Chapter Fifty-two: The Stone Cave

  A flash of lightning cut through the air, and just as Water was about to be struck, a yellowish-brown sword light flew in from the side, dispersing the blue lightning. Immediately after, a dark light flashed, and the thin figure of Wumeng Daoist appeared beside Water like a ghost, as if he had been waiting there all along. With a casual motion, he stuck a talisman on top of Water's head, then with his right hand, he slashed his sword towards the ground, while with his left hand, he swung out his large sleeve, sweeping up Water and following the sword light into the crack in the ground, disappearing into the earth. The entire sequence of movements was executed in one smooth breath, without any hesitation or delay!

  Qin Zheng saw Wu Mu Dao Ren carrying water and re-entering the ground, a hint of anger appeared on his face, and a team of head-sized green thunder flew out from his palm, falling on the place where Wu Mu Dao Ren entered the ground. With a loud "boom", the earth shook, mud and soil flew everywhere, and a deep pit about 10 zhang (30 meters) deep and several mu (about 1/15 hectare) wide appeared.

  Fortunately, Shui Sheng Jian Bu was as swift as a flying arrow and had already run out of the town in this extremely short period of time, thus not harming any villagers. In the small town, the villagers who were kneeling on the ground saw "Old Immortal" get angry and release "Divine Thunder" to strike down the "Rebel", they didn't dare to come and worship again, one by one they were scared and rolled away to the houses on both sides of the street.

  Qin Zheng lost the trail of Wumu Dao Ren and Shuisheng, his anger soaring to the sky, but he didn't dare vent it on the ordinary people in the countryside. He landed on the ground, opened up his divine sense, and carefully scanned the surrounding area within tens of miles, but still couldn't find any sign of the two. No matter how hard he thought, he couldn't figure out where Wumu Dao Ren would go next, nor could he understand why Shuisheng had left He Lian Qingchen to appear in this place.

  Knowing that Yiwu Mudo is a person of character, he must be afraid of implicating the townspeople and will not appear in the town with Shui again. He can only confirm the direction to Longyang City, hide and wait for an opportunity.

  Two hours later, in a mountain valley more than 40 miles away from the small town, Wu Mu Dao and Shui Sheng's figures appeared, one looking more disheveled than the other. Wu Mu Dao was even unable to stand steadily, and sat down on the ground with a thud. He scanned his surroundings with his divine sense, saw that Qin Zheng had not searched in this direction, let out a sigh of relief, took out a jade bottle, and without looking, poured all six or seven remaining Snow Ginseng Pills into his mouth, chewing vigorously. Afterwards, he said to Shui Sheng in a daze: "I'm going to meditate and adjust my breath for a while!" Having said that, he sat cross-legged, pressed his fingers together, closed his eyes, and began to meditate.

  Shuǐ Shēng was brought by Wū Mù Dào Rén, wrapped in a yellowish light cover, and drilled back and forth like a headless fly on the muddy ground. With great difficulty, he managed to come out onto the surface, but Wū Mù Dào Rén simply sat down cross-legged to meditate without saying another word. Shuǐ Shēng had a belly full of words to say, but could only hold them back.

  After calming down, I felt a throbbing pain on my shoulders and back where the lightning had struck. I wanted to sit down and treat my injuries, but I was afraid that Qin Zheng would find this place and Umu Dao Ren wouldn't have time to take me away. All I could do was quietly guard Umu Dao Ren's side, open up all my senses, look around cautiously, and observe any possible crises that might arise.

  After a long time, Wumudao finally opened his eyes and smiled slightly at Shuixian, saying: "Alright, my magical powers have recovered a bit, we can leave this place now." Shuixian looked at Wumudao's ugly face, feeling a warmth in her heart, and said: "Master Dao, where are we going now? To rescue Xintang or to find my brother?"

  Wumeng Daoren smiled bitterly and said, "With just the two of us now, we can't rescue Xintang or find your older brother. We only have a chance once my magical powers are fully restored. For now, we need to find a safe place where others can't find us, and after our injuries are fully healed, we'll think about what to do next."

  He said, rummaging through a stack of over a dozen talismans, and after searching for a while, let out a sigh and said: "The 'Wind Escape Talisman' has been completely used up. Without this talisman's support, if we were to fly on swords, it would be easier for that dog Qin Zheng to find us. It seems the two of us can only walk on foot!" Shui Sheng nodded and said: "Good! Good! Daozhang, you don't know, I can run very fast now!"

  Wumeng Daoist discovered that Shuǐ's magical powers had surged when he was underground, and now after careful investigation, his heart skipped a beat. In just a few short days, Shuǐ had already reached the peak of Qi Cultivation at the seventh level, with an exceptionally abundant magical power. Even if there were countless things he didn't understand, escaping with his life was urgent, so he didn't have time to ask many questions.

  He reached out and touched the little water-born head, took out two talismans and stuck them on the water-born and himself, saying: "Let's go! With these two 'hiding shadow symbols' to cover our tracks, it will be enough for that old guy Qin Zheng to be busy for a few days!" Before he had even finished speaking, the two figures began to fade away, and in the end, they directly disappeared without a trace.

  Shui Sheng saw the two figures suddenly disappear into thin air, and was extremely shocked. He used his divine sense to scan the surroundings, but found that Wu Mu Dao Ren, who was right next to him, seemed to be non-existent and couldn't be detected at all. Just as he was about to speak, his left arm was already grabbed by Wu Mu Dao Ren, and he felt himself being pulled forward in large strides, hastily quickening his pace to follow.

  They walked continuously for five or six miles, and Shui Sheng was able to keep up the whole time. Wu Mu Dao Ren secretly admired this and intentionally quickened his pace, but unexpectedly, Shui Sheng still followed closely behind, not falling back in the slightest. By lunchtime, the two had already "walked" to a desolate mountain forty or fifty miles away, and their figures gradually appeared at this point, the effect of the "Cang Ying Fu" finally completely losing its power.

  Wu Mu Dao Ren seemed to be very familiar with the terrain ahead, winding his way through small mountain peaks that were less than a hundred zhang high, and after walking for dozens of li on the mountain road, he finally arrived at a high cliff.

  From a distance, in front of the mountain cliff, there is a dense forest stretching for several miles, with trees growing densely and luxuriantly. The tall ones are over 20 meters high, while the shorter ones are about 4 or 5 meters high. However, upon closer inspection, it can be discovered that this dense forest is not growing on flat ground at all, but rather in a hidden mountain valley.

  The mountain cliff under the feet of two people is a precipice. Standing on the high precipice and looking down at the huge canyon-like valley below, the surrounding mountains are all steep cliffs, and the valley is full of giant trees and thick vines. As for the "trees" that are exposed outside the mountain cliff to form a dense forest, they are actually just the treetops of the giant trees in the valley.

  In the valley, birds chirped and monkeys cried, with water flowing gurglingly. Looking left and right, he couldn't find a way down to the valley, hesitating, when Wu Mu Dao Ren grabbed his arm and leaped off the cliff. The two flew down in a winding path through the dense forest of the deep valley. After a cup of tea, they arrived at another hundred-meter-high precipice.

  Here is the translation:

  The cliff was covered with dense, unknown thorny vines. Wu Mu Dao Ren brought water and landed on a protruding rock in the middle of the cliff, pushing aside the thorns to reveal a cave half the height of a person, covered in moss.

  Wu Mu Dao Ren took out a fist-sized moonstone, held it in his hand, and led the way into the cave. Shui Sheng followed closely behind him. The soft white light illuminated the surroundings of the two people, making them visible from head to toe. After walking for twenty or thirty yards, the top of the cave was already more than six feet high, and they no longer needed to stoop to move forward. As they went deeper into the cave, it became wider and wider. Wu Mu Dao Ren walked while inserting a series of small black flags into the wall of the cave, setting up a defensive formation.

  Shuǐ shēng followed closely behind Wū Mù Dào Rén, curiously staring at the array of spells and formations he was casting while also gazing up at the white stone stalactites on the ceiling that resembled sharp swords.

  After a cup of tea, the sound of rushing water came from the front. Suddenly, a ray of light shot down from a narrow and long crevice on the top of the cave, which was over ten feet wide and several dozen feet long. Under their feet, a deep and bottomless gorge appeared, which was three or four feet wide. The sound of flowing water was coming from the gorge. On the opposite side of the gorge, there was a spacious stone cave with an area of several hectares. On the wall of the stone cave, there were three curved crevices, each over ten feet wide, which divided the road ahead into three paths. Wu Mu Dao Ren inserted several flags on each of the three forks and set up his formation before leading Shui Sheng to the left path.

  The winding stone seams were even more difficult to walk than the road just now, with uneven stone blocks all over the ground. Some of the stones grew on the stone walls on both sides, sharp as knives and crisscrossing each other, and if you weren't careful, they would tear your clothes. There were some smooth boulders that were as tall as a person, completely blocking the way forward, and the only way to continue was to fly over them. Fortunately, neither of the two was an ordinary person, and although they walked slowly, they didn't have much trouble.

  Half an hour later, a cave with an area of over ten mu appeared before the two, with a height of over ten zhang. At the top of the cave, there were four skylights as big as human heads, through which sunlight from outside shone in and cast colorful shadows on the stone stalactites, making it a wonderful sight. On the walls of the cave, there were three stone rooms with open doors, inside each room was a wide stone bed, both the rooms and beds were carved out of the mountain rocks on site.

  In the center of the cave, there is a circular pool about half an acre in size. A faint mist of milky white water vapor rises from the surface of the pool, and the color of the pool water also appears milky white. Stone tables, stone chairs, stone benches, and stone beds are arranged around the pool in a scattered yet harmonious manner. Upon arriving at this place, Shui Sheng felt extremely comfortable all over his body. He couldn't help but ask: "Master Dao, it's really cozy staying in this cave, it seems different from outside?"

  Wudao Daoren took out five or six pieces of moonstone and inlaid them on the stone walls around him. Only then did he say to Shengshui, "This is a temporary cave dwelling where I once stayed when I had just refined my golden elixir. It's very secluded. There's a small spiritual vein in the cave wall that contains spiritual energy, although it can't compare to the valley inside Yuding Mountain. However, it's much better than places without any spiritual energy. You've never been in a place like this before, so you naturally feel that it's very different!"

  Looking at the water, he glanced around with a curious expression, let out a long sigh and said: "Unfortunately, I've consumed all the healing medicine in my hand. If not, I would have recovered my magical powers by now!"

  Shuǐ Shēng felt around in his bosom and pulled out two small grey bags, handing them to Wū Mù Dào Rén. "Dào Zhǎng, these two bags were found on that scoundrel who wanted to harm me," he said. "Even Qín Zhèng and Mèi Jī are afraid of him. Who knows what's inside? Maybe there's some good stuff, or perhaps even spiritual medicine?"

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