Chapter 2327: Chapter 2326: Cave Entrance
The deep blue color was intermittently visible between the leaves of the woods, indicating that it was a very deep lake.
Upon seeing it, Mu Mu and Xiao Xiao showed some excitement. They exchanged a glance before grabbing Ling Feng’s arm together: "Brother, can we go there once we get down?"
Ling Feng couldn’t resist the pleading of the two girls.
So he quickly nodded: "Alright, alright, stop shaking, or my arm might fall off!"
Knowing he was joking, both Xiao Xiao and Mu Mu giggled but released their hold.
With nothing else to gain from the mountain top, the three of them began their descent.
However, climbing down a mountain is often harder than climbing up; the slope was too steep to easily and safely descend.
After spending quite some time, Ling Feng and the two girls finally made it back to the ground.
But before they could set off for the lake, Mu Mu suddenly exclaimed!
Ling Feng and Xiao Xiao turned their heads simultaneously, and they were equally stunned by what they saw on the mountain wall!
A hole had appeared on what was originally a solid rock face!
It hadn’t been there when they left in the morning; now, this conspicuous dark aperture naturally drew their attention.
"Brother, do you think the stone on the mountain top was a mechanism?" Mu Mu asked.
"This..."
Ling Feng pondered for a moment and then chuckled bitterly: "I can’t say for sure, but regardless, we need to go in and take a look!"
"Indeed, there might be something good!"
Mu Mu nodded: "Bathing can wait; let’s check out what’s inside first!"
Having made their decision, the three of them leaped into action.
The opening was just a few meters high, easy to reach without much effort.
Once the three stood at the entrance, a chill immediately swept over them!
"Be careful, everyone. There might be wild beasts inside!"
Ling Feng cautioned, drawing the Blade of the Apocalypse.
Xiao Xiao and Mu Mu simultaneously took out their weapons.
The three of them then proceeded into the cave with caution.
Inside, borrowing the sunlight from outside, they saw a vast cavernous space.
The light couldn’t fully illuminate such a substantial space. Ling Feng looked around and said a bit regretfully, "Too bad we don’t have a strong flashlight."
"Why don’t we start a fire?" suggested Mu Mu.
"Yes, let’s try it. Hopefully, the firelight will be sufficient."
Ling Feng nodded.
Without needing instructions, Xiao Xiao and Mu Mu jumped back out of the cave to collect wood from the forest.
It didn’t take long before they returned, each carrying a bundle of dry wood.
Ling Feng stepped forward, walking about twenty meters before stopping, estimating this to be the center of the space, and set the wood down to start a fire.
As the flames grew brighter, the firelight illuminated the inside of the cavernous space.
What they saw next left Ling Feng and his companions astonished.
While the space was empty, the cave walls were adorned with numerous patterns.
At first glance, they seemed like random doodles. But upon closer inspection, they resembled some sort of writing, though Ling Feng couldn’t understand it at all.
Mu Mu and Xiao Xiao, however, appeared to be acting strangely, stepping forward and raising their heads, their gaze fixed without turning away!
Seeing this, Ling Feng asked in confusion, "Can you tell what these are?"
"Not really, they just feel captivating," Xiao Xiao replied.
Ling Feng was speechless and turned to look around, noticing something seemingly beneath the opposite wall, and said, "Well, you keep looking. I’m going to check over there!"
There were no wild beasts here, so they could walk inside with peace of mind, without worrying about safety.
He hurried over and soon reached the object.
In the light of the fire, Ling Feng discovered it wasn’t just any object, but a skeleton sitting on the ground!
The bones looked ashen, and the clothes had rotted away, suggesting the individual had died at least several hundred years ago.
Ling Feng spent a moment in a daze before returning to his senses, wondering what had happened here. Was this place a prison meant to hold this person?
Considering the mountain top’s mechanism and the previously exitless interior space, he increasingly felt his speculation was correct.
Looking down at the white bones, Ling Feng speculated that anything written or left behind had likely weathered away over the years.
Yet he couldn’t help but squat down to feel around the ground around the skeleton.
Sure enough, under a thick layer of dust, he found a thin rectangular object.
Upon picking it up, he saw it was a piece of metal.
Its dimensions were akin to a book, though only about one to two millimeters thick.
The light was dim, so Ling Feng couldn’t clearly see if there was any writing on it due to the thick layer of dust.
Reaching out to feel again, he found two more similar metal pieces.
Apart from these, there was nothing else around the skeleton.
Ling Feng returned to the fire with the three metal pieces, seeing Mu Mu and Xiao Xiao still engrossed with the wall lines, so he didn’t disturb them.
He sat down to wipe the dust from the metal pieces, revealing some intricate graphic symbols.
Ling Feng was bewildered, realizing they were indeed words, but they were strangers to him!
At a loss, he turned and called out, "Stop studying those; come over and see if you recognize these characters!"
Mu Mu and Xiao Xiao, absorbed in their own investigations, turned around and quickly hurried back.
Each took a metal piece and looked at it closely.
Observing the two, Ling Feng noticed their expressions changed repeatedly, shifting from shock to fear, and finally to desolation, going through several emotional transformations.
After reading the text on their respective metal pieces, Xiao Xiao raised her head and said to Ling Feng: "Brother, we have discovered a significant secret about the Dragon Clan!"
"Oh? What is it?"
Ling Feng, intrigued, urged her to tell him quickly.
"This person was an important figure in the Dragon Clan, the Great Elder from three hundred years ago!"
Xiao Xiao began, then added: "He was later betrayed by clan members, lost all his cultivation power, and was imprisoned here!"
"Essentially a power struggle, but the critical part is, those aiding in the Dragon Clan’s coup weren’t all from their own clan. It also involved someone known as The Destroyer," Mu Mu explained.
"So, this person left behind these records unwillingly before dying?" Ling Feng asked.
"More or less," Xiao Xiao nodded, continuing: "Brother, it also mentions that the Dragon Clan is no longer of pure bloodline. Once this secret is exposed, their dominion in the Xuanling Realm will end, which will be quite beneficial for us!"
"But what benefit is there in revealing this news?" Ling Feng was puzzled.
"It will incite internal conflict among them, and we can leverage the lack of pure bloodline to our advantage!"
Xiao Xiao’s eyes sparkled as she pointed to the inscriptions on the cave wall: "Those are the cultivation techniques left behind by this individual!"
