Having traversed that perilous, miasma-ridden swamp zone, Tang Xiaoqi and his companions finally set foot on relatively firm, dry ground. Everyone looked somewhat disheveled, their robes stained with mud, and their auras slightly unsettled from having maintained spiritual energy shields and dealt with sudden incidents for an extended period. Third Senior Sister Liu Yun shook the residual dark green venom from her sword blade, her brows slightly furrowed, clearly still unnerved by the prior ordeal. Senior Brother Mu Qingfeng remained as steady as ever, his gaze sweeping over the somewhat weary group as he said gently, "Rest and recuperate here for a moment. The situation ahead is unclear; we need to be in peak condition."
Xiao Qi complied, sitting cross-legged. The jade pendant at his chest transmitted threads of cool, refreshing energy, helping him quickly calm the slightly agitated spiritual energy within him. He instinctively touched the black iron wok on his back; the wok's body was cool. Earlier in the swamp, this inconspicuous pot had not only smacked away several venomous insects attempting to ambush him but had also, at a critical moment, blocked a corrosive energy assault hidden within the mire, its sturdiness once again drawing attention. The rabbit spirit emerged from somewhere, shook its fur dotted with mud, its lively red eyes warily scanning the surroundings. Then it sniffed in a certain direction with its small nose, emitted a faint "squeak," and pointed with its front paw.
"Found something?" Xiao Qi's heart stirred as he asked quietly. The rabbit spirit nodded vigorously and tugged at his pant leg.
After the group finished resting, they carefully advanced in the direction the rabbit spirit indicated. About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, after passing through a dense ancient forest emitting a peculiar fragrance, the view before them suddenly opened up. On a gentle slope backed against a steep cliff face, amidst entwining vines and moss, they could vaguely make out an opening that did not appear natural. The opening was about one person's height, its edges quite regular, covered with a kind of tough, dark green vine. These vines moved without wind, their surfaces faintly shimmering with spiritual light, clearly no ordinary plants. Above the opening, a weathered stone plaque hung askew, engraved with three ancient characters. Though eroded by time and somewhat blurred, they were still discernible: "Tingtao Residence". The calligraphy was free and flowing, exuding an air of carefree ease.
"An ancient cultivator's cave abode!" a fellow disciple couldn't help but exclaim in a low voice, tone brimming with barely suppressed excitement. Within secret realms, cave abodes left by predecessors often signify opportunities—perhaps lost cultivation arts, precious pills, or powerful magical artifacts.
Senior Brother Mu Qingfeng raised a hand, signaling everyone to quiet down. He concentrated, sensing for a moment, then said gravely, "The restrictions outside the cave abode are extremely ancient; their spiritual energy fluctuations are already very faint, but not completely dissipated. We must not be careless." His gaze shifted to Xiao Qi and Third Senior Sister. "Junior Sister Lin, you and I will investigate the weak points of the restrictions together. Xiao Qi, you and the others keep watch around, guard against demon beasts or other cultivators approaching."
Xiao Qi nodded in agreement, gripped the wok, and dispersed with several other disciples, forming a faint fan-shaped perimeter around the cave entrance area. He noticed the vegetation around the cave abode grew exceptionally lush; some spirit grasses rare in the outside world grew here like common weeds, though their age was still young. The air held a faint, special scent blending the fragrance of plants and the mustiness of old dust.
Mu Qingfeng and Liu Yun remained before the cave entrance for a long time, sometimes tracing patterns in the air with a finger, sometimes conversing in low tones. Third Senior Sister even experimentally slashed out a slender sword aura. When the sword aura touched the vines at the cave entrance, the spiritual light on those vines suddenly brightened, silently absorbing and neutralizing the sword aura.
"It's a variant of the Yimu Shensheng Formation, sustained by the abundant wood-attribute spiritual energy here. Though dilapidated, its foundation remains. Forcibly breaking it will trigger intense backlash," Mu Qingfeng concluded finally, frowning slightly. "We need to locate the nodes of its spiritual energy flow and break it with finesse."
Just as everyone was pondering how to breach the formation, Xiao Qi's chest pendant once again transmitted a familiar warmth. This time, the warm flow did not point inside the cave abode but gently guided his gaze to a cluster of seemingly ordinary plants with pale blue flowers to the right of the cave entrance. The color of the soil beneath that cluster appeared slightly different from its surroundings.
Xiao Qi's heart stirred. He walked over, crouched down, and examined carefully. Under the precise guidance of the pendant's sensation, he parted the cluster of plants and discovered, deep among their roots, a half-exposed bluestone slab engraved with intricate patterns. At the center of the patterns was an inconspicuous indentation.
"Senior Brother, Third Senior Sister, look at this," Xiao Qi called out.
Mu Qingfeng and Liu Yun came over upon hearing him. Seeing the patterns on the bluestone slab, their eyes revealed surprise. Mu Qingfeng carefully examined them and said, "This seems to be... an ancient spiritual energy lock-key? Looking at the style of these patterns, they share the same origin as the cave entrance restrictions."
Mu Qingfeng tried injecting his own spiritual energy into the indentation. The bluestone slab showed no reaction. He tried several different attribute spiritual energies, still to no avail.
"It seems a specific 'key' is needed, or... power from the same source as the formation-setter to trigger it," Mu Qingfeng mused.
Power from the same source? Xiao Qi instinctively touched the pendant. After a moment's hesitation, he extended a finger, gently pressed it into the indentation, and at the same time quietly channeled that thread of cool, refreshing energy originating from the pendant—the power he called the "Purification Source"—slowly infusing it into the slab.
At first, the bluestone slab remained inert. But after several breaths, the intricate patterns suddenly lit up with a soft, vibrant emerald green glow starting from the contact point! The light spread rapidly like flowing water across the entire pattern, finally converging at the center of the indentation.
A soft "click" sound, as if some mechanism had been triggered. The dark green vines entwined around the cave entrance, like living things, slowly retracted to both sides, revealing the complete, deep opening. Simultaneously, that obstructive spiritual light barrier rippled like water, then dissipated into nothingness.
The cave abode was open.
The group looked at Xiao Qi with mingled astonishment and delight; even Mu Qingfeng and Liu Yun's eyes held inquiry. Xiao Qi hastily withdrew his hand and explained somewhat awkwardly, "I... I don't know how that happened either. Maybe just good luck..."
Mu Qingfeng gave him a deep look, didn't press further, just patted his shoulder. "Well done. Let's go in, stay alert, and don't separate."
The interior of the cave abode was more spacious and dry than imagined. Though the air carried a stale odor, it wasn't stifling, clearly having good ventilation design. The entrance led into a downward-sloping passageway. Moonlight stones embedded in the walls had long lost their spiritual glow, leaving only faint fluorescent remnants. At the end of the passageway was a fairly spacious stone hall.
Inside the stone hall were a stone table, stone stools, even a simple alchemy furnace, all dusty and devoid of spirituality now. In a corner lay scattered a few decayed meditation mats. Most eye-catching was a row of stone bookshelves against the wall, haphazardly holding some jade slips and bamboo slips. Most had lost their spiritual nature, becoming ordinary objects; only a few still emitted faint spiritual energy fluctuations.
"Split up to check things out; watch out for traps," Mu Qingfeng ordered, himself heading toward the row of bookshelves.
Xiao Qi didn't rush to touch those things potentially containing cultivation art jade slips. His gaze was drawn to a half-open stone door on one side of the stone hall. Pushing the stone door open revealed a smaller meditation chamber. In the center of the chamber was a solitary meditation mat, upon which sat a complete skeleton! The skeleton wore a pale blue daoist robe, which remained intact despite the passage of time, faintly shimmering with spiritual light—clearly no ordinary item. The skeletal bones were crystalline, faintly translucent like jade, indicating the master's high cultivation level in life. On the ground before the skeleton lay a palm-sized jade box and a short sword utterly devoid of spiritual energy fluctuations, appearing like ordinary iron.
Xiao Qi felt solemn respect. He bowed respectfully toward the skeleton. He could sense that the pendant at his chest seemed more tranquil here, the cool energy it emitted even softer. He carefully approached, first checked the jade box—it had no restrictions. Opening it revealed three dragon-eye-sized pills, round and lustrous, sealed in transparent wax shells. The medicinal fragrance was restrained, but with his preliminary exposure to alchemy, Xiao Qi could detect the pure spiritual energy contained within; definitely not ordinary pills. The inside of the jade box was engraved with a few small characters: "Soul-Cleansing Pill".
As for the short sword, it felt heavy in his hand. The blade was dull, unreflective; the hilt engraved with two ancient characters: "Hidden Edge". Xiao Qi tried injecting a thread of spiritual energy; the short sword showed no reaction, seemingly truly just a lump of stubborn iron. But when he swung it a few times, he found the sword exceptionally well-balanced, its weight and equilibrium just right. Moreover, though the edge seemed blunt, when he lightly drew it across a nearby stone wall, it left a clear white mark.
"Huh?" Xiao Qi was somewhat astonished. This sword seemed rather extraordinary.
Just then, Third Senior Sister's voice came from outside: "Xiao Qi, find anything?"
Xiao Qi quickly responded, stored the jade box and short sword, then paid three respectful bows to the skeleton before exiting the meditation chamber.
Back in the stone hall, others had also made discoveries. Senior Brother Mu Qingfeng had found two intact jade slips. One recorded an auxiliary cultivation art named "Yimu Ningxin Jue" (Wood-Attribute Heart-Calming Art); the other contained some notes about identifying and cultivating ancient spirit grasses. Third Senior Sister Liu Yun found a small case beside the alchemy furnace containing several pieces of excellent-quality but attribute-unclear forging materials, shimmering with strange luster. Two other fellow disciples found scattered spirit stones and several low-grade but ancient-styled magical artifact fragments.
"This place's master was called 'Tingtao Jushi' (Listener of Waves Recluse), likely a loose cultivator proficient in wood-attribute arts, also cultivating alchemy and artifact forging," Mu Qingfeng deduced while browsing scattered information from the jade slips. "Judging from the remains' condition and the cave abode's arrangement, it seems he passed away here peacefully, not encountering external force."
The group tallied their gains. Though no earth-shattering heritage was found, these ancient texts, pills, materials—especially that daoist robe and the mysterious short sword—were all quite valuable. More importantly, they provided a window into a glimpse of the ancient cultivation world. The rabbit spirit had somehow slipped under the bookshelf, retrieved a dust-covered, pigeon-egg-sized transparent bead, and presented it like a treasure at Xiao Qi's feet. Xiao Qi picked up the bead, wiped off the dust. The bead's interior seemed to have flowing mist, yet similarly, no spiritual energy could be sensed.
"This is not a place to linger; we need to leave quickly," Mu Qingfeng said decisively as he stored the jade slips. Exploring an ancient cultivator's cave abode is certainly an opportunity, but it could also attract unnecessary trouble.
The group swiftly exited the cave abode. After they left, the vines at the entrance slowly writhed again, re-concealing the opening as if nothing had ever happened.
Standing outside the cave abode, looking back at the vine-covered entrance, Xiao Qi felt contemplative. This exploration not only yielded physical items but also gave him a deeper understanding of the vastness of the cultivation world and the weight of its history. What kind of presence was that predecessor, "Tingtao Jushi," in his time? He rubbed the short sword named "Hidden Edge," felt its substantial weight, and vaguely felt that the gains from this cave abode journey might far exceed what appeared on the surface.
"Let's go," Senior Brother's voice pulled his thoughts back to reality. "The core area of the secret realm likely holds even greater challenges awaiting us."
The team set off once more, advancing toward the deeper parts of the secret realm where spiritual energy was denser and danger inevitably greater. Everyone's eyes were more resolute than before; after the trials of swamp and cave abode, the tacit understanding and confidence of this temporarily formed team were quietly growing.