Chapter 285 - 286: Black Lake in the Cave
Calculating the time, their visit had lasted at least half a day, but what puzzled Zhu Minglang was that this time Nan Yu Suo didn’t come running up to him furiously to question him…
Ever since Li Xinghua woke up, Nan Yu Suo had been deeply worried that Zhu Minglang might harbor ill intentions towards her sister.
After all, if one were to discuss from the perspective of physical contact, in Nan Yu Suo’s eyes, Zhu Minglang, that big lecher, had already succeeded once, so it was very possible that he might use that as a pretext to commit the act again.
Whenever Zhu Minglang was alone with Li Xinghua, Nan Yu Suo would become anxious, as if in her mind, her sister, being gentle and inclined to accommodate others, would definitely be taken advantage of by someone as cunning as Zhu Minglang!
Strangely enough, they had been gone for so long this time, yet Nan Yu Suo didn’t show any suspicion.
“Young Master,” Li Xinghua gently tugged at Zhu Minglang’s sleeve, then called out softly in a tender and beautiful voice.
Zhu Minglang noticed that Li Xinghua pointed at the sky, where the sun was rising in the east and the morning glow was slowly infiltrating the long clouds…
“We’ve been gone for a whole day?” Zhu Minglang exclaimed in surprise.
Had time passed that quickly?
No wonder Nan Yu Suo stopped worrying. It was pretty much an overnight stay just the two of them, so probably everything that could be done had been done. There was nothing left to warn against.
“We’ve only been away for a little while,” Li Xinghua said, sounding annoyed.
What kind of understanding was that?
Why did Zhu Minglang sometimes seem so simple-minded?
“Oh, oh, so you mean when we entered the ruins, time on the outside didn’t flow,” Zhu Minglang said.
“Yes, fascinating,” Li Xinghua replied with a hint of a smile, as if she had uncovered a great secret of the world, her eyes bright as the silver moon.
The Ancient Ruins, merely stepping into a corner of it had brought Zhu Minglang such rewards. If he were to enter the heart of the true ruins, who knew what kind of adventures might await!
Zhu Minglang too was looking forward to it. He planned to keep an eye on the Mourning Dragon’s activity, perhaps he could find another entrance to the ruins.
“Song Luo, where exactly is the source of water for Pear Blossom Gully?” Zhu Minglang asked.
Starting from the source of the water, they could ensure the detoxifying abilities of the resin would purify all the mountain streams. He believed that other villages in Pear Blossom Gully were also facing a lack of drinkable water. Resolving this problem first would help alleviate the crisis throughout the entire gully.
“The source is in the cave, most of Pear Blossom Gully’s water flows from the cave river. In those complex caverns, many rock crystals are washed out by the turbulent river then mixed with mud and pebbles into our ravine, and our clan survives by catching these gemstones in the river,” Song Luo explained.
Streams glistening with gemstones.
Pear Blossom Gully was indeed a place rich with resources.
But even a vast wealth could hardly buy the peace and quiet they longed for.
“I have some detoxifying resin that can neutralize the poison, but there is only so much available. Now that most of the streams in Pear Blossom Gully are polluted, to completely purify the water source, this detoxifying resin must be placed at the very origin of the water. Does your village have anyone who is very familiar with the cave, who can at least lead me to the main artery of the river?” Zhu Minglang said to Song Luo.
“That might be difficult. The cave is dark and complex, and the tunnels have eroded due to the underground river, connecting everywhere and becoming like a sunless cave maze. We don’t even know where the true source is,” Song Luo said with a sense of bitter helplessness.
Zhu Minglang also rubbed his temples, a headache starting to form.
If they couldn’t find the source, they could only purify the streams of one or two villages for the time being…
Although Zhu Minglang had planned to make his way to Stone Village and eliminate the Mourning Dragons there, he couldn’t guarantee that there weren’t other Mourning Dragon groups in Pear Blossom Gully. To settle down Pear Blossom Gully, the problem had to be solved at its root.
Zhu Minglang and his companions couldn’t stay in Pear Blossom Gully indefinitely. Pear Blossom Gully still needed to rely on its own strength to contend with these Mourning Dragons, but once the water source was contaminated, it was as if all the guards in all the villages of Pear Blossom Gully were paralyzed.
Purify the water source.
Exterminate the largest group of Mourning Dragons.
Or kill the supreme leader of the Mourning Dragons.
That was what Zhu Minglang could do for Pear Blossom Gully.
The rest was still up to the people of Pear Blossom Gully themselves, their defense teams, patrol teams, hunting teams…
“I… I might know where the source of the river in the cave is,” the girl from Stone Village said in a small voice.
She had been keeping her eyes shut as if she were sleeping soundly, but in fact, she couldn’t sleep at all. She had listened to everything that was being said, and after hesitating for a while, she spoke up.
“Girl, how could you possibly know about that kind of river deep within the cave?” Song Luo said.
Their village’s finest mountaineer couldn’t even find the source of the cave’s river; how could a tender young girl who had probably never even done farm work know such a thing? Wasn’t her claim vexing?
“Let her speak,” Li Xinghua interrupted Song Luo’s sarcasm.
“There was someone who fell into a ravine, and he spoke to me. He said that in the big mountains of Pear Blossom Gully, there lies a Black Lake in the Cave, with its bottom covered in all sorts of gemstones. He was trapped in the Black Lake for a very long time until a landslide caused by heavy rain collapsed part of the cave rock, and he finally managed to leave the Black Lake in the Cave,” the girl said very cautiously.
“Where is this person now?” Zhu Minglang asked eagerly.
“In the graveyard behind our village. He said he was afraid of water, hated water, water that had rotted everything he had. When I laid him to rest in the earth, he told me the secret of the Black Lake’s treasure,” the village girl confessed timidly, her light purple eyes reflecting her great unease.
Every time she spoke of such things, people would curse her for being sick.
So, she was scared right now.
Scared that she, a girl who knew nothing and could do nothing, might be causing more trouble.
“Don’t tell me, was it a corpse washed down from the river that told you all this?” Song Luo sneered.
“Yes… it was!” the girl said, looking at the others. Her small oval face was pale, beads of sweat permeating her skin, but she still bit her lip and mustered the courage to continue, “I can talk to the deceased, ever since I was old enough to understand.”
“I should have told the chieftain, patrol people who came back had lost their souls, should have insisted, shouldn’t have hidden away because they mocked me, belittled me. Then our village wouldn’t have, wouldn’t have…”
Zhu Minglang looked at the girl he had rescued from a pile of dead bodies, somewhat surprised.
To be able to talk to the dead?
What kind of ability was that?
“She is a Yin Spirit Necromancer; she’s not lying. Some deceased beings’ spirits linger in the human world for a long time, these spirits are known as yin spirits. Very few people can see these yin spirits, and even fewer can communicate with them,” Li Xinghua explained.