Chapter 19: The Ice Silkworm Cloak

As the flagstone sank, an opening revealed itself. The three of them descended through it into the secret passage, traversed the steps, and arrived at the base of the bronze tree.

Judging by the timing, they were likely climbing up the bronze tree right about now.

Thinking of the dangers awaiting them, Zhang Muxun could no longer sit still. He hurriedly finished his self-heating meal to line his stomach, clamped an energy chocolate bar between his teeth, and stood up to search for the exit.

Upon seeing him rise, the giant serpent abruptly opened its single eye. Zhang Muxun was startled, but noticing that the serpent merely stared at him without making any further moves, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

Zhang Muxun waved goodbye to the giant serpent and set off along the diversion of the fiery spring. Before he had taken two steps, he was reeled back in by its forked tongue.

Zhang Muxun: “……”

Looking at the massive head hovering inches away, he felt utterly helpless.

With no other choice, he decided to treat a dead horse as if it were still alive, gesturing wildly as he spoke, “I—need—to—go, leave—get out of here, understand?”

The giant serpent retracted its tongue. A flicker of hope crossed Zhang Muxun’s mind, but the moment he took two steps forward, he was dragged back again.

Zhang Muxun gazed speechlessly at the ceiling, anxiously pleading, “I really have to go. I need to find my companions, I can’t stay here to keep you company.”

The serpent tilted its head, completely incapable of understanding his words, yet sensing the urgency in his aura. It stared at him for a long while. Just as Zhang Muxun was about to lose his patience, the colossal body shifted, revealing a blood-red, flame-shaped pattern beneath it.

As it turned out, the entire stone platform was covered in these flame-like patterns, previously completely obscured by the serpent’s weight.

Uncomprehending, Zhang Muxun stared at the markings for a few moments and reached out to touch them with his left hand. His expression shifted instantly—it was blood!

These crimson flame patterns had formed over time from layers of accumulated, dried blood.

The entire stone platform served as a massive sacrificial apparatus.

Zhang Muxun shuddered to think: if even the sheer weight of a Candle Dragon was insufficient to trigger the mechanism, how much blood must have been required during an actual sacrifice?

Suddenly, something shifted beneath his fingertips. Was there a mechanism?

A flicker of realization crossed his brow. He pressed down firmly with his finger, and with a crisp click, several of the flame patterns shifted, first sinking downward and then sliding horizontally to both sides, revealing a shallow groove two spans wide.

Zhang Muxun extracted a flat, elongated box from the shallow groove. After pondering for a moment, he swiftly unlocked the mechanical clasp and opened it. Inside lay a smaller square box, and within that was a black-gold mechanical puzzle ball identical to the ones from previous encounters.

He stowed the black-gold ball away into his spatial storage and peered back into the long box.

Neatly folded at the bottom was a piece of white fabric. Pulling it out and shaking it open, he was surprised to find a lightweight, exquisitely textured cape made of ice-silkworm silk. Intricate and archaic patterns were embroidered upon it with silver thread, resembling dancing flames or beasts—evidently some kind of totem.

Zhang Muxun froze in place. Though he did not recognize this totem, a vague, unexplainable sense of familiarity washed over him. In some inexplicable way, he felt as though he had seen this pattern somewhere before.

He prided himself on having a decent memory; if he had ever laid eyes on such a distinctive pattern, there was no reason he wouldn't remember it.

Racking his brains yielded no answers, so Zhang Muxun simply committed it to memory. His top priority right now was to catch up and reunite with Wu Xiaoxie.

He packed the ice-silkworm cape back into its box, stowed the entire set into his spatial storage, and reset the mechanism. The flame patterns slowly rose until they locked tightly into place, leaving not the slightest trace of any mechanism to the naked eye.

Zhang Muxun stood up and glanced up—the giant serpent had its eyes closed once more.

A prime opportunity!

Overjoyed, Zhang Muxun began to tiptoe backward, stepping lightly and silently to ensure not a single sound was made.

Suddenly, his right foot stepped on something as he retreated. He quickly rose onto the balls of his feet, but a fragile, dry twig still snapped slightly.

Zhang Muxun cursed his maternal uncle internally for this damned cliché of escape tropes.

He held his breath anxiously, keeping his eyes glued to the dormant giant serpent.

Sure enough, perceptive creatures of this caliber possessed hyper-acute sensory awareness.

The serpent’s single eye snapped open. Upon spotting Zhang Muxun not far away, it instinctively extended its tongue to reel him back, only to halt abruptly midway. It tilted its head, pondering something before finally pressing its tongue gently against Zhang Muxun’s cheek, retracting it, and casually closing its eyes to resume its slumber.

Stunned for a few seconds, Zhang Muxun rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand, turned, and strode swiftly along the flowing water, quickly exiting the cavern.

Without pausing, he pushed forward along the current.

After walking for about the time it takes to burn two sticks of incense, Zhang Muxun finally located a second cavern bearing traces of human presence.

Although the first cavern also showed signs of habitation, whoever had stayed here was far more adept at concealing their traces. Their method of extinguishing the campfire was considerably more sophisticated than Wu Xiaoxie and his group's—likely left behind by Uncle Tai and his crew.

He hadn't expected those few to be so tenacious.

This second cavern was the very one mentioned in the original events where Wu Xiaoxie, Lao Yang, and Master Liang had paused. Beside the ashes, Zhang Muxun found a system-manufactured tin can. At the bottom of the can was a crude line drawing of a fish, accompanied by a lowercase letter "X" right by the fish's head.

Zhang Muxun smiled. To think they had the sense to leave a marker somewhere inconspicuous yet guaranteed to catch his eye—Little Innocence had truly matured a great deal.

Having confirmed their route, Zhang Muxun quickened his pace. He retrieved a climbing rope from his spatial storage, secured it firmly at the edge of the cliff, and with a light touch of his toes, descended in a series of agile leaps.

A hint of surprise crossed his mind. Was this what the system meant by the benefits of the Candle Dragon egg? He could distinctly feel that his agility and martial prowess had improved significantly.

Pacing his doubts away, Zhang Muxun pressed on.

The coffin maze had been reduced to charred ruins by the raging fire, leaving a direct, unobstructed path straight into the pit below.

Rats escaping the inferno squeaked frantically, but upon sensing the terrifying aura radiating from this new prey, they instinctively tucked their tails and scuttled back into the shadows.

Unimpeded, Zhang Muxun arrived at the edge of the lower pit. He noticed several loose bricks pushed upward from within, which gave way easily at a gentle nudge—likely placed there by Wu Xiaoxie to ward off the fat rodents.

Kicking the loose bricks aside, Zhang Muxun descended the steps directly toward the largest coffin at the back of the burial chamber. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at a moldering, dried corpse slumped by the coffin, clad in armor whose style suggested it dated back to the Qing Dynasty.

Paying it no mind, Zhang Muxun leaned his upper body over and peered into the coffin. Ah, these three had even restored the outer surface of the mechanism.

He tapped the inner rim of the coffin to pinpoint the location, hooked his finger into a small crevice, and pulled out a fine iron chain. With a single tug, the partition board separating the upper and lower layers of the coffin sprang up, revealing a wide-open secret passage beneath.