Case Closed!

Jiang Lu walked up the stone steps. They felt like they were a thousand layers high, and by the time she reached the top, she was drenched in sweat.

After casting a Body-Cleansing Spell on herself, she stepped into the cave.

The cave entrance was about one story high and circular. As she walked inside, the passage gradually narrowed.

Eventually, it was only wide enough for two people to pass through. By the very end, Jiang Lu had to squeeze through sideways. Her lips twitched slightly. Was this place not meant for cultivators to enter? Even among cultivators, she was considered on the shorter side.

After a while, the ground became increasingly damp and covered in moss, making it a bit slippery to walk on.

Jiang Lu supported herself against the wall, carefully observing her surroundings.

The passage widened once more, and stalactites hung from the ceiling, dripping with water.

The cave was pitch-black, with only the sound of water dripping from the stalactites. No information was carved onto the stone walls on either side, making it look unlike a cultivator's dwelling.

Suddenly, Jiang Lu sensed an aura heading toward her. She immediately swung the sword in her hand forward. A gust of wind blew past, and several pairs of red eyes appeared high up on the stone walls.

They were hanging upside down from the stone walls, their wings slightly spread in an offensive posture. The red light in their eyes was filled with greed.

Jiang Lu stopped in her tracks and looked up. As her gaze locked with theirs, she furrowed her brows tightly.

Blood bats—

They were Tier Three demon beasts, highly venomous, and lived by sucking the blood of living creatures.

Youmeng had once mentioned that her blood smelled very sweet, which was why it had chosen her as its master.

Blood bats had a sensitive sense of smell, so she had likely ended up on their menu.

These blood bats had to be thoroughly eradicated. None could be left alive. Otherwise, if her scent remained here, their offspring would be able to find her by tracking it.

Her body was suddenly enveloped in flames, with several fireballs continuously orbiting around her.

Blood bats feared fire, so this would serve as a slight deterrent.

Then, Qianming swung out arcs of fire blades, and the temperature inside the cave gradually rose.

Upon seeing this, the blood bats swiftly flew toward Jiang Lu, letting out piercing screeches from their mouths.

Jiang Lu blocked her senses. The blood bats' screeches were ear-splitting; if she wasn't careful, she could easily be disoriented by their cries.

The cave was too narrow to fight comfortably. After a few rounds of maneuvering, she cut down the last bat. Seeing the several carcasses on the ground, she swept them into her space.

Blood bats carried a potent poison that could be used to brew toxins—toxins that had no antidote and took effect rapidly.

As she walked, she quietly examined the surrounding cave. She didn't encounter any more blood bats along the way, which puzzled her. How could there only be a few of them?

However, the cave was empty and smooth, with no nests to be seen. It indeed did not look like a place where bats would live.

Other cultivators: Are a few Tier Three demon beasts not enough? Do you want to run into a whole swarm? This is absolute madness!

Reaching a certain point, three stone bridges came into view. Behind the stone bridges were three caves, each blocked by a thick stone door.

In front of each stone door stood a stone tablet. Since they were too far away, she couldn't make out the characters carved on them.

The two sides were over a hundred meters apart.

Jiang Lu walked to the edge of the stone bridge and looked down. Below was a pitch-black abyss, but she seemed to catch glimpses of sharp, glinting edges hidden within the darkness.

She took a few steps back and kicked a few stones into the abyss. Even after a long while, she didn't hear the sound of them hitting the bottom.

It was extremely deep.

She looked at the three stone bridges and pursed her lips, her gaze scanning back and forth between them. Her fingertips twitched slightly, and she finally locked her eyes on the rightmost door.

Taking a deep breath, she extended her divine sense outward to confirm there were no anomalies around her before stepping onto the rightmost stone bridge.

The moment she stepped on it, she gathered her wind spiritual energy at her toes, lightly tapping against the stone bridge without shifting her full weight onto it.

Even so, when she was only halfway across after just a few breaths, the stone bridge began to vibrate, and loose gravel continuously tumbled downward.

Jiang Lu's heart skipped a beat. She quickened her pace and dashed toward the opposite side.

The shaking intensified rapidly. In an instant, the stone bridge exploded from the center, shattering into countless fragments that flew in all directions.

Most of the debris plummeted toward the abyss below.

Jiang Lu continuously leaped off the exploding debris, using them as stepping stones to propel herself forward. Only a few more steps!

When Jiang Lu tried to step on the debris ahead again, she found that the stone bridge before her was completely gone. Gritting her teeth, she channeled her spiritual energy into a vine and whipped it toward the opposite bank.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—

It wrapped tightly around the stone tablet.

With a hard tug, her falling body was instantly pulled upward. Performing a few midair flips, she landed steadily on the stone steps.

Sensing the disappearance of her figure, a pair of pitch-black eyes in the abyss violently lashed a tail, kicking up a splash of water before sinking back into the depths in frustration.

She let out a long breath and patted her chest to calm her racing heart.

She had almost fallen. When the stone bridge broke, a strange gravitational pull from below had tried to drag her down.

Fortunately, she possessed a wood spiritual root and knew this particular spell; otherwise, she would have been in grave danger.

Who said mixed spiritual roots were bad? Though they were chaotic, didn't they offer more variety?

She walked forward and looked at the stone tablet in front of the door.

Engraved on it were the words: Second Chamber of the Inscription Manor.

It was once one of the treasure troves of a major power. The cave was fraught with danger, requiring a group of cultivators who collectively possessed all five elements of the five-elements spiritual root—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—to enter.

There were over a hundred treasure chambers, but only a few contained actual opportunities; the rest were entirely empty. This chamber happened to be one of the few that held treasures.

After reading the introduction, Jiang Lu curled her lips into a smug smile.

She knew that learning more was always the right choice. Look at her now, doing the work of five people all by herself and successfully reaching the end.

She bypassed the stone tablet and walked up to the stone door, which had five protruding crystals on it.

She channeled her five-elements spiritual energy into them. The crystals on the stone door burst into light, which quickly swirled and transformed into flowing streams, filling the patterns engraved on the door.

An octagram pattern was revealed, with what seemed to be the shape of a bird in the center. Jiang Lu didn't recognize it, but she unconsciously committed it to memory.

The door slowly opened with a harsh, grinding noise. With a wave of Jiang Lu's hand, the interior was fully revealed.

All kinds of natural treasures were neatly arranged inside. Jiang Lu extended her divine sense to cover the entire room.

“Squeak, squeak—”

Mengbao gripped the pouch with both paws, poking half its head out. Staring at the scene before it, it swallowed hard.

Before Jiang Lu could even react, Mengbao's figure flickered, and it vanished from the pouch.

Having long grown used to this, Chi Li and Cang Chen also scrambled out of the pouch.

They were just about to go pick some treasures for themselves, but in the next instant, all the treasures vanished right before their eyes.

They exchanged bewildered glances, then turned to look at Jiang Lu.

Mengbao, who had been hugging a demon core, suddenly fell to the ground, landing flat on its stomach right on top of the core.

Its eyes were filled with sheer terror. Where did all my treasures go?

It then turned its head to look at Jiang Lu, only to see her looking completely calm, though the corners of her mouth were curling upward in an uncontrollable grin.

Case closed!