60: Chapter 60 Departure from Dongshan

Day 32.

When Chen Zhen opened his eyes, it was still dark outside the window.

He did not get up immediately but first used Internal Vision.

The spiritual pearl in his Dantian rotated slowly at a steady speed, its surface shimmering with a jade-like luster that was even more solid than yesterday.

The circulation of spiritual energy was as smooth as an inexhaustible river, starting from the Dantian, passing through the meridians of the entire body, and returning to the Dantian.

He got out of bed and scanned the room with his gaze.

Cleaning Spell, 1 point of spiritual energy consumed, and the room was instantly as clean as new.

The leaves of the pothos on the windowsill unfurled, and the pale golden lines on their edges became a bit clearer.

In [Internal Vision], the circulation of spiritual energy within the pothos had perfected itself a little more.

Those tiny "plant meridians" were slowly growing and connecting.

[Pothos Spiritual Plantization Progress: 52/100]

He separated a wisp of spiritual energy and injected it into the pothos, slowly guiding it along the meridians within its body.

The leaves of the pothos trembled slightly, and that layer of pale golden halo brightened for a moment before slowly fading into the depths of the leaf veins.

[Spiritual Energy Guidance Successful]

[Pothos Spiritual Plantization Progress: 55/100]

In another ten days or so, this pothos would be able to officially ascend into a spiritual plant.

By then, with two spiritual plants in the room, the Cultivation effect should be able to improve a little more.

He walked to the wardrobe and changed into the prepared hiking gear.

Dark-colored sportswear, wear-resistant and dirt-resistant.

He then took out his hiking backpack from his Storage Space and checked its contents:

Dry rations: bread, mineral water, chocolate.

Tools: flashlight, folding knife, lighter.

Materials: a photocopy of Engineer Gu's map, the Hand-drawing route map from the folklore records, a notebook, and a pen.

Others: mobile phone, power bank, three spiritual plant Mint leaves.

And sixteen object-control beads, kept close to his body.

Everything was ready.

He gently pushed open the bedroom door; the living room was still dark.

The door to his mother's room was closed, and it was very quiet.

He left a note on the dining table: "Mom, I'm going to East Mountain and will be back tonight."

Then he pushed the door open and went out.

The streets at 5:30 were still very quiet, with only early-rising sanitation workers sweeping the streets.

Chen Zhen got on his bicycle and rode toward the east of the city.

East Mountain is in the eastern suburbs of Jiangcheng, about thirty kilometers from the city center.

It takes an hour and a half by bicycle.

He was not riding fast, practicing [Resonance Initial Glimpse] while riding.

The trees by the roadside, the dew on the grass leaves, the moisture in the morning breeze, and even the earth beneath his feet.

Every single thing had its own "aura."

He tried to touch these auras with his spiritual energy, feeling their responses.

The tree's response was calm, like an old friend nodding gently.

The dew's response was fleeting, like a mischievous child touching and running away.

The wind's response was flowing, like invisible silk threads brushing past him.

The earth's response was heavy, like a father's palm, steady and powerful.

He immersed himself in this subtle "exchange" and had unknowingly ridden ten kilometers.

[Resonance Initial Glimpse Proficiency Increased]

[Cultivation Efficiency +2% (Current 7%)]

The system panel popped up a prompt.

Chen Zhen was in a good mood.

Cultivating while riding a bike, killing two birds with one stone.

At seven o'clock sharp, he arrived at the foot of East Mountain.

The mountain was not high, with an elevation of only three or four hundred meters, but it was rolling and covered in dense vegetation.

At the foot of the mountain was a small village with a dozen households, smoke curling from chimneys, and the sounds of chickens and dogs heard in the distance.

He left his bicycle at a household at the entrance of the village and gave them ten yuan.

The Old Man was very enthusiastic and even pointed out a shortcut up the mountain for him.

"Young man, what are you going up the mountain for?" The Old Man asked.

"Picking some herbs," Chen Zhen said casually.

"Oh," The Old Man nodded. "Then you must be careful; there are wild boars in the mountain."

"Thank you, sir, I will be careful."

Chen Zhen shouldered his hiking backpack and headed up the mountain along the path pointed out by The Old Man.

The mountain path was harder to walk than he had imagined.

It was not a paved stone staircase but a dirt path worn out by villagers gathering firewood, full of potholes and overgrown with bushes on both sides.

In some places, the path was almost submerged by weeds, and he could only grope his way forward by feeling.

But for Chen Zhen, this was nothing.

[Physical Optimization] gave him endurance far beyond that of an ordinary person, and after climbing the mountain for half an hour, he was not even panting.

[Anomaly Perception] allowed him to discover potholes and obstacles on the road in advance, easily avoiding them.

As he walked, he scanned his surroundings with [Anomaly Perception].

There were many "auras" in the mountain forest.

The aura of trees, the aura of flowers and grass, the aura of soil, the aura of birds and beasts...

Some were strong, some were weak, some were active, some were calm.

They intertwined to form a complex energy field.

He tried to distinguish these auras.

After walking for an hour, he could already roughly distinguish the differences in the auras of different plants.

The aura of pine trees was crisp and cold, the aura of camphor trees was mellow, the aura of weeds was chaotic, and the aura of wildflowers was sweet.

[Anomaly Perception Precision Increased]

[exploration dimension Experience +20]

He continued to walk up.

At 8:30, he arrived at the approximate area marked on the map.

Elevation about three hundred meters, on the southern foothills of East Mountain.

The vegetation was denser here, the trees were taller, and the sunlight filtered through the leaves, forming mottled light and shadows on the ground.

He stopped, closed his eyes, concentrated, and fully deployed [Anomaly Perception].

A radius of ten meters, twenty meters, thirty meters.

His perception range had expanded after reaching the second level of Qi Refining, and now it could cover an area with a radius of about thirty meters.

He slowly rotated his body, scanning inch by inch.

Trees, bushes, weeds, rocks, soil... all were ordinary auras.

When scanning to the southeast, his perception suddenly jumped.

There was something there.

He opened his eyes and walked in that direction.

After walking about fifty meters, he stopped.

In front of him was a mountain col, surrounded by rocks on three sides, with only one small path leading in.

The col was overgrown with weeds and bushes, and there was almost no trace of a path.

But in [Anomaly Perception], the energy field here was clearly different.

He pushed aside the bushes and walked in carefully.

After walking twenty meters, his foot suddenly kicked something.

Looking down, it was a rectangular stone half-buried in the soil, about one meter long and half a meter wide, with its surface covered in moss.

A rectangular stone.

He squatted down and used his hands to clear the soil and moss from the stone.

There were faint carvings on the surface of the stone.

It was too blurry to see what it was.

He cast the Eye-Brightening Spell.

2.5 points of spiritual energy consumed, a cooling sensation spread through his eyes.

The carvings became clear.

It was three characters: "Mountain God Temple."

Chen Zhen's heart jolted.

He had found it.

He stood up and looked around.

This was the Ancient Temple Ruins.

Although the temple had been demolished, the foundation should still be there.

He continued walking inside, using [Anomaly Perception] to scan underground.

After walking a dozen steps, his perception jumped again.

He stopped, squatted down, and used his hands to dig away the weeds and decaying leaves on the ground.

Beneath it was a stone slab.

He increased his output of spiritual energy, and [Anomaly Perception] penetrated the stone slab, detecting the situation below.

Empty.

Empty.

There was a space.

His heart rate accelerated, and he continued to clear away the surrounding soil and weeds.

The outline of the stone slab gradually revealed itself.

About two meters long and one meter wide, with a flat surface and neat edges. It was man-made.

He tried to lift the stone slab.

It was very heavy, estimated to be several hundred jin.

But for him at the second level of Qi Refining, it was not a problem.

He took a deep breath, gripped the edge of the stone slab with both hands, and poured spiritual energy into his arms.

[Physical Optimization] + [Burst Minor Achievement] + [Spiritual Nourishment] triple buff.

The stone slab lifted slowly.

Below was a pitch-black entrance.

The entrance was about one meter in diameter, vertical, and bottomless.

A cool breeze gushed out from the hole, carrying a damp, old scent mixed with the smell of rocks and soil.

[Anomaly Perception] extended downward.

Five meters, ten meters, fifteen meters... it reached the bottom.

The hole was about fifteen meters deep, and the bottom was a natural cave, quite large in area.

He thought for a moment, took a flashlight from his Storage Space, turned it on, and shone it toward the bottom of the hole.

The beam of light pierced the darkness, illuminating a small area at the bottom of the cave.

He could see rocks, standing water, and also some... man-made traces?

He put away the flashlight and hesitated for a few seconds.

Old Wu said: "If you see strange things, don't go too deep inside."

The Old Man said: "Some things, once known, are not necessarily good."

But Engineer Gu said: "May those who come later have the fortune to glimpse a thread of the heavenly secret."

He gritted his teeth and took a climbing rope from his Storage Space.

He had specially prepared it yesterday. He tied one end of the rope to a thick pine tree next to the entrance and the other end around his waist.

Then, he grabbed the rope and slowly slid down into the hole.

The cave wall was very slippery and covered with moss.

He used his feet to push against the cave wall, sliding down bit by bit.

He poured spiritual energy into his legs and hands, giving him precise control over every support point.

Five meters, ten meters, fifteen meters.

His feet touched solid ground.

He let go of the rope, turned on the flashlight, and looked around.

This was a natural cave, about five or six meters high and about a hundred square meters in area.

Stalactites hung from the cave ceiling, and stalagmites grew on the ground, some of which had already connected to form stone pillars.

There were also traces of water erosion on the cave walls.

There used to be an underground river here, but it had since changed its course.

He scanned with the flashlight and quickly discovered those "man-made traces."

Under the cave wall on the east side, several stone tables were placed, with some objects on them.

Incense burners, candlesticks, pottery jars.

They were all damaged and covered in dust and spider webs.

There were carvings on the cave wall on the west side.

He walked over and shone the flashlight on them to see.

They were traditional characters, arranged vertically, carved very deeply:

"The Mountain God has spirit, protecting the region. May the incense fire continue forever, enduring for all eternity. — — Erected in the first month of summer, 19th year of Guangxu."

19th year of Guangxu, 1893.

One hundred and twenty years ago.

He continued to read downward.

Below the carvings were a few lines of small characters, written in a sloppy hand, as if someone had added them later:

"Mid-Yuan Festival, July, 22nd year of the Republic of China, a green light appeared in the cave, lasting for a quarter of an hour. I saw it myself, and hereby record it. — — Zhang Mingde."

22nd year of the Republic of China, 1933.

It completely matched the records he had found in the county gazetteer.

Chen Zhen's heart beat even faster.

He continued to search the cave.

In the deepest part of the cave, he discovered something even more important.

A giant rock, half-buried at the bottom of the cave, its surface smooth as a mirror.

On the ground around the giant rock, there were obvious burn marks.

The rock had been burned by high temperatures, and some parts had already vitrified.

He walked up to the giant rock and shone the flashlight on it.

On the surface of the giant rock, there were faint patterns.

He cast the Eye-Brightening Spell.

Spiritual energy consumed, a cooling sensation spread through his eyes.

The patterns became clear.

It was a complex pattern.

Circles, triangles, curves, dot matrices... it looked like some kind of rune, or perhaps a map.

He tried to take a photo with his mobile phone.

But the photos taken were blurry, and the runes were almost invisible.

He thought for a moment, took a notebook and pencil from his Storage Space, squatted in front of the giant rock, and began to copy it.

The runes were very complex, and it took him half an hour to finish drawing them.

After drawing the last stroke, the system panel popped up a prompt:

[Ancient Rune Discovered (Suspected Earth Vein Node Marker)]

[exploration dimension Experience +80]

[Clue Association Network Updated: New node 'Earth Vein Rune' added, connected to 'East Mountain Ancient Temple Deep Cave', 'Strange Light', and 'Engineer Gu Node Conjecture']

[Rune Analysis Progress: 15% (More sample comparisons needed)]

Chen Zhen put away the notebook and looked around the cave again.

There were no other discoveries.

He checked the time.

Half past ten.

He had been in the cave for almost an hour.

It was time to go up.

He walked to the bottom of the cave entrance, grabbed the rope, poured spiritual energy into his arms, and easily climbed up.

Back on the surface, he reset the stone slab, covered it with soil and weeds, and tried to restore it to its original state as much as possible.

Then he sat on a rock nearby, rested for a while, drank some water, and held a piece of spiritual plant Mint leaf in his mouth.

His mind cleared up a lot.

Today's discoveries were too big.

Ancient temple, deep cave, runes, records from one hundred and twenty years ago, eyewitness records from 1933...

This cave was the Earth Vein node conjectured by Engineer Gu.

And it was still active.

The cool breeze in the cave, the burn marks around the giant rock, the faint energy remaining on the runes.

All were telling him that this node was not dead, just dormant.

In 2013, it would awaken again.

He stood up and took one last look at the mountain col.

Surrounded by rocks on three sides, overgrown with weeds, it didn't look special at all.

Who could have imagined that a secret that had existed for hundreds of years was hidden beneath this.

He turned and headed down the mountain along the path he had come.

Going down the mountain was faster than going up.

At half past one, he returned to the village at the foot of the mountain.

The Old Man was still sunning himself at the entrance of the village. Seeing him, he waved: "Young man, did you pick any herbs?"

"I picked a little," Chen Zhen said as he wheeled out his bicycle. "Thank you, sir."

"No thanks, no thanks," The Old Man waved his hand. "Come back next time."

Chen Zhen got on his bike and hurried toward the city center.

Halfway there, he stopped his bike, took out his mobile phone, and sent a message to his mother: "Mom, I've come down the mountain, I'll be home in about two hours."

His mother replied quickly: "Okay, be careful on the road."

He put away his mobile phone and continued riding.

...

At 3:30 in the afternoon, Chen Zhen arrived home.

His mother was folding clothes in the living room. Seeing him return, she was taken aback: "So early?"

"Yeah, I came back after I finished looking," Chen Zhen said, changing his shoes. "Mom, is there any news from Dad?"

"He called last night and said the training is quite tiring, but he can persist." His mother stood up. "Are you hungry? Mom will heat up some food for you."

"I'll do it myself."

Chen Zhen went into the kitchen, heated up the leftovers from lunch, and ate a little.

After eating, he went back to his room and closed the door.

He took the notebook out of his Storage Space and flipped to the page where he had copied the runes.

The pattern was very complex, but upon careful observation, some patterns could be seen.

The core was a circle with three dots inside, arranged in a triangle.

It was exactly the same as the symbol in the comic book.

Around the circle were radial curves, like light rays or ripples.

Outside the curves were various geometric shapes.

Triangles, squares, hexagons.

Layered nesting.

The outermost circle was a dot matrix, dense and packed, like a star map.

He tried to use [Knowledge Fusion] to analyze it.

A few seconds later, associated information appeared in his mind:

Core Circle + Three Dots — — Ancient Rune, appeared multiple times in Engineer Gu's materials, suspected to be an "Earth Vein Node" marker.

Radial Curves — — May indicate "energy release" or "wave propagation."

Nested Geometric Shapes — — May indicate "multi-layer structure" or "different levels."

Outermost Dot Matrix — — May indicate "direction" or "time."

[Rune Analysis Progress: 15% → 22%]

It was still far from enough.

More sample comparisons were needed.

He closed the notebook and closed his eyes to rest.

Today's harvest was already enough.

The rest, take it slow.

At night.

During dinner, his mother asked about East Mountain.

Chen Zhen talked about it briefly.

Climbing the mountain, looking at the scenery, picking some herbs.

He didn't mention the ancient temple or the deep cave.

His mother listened and nodded: "As long as the scenery is good. Next time, Mom wants to go see it too."

"Okay, I'll take you next time."

After dinner, Chen Zhen took the initiative to wash the dishes.

One Cleaning Spell, and it was done.

Then he returned to his room and started today's Cultivation.

First, he stood in a stance for five minutes and ran the Simplified Microcosmic Orbit for ten cycles.

In the [Internal Vision] state, the spiritual pearl in his Dantian rotated slowly, and the circulation of spiritual energy was smooth.

Then, he took out sixteen object-control beads and began training.

Today's goal: to arrange the sixteen object-control beads into the shape of the "rune."

Core circle, three dots, radial curves, nested shapes, outer dot matrix.

This was the rune he had copied today.

The difficulty was off the charts.

The first time, it scattered as soon as he had arranged the core circle.

The second, third, fourth time...

The forty-fifth time, he finally managed to barely arrange the general shape of the rune, and it stabilized for five seconds.

Chen Zhen ended his practice, leaned back in his chair, and gasped for breath.

There was sweat on his forehead, and his Mental Energy consumption was huge, but his heart was full of a sense of achievement.

[Extreme Object Control Training]

[Spirit Control Perfection Effect Increased: Spiritual Energy Control Precision +8% (Current 245%)]

[Rune Array Proficiency +15]

[Mental Energy Significantly Increased]

He rested for ten minutes, drank a cup of spiritual plant Mint tea, and his Mental Energy slowly recovered.

Then, he summoned the system panel and began today's summary.