The sun rose in the east.
After filling his stomach, Chen Xiao carefully checked all the items he needed to prepare. Once he confirmed nothing was missing, he slung his pack over his back and headed towards the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
Perhaps it was a turn of good fortune, or perhaps his increased strength made his steps faster, but Chen Xiao encountered far fewer obstructing Magical Beasts today than in the previous days.
After traveling over mountains and through rivers, Chen Xiao finally arrived at the Ten Thousand Medicines Pavilion's herb-gathering area again around the hour of Shen (3-5 PM).
Looking at the familiar small basin, a look of anticipation appeared on Chen Xiao's face.
Immediately, without hesitation, he hid his pack for the time being and, gripping his long saber, began searching the surrounding jungle.
"Chirp!"
A Red Ice Serpent hung upside down from a tree branch. Seeing the intruder, it attacked without hesitation.
Chen Xiao took a step back to dodge, and his long saber was unsheathed, bringing forth a flash of ice-blue saber light that killed it with a single strike.
"Huh? It actually has a Magic Core? This is the first time."
Skillfully cutting open the Red Ice Serpent's corpse, Chen Xiao was quite surprised to see a faintly glowing, ice-blue crystal slightly larger than a thumb joint inside.
But then he thought about it. He had killed over a hundred Magical Beasts with his saber these past few days. Even if the probability of low-level Magical Beasts producing Magic Cores was extremely low, he should have triggered the guaranteed drop by now.
Wiping clean and putting away this memorable Magic Core, Chen Xiao continued to use his long saber to clear a path and search for the cave.
After nearly an hour, Chen Xiao had searched the entire area around the small basin.
Finally, his hard work paid off. He found a somewhat steep cliff face. Below the cliff, a lush green forest spread out, looking quite beautiful.
Seeing this, Chen Xiao's face lit up with joy. This was almost identical to the description of the cave in his memory!
He quickly turned back, retrieved his hidden pack.
It was well known that on this continent, only those who reached the Dou Ling realm or above could glide briefly in the air.
Upon reaching Dou Wang, with Dou Qi transformed into wings, one could truly soar through the sky.
If one could reach Dou Zong, walking on air as if on solid ground, that would be truly impressive!
Chen Xiao was just a small Dou Zhe. He couldn't be careless when searching for this kind of cliff, otherwise, he could easily fall to his death.
Taking a coil of rope from his pack, Chen Xiao tied one end securely to a nearby large tree and the other end firmly around himself.
Then, he took out two iron spikes about a foot long from his pack. When exploring down the cliff, he could insert them into the rock face to secure his body. This way, even if a Magical Beast bit through the rope midway, he wouldn't be in danger.
However, based on Chen Xiao's experience, low-level Magical Beasts didn't have that kind of intelligence, and he hadn't encountered such a situation in the past few days.
With everything ready, Chen Xiao slung his pack over his back and cautiously lowered his feet down the cliff.
The rope he was holding gradually loosened, and Chen Xiao descended deeper and deeper along the rock face.
After five or six minutes, Chen Xiao finally spotted a very conspicuous small platform. On it were piled many intertwined broken stones and strange wood. Hidden by this cover, it would be easily overlooked if viewed from a distance or from below.
"It wasn't a waste of my time, I finally found you!"
Thanks to the close distance, Chen Xiao could see that beyond the broken stones and strange wood, there was something else entirely.
He immediately confirmed that this was where the cave was located!
Pulling out the iron spikes inserted in the rock face, Chen Xiao pushed off the cliff with his feet and, like a leopard, sprang out, landing steadily in front of the pile of broken stones.
He untied the rope from his body and secured it to the side.
Looking at the pile of rubble and strange wood in front of him, Chen Xiao took a deep breath. Dou Qi circulated throughout his body, and a fierce force was pushed out from his palm.
Crackling sounds~
The sound of rolling stones and breaking wood mixed together, leaving the small platform in a mess.
Chen Xiao again used his palm to clear the area. After several consecutive palm strikes, the broken stones and wood chips on the small platform were instantly swept away, and even the area became much wider.
After doing all this, Chen Xiao turned his gaze towards the cave that was now cleared of its cover.
Without the trees and broken stones obstructing the view, and with the ample daylight, he could finally see the scene inside the cave.
The entrance was very narrow, only wide enough for two or three people to pass through. The inside of the cave was dark, but there was a faint light emanating from within, giving it a somewhat mysterious and secluded feel.
Carefully recalling that in the original trajectory, Huo Huo and the Little Fairy Doctor did not encounter any danger here, Chen Xiao, with nine parts caution, groped his way into the cave.
After slowly moving forward for a few minutes, a stone door emitting a faint yellow light blocked the way.
Chen Xiao knocked on it hard; it was solid.
Trying to break it open with brute force would be somewhat difficult with his strength.
"Within seven steps, there must be an antidote..."
Recalling again, Chen Xiao bent down and carefully searched the surroundings.
It didn't take much effort. In less than five minutes, Chen Xiao found a small protrusion next to the stone door.
Using his saber as a hand, he pressed down hard.
Immediately, with a creaking sound, the tightly closed stone door rumbled upwards, revealing the passage behind it. A brighter faint yellow light emanated from within, completely dispelling the surrounding darkness.
Taking out a fire starter and blowing it alight, he threw it inside. After half a minute, no accidents occurred, so Chen Xiao stepped in.
After walking about ten steps, the scene before him suddenly opened up.
This was a spacious stone chamber!
The stone chamber appeared quite simple and empty. Embedded in the walls were Moonlight Stones used for illumination. In the center of the chamber, there was a chair, and on the chair sat a bone-white skeleton.
"Apologies for the intrusion, please don't mind."
Chen Xiao slightly bowed towards the skeleton and muttered before turning his gaze elsewhere.
In front of the chair, there was a long, wide bluestone platform. On it, three locked stone boxes were neatly arranged.
Additionally, in the three corners of the stone chamber, there were large piles of gold coins, stacked like garbage, each about a meter high.
Chen Xiao only needed a rough estimate to know that there were probably hundreds of thousands of them!
"Mine! All mine!"
Unable to suppress the smile on his face any longer, Chen Xiao strode forward and scooped up a handful of gold coins. Listening to the pleasant jingle, he found it incredibly melodious.
There was nothing he could do; he had been poor for years.
After rolling around in the piles of gold coins and venting his wild joy at becoming rich, Chen Xiao gradually calmed down.
Then, he looked towards the last corner of the stone chamber.
There were no more gold coins piled there. Instead, there was a small flower bed made of soil.
Various medicinal herbs were planted in the flower bed, and a mixed yet rich medicinal fragrance wafted over.
Many of these medicinal herbs, Chen Xiao couldn't even accurately name.
With his rationality returning, Chen Xiao knew that the value of these medicinal herbs was only higher, not lower, than the estimated hundreds of thousands of gold coins.
Chen Xiao even remembered that one of the essential medicinal herbs for refining the Blood Lotus Pill, which Huo Huo needed, was obtained here.
"I need to carefully consider how to handle these medicinal herbs. How to take them all away is also a headache..."
Looking around, Chen Xiao experienced a happy problem for the first time.
Three large piles of gold coins and dozens of medicinal herbs – even if he burst his bag, he couldn't fit them all.
Not having a Storage Ring on hand caused such trouble.
"I can only take them back in batches. When I get to Wu Tan City, I must get a Storage Ring!"
Having made up his mind, Chen Xiao got up and walked to the bluestone platform.
His gaze shifted, and he quickly saw the three black keys hanging from the joints of the withered hand behind the stone table.
"Thank you again, senior."
Muttering, Chen Xiao took the keys and tried to open the stone boxes.
Three keys, three stone boxes. Even if he made a mistake along the way, it would be easy to match them.
Soon, the first stone box was opened by Chen Xiao.
Inside was a dark red scroll.
""Roar of the Mad Lion", a Mystic High-Rank Dou Skill!"
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