The next morning, the faint light coming from the top of the cliff gradually became brighter, illuminating the outline below a little more clearly.
Jiang Fa woke up early, got up and looked around at the bottom of the cliff.
The bottom of the abyss was larger than he expected last night. It was in the shape of an irregular oval. The cliffs on both sides were tens of feet apart, and the ground was covered with a thick layer of rotten leaves.
The nest of Rock Lizard last night was under the rock wall on the east side of the cliff bottom. The entrance of the cave is not big, but the inside is quite spacious.
He got into the hole and took a look. The hole was only three to four feet deep, with a hard rock wall at the end and no other exit.
On the west side of the valley bottom is a shallow depression, the water is not deep, but the silt under the water is extremely thick, and it can be several feet deep if you step on it.
There were a lot of gravel and dead wood scattered in the puddle, as well as a few half-rotten animal bones, and the smell was unpleasant.
He walked around the cliff, carefully checking every possible gap and passage, but he never found a way to climb up.
The cliff was too steep, almost vertical, and covered with slippery moss. No matter how good his physical skills were, it would be impossible for him to climb a cliff dozens of feet high with bare hands.
"There is no road."
Lu Pingping also stood up and stood beside the fire, looking up at the thin thread of skylight on the top of the cliff.
"The top is at least forty or fifty feet away from the bottom of the cliff. The cliffs on both sides are almost straight up and down. Let alone me now, even when I am in my prime, I may not be able to climb up."
Jiang Fa frowned.
He caught a glimpse of the pile of scattered animal bones, his heart moved, and he walked over.
It was dark last night, and he could only tell that these bones had been gnawed on, but now that the light came through, he realized that something was wrong.
Bones are not just the leftover remains of Rock Lizard.
He rummaged under the layer of rotten leaves for a while and pulled out several relatively complete animal skeletons.
Among them were several prey that clearly did not belong to Rock Lizard. A mountain muntjac about half a man tall had a complete skeleton. Although the fur was rotten, there were no traces of bites on the bones.
There is also a Stone-Skinned Wild Boar, which is not small in size and has no obvious external injuries.
"These were not killed by Rock Lizard."
Jiang Fa stood up and fell into deep thought.
Lu Pingping also noticed something strange. She squatted down and looked at the skeleton of the mountain muntjac.
She frowned and said, "These animals were not hunted, they were trapped at the bottom of the cliff and starved to death."
Jiang Fa nodded.
This inference is consistent with the traces he observed at the bottom of the cliff.
There are more than a dozen skeletons scattered in the rotten leaf layer, of different sizes and types, ranging from small rodent beasts to large ferocious beasts like Stone-Skinned Wild Boar.
These animals all have one thing in common: their bones are intact and there are no fatal injuries.
"The question is how they got in."
Jiang Fa looked up at the surrounding cliffs.
This abyss is like a huge natural trap, surrounded by cliffs, and the only entrance and exit is the top of the cliff.
But the top of the cliff is so high from the bottom. If an ordinary beast fell from the top, its skeleton would not be so complete.
"There must be another exit."
Lu Pingping stood up and looked around, his eyes scanning back and forth between the cave on the east cliff and the puddle on the west.
"Rock Lizard will not appear here out of thin air."
She analyzed. "Monsters also need to eat and drink water. This Rock Lizard can grow to such a big size, at least it has lived at the bottom of the cliff for a long time. What does it eat? What does it drink? It is impossible to rely solely on animals that occasionally fall from the top of the cliff to satisfy its hunger."
Jiang Fa nodded. "So it must have a stable food source."
The two of them turned their attention to the puddle on the west side.
The puddle is not big, with a shallow layer of water. The water surface is as calm as a mirror. The edges are covered with slippery moss, and rotten leaves and silt are piled up around it.
Jiang Fa approached the puddle, squatted down and stirred the water with his hands.
The water is very cold and has a faint smell of sulfur.
He put his hand into the water. The mud was so deep that he could not touch the bottom even though his fingers were half a foot deep.
"Water is living water."
He retracted his hand and said, "The smell of sulfur means there is a hot spring or terrestrial water source below. The water is flowing. Otherwise, it would have become rancid long ago if it had accumulated for so long."
Lu Pingping's eyes lit up. "Living water has a source, and if there is a source, there may be a channel."
Jiang Fa walked along the edge of the puddle towards the cliff, searching carefully at the intersection between the water surface and the cliff.
Finally, he found some clues at the bottom of the cliff.
The water surface on the side of the puddle next to the cliff rippled slightly. The ripples were not blown by the wind, but came from somewhere at the bottom of the cliff.
He waded closer to the shallow water, squatted down, and put his face almost to the water.
There is a very narrow crack at the bottom of the cliff, no more than a hand wide and no more than a foot high. Most of it is submerged under the water, with only an inch above the water.
The water in the crack is slowly gushing out, making a slight gurgling sound.
"We found the water outlet."
He waved to Lu Pingping.
Lu Pingping walked quickly, squatted beside him, and looked towards the crack.
The crack is too narrow and no one can get through.
"The water outlet is here, where is the water inlet?"
Lu Pingping looked up at the surrounding cliffs, and finally landed in the direction of the cave on the east side. "Do you think... could this water flow from there?"
Jiang Fa followed her gaze.
The cave is on the east side of the cliff bottom, and the puddle is on the west side. They are tens of feet apart.
If the water flows from the direction of the cave, there must be an underground river crossing the bottom of the cliff.
"I'll go in and take a look."
Jiang Fa stood up and walked towards the cave.
Lu Pingping followed his footsteps. "I'm with you."
The two entered the cave. The inside of the cave was much darker than the outside. Jiang Fa lit a rosin torch with a fire stick, and the orange-red fire illuminated the cave brightly.
The cave is not big, only three to four feet deep, and there is a hard rock wall at the end.
But Jiang Fa noticed that the cave floor sloped downward.
The deeper you go, the damper the gravel under your feet becomes, and the stronger the smell of sulfur in the air.
When he reached the end, he squatted down and illuminated the ground with a torch.
At the junction of the rock wall and the ground, there is a crack about two feet wide and bottomless. The water inside is slowly seeping out and flowing outward along the slope of the cave floor.
"The water comes from here."
Jiang Fa pointed to the crack. "The outlet of the underground river is here, and then it flows out along the cave floor, merges into the puddle outside, and then drains out through the narrow gap at the bottom of the cliff."
Lu Pingping stared at the crack for a long time.
"Is there any other place under this crack?"
Jiang Fa did not answer immediately.
He brought the torch close to the crack, and when the firelight shone down, he could see that the crack extended deep into the crack. After about three or four feet, it was submerged in water, making it difficult to see clearly.
"The water is not deep."
He stretched out his hand to explore. The water surface was only a hand away from the crack, and there seemed to be a wider space below.
"But this crack is too narrow for anyone to get through."
Lu Pingping squatted aside and tapped the rock walls on both sides of the crack with his sword scabbard.
"Boom, boom, boom."
The sound is dull and solid.
But when she hit the inside of the rock wall on the left, the sound suddenly became hollow.
"Here."
She pressed the scabbard against the rock wall and pressed hard.
A tiny crack appeared on the rock wall.
Jiang Fa immediately understood what she meant.
He picked up the ghost head knife, inserted the tip of the knife into the crack, and pried it hard.
Large pieces of gravel peeled off from the rock wall, revealing a dark cave entrance behind.
The entrance to the cave is not large, allowing only one person to pass sideways. Inside is a naturally formed rock fissure, sloping downwards, and the sound of water flowing deep echoes.
"There is indeed a way."
Jiang Fa put the torch into the entrance of the cave. Under the light of the fire, the cracked rock walls were slippery and covered with moss.
He turned back and glanced at Lu Pingping: "I'll go down first, you follow behind and hold my shoulders."
Lu Pingping nodded.