Chapter Fourteen: The Roar of the Furious Lion

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The sun rose in the east.

Having filled his stomach, Chen Xiao carefully checked all the items he needed to prepare. After confirming nothing was missing, he hoisted his pack and set out toward the Demon Beast Mountains.

Perhaps it was a stroke of luck, or maybe the improvement in his strength made his footsteps swifter, but today Chen Xiao encountered far fewer road-blocking demon beasts than in previous days.

After trekking over mountains and crossing waters, by mid-afternoon he once again arrived at the herb-gathering area of Wan Medicine Studio.

Looking at the familiar small basin, a smile of anticipation spread across Chen Xiao’s face.

Without hesitation, he temporarily hid his pack and grasped his long knife, setting off to search the surrounding forest.

“Jik!”

A Red Ice Snake hung upside down on a tree branch, and upon spotting the intruder, it launched an immediate attack.

Chen Xiao stepped back to dodge, drawing his long knife. With a swing, a streak of icy blue light cut through the air, swiftly slaying the beast.

“Huh? It actually dropped a demon core? This is the first time.”

Skillfully parting the Red Ice Snake’s body, Chen Xiao found an ice-blue crystal about the size of a thumb joint, emitting a faint glow. He was quite surprised.

But then he reasoned that he had slain over a hundred demon beasts these days. Although the chance of low-level beasts dropping cores was slim, he should have triggered the guaranteed drop by now.

Wiping and storing this memorable demon core, Chen Xiao continued to probe with his long knife, searching for a cave.

After nearly an hour, using the basin as a center point, Chen Xiao had thoroughly scoured the surroundings.

At last, perseverance paid off. He found a somewhat steep cliff, beneath which lay a lush green forest, quite picturesque.

Seeing this, Chen Xiao’s face brightened—this matched the descriptions of the cave in his memory almost perfectly!

He quickly turned back to retrieve his hidden pack.

It was well known that on this continent, only those who reached the Dou Spirit level or higher could glide briefly through the air.

At Dou King level, Dou Qi would transform into wings, allowing one to truly soar in the sky.

And if one attained Dou Sect, one could stride through the void as if walking on level ground—that was the epitome of style!

Chen Xiao was but a modest Dou Zhe; searching cliffs like this demanded caution, lest a misstep lead to a fatal fall.

Taking a coil of rope from his pack, Chen Xiao tied one end securely to a nearby large tree, and the other end he fastened tightly around himself.

Then, from his pack, he took out two iron spikes about a foot long. When exploring the cliff below, he could insert these into the rock face to anchor himself. This way, even if a demon beast bit through the rope, he would not be in danger.

However, from Chen Xiao’s experience, low-level beasts lacked such intelligence, and he hadn’t encountered such situations in recent days.

With all preparations complete, Chen Xiao hoisted his pack and cautiously began descending the cliff.

The rope unwound little by little as Chen Xiao climbed deeper down the rock face.

After five or six minutes, he finally spotted a small, rather abrupt platform. On it lay a tangled pile of rubble and twisted wood, which, when viewed from a distance or below, was easily overlooked.

“Not in vain have I spent so much time—finally found you!”

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Thanks to the close distance, Chen Xiao could see that beyond the rubble and twisted wood lay something else.

He was certain this was the cave’s location!

He pulled out the iron spike embedded in the cliff, pressed his foot against the rock, and with a forceful push, leapt like a leopard, landing steadily before the pile of rubble.

Untying the rope, he secured it to the side.

Facing the chaotic pile of stones and wood, Chen Xiao took a deep breath, circulated his Dou Qi throughout his body, and thrust out a fierce burst of energy from his palm.

Crackling sounds of stones tumbling and wood snapping filled the small platform, leaving a mess behind.

After several more sweeping strikes with his palm, the debris was cleared away, and the platform suddenly appeared much more spacious.

With the clearing complete, Chen Xiao’s gaze turned to the now-exposed cave entrance.

Without the cover of trees and rubble, and bathed in ample daylight, he could finally see the cave clearly.

The entrance was narrow, only permitting two or three people side by side. Inside was dim, but a faint glow emanated within, lending the place a mysterious, secluded air.

Recalling from his previous path, neither Huo Huo nor the Little Medic Fairy had encountered danger here, Chen Xiao advanced with cautious vigilance into the cave.

After a few slow minutes, a stone door emitting a soft yellow light blocked the way.

Chen Xiao gave it a solid knock; it was rock solid.

Trying to break it down with brute force would be challenging even with his strength.

“Within seven steps, there must be an antidote…”

He pondered again, then bent down to search carefully around.

It didn’t take long—within five minutes, Chen Xiao found a small protrusion beside the stone door.

Using his knife in place of a hand, he pressed firmly.

With a grinding creak, the tightly sealed stone door rumbled upward, revealing a passage beyond. A brighter yellow light poured out, dispelling all nearby darkness.

He pulled out a fire starter and lit a torch, tossing it inside. After half a minute without incident, Chen Xiao strode in boldly.

After walking about ten steps, the scene ahead suddenly opened up.

It was a spacious stone chamber!

The chamber was simple and empty. Embedded in the walls were moonlight stones used for illumination. At the center stood a chair, upon which sat a stark white skeleton in an upright posture.

“Pardon my intrusion,” Chen Xiao murmured with a slight bow to the skeleton, then shifted his gaze elsewhere.

In front of the chair stood a wide blue stone altar, on which rested three locked stone boxes neatly arranged.

In addition, in three corners of the chamber lay heaps of gold coins carelessly piled up like trash, each mound about a meter high.

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Chen Xiao’s rough estimate told him there were likely hundreds of thousands of coins!

“All mine! They’re all mine!”

Unable to contain his smile, Chen Xiao strode forward and scooped up a handful of coins, the pleasant clinking sound enchanting his ears.

He couldn’t help it; years of poverty had made him cherish wealth dearly.

After rolling around in the piles of gold coins, venting his ecstatic joy at sudden riches, Chen Xiao gradually calmed down.

He then turned his attention to the last corner of the chamber.

There was no pile of gold here. Instead, a small flowerbed made of earth was built up.

Within the flowerbed grew various medicinal herbs, emitting a rich and complex fragrance that filled the air.

Many of the herbs were unfamiliar to Chen Xiao, their names eluding him.

Regaining his composure, Chen Xiao understood clearly that the value of these herbs far exceeded even the tens of thousands of gold coins.

He even recalled that one essential ingredient for Huo Huo’s Blood Lotus Pill was obtained right here.

“These herbs will need careful handling. Figuring out how to carry them all away will be a headache…”

Scanning the chamber, Chen Xiao felt the blissful dilemma for the first time.

Three huge piles of gold coins, dozens of herb plants—no matter how much he stuffed his pack, it simply couldn’t hold everything.

Without a spatial ring, such troubles were inevitable.

“I’ll have to bring them back in batches. Once I reach Utan City, I must get a spatial ring!”

Resolving this in his heart, Chen Xiao approached the blue stone altar.

His gaze quickly landed on three black keys dangling from the skeleton’s knuckles behind the altar.

“Thanks again, predecessor.”

Muttering softly, Chen Xiao took the keys and tried to unlock the stone boxes.

Three keys, three boxes—if he made a mistake, it would still be easy to match them correctly.

Soon, Chen Xiao opened the first box.

Inside lay a scroll of dark red hue.

“‘Wild Lion Chant,’ an advanced Xuan-level Dou Technique!”