100: underground caves

It was unknown how much time had passed before that nauseating sensation of the world spinning gradually faded away.

Qin Feng was the first to regain consciousness. He felt as if every bone in his body had been shattered and then crudely pieced back together, his head still buzzing. He sat up abruptly, immediately checking himself and his surroundings.

They were inside a massive underground Karst Cave. The air was damp and cold, carrying a thick scent of earthy brine and the musty odor of centuries-old sediment. Above them hung stalactites of various shapes; occasionally, a cold droplet of water would fall, making a distinct "drip-drop" sound in the silent cavern. The only light source came from patches of moss on the cave ceiling that emitted a faint phosphorescence, casting flickering, eerie shadows across the entire space.

He quickly looked beside him. Su Yuetang and Ji Ruxue woke up almost at the same time. Although the three of them appeared somewhat disheveled and their breathing was unstable, they were fortunately all unharmed. Their tightly held hands had already let go before they hit the ground.

“Is everyone alright?” Qin Feng asked in a low voice, warily scanning the surroundings. The depths of the cave were pitch black, as if an unknown beast lay in wait.

“I am fine.” Su Yuetang tidied her slightly messy hair. Her Martial King Rank Divine Sense spread out like spilled mercury, probing the surroundings for movement. “The spatial energy here is chaotic; we were randomly teleported near the entrance. Be careful, I sense some faint life signatures, and they carry a wicked nature.”

Ji Ruxue didn't speak. She just silently checked her daggers and equipment, her cold eyes flashing with sharp light in the gloom, like a female leopard ready to pounce.

Qin Feng took out a prepared torch and flint. With a soft “crack,” a flame ignited, dispelling a small area of darkness and casting flickering light on the three solemn faces. The swaying firelight threw twisted, dancing shadows onto the rugged rocks, adding to the grim atmosphere.

“Let’s figure out our direction first.” Qin Feng held the torch aloft, his gaze sweeping forward. The cave wasn't a single passage; instead, several pitch-black tunnel entrances appeared, leading to unknown destinations.

Just then, a faint, scalp-tingling “rustling” sound came from above.

“Watch out above!” Su Yuetang barked.

On the cave ceiling illuminated by the firelight, dense clusters of black shadows were hanging upside down. They were actually bats, far larger than normal ones! Their eyes glowed red in the darkness, seemingly disturbed by the sudden light and the scent of living humans.

“Screech—!”

Ear-piercing shrieks suddenly rang out like demonic music. Immediately after, a vast swarm of bats surged toward the three of them like a black tide, blotting out the ceiling! Their spread leathery wings brought a foul wind, and their bared fangs glinted with a cold light.

“Hundred Flowers Profusion!”

Su Yuetang gave a cold snort and flicked her jade-like hand. Though it seemed casual, invisible Qi energy shot out like blooming flower petals, accurately striking the densest part of the bat swarm. Wherever the Qi passed, bats fell like dumplings into a pot, clearing a large area instantly.

Qin Feng and Ji Ruxue also attacked simultaneously. The qingming sword was unsheathed, its sword light appearing like a green rainbow to shred any bats that drew near. Ji Ruxue’s daggers turned into arcs of death, each strike precisely piercing a bat's skull with extreme efficiency.

Although these bats were numerous, their individual strength was not high. Under the combined efforts of the three, they were quickly cleared away, leaving only a mess of corpses and a pungent stench on the ground.

“We shouldn't stay here long; the smell of blood might attract other things,” Qin Feng said deeply, shaking the foul blood from his blade.

Ji Ruxue took out an ancient bronze compass from her robes. After a slight tremor, the needle stabilized, pointing toward a tunnel on the right. “According to the faint aura guidance remaining on the treasure map and the flow of the earth's ley lines here, we should go this way.” Her voice was cold and carried an unquestionable certainty. As a top assassin, identifying directions and tracking trails were basic skills, and this compass was a secret treasure of her sect.

Qin Feng glanced at the System panel; no new information had refreshed, so he couldn't verify it for now. He chose to trust Ji Ruxue's judgment, while also remaining secretly wary—the aura of that forged treasure map might not be reliable.

“Let’s go!” Su Yuetang took the lead, slightly releasing her Martial King aura to form an invisible pressure, deterring any potential lurking dangers.

The three cautiously stepped into the right-hand tunnel. The passage was narrow, only wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side, and the rocks underfoot were wet and slippery.

However, just as Ji Ruxue took her third step and her toe seemingly unintentionally stepped on a slightly recessed stone slab—

“Click.”

The extremely faint sound of a mechanical trigger was clearly audible in the silent passage.

“Not good! A trap!” Qin Feng reacted the fastest, shouting a warning.

Before his voice could fade—

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

The sharp sound of breaking air suddenly erupted from the walls on both sides of the passage! Countless poisoned crossbow bolts, like a torrential storm, instantly covered the entire space! The arrowheads shimmered with a ghostly blue light, clearly being extremely toxic!

“Butterfly Dance Steps!”

“Ghost Shadow Traceless!”

“Hundred Flowers Protection!”

The three each displayed their Divine Abilities. Qin Feng turned into a phantom, shifting and dodging within the narrow space while his qingming sword danced airtight, parrying and slicing away the bolts aimed at him. Ji Ruxue’s movement technique was even more bizarre, like a boneless shadow weaving through the gaps between arrows, narrowly avoiding them. Su Yuetang appeared much more composed; a faint flower-shaped Qi shield bloomed around her, and the bolts hit it with muffled “thuds,” unable to advance an inch.

After the first wave of arrows, the passage temporarily returned to silence, leaving only a mess of bolts on the ground.

“Keep moving, and be twice as careful!” Su Yuetang’s expression was grave; this trap design was extremely hidden and malicious.

Before they had gone far, a muffled “rumbling” sound came from ahead. At the end of the passage, a massive, spike-covered circular boulder was rolling down a slope toward them! The boulder almost filled the entire passage and was moving extremely fast, leaving nowhere to hide!

“I’ll do it!”

Ji Ruxue’s eyes sharpened as she advanced instead of retreating. She took a deep breath, and the Internal Energy of a Peak Grand Martial Master surged within her, all of it channeled into her legs. Her figure shot out like lightning. Just before colliding with the boulder, she performed a sudden side-slide, while her twin daggers crossed and stabbed fiercely into a weak joint at the lower side of the boulder!

“Metal-Cleaving Dagger Art: Break!”

“Clang!”

A piercing sound of metal clashing rang out, and the sharp Qi contained within the daggers instantly exploded! A tooth-aching cracking sound came from inside the boulder, its forward momentum suddenly stalled, and a large section of rock crumbled from the side. The massive structure seemed to lose its balance, crashing sideways and wedging itself against the passage wall, leaving a gap just wide enough for a person to squeeze through.

Ji Ruxue’s breathing was slightly rapid; clearly, that strike just now had consumed a significant amount of energy.

“Nicely done!” Qin Feng praised. The three quickly passed through the gap.

Just after passing the boulder trap, before they could even catch their breath, large clouds of dark green mist suddenly sprayed from the ceiling of the passage ahead. It carried a sweet yet pungent fishy smell and rapidly began to spread.

“It’s Bone-Corroding Poison Mist! Hold your breath! Use your energy to resist!” Su Yuetang recognized it instantly and immediately held her breath. Her Martial King Rank Internal Energy formed a cycle within her body, forcing out the trace amounts of toxic gas that had entered.

Qin Feng and Ji Ruxue followed suit. The Primordial Unity Qi Art Qin Feng cultivated was balanced and upright, giving him a certain resistance to toxins; for Ji Ruxue, as an assassin, poison resistance training was a daily routine.

But the poison mist was thick, and holding one's breath was not a long-term solution.

“Use this!” Qin Feng quickly pulled several pale yellow pills from his Storage Pouch and gave them to the two women. “Miasma-Clearing Pills. Keep them under your tongue to filter the poison.”

These were spare Medicinal Pills he had refined in his daily life, and they came in handy now. Once they put the pills in their mouths, they indeed felt the sickly sweet sensation diminish by more than half.

“We must find the mechanism hub to shut it down!” Qin Feng’s gaze was sharp as he searched by the firelight. Soon, he discovered a slightly protruding beast-head stone carving in an inconspicuous depression on the side wall.

“There!”

With a wave of Ji Ruxue’s hand, a dart accurately struck the beast-head carving.

“Crack.” The carving was shattered, and the mechanism spraying the poison mist stopped abruptly. The dark green mist began to slowly settle and dissipate.

Having continuously crossed three traps, although they were all safe, their spirits had been highly tense, and their Internal Energy was somewhat depleted.

The passage reached its end, and the view ahead suddenly opened up.

A massive underground rift appeared before their eyes. Below the rift was bottomless darkness, with the faint sound of rushing water echoing from below. Connecting the two sides of the rift was only a single, lonely black log bridge made of an unknown material. The bridge was less than a foot wide, exceptionally smooth, and below it was a dizzying abyss.

The other end of the log bridge vanished into the darkness of the far shore, leading to an unknown place, as if it were a path to the underworld.

And behind them, their only way back had been completely sealed off by a heavy stone door that had slid down silently at some unknown point.

A dangerous bridge ahead, and no way back.

The three stood at the edge of the rift. The light of the torch flickered in the howling wind of the abyss, reflecting their extremely solemn faces.

“It seems we have no other choice.” Qin Feng took a deep breath, his gaze falling on that black log bridge that seemed to swallow the light.