Chapter 47: A Narrow Road Encountering a Cave

Cang Ming and Wei Ci exchanged a glance and walked side by side into the deep underground tunnel. The scene seemed familiar. Cang Ming whispered, "This is not the underground palace from before."

Wei Ci gently pulled her arm and nodded, "Yes, we haven't entered the deep mountains yet. This is not the underground palace in the mountains."

The tunnel spiraled downhill, becoming increasingly steeper as they went. The two men had to hold onto the walls to keep from sliding. After rounding a sharp bend, they saw a man holding a lantern standing in the shadows ahead.

With his previous experience, Cang Ming took one look and said, "It's a painting."

Sure enough, at the end of the tunnel was another stone wall, painted with a brightly colored image of a gatekeeper, also broad and flat, holding a red lantern. A blood-red candle, nestled in the lantern's place, flickered in the wall.

"Looking at their technique, this must be the work of Tian Xinshu and Old Guilian again." Cang Ming squinted at the doorman with disapproval. "What do they think of Tongduo Mountain? How dare they dig holes everywhere like rats?"

Wei Ci's low laugh echoed above her head: "I wonder what the Fairy of Music would look like when she saw this. It's really funny."

Cang Ming was about to shake his head when he saw the doorman painted on the wall with his eyes rolling and his mouth opening and closing as he said, "We are honored to have arrived as distinguished guests. Please come in quickly." As he spoke, the wall suddenly opened up, revealing another winding tunnel, but this time it turned into an uphill road.

After walking up and down like this for an incense stick's worth of time, past four or five doormen, I finally stepped into a stone hall. Inside, there was a desk furnished with all the necessary study supplies, and a treasure cabinet filled with antiques and books. If it weren't for the ghostly red candles on the walls, this would have been a well-decorated study.

The cave was dark and without sunlight. A window was specially painted on the south wall of the stone hall, and the window was painted with the warm water of the spring river and the green willows.

On both sides of the window, gauze curtains hung from high in the air, swaying slowly as if floating in the water. Occasionally, a corner would be lifted, revealing a corner of the hem of a robe on the wall behind the curtain.

Cang Ming originally thought it was another servant boy painted on the wall, but suddenly felt something was wrong: "Be careful!" Before she finished her words, Wei Ci reached out and pulled her behind him.

A bony white hand reached out from behind the curtain and slowly parted the veil. A person walked out slowly, lazily shaking his sleeves and complaining, "This is a private residence. Where are you from? I'm enjoying the view from the window. You're really disturbing my peace."

Cang Ming's face was filled with confusion as he glanced up and down at the strange man observing the scenery in the cave. This strange man was wearing official uniform and a black gauze hat, and his face was extremely blurry. Although his facial features were intact, they were all disjointed and impossible to remember.

Wei Ci snorted coldly. Cang Ming secretly grasped the hilt of his sword and demanded sternly, "Who are you, sir? Where do you work? Why are you hiding in a cave? Could someone have captured you?"

The man covered his face with his sleeves and laughed, "I'm actually... a ghost official from the underworld!" With a whoosh, two sleeves swung out, heading straight for the two men. With two crackling sounds, one sleeve was shattered by Cang Ming's sword, and the other was broken by Wei Ci's wave of his hand.

But the ghost official with a blurry face had disappeared.

Cang Ming and Wei Ci said in unison, "Behind the wall." They smiled knowingly, one wielding a sword, the other a palm strike, and they attacked simultaneously. With a loud bang, the south wall was shattered into pieces, smoke and dust billowing, and rocks crashing down.

Wei Ci brushed away the dust in front of Cang Ming's eyes. No hidden weapons were used as the two of them stepped behind the broken wall. This time, they found themselves in a tea room. Towering screens blocked the bare walls on all four sides, and the room was empty.

Cang Ming tilted his head, and Wei Ci leaned over to listen to her. She whispered in his ear, "That man just now was Old Gui Lian. The sleeve-fighting moves are exactly the same. There's no mistake."

Martial artists use their movements to identify others more accurately than recognizing faces. Without acknowledging his kindness, he said calmly, "He's not dead; his head has grown back. This idiot built a temporary palace not far from the underground palace. How much does he love this place?"

Cang Ming also felt that the two palaces were a little too close and gave an inappropriate laugh. Wei Ci said gently, "General, the next step is up to you."

"If he doesn't dare to fight head-on, then we should just," Cang Ming raised an eyebrow and made a decisive decision, "search the mountain."

With a swish, the four screens collapsed and shattered. Cang Ming slowly withdrew his sword, and Wei Ci slowly withdrew his palm. It turned out that the two of them attacked at the same time, and the sword energy and palm wind shook the screen to pieces.

A timid figure poked its head out from the wreckage of the western screen. Cang Ming glanced around discreetly. The screens here were all soundproof, similar to the ones in the three courtyards of Xiyuan, but these four were even more ornate and tall, completely obscuring the hider.

The man in front of him was not wearing an official uniform, but it was hard to tell whether his face was the same as the one who claimed to be a ghost official. In any case, his facial features were dull and sloppy, with nothing to recommend him.

Before he could fling his sleeves again, Cang Ming thrust his sword straight at his throat. Wei Ci waved his hand, conjuring a rope that tied him up and threw him into the corner. The cave was silent, without a single helper or sign of the real culprit, only to raise suspicions of deception.

Cang Ming shouted, "Old Gui Lian, your disguise skills are very poor." She thought to herself, Wu Lu's disguise skills can at least turn him into a neat and decent face like an ordinary passerby, but Old Gui Lian's disguises are getting uglier with each one.

The ghost official lying on the ground knew that he could not defeat the combined strength of the two, so he explained politely: "You have recognized the wrong person. I am a ghost official, not some lotus flower."

A timid and cold voice suddenly sounded behind him, whispering quietly: "He is Old Ghost Lotus."

Cang Ming felt a chill on his back and turned around abruptly. A shadowy figure huddled against the east wall, supported by the wall, stood up and slowly crawled out from behind the screen.

"You Xiao!" Cang Ming exclaimed in surprise, and immediately ran over to support him. You Xiao was covered in dust, his throat was hoarse, and he looked like he couldn't lift his head: "Master Taoist, it's so embarrassing to say this, I was caught by this old guy halfway."

"Oh, I should have found a way to escort you on board." Cang Ming suddenly felt guilty, "Where's the ghost in the jar?"

"That old fellow disguised himself as a high-ranking official, stopped our boat, and said he wanted to interrogate us. So I actually stopped the boat. How foolish of me!" You Xiao complained indignantly. "Then he captured me and left me and the jar there. I don't think he has good intentions!"

Cang Ming understood what was going on and said apologetically, "I'm so sorry. He probably wanted to take you hostage. I've implicated you."

"That's not true." You Xiao shook his head. "If it weren't for you, Master Daoist, I would have been turned into that thing by the embroidered shoes. You are my savior."

Wei Ci, who was standing beside her, coughed lightly, put his arm around Cang Ming's waist, buried his head in her ear and whispered, "General, I'm jealous."

The warm air tickled his ears. Under the warm hand, a tingling sensation spread from his waist to his entire body. Cang Ming's breathing paused for a moment before he patted his head and said, "No wonder the demon king keeps appearing in the cave. I thought I was seeing things."

"How could my eyes be blurry?" Wei Ci grumbled relentlessly, "Besides me, is there anyone else with such a graceful figure, handsome features, and sharp eyebrows and bright eyes?"

You Xiao looked at the two of them eagerly. Cang Ming's cheeks flushed red, and he quietly pinched Wei Ci's waist. Wei Ci snorted sullenly and finally let go of Cang Ming, his face looking very happy and proud.

"Master Daoist, you two are truly a perfect match!" You Xiao clasped his hands together, excitedly yet anxiously saying, "Let's go quickly, it's getting colder here..."

A layer of white frost silently covered the walls of the cave, the table, and the tea sets. The air in the tea room suddenly became icy cold.

Wei Ci warmed Cang Ming with his body and said lazily, "Someone is coming."

Cang Ming stabbed the soundproof screen lying nearby with a sword. The three of them hid behind the screen, and You Xiao shivered with cold. From inside the screen, one could observe what was happening outside, but from outside, no sound from inside could be heard.

In the distance, there were faint voices coming from the tunnel.

"Your Majesty, watch your step." This was the voice of Deputy General Panmu.

"A distinguished guest has arrived. We are sorry for not welcoming you in person. Please come in quickly." This was the voice of the doorman at the mural.

"What an idiot! How dare you call me a distinguished guest? This is our king!" The deputy general seemed to be scolding the doorman, and then explained to someone, "Your Majesty, these murals will be further improved. In the future, not only will they be able to recognize people, but they will also require a secret order to let people through."

Finally, a sharp and cold female voice asked, "How many levels have you reached?"

It is the voice of Tianxin Shu.

The deputy general replied loudly, "Your Majesty, the underground palace here has ten levels, and the underground palace deep in the mountains has twenty levels. We plan to connect the two underground palaces in the future, so that Your Majesty can travel freely to the bottom of Tongduo Mountain without leaving home!"

After a pause, Tian Xinshu seemed to have suppressed the urge to scold him. He said in a flat voice, "You will go to the southwest first to build the palace. Your contribution is considerable. You will be rewarded with 1,000 taels of gold and five retainers. If there are any soldiers who will accompany you to do hard labor, they will be rewarded with 1,000 taels of silver and two pieces of jewelry."

"Yes! Your Majesty! Thank you! Your Majesty!" The deputy general shouted, "Long live the king! Your Majesty is wise! Your Majesty will surely dominate the three realms—ah!"

The roar of collapse was almost inaudible. The deputy general led Tian Xinshu to the teahouse and found that the wall had been blown open and bricks were flying all over the floor.

Cang Ming looked through the crack in the screen and saw the deputy general stretched out his hand and transformed it into a spear, roaring angrily: "Who is so rash!"

A pair of bright red embroidered shoes slowly walked into the teahouse. Tian Xinshu's magical power was restored, and the snow sculpture's body became tall and powerful again. Its white eyes looked around and sneered, "Isn't it the one tied up in the west?"

The deputy general took a closer look and saw a man huddled in a corner, looking cowardly. He immediately went up to him and picked him up: "Who are you?"

The ghost official's eyes turned around but he didn't answer.

Tian Xinshu stared at him with his snow-white eyes: "Who sent you to rob Tongduo Mountain?"

Behind the screen, Cang Ming was puzzled, unsure whether Tian Xinshu was truly colluding with Old Guilian. She glanced at Wei Ci, who happened to be looking over at her and tilted his head to indicate confusion.

Tian Xinshu seemed to not recognize her biological father. Even if Old Guilian had used a disguise technique, the father and daughter should have understood each other. Cang Ming thought that if Wei Ci changed his appearance, she would probably still recognize him.

"I am a commoner from the southwest. I accidentally came here while mining." The ghost official didn't seem to want to recognize his daughter and pretended not to know her.

"Take it and sell it." Tian Xinshu shook the hem of his robe, sat on the armchair, and picked up the jade teacup casually.

At this time, the doorman announced from afar: "A distinguished guest has arrived. We are sorry for not welcoming you. Please come in quickly."

The three people outside the screen were stunned, and the three people inside the screen were also stunned.

Not long after, a woman rushed in with a thin young man. The woman was holding a round object in her hand. Cang Ming recognized it as Tian Xinshu's monster-detecting compass at a glance.

With a snap, the jade cup fell to the ground and shattered. Tian Xinshu stood up and shouted, "Senior Sister!"