The moment Chen Wuya stepped into the cave mouth, damp cold crept up his trouser legs. He did not stop or look back, only raised the candle a little higher. Its flame cast a crooked shadow across the rock wall. Bai Zhi followed half a step behind him, one hand already resting on her sword hilt, her knuckles tightening slightly.
The passage was narrow, and viscous fluid dripped continuously from overhead, carrying a faint reek of blood when it landed on their shoulders. Chen Wuya lightly tapped the ground with the tip of his hoe. The earth was soft, and several spots gave way slightly beneath his feet. He crouched, pressed his fingertips to the rock wall, and closed his eyes for a moment—the airflow seeped in through a crack to the right, bearing a faint tremor.
"The main cavern is that way," he said quietly, his voice mostly swallowed by the stone walls.
Bai Zhi did not answer. She merely used her sword tip to lift aside a spiderweb hanging before them. The silk was tough, giving a soft twang as it snapped. Frowning, she examined it closely by candlelight—there were no insect corpses caught in the web, but half a yellowed fingernail clung to it, its ragged edge as though it had been forcibly torn off.
"Someone has been maintaining this cave." She sheathed her sword. "It wasn't dug by some wild demon."
Chen Wuya nodded and continued onward. Every few steps, a black nail was embedded in the rock wall, its head carved with twisted patterns resembling some unfinished symbol. He reached out and touched one. At once, a stabbing numbness spread across his fingertips, as though pricked by icy needles.
"Don't touch them," he said. "These nails... there's something wrong with them."
The two slowed their