No, gentlemen also guard against

Chapter 873 Dripping Cave

early morning.

There was a thin layer of mist between the bamboos.

In a trance, Ouyang Rong mistakenly thought he had returned to the palace.

I don’t know how that strange hall was built. Sometimes memories are so destructive, and it is created so vividly.

"Brother Liu, why did you wake up so early?"

Sha Ergou washed his face with cold water, picked up a sweat towel to wipe his face, and turned back to ask curiously.

Ouyang Rong had finished washing up and withdrew his gaze from the misty bamboo forest. He used the shadow of the water in the vat to put on his felt hat.

Sha Ergou did get up early today and went out before dawn, but when he was excited and ready to call Ouyang Rong, the latter was already ready to go.

Seeing that Sha Ergou was ready.

"Walk."

Ouyang Rong spoke briefly and took the lead to go out.

But before going out, he carried a bamboo tube, drew a tube of fresh water from the water tank, and hung it around his waist.

Sha Ergou was carrying a small bag with some dry food in it.

The two men each brought food and water. They had a busy day ahead of them. The Yue women were like goddesses who were detached from worldly affairs and did not provide them with meals. The two men were men and had big appetites.

However, the bamboo tube hanging around Ouyang Rong's waist was made by splitting bamboo in the past two days. It is not only used to hold water, but also to hide the Peach Blossom Spring painting.

There was a secret compartment on the outer layer of the bamboo tube, and Ouyang Rong placed the bronze scroll and Miao Si's natal ink stick inside.

She hid the little ink essence inside because she was too lazy to stay at home and even nagged to him in the morning about the need to cool down in the hot weather, and also to be prepared for any special circumstances so that the little guy could keep a copy of the Peach Blossom Spring.

However, every time Sha Ergou took the bamboo tube to drink water, he liked to shake it randomly, which made Miaosi very dissatisfied.

If nothing unexpected happens today, the last two levels of the Yuenu and Zhutang assessments will be completed together.

As soon as the two walked out the door, the gate of the next yard was also opened.

Li Wan was standing in front of the bamboo door, holding a handkerchief in her hand, reluctantly bidding farewell to her son.

"Jinghong, cheer up and perform well today."

I saw the lady leaning against the door frame, her figure as slender as a gourd, her grace still intact, and she waved to her son.

Ouyang Rong glanced at him. After all, Sha Ergou was young and ignorant of romance. His attention was all on people of the same age.

After Lu Jinghong went out, he just walked forward with his head down, without saying a word, and without replying to his mother. If you didn't know, you would think he was in a hurry to go to the toilet.

"Brother Lu, slow down, wait for us."

Sha Ergou greeted him in a familiar manner.

Not only did Lu Jinghong not slow down, he walked even faster without even looking back.

Sha Ergou scratched his head.

Ouyang Rong and Li Wan looked at each other, and then, with the noble lady's polite smile as she saw them off, they walked together to meet outside the bamboo forest.

The Vietnamese women's raft has not arrived yet.

On the beach, a group of boys and girls are waiting.

"Brother Liu, Brother Sha."

When Ouyang Rong and Sha Ergou arrived, Song Zhian and Yu Xiaoniang had already arrived and were chatting with Lu Jinghong. When Yu Xiaoniang saw them, she greeted them with a smile.

Miss Yu's real name is not often used. Ouyang Rong heard from Song Zhian in private that the name didn't sound very nice, so it was called Yu Mili.

Ouyang Rong and Sha Ergou looked at each other. As soon as they heard the name, they felt that it was the naming style of Madam Yu. It seemed that they were undoubtedly biological children. They just didn't know who inherited the arithmetic from. Anyway, the shrewd and unreasonable Madam Yu would definitely not want to take the blame.

"Miss Song, do you still have the cooling ointment?"

Lu Jinghong ignored Ouyang Rong and Sha Ergou who had just arrived, and spoke to Song Zhian in a muffled voice.

Song Zhian glanced at his expression, signaled Miss Yu to hand over the cooling ointment, and asked casually:
"Mr. Lu, did you not sleep well last night? I originally brought this for Brother Sha just in case."

Lu Jinghong took the cooling cream, smeared some on his face, took a long breath, and said with a straight face:

"The dog barked in the middle of last night, so I didn't sleep much the rest of the night."

Sha Ergou looked around in confusion: "What kind of dog is this? It can bark all night long? Why didn't I hear it? Are there any dogs on this island?"

Lu Jinghong nodded: "How could I know it was a 'silly' dog."

Sha Ergou became more and more confused and looked at Ouyang Rong.

The latter glanced at Lu Jinghong who was tortured by the snoring, and said nothing.

Sha Ergou was puzzled, but he still said to comfort her:

"Mr. Lu, behave yourself today. Don't mess up again like you were bitten by a monkey or yelled at by a dog. I don't know why, but I feel like Mr. Lu has encountered too many things. Could it be that he has been struck by bad luck? The old people in my village said that people like this should be kept away from in underground gambling houses, except for following him to place bets against him."

The veins on Lu Jinghong's forehead twitched. He turned around with the sword in his arms, and took two steps forward with an expressionless face.

I don't want to care about someone at all.

To use the words of a certain little Mojing, it is the most annoying, no doubt about it.

"Okay, here comes the raft."

Song Zhian seemed to have noticed something, and walked between the two of them gracefully and smoothed things over.

Ouyang Rong turned around and saw bamboo rafts parked on the beach, and the same was true on the next island.

The girls were transported to the assessment in two batches.

This time, the leader was still the cold-faced Senior Sister Yuan.

However, her expression was more serious today, and she was not as imposing as she was yesterday when she took full charge of the event.

She opened her mouth and ordered:
"As usual, the woman goes first and the man waits there."

Song Zhian and Miss Yu waved goodbye to Ouyang Rong and the other two, and boarded the raft with the main group.

Hearing that they could meet the legendary queen today, the girls on the bamboo raft were full of anticipation. Many of them were excited and whispering to each other. Lian Song and Yu Nu also looked a little nervous and solemn.

Ouyang Rong did not look at the bamboo raft and the girls that were gradually going away. He turned his head to look at the bamboo raft that was setting off from the next island, and the figures on it.

If nothing unexpected happens, Ah Qing should be there. I don’t know if I will have the chance to see him today. The half peach has been cut. If I don’t give it away, Miao Si will get the advantage.

It was a sunny day today. The sun in the morning was neither too strong nor too weak, making Ouyang Rong and other young men who stayed on the beach feel warm in the sun, except for Lu Jinghong who kept yawning.

In order to stay awake, the latter was almost using up the cooling ointment in his hand.

Finally, Sister Yuan and her group of Vietnamese women returned on a raft and invited everyone to board.

"Strange, why is Master Lu so far away from us?"

When preparing to board the ship, Sha Ergou looked around and found that Lu Jinghong had left him and went to another ship...

He probably wants to stay away from you. Ouyang Rong's mouth twitched slightly.

However, Sha Ergou's familiarity was no joke. He pulled Ouyang Rong closer.

"Mr. Lu, why are you walking so fast? Let's get together. We can't let you down today."

Lu Jinghong had a blank expression on his face. He dodged Sha Ergou's hand that was extended to pat his shoulder and said coldly:

"You said bad luck, don't get close to me."

Sha Ergou grinned and said, "It's okay. Brother Liu and I are blessed enough. I'll give you some."

Lu Jinghong's eyes were filled with anger: "Don't get close to me. I told you not to get close to me."

Ouyang Rong ignored the two people's fight and observed the surrounding islands while calculating the time.

This time, the place they were heading to seemed to be even deeper into Jianze than the island in the first level.

But the speed of these rafts' first return was actually about the same as yesterday's Taogu assessment. This meant that the second stage of checking root bone talent would be very fast, much faster than the first stage of swordsmanship talent assessment, which was a good thing for him.

With Lu Jinghong looking disgusted, the raft finally arrived at a huge island. There were several high mountains on the island, with floating clouds covering the peaks, and a few flying birds could be seen.

It took me half an hour from the time I saw the shadow of the island to the time I reached it. It was like a race against time.

The raft that everyone was riding on did not land on the beach of the big island, but turned a corner and sailed under a cliff near the water. There was a cave there, and no one knew where it led to.

The raft carrying a dozen teenagers sailed into the cave one by one and passed through the underground undercurrent.

After about a quarter of an hour, we finally arrived at the depths of the cave, where there was a single stalactite path leading to the depths.

Three Yue women dressed in Wu costumes, with peach plaques hanging from their waists, stood on the shore waiting, performing the sword-holding ceremony:

"Senior Sister Yuan."

"Everyone is here, let's go in."

Senior Sister Yuan walked in front. Ouyang Rong and his group got off the boat and, under her leadership, went deep into the cave.

"You can call it the Dripping Cave. You will become familiar with it later."

She walked in front with ease and spoke casually.

Ouyang Rong remembered the name and looked around, discovering that the cave was very large. He felt that the passage under his feet was slightly sloping all the way up, as if it was going deeper into the mountain.

Soon, they came to a huge space in the cave, which was a stone hall. It should be the Dripping Water Hall that Senior Sister Yuan mentioned.

I saw a gap above my head, and a beam of sunlight shone in from outside and fell on the high platform in the center of the stone hall, making the cave not appear dark, but providing a good view.

In the center of the cave hall, there was an elderly Yue woman with silver hair and a wrinkled face, standing on a stone platform with a stern face.

There were many young Vietnamese women watching around, each with a different badge on their body.

In addition to the corridor that Ouyang Rong and others came from, there are many corridor entrances around this cave hall, and it is unknown where they lead to.

In the surrounding corridors, new Yue women dressed in Wu costumes arrived from time to time. Some walked leisurely, some were exhausted, and some came in groups of two or three. They seemed to have rushed in from outside to watch today's ceremony. It was unknown which halls of Jianze they belonged to.

Ouyang Rong had sharp eyes and saw from the corner of his eye that not far away at a cave entrance leading to a deeper part of the cave, a group of girls were queuing up to evacuate one by one.

A lot of these girls have already walked, but the corridor is very narrow, so they need to line up one by one to enter.

"Brother Liu."

Song Zhian and Yu Xiaoniang were also at the end of the group of girls. When they saw them arrive, they walked over while no one was paying attention.

Sha Ergou immediately asked with concern:
"Miss Song, where are you going? Have you passed the second level?"

Lu Jinghong, who had originally distanced himself from Sha Ergou, immediately pricked up his ears.

"Our assessment is over. Now we are going to the third level. I heard from the senior sisters that the third level is to get out of the cave and on the cliff. It is to test the tenacity of one's mind. It is said to be a forbidden place, which seems to be called a temple..."

Lu Jinghong couldn't help but ask:
"How are Miss Song's grades?"

At this moment, a Vietnamese girl looked over, and Song Zhian said quickly:
"It's not bad. You guys go through the second level here first. It's very fast. The old senior just patted our heads... We'll leave first and talk later."

Miss Yu also expressed regret:
"What a pity, the eldest lady and the others didn't come today. I heard from my senior sisters that the ladies are in retreat temporarily, and they seem to be practicing meditation, so they can't come. There is only one sixth lady presiding over the third level... Well, I won't be able to see the goddess-like eldest lady anymore."

Ouyang Rong glanced sideways when he heard this.

It seems that Miss Zhishuang and others were not feeling well after the battle in the strange hall yesterday, and they probably haven't recovered yet.

Originally, the Lady of Yunmeng had announced in advance that she would come to observe today, but now that she has gone back on her word, it seems that she has run into some big "trouble".

Ouyang Rong thought of the strange hall last night again. He glanced at the back of Song Zhian who had just mentioned a certain hall, and had some vague guesses.

The third level tests one's mental toughness. Could it be that strange palace?

Ouyang Rong said nothing, and watched with a calm expression as Song Zhian and Yu Xiaoniang followed the large group, entered the new corridor, and left the cave.

Inside the cave, the rhythmic sound of dripping water highlights the loneliness of the underground palace.

Stalactites of strange shapes are scattered throughout the cave.

The center of the platform was being cleaned up in preparation for welcoming this group of men.

The Vietnamese women who were watching around the platform were whispering to each other, seemingly enjoying some topic.

Ouyang Rong vaguely heard some words, as if there was something about the previous batch of Yue girls that made them praise highly.

On the high platform in the center of the hall, the old Vietnamese woman suddenly opened her eyes. Her eyes were mostly white, with a hint of black, and she glanced at Ouyang Rong and the others.

"Silence, let's begin the second stage of the Bamboo Hall Assessment."

Senior Sister Yuan turned around and nodded casually:
"Ah Hong, you go first, Liu Aliang is second... The rest of you are welcome to line up and go on stage for the test."

Lu Jinghong originally thought that Senior Sister Yuan would call his name next. He had already taken the initiative to step forward according to the third place yesterday and followed Liu Aliang and Ahong to the front line. However, he saw that after Senior Sister Yuan finished calling Liu Aliang, she seemed to think for a moment, then she waved her hand and let everyone line up at will.

"..."

Lu Jinghong froze for a moment, and Sha Ergou rushed past him.

"Brother Liu, let's go together."

Sha Ergou inserted himself behind Ouyang Rong and said happily.

"Uh-huh."

Ouyang Rong responded and ignored Lu Jinghong and the others. He walked forward tacitly, followed the dark-skinned boy named Ahong, and began to line up to go up to the platform for inspection.

Standing at the closest position and observing for a while, Ouyang Rong discovered that, just as Song Zhian had said, the speed of the second level of the test was very fast.

Ouyang Rong counted to himself, and it was indeed less than three breaths.

The old Vietnamese woman simply touched Ah Hong's head and nodded slightly, indicating that he was done and could leave the stage.

At the same time, the old Yue girl turned around and said a few words to the Yue girl holding the pen, as if reporting Ah Hong's achievements...

Ouyang Rong was second in line and it would soon be his turn.

(End of this chapter)