Chapter 104: The Dry Well Adventure (Part 2)

But this time, Shui Miao saw nothing at all.

When Wang Xiaomi and Xiaotudou finally descended to their position, Shui Miao quietly told them what she had just seen. The three of them then turned back-to-back, each holding a miner’s lamp in one hand and a weapon in the other—Xiaotudou held an iron crowbar, while Wang Xiaomi held a silenced pistol.

They descended another twenty meters or so, and found that the cavern below was growing larger. Its diameter had reached thirty to forty meters, though the walls remained relatively smooth, offering no real hiding places. The three carefully observed every inch of the surroundings, searching for the figure Shui Miao had mentioned.

The dry well still stretched deep, seemingly bottomless.

They continued their descent, and when they reached about seventy or eighty meters down, the cavern had become enormous, with a diameter of at least fifty meters. Their miner’s lamps could no longer illuminate clearly, and the cave’s interior had grown complex—odd rock formations jutted out everywhere, and boulders lay in a tangled maze. Wang Xiaomi wasn’t in a hurry; she took out a fluorescent light from her backpack, switched it on, and tossed it toward the more complicated areas, ensuring every corner was thoroughly examined, leaving no possible hiding spot unchecked.

Continuing downward, when they reached about one hundred meters deep, they spotted a platform.

They swung over and landed on it.

The platform was very smooth, roughly ten square meters in size.

Wang Xiaomi inspected it and noticed clear signs of chiseled stone. She then shone her miner’s lamp around and softly said, “It’s obvious this is a natural cave. It looks like we’re inside a giant bottle. Also, judging from the sand particles in the cracks of the walls, this place must have once been filled with water.”

“I can smell something strange. Besides us, there must be other living things in this cave,” Xiaotudou had been sniffing the air. He had already detected a peculiar, indescribable scent. Now that Wang Xiaomi had spoken, he added his own observation.

Meanwhile, Shui Miao shone her miner’s lamp downward along the edge of the platform…

She noticed that the edge was also very smooth—there wasn’t even a small stone.

“Hmm, what’s that?”

Suddenly, Wang Xiaomi noticed a pile of something in the corner of the platform—it looked like a piece of feces, but its color perfectly matched the cave walls, making it hard to notice.

“I see the figure again…”

Suddenly, Shui Miao’s light caught the figure she had seen earlier, about thirty meters below the platform. This time, she saw it clearly—it was a humanoid monster covered in a bluish-green hue, its entire body a single color. It had glowing green eyes and moved extremely fast, vanishing in an instant.

Wang Xiaomi and Xiaotudou quickly shone their miner’s lamps downward, but saw nothing.

“It’s a monster, and it’s fast. We need to be careful.”

Shui Miao whispered, glancing around nervously. Her heart raced with urgency. She wanted to find the stone sealing the spiritual eye as soon as possible, so they wouldn’t have to stay in this tense, nerve-wracking place.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got a gun.”

Wang Xiaomi coldly glanced downward. “As long as it’s alive, there’s nothing to fear. At one hundred meters deep, with such sufficient oxygen, it makes sense that there could be living creatures here.”

“Exactly. There are three of us. What do we have to fear from one monster? Even if it’s a ghost, I won’t be scared,” Xiaotudou showed no fear either.

Compared to them, Shui Miao felt weak and timid, realizing she was the most frightened among the three.

“No problem. Let’s keep going down. Maybe we can even catch the monster. If we bring it up, it’ll definitely shock the world. Maybe we could even sell it for a good price,” Wang Xiaomi tightened her grip on the rope and left the platform.

Xiaotudou followed closely behind.

Shui Miao took a deep breath, pulled out all the fluorescent lights from his backpack, and also left the platform. The three of them continued their descent together.

Fifty meters further down, they quickly reached the bottom. Along the way, they saw no sign of the monster.

The lowest area was huge, about two hundred meters in diameter, littered with scattered rocks of varying sizes. They threw fluorescent lights in all directions, staying alert for the monster. After about fifteen minutes of searching the cave floor, they found only a horizontal tunnel entrance. No monster, no stone sealing the spiritual eye.

This horizontal tunnel was damp inside, a sharp contrast to the dry surroundings outside.

“That’s strange. Why is it wet here?” Xiaotudou looked puzzled at the water droplets on the cave walls, similar to condensed vapor, with the ground similarly damp but not flooded.

Wang Xiaomi threw her last fluorescent light into the tunnel and said, “It really is strange. Given the terrain, this cave beneath the dry well should have been filled with water. But it’s completely dry, except for this small tunnel that’s wet. That suggests this small tunnel must be where the sealing stone is located. But why is the moisture so evenly distributed here? Judging from the amount of humidity, there should be a lot of water accumulated on the ground.”

“Senior Brother, could it be what the taxi driver mentioned—that over a hundred years ago, a northern sorcerer did something here?” Xiaotudou sensed something was off, but couldn’t think of a normal, reasonable explanation.

“I can’t say for sure either. Let’s go inside and check.”

Shui Miao frowned and slowly stepped into the tunnel.

Xiaotudou and Wang Xiaomi quickly followed.

The tunnel varied in width, occasionally requiring them to duck. The deeper they went, the more humid it became.

After walking about ten meters in, Wang Xiaomi suddenly stopped Shui Miao and Xiaotudou. She pointed at the ground. At first glance, Shui Miao saw nothing unusual, but upon closer inspection, he faintly noticed a line of strange footprints—resembling duck footprints, but as large as a palm.

A monster!

Seeing the footprints, Shui Miao’s heart quickened.

“Get ready for a fight!”

Wang Xiaomi quietly picked up a stone and threw it deep into the tunnel. A faint plopping sound followed.

“Quick! The monster is running…”

Judging from the sound, Wang Xiaomi was certain the monster had fled deeper into the cave.

The three hurriedly chased after it, eventually reaching a fork with exactly three paths.

“Senior Sister Xiaomi, what do we do now?”

Xiaotudou was excited, not the least bit scared, only eager to see the monster.

“Shh!”

Wang Xiaomi silenced Xiaotudou, listened carefully for a moment, then picked up three stones and threw one into each tunnel, listening to the echoes to determine what lay inside.

Unfortunately, the sounds from all three tunnels were almost identical.

“Now, either we each take a tunnel, or we go into one together. But if we go together, we might let the monster escape through one of the other tunnels.” Wang Xiaomi wasn’t sure what to do and turned to Shui Miao. “Manager, what do you think?”

“Here’s the plan: Senior Sister Xiaomi, since you have a gun, it’s better you stay here and guard. Xiaotudou and I will check each tunnel one by one. The two of us should be able to handle it even if we meet the monster. No time to waste—let’s go.” Without hesitation, Shui Miao walked into the nearest tunnel.

“Wait for me, Senior Brother!”

Xiaotudou quickly followed.

Shui Miao carefully walked about twenty meters into the tunnel and noticed many strange carvings on the walls. He recognized these symbols—they were the same fire-enhancing talisman symbols they had previously found among the five talismans at Liu Hongmei’s house. The deeper they went, the more carvings they saw. Shui Miao couldn’t figure out why such powerful talisman symbols, which only high-level cultivators could make effective, were carved into stone walls.

The tunnel twisted left and right. After another twenty meters or so, they reached its end. Surprisingly, the end of the tunnel was shaped like a tomb, surrounded by stone walls with a large hole leading inside. Inside was a chamber about thirty square meters in size, containing seven bronze coffins, two of which had their lids already open…

Bronze coffins!

Carefully approaching the coffins, Shui Miao and Xiaotudou shone their miner’s lamps inside, revealing treasures—gold, silver, pearls, and jewels.

“Senior Brother, we’re rich!”

Seeing the treasures, Xiaotudou became instantly excited, reaching out to grab them.

Shui Miao quickly grabbed Xiaotudou’s hand and whispered, “The corpses are gone. Doesn’t that seem strange? Let’s leave first. We need to find the sealing stone before anything else.”

“But there’s so much treasure here. Can’t I just take a few gold ingots?”

Xiaotudou had lived a poor life for a long time. Though he had devoted himself to Daoist cultivation and wasn’t usually greedy, recent expenses for rebuilding the temple had left him, the soon-to-be abbot, penniless. He couldn’t help but feel tempted by the large gold ingots inside the coffins.

Shui Miao, though pretending not to care, was also tempted.

“Alright then, just a little.”

Swallowing hard, Shui Miao quickly unslung his backpack and started grabbing gold and jewels from the coffins…

Originally intending to take only a little, their minds changed once they started. They filled their backpacks with all the gold ingots from the coffins—nine ingots in each coffin, totaling eighteen. Along with the ingots, they also took all the jewelry and other treasures.

“Senior Brother, the backpacks aren’t full yet. What if we open another coffin? We’ve come this far—might as well take more!”

Xiaotudou grew greedier.

Shui Miao was also curious—what might be inside the other two coffins?

Perhaps all seven bronze coffins were filled with gold and treasures—maybe this was an ancient noble’s treasure vault! Unable to resist temptation and curiosity, Shui Miao finally nodded, saying “Alright,” and together with Xiaotudou, used the iron crowbar to pry open the largest coffin lid…

“Creak!”

The lid of the bronze coffin made a sharp, crisp sound!