"Is this the secret room where the sculptures are stored?"
Xiaonan used fire escape to light the lamp hanging on the wall. Under the dim light, she looked around in the cave of about fifty or sixty square meters.
"I felt it and found that this place is huge."
Ryo Shimazaki closed his eyes and sat cross-legged on the ground, as if he was sensing something. After a long time, he stood up and said
"And the outside is like a maze. If you come in like an ordinary person, you will probably get lost in it very quickly."
"Fortunately, my teleportation ability can solve this problem, but it's of no use if I can't sense where the sculpture is."
Xiao Nan nodded in agreement. Just now, she used paper escape to explore, but lost contact in just a few seconds. It was exactly the same as the feeling of using paper clone to enter the hell cave.
No, maybe this place is also somewhere in the cave...
And just when she was considering whether to leave first, she heard Shimazaki Ryo's voice again.
"Look here, it seems there are words left by the old man."
Glancing towards him, Xiaonan noticed a line of words carved on the innermost wall.
She walked over, carefully brushed away the dust, and revealed the original content. After staring at it for about two seconds, she lowered her head and said
"It doesn't look like the lingua franca of the ninja world. I've never seen such a language before."
But think about it, if she guessed correctly, this place was left over from thousands or even thousands of years ago. It would be normal for the language at that time to be different from the current common language.
However, to Konan's expectation, Ryo Shimazaki looked solemn. He squinted his eyes and stared at these words, with an unbelievable look on his face as he read:
"Water flooded the knees of the Buddha, and fire burned Lingyun Cave..."
? ?
Xiaonan opened her mouth, and finally gave up her plan to get to the bottom of it now, and just said
"Literally, it means that the lake water will rise and flood the temple, and then the flames will burn Lingyun Cave? Was this place originally called Lingyun Cave?"
Shimazaki Ryo still maintained his shocked expression and shook his head, "Maybe it's an ancient name."
"Is this a warning left in ancient times?"
"Maybe it's a prophecy..."
"Anyway, let's go to other places first..."
Shimazaki Ryo put his hand on Konan again, and appeared in another cave in a flash.
The interior of this cave seemed more empty than the previous ones, and after lighting the lights, they also found a stone sculpture in the corner.
Such an obvious difference naturally attracted the attention of the two, so the two of them quickly approached.
This stone sculpture looks like a monk, with his hands clasped together as if chanting sutras and chanting Buddha's name. The entire stone sculpture looks lifelike, as if it were transformed into a real person.
"Is this... a statue left from ancient times?"
"Maybe... I heard that in ancient times, some monks chose to sit in evil places to suppress evil. I think this stone sculpture has the same purpose."
Shimazaki Ryo and Konan both bowed to the stone statue, and then they looked past the sculpture at the wall behind them, and found a large sunken pit on top, like a place to store something.
"Things... are missing..."
Shimazaki Ryo swallowed and said with difficulty.
"Something...? What thing?"
Xiao Nan realizes that Shimazaki Ryo's identity may be more complicated than he thought, and may even have a deep connection with the temple lineage.
If this is the case, it would be clear that he can know ancient writings and possess various incredible abilities.
"The sculpture of the Demon King... it was supposed to be suppressed here forever by the monks! How could it be missing?!"
Konan remembered what the members of the Shichibukai said to her before -
A mysterious organization attacked the members of the Shichibukai who were guarding the demonic energy, causing the eight demonic energies to be in the hands of Hanzo, and there was a high possibility of demons in that organization.
Her face darkened and she whispered, "Maybe it was stolen by someone!"
"Steal...?" Ryo Shimazaki muttered to himself, and then decisively denied, "It's impossible! This place should be guarded by the fire unicorn that guards the Demon King's sculpture... Wait..."
He suddenly realized something as if he suddenly figured it out.
"Fire Qilin! I understand. Is the monster that attacked our village a Fire Qilin? But why did it become like that? It's just like a monster!"
"Could it be affected by the power of demonic energy?"
"Demon energy?"
Seeing Ryo Shimazaki's confused look, Konan explained, "One of the powers of the Demon King in ancient times. If you get it, you can use part of the Demon King's power, but you will also be affected by the Demon and become cruel."
"It's impossible. From what I understand, the Fire Qilin is a noble beast and will not be easily controlled by demons. In fact, he is allowed to guard the Demon King's sculpture because it will not be affected by the whispers of demons. ."
"And... Fire Qilin's strength shouldn't be so weak..."
"If it is a true divine beast, it is definitely not inferior to the tailed beast, but that monster has not shown the power to destroy the world at all."
"So many years have passed, and no one can tell what happened. Even the immortals will gradually grow old in this long time, and their power will continue to be lost. No matter how magical the fire unicorn is, it is still a living thing after all, and as long as If you are still a living thing, you cannot escape the erosion of time.”
"..." Shimazaki Ryo was silent, and after a while he sighed, "Maybe so, but..."
"But the disappearance of the Demon King's sculpture is definitely a matter of life and death for the ninja world! We must find it back as soon as possible!"
However, Xiaonan just looked at him indifferently, "Maybe you have to tell me your identity and your magical teleportation ability first."
"... Okay..." Shimazaki Ryo was about to speak, but his expression suddenly changed, as if some terrifying existence was pointing a knife at him.
In the emergency, he couldn't help but sweat. Before Xiaonan could ask, he held her hand and used his teleportation ability to leave the cave.
After confirming that this was a safe place, he took a long breath and collapsed on the ground.
Only then did Xiaonan realize that Shimazaki Ryo's back was already wet...
Could it be that the fire unicorn is back
Xiaonan thought
The only person who could make Shimazaki Ryo so scared was the culprit who destroyed his village.
so she asked
"Is it the Fire Qilin?"
However, no one answered her. Shimazaki Ryo just looked nervous and said.
"I can't believe...I can't believe that monster actually exists..."
"What monster?!"
Xiaonan pricked up her ears. She was now extremely enthusiastic about every information about the demons.
Because she knew that as a demon who wanted to rule the world, he was undoubtedly the enemy of herself and Nagato.
"The Pillar People...the vampires who were rumored to have fallen asleep after the Demon King was sealed...unexpectedly actually exist and are in this cave!"