Chapter 1: The Haunted Yōlin (Part 1)

  It turned out that under this beam of light, it was actually a flashlight.

  But this flashlight is not the waterproof type that Guo Mohan has, so it can keep shining because it's in a space created by a water-diverting symbol. The flashlight is wedged between two rocks in this space. Below the rock, there is also a large hole, which seems bottomless, and next to the hole, a note is pressed down with stones.

  Needless to say, these were obviously all designed by Ding Lingxiu, and he was just waiting for Guo Mohan to come over and accept this consolation prize.

  Although Guo Mohan was furious, at this moment she was already in a precarious situation, her life was hard to preserve, and there was no time to care about these face-saving issues.

  She smiled bitterly and darted into the area created by the dividing water symbol like an arrow.

  She didn't realize until she entered that this was a space formed by two fallen boulders stacked on top of each other, resembling a tent. The watershed marker was inserted in the gap between the two rocks. Below the watershed marker, there was actually a hole with a diameter of less than one meter. The depth of the hole was immeasurable, and it was unknown where it would lead to.

  Guo Mohan picked up the note and saw the words left by Ding Lingxiu, the characters were crooked and twisted, apparently his hand was still shaking at that time.

  "Dear Miss Guo, we may not meet again. There's no farewell gift, so consider this note as a substitute. When you see this note, I think you must have made up your mind to find the Hundred Ghosts Painting and possibly found this place through that ray of light when you were on your last breath. Congratulations, Miss Guo, you're saved."

  Guo Mohan saw this and gritted his teeth, bursting into a loud curse:

  "Ding Lingxiu, you bastard!" She cursed as she continued reading:

  "Although the Ding and Guo families have a deep-seated grudge in your eyes, I don't want to see her precious youth come to an end just to eliminate someone who bears a grudge against me. So, I've prepared this escape route for you. Although it's a bit narrow, I think Miss Guo must be wearing simple clothes at the moment, and it shouldn't be difficult to pass through this tunnel. Unfortunately, I won't have the good fortune to witness the scene that will make men's blood boil with excitement, but I'm an unselfish person, so even though I won't get to see it myself, I still hope to share it with everyone. As for where this tunnel leads and how far it goes, Miss Guo should be prepared. However, please rest assured that I won't take away your Aggregation Orb, Miss Guo. I will have it stored at the Yangyang Ancient Temple, so you can retrieve it yourself! -Ding Lingxiu"

  Guo Mohan suppressed the anger in her heart and finished watching, she had not expected that Ding Lingxiu had completely seen through her thoughts, and even this step had been anticipated. However, although she was dressed very revealingly, the safety zone formed by the water symbol had already begun to become somewhat unstable, and she could only choose to walk out of this hole.

  But if she walks out of here, adding up the time it takes to return to the cave and retrieve her clothes, Ding Lingxiu would have long since escaped.

  Guo Mohan cried out in pain and crawled into this earthen cave.

  At this time, Ding Lingxiu had already crawled out of the cave entrance early. The cave entrance was next to a bustling small pavilion at the foot of Chessboard Mountain. It was still early in the morning and there were no people here.

  Ding Lingxiu's spell dispelled the evil aura of Gang Mouse, and Gang Mouse transformed into a red light that shot onto the ground.

  The steel mouse shook off the dirt on its red fur and asked Ding Lingxiu:

  "Huo... Young Master, you could have just dug a hole and crawled out directly earlier, why did you take such a big detour?"

  Ding Lingxiu was already exhausted and almost fell to the ground, panting heavily for a long time before muttering:

  "Hey...... Still trying to avoid that weird woman."

  Steel Mouse smiled and patted Ding Lingxiu's shoulder, saying:

  "Again being chased by beauties, it seems like you, young master, are suffering from a peach blossom curse this year..."

  Ding Lingxiu looked at him weakly and waved his hand, saying:

  "Alright, stop teasing me, I guess I'm just unlucky in love and only have calamity left?"

  Gang Mouse smiled brightly and joined his hands together:

  "Haha, Amitabha Buddha, may the ancestors bless you with smooth sailing from now on."

  "Take care and good luck."

  The steel mouse smiled and transformed into a red light, merging into the Hundred Ghosts Painting.

  Ding Lingxiu came out of the cave and first used a bandage to simply bind his wound, then he shouldered his backpack and quickly walked down the mountain.

  In fact, flying fast was just Ding Lingxiu's self-righteousness, his physical strength had been exhausted long ago, and this speed, although very fast for him, was actually about the same as a normal person's walking pace.

  He walked while recalling the scene from just now, still feeling a bit shocking and couldn't help but feel a lingering fear.

  In fact, Ding Lingxiu was able to escape earlier thanks to Zhang Shanyi's help.

  It turned out that after the Thunder Beast knocked Ding Lingyu unconscious, the monster's lair immediately collapsed, and underground water burst into the cave. At that time, Ding Lingyu was indeed in a state of coma. Under normal circumstances, he should have been dead without a doubt.

  As Ding Lingxiu slowly came to, he found himself not dead, but inside something like a protective shell. His ears were filled with the sound of countless rocks crashing down and the impact of rushing underground water. He rubbed his eyes and looked around, finding a scene similar to what Guo Mohan had seen. The entire nest was filled with large and small rocks that had fallen from the sky, and Ding Lingxiu happened to be inside a triangular pile formed by two fallen rocks.

  At first, he was also puzzled. Even if it was a coincidence that the two rocks fell down and protected him when he fainted, wouldn't the underground water have swallowed him up long ago? How could he still be safe and sound?

  But when he took a closer look at the surrounding area, which was similar to a defensive cover, he suddenly realized that this was actually a spiritual cover produced by the water-dividing symbol, and these underground waters were completely blocked outside due to the effect of the water-dividing symbol.

  He only remembered now that before Dīng Língxiū went to catch the inner bird last time, Zhāng Shàn Yì gave him a water-dividing charm to prevent accidents and ensure his safety. He had put it in the waterproof layer of his swimsuit at the time and hadn't used it. After coming out of Wǔ Cǎi Lake later, he directly put this water-dividing charm into his own charm pouch and ignored it. It wasn't until just now when the underground water filled the demon cave that the water-dividing charm in Dīng Língxiū's charm pouch was coincidentally activated, forming a spiritual energy shield that really saved Dīng Língxiū's life.

  This Da'erweng, could it be that he really calculated accurately that one day he would owe his life to this Shui Fu symbol?

  Ding Lingxu didn't have time to feel sentimental, because he knew the water-dividing effect of the Water-Dividing Symbol wouldn't last for long. He hastily thought of a way to escape and summoned the Steel Mouse, preparing to dig a hole to get out.

  But at this moment, he suddenly thought of Guo Mohan.

  Ding Lingxiu found that his Bai Gui Tu was still there, which means that although Guo Mohan had let the Lei Shou knock himself unconscious, he hadn't taken the Bai Gui Tu. Why was this?

  Ding Lingxiu thought for a moment, and in her heart, she said that given Guo Mohan's personality, there was only one possibility for this situation to occur - at the time, Guo Mohan wasn't unable to take it, but rather the timing didn't allow her to take away the Bai Gui Tu.

  That is to say, at that time, it must have been when Lei Shou was knocked unconscious by himself, and the cave suffered a large-scale collapse.

  Thinking of this, he thought it was not good. If his inference was correct, Guo Mohan might have already escaped from the monster's den and returned to the cave above. But her personality couldn't just let things go like that, returning empty-handed. She would definitely come back. However, she had already lost her head at this time and wouldn't think that this place had become a pile of rubble, rushing in recklessly would certainly be fatal.

  Then Ding Lingxiu had a Bodhisattva's heart and began to think of ways to create a way for her to walk out of here alive.

  Just when he was at a loss, he was surprised to find that the effect of this water separator had not weakened at all.

  This reminded him of the improved Gale Symbol he had used before, and he thought that this big-eared Taoist priest was so innovative, maybe this Water Separation Symbol would also be improved by him, and it might last for a very long time.

  So he left behind his flashlight and note.

  Then came what happened afterwards.

  Ding Lingxiu arrived at the temple of Yangyang just before noon, having walked down from the mountain.

  At this time, Guo Mohan had just struggled out of the cave.

  Several tourists who were resting in the pavilion heard a frightening gasping sound coming from the grass under the pavilion, and they all gathered together, shouting and making a commotion.

  "What the...? What kind of hole is this?"

  "Isn't it Fox Cave?"

  "Fox? It sounds like someone is calling from inside."

  "Really? It really sounds like someone's breathing."

  People were arguing endlessly when a sturdy man with a thick beard walked by and said:

  "This cave looks quite ominous, but I've heard that monsters are afraid of children's urine. Let's get the kids to pee in their pants."

  The man made the suggestion and surprisingly many people started to agree, but those who were holding children were hesitant and didn't want to get involved in trivial matters, so they all shook their heads.

  The last tall and somewhat lewd middle-aged man walked over and said:

  "It's nothing, I'm a child, watch me drown this monster."

  The crowd gave way before him, the men around him looking at him as if he were a hero, while the women all turned away.

  Just as he was about to take a peek inside, he heard a loud curse coming from within.

  "You beasts, I dare anyone to pee inside."

  Before he had finished speaking, Guo Mohan emerged from the cave, covered in mud and with his hair disheveled, looking extremely terrifying.

  And this despicable man originally had no intention of urinating

  Startled by Guo Mohan's sudden move, she let out a loud cry and instantly lost her grip...