Chapter 394 The Mysterious Cave (1/2)

Whoosh!

The shadow of a rope darted out, plunging into the nearly 90-degree vertical cliff. Ning Tao grabbed the end of the herb-collecting rope and leaped. He gathered his thoughts and the herb-collecting rope rapidly shortened as he flew towards the cliff face. When he finally stopped, his body was already 100 meters aboveground. He launched himself on his tiptoes and dropped with his rope down into the cave on the cliff wall.

This was the beauty of the herb-collecting rope, an exclusive magic tool of the owner of Sky Clinic. No cliff was so steep that he could not climb, nor was there any spiritual material on precipitous rocks or cliffs he could not pick.

Standing outside the cave entrance, Ning Tao peered in. A little inside the cave, there was a mist of water vapor. But he could only see a section of the cave. It was pitch-black farther in and he could not see anything more at all. Gusts of sinister wind blew out from the cave. Even he could feel the cold.

Thump!

Above the cliff face came a thump.

It was a pebble from Jiang Hao. She was reminding Ning Tao to pull them up.

Ning Tao retracted his gaze. He turned around and stared down at Jiang Hao and Qing Zhui, who were still under the cliff. Then he waved his arm and threw them the herb-collecting rope.

One end of the herb-collecting rope lodged onto the ground. A rock was suddenly split open, its fragments scattering.

Qing Zhui and Jiang Hao grabbed the herb-collecting rope. Jiang Hao tugged the rope. After all, it was 100 meters aboveground in the night. She felt that Ning Tao was unable to see her and Qing Zhui clearly. This was indeed the case. Without summoning his state of looking, Ning Tao could not see either of them below him. But he could feel Jiang Hao’s forceful tug of the rope, and so he started gathering it.

As Ning Tao’s hand rapidly gathered the herb-collecting rope, Qing Zhui and Jiang Hao soared up like passengers on a rocket. They soon plunged into Ning Tao’s arms.

Ning Tao opened his arms and encircled Jiang Hao and Qing Zhui’s waists, helping them dissipate the inertia on their bodies. This time, Jiang Hao did not freeze his arm.

“Come, let’s go in and take a look.” Ning Tao released their waists and coiled up the rope, walking into the cave at the same time. After coiling the rope, he put it back into the medicine chest and took out a tactical flashlight.

A bright beam of light shone into the cave interior. Suddenly, the trio found their vision suddenly illuminated. The hidden depths of the environment were presented clearly before their eyes.

The river flowing out from the darkness occupied one-third of the entire terrain. At its widest, it was about 10 meters wide; at its narrowest, five to six meters. The river water was clear and limpid, the stones and sands on the river bed easily discernible through the water. But as they walked farther in, the river became deeper and deeper. Soon, they could no longer see the stones and sands on the river bed. The river had widened from five to 10 meters to the width of a reservoir!

The land on either side of the river extended to the left and right, but the terrain became more and more complicated and difficult to walk.

“Go left or right?” Jiang Hao asked when they reached a gap where the “reservoir” flowed out to the river.

“No hurry. Let me see what the Soil-seeking Inkstone says.” Ning Tao squatted down and opened his medicine chest, taking out his Soil-seeking Inkstone. He poured 30 ml of ink into the inkstone. While waiting for the Soil-seeking Inkstone to direct them, he bit his finger and drew a blood lock symbol on the rock face.

From what he could see, this cave was a large, complicated Karst cave. It was impossible for them to explore it all at once. There was spiritual energy in this cave, suitable for ordinary practitioners and demons to cultivate. It was necessary for him to leave a blood lock here.

After Ning Tao drew the blood lock, Qing Zhui had wanted to suck his finger. But when she saw Jiang Hao standing just beside them, she brutally suppressed this thought.

Ning Tao rinsed his bitten finger in the river water. By the time he raised it again, the bleeding had stopped. The wound was rapidly healing, without leaving any scar.

In the Soil-seeking Inkstone, the black ink surged to the middle. The ripples were quivering very vigorously.

Ning Tao said excitedly, “There really is a treasure in this place!”

Qing Zhui glanced at the Soil-seeking disk. “It is pointing at the center of the reservoir. Let me go down the water to explore.” Saying this, she made the gesture to undress.

Ning Tao held her back. “Don’t be impulsive. Let’s skirt around it and then make a decision. If you went underwater so recklessly, you might encounter a vicious demon and be in grave danger.”

Jiang Hao said, “That’s right. Let’s skirt around it and observe first. If there’s a need to go underwater, I will freeze the water. Then you won’t need to undress.”

Qing Zhui was speechless.

Ning Tao let Jiang Hao carry the tactical flashlight while he held the Soil-seeking Inkstone, walking to their left. The reservoir was far bigger than he had imagined, and the cave gradually took on an oval shape because of it. The black ink from the inkstone continued to ripple as he walked deeper in, its pointed arrow continually shifting. It was always pointing in the same direction.

After a distance of one kilometer, a dead body suddenly appeared among a pile of rocks. The clothes on its body had almost weathered away, with only a small portion left. Its blood and flesh had withered in the wind, leaving behind a shriveled, emaciated corpse. Only its hair was well preserved. One glance and anyone could tell it was a blond Caucasian male. Its build corroborated this too. The man had been very tall when alive, at least 1.9 meters in height.

Jiang Hao asked, “Could he be a member of the exploratory team from the West that Fan Huaying mentioned?”