Chapter 43: The Beast Skin Monster

I didn’t understand where my unease came from, and Ru Xue had clearly said that she would tell me the whole truth after we got out, but there was a hidden thread in my heart that was pulling me, pulling me towards the huge black hole of unease.

I was afraid that I couldn’t even maintain the appearance of calmness, and I couldn’t help but ask Ru Xue to tell me what was going on with her right now. But at that moment, the old ghost Wu floated back and said, “Cheng Yixiaogele, there is a lamp. Go light it.”

I was about to get up, but Cheng Xin stood up and said, “Chengyi, you stay with Ruoxue for a while. I’ll go with Lao Wu to light the lanterns.”

Listening to Ru Xue’s breathing, I was still so uneasy. I nodded and said only one sentence: “Be careful.”

So, Ru Xue, I, and Old Zhang waited quietly in the dark. It was less than a minute before the first lamp lit up with a warm yellow light, followed by the second, the third…

As the lights came on, Ru Xue’s breathing gradually calmed down. It was a wonderful experience. In the silence of the darkness, in the uneasy mood, slightly irritable and lost, the feeling of watching the lights come on and hoping to recover little by little…

“Ruxue, no matter what happens, I’ll be there for you,” I said firmly to Ruxue. The lights brought me peace and hope, and I wanted to bring that same feeling of determination to Ruxue.

Ruxue didn’t respond to me at first, but after a long time, she said, “Chengyi, nothing is hopeless, it’s just a matter of choice. You have to believe in me, I will become very strong, very strong.”

I didn’t quite understand what she meant, but I absolutely believed that she would be strong. I looked at Ru Xue, and her eyes were no longer confused and uneasy, but instead, they were flashing with an unusual kind of resolute strength and determination. Then she gently left my embrace, and suddenly she became the calm, indifferent Ru Xue again.

This change made me feel a strange feeling, but it was always a good change, right? I tried to think of everything in a positive way, but then I heard Wu Laogui shout, “There’s a big light on top. I’ll light it. I’ll do it.”

Then came the voice of Brother Chengxin: “Can you do it?”

“Nonsense, I’m an old ghost who has lived for hundreds of years. It’s absolutely fine to touch a lighter. I’ll do it.” Wu Lao Gui said with a little bit of arrogance.

It is common knowledge that a spirit cannot affect matter, but if a spirit has undergone training and has particularly concentrated spiritual power, it can slightly affect matter, that is to say, it can lift relatively light objects.

This is not strange. It is like the human body’s supernormal capabilities, using mental power to move matter!

However, Wu Laogui still has this ability, which shocked me. Generally speaking, the more resentment a spirit has, the more powerful it is. However, the concentration of spiritual power is a path of ghost cultivation. Could it be that Wu Laogui was not talented in life, but still has the talent of ghost cultivation after death?

Just as I was thinking about this, the old ghost Wu had already floated up and started to light the large lamp hanging from the ceiling. I saw the lighter light up again and again, and finally, the large lamp was completely lit.

With the cooperation of the headlights and wall lamps, the entire space finally became completely bright, and even the substantial darkness was driven out. I had been uneasy before, after all, as Xue said, this darkness was caused by the breathing of the black worms. I was afraid that if the space became a little brighter, I would see many sleeping worms, but in fact, there were none. This was just a huge, gorgeous stone room, unusually clean, with very little dust, let alone any strange worms.

Chengxin Ge returned to me, and Wu Laogui also floated back and asked me, “Chengxin Ge, I feel like this is a big bedroom. It’s not possible to build a bedroom underground.”

Wu Laogui was right. It was very large, probably two or three hundred square meters. In fact, it really did look like a bedroom. I could clearly see a beautifully carved dressing table with a huge bronze mirror on it, as well as a beautiful stone bed with a curtain hanging over it. However, the curtain looked rotten and fragile, and I was afraid that it would break apart if I touched it. There were also some miscellaneous objects. Everything indicated that this was a bedroom, and it was a woman’s bedroom.

“As I suspected, we’ve broken into a guy’s lair, but it’s a long time ago,” I whispered.

“Yes, they should be underground. The cultivation route is different.” Cheng Xin Ge also said so. Cultivators need to practice a breath of internal energy, which is the foundation that supports everything. However, humans need spiritual energy, while demons need moonlight and yin energy for cultivation. Because they can withstand it, a long time ago, there were pure yin energy concentrations underground, unlike now, which is not as difficult to find. It is not strange for the lair to be underground.

I was talking to Brother Chengxin when Old Zhang asked nervously, “What kind of creature has its lair underground?”

I patted Lao Zhang on the shoulder, said nothing, and followed the route. If we were going to see the truth after all, I couldn’t keep comforting Lao Zhang and telling him it wasn’t true. He would collapse after seeing it for real.

I was silent, and Old Zhang nervously licked his lips, while Old Wu followed Brother Chengxin and began to look around, trying to find something valuable. After all, this was a long-ago demon, and it was only natural to go into its lair and look for something valuable.

But in fact, it was clear at a glance that Brother Chengxin didn’t find anything. It was the curtain hanging on the huge stone bed that really broke apart as soon as it was touched, as I had expected, revealing the inside of the stone bed.

The stone bed was not covered with sheets, pillows, or quilts like a human bed, but was simply a smooth surface. However, when he looked at the surface of the bed, Brother Chengxin let out a “huh,” and then picked up something.

It was a rolled-up thing, a thick stack, which looked like animal skin. Cheng Xin Ge gestured for us to come over, and then opened the roll in front of all of us.

The hide was even bigger than I had imagined. When it was spread out, it almost took up half of the stone bed. It was about two meters long and more than one meter wide, but I didn’t know what kind of hide it was tanned from. In short, it was a very thin but tough layer.

It was densely covered with writing. We shone a flashlight on it and thought it was writing at first, but on closer inspection, we realized that the squiggly things were not at all the writing we were familiar with.

My master taught me a lot of ancient characters when I was young, and I even recognize some very rare ones, but I don’t recognize any of the characters on this animal skin.

How could we be willing to give up? Ever since we entered the underground, we have always felt mysterious and dangerous. We still dare not say that our lives are safe. We have finally obtained a huge clue that may be related to our lives. How could we give up so easily?

So, Chengxin and I discussed it while looking at it. He is no worse than me in terms of knowledge in this area, so only the two of us can slowly study it. There is plenty of time for this operation, so sharpening the knife is no mistake, and we don’t care about this little time.

Ru Xue watched me and Cheng Xin Ge discuss quietly. Old Zhang didn’t understand, so he simply stepped aside, took out a bag of compressed biscuits, and slowly ate them. Old Wu had been bored for a long time and floated over to Old Zhang and started chatting with him.

After about 10 minutes, Brother Chengxin suddenly shouted, “Chengyi, I see a way out. We’re going in the wrong direction.”

“What?” Looking at the surprised look on Chengxin’s face, I knew that this matter was in order.

“Silly, we have always studied these symbols as words, so naturally we can’t study anything. How can there be words written in piles? This is a simplified sketch, a simplified sketch!” Chengxin said loudly and excitedly.

As soon as he said that, I quickly looked at it carefully and discovered that it was really a simplified diagram, as he said, with one picture after another, each expressing a different content. It was not at all what we had thought it was, a bunch of strange symbols huddled together, followed by another bunch of strange symbols huddled together.

Since we recognized that it was a simplified drawing, it was much easier to interpret, but the meaning of this simplified drawing seemed to be specious, and it was not easy to interpret it all accurately.

At least, it took several more minutes before Chengxin and I were able to decipher the first picture. The meaning of the picture made Chengxin and I laugh and cry at the same time. Translated into words, it means that a long time ago, in this forest, a little fox was born.

What is this? The beginning of a fairy tale?

But before Chengxin and I could say anything, a low humming sound suddenly came from the stone chamber. It was low and depressing, and the sound was close, but it was as if it was coming from somewhere else.

Chengxin and I looked at each other. We had heard this sound before, when Ruoxue knocked down the first pair of enchanting stones.