After the Immortal Disappeared

Chapter 136: Chapter 137: Scraping Up the Last of the Assets

’So this was the master of the Cave Mansion, the so-called Immortal?’ At least in death, he looked no different from a mortal. His desiccated skin clung to his withered bones, his features long since unrecognizable, let alone possessing any immortal-like grace.

The clothes on his body consisted of wide robes and flowing sleeves, a style clearly meant to be elegant. Though not made of silk or satin, the fabric was exceptionally smooth, and he couldn’t identify the material. Yet when Hee Lingchuan reached out and gave it a tug, it ripped.

’Why is everything here as flimsy as paper?’

The young man stood up and did a full sweep of the place, inside and out. He discovered that the master of this Cave Mansion was truly destitute and hadn’t left a single valuable thing behind.

He returned to the cushion and saw that the skeleton was in a standard seated posture. Its right hand was clenched into a fist, with only the index finger pointing toward the ground.

’The ground?’

He swept aside the thick layer of dust and saw several hundred characters neatly carved into the floor tiles. They looked as if they had been etched with a fingertip.

’Is this the master’s final testament?’ He must have known that no other medium could withstand the ravages of time, so he had simply carved it into the black stone floor for greater permanence.

Unfortunately, though the calligraphy was elegant, Hee Lingchuan couldn’t understand most of it.

After a moment’s thought, he took out some paper, laid it over the inscription, and brushed it with ink. Peeling it off, he had a successful rubbing. ’Just because I can’t read it doesn’t mean no one can,’ he thought. ’When I get to Xiazhou or the National Capital, I can find a few old scholars to decipher this puzzle.’

He carefully put the rubbing away. Just as he was about to get up, the Divine Bone Necklace suddenly grew hot, pulsing with a heat that nearly scalded him.

’What does that mean? Is there something else here?’

Hee Lingchuan froze and scanned his surroundings again.

Nothing had changed. Everything was just as dilapidated and decrepit as before.

This time, however, he noticed a black ring on the pinky finger of the Cave Mansion master’s left hand. It had been hidden under a sleeve and had gone unnoticed before.

”Forgive my rudeness,” Hee Lingchuan said, bowing to the skeleton before carefully sliding the ring off its finger.

It was a Black Jade Ring, simple in style and without any adornments. However, when he tried to probe it with his Divine Thought, he couldn’t help but gasp in amazement.

It was a Storage Ring, and the space inside was huge, equivalent to a room of seventeen or eighteen square meters.

To say that the ring itself was worth a fortune would be no exaggeration. Most modern Storage Spaces were considered excellent if they had one or two cubic meters of capacity. The one Hee Lingchuan currently wore was nearly full after stowing just two low wooden tea tables, so he could typically only use it for small, valuable items. Even storing food and fresh water felt like a waste of space.

’With a treasure like this, it’s like carrying a small warehouse around with me.’

The space was currently filled with various miscellaneous items, including a stack of Jade Scrolls. These objects were only about as long as an index finger and resembled bookmarks. In the tales of Immortals that Hee Lingchuan had heard, they appeared almost as frequently as Magical Treasures.

It sounded like these things were the hard drives of the Immortal Era, capable of storing vast amounts of information. But when he actually held them in his hands and eagerly inspected them, he discovered the Jade Scrolls were all blank.

’Of course.’ Without the nourishment of Spiritual Qi, any information stored inside would be lost over time. Hee Lingchuan was disappointed; he had hoped to find Divine Techniques or Cultivation Techniques left behind by the Immortal.

It seemed nothing in this world could withstand the ravages of time. Immortals and their Cave Mansions were no exception.

He walked out of the small courtyard and wandered around.

The ”Cave Mansion” covered an area of about seven to eight hundred square meters. The rock formations were steep and imposing; with plants and flowing water, he imagined the scenery would have been quite beautiful. Unfortunately, it was now just a bare, desolate mountaintop.

A gray fog churned around the Cave Mansion, making it impossible to see what lay beyond.

Hee Lingchuan climbed over a ridge, approached the gray fog, and poked at it with a branch.

At first, the branch met no resistance, but the deeper he pushed, the more solid the fog became. The sensation was like poking a thick cotton quilt with a finger; eventually, he couldn’t push through at all.

’This must be the boundary of the Cave Mansion.’

His tour of the Immortal Cave Mansion was over, and he headed back the way he came. The brief expedition was ending, and Hee Lingchuan felt deeply disappointed. ’But this place was discovered by the Spirit Turtle first, then visited by the Crocodile Demon,’ he mused. ’I have no idea how many visitors have been here before me, so it only makes sense that the Cave Mansion is completely empty.’

He was just about to walk out of this so-called ”Cave Mansion” when the Divine Bone Necklace grew hot again.

’Is there still something valuable here?’

Hee Lingchuan had no choice but to turn around and walk back.

If he walked too far in one direction, the necklace would heat up as if growing anxious. The closer he got to the center of the Cave Mansion, the calmer it became.

Finally, Hee Lingchuan arrived at the edge of the dried-up pool. ’Here?’

Only when he stood here did the Divine Bone Necklace remain quiet.

’What now?’

There were only stones and sandy soil here, without even a wisp of wind. Besides himself, everything was completely still.

Using his Broken Blade as a shovel, Hee Lingchuan dug at the ground a few times, only to find the sandy soil was incredibly hard. An ordinary sword likely wouldn’t even be able to chip it.

’It doesn’t look like anything is buried here.’

’This digging is just stupid,’ Hee Lingchuan thought. He decided to simply unfasten the Divine Bone Necklace and press it against the ground.

’You’re the one who likes this spot, right? So you figure it out.’

He was growing impatient, but to his surprise, the moment the Divine Bone Necklace touched the ground, it began to sink in as if it had fallen onto the surface of water.

He lost his grip for a second, and it vanished beneath the surface.

”Hey!” he cried in alarm. ’If that thing can’t come back up on its own, I’m in for a huge loss!’

He proceeded to dig three feet down, but there was no sign of the Divine Bone Necklace. There wasn’t even a hole where it had entered the ground.

Fortunately, after a few dozen breaths, just as Hee Lingchuan was growing frantic, the necklace popped back out on its own, glowing brilliantly with red light. It was impossible to know what it had encountered underground.

The moment he picked up the necklace, he heard a muffled, unusual sound.

It sounded like a human spine snapping, or a thick vine breaking, but magnified dozens of times over.

Immediately after, cracks began to appear in the ground, growing in number and depth. Small pebbles started to fall from high above.

Hee Lingchuan knew at once that this strange phenomenon had to be related to the Divine Bone Necklace. He turned and bolted for the exit.

The ground trembled so violently he could barely stand.

Pausing at the entrance for one last look, he saw the Immortal’s house and the cliff it stood on collapse, plunging into the endless gray fog below.

Hee Lingchuan didn’t dare to watch any longer and leaped out.

His vision went dark for a moment, and he found himself back in the pitch-black cavern.

With a sharp CRACK, the coconut-sized shell at his feet shattered into pieces.

The sound startled the other two beings. The Crocodile God and Wu Shaoyi looked over at the same time. ”What happened?”

Hee Lingchuan reached back and pressed against the stone wall. It was completely solid.

Where there had been an entrance moments ago, there was now only solid rock.

”I think the Cave Mansion is gone.”

The other two were startled. The Crocodile God asked him, ”What did you do?”

Hee Lingchuan lied without batting an eye. ”I didn’t do anything. I just took a look around and came back out.”

He even asked the Crocodile God, ”What do you think could be the reason?”

”I don’t know.” The Crocodile God didn’t seem to care. After all, the place had been empty; there was nothing inside.

Only Hee Lingchuan knew that the Divine Bone Necklace must have done something inside the Cave Mansion.

Wu Shaoyi, who was injured, could only stare at him hopefully. ”Was it really an Immortal Cave Mansion?”