plumnovel #199 - This road is blocked
#199 - This road is blocked
The Otherworld Cave is a forbidden area for newcomers. The academy has rules explicitly prohibiting students from entering during their first year.
Those who violate this rule will be penalized by having to dig up fifty bamboo shoots on Bamboo Path, or work in the academy's fields for three months, or do other chores of equivalent labor. In short, none of it sounds easy.
And the most crucial thing is that no one knows what exactly is inside the Otherworld Cave. Everyone who has entered before remains tight-lipped about it afterward.
However, Lu Jing felt that with his current strength, he should be able to protect himself without too much difficulty.
After all, no matter how mysterious the Otherworld Cave is, it's just one of the Eight Views. Since it's a "View," it shouldn't be too dangerous.
Therefore, after a slight hesitation, Lu Jing felt that this bird could still be rescued.
He had been wandering around Nightingale River Valley for half a day, but still hadn't found his messenger bird. Although there was still one more day, no one could guarantee that if he couldn't find it today, he would definitely find it tomorrow.
Now that a ready opportunity was presented to him, Lu Jing was unwilling to let it go.
Moreover, this gray nightingale seemed to be the messenger of some senior, but the fact that it was nesting here now meant that the senior was likely no longer around.
Although the person was gone, they belonged to the same lineage of the Directorate of Celestial Observations, so it was only right to lend a hand.
Even if the academy really had some punishment later, it should be reduced a lot in the senior's honor.
Therefore, Lu Jing jumped down from the rock wall and said to Yang Tao outside the cave, "Please, Brother Yang, throw my Zen staff back in."
Yang Tao and Xia Huai had naturally heard what Lu Jing had said to the gray nightingale earlier.
Now that they saw him say this, they knew that he had made a choice.
Xia Huai said upon hearing this, "Then I'll go with you, at least there will be someone to look after you."
Saying that, she stepped into the cave without waiting for Lu Jing to answer.
Yang Tao had originally wanted to go with Lu Jing as well, but he was a step slower than Xia Huai and now could only stop. He knew that the three of them couldn't go in together, and at least one person had to stay outside in case the other two encountered danger inside and needed someone to report it.
Lu Jing said to Yang Tao, "In that case, I'll have to trouble Brother Yang to wait here. If the two of us haven't come out before sunset, please go find the academy's professors and tell them what happened here."
"Okay," Yang Tao nodded, "I will guard here until sunset. Be careful inside. If you feel something is wrong, turn back quickly."
After speaking, he went outside and found six wooden sticks about the length of an arm, lit one of them to serve as a torch, and kept the remaining five as spares, throwing them all into the cave.
Lu Jing held the staff in one hand and the torch in the other, leading the way, while Xia Huai carried the other five wooden sticks beside him.
At the same time, the bizarre giant stalagmites around them became more and more numerous. Lu Jing was fine, after all, he had visited several karst caves in his previous life. Although the stalactites there were not as large, they had broadened his horizons.
Although Xia Huai was born into an official family and had a broader perspective than ordinary women, her activities to date had been limited to the places where her father had served as an official, plus the Sword Washing Pavilion where she studied. She had never seen such a magical underground world.
She was stunned all the way, and couldn't help but say, "This… is this the work of some immortal?".
"It's just the dissolution and re-solidification of calcium carbonate," Lu Jing still remembered the tour guide's introduction, rotating the torch to illuminate the surroundings, looking for the shadow of the lost little nightingale, and said, "If there really is an immortal here, his name should be Time, because looking at the height of this stalactite, it wouldn't have grown to this extent in a few million years."
Xia Huai listened as if she understood, but seeing Lu Jing's brow furrowed, she asked again, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong?".
"We have gone deep for a while, and we haven't seen the fledgling yet, which means it didn't run away by itself. Hmm, given the height of the nest from the ground, if it fell from above, it would almost certainly die."
"In this case, something else must have stolen it from the nest, but I have been paying attention to the ground all the way, and apart from us, I haven't seen any suspicious footprints of other animals."
Xia Huai was stunned when she heard this, and was equally puzzled. However, the two had no other clues at this time and could only continue to move forward.
Seeing that the torch in his hand was about to burn out, Lu Jing took another one from Xia Huai and lit it.
The two walked for about a quarter of an hour, during which the terrain had been decreasing, and the sound of rushing water became clearer and clearer.
Lu Jing knew that they should be approaching the underground river, but he didn't expect that at the same time as seeing the river, a tall stone wall appeared in front of them.
There was actually no way to go.
"This… is this the end?"
Xia Huai didn't react for a moment, but soon she noticed that the underground river was rushing towards the stone wall, and it was obvious that they could pass through below.
It was just unknown how deep they needed to dive.
Holding their breath was not difficult for martial arts masters like them. The real trouble was that the torch could not be taken underwater.
And once they lost their light source, the two would be completely blind, making it difficult to figure out the situation underwater, let alone if any sudden situation occurred in the middle.
But Xia Huai still said, "Why don't I go down and take a look first?"
Lu Jing shook his head, "Wait a minute, I always feel like something is wrong… The Eight Views of the academy, I have only seen two, Hanging Sky Watching Fish and Layered Forest Dyeing, but the names of these two views are very appropriate. However, Otherworld Cave… This cave is big, but it doesn't seem to be an otherworld cave."
"Otherworld, Otherworld." Xia Huai's face also showed a thoughtful look, "You have been looking up from time to time along the way, are you trying to find a cave entrance and the sky?".
"That's right," Lu Jing said, "But there isn't a single cave in such a long passage."
"Yes, it seems like we haven't seen the sky above our heads since we walked in from the cave entrance." Xia Huai suddenly paused at this point, and then had a flash of inspiration and a sudden idea.
"What if we turn back now, and when we get close to the cave entrance, can we see the otherworld cave?"