6: Chapter 6: Shadows of the Dark River, Glimmering Relics

The bone-chilling river water instantly soaked his entire body, causing Lin Ye to shiver, but his desire to survive overwhelmed everything else.

The "rustling" friction from the slide above and the heavy, ragged breathing of Heisha grew closer and closer, like a death warrant.

"I cannot stop!"

He struggled to steady himself in the waist-deep, freezing river water and looked around. This was a natural underground cave where the river surged from beneath one rock wall and flowed toward the deep darkness at the other end. Many wet stalactites hung from the cave ceiling, and the sound of dripping water echoed in the enclosed space.

The light came from moss scattered sparsely on the rock walls, emitting a faint, ghostly blue glow.

Lin Ye gritted his teeth, chose the direction of the current, and waded forward with unsteady steps. The resistance of the river water was immense, and with his injuries, he could not pick up any speed.

He had only walked about a dozen meters.

"You little bastard! I've found you!" A roar filled with pain and fury exploded from behind.

Bang!

Heisha fell into the water from the slide in a sorry state, splashing a large amount of water. He had wounds on his right shoulder and left leg pierced by the ice-blue light, with blood streaming out. His face was as twisted as a demon's, but supported by his Qi Refining 6th Level cultivation, he was still faster than Lin Ye!

"Let's see where you can run!" Heisha sneered, pulling out a spare short blade, and charged forward, splashing through the water.

The distance closed rapidly!

Lin Ye was burning with anxiety, his eyes scanning the surroundings frantically. Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of a darker shadow beneath the water surface at a bend in the river ahead, where the current also formed an inconspicuous vortex.

There's something there!

A flash of inspiration struck him. Instead of avoiding it, he used all his strength to lunge toward that dark vortex, shouting at the same time, "Senior, save me! This person wants to seize the Legacy!"

This shout echoed throughout the cave, causing Heisha to pause in confusion.

A Legacy? What Legacy? Could it be that this underground river still contained some contingency left behind by Zhao Hansong?

In that split second of hesitation, Lin Ye had already lunged to the edge of the vortex. He held his breath and actively sank downward!

Beneath the water, it wasn't a vortex at all, but a narrow, downward-sloping tunnel entrance! A powerful suction force instantly dragged him inside!

His vision went pitch black, with only the rumbling sound of water in his ears. His body was carried by the current, crashing and tumbling through the narrow waterway, with no idea how far he had rolled.

"Puh-ha!"

Finally, he was flushed out of the waterway and thrown into a slightly larger pool.

Lin Ye coughed violently, spitting out the cold water he had choked on, and managed to crawl onto the slippery rocks on the shore. His bones felt like they were falling apart, and his wounds, soaked in the cold water, had turned white and were stinging with pain.

He looked vigilantly toward the waterway entrance he had come from; it was pitch black, with only the sound of flowing water. Did Heisha not follow him in? Was he bluffed, or was that underwater entrance too small for him to enter?

He was safe for the moment.

Lin Ye collapsed on the rock, gasping for air. His heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was about to jump out of his throat. With trembling hands, he reached into his bosom—the corner of the blood curse secret letter was still there, hastily wrapped in oil paper; it was a bit wet, but the writing remained. The foundation establishment pill was gone, and the short blade was lost as well.

Truly at his wit's end.

But... wait.

He suddenly felt something strange in his palm. Opening his hand, he discovered that beneath the skin of his palm, which had been burned by the faint light of the Medicinal Pill and the Restriction light while gripping the foundation establishment pill and the short blade, and then soaked in river water, there seemed to be extremely faint golden patterns flowing.

Was it some residue from that damaged foundation establishment pill? Or was it something he picked up when touching the Restriction?

Before he could figure it out, his gaze inadvertently swept across this new cave, and he suddenly sat bolt upright!

This place was much drier than the previous cave, and the air had a faint musty smell and... the scent of medicine? There was more of the ghostly blue moss on the ceiling, illuminating most of the cave area.

And in the center of the cave, sitting cross-legged on a flat boulder, was a complete skeleton!

The skeleton was in a meditative posture. The clothing on its body had long since weathered away, but a grey cloth pouch hanging from its waist remained intact. Between the finger bones of the skeleton, it was still clutching a dull, lusterless Jade Slip.

What made Lin Ye's heart race even faster was that when he focused his gaze on the skeleton, two lines of text slowly appeared in his vision:

[Remains: Unknown fallen Cultivator (Foundation Establishment Early Stage)]

[Legacy Opportunity: The Storage Pouch contains several Low-Grade Spirit Stones, two bottles of low-level Medicinal Pill, and one Jade Slip of the incomplete Cultivation Technique "Qi Concealment Technique". Countdown: None (Available for pickup).]

An Opportunity! An ownerless Opportunity!

Lin Ye's throat felt a bit dry. But he didn't move. Countless lessons from his past life told him that there is no such thing as a free lunch. A Foundation Establishment Cultivator passing away here must have had a reason.

He forced himself to calm down and first checked his own status. Of his 5 daily peering opportunities, only one remained for today. He hesitated for a moment, then used it on the skeleton.

A few more lines of text appeared in his vision:

[Cause of death: Explored the underground river Secret Realm, was attacked by a swarm of "Ghost-faced Leech", and passed away due to exhaustion of spiritual power after being poisoned.]

[Warning: Within the soil three feet around the place of passing, a small amount of "Ghost-faced Leech" eggs remain, which may be activated upon encountering the blood and Qi of a living being.]

[Hint: The Jade Slip in the skeleton's hand records a portion of the map and warnings for this place.]

Lin Ye gasped, and cold sweat instantly broke out again. Ghost-faced Leech? Eggs?

He carefully picked up a small stone from the ground and threw it far onto the ground three feet away from the skeleton.

Clatter.

The stone landed, with no reaction.

He then tore off a piece of his blood-soaked, wet clothing, crumpled it up, and threw it with force toward a position closer to the skeleton.

The moment the cloth corner landed—

Hiss, hiss, hiss!

From that seemingly ordinary soil, seven or eight worms, as thick as a finger, pitch-black all over, with pale, ghostly face patterns on their heads, suddenly crawled out! They lunged like lightning toward the blood-stained cloth, instantly corroding several large holes in the fabric with a teeth-gritting "sizzling" sound, and then slowly retreated back into the soil.

Lin Ye's scalp tingled. If he had walked over there without knowing...

His gaze fell on the Jade Slip between the skeleton's fingers. That thing might really contain the map and warnings.

How to get it?

Just as he was racking his brain, the water surface of the pool behind him suddenly churned violently!

Splash!

A figure, drenched from head to toe, with wounds soaked white but a face even more twisted, struggled out from the underwater tunnel entrance—it was Heisha! He had actually risked worsening his injuries to forcibly squeeze through that narrow waterway!

"Heh... heh... you little beast, you really... know how to find a place to die!" Heisha coughed up water, the fierce light in his eyes almost overflowing. He locked his gaze onto Lin Ye, and also saw the skeleton remains in the center of the cave.

His gaze was immediately drawn to the Storage Pouch at the skeleton's waist, a look of greed flashing across his face.

"Hand over the items, and I'll let you die quickly." Heisha approached step by step; although his spiritual power was chaotic, his killing intent was boiling.

Ahead was the trap of Ghost-faced Leech eggs, and behind was the heavily injured but even more crazed Heisha.

Lin Ye leaned against the cold rock wall and slowly stood up. He opened his palm, and the faint, flickering golden patterns seemed to brighten slightly under the light of the ghostly blue moss.

"You want it?" He looked at Heisha, suddenly grinning, his smile somewhat crazed. "Come and get it yourself."

After saying this, he suddenly bent down and picked up a sharp stone shard from beside his feet. Instead of throwing it at Heisha, he slashed it fiercely against his own other arm!

Blood instantly gushed out and dripped onto the ground in front of him.