My Years in the Folklore World

Chapter 465 Earth Mother Cave

"An incarnation of the Great Yan Immortal traveled here and accidentally discovered the Earth Mother Cave in the back mountain. He then opened up a Qianjie Village here and adopted a few orphans to reproduce here."

"Those orphans were grateful for the kindness of the Great Eternal Immortal, so they worshipped him as their ancestor and passed him down for generations for their descendants to worship. It was not until Qianjie Village became deserted that the incense gradually died out."

"This scroll is the secret book left by the Great Evil Master. It records the Great Evil Master's method of transforming into a myriad of forms. However, it is a simplified and incomplete version. You can practice on your own according to the secret book without the assistance of the laws of retreat."

"You have obtained the Dharma of transforming into thousands of things (remnants)."

"The method of transforming into thousands of bodies. Remnant (a rare technique). This is the method that the Great Evolution Immortal developed based on his own practice of incarnation. Although you cannot transform into thousands of bodies and hide in the city like the Great Evolution Immortal, after practicing this technique, you can greatly reduce your presence. Even if you stand in the middle of a crowd, the people around you will subconsciously ignore you, which can minimize the danger."

"Please note that this method is in a controllable active state. Whether or not to lower one's presence is up to the practitioner to decide."

"Do you want to use this item?"

When Jiang Xinghuo read the text description, he thought that this was exactly in line with his personality. It could minimize his presence, which was a godsend for people with social anxiety.

His personality is naturally more Buddhist. He prefers quietness to crowds, except when he is making money. If he can lower his sense of presence, he will feel much more comfortable when getting along with others.

More importantly, the effect of this technique can be actively controlled. If practicing it would permanently reduce his existence, he would have to think about it carefully. Now there is no such taboo.

Moreover, this technique can also play a big role when exploring in the game. At least the chance of being discovered by those evil spirits can be lowered compared to usual.

"You chose to use this item."

"The bamboo slips in your hand shattered quietly, turning into tiny dots of light that were almost invisible, and quickly merged into your body."

The moment the text message flashed in the game, Jiang Xinghuo also felt an obvious change in reality. A cool feeling rushed into his mind, followed by a large number of secret spells.

The method of transforming into thousands of forms, improved by the Immortal Dayan, appeared in his mind without reservation.

Jiang Xinghuo also closed his eyes and began to comprehend the additional information in his mind. In a short while, he had memorized it all.

A force that is difficult to describe in words silently enveloped his body. It was as if there was an invisible barrier covering his body. It was like looking at flowers in the fog, and it was difficult to see his full appearance.

This is just a change in perception, not that there is really a barrier.

After Jiang Xinghuo dispersed this magic, this sense also disappeared, and he turned back into an ordinary person.

"What a magical spell..."

Jiang Xinghuo couldn't help but sigh about the magic of the secular world again. It was true that there was no ability that did not exist in the secular world, only things that were beyond one's imagination.

Afterwards, Jiang Xinghuo continued to advance the plot.

"Now that you have obtained the Great Evolution Immortal's method of transforming into thousands of bodies, do you want to continue exploring in the ancestral temple?"

"You chose to continue exploring."

"After a thorough search, you used all your means, but you did not find any other treasures in the ancestral temple."

"Moreover, there are no secret rooms or tunnels here. Apart from the faceless statue of the Great Evolution Immortal, there is nothing else unusual in this temple."

"Where are you planning to go next?"

"Do you plan to continue exploring the ancestral temple, or go to the Earth Mother Cave in the mountain behind the village, or just wander around the village casually?"

The game still provides three options, and the ancestral temple is always among the optional plots.

Jiang Xinghuo raised his eyebrows, pondered for a while, and decided to continue exploring the ancestral temple.

"You still insisted on your choice and explored the ancestral temple again, not missing any corner."

"And this time, it seems that you really discovered some problems. You saw some broken and fallen soil debris under the wall on the east side of the ancestral temple. After careful identification, you found that these pieces of soil fell from the wall."

"You follow the traces and search the wall carefully. You find many broken gaps on the wall. There seems to be something else under the gaps. What are you going to do next?"

"Will you pretend you didn't notice the damage on the wall, or will you try to clean up the disguise on the wall?"

Jiang Xinghuo chose the latter and cleared the disguise on the wall. He wanted to see what secrets this ancestral temple was hiding.

"You put your palm against the wall, and a golden secret scroll flashes across your palm. The lightning instantly shatters the dirt on the wall."

"You have discovered the message from the Great Yan Immortal."

"The words on this mud wall were carved by the Great Yan Immortal himself. After he carved those words, he covered the contents of the wall with mud."

"This isn't a very clever disguise, but it can lead people into a misunderstanding. The most common means, when used against a specific group of people, can often bring out extraordinary abilities."

Jiang Xinghuo quickly understood the meaning of the text. Since the Immortal Dayan was a famous master in the secular world, when other people discovered the treasures he left behind, they would definitely be mentally prepared to face all kinds of spells.

But the immortal Dayan did the opposite. He used the most ordinary mud to cover up the inscriptions he left behind without using any other means. He is really cunning!
Jiang Xinghuo sighed in his heart while continuing to push the plot forward.

"You start to look at the inscriptions on the wall. They record in detail what happened to the Great Yan Immortal back then, and why he wanted to open up Qianjie Village here."

"According to the inscriptions, an incarnation of the Great Eternal Immortal accidentally came to the location of Qianjie Village and discovered a cave here."

"He once went deep into it to explore, and after wasting two incarnations, he finally found the real entrance. It turned out that this cave was connected to a relic of the old secular world."

"Da Yan Immortal originally wanted to continue to explore further, but there was an Earth Mother entrenched in the cave blocking his way. Moreover, the Earth Mother was about to die, and she was extremely hostile to all living things in the outside world."

"The Great Immortal did not want to waste his incarnation, so he opened up a village here and adopted a few orphans to guard the Earth Mother Cave for him. He planned to come back to explore after the Earth Mother died of old age."

"But later, for some reason, Dayan Immortal gave up this idea and just left the real entrance to the Earth Mother Cave on the wall, and explained that if future generations wanted to go in, they could use this map to enter the Earth Mother Cave."

"You have obtained the map of the true entrance to the Earth Mother Cave."

"Do you want to go to the Earth Mother Cave behind the village immediately?"

There were still two options, yes or no. Jiang Xinghuo took a quick look, thought for a moment, and made his decision.

"You chose to go to the Earth Mother Cave in the back mountain."

"You left the ancestral temple and walked along the weed-covered path towards the back mountain."

"Soon, a steep mountain appeared in front of you. At the foot of the mountain was a dark cave entrance that was only wide enough for one person to walk into."

"You walk to the entrance of the cave and puff your nose slightly. A fishy smell of soil wafts out of the cave. Do you want to go in and explore?"

Jiang Xinghuo chose yes without hesitation. He had already come here, he couldn't just give up now.

"You chose to enter the Earth Mother Cave. The dark environment quickly filled your field of vision. The smell of mud became stronger and stronger. The Huaishan Xiangling robe on your body shone brightly, as if it sensed the flow of water. Even the sunlight on your body glowed slightly."

"Do you want to activate the ability of Sunshine and form a consciousness projection to enter the secular world?"

Jiang Xinghuo thought about it for a while and finally chose no. Risui's ability in the secular world could only last for two hours.

It can only be used continuously and endlessly in the ruins of the old secular world, so Jiang Xinghuo decided that it would not be too late to activate the ability of the Sun Sui after finding the real entrance to the Mother Earth Cave.

"You are walking in a dark cave. It is difficult to distinguish the surrounding environment with the naked eye. You take out a lantern from your magic bag and use the light of the lantern to make some light in front of you."

"Find the map that records the true entrance to the Earth Mother Cave, and start searching inside the cave according to the map."

"Moreover, as you go deeper into the cave, you feel that the road under your feet gradually becomes muddy, and finally even turns into silt."

"Finally, you came to the end of the cave and saw seven bottomless caves on the ground. They were filled with turbid sewage. The real entrance to the Mother Earth Cave was hidden under these seven caves."

"Follow the records on the map and go into the first cave first, then dive out from the fifth cave, then go down from the third cave, dive out from the seventh cave, and finally jump into the sixth cave. When you come out, you will find the real entrance to the Earth Mother Cave."

"After a lot of tossing and turning, you finally emerged from the cave bathed in dirty water. The Huaishan Xiangling robe on your body flashed with clear light, removing the stains on your body."

"You took out the oil seal lamp and shone it around. It was pitch black as far as the eye could see. Only the oil seal lamp emitted a faint, dim yellow light, but it seemed that it would be swallowed up by the ocean-like darkness at any moment."

"You have entered the Mother Earth Cave."

"You carefully looked around and found many products that are unique to a technological society, as well as many reinforced concrete columns and a large number of cables buried in the mud."

"In addition, there are many monsters and human bones scattered in the mud around."

"These skeletons still retain the postures of struggle they had before death. Combined with the steel cables laid around them, you think these skeletons were most likely used for pile driving."

"Piling...driving a pile?"

Looking at the information given in the game text, Jiang Xinghuo couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

People in ancient times paid a lot of attention, especially to major national affairs such as sacrifices and wars. Therefore, before building bridges or roads in ancient times, they would usually kill a few death row prisoners and then sink their bodies in rivers as a sacrifice to the water god Hebo.

Legend has it that only in this way can the water god He Bo protect the bridge from being destroyed by strong winds and huge waves.

So there was the custom of hitting the living stake.

Later in the new era, this behavior was strictly prohibited, and ordinary chickens, ducks, and fish were used for sacrifice instead. If people were more particular, they would use three animals for the grand sacrifice. In short, everything used could be bought with money.

Jiang Xinghuo continues to push the plot forward.

"You walked forward carefully on the muddy ground beneath your feet. You could hear strange wind sounds and the water beneath your feet became deeper and deeper until you finally came to a wall."

"You have triggered the talent of Kakui Tomi."

"You used your innate ability of seeing through walls to glimpse the scene behind this wall. It turned out to be another dark cave. I don't know where it leads to. Do you want to break this wall?"

Jiang Xinghuo took a deep breath and thought to himself that it was quite difficult, one thing after another, but in the end he still chose to break the wall.

"You took out the Dragon King's Dao Weapon from your magic bag and swung it vigorously, causing the solid wall to suddenly break apart."

"A dark, bottomless cave comes into view, with countless strong winds howling and surging out, bringing with them a gloomy earthy smell."

"Do you want to go into the cave and take a look?"

Two options, yes or no.

Jiang Xinghuo knew clearly that the real Mother Earth Cave was probably this cave.

The Earth Mother that the Immortal Dayan mentioned should also be hidden in this bottomless darkness.

But Jiang Xinghuo still chose to enter. As an exile cursed by the secular world, death was the simplest thing for him.

"You enter the cave, but as soon as you step in, you feel your feet sink as if you are trapped in a bottomless mud. Then a strong suction force is generated, pulling you into the mud. The mud quickly blocks your five senses and seven orifices. You feel a strong sense of suffocation. Even the fetal breathing method is useless."

"You can clearly feel your vitality slowly draining away. You are completely trapped in the bottomless mud, but in your haste, you grab a piece of cold scale armor."

"Your vitality is also consumed."

"You are dead."

"You have obtained the scales of Mother Earth."

When Jiang Xinghuo saw this, he thought to himself that he was so unlucky. Blood appeared at the first sight, and a life was lost before anything happened here.

Fortunately, this life was not wasted. At least I found something related to Mother Earth.

"Earth Mother's Scales (Rare Material). The broken scales shed from the Earth Mother not only have extremely precious medicinal value, but can also be used as a material to enhance the level of equipment..."

(End of this chapter)