Xiao Han's face lit up. After all that effort, he had finally found it!
He took a deep breath, but didn't rush.
After looking around to make sure no one was there, he took a rope soaked in burning oil from his Storage Ring and tied it around his waist. Then he tied the other end securely to a dead tree by the cliff's edge.
Xiao Han tugged hard on the rope to make sure it was secure, then began climbing down bit by bit. After checking the cave's location once more, he gripped the rope, leaped down, and landed on a nearby rock face. His movement Dou Technique activated again.
"Extreme Shadow Steps!"
He darted among the sheer cliffs like a butterfly, and couldn't help feeling nervous. If he hadn't had the rope as a safety measure, he wouldn't have dared to leap down so recklessly.
After ten minutes of carefully making his way down, Xiao Han finally reached solid ground and arrived at the cave in the steep cliff.
Looking at the rope in his hand, Xiao Han summoned his Demonic Flame and set it alight.
Whoosh!
Xiao Han had deliberately soaked the rope in burning oil for a full day and night. The moment it met the flame, it caught like a firecracker fuse. The fire quickly raced up the rope and reached the cliff, burning both the rope and the dead tree to ash.
Now, even if someone passed by, they would never discover that Xiao Han had climbed down.
Looking at the dead branches, fallen leaves, and gravel piled at the cave entrance, Xiao Han shook his head and flicked a finger. A small, dusky-blue flame landed on the debris, incinerating it in an instant. All that remained was a scatter of stone chips reduced to ash and the cave entrance.
The entrance wasn't wide, barely large enough for two or three people to pass through. The cave was pitch-black, though a faint glow emanated from within, lending it a mysterious, secluded air.
Xiao Han carefully slipped inside. The dark passage was so black he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. He frowned and raised an index finger.
Whoosh!
A dusky-blue flame appeared on his fingertip, quickly illuminating the entire passage. Xiao Han continued inward. After about ten minutes, he spotted a Stone Door.
The door was incredibly heavy. If he had only been a Dou Zhe, he might have pounded on it for half a day without even opening a crack. And who knew what kind of mechanisms it had? If he damaged it and ended up sealing it shut, he'd be left crying in despair.
It wasn't that Xiao Han couldn't force the door open. It was just that, having seen so many tomb-raiding novels and movies, he couldn't help thinking that breaking through might set off some trap and destroy the entire passage.
Wait—the mechanism!
Only then did Xiao Han remember that the Stone Door apparently needed a mechanism to open. The problem was, he hadn't thought of that before coming, so he'd made no preparations. If he had a book on mechanisms, he could've used the system to master the basics.
Xiao Han made the Heavenly Flame burn brighter. In an instant, the whole cave looked as if it were under direct sunlight; even every nook and cranny was clearly visible.
He crouched and searched around. Just as he noticed an earthy-yellow glow coming from beneath the Stone Door, the system, which had been quiet until now, suddenly popped up to show off.
"Ding! Unknown mechanism detected. Spend 10 Energy Value to unlock it?
Yes/No?"
Energy Value could do this too? Xiao Han's eyes lit up. He looked at the 130 points he'd earned hunting magical beasts along the way and answered with extravagant generosity.
"Yes! Open this Stone Door for me!"
Watching the heavy Stone Door open, Xiao Han's appreciation for Energy Value rose another notch.
Rumble!
As the Stone Door lifted, dust continuously shook loose from its surface. A faint glow spilled from within, driving away all the darkness nearby.
Xiao Han put away his Demonic Flame. The flame didn't consume any of his Dou Qi, but keeping his index finger raised the whole time was still tiring.
He stepped through the Stone Door, and the space before him suddenly opened up.
Beyond the door was a vast Stone Room, simple and bare in appearance. Moonlight Stones were embedded in the walls for illumination.
At the center of the room stood a chair, with a Skeleton sitting upright upon it. Its sunken skull had fallen near its stark-white thigh bone. In the stillness, the sight was rather eerie.
In front of the chair stood a wide, long blue-stone platform. Three locked Stone Boxes were neatly arranged atop it.
What was more, piles of gleaming Gold Coins and other precious items filled the room's three corners. There had to be hundreds of thousands of coins.
Xiao Han pulled his gaze away from the glittering gold and looked toward the final corner. A faint look of delight appeared on his face.
A small Flower Bed had been built up with soil in that corner. All sorts of plants grew in it, and a strange fragrance lingered in the air.
Xiao Han's breath caught at the sight of all the high-grade medicinal herbs growing together. Compared with these, the wild herbs he'd seen in the medicinal-herb basin earlier weren't worth a damn!
After more than a month of Old Man Yao's instruction and cramming on medicinal herbs, Xiao Han was no longer the ignorant novice who wouldn't recognize a treasure when he saw one.
Many of the herbs were exactly what he needed to make pills.
With practiced ease, Xiao Han took a large stack of jade boxes from his Storage Ring. He carefully gathered all the herbs, then collected every last piece of treasure in the cave.
Finally, he turned his attention to the three boxes. These were the reason he'd come today!
He walked over to the Skeleton beside the boxes and muttered something under his breath. Then he put his palms together and bowed to the deceased before punching through the Skeleton's arm bone.
A Scroll fell out from inside. This was the legendary Fragmented Map of the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, ranked third on the Heavenly Flame Ranking!
He couldn't use it yet, but this would be one of the essential items for subduing the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame in the future.
After taking the three keys from the Skeleton's hand, Xiao Han dug a hole and buried the remains. He'd taken what the Skeleton had to offer, so as repayment, he would at least lay it to rest.
Then he opened the three Stone Boxes one by one and took out a Scroll from each.
One was the Seven Colored Poison Scripture, filled with extraordinary knowledge about making poisons. It was quite useful. In the original story, before Xiao Yi Xian obtained this scripture, she could only concoct little things like sleeping potions.
But after getting the Poison Scripture, she broke through by consuming poison she'd made herself, and her strength advanced by leaps and bounds. Later, she even became the Poison Sect's leader in the Chuyun Empire.
It could be said that Xiao Yi Xian owed much of her later success to the Poison Scripture that had helped her rise.
One was the Purple Cloud Wings, a high-grade Earth-tier Dou Technique and a rare Flying Dou Technique. It was even more valuable than an Earth-tier Low-grade Dou Technique! By Xiao Han's reckoning, if he could master it, even a Dou Ling wouldn't be able to catch him easily!
This was also the main reason for Xiao Han's trip. He'd planned for this for so long, and now he'd finally gotten what he wanted!
The last was the Raging Lion's Roar. He'd thought it was a sound-wave Dou Technique, but after examining it, Xiao Han discovered it was actually a medium- to long-range attack that condensed Dou Qi into a lion's head and fired it at the target.
Xiao Han wasn't particularly fond of the lion's head, but it was still a rare, high-grade Xuan-tier Dou Technique.
Now that he'd gotten what he came for, it was time to leave.
Xiao Han took a deep breath, suppressing his excitement. Once he learned the Purple Cloud Wings, he'd be able to soar freely through the sky!
But just as Xiao Han was about to leave, a system notification rang in his mind, making his expression shift several times.
"Ding! The Traversal Template is ready. The list of worlds available for traversal has been unlocked. Please check it yourself, host."
Before you continue