Yin Shou Shu

Chapter 159 Dark Ocean

Without any hesitation, the four people and the dog walked into the cave.

The entrance to the cave, with its jagged rocks and undulating stone walls, is so low that three people need to bend down and lower their heads to enter.

After the four people lined up and entered the cave, the winding loess road continued downwards, and soon they arrived at the bottom of the cave.

There is a vertical drop of ten meters from here to the cave entrance. The dim light from the sky falling from a high altitude can hardly illuminate this place.

After all, the entrance to the cave is too narrow, and the drop to the bottom of the cave is too large.

But here, the road ahead becomes extremely wide.

The smooth loess road stretched into the darkness, like a compacted highway.

The stone wall at the top is about three meters away from the bottom of the cave, and the space is no longer cramped.

Compared with the small square-like entrance to the Rhinoceros Cave, the cave under the abandoned Taoist temple was simply a pocket-sized toy.

The four of them turned on their flashlights at the same time, put on thick cotton-padded clothes for winter, and then carried their bags and walked inside.

After walking about ten meters on the smooth loess road, it was replaced by slightly damp potholes and mud.

There must have been an underground river in this cave in the past, which washed the land into this strange shape.

But now the river has disappeared and the land is firm.

The air was filled with a cold and damp smell, and the chill began to encroach on everyone.

Although I changed into winter cotton clothes, my skin exposed to the air still felt cold.

The faint light from the cave entrance behind him gradually dimmed and finally disappeared completely.

The flashlight could only illuminate the ground two or three meters in front of him. The deeper part of the cave was pitch black, and the scattered light from the flashlight made it difficult to illuminate the depths.

The further you go in, the more humid the air becomes.

But fortunately there was no mud and the ground was still hard.

At this point, Long Zongshu’s third brother stopped talking.

In the huge cave, the slightest sound will travel far away and echo in the cave.

The four of them walked with their bags for more than ten minutes and were completely engulfed in darkness.

Except for the two or three meters in front of the flashlight, there was endless darkness all around.

The four flashlights, like four shaking boats, moved slowly forward in the dark ocean.

Some stone strips gradually appeared on the loess ground.

These thick, long limestones have been eroded by water, forming curved, snake-like shapes.

They crawled in the mud like winding pythons, and it was extremely cold to step on them.

The walls on both sides of the cave have also become accumulated limestone.

Pale limestone piled up in clumps like huge piles of fat.

After walking here, the space inside the cave becomes even wider.

The space ahead was terrifyingly large, and the flashlight couldn't even reach the edge.

They seemed to have come to a huge square, which was completely engulfed in darkness, making it impossible to see the boundaries or tell the direction.

Such a huge space makes people worry whether they can find the way back after entering.

Long Zongshu's cousin turned around and looked at the three people and the dog behind him, and said, "From now on, all of you follow me and don't stray too far from me."

He pointed ahead and said, "This is the first cave hall. It's very large, with four or five exits."

"There are several holes in the ground, all more than ten meters deep. If you accidentally fall in, you will probably die."

"Don't run around! No matter what you see, don't run around! If you want to take pictures, tell me in advance!"

Long Zongshu's cousin gave very serious instructions.

The last time he led an expedition team into the cave, the experience was obviously not a pleasant one.

Now he warned them in advance, fearing that the three of them would run around.

But Ran Qing and the others were not really here to investigate, and they had no interest in the ecological environment within the cave. They followed closely behind Long Zongshu's third brother and walked into the dark cave hall ahead.

After the light was drowned out by the ocean of darkness, they soon could not see the walls, and could not see the ceiling of the cave when they looked up.

The few of them seemed to have come to a strange underground world. Seeing the dark boundary, the eerie chill in the air became stronger and stronger.

In the distant darkness, one could even hear the sound of gurgling water.

Long Zongshu's cousin said, "That's an underground river. I heard there's a strange snake in it that can suck blood."

"But we're not going over there. It's a dead end."

There was no reference point in the empty and dark cave hall.

But Long Zongshu's third brother did not stop, as if he knew the direction clearly.

Soon, they came to a set of stone steps that were gently sloping and slowly ascending.

But the stone steps here were not built by humans, but were formed by strips of limestone being washed by water.

The four of them walked up the stone steps, step by step.

When you get here, some lonely stalactite columns begin to appear on the ground.

They are basically about two or three meters high, scattered in the darkness, like lonely pagodas, emitting a pale and sinister chill under the light of a flashlight.

Ran Qing touched the stone pillar calmly and did not notice anything unusual.

As we continued forward, the road began to narrow.

At the end of this slowly ascending stone staircase is a cave so low that only one person can pass through by bending over.

The four of them walked to the middle and even had to squat down to pass slowly.

The sound of tired breathing rose and fell in the low stone cave.

Long Zongshu's third brother said from the front: "There is a place to rest in front."

Ran Qing let out a long sigh, feeling extremely tired.

At this moment, someone suddenly pulled him gently in the darkness behind him.

Ran Qing turned around and saw Mo Li's face looming in the darkness.

The girl stared at Ran Qing and whispered, "Did you notice anything? I didn't feel anything..."

The girl looked a little confused.

They had walked a long way in the cave, but had not felt anything unusual so far.

The cold wind in the air had a hint of sinister energy, but only a hint. It was hard to tell whether it was evil or coming from deep within the earth.

Ran Qing whispered: "I didn't feel anything either..."

He communicated with the girl about the situation.

At this time, the Long Zongshu in front had arrived at the cave entrance.

The tall and thin man who had been squatting for a long time immediately stood up and breathed a sigh of relief: "Finally out..."

Being a thin and tall man over 1.9 meters tall, he had to walk while squatting with a bag on his back, which was almost a torture for Long Zongshu.

Ran Qing followed closely behind and walked out of the low cave.

The moment he stood up straight, he also stretched like Long Zongshu.

But under the pale flashlight, Ran Qing had just stretched his waist halfway when his whole body froze.

His eyes noticed a pair of strange blood-red eyes staring at him in the darkness of the cave ahead.

The flashlight shone over there subconsciously, and a hunched, hairy black shadow suddenly disappeared behind the limestone pillar.

Although he only caught its eye for a split second, Ran Qing recognized it immediately.

That's... a witch?!

(End of this chapter)