sinovels Chapter 997 Unknown Deaths
Chapter 997 Unknown Deaths
"This passage... wasn't formed naturally." Ajiu squatted next to a bone shoot growing upside down, touching the texture on its surface with his fingers. His expression changed slightly. "These textures weren't eroded, they grew out. This cave wasn't dissolved by water, but rather corroded by something—most likely some kind of highly acidic bodily fluid—and then reinforced and covered by bone structure."
Mo Yuan's expression also darkened.
"We may have entered some kind of cavity inside that ancient behemoth."
"A cavity?" A-Jiu stood up, her gaze sweeping across the entire cavern, a hint of disbelief in her voice. "You mean the ground we're standing on might be the internal organs or blood vessel walls of that giant beast?"
"It's hard to say exactly. For some unknown reason, it slept here countless ages ago, and its body was gradually covered by dust and weathering, turning into the mountain shape it is today. But its internal structure—bones, muscles, blood vessels—is mostly intact. The path we are walking on now may be a fossilized remnant of one of its blood vessels or digestive tracts, and after it awakened, these passages that had been dormant for countless millennia are being reactivated."
Ajiu's face paled for a moment, then recovered somewhat: "Whether it's a blood vessel or not, at least for now there's no trace of any other strange beasts. Let's take it one step at a time."
The four continued their journey through the cave. The ground became increasingly uneven, covered with wavy folds and ravines, some of which were several meters deep and filled with dense clusters of fluorescent blue crystals. The number of crystal clusters on the cave walls also gradually increased, and in some places, the entire cave wall was covered by crystal clusters, forming huge walls of fluorescent blue light.
Mr. Xun stayed in the safest middle of the group, stopping every so often to inscribe simple detection patterns on the ground with his short staff. Although the blue crystal was broken, he had backup methods—several small detection runes he carried with him. While not as powerful as the crystal staff, they were enough to sense abnormal fluctuations in the surrounding source energy.
After walking for about half an hour, he suddenly stopped.
"There's a fluctuation." His voice was extremely low as he pointed to the left of the direction the group was heading. "In that direction, about two or three hundred feet away, there's an extremely subtle but stable fluctuation of source energy. It's not the kind of chaotic natural fluctuation, but... it's like some kind of man-made thing is in operation."
Mo Yuan and Lin Qiye exchanged a glance.
"Let's go take a look," Mo Yuan decided.
The four adjusted their direction and headed towards the left-hand side cave. This side cave was much narrower than the main cave, only allowing two people to pass side by side. The cave walls on both sides were almost devoid of fluorescent blue crystal clusters, instead covered with a dark gray, moss-like substance that emitted an extremely faint phosphorescence in the darkness. After walking for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, the space ahead suddenly opened up again.
Then everyone stopped in their tracks.
This is a smaller side cave than the main cave we just visited, its walls covered with runes. These aren't naturally formed patterns, but rather neatly hand-carved runes, each about the size of a palm, deeply embedded in the calcified cave walls. Although most have been eroded and blurred, some basic defensive and purifying rune structures can still be vaguely discerned.
And in the center of this rune, there is a person.
The man sat cross-legged on a raised bone platform, his back against the cave wall, wearing a faded and decaying dark red robe. His head was lowered, his disheveled white hair obscuring his face, and his hands rested on his knees in a gesture resembling that of a cultivator.
But this person has been dead for a long time.
The four stood at the entrance of the side cave for a moment, and after confirming that there were no traps or abnormal fluctuations, they slowly walked in.
Ajiu walked at the front, her steps extremely light, her gaze sweeping back and forth over the ancient runes on both sides of the cave wall. She stopped about ten feet away from the deceased's remains, squatted down, and carefully examined the marks on the ground around the remains.
"There are no footprints, no signs of a struggle, and the layer of ashes on the ground is even, indicating that this person never moved after sitting down." Ajiu raised his head, his gaze falling on the drooping head of the remains. "It seems that he died here from exhaustion. The exact time of death cannot be determined, but it was at least several hundred years ago."
Mo Yuan approached and gently brushed aside the disheveled white hair of the remains with his scabbard, revealing a face that was withered and shrunken, yet its overall contours remained intact. The face was aged and gaunt, the skin a waxy yellow clinging to the bones, the eye sockets deeply sunken, the lips shrunken and cracked, revealing teeth that were still neat but slightly yellowed. His expression was calm, even serene, with a slight upturn at the corners of his mouth, as if he had finally found some answer before his death.
Mr. Xun suddenly let out a soft exclamation, quickly walked forward, squatted down beside the remains, and stared intently at a jade ornament hanging on the remains's chest. It was a dark red jade piece the size of a fingernail, tied around the remains' neck with a faded silk thread, and half of a fragmented array pattern was engraved on the surface of the jade piece.
"This jade ornament..." Mr. Xun's voice trembled slightly. He reached out but did not touch it directly. Instead, he traced the outline of the incomplete array pattern on the surface of the jade piece with his fingertips. His expression grew increasingly shocked. "This is the core array pattern of the 'Sealing Source Forbidden Array.' This kind of forbidden array is one of the top secrets within the Oversight Council. It is specially used to seal and isolate forbidden objects that cannot be destroyed by conventional means."
He withdrew his finger, his gaze falling on the decaying dark red robe. He carefully examined the remaining patterns on the robe's lapel, and his voice suddenly lowered: "Although the color of this robe has faded, the patterns on the lapel are still visible—it is the uniform of a Grandmaster-level Array Master from the Oversight Council, and the style is an old version from at least three thousand years ago."
Grandmaster-level array master.
This is a whole major level higher than Mr. Xun's current chief array master qualification. Even in the most prosperous period of the arena, he would be a figure at the pinnacle of power.
"If this senior was a grandmaster-level array master, with his strength, he should have been able to not only protect himself in this area, but also single-handedly break into the core area of the Bone Tower." A-Jiu frowned. "How could he have died alone in such a remote cave?"
"Because he didn't die here," Lin Qiye suddenly said.
All eyes turned to him.
Lin Qiye didn't explain. He simply squatted down and gently tapped the raised bone platform where the remains had been sitting twice with his fingers. The sound was hollow and dull, indicating that the platform was empty inside. He then tapped the flat ground around the platform, producing the same hollow sound, while further away, the sound became a solid, muffled thud.