The coffin lid opened, and a wave of foul, decaying odor rushed out.
Shui Miao and Xiao Tudou quickly put on their gas masks. Shui Miao stepped closer and shone his miner’s lamp inside, only to see two greenish bodies moving inside. Upon closer inspection, he realized they were small monsters! The lid hadn’t fully opened, only a small portion, yet from that gap, two little monsters began to climb out, crawling up to the edge of the coffin and staring at Shui Miao and Xiao Tudou.
“Grrrrrr…”
At that moment, two green monster heads squeezed through a crevice in the stone ceiling above. They bared their teeth, snarling down as if warning Shui Miao and Xiao Tudou not to harm the little creatures inside the coffin.
What kind of monsters were these?
Shui Miao was stunned. These creatures were terrifying—bald heads glowing with a sickly green light, triangular ears, hollow black nostrils, no flesh to speak of, and razor-sharp teeth. They looked like evil spirits crawling straight out of hell.
Xiao Tudou tugged at Shui Miao’s sleeve and started backing away.
The larger monsters were nearly human-sized, and there were two of them. Shui Miao didn’t dare to act rashly and quickly retreated.
As they backed away, they heard the coffin lid being moved.
That meant the monsters were incredibly strong. The lid had taken great effort to budge with an iron crowbar, yet the creatures had lifted it effortlessly.
“What’s going on? What did you see?” Wang Xiaomi, seeing the panic on Shui Miao and Xiao Tudou’s faces, rushed forward, aiming her gun behind them. “Don’t worry, I’ve got your backs.”
“There are monsters inside, and even small ones. Other coffins might have them too,” Xiao Tudou’s face had gone pale. The heavy backpack on his back and the frantic running had left him gasping for breath.
“Sister Mi, we found seven bronze coffins inside, and a whole nest of monsters. Luckily, they didn’t seem to attack us first. I think you should stay here. Xiao Tudou and I will check the other two caves. Once we find the stones, we should leave as soon as possible,” Shui Miao glanced behind him, hearing nothing, and assumed the other two caves might be clear. Still, this was no place to linger.
“Fine, I’ll stay here. Be quick.”
Wang Xiaomi returned to her original position, gun in hand, alert and growing increasingly nervous. She had assumed there was only one monster, but now there was an entire nest. There could be even more inside the cave. The situation had become far more complicated than expected, and caution was a must.
Shui Miao and Xiao Tudou quickly entered another cave and noticed the same kind of runes glowing on the stone walls—runes that enhanced fire-elemental energy. At the end of this cave were another seven bronze coffins, four of which had their lids completely thrown aside. Shui Miao scanned the cave quickly but saw no stones blocking the spirit nodes, so he and Xiao Tudou retreated immediately.
“Sister Mi, be careful. There are seven more bronze coffins here, four of them already opened. There must be even more monsters. We’re going to check the last cave,” Shui Miao whispered to Wang Xiaomi before rushing into the final cave entrance.
This cave was similar to the previous ones, with the same fire-enhancing runes glowing on the walls. But this time, there were no bronze coffins at the end, which brought a wave of relief to Shui Miao and Xiao Tudou. The space at the end was around seven or eight square meters. Compared to the previous caves, there was water pooling on the ground here, and moss-covered stones were scattered about. At one side of the cave stood a massive stone over three meters in diameter. Carved into it were nine different runes. Five of them were identical to the ones Shui Miao had seen at Liu Hongmei’s house. The other four were completely unfamiliar.
Regardless, these runes were clearly valuable, and Shui Miao immediately took photos of them with his phone.
Xiao Tudou examined the stone but found no additional runes beyond the nine.
“The Master said there was a cultivation manual inside. Why haven’t I seen it?” Xiao Tudou grew anxious. He examined the stone from top to bottom, then checked the moss-covered rocks nearby, but found nothing.
“Could these nine runes be special symbols for enhancing the nine elemental energies?” Shui Miao murmured, running his hand over the runes. “Xiao Tudou, stop looking. Maybe these nine runes are the manual. By the way, did the Master ever tell you anything about these runes?”
“He did mention something. I only recognize one of them—the one here,” Xiao Tudou pointed at the rune for enhancing earth-elemental energy, a puzzled expression on his face. “The Master told me to draw this rune on the ground when I practiced cultivation, then sit on it. He never said anything else. If he said there was a manual here, it shouldn’t just be these runes, right?”
“It must be these runes. We’ve checked everywhere else. This place isn’t safe. We need to leave,” Shui Miao said firmly, turning to go. In his mind, these nine runes were the real treasure. Now that they had found it, there was no reason to stay. With so many monsters around, Wang Xiaomi might not be able to handle it alone. They had to leave quickly.
“Senior Brother, wait…” Xiao Tudou grabbed Shui Miao’s arm. “I can feel a strong earth-elemental energy behind this stone. We should try to move it.”
“How are we supposed to move such a huge rock? We’ll come back later with explosives.”
Xiao Tudou was being disobedient, and Shui Miao frowned impatiently, trying to pull him away.
But Xiao Tudou hurriedly grabbed the iron bar. “Senior Brother, I just need to hit it a few times. The temple is built on top of it—how can we build without earth-elemental energy?” Saying that, he swung the iron bar at the edge of the stone. After only four or five strikes, a hole opened, and a stream of water immediately gushed out…
Xiao Tudou was thinking about the temple. Without earth-elemental energy, the land would be lifeless.
“What the hell are you doing? There are still many treasures in the bronze coffins. If you break the stone and flood everything, how can we come back later? Once we’ve taken all the gold and silver, do you think I won’t blow this rock apart?” Shui Miao quickly stopped Xiao Tudou. Fortunately, the hole wasn’t too big yet. If it had been any larger, it wouldn’t take long before the cave was flooded.
“We’re coming back? But there are monsters here!”
Xiao Tudou couldn’t believe it. Shui Miao actually wanted to come back again.
“Of course we are! This is a natural base gifted by heaven! Not only will I come back, but I’ll make full use of this place in the future. Enough talking. Let’s go now…”
Shui Miao sighed in frustration, pulling Xiao Tudou away.
“Bang!”
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Suddenly, gunshots rang out!
Then came Wang Xiaomi’s voice, filled with panic. “Shui Miao, hurry out! I can’t hold on much longer!”
“Oh no!”
Shui Miao immediately let go of Xiao Tudou’s hand, drew his dagger, and rushed outside in a hurry.
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