...’If there’s no danger, it just ans I’ll be moving a little slower.’
’If there is danger, the light from my torch would be like shouting to whatever is inside that I’m here.’
Qin Fang moved slowly, the ground underfoot rugged and the darkness obscuring his vision.
Even though the Wild Boar King had taken this path, which suggested it was relatively safe, he still chose to be cautious.
Gradually, he realized the cave was sloping upward, which made his eyes gleam... The cave entrance he’d seen on the cliff face was also high up.
’Looks like I really found the right path.’
The cave fluctuated between wide and narrow, but fortunately, even at its tightest, Qin Fang could squeeze through by stooping...
If this turned out to be like one of those spelunking videos he’d seen in his past life—the kind where people had to crawl on their bellies, triggering claustrophobia even in the viewers—he would have turned back without a second thought, even if he knew an Immortal Pill was waiting inside...
Of course, Qin Fang had already made his own assessnt.
...’A beast as large as the Wild Boar King made it through, so of course, I can too. I won’t run into a situation like that.’
He moved cautiously, losing track of ti, and before he knew it, Qin Fang had been advancing through the cave for nearly the ti it takes an incense stick to burn.
He wasn’t sure of the exact distance he had covered... but it was likely several hundred ters.
’I should be getting close...’
Just as Qin Fang thought this,
a rich, cloyingly sweet scent suddenly wafted through the air, faintly tickling his nose.
Qin Fang’s eyes narrowed.
...’It’s the sa scent from yesterday!’
’Am I really getting close?’
He quickened his pace slightly.
...After spending so long in the dark, his eyes had adjusted enough to make out his imdiate surroundings.
A gentle slope appeared ahead. Qin Fang crouched and climbed it, then reflexively looked up...
Only to see another gentle slope ahead.
And beyond that slope, there was a faint glow!
Qin Fang’s eyes instantly lit up.
But he took a deep breath and remained vigilant...
A Wild Boar King had appeared once; he couldn’t be sure if other creatures had also mutated...
He listened intently for any sound. After confirming it was completely silent, Qin Fang cautiously made his way up, wanting to crest the slope and see what lay beyond.
But as he drew nearer, he gradually began to hear a faint "BUZZ... BUZZ..." sound coming from the other side of the incline.
Qin Fang froze in his tracks!
...’What is that sound?’
He tilted his head, straining to hear.
The buzzing didn’t grow any louder. It sounded like...
’The beating of a bee’s wings?’
Filled with doubt, he hesitated for a mont before finally gritting his teeth and continuing slowly upward...
There was a light source ahead, and it clearly wasn’t daylight.
Moreover, as he approached, the sweet, cloying scent grew stronger, almost to the point of being dizzying.
’I’ve co all this way. It would be a real sha not to see what’s in there...’
Finally, he crawled the rest of the way up the slope. Pressing himself nearly flat against the ground, he cautiously lifted his head for a look.
The mont he saw what was inside, Qin Fang’s eyes flew wide open...
The ground ahead suddenly leveled out, and the space opened into a large chamber.
And Qin Fang could now see the source of the light...
At the far end of the cave, an Exotic Plant grew silently in the gloom.
Its roots were like a coiled python, black and nacing, burrowing deep into the crevices of the rock. The rootlets were coated in a damp, cold, dark-red moss that looked like dried blood.
The main stalk, no more than three feet tall, looked like the snapped-off shaft of an Ancient Bronze Spear. Its surface was covered in rough nodules and cracks, its color a blackish-cyan tinged with a ghastly green.
Only seven leaves hung from its branches, each shaped like a shattered blade with curled edges. The leaves were ink-black, but their veins were a strange, brilliant gold, emitting a faint, autonomous glow in the darkness, like threads of liquid gold.
At its apex hung a single, fist-sized, blood-red fruit. It was shaped like a heart with a semi-transparent skin, through which one could see a viscous, golden-red pulp slowly swirling within.
The fruit pulsed faintly. With each beat, it sent out a visible ripple of pale, blood-colored light, carrying the stench of rust and rot that mingled to create the cloying fragrance Qin Fang had slled.
The entire plant was shrouded in a thin gray mist, within which specks of golden dust drifted lazily.
The plant was also enveloped in an ethereal white fluorescence, as cold and pale as a lunar halo...
This light seeped from the crevices of its serpentine black roots, spilled from the cracks in its Ancient Bronze Spear-like stalk, and flowed from the golden veins of its seven shattered-blade leaves.
This was especially true for the pulsing, blood-red fruit at its peak. Each contraction, like a heart pumping blood, pushed a more concentrated, milky-white luminescence to the surface. Inside the translucent skin, the golden-red pulp and white light intertwined, swirling like a nebula...
This impossibly magical plant left Qin Fang utterly stunned!
Then, his mouth began to water uncontrollably...
A Treasure!
A true Treasure!
’I actually found a Treasure?!’
Qin Fang’s breath caught in his throat.
...’This Treasure Plant is clearly no ordinary thing!’
’Did the Wild Boar King beco so enormous because of this plant?’
’But... if the Wild Boar King ca here, why is this Treasure Plant still here, growing perfectly fine?’
’And why did the Wild Boar King end up falling to its death instead?’
Qin Fang’s brow furrowed. Though his heart pounded and the Treasure was tantalizingly close, he forced himself to remain calm and continue observing.
...’Oh, right.’
’Where is that buzzing sound coming from?’
Qin Fang’s gaze shifted from the Treasure Plant, searching for the source of the buzzing.
He looked again, and his eyes went wide. He swallowed hard, his gaze locking onto the cave ceiling above the Treasure Plant...
There, several bees were circling.
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