It turned out that Shen Gun, after hearing Jiang Lian’s tone during their phone conversation, felt that the Phoenix Right Eye lead might be shelved.

If it was to be shelved, so be it. He couldn’t do anything about it. By himself, he couldn’t even lift a coffin lid. He had already reluctantly gone to sleep, but while tossing and turning, he suddenly sat up.

That wasn’t right—he should go observe the site in person. How could livestreams and photos compare to seeing it firsthand? What if these people retreated early the next morning? Wouldn’t he have missed the chance to see it with his own eyes?

Besides, witnessing it personally, with his mind deeply impacted, he might have another dream. One dream could reveal the grand conclusion, saving everyone so much trouble.

So he sat up again, feeling pleased with himself.

After resting for an afternoon, he could now walk. Shen Gun took a hiking stick and went to find the person in charge of the camp.

When a Three-Layered Lotus Petal made a request, the person in charge didn’t dare neglect it and quickly arranged for people to accompany him. They also contacted those at the site, but the person on the line said that Meng Qianzi and Road Three Bright had just gone to sleep and they didn’t dare to wake them.

If they didn’t wake them, so be it. It wouldn’t be too late to inform them when they awoke. Shen Gun just wanted to observe, not cause any upheaval. The person in charge assigned several mountain dwellers to accompany him and instructed them that if they encountered any difficult terrain, they should carry Shen Gun on their backs—after all, he was skinny and light.

When they set out, the weather was still fine, but rain started to fall midway. By the time they reached the camp, heavy rain was pouring down with lightning and thunder. Several people led Shen Gun to the pit, where two mountain dwellers were on night duty guarding the coffins, huddled under a hastily erected rain shelter, watching it sway with the wind and rain.

Shen Gun first circled the two coffins a couple of times without gaining any insights, then proposed going down into the pit.

The night watchmen were still somewhat wary of the pit, but then again, apart from the strange scraping sound, the bronze cover didn’t have anything special about it. Moreover, after everyone had scrambled up, Jiang Lian had stayed down there for quite a while without incident.

Furthermore, with a Three-Layered Lotus Petal eager to curry favor, who would stop him?

So they quickly granted permission, but out of duty, still instructed him to maintain absolute silence—no shouting or stomping. Shen Gun was a bit nervous too and nodded repeatedly. The mountain dweller who had accompanied Shen Gun laughed at the night watchman’s excessive caution: “Look at this thunder and rain. Even if there was stomping and banging, it wouldn’t be heard.”

…

The person responding naturally wouldn’t explain in such detail—he explained the circumstances in just a few sentences, but Meng Qianzi still felt anxious: “What did he do after going down?”

The man wore a mournful expression: “Nothing much. Mr. Shen was very well-behaved.”

…

The night watchman had lifted one corner of the covering tarpaulin and lowered Shen Gun down with a rope. For safety, one mountain dweller also went down to accompany him.

It was already night, and with the tarpaulin covering, it was pitch-black below. Shen Gun wore a headlamp, and the mountain dweller carried a spotlight. Although the tarpaulin kept out the rain, water still seeped in from everywhere. Combined with the loosened soil at the bottom, a layer of muddy water had already formed on the entire bronze cover.

Shen Gun carefully explored below, treading lightly as he moved from one place to another. To preserve records, he cautiously took out his phone, occasionally illuminating and taking photos.

The people above watched for a while but soon grew tired. With the heavy rain pelting their heads, it wasn’t comfortable for anyone. So they retreated under the rain shelter, thinking they would return to pull the people up when they saw the spotlight signaling from below.

When the first thunderous boom occurred, they looked up at the sky, thinking what powerful thunder it was, rolling in the sky yet causing both the valley and ground to shake.

But natural thunder always has intervals and is preceded by lightning. This thunderous sound, however, was like continuous war drums. Under the cover of such sounds, human shouts couldn’t be heard. After a few seconds of puzzlement, everyone suddenly felt a chill run down their spines.

It seemed like… something was frantically pounding on the bronze cover.

They looked at each other, almost simultaneously realizing what was happening, and ran toward the edge of the pit. Before they got close, they heard a loud cracking sound. The large tarpaulin was lifted high into the air by the rapidly rising broken wooden boards and skeletal remains from below.

By the time they rushed to the edge of the pit and turned on their flashlights: the original coffin had been shattered by a powerful force, leaving only a black hole the size of a coffin. Shen Gun was nowhere to be seen. At the bottom of the pit were only scattered wooden fragments and bones, a broken spotlight, and the mountain dweller curled up in a corner, wide-eyed and trembling.

So, to find out what exactly happened, they had to ask that mountain dweller.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t provide much information.

According to him, when it happened, everything was normal. Shen Gun was crouching to examine the bronze cover at his feet, while he stood nearby providing light.

Then came a loud boom, as if something from below was violently striking the underside of the bronze cover. Caught off guard, he nearly dropped the spotlight.

Shen Gun looked at him in confusion, actually thinking he had accidentally bumped or touched something: “What did you do?”

He stammered in response: “I was just… just providing light.”

As they spoke, another thunderous impact came, the force transmitting through the bronze cover, numbing their legs.

This time, even a fool would know there was something beneath the bronze cover.

More terrifying was that the pounding continued, and each time it came from a different location, meaning that thing was testing different positions, trying to come up. What if it hit the bottom of the coffin? The rest was bronze, but the coffin was wood!

In panic, they both shouted simultaneously: “Go, go, quick, let’s go!”

As they spoke, they stumbled and ran to the hanging rope, frantically shouting upward. Unfortunately, with thunder above and impacts below, human shouts were like thin threads, completely inaudible.

They could only climb up. The mountain dweller, being somewhat selfless, pushed Shen Gun up from below. However, Shen Gun wasn’t skilled at rope climbing. Despite his frantic efforts, he had only managed to climb a little over a meter.

Just then, with a loud crashing sound, the coffin shattered in all directions. Simultaneously, a powerful stench and a rush of air came from behind.

The mountain dweller instinctively dodged to one side, and the spotlight rolled away on the ground. With no light from above and darkness below, the spotlight’s beam was misdirected. He only saw a massive black shadow lunging toward where he had just been standing. Fortunately, Shen Gun had already climbed up a bit and wasn’t directly impacted. But the creature must have caught the rope, pulling it—the hanging rope swung inward away from the wall, and Shen Gun lost his grip, crying out as he fell to the ground.

The creature turned and seemed to be about to attack Shen Gun again.

With all the falls earlier in the day, Shen Gun should have been unable to get up, but the desire to survive made his movements surprisingly agile. He pushed himself up from the ground, and glimpsing the black shadow descending upon him, he let out a “Ma ya!” and ran forward in panic, not knowing where he was going.

The mountain dweller had a dagger for self-defense, but the creature was so large that wielding a dagger would be futile. In his panic, he abandoned all caution and crawled on all fours to the spotlight. Looking back, he saw that the creature was about to catch up with Shen Gun. Without thinking, he hurled the spotlight forcefully toward it.

Then, in an instant, two things happened.

First, Shen Gun suddenly stepped into emptiness and plunged headfirst—in his haste, he had unknowingly reached the broken opening of the coffin.

Second, as the spotlight’s beam rotated in mid-air, the mountain dweller saw a scale-covered fleshy tail whipping through the air, instantly smashing the still-airborne spotlight to pieces.

After that, the creature also swiftly plunged through the opening, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

…

Just listening to the narrative was heart-pounding; the actual scene must have been even more tense and dangerous.

Meng Qianzi wiped the rainwater from her face, only then noticing that Road Three Bright and others had arrived. Pi Xiu had even raised a large black umbrella for her.

Everyone had instinctively refrained from going down into the pit. Previously, just a slight scraping sound had made everyone jump like startled birds. Now, with a pit full of white bones and an eerie hole…

Jiang Lian crouched at the edge of the pit for a while, then suddenly grabbed the hanging rope and slid down. Meng Qianzi was startled and rushed over to look. She saw Jiang Lian avoiding the skeletal remains as he made his way to the edge of the hole. He shone his flashlight around, then supported himself on the remaining coffin rim, like bracing against a well wall. He tilted his head to listen for a moment, then looked up and shook his head at her.

This indicated no news, and perhaps no news was good news.

Meng Qianzi forced herself to think positively, although deep down, she felt Shen Gun had probably died a violent death. If he couldn’t escape on the ground, how could he in that creature’s lair?

Jiang Lian came back up and walked directly to Meng Qianzi’s side, saying in a low voice: “At least twenty people.”

Meng Qianzi didn’t understand.

Jiang Lian explained: “The skeletal remains in the coffin—I counted at least twenty skulls. That coffin contained at least twenty people.”

No coffin could hold twenty bodies, so perhaps they had been placed inside after the bodies had been reduced to bones.

However, Meng Qianzi’s main concern wasn’t the bones. Her throat dry, she asked: “What’s beneath the coffin?”

Jiang Lian shook his head: “Couldn’t see clearly. It’s too dark. I only know there’s water. I need to go down and take a look.”

Before Meng Qianzi could speak, he turned to the mountain dweller who had accompanied Shen Gun: “You didn’t see clearly what that creature was?”

Being the only eyewitness yet unable to provide valuable information, the mountain dweller looked deeply apologetic: “I didn’t see clearly. It was too dark then, the whole process took only a few seconds, and I was in a complete panic…”

Jiang Lian smiled: “It’s alright. Under those conditions, it’s normal not to see clearly. Just tell me whatever you can remember. You said the creature was huge—was it vertically large, like a bear, or horizontally large, like a snake or lizard?”

Having options made it easier. The mountain dweller blurted out: “Horizontally large, like a big fish, and it moved very quickly.”

Jiang Lian acknowledged this: “But you saw its tail and said it was covered in scales—it wasn’t a fish tail, was it?”

Definitely not. The mountain dweller struggled to adjust his description: “Not a fish, it was a reptile, no, an amphibian type of large creature. When it plunged after Mr. Shen, I heard a big splash. Since it can live in water, it should be an amphibian. Also…”

He swallowed: “It was enormous, with a strong putrid smell.”

Jiang Lian nodded: “Just looking at the break in the coffin bottom, you can tell it’s not small.”

Saying this, he looked at Meng Qianzi: “Please prepare some tools for me. I’m going down to investigate.”

Meng Qianzi’s face darkened. The words “You’re dreaming” almost burst from her lips, but she restrained herself, giving him face in front of so many people.

She said, “Let’s talk in private.”

After speaking, she took the umbrella Pi Xiu was holding for her and strode away. Jiang Lian followed with his umbrella. After walking some distance, Meng Qianzi suddenly stopped, turned around, and said stiffly: “No, it’s not possible, I don’t agree.”

Jiang Lian felt he might have a bit of a masochistic tendency: usually, when others spoke to him gently, he never had any special feeling, but when she spoke so harshly, he actually felt comfortable and inclined to obey.

Meng Qianzi maintained a stern expression: “If casualties have already occurred, then they must be limited to just ‘one’—him. I also want to save him. If he were struggling at the entrance now, I would use every method to rescue him—but now, there’s no movement down there, nothing can be seen, he might have already been devoured, and that creature is still lurking below… No one is allowed to go down. Until the advanced equipment arrives, no one is allowed to go down.”

Jiang Lian said, “If it wasn’t Shen Gun who went missing, but your First Mother, would you also wait here for equipment? Tell the truth.”

Meng Qianzi was silent for a moment, then said: “If it were my First Mother, I would want to go down a thousand times more, but I would be even less able to go down—with an elder gone, the Mountain Ghost sect’s burden would be on my shoulders. I would wait for equipment, but I wouldn’t refuse a suicide squad. If any mountain dweller volunteered knowing the mortal danger, I would agree.”

Jiang Lian said, “Good.”

He continued: “First, I’m not part of the Mountain Ghost sect, so I don’t have to follow your orders; second, I volunteer to be Shen Gun’s suicide squad.”

Meng Qianzi’s chest heaved violently. She stared at Jiang Lian, saying “good” twice.

After that, she left Jiang Lian, turning to walk away. Midway, she shouted: “Road Three Bright!”

Road Three Bright jumped in surprise and responded loudly: “Here!”

“Provide him with whatever he asks for, assist him as much as possible on the ground. Below ground, his life is in his own hands.”

The Mountain Ghost sect’s equipment on this trip was limited, and Jiang Lian couldn’t ask for much more. He only requested a Mountain Ghost basket and asked the mountain dwellers to set up a simple pulley. This way, if he encountered danger, he could tug the rope three times from below, and the mountain dwellers could quickly pull him up.

While waiting, he went to find Meng Qianzi again. She was sitting in the rain shelter built by the night watchmen earlier, her body language clearly saying, “keep away.” Sensing his approach, she quickly turned to the side, averting her face.

Since she hadn’t covered her ears, she could still hear. Jiang Lian crouched at the edge of the rain shelter: “Qianzi, I’m not trying to defy you.”

Meng Qianzi didn’t move.

“I’m taking a gamble. Shen Gun has a 50% chance of being dead and a 50% chance of being alive. If he’s alive, the timing of the rescue is crucial—one day earlier, one hour earlier, or even fifteen minutes earlier could make a huge difference.”

“You can’t go down. If you do, those mountain dwellers, willing or not, would have to risk their lives going with you. Among everyone here, I’m the most suitable to go down, and I have ample reason: I’m searching for the box for Meiying. This life can be sacrificed for her, and Shen Gun is key to this whole matter. If he’s gone, relying solely on Meiying sprinkling some blood at Kunlun Mountain probably won’t work.”

“So finding Shen Gun is partly friendship, self-interest. Saving him means saving Meiying. If I lose my life, it would be lost while helping Meiying find the box, fulfilling my promise to her and Master Gan.”

“In short, I’ll be extremely careful. I still want to go down to Suspended Gallbladder Peak Forest with you in the future and feed those little white monkeys.”

After speaking, he looked up at Meng Qianzi, but she still hadn’t moved.

Jiang Lian sighed: “Alright, I’m going. If something happens to me, I’ll remember that the last thing I saw of you was this beautiful… back of your head.”

After speaking, he stood up and walked away. After a few steps, sensing something, he instinctively looked back.

This time, it wasn’t the back of her head.

Meng Qianzi was staring at him fiercely, saying irritably: “Saying so much, being so fussy—did I stop you from going? Didn’t I order people to help you?”

Yes, she had allowed it and ordered people to help…

Jiang Lian said, “I thought you were going to tell me to be extra careful.”

The simple pulley was set up at the edge of the broken coffin for descent, but the control points were at the pit wall, and the two operating mountain dwellers were also tied with ropes—this way, if something happened, they could desperately pull Jiang Lian up, and the people above could desperately pull them.

Meng Qianzi stood at the edge of the pit, watching Jiang Lian descend inch by inch. The words “Be careful” hovered on her lips and in her throat, but she never found the opportunity to say them before Jiang Lian completely disappeared below.

Her hand tightly gripped the edge of her clothes, twisting them repeatedly in her palm. Suddenly, she asked Road Three Bright beside her: “Not sending people down to rescue Shen Gun—am I… too cold-blooded?”

Road Three Bright somewhat guessed her feelings and quickly replied: “Not at all. Forcing people to go down would be irresponsible. That creature is so large, and we only have shovels and daggers… Besides, this is underground, in water, not the Mountain Ghost sect’s territory. If we forced our way in, who knows what might happen?”

Meng Qianzi looked around but remained silent.

If, if she didn’t have so many people with her, she would want to go down too.

Upon entering the coffin’s bottom, there was an oppressive feeling, and the darkness was even more intense. The water below, however, reflected extremely bright light.

Jiang Lian held his breath, slowly raising his flashlight to look around.

How to describe it? The coffin seemed embedded in the ceiling. After breaking through, there was a room-sized space below, but this room was circular, with numerous passages in the surrounding walls leading to unknown destinations…

Jiang Lian didn’t have time to examine it closely, as his flashlight suddenly stopped on the circular wall directly opposite.

There were densely packed inscriptions carved on it.

And the first three characters at the beginning of the first line were “Duan Wenxi.”