Awakening and Predicament

"Close your eyes!"

The moment Lu Yuan roared, a blinding white light exploded from his right palm.

The three gray-white scaled Soul Beast let out a shrill howl at the same time, their pounce movements twisted and deformed, and they crashed into each other. Lu Yuan grabbed Lin Xiao and rushed towards the shadows on the left side of the cave— Blue Silver Grass had previously scouted out a gap behind it.

The crevice in the rock was so narrow it hurt my shoulders; it took me more than ten steps to finally open up into a brighter space.

It was a small cave. Sunlight streamed down through a crack in the ceiling, illuminating a pool of water in the center, which dripped and pattered.

Lu Yuan slid down against the wall, his Soul Power completely depleted. Lin Xiao also collapsed opposite him, panting heavily.

There was a long silence.

"... What was that light you just saw?" Lin Xiao asked in a hoarse voice.

"It was given to me by Mo Chen, a disposable gadget." Lu Yuan said with his eyes closed, "I removed the outer shell and only kept the light-emitting part."

"It's been demolished?" Lin Xiao was stunned.

"Hmm, even if I use the original device, I can't use my Soul Power anymore." Lu Yuan opened his eyes. "It's less powerful now, but it's still usable."

Lin Xiao stared at him for a long while, then chuckled, "You've got guts."

"Or just wait to die?"

These words silenced Lin Xiao. He lowered his head and opened his left hand. Faint golden lines were faintly visible on his palm—the mark of the Hell Spirit Cat. At this moment, a subtle tremor came from the depths of the mark, as if it had been awakened by something.

It's not a feeling of stagnation.

It means active.

He frowned and circulated his Soul Power. The energy in his meridians had recovered by two or three tenths, becoming pure and gentle. Even stranger, the "membrane" that had always existed deep within his Martial Soul had actually loosened.

Even if it's just a trace.

"What did you feed me?" Lin Xiao suddenly looked up.

"The fruit of Soul Power plant, found at the bottom of the valley," Lu Yuan said calmly. "There was only one, and we shared half."

Lin Xiao's pupils contracted slightly.

Even the lowest grade of Soul Power plant fruit is incredibly valuable outside. And this guy actually gave it to someone he just met, someone who's even a burden to him?

"Thanks," he managed to utter.

"No need." Lu Yuan stood up. "If you die, it will be even harder for me to get out alone."

That's true. Lin Xiao twitched the corner of his mouth, propped himself up against the rock wall, and moved his right arm. The fracture still hurt, but he could move it. As his Soul Power circulated, it was even slightly more refined than before he was injured.

"That fruit is extraordinary," he said in a deep voice. "The stagnation in my Martial Soul... has been triggered."

Lu Yuan's gaze sharpened. "Specifically?"

"I can't quite put my finger on it," Lin Xiao shook his head. "Before, when I circulated my Soul Power, I always felt like there was something blocking it deep inside, and I had to distract myself to break through it. Now that 'blockage' has thinned out."

He paused, then continued, "And my Soul Power is more obedient. The compatibility between my Martial Soul and the family's cultivation technique, ' Shadow Art,' used to be at most 70%, which always felt awkward. Now... it feels like 85%."

Lu Yuan seemed to be deep in thought.

The fruit can alleviate the stagnation of Martial Soul and improve the compatibility of cultivation techniques? This is no ordinary Soul Power plant. He recalled the ruins in the shallow cave—metal fragments, engravings, and the dark red powder in the leather bag.

Someone once cultivated or used that plant here.

Their motives are probably not simple.

"Let's ignore that for now," Lu Yuan interrupted his thoughts. "The most important thing is to get out."

Lin Xiao nodded, walked to the edge of the cave and looked up. Sunlight streamed down from the crack in the ceiling, at least thirty feet high. The rock walls were slippery and covered with moss, offering nowhere to step.

"It's impossible to climb up." He concluded directly.

"Anywhere surrounded by cliffs on three sides is pretty much the same." Lu Yuan walked to the edge of the puddle. "The slope we rolled down is on the other side, but there are definitely people from the Hundred Refinements Pavilion guarding that side. Even if there aren't, climbing the cliff would be suicide for us right now."

Lin Xiao licked his canine teeth.

Frustrated.

When has he ever been in such a sorry state? He's being hunted by his family, surrounded and killed by the Hundred Refinements Pavilion, and now he's fallen into a deep valley, needing to be saved by someone whose Soul Power is much lower than his own.

What's even more frustrating is that he actually felt it was only natural for this guy to save him.

"You said before that there are Mist-Hiding Lizard at the bottom of the valley?" Lin Xiao suddenly asked.

"Yes, we encountered it last night and lured it away." Lu Yuan pointed to one side, "The shallow hole is over there; there are signs of human intervention, and rusted tools."

Lin Xiao's eyes lit up. "Someone's been here? That might be the exit!"

"Perhaps," Lu Yuan said cautiously, "But that was a long time ago. If there really was an easy exit, why did those people leave behind tools and then disappear?"

Lin Xiao remained silent.

That makes sense.

"Let's go take a look," he said anyway.

The two returned along the crevice in the rock. There was no longer any movement of the Soul Beast in the cave outside, only a mess remained. Lu Yuan used Blue Silver Grass to check and confirm that it was safe before leading Lin Xiao through quickly.

The claw marks on the rock walls of the passage were shocking, with old and new marks overlapping each other, some as deep as half an inch.

"Something's not right here," Lin Xiao whispered. "It's too enclosed. Soul Beast need to find food. If the valley floor is completely sealed off, what will they eat? Where did those lizard corpses come from?"

Lu Yuan paused in his tracks.

He hadn't thought about it carefully before. The valley floor was surrounded by cliffs on three sides, almost vertical. The slope they rolled down was the only gentle slope, but it had already been targeted by the Hundred Refinements Pavilion. If it were completely sealed off, the Soul Beast ecosystem simply could not be sustained.

unless...

"There's another way out," they both said almost simultaneously.

They exchanged a glance.

Back in the shallow cave, Lin Xiao crouched down to examine the chisel marks and rusted tools. "It's at least several decades old," he said, picking up a metal fragment and running it along the groove. "The workmanship is rough, like it was made by myself."

He then examined the markings on the rock face and counted them. The horizontal lines were in groups, and they were carved very deeply.

"Counting what? Days? Or numbers?"

Lu Yuan didn't answer. He walked to the deepest part of the cave, where the rock walls were a slightly darker color and felt wetter to the touch. He bent down and pressed his ear to the wall.

A faint sound of water, muffled, as if flowing from the depths.

"Come and listen."

Lin Xiao leaned closer and listened for a moment, then narrowed his eyes. "An underground river?"

"Perhaps." Lu Yuan stepped back to examine the rock wall. "The location of this shallow cave is advantageous—sheltered from the wind and dry, near a water source but not prone to flooding. If it were simply for refuge, there would be no need to carve it so deep. Unless..."

"They're digging something," Lin Xiao interjected.

The two remained silent.

The situation at the bottom of this valley is becoming increasingly complex.

Lu Yuan walked to the cave entrance and looked into the depths. The mist had dissipated, and the valley floor was long and narrow. They were close to the middle section. On one side was a steep rock wall, on the other side was a stream, and beyond that was dense vegetation that was difficult to see.

Downstream, the fog seemed even thicker.

"Perhaps we don't need to climb out," Lin Xiao suddenly said.

He pointed downstream. "The Mist-Hiding Lizard needs a passage to the outside world to forage; it can't live here forever. Where does this stream come from? There's no large water source at the bottom of the valley; it can only be groundwater seeping out, or... there's an entrance upstream."

He paused. "And listen."

Lu Yuan focused his mind.

Besides the sound of the nearby stream, another sound faintly came from the depths of the valley.

Lower and deeper.

Like a waterfall?

The two exchanged a glance.

If there really is a waterfall downstream, it means there's a drop in elevation. This drop could lead to an even lower place, or it could lead into the mountainside, connecting to an underground river.

Underground rivers often have an outlet.

"Shall we go take a look?" Lin Xiao asked.

Lu Yuan didn't answer immediately. He glanced at Lin Xiao's right arm and then felt the emptiness in his own dantian.

The risk is very high.

The situation downstream is unknown; we may encounter even more powerful Soul Beast, or it may simply be a dead end.

But staying here is also a death sentence. The people from the Hundred Refinements Pavilion will come down sooner or later, and those three Soul Beast may also return.

"... Let's go." Lu Yuan finally said.

He emerged from the cave first, followed by Lin Xiao. The two walked along the stream, stepping over slippery stones, towards the area downstream where the fog was thicker.

The sound of water grew clearer.

It wasn't the roar of a waterfall, but a peculiar sound of multiple layers of water curtains overlapping.

The fog had thickened, reducing visibility to less than ten steps.

Lu Yuan released Blue Silver Grass to probe the ground. Lin Xiao tensed up, his amber pupils shrinking slightly in the mist; his Beast Martial Soul instincts gave him an extraordinary sense of danger.

They walked for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

The fog ahead suddenly churned violently—it was being stirred up by something.

Lu Yuan abruptly stopped. The Blue Silver Grass relayed a message: Twenty steps away, the stream plunged down a cliff, forming a bottomless waterfall. The rock walls at the edge of the waterfall were densely covered with grayish-white wriggling creatures.

It's an egg.

The egg of Soul Beast.

The three gray-white scaled Soul Beast were surrounding the pile of eggs, protecting it with their bodies. One of them raised its head, its dark "eyes" pointing directly at the mist where they were hiding.

It was discovered.

A low, warning hiss came from the direction of the waterfall.

Lin Xiao licked his canine teeth with the tip of his tongue, his right hand's five fingers slightly bent, the fingertips shimmering with a dark luster.

"This is troublesome," he said in a low voice.

Lu Yuan didn't speak. He stared at the bottomless darkness below the waterfall, then looked at the eggs on the rock wall.

Is the waterfall the exit?

If so, how do we get around these three Soul Beast protecting their cubs?

If not...

He glanced back at the way he had come.

Retreat is no longer an option.

The roar of the waterfall, mixed with the howls of Soul Beast, echoed through the misty valley. The two stood by the stream, with a dead end ahead and pursuers behind.

The only hope seemed to lie hidden in the unknown darkness beneath the waterfall.

Or, it could be the entrance to another desperate situation.