Into the Cave

The northern foothills of the Crimson Firmament Mountain Range, thirty li from the mountain gate.

The mountain path grew narrower and narrower. The trees on either side thinned out, replaced by gray-white bare rock.

Loose stones began appearing on the ground, fine and pitch-black, crunching softly underfoot.

"This is slag." Xu He suddenly spoke, his voice shrill. "Mining began here thirty years ago. They were digging for iron ore. Later, the vein ran dry, the mine was abandoned, and everyone left."

He glanced at Li Xuan, as if showing off that he knew more than the others.

Li Xuan did not respond.

Su Ying asked softly, "Then what's still inside the cave?"

"Who knows?" Xu He said. "The sect assigned us a mission to investigate, which means there's something inside."

He paused, his tone turning sinister. "Hopefully it's something valuable. If we run into anything unclean, you'll deal with it yourselves. I'm only responsible for releasing poison."

"Shut the hell up," Shi Yong said without looking back.

Xu He snorted and said nothing more.

They walked on for the time it took an incense stick to burn.

Shadow suddenly stopped.

He stood where he was, his gaze fixed on a certain spot ahead. Everyone followed his eyes. Between the gray-white mountain rocks was a fissure, about two zhang high and one zhang wide. Its edges were neat and orderly—it had clearly been excavated by human hands.

Not a blade of grass grew before the entrance. The ground was covered in a thick layer of black slag, soft and sinking beneath their feet.

An abandoned mine.

They had arrived.

Shi Yong waved his hand. The others spread out and approached the entrance in a fan-shaped formation.

Li Xuan walked at the far side, his gaze sweeping over the cave walls. The rock was pitch-black, marked by traces of running water, though they had long since dried.

The rocks above the entrance bore old scorch marks, as if someone had burned something there many years ago.

"There's a mark." Shadow suddenly spoke.

He pointed toward the stone wall on the left side of the entrance.

A symbol was carved there: a circle with a vertical line through its center, the top of the line branching out like twigs.

Li Xuan's pupils narrowed slightly.

Barbarian witchcraft runes.

He had seen them in Iron Wall City. When the barbarian shamans summoned the Wolf Soul, they carved symbols like this into the ground—only larger and more intricate.

"What does it mean?" Shi Yong asked.

Shadow shook his head. "I don't recognize it."

Li Xuan said nothing.

He merely studied the symbol for a while longer, doing his best to memorize every bend and turn.

"Into the cave," Shi Yong ordered. "Shadow scouts ahead. I'll lead. Li Xuan stays on my right. Su Ying and Xu He in the middle. Zhou Wen and Zhou Wu bring up the rear. Don't panic if anything happens. Follow my commands."

He paused and looked at Li Xuan. "How recovered are you?"

"I can still fight. Don't worry about me."

Shi Yong nodded and asked no further questions.

Shadow was the first to step through the entrance.

The others filed in after him.

The cave was deeper than they had imagined.

There was still a faint glow near the entrance, but after walking twenty zhang, the light was swallowed by darkness. Shi Yong lit a fire starter. The flame flickered, casting looming black shadows across the cave walls.

The passage sloped downward. The incline was not steep, but it continued steadily down. The slag beneath their feet gradually thinned, exposing the hard rock below. Forks began appearing on both sides of the passage, most blocked by cave-ins or descending into unfathomable darkness.

Shadow walked at the very front. Every ten zhang, he would stop, cock his head, and listen before continuing.

Li Xuan followed five steps behind him, his gaze sweeping over the stone walls on both sides.

There were marks left by axes and chisels. Remnants of minecart tracks, rusted and broken. Abandoned pickaxes, scraps of cloth, and rotten ropes.

And—

He stopped.

On the cave wall to the left was a patch of black residue. It was not the natural color of the rock, but looked like some kind of liquid had splashed there and dried.

He reached out and lightly touched it with his fingertip.

It was completely dry. Rough, with a grainy texture.

When he withdrew his hand, a little powder clung to his fingertip.

He brought it close to his nose.

There was no smell.

"Li Xuan?" Shi Yong called from behind.

Li Xuan withdrew his hand and caught up.

They walked another thirty zhang.

Shadow suddenly raised his hand.

Everyone stopped.

The passage ahead abruptly widened, forming a natural cavern about ten zhang across. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, and the uneven floor was covered in pools of water.

But that was not what drew everyone's attention.

It was the corpses.

Five of them.

They sat slumped against the cave wall in various positions. Their flesh had long since rotted away, leaving only white bones wrapped in tattered cloth. The colors of the fabric were blurred beyond recognition, but judging from the scraps, they were the uniforms of sect disciples.

Shi Yong stepped forward and crouched down to examine them.

"They died a long time ago." He looked up. "At least ten years."

"How did they die?" Su Ying asked softly.

Shi Yong turned over one of the skeletons. There were no obvious injuries on the bones. He examined the others as well, with the same result.

"Can't tell."

"Poison," Xu He suddenly said.

Everyone looked at him.

He crouched beside one of the skeletons and pointed at tiny gray spots on the surface of the bones. "This is mine poison. Staying in a mine for too long and inhaling mineral dust will cause it to build up until the person dies."

He paused, his tone turning sinister. "These people were probably the first disciples sent down when something happened to the miners back then. They didn't die in the mining disaster. They died in this cave."

Shi Yong frowned. "Mine poison?"

"A poisonous substance found alongside iron ore. It dissolves in water, enters the lungs when inhaled, and manifests within three to five days." Xu He stood up and dusted off his hands, though there was no dust on them. "It isn't too painful when you die. You simply can't catch your breath, and slowly suffocate."

He looked at everyone, the corners of his mouth curling upward. "So don't stay here too long. An hour or two is fine. Stay for a day—use your own judgment."

Silence descended over the cave.

Li Xuan's gaze swept over the five skeletons.

Suddenly, he noticed something.

The skeleton closest to the back had its right hand clenched into a fist and pinned beneath its body. The position did not look like a natural death. It looked as if, before dying, the person had desperately been protecting something.

He stepped forward and crouched down.

The skeleton's fingers had long since stiffened. The slightest force would break them. He pried apart the broken bones and saw what had been pressed beneath them—a palm-sized shard of stone covered in engraved marks.

He picked it up and brought it close to the fire starter.

The carvings were very shallow and crooked, as if they had been drawn with a finger dipped in blood:

"There's something in the mist. Don't—"

The final stroke dragged on for a long distance before stopping abruptly.

Li Xuan stared at the words without speaking.

"What is it?" Shi Yong came over.

Li Xuan handed him the stone shard.

Shi Yong glanced at it, and his expression changed slightly.

He looked at the five skeletons, then toward the deep passage ahead.

"...Keep going."

The group moved forward once more.

But this time, no one spoke.

Their footsteps echoed through the narrow passage, like the footsteps of another person following behind them—not far, yet never drawing near.