The Pastoral Life of a Cultivation Master

Chapter 3033 The Strange Button
The five people looked at the calm and deep lake, and sighed with emotion. They never expected that there would be such a frustrating lake blocking their way.

"Aunt, can't we use the mountains on both sides of the valley to cross this lake directly?"

Ouyang Ruoxi looked at the valleys and cliffs on both sides. Although the cliffs here seemed to pierce the sky, she thought that with her own strength, she should be able to climb the cliffs and walk directly across from them.

Chen Mo nodded upon hearing this. He had thought of the same thing before, but hadn't said it aloud. He was surprised that Ruoxi brought it up, so he naturally nodded in support.

Ouyang Nan shook his head and said, "We don't know what's on the cliff, and it's too high, plus there are various barriers restricting the valley. So climbing the cliff might be the last resort. We might consider it if there's really no other way. Of course, this is just my idea. Maybe when Elder Qian and the others come, they'll just climb the cliff."

On this point, Ouyang Nan really didn't know what Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing would choose, since everyone has their own ideas. However, for safety reasons, Ouyang Nan thought she would suggest that if they really wanted to climb the cliff, they should find a few people to test it first, so that if they encountered any dangers or other problems on the cliff, they could plan ahead or avoid them.

Of course, when making this suggestion, she would also state directly that the entire expedition team had limited capabilities and would not participate in scouting the cliff ahead of time.

Otherwise, if she had offered her suggestion, Elder Qian Ying might have arranged for the five of them to climb the cliff.

“Captain, how about we build a raft right now and use it to cross this lake? If we encounter any danger in the lake, we can make the raft sturdier and make more paddles so we can quickly paddle back or move forward if we find any danger?” Qian Zhenghao looked at the lake and turned to Ouyang Nan.

Ouyang Nan thought it was worth a try. Anyway, everyone was safe for the time being. There were no attacks from the Red Bees or the Red-lined Bees. Apart from the lack of any signs of life, there was nothing else to see on the lakeside.

To return to the canyon forest, we'd have to wait until nightfall. So, we might as well take advantage of the time now to build a raft and cross the lake. Firstly, we can assess the dangers on the lake, and secondly, we can reach the other side and check the situation there.

Although you can see the opposite shore from the lake, the distance of more than 500 meters only allows you to see some blurry images. It is impossible to see clearly. You can only explore in detail after crossing the lake.

"it is good."

Ouyang Nan was a decisive person. After agreeing, he began to assign tasks and start preparing to build the raft.

Using the planks and timber they brought from the defensive structure, they built a raft that could carry five people—enough for them. However, they would need to dismantle all the supporting timbers from the burrow they dug the previous night to have enough.

Ouyang Nan led two women to dismantle and organize the wood, while Chen Mo and Qian Zhenghao were responsible for moving the wood to the lakeside so that the raft could be launched directly into the water once it was completed.

The five men possessed strength and stamina far exceeding that of ordinary people, allowing them to work with remarkable efficiency. In less than an hour and a half, they had transported all the wood and planks to the lakeside. The distance of a few hundred meters was not far at all, thanks to their combined efforts.

Since there weren't many ropes available—the ones in the backpack were mostly climbing ropes that might come in handy—the raft couldn't be made using ropes for binding. Instead, it had to be constructed using mortise and tenon joints.

After discussing the matter and sharing their opinions, the group decided on the best solution: to build the raft's frame out of wood, using holes to create the wooden pieces in a U-shape, connecting each joint through these holes, and then drilling another hole in each piece to insert wooden wedges for reinforcement.

The resulting eye-shaped frame is very sturdy and will not fall apart even under strong impact.

After the U-shaped frame was completed, wooden planks were laid on top and secured directly with wooden wedges. Since it wasn't a permanent fixation, and the purpose was simply to use the raft to cross the lake, permanent fixation wasn't necessary, so wooden wedges were sufficient.

Of course, to deal with potential dangers in the lake, or in the event of some strange beast attacking them from underwater once they reached the middle of the lake, a second layer of planks was laid in a crisscross pattern, and the shaped frame was reinforced to ensure that even if the raft was knocked away or capsized in the lake, it would not fall apart and would still be usable.

Therefore, in order to reinforce the raft, the raft, which could have been completed in two hours, took an extra hour to build.

During the final production process, since Chen Mo and Qian Zhenghao were the ones driving the wooden wedges into the holes, Ouyang Ruoxi and Ouyang Nana were free. As for Ouyang Nan, she was helping and directing Chen Mo and Qian Zhenghao.

Since Ouyang Ruoxi couldn't help, she wanted to walk around the area. Ouyang Nana would follow, because wherever Ruoxi went, she would go; her duty was to protect Ouyang Ruoxi.

After walking around, the two returned to the somewhat strange building by the lake.

"Is this structure really a bridge pier?"

When we arrived here last night, Ouyang Nan deduced that the building was probably a huge bridge pier. But it's hard to say for sure, since it's not a bridge pier because there are two huge pillars on both sides of the building. They look like gold but aren't, and they are very hard, but we don't know what they are made of.

As for the structure itself, it is indeed solid rock, but it's completely encased in rock, making it difficult to discern its type. Therefore, Ouyang Nan's assessment that it's a bridge pier is merely a rough guess; the exact nature of the structure remains unclear.

As they talked about the building, they walked to the front of it, which was the side of the shore away from the lake, where there was a deep hole.

"I wonder what this deep cave is for, and why there is such a deep cave?" Ruoxi looked at the deep cave in front of her with some curiosity.

Ouyang Nana nodded in agreement. The building was already a bit strange, but the exterior of the building was perfectly intact. How could there be a deep hole here?

While echoing Ouyang Ruoxi's words, he also stuck his head out to carefully observe the deep cave, wanting to see what was inside.

But to her surprise, she actually saw something strange.

So she tugged at Ouyang Ruoxi's sleeve and said, "Look here, there's a protruding rock. I remember there wasn't this protruding thing when I looked in here last night."

Ouyang Ruoxi was pulled by Ouyang Nana, and upon hearing what she said, she leaned over to take a look. Sure enough, she saw the protruding stone. It was about the thickness of a child's arm, cylindrical in shape, and about a finger's width thick. Its color was the same as the surrounding stones, but it was tightly embedded in the cave, only a palm's width away from the cave entrance.

"That's strange. This thing wasn't there last night. How come it's suddenly here now? Is there something strange about it?" Ouyang Ruoxi was also very curious. She was sure that this bump wasn't there last night.

After all, several people, including her, had carefully examined the cave last night and had not seen anything protruding.

"This is really strange!" Ouyang Nana was also a little curious, and then felt that the protrusion should be able to be pressed down, so she reached out and said, "This protrusion really looks like a button, it should be able to be pressed down."

"Huh!?" Ouyang Ruoxi was still wondering when she saw Ouyang Nana reach out to press down on the protruding rock. She immediately tried to grab her arm. After all, this was a valley, and danger could appear at any moment.

She felt that the strange protruding stone resembled a button, so she was even more certain she shouldn't press it. After all, what if there was some danger if she pressed it?

So I was thinking of calling Chen Mo and my aunt over to discuss it together. But then Ouyang Nana reached out and pressed it, which really gave me a headache.

However, Ouyang Ruoxi's pulling action wasn't as fast as Ouyang Nana's. After all, one was determined to press down, while the other only thought of stopping her later, so she couldn't keep up in terms of speed.

With a "smack!", Ouyang Nana easily pressed down the protruding cylindrical stone.

"Wow, you!" Ouyang Ruoxi was speechless; the speed was just too fast.

Before Ouyang Nana could say anything, a huge roar, like that of an ancient beast, came from inside the building.

A loud "Awoo!" rang out, and the once calm lake surface instantly rippled, creating wave after wave that spread far and wide.

It seemed as if, in an instant, the calm and deep lake had come back to life because of that beastly roar.

The sound was so loud that it startled Ouyang Nan, Chen Mo, and Qian Zhenghao, who were building a raft nearby.

Turning my head, I saw Ouyang Ruoxi and Ouyang Nana behind the building with their mouths wide open and their hands covering their ears, because the sound was too loud.

Ouyang Nan and the other two immediately ran to the two women and asked what was wrong.

The two women then recounted their discovery and the incident of pressing the button.

"That's really strange. This cylindrical stone wasn't there last night." Ouyang Nan was also curious, looking at the stone protrusion that had returned to its original shape after being pressed down.

“That’s right, there wasn’t a trace here last night, so how come there’s such a bump now? It’s a bit strange.” Qian Zhenghao also looked on with curiosity.

Chen Mo originally wanted to go closer to take a look, but suddenly he sensed something was wrong with the lake water.