Chapter 17: The Seal in the Cave (Part 2)

  The icy cold air was oppressive, and Shen Baiyun's clothes were soaked with a large patch on his back. His brain was in severe pain, as if everything he had experienced in his life had turned into countless fragments, twisted into a sharp awl that wanted to burst out of his head. In front of him, everything was blurry, and the cold air around him kept hitting his face, as if it wanted to freeze him together with the cave.

  "Drip, drip", a few drops of water fell to the ground in the darkness, and the sound echoed off the stone walls, its loudness seeming to strike at her heart. Shen Bailian collapsed onto the ice, her hands and feet gradually going numb, her mind dazedly thinking: I... am I going to die? Mother...

  At that moment, a chilly hand suddenly covered his face. Although the hand was completely temperatureless, it was extremely soft and gently stroked along his forehead, down to his cheeks, and then to his chin, every inch of which was meticulously and tenderly touched, as if pouring out all the tenderness in its fingers.

  A few coughs came from beside him, and the hand also trembled slightly. Shen Bailian was suddenly enlightened: This is... this is his mother! He had been extremely strict with his mother since childhood, often scolding him, and he had never experienced a moment of maternal love in his life. Unexpectedly, the first time he felt his mother's affection was in this cold and painful darkness where he couldn't see his hand in front of him.

  "Just listen to Shen Danqing say slowly and quietly: 'Yes...and also this piece of imperial green jade...hmm, unexpectedly a mountain child would have such a rare object with sealed evil energy, thanks to it, my mother and son can be together for a few more days, cough, if one day you remember, return it to the young master of the Yun family.'"

  In the dimness in front of her, only her mother's voice was heard intermittently nearby. Although Shen Bailian was not fully conscious, she also felt the sorrow and pain contained in her words, which shocked her heart greatly. The sourness that surged up to her throat and eyes unexpectedly suppressed the severe pain in her brain.

  He burst into tears, his eyes already wet and blurry in the darkness, but Shen Qing didn't notice. Shen Baiying felt the hand covering her face becoming softer and weaker, gradually stopping on her face without moving. In her grief, she struggled to make a sound, whispering: "Mother... don't die..."

  The faint glow of her eyes had long since faded, and her voice was hoarse, barely audible. All that could be heard was her final whisper: "Baoling... my child... if one day you remember... cough, go find someone named Shen Zhao... tell him, I have hated him for a lifetime, he owes me, even if... even if this life cannot be repaid, in the next life I will make him pay! Cough... ask him, does he regret it?" After finishing these words, Shen Baoling's hand on her cheek finally fell limp, and afterwards there was only silence.

  Shen Bailian was in extreme pain and suddenly felt a surge of blood energy gushing out from her throat, followed by a darkness before her eyes, and she finally fainted.

  In a daze, he didn't know how long he had been lying there. Suddenly, his forehead felt cool and the young man who was leaning against the ground woke up with a start. He only felt that his face and body were full of moisture. The sound of dripping water echoed in the cave, and it seemed that the thick ice on the stone walls was melting rapidly.

  In the dimness, he struggled to lift one hand to wipe his cheek, and the tips of his fingers touched wet marks all over, not knowing whether it was a drop of water or tears that had long since lost their temperature. The young man stared blankly at the black void in front of him, his head still throbbing with pain, his chest feeling like a huge chunk had been hollowed out, empty and desolate.

  Where is this...? Where am I again? He thought dazedly, as if many scenes flashed before his eyes, those murky colors, those fleeting faces, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't hold onto them, only leaving behind an empty mind and a desolate heart.

  In the distance, amidst the sound of dripping water, there seemed to be other noises, as if someone was walking through the water, slowly approaching, and it sounded like more than one person.

  "...... Qingyang Shixiong, the spiritual energy of water here is so thick, could it be that the Water Spirit Pearl we've been searching for but couldn't find is hidden here?" The sound echoed through the stone cave, carrying the clear and crisp voice of the youth, like the gentle collision of jade stones, far into the distance.

  A young voice replied, "If that's the case, it's not good... Looking at the bloodstains, the monster seems to have escaped from our swords and hidden in here. It's likely that it is now hiding deep within the cave waiting for an opportunity to counterattack. Chong Guang, we need to be careful."

  He snorted: "This female demon killed many of my Qionghua Sect's disciples. If I wasn't burdened with a heavy responsibility, when the news of Xuan Yu's death arrived that day, I would have... Humph, not killing her is hard to vent the hatred in my heart! It's a pity that heaven has eyes and let her run to Huangshan, and even made us bump into each other. Even if she suppressed her demonic energy, how could she hide this time?" His words were full of anger, as if he hated the "female demon" in his mouth to the bone.

  Qingyang's tone was much warmer, and he said in a gentle voice, "This female demon was stabbed in the chest with a sword, yet she still had the strength to conceal her demonic energy. She is indeed not ordinary. If she were hiding in the mountains and didn't come out, it would be difficult for us two to discover her. But I wonder why she suddenly launched a sneak attack on you and me?"

  Chong Guang coldly sneered, "Indeed, it's self-inflicted, wanting to put us under its paw as well! This demon must have had its eyes on this cave long ago, circling around the mountain several times, trying to lead us elsewhere. Unfortunately, it couldn't deceive you and me... However, looking at it now, outside the cave is warm and cozy, while inside it's freezing cold, truly quite strange."

  As they spoke, the footsteps of the two people were getting closer and closer. Although the young man did not know who they were, a instinctive desire to avoid them arose in his heart. He struggled to get up, but his hands and feet were powerless, his head was extremely heavy, and he leaned against the stone wall with difficulty, already panting heavily.

  His heavy breathing echoed in the cave, and a clear voice exclaimed, "There's movement inside! Who is it?" Suddenly, there was a rapid splashing sound, followed by a bright light before the young man's eyes. He saw that above the cave entrance, over a dozen sharp blades suddenly appeared, each resembling a small sword, connected head to tail in mid-air, forming a large circle that slowly rotated in one direction. The swords emitted a layer of green light, illuminating the interior of the cave as if it were daytime.

  The young man stared blankly at the small swords, and the two people standing in front of him were also staring at him in surprise. The two men, one tall and one short, both wore white-based blue-trimmed wide-sleeved long robes. The tall young man had a head of black hair tied up with a white jade crown, his eyebrows reached his temples, his eyes shone like stars, and the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, still carrying a smile, looking friendly. The thin boy, on the other hand, had tied his messy hair back with a jade belt, his features were delicate, but his face seemed to have a layer of frost, looking extremely unfriendly.

  Chong Guang and Qing Yang had thought that the cave only hid the female demon, but upon entering, they discovered a dull-looking young man. The young man regained consciousness for only a moment, his mind still in a daze, with only his eyes following the small swords back and forth, it wasn't until after a while that he noticed someone was beside him.

  At this time, Qingyang had already crouched down beside him, with one hand also pressing on his wrist. The young man stared at him inexplicably, and after a long while, he opened his mouth to ask: "You... what are you doing..." His voice was hoarse and low, as if he hadn't spoken for a long time, and also as if he had shouted loudly and strained his throat.

  Qingyang smiled slightly at him and said, "This little brother doesn't have to panic. I think you look a bit uncomfortable, so I took the liberty of taking a look for you——ah, you... your neck is......" He only got a good look at the young man in front of him after he crouched down, and just happened to catch sight of a ring of bruises on his neck. The smile on his face instantly disappeared.

  "Big brother, don't mind that kid for now, look quickly——" At this time, the cold-faced young man suddenly shouted loudly, his voice coming from the other end of the cave, with three parts surprise and three parts joy. It turned out that he was watching big brother being injured, feeling very impatient in his heart, so he walked around randomly in the cave, but after a short while, he had already turned to the other end of the cave, unexpectedly discovering something again.

  Qingyang helped the young man sit up and lean against the stone wall, only then did he turn his head back. The young man slightly tilted his head, and through the fluttering hem of his garment in front of him, he also widened his eyes.

  But dozens of steps away, in a place where the sword light was relatively dim, lay a gigantic beast. The giant beast had a sharp mouth and teeth, its face turned sideways to the ground, with several pairs of purple-red feathers visible on its back. It was similar to a wolf but not a wolf, similar to a fox but not a fox, its body shape even larger than a bear by a few degrees. Its eyes were still open in anger, as if it had died but not yet stiffened.

  Chong Guang stood beside the giant beast's corpse, extremely delighted, saying: "There is a wound on its chest, and also on its shoulder... Ah, yes! This is undoubtedly that female demon. She's dead, thoroughly dead. Now, my master's disciples' vengeance is finally avenged!"

  Qingyang also walked over, squatted down at the giant beast's chest, and carefully examined its abdomen. He nodded and said: "The pulse has stopped, the internal organs are all shattered... It is indeed the corpse of that female demon. So powerful, yet I have never seen a demon beast with such an appearance before——Hmm, what is that thing tied around her neck?"

  From a distance, the young man couldn't see clearly whether there was something tied around the giant beast's neck, but he saw Qing Guang bend down and use his hand to search under the fur on the beast's neck for a while before pulling hard. Then, he looked at his palm in great surprise and said: "This... this is... shaped like a jade ring, with a bright light... Master Brother, this is the Emperor's Jade!"

  "It's no wonder, then. I thought that female demon had a strong demonic power, which is why she could still contain her breath even after being seriously injured. But I was puzzled as to why she could still gather her demonic energy without leaking it out after death... Who would have thought that she was actually relying on the divine power of Emperor's Jade to conceal her demonic aura, making it imperceptible? Ah, now it makes sense, now it makes sense." His tone was extremely relieved, as if a difficult problem that had been bothering him all day had finally been solved.

  The female demon has already died, and Qingyang and Chongguang are no longer as tense as before. The two returned to the young man's side, and Qingyang pointed at the bruise on his neck and said to his junior brother: "Chongguang, look. This little brother seems to have been choked by someone who wanted to harm him, which is how he got these marks. I'm thinking, was it that female demon who hid here, discovered this young man, intended to kill him but was too severely injured, and so this little brother was able to coexist with a demonic beast in the same cave without coming to harm..."

  "He's indeed lucky!" Before Qingyang could finish, Chong Guang said, "But this mountain peak is extremely steep and difficult to climb. This kid doesn't seem to be a hunter living in the mountains either. How did he end up here? Hey, who are you? Are you from a nearby village of Huangshan?" The last sentence was directed at the young man.

  The young man heard this question, his fine eyebrows slightly furrowed, and a very embarrassed expression gradually appeared on his face. He was only heard muttering: "I am... I am..." The voice had a few hints of confusion, as if he had been asked an extremely difficult question again, after a while, he raised his head, a pair of ink-colored eyes were full of emptiness, and he softly asked back: "Who... am I?"

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