The Cave
Zhou Si stepped forward, her tone calm but brooking no refusal. "Sect Leader Zhu, you surely know that we've been searching your sect for traces of demonic beasts these past few days. We've searched everywhere else, but we've yet to set foot in your Xiangde Hall."
She paused.
"Why not open the secret chamber and let us have a look? That way, we can report back and complete our assignment."
Zhu Ren saw that the group was staring at him without moving. He knew that, at this point, he had no choice but to open the stone door.
"Very well." He straightened up and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "Since you suspect me, my lords, I shall open it at once and let you take a good look."
He took two keys from his robes, one dark and one light, inserted them into two slots in the stone door at the same time, and turned his wrists.
Click-
The stone door slowly opened.
Beyond it, the lamps burned brightly. A flight of stone steps stretched straight downward, with no end in sight.
Oil lamps hung on the walls every few steps. Their dim flames cast alternating bands of light and shadow along the long stairway.
"Please, my lords." Zhu Ren stepped aside and bowed, gesturing for them to enter.
Liu Yong pointed his sword at him. "You lead the way."
"Of course." Zhu Ren offered no objection and stepped through the stone door first.
Liu Yong followed close behind, the tip of his sword pressed against the center of Zhu Ren's back.
Zhou Si, Luo Fang, and Zhu Lin filed in, with Lu Feng bringing up the rear.
The stone steps descended, taking them deeper and deeper.
The oil lamps on either side grew farther apart, and the light grew dimmer.
After they had walked for about the time it took an incense stick to burn, the torches ahead suddenly came to an end. Darkness swallowed everything.
"Zhu Ren!"
Liu Yong's sharp shout rang out from ahead.
There was no answer.
Zhou Si quickly took a fire starter and a torch from her robes. The flame sprang to life again, illuminating their faces.
Ahead was a fork in the path.
The two paths were identical.
The sizes of the openings, the patterns on the stone walls, and the slopes of the ground showed no discernible difference.
"Did you see which path Zhu Ren took?" Luo Fang stared at Liu Yong.
Liu Yong's face was livid. He said nothing, only shook his head.
"We'll split up." Zhou Si made the decision on the spot and looked at the others. "Liu Yong, Zhu Lin, Luo Fang, you three take the left. Lu Feng and I will take the right."
No one objected. Everyone present had attained the Nei Jin realm and was sufficiently confident in their own strength.
Zhou Si handed out torches, and the two groups wasted no more time, taking the left and right forks respectively.
Lu Feng and Zhou Si followed the passage on the right for about fifteen minutes before another fork appeared ahead.
The two openings stood side by side, equally deep and equally silent.
Zhou Si turned to look at him. "Together or separately?"
"Separately." Lu Feng did not hesitate.
With that, he headed straight for the opening on the right.
Zhou Si glanced at his retreating back but said nothing more. She turned and entered the passage on the left.
In Lu Feng's view, given their strength, they could protect themselves even if they encountered danger.
If he did encounter demonic beasts, he would have no need to hold back on his own.
The passage grew narrower and narrower.
Lu Feng had not been walking alone for long when another fork appeared ahead.
He bent down and carved an inconspicuous mark on the ground, then chose the opening on the right and continued deeper.
This time, he walked for a long while.
There were no forks and no sounds, only the faint echoes of his own footsteps bouncing off the stone walls.
The passage stretched straight downward, as though it had no end.
Just as he began calculating how many zhang below the surface he was, a faint sound came from ahead.
Lu Feng stopped in his tracks, instantly concealed his presence, and crept forward.
At the end of the passage, a vast cave came into view.
Lu Feng hid in the shadows at its entrance, sweeping his gaze over the scene inside.
There were trees in the cave.
More than a dozen dead trees grew from cracks in the stone, their branches twisted and gnarled, bare of a single leaf. But things hung from them-not fruit, but human heads.
Shriveled heads hung from the branches. Some had rotted down to the bone, while others still bore expressions of terror from the moments before death. They hung densely packed, at least a dozen on each tree.
Several demonic beasts with monkey heads and human bodies leaped and played among the branches. From time to time, they plucked down human heads and tossed them back and forth, letting out strange, cackling laughter.
In the clearing at the center of the cave, several monkey demons had gathered in a circle. The sound he had heard earlier had come from among them.
Lu Feng swept his gaze over them one by one, counting silently.
They were all ranked monkey demons. There were more than a dozen first-rank ones in the outer part of the cave alone.
As for what else was hidden deeper inside, he could not sense it for the time being.
He did not strike immediately.
At the edge of the cave, a monkey demon leaned lazily against the stone wall and yawned. "It's been days since we had any fresh meat. I'm dying for some."
Another monkey demon flipped down from a tree and spat. "It's all that brat Zhu Ren's fault. So what if a few demon slayers showed up? If you ask me, we should just grab them and eat them too. Why all this damn fuss?"
"Zhu Ren said we can't touch the Demon-Slaying Bureau's people. If something really goes wrong, we won't be able to keep this place hidden either."
A third monkey demon leisurely plucked a human head from a tree and spun it twice in his claws.
"Bear with it a little longer. Once the heat dies down, we can eat as much as we want."
The monkey demons all cursed at once for a bit, then dispersed and resumed chasing and playing among the trees, tossing the shriveled heads back and forth.
Lu Feng watched them kick a white-haired head around like a ball, and a cold gleam flashed in his eyes.
He drew the Six Harmonies Saber and vanished from where he stood in a flash.
Two streaks of saber light sliced through the air.
"Slice-slice-"
Two monkey heads tumbled from the branches. Their bodies remained in the act of tossing a human head for an instant before falling to the ground along with it.
[Ding! First-rank monkey demon slain. Demon Points gained: 1000] [Ding! First-rank monkey demon slain. Demon Points gained: 1000]
"Who?!"
A monkey demon in the center of the cave whipped around, only to see two headless corpses fall from the trees, spraying blood across the ground.
The monkey troop erupted into chaos.
They bounced frantically among the branches, their crimson eyes desperately searching for the intruder. But Lu Feng was too fast; their eyes could not keep up with him at all.
"He's over there!"
A monkey demon perched on the highest treetop finally caught sight of Lu Feng's afterimage and shrieked, pointing toward the edge of the cave.
Hearing him, two monkey demons spun around, claws spread as they prepared to pounce.
The instant they turned, a silver arc swept across their necks.
[Ding! First-rank monkey demon slain. Demon Points gained: 1000] [Ding! First-rank monkey demon slain. Demon Points gained: 1000]
Two heads tumbled down almost at the same time.
Two first-rank monkey demons screamed as they leaped from the trees and fled wildly toward the depths of the cave.
Lu Feng did not pursue the fleeing monkey demons.
He slaughtered the monkey demons on the outskirts one by one.
Then he turned his gaze toward the depths of the cave.
Just then, footsteps came from the cave entrance.