After staying in this cave for a long time, I feel a bit cold and damp. Only when I get close to the burning cauldron can I feel a little more adapted to this feeling. I don’t know how the ancients overcame this problem.

After waiting for a while, I saw that Song Bailu's face became more and more ugly. I also felt a little uneasy, but I couldn't tell why. Maybe it was because of the hallucinations that appeared when I was fetching water from the underground river just now.

Song Bailu put down the documents, thought for a moment, and then threw all the documents into the burning cauldron!

"Hey, Bailu? You!" I rushed to grab it out, but most of it had been burned. I only grabbed some and put out the fire, and then I managed to save some broken fragments.

What's left are just some fragments, which don't connect the previous and the next chapters, and I can't make any sense of anything at all. This makes me very angry.

"These things will disappear if burned, why are you doing this?" I asked.

"Brother Zhou Bo, believe me, I am doing this for everyone's good. What's written here is all nonsense and alarmist. If you read too much, it will definitely undermine our confidence in survival. So, burn it and don't read it anymore." Song Bailu said.

"Even the ancient ferocious beast, the Gu Diao, has appeared before, but we survived it, didn't we? Is it necessary to be so scared?" I asked.

"Believe me, if what is said above is true, then it is definitely a hundred times more terrifying than the appearance of the Gu Diao. But I don't believe it at all. And there is no need to scare us now with something that appeared five hundred years ago, right? What do you think? I am doing this to prevent everyone from being alarmist by rumors. If you think I did something wrong, you can punish me again and beat me with a stick." Song Bailu said seriously.

After hearing what she said, I realized there was really no need to make a big deal out of it. After all, she wasn't doing this for personal gain, so there was no need for me to punish her. Otherwise, it would be like not distinguishing between rewards and punishments, which would be suspected of abusing my power.

"Okay, I trust you, and I'll think of it as doing good for us, but you can't have seen so much and not tell us any intelligence, right? Can you tell us what you can? Who are these people, who ordered them to come here, who gave them the title of 'Dragon Seeker', and what are they looking for here? You can tell us all this, right?" I asked.

She nodded, thought carefully for a moment, and said, "The leader of the team is Li Mufeng, a member of the Jinyiwei, with the rank of deputy captain, and a rank of fifth. The Dragon Seeker is a title privately authorized by the nobles of the Ming Dynasty and tacitly accepted by the royal family. Its function is to find elixirs and treasures. As for who conferred the title, it is not mentioned in the document. It can be seen that this organization is both officially authorized and a secret organization, not a formal organization, so generally speaking, no one knows who conferred the title."

"Since Li Mufeng is a member of the Imperial Guard, was he sent by the emperor?" I asked.

"There is no official document in it, so we can't be sure, but it is very likely that it was dictated by the emperor. This is hinted at in the events recorded in it. What we can understand is that Li Mufeng should have been sent during the Jiajing period." Song Bailu said.

I nodded. It made sense. I heard that Emperor Jiajing was so obsessed with cultivating immortality and refining elixirs that he ignored state affairs. It is not impossible that he secretly organized some people to search for elixirs. This probably explains why there are so many traces of the Ming Dynasty. However, I still have one last question.

"After this organization was sent here, they clearly found the Western Zhou objects they were supposed to find, so why didn't they ship them back to report on their mission?" I asked.

"No, these bronze artifacts were originally in this cave. The people from the Milong Camp only repaired and improved the cave for their own convenience. These are not what they are looking for. What they want is the supreme treasure of this cave. This is roughly what I know. I won't mention the other useless things, okay?" Song Bailu said.

I nodded, but I was also very confused. What could have happened that scared her so much that she threw the paper into the fire and would not stop until it was completely destroyed?

Then I called the Song sisters and told them to keep watch for the night. Originally, we were hiding in the cave, so I thought there was no need to make any arrangements. Outside the cave entrance was a long mountain road that looked like a city wall, and at the end of it was another isolated peak. Its structure was like that of a city wall and a beacon tower. Wild animals could not hide on this straight road.

The wild animals are all at the bottom of the mountain. They cannot climb the steps, nor will they climb them easily, so the night watch can be cancelled. However, Song Bailu's behavior tonight made me worried again, so I still have to make some arrangements. It is better to be safe than sorry.

"Today I will be on the first shift, Bailu you will be on the second shift, Yingchun will be on the third shift, and I will try my best to cover Yunwen's shift as well, so that you can have more rest. Is there any objection to this arrangement?" I asked.

They both shook their heads and went to lie on the animal skin with Yunwen. I was about to start a long night of vigil, but I saw Song Bailu get up and walk around again. Not long after, I saw her close the door on the wall. When she saw me looking at her, she explained, "It will be warmer if the door is closed."

I nodded doubtfully, feeling that something was odd. It was like the feeling I had when I went to fetch water, fuzzy, as if my whole body was being swallowed by darkness. I couldn't explain why, but I just felt uncomfortable.

In the next few days, we started a new busy work. Yunwen was seriously injured and bedridden, so I let her stay in **, occasionally accompanying her to go out for a walk in the sun, and most of the time letting her rest so that her wounds could heal. Bailu helped her fight the rabies virus and heal her wounds every day by decocting medicine, applying herbal medicine, and using hot acupuncture.

In addition, Song Yingchun began to dismantle the wooden tables, saw them shorter, and spliced ​​them together with mortise and tenon techniques so that they could be fully used and used as a wooden bed so that we wouldn't have to sleep on the damp ground every day. She also dug a pit near the cave entrance, found stones and soil, and fetched spring water to build an earth kiln.

This earthen kiln was used to make earthen basins, earthen jars and the like. She had already become proficient in this and was getting better and better at it. Bronze ware certainly had its uses, but they were too bulky and heavy, and it was especially troublesome to get water from them. However, there was a bronze ware called a lei, which was similar to a large wine jar, and could be used to store drinking water.

There happened to be some willow trees nearby. Although Song Yingchun was usually bad-mouthed and a bit lazy, she was well-deserved of the title of handicraft expert. She could weave willow branches into weaving pieces. Soon she made some winnowing baskets, woven baskets and the like, which were enough for us to wash and sift the wheat.

In addition to frequently going to the nearby hills to collect some wild fruits, wild mushrooms and the like to supplement food, I also have to start preparing to make a set of stone mills. Otherwise, I still can't process the wheat. The most I can do is smash it and roast it for consumption, but I can't fully enjoy it. Therefore, before they wash, sift and dry the wheat, I should also go look for suitable stones nearby.

Ordinary stones are not durable. I heard from my uncle in the countryside, who is a stonemason, that we have to choose suitable granite or sandstone. The only place I can think of that has this kind of stone is at the other side of the Huoquan old house, near the shelter from the rain rock. There are a lot of rocks piled up. I guess I have to go there.

After I told everyone about this idea, they were very worried, but they did not object after I convinced them. After all, we have to eat this wheat all the time. We have to plant and eat it in the second half of the year, or even next year. We will need the seeds after eating them for long-term use.

On the fourth day in the cave, I decided to venture out and get some granite.