214: Chapter 214 When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter

The Crow Flock settled back onto the treetops and rock faces, crouching in twos and threes, preening their feathers.

Quiet returned to the mountain pass as twilight fell, with only the evening breeze carrying the lingering scent of blood, blowing across the clearing in gusts.

Wu Li withdrew his gaze and turned to walk toward Qingfeng Ravine. His pace was neither fast nor slow as he stepped over the scattered gravel by the pool, over the scorched marks left by the flames, and over the pushed-open fissure, returning to the cave behind the waterfall.

Back at Qingfeng Ravine, the demons were still busy cleaning up the traces of battle.

Hei Yu descended from above the waterfall, folded his wings, and quickly walked up to Wu Li, an inquiring look in his purplish-black pupils.

"Does the Old Ancestor wish to enter secluded cultivation?"

Seeing Wu Li holding the Horned Dragon's Soul in his hand, Hei Yu quickly stepped forward to ask.

Wu Li's footsteps paused. Standing on the gravel ground by the pool, his blood-red pupils swept over the surroundings.

He fell silent for a moment before speaking, "Watch over the Immortal Cave. I have some business and must go out."

Hei Yu did not ask further. He simply nodded and turned to make the arrangements.

Meanwhile, on Wu Li's side.

Colorless Profound Light surged from his body, completely concealing his aura. Then, Wu Li swept toward the east.

He headed toward the Black Water River, the Horned Dragon's lair.

E Kuang's men had just dragged away the Horned Dragon's demonic corpse, so that place was currently at its most vulnerable.

He had to find the Demon Venerable Legacy fragment hidden by the Horned Dragon before E Kuang completely took over.

He still had two fragments in his Stomach Storage, and both times his resonance pointed to the east, right in the Horned Dragon's territory.

The Horned Dragon was dead, and E Kuang did not yet know of the fragment's existence. This was the perfect opportunity.

Wu Li flew along the mountain ridge for less than half an hour before the silhouette of the Black Water River came into view.

The river was several times wider than the tributary at Qingfeng Ravine. Its waters were turbid, carrying silt and deadwood, gleaming with a dull luster in the night.

Dense shrubs and reeds grew on both banks of the river, casting flickering shadows in the night, enveloped in complete silence.

The Horned Dragon's lair was built on a gentle slope on the east bank of the river, a cave constructed from stone and thick timber.

The cave entrance was two zhang wide and two zhang high. Embedded in the lintel were several pieces of polished beast bone, their surfaces carved with crude runes whose original colors could no longer be discerned.

There was a clearing in front of the cave, with half-chewed bones and broken pottery shards scattered on the ground. A few torches were wedged into rock crevices, their flames flickering in the night wind, stretching the shadows at the entrance long and short.

There was no one outside the cave.

There were no demon soldiers, no guards, and even the torches were on the verge of burning out.

E Kuang's men had not yet arrived, and the Horned Dragon's remnants had either scattered or gone into hiding.

The entire lair was like a freshwater clam that had been pried open; there was nothing inside, leaving only an empty shell.

Wu Li was in no hurry to enter.

Crouching on a crooked willow tree on the opposite bank of the river, his Blood Pupils half-open, a crimson light swept across the cave entrance and the surrounding terrain.

There was no Demonic Qi inside the cave, no fluctuations of spiritual energy, and no ambush.

"Have they scattered so quickly?"

"To think not even a single minor demon remains."

Wu Li waited for a moment. Once he was sure there was no movement around, he dropped down from the tree, skimmed silently across the river surface close to the ground, and landed on the clearing in front of the cave entrance.

The cave entrance was thick with a smell of fishy water mixed with blood, an aura left behind by the long-term occupancy of the Horned Dragon and his subordinates.

The ground was uneven, with remnants of battle and butchering. Dark brown bloodstains had seeped into the rock crevices, not yet washed clean by the rain.

The torches at the entrance crackled, their firelight casting shadows on the cave walls, making the carvings look like claw marks left by wild beasts.

Wu Li squeezed sideways through the entrance. His Blood Pupils opened fully, their crimson light illuminating the interior of the cave.

His gaze did not linger on the scattered clutter. Instead, guided by his perception, it passed through several forks and piles of debris, heading all the way inside to rest on an inconspicuous corner at the very end of the cave.

A dark green stone slab was embedded in the rock wall, its surface covered with moss and grime. If one did not look closely, it was hard to distinguish it from the surrounding stone wall.

However, when the light of his Blood Pupils swept over it, an extremely fine crack appeared along the edge of the stone slab. It was like a carefully polished door seam, so tight that not even dust had accumulated inside.

Wu Li squatted before the dark green stone slab. The light in his Blood Pupils condensed into a thin line, like an invisible blade, slowly sweeping along the crack at the edge of the slab.

The stone slab was covered in fine, dense patterns that radiated outward from the very center, as dense as a spiderweb.

Under the gaze of his Blood Pupils, those patterns glowed faintly. A dark green light flowed along the lines, seeping out from the depths of the stone slab before quickly dimming again, as if something were breathing beneath it.

A Restriction.

It was not complex, but it was highly delicate.

It was likely set up by the Horned Dragon himself. Its aura shared the same origin as his Demon Power, buried deep within the patterns and spreading across the entire stone slab along those lines.

If forced open, the Restriction would be triggered, and the contents inside would be destroyed along with it.

This was a contingency plan left by the Horned Dragon; if he could not have it, no one else would.

Wu Li was in no hurry to act.

He carefully examined the direction of the Restriction's patterns. His Blood Pupils slowly rotated, the blood-colored lines within his eyes shifting and intertwining. The Profound-Peering Power of his Three-Transformation Blood Pupil penetrated inside, tracing backward along the path of the patterns like swimming upstream, searching for the source of that dark green Demon Power.

Before long, Wu Li located the core of the Restriction.

That mass of dark green Demon Power coiled in the very center of the stone slab, like a curled-up snake.

Wu Li reached out, forming a sword-finger. A trace of Colorless Profound Light seeped in along his finger. Instead of clashing head-on with the Restriction, it acted like a wedge, gently inserting itself into the gaps of the dark green Demon Power and slowly prying it apart to both sides.

An extremely fine crack spread from where the trace of Colorless Profound Light was, like the first fissure opening on a sheet of ice.

*Buzz~*

Wu Li continued to exert force, and the Colorless Profound Light seeped in bit by bit along the crack. The patterns of the Restriction began to dim and loosen. More and more cracks appeared, like a shattered mirror, intersecting and extending until they covered the entire surface of the stone slab.

With a final, extremely soft cracking sound, the moss and grime on the surface of the stone slab flaked off, revealing a palm-sized fragment of black turtle shell beneath.

Wu Li reached out and picked up the fragment from the groove in the stone slab. The moment his fingertips touched it, the other two fragments inside his Stomach Storage vibrated simultaneously, as if sensing the presence of their companion.

He turned the fragment over. The back was also carved with fine, dense patterns, identical to the previous two.

"Found it."

The moment the fragment was in his hand, he placed it alongside the others. Once confirmed, Wu Li did not hesitate.

He did not search for other things the Horned Dragon might have hidden; those would be left for E Kuang.

It was not out of the goodness of Wu Li's heart.

Rather, the fact that the Horned Dragon possessed the fragment would likely become known to others as well. Leaving these things here for E Kuang to take over would naturally draw suspicion to him, which would help share the burden for Wu Li.