With two high grounds as references and a map, they soon arrived near the ancient cultivator's cave.
After another thorough search, the location was finally determined.
"It should be here?"
Chen Lin looked at the two huge stone slabs exposed under the snow and spoke.
Du Dahai nodded excitedly, "Yes, this is it, I'll open it!"
As he spoke, he walked to the stone slab and stepped on a bulge.
Chen Lin stepped back and took a defensive stance.
However, nothing unusual happened.
A mechanical sound was heard, and the stone slabs slowly opened to the sides, revealing a stone staircase leading downwards.
Whether it is the way of opening or the structure of the stone steps, it is no different from the Three Kings Cave. Moreover, this place has been explored, and there are no energy fluctuations formed over the years like the ancient cave dwellings, so it will not attract the Tianluo people.
"I'll go down first!"
Du Dahai volunteered.
Along the way, he has fully understood Chen Lin's style of doing things. He is more cautious than him. Even if he doesn't bring it up himself, the other party will give him orders.
Chen Lin watched Du Dahai walk down the stone steps, and only followed him after making sure there was nothing unusual.
After thinking for a moment, he turned his hand and pressed the bulge on the inner wall, and the stone door slowly closed again.
Although doing so would not be conducive to escape in the event of danger, if the stone door was not closed, there was a possibility that the Tianluo people would sense it when using magic power inside.
Comparing the two, it is more advantageous to close it.
Moreover, after the stone door was closed, Chen Lin felt that the feeling of being watched became weaker, and he was immediately happy.
I don’t know whether the Tianluo people’s sacrificial activities have ended. If they have, then he can practice in seclusion here and push his cultivation to the peak of the Spirit Transformation Realm first.
The stone steps are very long and there is a stone gate at the end.
Du Dahai was very familiar with it. He pressed a hidden position, then pressed a place on the wall on the other side, and finally pressed the bulge on the stone door.
The stone door creaked open, followed by stone steps.
At this time he said: "Fortunately this is my second time here. When I came here with a few companions, it took us a long time to find the mechanism here."
Chen Lin took out a crow puppet and directed it to fly inside to investigate. Then he asked, "It's such a hidden mechanism. If we don't know some information, I'm afraid we won't be able to find it, right?"
Du Dahai immediately said, "Fellow Daoist Chen is right. It is true that the organizer saw a relevant record in a book and invited us to explore together. However, the information they have is not much, and it is far less detailed than your map. It took us a full ten years just to find the entrance here."
Chen Lin did not ask about the organizer, but changed the subject and said, "Since there is information, this cave should have been explored almost completely. Is it possible to determine its age?"
The other party's words immediately made him alert.
Given the suspicious nature of cultivators, most of them are afraid that others will discover their caves, and the ancient cultivator is no exception. However, the owner of this cave left information everywhere and even drew a map. It is unknown what his intention is.
Du Dahai didn't know what Chen Lin was thinking, so he nodded and said, "We can roughly confirm that this should be the cave of the first generation of ancient cultivators. However, this doesn't seem to be the place where the cave owner sat and passed away, so there are no treasures here, and we haven't found the entrance to the small spiritual realm. We are all very disappointed."
"The cave residence of the first generation of ancient cultivators?"
Chen Lin touched his chin and didn't ask any more questions, but he became more alert.
The origins of the first generation of ancient cultivators remain a mystery, but one thing is certain, that is, these ancient cultivators are all very powerful.
Even though they cannot defeat the Tianluo people, that is because of their special nature. If we talk about the various methods left behind by these ancient cultivators, they are much stronger than those of the cultivators from the Tianxuan Realm. Apart from anything else, the ability to open up a small spiritual realm on their own is something that no cultivator from the Tianxuan Realm can do.
There are also some alchemy and weapon refining inheritances, both of which have many extraordinary aspects and have benefited him greatly.
At this time, the crow puppet flew back. Chen Lin caught it in his hand and took out the image stone and the sound stone to check.
"No problem, keep going!"
After saying this, the two continued walking down the stone steps.
There is still a stone gate in front.
According to Du Dahai, in any ancient cave dwelling, three stone doors are the most common, and there are also those with four, five, and even six or seven, for fear that the fluctuations of magic power would dissipate and attract the Tianluo people.
This cave has three stone doors.
After the third stone door was opened, there was an open area, like an underground hall, with passages around it leading to different locations.
Chen Lin took out the map and first saw the three lines that Du Dahai mentioned, representing the three main passages here.
These three passages have been explored, so Chen Lin simply ignored them.
He looked at the other smaller passages, then said to Du Dahai: "Have you explored all the passages? Are there any you missed?"
"To answer Brother Chen, we have basically explored everything. After all, we have been searching for so many years. It is so difficult to find it. How can we not plunder it thoroughly?"
This is indeed the truth. No one who explores the ancient cave will leave any traces, unless they are powerless.
But in this case, it would be unlikely for him to obtain the stone essence. But since he is here, he must explore further.
Chen Lin took out several crow puppets and controlled them to enter different passages. After some exploration, he found that this cave was very large, not much smaller than the Three Kings Cave. However, as Du Dahai said, basically all places had been searched and there was nothing valuable.
Of course, there was no danger.
After putting away the crow puppet, Chen Lin asked Du Dahai to close the stone door.
As soon as the stone door was closed, the feeling of being watched instantly disappeared, and he felt relieved.
I decided to stay here and practice in seclusion.
Regardless of whether there are treasures here or not, this hidden danger has been temporarily resolved. Besides, there are only two of them here, so they will not be chosen by the Tianluo people to be sacrifices. If they are targeted again, they can only deal with it as it happens.
"What do you know about that side of the swamp?"
Chen Lin and Hu Dahai chose a passage to move forward and asked.
All the classics recorded that the swamp was extremely dangerous, several times more dangerous than the Tianluo people, but he didn't feel anything, so he was always confused.
The other party is a person who is keen on exploration. Although he is only in the early stage of Nascent Soul, he has a wide range of knowledge and may know something.
But Hu Dahai shook his head and said, "I really don't know. They say it's very dangerous over there, and almost no monks who have gone there can come back, so I never step into the snow."
Chen Lin was slightly disappointed, but he didn't worry too much.
It took them nearly a day to explore the entire cave.
The cave has complete facilities and a large residential area with many independent courtyards. It is obvious that this cave was once prosperous. It is unknown why it was later moved as a whole.
As for why it was migrated instead of destroyed, it was because this place was too empty. Not just now, it was like this the last time Du Dahai and his party came here.
If it was destroyed, even if the treasures were taken away by the previous monks, there would always be some debris and bones left behind, but there would be no trace at all.
"Fellow Daoist Chen, do you plan to stay here?"
After the exploration, Du Dahai, who saw Chen Lin's plan, asked.
Chen Lin nodded. "Why, you still want to leave, aren't you afraid of being targeted by the Tianluo people?"
Du Dahai smiled bitterly and said, "I am afraid, but staying here is not necessarily safe. I found that during the sacrificial stage, the Tianluo people can use their divine power to break through the blocking effect of the Tianyan Stone in the cave. Even if you are in the cave, you will still be captured, and you will be captured without anyone noticing."
"The power of the gods?"
Chen Lin looked at the other person in surprise and asked, "How much do you know about this?"
Du Dahai shook his head and said, "I don't know much about it. It's just that during one exploration, I found a torn manuscript that contained some information about the Tianluo people."
After a pause, he continued, "But there is not much to say. All we know is that all Tianluo people believe in a god. That god is a huge eye with unpredictable abilities. The reason why Tianluo people can find us accurately and are not afraid of any attacks from us monks and can break some of our defenses is because they have obtained the power of that eye."
"Giant Eye!"
Chen Lin's face changed.
He immediately asked, "Is the notebook still there?"
Du Dahai looked at Chen Lin in surprise and took out a yellowed and torn notebook from his storage bag.
Chen Lin reached out and took it.
The material of the book is very soft, it is not paper, but seems to be some kind of animal skin. After opening it, there are the oldest ancient characters inside, and the content looks like a diary.
Unfortunately, the notebook was badly damaged and only a part of it could be seen clearly. He flipped through it slowly and found that the fragments of text were similar to what Du Dahai had described.
But when he turned to the last page, Tong Kong suddenly shrank back.
This page is relatively intact, and on it is a painting, which is exactly the giant eye that appeared in the Tianxuan Realm!
wrong!
Chen Lin immediately discovered something unusual.
Although this giant eye has the same shape as the giant eye that appeared in the Tianxuan Realm, its color is different. The giant eye in the Tianxuan Realm is scarlet, while this giant eye is a faint golden color.
If the picture was in black and white, it would be impossible to tell the difference, but since it depicts gold, it means that the Tianluo people believe in the golden giant eye, not the scarlet giant eye.
In addition, there is no evil aura in the strange energy here, which is different from the scarlet giant eye that is known as the ancestor of evil.
After reading for a while, Chen Lin closed the letter and began to ponder.
Although the colors are slightly different, the shapes of the two giant eyes are exactly the same. It is impossible to say that there is no connection between the two.
Could it be that they are the same species, but not of the same ethnic group
Or maybe the giant eye is actually a powerful practitioner, and the different colors are due to different cultivation methods
Chen Lin kept guessing, but couldn't be sure, so he could only suppress this doubt in his heart for the time being.
Then he took out the map, pointed to a location and said to Du Dahai: "Have you explored this place?"