16, Wish Fulfilled

Xiao Han's face lit up with joy—after all this hard work, he had finally found it!

Taking a deep breath, Xiao Han was in no rush.

After looking around to confirm no one was around, he took a rope soaked in burning oil from his Storage Ring, tied it around his waist, and fastened the other end in a dead knot around a withered tree by the cliff edge.

He gave the rope a firm tug to make sure it was secure, then began to climb down bit by bit. Turning back to confirm the cave's position once more, he pulled the rope and gave a light jump, landing on the adjacent rock wall, activating his Body Movement technique again.

"Extreme Shadow Steps!"

Flitting like a butterfly among the steep cliffs, Xiao Han couldn't help but feel a thrill of danger. If not for the rope as a safety line, he wouldn't have dared to jump down so carelessly.

After ten minutes of careful descent, Xiao Han finally set foot on solid ground, arriving at the mouth of the cave on the sheer cliff face.

Looking at the rope in his hands, Xiao Han summoned his Demonic Flame and set it alight.

Whoosh!

Since the rope had been deliberately soaked in burning oil for a full day and night, it caught fire instantly upon meeting the flame, like a fuse on a firecracker. The fire raced up the rope to the cliff, burning both the rope and the withered tree to ashes.

Now, even if someone passed by this place, they would never discover any trace of Xiao Han's descent.

Seeing the pile of withered branches, fallen leaves, and gravel blocking the cave entrance, Xiao Han shook his head and flicked his finger. A small, dark blue flame landed on the pile, and in an instant, it incinerated the wood and leaves completely, leaving only a heap of ash-covered stone chips and the cave mouth.

The entrance wasn't wide—barely enough for two or three people to pass through. Inside, the cave was pitch black, though a faint glimmer of light could be seen, giving it a somewhat mysterious, secluded feel.

Xiao Han carefully slipped into the cave. The dark passage was so black he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. Frowning, he extended his index finger.

Whoosh!

A dark blue flame appeared at his fingertip, quickly illuminating the entire passage. Xiao Han walked deeper inside. After about ten minutes, he spotted a stone door.

The stone door was extremely heavy. If someone were only at the Dou Practitioner level, they might pound on it for half a day without opening even a crack. Moreover, Xiao Han had no idea what mechanisms were hidden in the door—if he forced it open and triggered a seal that locked it permanently, he'd be left crying in frustration.

It wasn't that Xiao Han couldn't break through the stone door by force, but having read too many tomb-raiding novels and watched too many movies, he always felt that forcing a door would trigger some trap that would collapse the entire tunnel.

Right, the mechanism!

It was only then that Xiao Han remembered—this stone door seemed to require a mechanism to open. The problem was, he hadn't thought of this before coming, so naturally, he hadn't prepared for it. If only he had a book on mechanism techniques right now, he could rely on the system to brute-force his way in.

Xiao Han intensified the flame of the Heavenly Flame, and the entire cave was suddenly illuminated as if by direct sunlight, every nook and cranny clearly visible.

He crouched down to search around. Just as Xiao Han noticed a faint earthy-yellow glow emanating from beneath the stone door, the system, which had been barely noticeable until now, suddenly popped up to show off.

"Ding! Detected an unknown mechanism technique. Would you like to spend 10 Energy Value points to unlock it?

Yes / No?"

Energy Value could be used for this? Xiao Han's eyes lit up. Glancing at his Energy Value of 130 points, earned from hunting magical beasts along the way, he waved his hand generously.

"Yes! Open this stone door for me!"

Watching the heavy stone door swing open with excitement, Xiao Han's regard for Energy Value rose another notch.

Rumble!

As the stone door slid upward, dust shook loose from its surface. A faint glimmer of light emanated from within the door, driving away all the surrounding darkness.

Xiao Han put away his Demonic Flame. Though the flame didn't consume any of his Dou Qi, holding his finger up all this time was still tiring.

Stepping through the stone door, the view before him suddenly opened up wide.

Inside the stone door was a massive stone chamber. The room looked somewhat simple and empty, with Moonlight Stones embedded in the walls for illumination.

At the center of the stone chamber stood a seat, and on that seat sat a skeleton. Its sunken skull had fallen onto its pale thigh bones, giving off a rather eerie and sinister vibe in the quiet atmosphere.

In front of the seat was a long, wide Green Stone Platform. On the platform, three locked stone boxes were neatly arranged.

Additionally, in three corners of the stone chamber, piles of gleaming gold coins and other precious valuables were stacked up. The sheer amount of gold coins must have been no less than several hundred thousand.

Shifting his gaze away from the glittering gold, Xiao Han's eyes settled on the last corner, a faint smile of delight appearing on his face.

In that final corner, a small flower bed had been built from piled-up soil. Various kinds of plants were growing in it, with a strange fragrance lingering in the air.

All sorts of high-grade medicinal herbs were planted together, making Xiao Han's breath catch. Compared to the herbs here, the wild ones he had seen earlier in that herb-gathering basin were nothing at all!

After more than a month of training under Old Man Yao and cramming on herbal knowledge, Xiao Han was no longer the clueless newbie who couldn't recognize treasure.

Many of these herbs were exactly the alchemy materials he needed.

With practiced ease, he took out a large number of jade boxes from his Storage Ring. Carefully collecting all the herbs, he then gathered up all the gold, silver, and treasures in the cave.

Finally, his gaze fell on the three boxes—this was his real goal for today!

Walking over to the skeleton beside the three boxes, Xiao Han muttered something under his breath, clasped his hands together, and bowed to the deceased. Then, with a single punch, he broke the skeleton's arm bone.

A scroll fell out from within—this was none other than a fragment of the map to the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame, ranked third on the Heavenly Flame Ranking!

Though he couldn't use it now, he knew that when the time came to subdue the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame, this would be an indispensable item.

After taking the three keys from the skeleton's hand, Xiao Han dug a pit and buried the bones. Having taken the skeleton's benefits, burying it properly was his way of repaying the favor and letting it rest in peace.

Then, he opened the three stone boxes one by one and took out three scrolls.

One was the Seven Colored Poison Scripture, containing extraordinary knowledge of poison-making. This thing was quite useful—in the original work, before Xiao Yi Xian obtained this poison scripture, she could only concoct minor things like sleeping powders.

But after acquiring the scripture, she relied on self-made poisons to break through by devouring toxins, advancing rapidly in strength, and later even becoming the leader of the Poison Sect in the Chuyun Empire.

It could be said that Xiao Yi Xian's later great achievements were inseparable from this poison scripture that helped her rise.

A scroll of Purple Cloud Wings, a Heaven Stage high-level Dou Technique, a rare Flying Dou Technique—its value surpassed even an Earth Rank Low technique! According to Xiao Han's calculations, if he could obtain this technique, even a Dou Ling would struggle to catch him easily!

And this was Xiao Han's main goal for this trip. He had planned for so long, and now he had finally gotten what he wished for!

There was also a scroll of Raging Lion's Roar. He had initially thought it was a sound-wave technique, but after Xiao Han examined it, he discovered it was actually a mid-to-long-range attack that condensed Dou Qi into an energy lion's head to blast outward.

Although Xiao Han wasn't particularly fond of this lion's head, it was still a Heaven Stage high-level technique, a rare find nonetheless.

Since the items were already in hand, it was time for Xiao Han to leave.

Taking a deep breath, Xiao Han suppressed the excitement in his heart. As long as he cultivated the Purple Cloud Wings, he would be able to soar freely through the skies!

However, just as Xiao Han was about to leave, a system sound rang in his mind, causing his expression to shift several times.

"Ding! The Traversal Template is ready. The list of traversable worlds is now open. Please check it yourself, Host."