Chapter 8: Stone Beads
Today's first update, and there will be another one at noon!
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His face was pale, he gritted his teeth and stood up, looking around to find that this was a small natural cave. Sunlight poured in through the entrance of the cave, and all over the ground were the carcasses of birds and beasts.
On the wall behind him, there was a fist-sized black hole that was pitch-black and impossible to see how deep it was. He analyzed it briefly and vaguely got an answer. The sudden suction force that appeared earlier obviously came from this small hole. The bird skeletons on the ground should have been sucked in and smashed to death like him.
This suction should have appeared at an indefinite time, just as he fell to the ground suddenly surged, which saved his life. Wang Lin endured the pain in his right arm and was about to walk out of the cave when the corpses on the ground suddenly moved without wind and surged backward. Wang Lin didn't say a word and hastily rolled to a corner.
At this moment, an unimaginable huge suction force emerged from the small hole in the wall. The bird and beast bones on the ground rattled and were continuously sucked into the small hole. Some of the larger bones seemed to be stuck to the wall, blocking the small hole.
Despite this, the suction was still intense. At this time, a flying bird was sucked in from the outside cave entrance and crashed into the wall with a loud "slap" at an extremely fast speed, splashing blood everywhere.
About an hour later, the suction disappeared, and Wang Lin stared at the bird's corpse on the ground in shock, his body motionless, sitting quietly in place, calculating time in his mind.
Half a time later, the suction appeared again, and so on for several cycles. Wang Lin grasped the law that this strange suction lasted for one hour each time, stopping every half an hour before reappearing once more.
Taking advantage of the disappearance of suction, Wang Lin hurriedly endured the pain and came to the entrance of the cave, looking down and couldn't help but smile bitterly. Below was a dense forest, with strange rocks vaguely visible on the ground, and the cliff was extremely steep. He is now injured in his arm and cannot climb at all. The distance from the bottom of the cliff is about tens of feet deep, if he jumps down, he will definitely die.
The bundle with food on his body was also placed on the mountain top and not taken down, now food is the only thing to be solved. Wang Lin hesitated for a moment, calculating that the suction would decrease, and hurriedly retreated back into the cave and sat down against the wall corner.
Time flew by quickly, the sky gradually darkened, and Wang Lin clearly felt his body slowly weakening, his arms were completely numb and had no sensation. Thinking about it, he sighed to himself: "Being trapped here is a dead end, but jumping off the cliff is even more hopeless, alas."
He gazed at the not-too-distant wall corner where a bird's bloodied and mangled corpse lay, hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth and walked over to pick it up. He put it to his mouth, and a pungent smell wafted up, causing Wang Lin to let out a light sigh. Without another word, he stuffed the raw flesh into his mouth and began to devour it voraciously.
He almost didn't chew and swallowed directly, his stomach contracted and rolled up waves of warmth, wolfing down the flying bird in a short time. The feeling of nausea surged up uncontrollably, Wang Lin hastily stood up, taking big breaths to suppress it.
He casually put the leftover bird corpse to one side, and Wang Lin sat down against the wall, his mind filled with countless thoughts. One moment he thought of his parents, another moment he thought of Fourth Uncle, another moment he thought of the mocking faces of his relatives, and another moment he thought of the ruthless gaze of the black-robed middle-aged man from the Hengyue Sect.
In a daze, he suddenly stared at the half-eaten bird corpse beside him, his eyes fixed on it without blinking. He grabbed it and took a closer look, only to see that in the half of the bird's body was a red bead the size of an infant's fist. Wang Lin picked out the bead, feeling greatly astonished in his heart.
How can there be pearls inside the body of this flying bird? He was suddenly moved in his heart, thinking that he had seen a mythological book called "Shan Hai Jing" at the village school teacher's place, which introduced many animals that if they lived for many years, their bodies would form a kind of treasure called "inner elixir".
This treasure, if eaten by humans, will grant immense strength and longevity, and can even revive severed limbs.
At that time, he was quite skeptical when he saw this description, secretly ridiculing it. Now that he has even seen the immortal, his heart can't help but believe some of the myths and legends in Shan Hai Jing.
Wang Lin's heart was racing wildly. If this pearl was indeed the internal elixir described in the Mountains and Seas Scripture, then if he ate it, wouldn't his injuries heal immediately? Leaving this place would be a breeze, and even joining the Immortal Sect shouldn't be a problem. At least in the willpower test, he would definitely make himself pass.
But this pearl feels hard and rough to the touch, unlike something edible. He furrowed his brow, using a piece of cloth from his clothes to wipe it clean, restoring its original color.
This is a grey stone bead, with five white clouds carved on it, looking quite old. Wang Lin felt greatly disappointed and, not giving up, bit it with his teeth, finally rubbing the stone bead and sighing to himself: "Iron Pillar, you're too naive, how could there be such coincidences in this world? Even a bird that randomly falls dead in front of you has an inner dan."
He let out a sigh, and by now the sky outside had darkened, with deep fatigue, he curled up in the corner and slowly fell asleep, the stone bead was casually placed beside the animal bones.
It was already autumn, and the earth cooled down quickly, especially in the mountains. The cool air constantly poured into Wang Lin's body, and he tightly hugged himself as he slept, and a night passed quickly.
The next morning, the sunlight from outside the cave drifted in, shining inside the cave. A thread of sparkling dew seeped out from the stone beads beside Wang Lin's body and slowly flowed onto the animal bones as more dew accumulated.
Before long, Wang Lin came to, his arm still swollen. Not only was there no sign of improvement, but it was getting worse and worse. Wang Lin sat on the ground, feeling anxious in his heart.
"Am I doomed to be trapped here for the rest of my life?" He muttered to himself, his gaze shifted and suddenly noticed that there was dew on the animal bones beside him. Feeling thirsty, he carefully picked up a bone and put the accumulated dew drops in his mouth to lick them clean.
This dew water is sweet and delicious to drink, he also doesn't know if it's an illusion or not, after drinking it his whole body feels warm and comfortable.
Especially at the injured arm, there was a tingling sensation, and the swelling had slightly subsided. Wang Lin rubbed his eyes, took a closer look, and suddenly discovered that his arm had indeed reduced some swelling. He concentrated for a moment, then searched around him for other animal bones, but unfortunately none of them had dew on them.
Just as he was puzzled, he suddenly fixed his gaze on the stone bead beside him, and saw a tiny drop of dew on it. He recalled that the animal bone with dew earlier was right next to the stone bead. He gently picked up the stone bead, his heart racing uncontrollably, hesitated for a moment, then rolled it onto his arm, evenly spreading the dew onto the swollen area.
A cool feeling spread from his arm, Wang Lin didn't even blink, staring at his arm. After a long time, he showed joy in his eyes, the swelling on his arm miraculously disappeared, and he waved it slightly. Although there was still some pain, it was no longer serious.
"This bead must be a treasure!" Wang Lin exclaimed in surprise.
