The inner wall of the deep cave, which is almost vertically downward, is carved with concave points, spiraling down, with only the tip of the toes allowed to point above.
It is difficult to spot under the cover of moss. If Wanyanxi had not been keenly aware, he would have passed by this place.
The ancient sage raised his torch and looked down. The darkness was bottomless.
"You wait here, I'll go down and take a look." Gu Shengchao didn't want Wan Yanxi to follow him into danger.
Wan Yanxi held Gu Shengchao's hand tightly: "We share the blessings and the hardships. I will accompany you down."
"But……"
Gu Shengchao stared at the bottomless hole with some hesitation.
He can wield a sword, but he is not skilled enough and needs a large enough range to control it. Such a small space will inevitably hit walls left and right, and there are unpredictable risks.
The safest way is to keep going.
However, there are shallow grooves on the stone wall that can only be touched by the toes. Only one person can move forward, not two people side by side.
Let Wan Yanxi walk in front, lest she slip and fall and not be protected; let her walk in the back, lest she slip and fall, and still not be able to help in time.
The ancient sage untied the rope he was carrying, and the front end was connected to the flying tiger claw and fixed on the stone wall at the entrance of the cave. He held the rope with one hand and held the torch high, and discussed: "How about I carry you down?"
"OK!"
Wan Yanxi lay on his back without hesitation.
Gu Shengchao just said casually that if the other party didn't agree, he would make other plans. He didn't expect that she would agree so readily.
He pulled the rope hard to make sure it was firm, then slowly released the rope while carrying Wan Yanxi slowly down the cave wall.
The moss is slippery and the grooves are shallow, so you will fall if you are not careful.
It can be seen from this that the people who came in and out through here were very strong and incomparable.
The rope was about to run out and the two reached the bottom.
Gu Shengchao shook the rope gently, and the flying tiger claws fell. He coiled the rope again for reuse next time.
Below is another tunnel that goes straight downwards. It was obviously dug manually, or the original natural cave was widened and raised.
There is only one road with no forks.
After turning a corner, there was another deep hole going vertically downwards, with shallow grooves cut into the inner wall.
Still using the old method, Gu Shengchao fixed it with flying tiger claws, carried Wan Yanxi on his back and pulled the rope down slowly.
This hole was deeper than the first one. One rope was not long enough, so another rope was connected to reach the bottom of the hole.
Going back and forth in this way, we descended five deep caves in succession, and a stone staircase appeared in front of us.
The stone stairs were wet and covered with moss.
The two of them walked down hand in hand, each using their senses to search ahead.
Obviously all of this is artificially repaired, but so far, Gu Shengchao has not found any breath of living things.
As they were about to reach a corner, a strong wind passed by, almost blowing out the torch in Gu Shengchao's hand.
The wind has become stronger.
The surrounding temperature has also become hotter.
He turned sideways to block the torch and exposed his head first to observe the situation behind the corner.
There was light coming in from the end of a square tunnel.
This is not ordinary light, but natural daylight.
The Ancient Sage was overjoyed and let the strong wind extinguish the torch. He took Wan Yanxi's hand and said excitedly: "We are out, we have found the exit."
The two of them trotted out of the cave entrance.
After not seeing the sun for a long time, Gu Shengchao couldn't open his eyes for a while. He got used to the time of a cup of tea before he could open his eyes and appreciate the scenery in front of him.
They went all the way down and should have reached the bottom of the valley.
Different from the desolate early winter scene above, the lower part is lush, with green grass and lush trees.
The weather was sultry and hot, as if it was early summer, and both of them had sweat on their foreheads.
They took off their outer robes to reveal their close-fitting short jackets, and then they both felt comfortable and cool.
"What the hell is this place? It's so hot." Gu Shengchao complained, using his palms as a fan.
Surrounded by towering cliffs, with a hundred miles of flat plains in the middle, the faint sound of running water and the chirping of insects and frogs can be heard in the distance.
It is truly an excellent place for self-cultivation and seclusion.
"Brother Gu, are we out of the mountains?" Wanyanxi's perception range is limited and cannot detect the towering peaks in the distance.
Gu Shengchao told her truthfully: "We are still trapped at the bottom of the valley, surrounded by mountains and cliffs."
He called out the sword and laid it flat on the grass, pulled Wan Yanxi to stand on it and protected it in front of him, and warned: "Stand still, I will show you the different scenery here."
The sword rose slowly, almost reaching the top of the tree.
Gu Shengchao helped Wanyanzi stand firm, and she leaned back naturally, leaning right into Gu Shengchao's arms. Although it is a bit embarrassing for the two of them to do this, it is the safest way. Gu Shengchao can control the sword easily, and Wanyan Xi can stand firmly on it without falling down.
Slowly urging the sword, the two of them flew forward.
Only then did Gu Shengchao discover the reason for the sweltering heat here. It turned out that there were several cracks in the grass, and the hot air kept rising like a steamer, covering the entire valley.
Standing high and looking far, you soon saw a waterfall pouring down from a gap in the cliff and forming a pool of water when it fell to the ground.
The two stood on the sword and passed by the waterfall. Gu Shengchao specially took a handful and poured it on his head to cool down.
In such a humid and hot environment, the water of the waterfall was actually bitingly cold. Gu Shengchao couldn't help but shudder when he was stimulated. He completely gave up the idea of pouring water on his head and hurriedly let go and let the ice water leak out.
The ancient sage looked at it carefully and curiously. The cold water flowed out of the pool, split into several streams and flowed to various cracks in the ground. Unknown how it changed underground, it turned into steam and came up again.
Walking around a forest ahead, two rows of stone houses suddenly appeared. But they have all collapsed, leaving only a few broken stone walls, and the roofs no longer exist.
The ancient sage was surprised and urged the sword to fall.
"Why, there are still people living here?" Wanyanxi also sensed something strange.
"No, it's just a few dilapidated stone houses. People have moved away long ago." Gu Shengchao did not sense the breath of living things.
There were many large and small stones scattered on the ground. Gu Shengchao was afraid that Wanyanxi would trip, so he held the sword in his left hand and pulled her over to check.
The stone houses are basically the same size. Although they are abandoned, you can roughly deduce where the bedrooms are and where the kitchen is.
The two rows of houses were basically dormitories, and only one was used as a kitchen. All cooking utensils were gone. The broken stove and dark walls vaguely told the story of the excitement at that time.
It can be inferred from the remaining dormitories that there were about twenty people living there at most, and they should all be single.
Because everyone's tastes are different and it's difficult to adjust to everyone's tastes, once a family is formed, it will inevitably start anew.
Only bachelors will make do with eating to save trouble, as long as they can eat enough. Anyway, there is no need to cook and wash the pots and pans by yourself, cooking on a stove can be explained.
Gu Shengchao observed carefully, and from time to time used his sword to pick up the broken bricks and rubble to look for it. Unfortunately, he found nothing of value.
The two of them stood on their swords and walked in the air again. Not far from the house was a barren farmland, overgrown with weeds and snakes and insects scurrying inside. If it weren't for the past field ridges where the weeds formed a grid of high and low levels, it would be impossible to tell them apart. out.
Next to the cultivated field is a small forest. A rare open space is exposed in the middle of the forest, with only sparse weeds. It may have been a martial arts training ground in the past.
Continuing to walk with the sword, a big character suddenly appeared on the cliff near the dark side: "Enlightenment".
It was carved directly on the stone wall with a sharp blade. After being eroded by wind and rain, the painting is still simple, vigorous and powerful.
"Can you sense that word?" Gu Shengchao asked casually.
"There is a situation." The two blurted out at the same time.
The two of them have their own differences in perception, but they are both very sensitive to the fluctuations of spiritual energy.
Just now, they sensed obvious spiritual energy fluctuations under the word "Enlightenment".
Gu Shengchao was also surprised. He did not sense the existence of any aura, so where did the fluctuations of spiritual energy come from?
After adjusting the direction, the ancient sage controlled the sword to fall under the word "enlightenment".
When they got closer, they discovered that there was actually a spiritual vein here, which was releasing spiritual energy.
"You go first, you can absorb as much as you can." Gu Shengchao gave way.
Wanyan Xi smiled and said, "Thank you, Brother Gu, for the concession."
She approached the spiritual vein and pressed it with her palm. After a while, the spiritual vein no longer had any spiritual energy and became dim.
"So few?" The ancient sage was surprised. In his impression, spiritual veins generally have huge reserves and contain rich spiritual energy.
They had nothing to do, leaning on the cliff to look into the distance, and found that this was actually the highest point of the entire valley, and they could have an unobstructed view of the valley bottom.
Watching the steam rising from the cracks in the ground and moving in the wind, like a light fairy, Gu Shengchao suddenly realized something.
Isn't that the essence of Fengwu swordsmanship?
The heart moves with the sword, the sword dances at will, and finally the man and the sword become one, reaching a state of doing whatever he wants.
"Let's go!"
Gu Shengchao was about to help Wanyan Xi step onto the sword, but the two of them turned around in surprise.
The spiritual veins that had been exhausted just now are alive again, and the spiritual energy is released again.
Wanyanxi tried to absorb it again, but soon the spiritual veins lost their spiritual energy again.
This time they had experience and waited for a stick of incense for their spiritual veins to recover again.
"Baby!"
The ancient sage couldn't help but sigh, it turns out that this is equivalent to having an inexhaustible spiritual mountain.
After circling the valley floor along the cliff and finding nothing new, Gu Shengchao urged his sword to return to the only clearing surrounded by woods.
After landing, I discovered that the ground was entirely paved with bluestone slabs, with only a few weeds barely growing in the gaps between the slabs.
The ancient sage was puzzled by such a hidden place. He didn't know who lived in seclusion here to practice, and he didn't know why he abandoned this place.
"What does it smell like?" Wanyanxi smelled the fragrance of flowers.
Gu Shengchao raised his head and saw that the woods surrounding the martial arts training ground were all blooming with small golden flowers.
"Is it an acacia tree?" He couldn't be sure, because he had only seen it in the south of the Dawu Dynasty. He was not sure whether it would survive in a bitter cold place like the West Cold Country.
It didn't matter whether it was an acacia tree or not. He thought of Yu Zhenyu's manipulation of the golden Qingluan Armor that night, and said softly: "I would like to borrow Sister Wanyan's Phoenix Dance Sword, is that okay?"
Wan Yanxi said nothing, smiled and called out the sword and handed it to him.
Holding the sword in his hand, Gu Shengchao felt inexplicably excited.
As the true energy was transferred into the sword bit by bit, many light blue mysterious lights appeared on the edge of the Feng Wu sword. Other than that, there were no other changes.
Gu Shengchao doubted his ability:
"Did I use the wrong method?"
