging candle stands on the cave walls in an instant. The cavern plunged into darkness once again.

Panicked, Jiang Xinyue lost her footing and almost fell. Standing beside her, Chi Tan quickly switched on his flashlight and steadied her.

Then, a shocking development occurred. Standing at the outer entrance, Hu Geming shouted, "This damn thing is a dead end!"

Everyone rushed over. Outside the entrance was an extremely small cavity—so narrow that even a child might not fit through.

Just as everyone was at a loss, Chi Tan pointed at something beneath his feet, looked up at Zhang Qinglin and the others, and opened his mouth to speak. But before he could utter a word, with a sharp *snap*, the ground beneath their feet shifted.

The ground suddenly tilted downward, causing Hu Geming and Cheng Che to slide and tumble straight down through a widening gap.

As the fissure grew larger, Zhang Qinglin and the rest of them all fell through. Beneath the stone slabs lay a steep slope, and at the bottom of the slope was a subterranean river.

All six of them tumbled into the underground river, caught completely off guard by the sudden turn of events.

Surfacing from the water, Zhang Qinglin spotted Bai Weiwei nearby. Her injured right foot had undoubtedly cramped from the freezing water, and she was struggling frantically while clutching her floating backpack. Zhang Qinglin hurried forward to support her.

Glancing at the others, he saw that Jiang Xinyue, who was a poor swimmer, was thrashing the water desperately to his front right. Chi Tan couldn't swim at all and was choking down mouthfuls of water with his eyes rolling back; fortunately, Hu Geming was close by and quickly reached out to haul him up.

Clinging tightly to Bai Weiwei's arm, Zhang Qinglin swam toward Jiang Xinyue. Seeing that Jiang Xinyue was about to sink, Zhang Qinglin grabbed and hoisted her up, shouting, "Yueyue, Yueyue, are you alright?"

Wiping the water from her face, Jiang Xinyue wrapped her arms around his neck.

Hu Geming pulled Chi Tan ashore, helping him onto a massive rock by the edge of the subterranean river right next to the slope they had fallen from.