Listening to Old Chen's words, Ye Qing couldn't help but feel curious. Could there really be food and water in this cave? Following the direction pointed out by Old Chen, he walked over and arrived at a mountain wall at the very end of the cave.
This section of the mountain wall didn't look any different from the others nearby. Ye Qing even reached out to touch it a few tis, wanting to see if there were carvings or writings on it. But the result was disappointing; there was nothing on the stone wall. This made Ye Qing even more puzzled, seeing as Old Chen wanted him to look at the wall, but there was nothing on it. What was Old Chen asking him to look at?
"Hey, what are you touching randomly?" Old Chen happened to walk over at this ti and saw Ye Qing wiping the stone wall. He imdiately said, "I asked you to look at the floor, who told you to touch the wall? Do you think you can find sothing by touching it?
Ye Qing felt a bit embarrassed, thinking there was a problem with the wall. Upon hearing this, he imdiately lowered his head to observe the floor carefully.
The stone slab beside the wall was like that elsewhere. Actually, the situation within the cave is similar throughout: the slabs in the middle are flat, but those near the edge are sunken. In terms of distance, the slabs in the edge area are estimated to be two or three ters lower than those in the middle.
Ye Qing hadn't paid much attention to the floor before. Now, observing closely, he noticed sothing strange about it. The floor was ordinary stone, but the slab near the wall had so patterns, seemingly the traces left by water flowing over the years, very peculiar.
Bending down to feel the stone slab carefully, Ye Qing was surprised to find it unexpectedly had a moist touch. However, other parts of the cave were very dry. Why was the slab near the edge this damp?
"What's going on here?" Ye Qing imdiately looked up at Old Chen.
"Isn't it obvious?" Old Chen said, "Actually, there are chanisms within this cave. Every day, water from an underground river flows in, along the stone wall, before flowing out the other side. This water flow lasts for an hour each day, and there are various fish in the underground river that can be eaten."
"So that's it!" Ye Qing suddenly understood, while his heart was even more shocked.
Actually, introducing an underground river into a tomb isn't difficult. In several tombs Ye Qing had entered before, there were underground rivers surrounding them to ensure the survival of the tomb guardian beasts. After all, once the underground river flows in, there is a water source, and fish can guarantee food supply, making it the best breeding system. So, having an underground river in the Tomb of the Ghost Valley Master isn't surprising.
But why did the Ghost Valley Master make arrangents for an underground river to enter his tomb? There were no tomb guardian beasts in it, so what was he raising?
The first thing Ye Qing thought of was the werewolves he encountered earlier. They were the only living creatures in this tomb. If the Ghost Valley Master was indeed raising sothing, the only possibility would be these werewolves since there was nothing else in need of food and water. But why did the Ghost Valley Master want to raise werewolves when they were closely related to the Church, a Taoist Sect's Great Saint for thousands of years? Would he help the Church?
However, upon reflection, Ye Qing thought of those giant n in another cave. These giants should also count as living creatures; they need to survive too. Was the Ghost Valley Master keeping them alive with this underground water?
Ye Qing didn't know what these giants were doing, but the three forces within him didn't retaliate against them. Thus, Ye Qing felt that these giants probably weren't in league with the Church. So, if the Ghost Valley Master was keeping these giants alive, there might be so possibility. Those werewolves might be surviving on the food the Ghost Valley Master provided for the giants.
Of course, Ye Qing also found it strange. Since the Ghost Valley Master could leave such a tomb and make such arrangents, why didn't he just eliminate all the werewolves instead of leaving so many dangers within the tomb for those who enter later? Fortunately, Ye Qing possessed the power of Buddhist and Taoist magic; otherwise, he'd likely have t his end here!
"So you survived with the underground river, huh?" Ye Qing looked at Old Chen, still distrusting him. This did explain the food issue, and now he finally understood why he slled a foul stench upon entering the cave. It must have been from fish bones left behind by the werewolves after eating.
Old Chen nodded and said, "Of course, otherwise how could I have survived until now?"
"Then how do you explain the clothes you're wearing?" Ye Qing looked at Old Chen and said, "Did you wear those clothes to go grave robbing? These clothes are quite old-fashioned, far from being modern, yet you dress so ostentatiously regularly?"
Old Chen glanced at Ye Qing's clothes and then at his own, saying, "Oh, you're talking about these clothes. It's a long story..."
"Keep it short!" Ye Qing snapped.
Old Chen opened his mouth, but seeing Ye Qing about to walk away, he imdiately beca honest and said, "As I ntioned earlier, we excavated a tomb before. But while doing so, my clothes got ripped, and I didn't have any others to wear, so I took one from the tomb—this one you're looking at."
As Old Chen spoke, Ye Qing kept staring at him, disbelieving the reason he gave. However, Old Chen seed very calm, showing no signs of lying, making Ye Qing almost believe him. Could this old guy really have run out of clothes, hence wearing this one?
After pondering a while, Ye Qing couldn't figure out whether Old Chen's stories were true or not. Yet, he remained highly suspicious of Old Chen, considering that he entered this cave first, which was supposedly where the Tomb of Ghost Valley Master was located. If Old Chen wasn't problematic, it seed impossible.
"Do you know what this cave is?" Ye Qing asked.
"I've calculated the position. I'm inside the belly of Chatiang Peak now!" Old Chen said, "However, I've circled this cave hundreds of tis without finding an exit. And the stone walls are very thick, at least over a hundred ters, making it impossible to dig through. There are werewolves outside, too, so I dare not go out. Even though I know my position, I haven't been able to leave."
At this point, Old Chen was suddenly delighted, saying, "Heaven has eyes! Sending a hero like you here. Since you managed to get here, you mustn't fear the werewolves outside, right? How about you take out? I'm really sick of this cave!"
Old Chen's gaze seed steady as he spoke, appearing not to lie. Perhaps he truly didn't know about the Tomb of Ghost Valley Master?
Ye Qing pondered slightly and said, "Since you've circled this cave hundreds of tis, have you found any special spots inside? Like ancient tombs or coffins? Or even any inscriptions on the stone walls?"
Old Chen said, "In this cave, the most special spots were one that you smashed and the other that you blasted apart. Other than that, I haven't found anything!"
Smashed and blasted? Ye Qing turned to look at the sculptures fragnting the ground and the round sphere's fragnts, understanding what Old Chen ant. Indeed, the sculptures and the sphere were the most unique parts of this cave!
Actually, Ye Qing had looked closely at this cave's surroundings earlier. He initially thought the Tomb of Ghost Valley Master was in this cave, so he searched very carefully. But after checking everywhere, he saw no likely spot for the tomb, not even a trace of a coffin, making him feel sowhat disheartened. Perhaps the tomb wasn't inside this cave?
But this was the last place likely to hide the coffin of Ghost Valley Master. If it wasn't here, then where could it be?
Ye Qing remained silent for a long ti, still not understanding where he went wrong. He thoroughly searched the five caves, yet saw no sign of the Tomb of Ghost Valley Master. Could it be that his resting place was not within these five caves?
The nine palaces and eight trigrams formation with its eight fan gates: the open door was the one that brought Ye Qing in, the gate of life was for leaving, and the death gate was obviously lethal. Among the remaining five gates, if there wasn't the Tomb of Ghost Valley Master, could it be in the other three?
The open door was where Ye Qing entered, so it certainly wouldn't be there. That left only the gate of life and death gate. Could the Tomb of Ghost Valley Master be behind one of these?
While Ye Qing remained silent, Old Chen slowly approached him and couldn't help but whisper, "Young man, how about... how about we leave first? This cave is so dark; it's really creepy looking!"
Only then did Ye Qing recall that he had stored the Buddha's Relic earlier. At this mont, the cave had already plunged into darkness. Yet strangely, Ye Qing's vision beca increasingly clear in this blackness. Despite the lack of light, it was as if none were needed.
Reflecting on his experiences, besides the addition of three Sariras within him, there were no other peculiar aspects. Could it be that the Sariras even enhanced his eyesight?
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