Douluo Continent: Martial Soul Young Gilas, Sandstorm King!

Chapter 59 The True Lair and the Core of the Mineral Vein...

"Come on! Follow me down! We'll find out what it's like once we take it out for a spin!"

With a wave of his hand, Lou Gaohao stepped into the deep cave entrance. The torchlight instantly elongated his burly figure, casting it swaying on the uneven cave walls.

"Yoji!"

Although the young Gilas didn't smell any delicious food, the excitement of the adventure immediately replaced its confusion. With its short limbs exerting force, it was like a gray lightning bolt, instantly leaping over the building and rushing to the front of the group!

Its scarlet eyes shone like two small lamps in the darkness, scanning the area ahead warily. At the same time, its claws, capable of easily tearing through rock, were also busy.

"Swish—"

"Crack! Crash—"

Young Kiras began to "reinforce" and "clean" the jagged cave passage violently carved out by the Black-striped Rock Python.

With skillful claws, they trim away overly sharp and protruding rock edges, push loose pebbles aside, and even carve shallow anti-slip patterns in steep or slippery areas.

Its movements were efficient and precise, like a natural-born mine engineer, quickly transforming a savage passage left by a giant beast into a "simple tunnel" that, while still primitive, was safe enough for two people to pass through.

With Young Gilas leading the way, Lin Xia and Lou Gao's descent became much smoother.

However, as they went deeper, the passage was not as simple as just going down.

The way the black-striped basalt python digs its burrows is extremely rough and completely irregular.

The passage began to twist and meander, like the tracks left by a giant python burrowing into the ground and writhing wildly.

What's even more troublesome is that after going deeper for about half an hour, a fork in the road suddenly appeared ahead!
Not one, but three!

Three dark openings, like gaping maws ready to devour their prey, appeared without warning at the end of the passage, each leading in a different direction.

Each passageway looked much the same: deep, dark, and exuding a similar earthy smell.

"This……"

Lin Xia held up a torch, the flame flickering in front of the three cave entrances, illuminating his somewhat solemn face.

"Teacher, why are there so many forks in the road? Does a python dig its burrow so randomly, going here and there without any direction?"

Lou Gao also stopped, his thick eyebrows furrowed, holding a torch as he carefully examined the three cave entrances and the surrounding rock walls.

He touched the texture and moisture of the cave walls, and listened intently to the faint sounds of wind emanating from the depths of each cave entrance.

He even crouched down to carefully examine the traces of the giant python crawling on the ground, which were almost covered by rubble.

"Something's wrong..."

Lou Gao muttered to himself, his eyes filled with growing doubt.

"The animal's tracks are messy, it seems... it wasn't just for moving or digging for food..."

Seeing her teacher deep in thought, Lin Xia's doubts reached their peak.

"Teacher, what is the purpose of this Black-Striped Mystic Python creating so many winding, irregular forks in the road? Is it for mining? To build a nest?"

"This structure is too chaotic; it doesn't look like a nest at all. Could it be... that it got lost in here?"

Even Lin Xia herself found the idea absurd when she said it aloud.

Lou Gao's body jolted when he heard Lin Xia's question!
Suddenly, he looked up, his eyes flashing with a sharp light, as if a lightning bolt had cleaved through the fog! He slapped his bald head hard, making a crisp "smack," and burst into laughter, suddenly realizing what he had done. "Hahaha! That's it! I understand now! So that's how it is! A smokescreen! What a cunning beast!"

Lou Gao pointed excitedly to the intricate passageway and the several dark forks in the road before them, explaining to Lin Xia and Young Gilas:

"Xia! We've all been fooled by the appearance of this passage! This isn't some randomly dug mine tunnel, nor is it the real entrance to the lair! This is a carefully crafted maze-like illusion set up by the Black-Striped Mystic Rock Python!"

Lou Gao walked to a fork in the road and pointed to one of the passages that looked the widest and seemed to have the strongest residual aura of the giant python.

“Look at this one, the traces are the newest, and the scent lingers the most. At first glance, it seems to be the main path it usually takes, right? But if you look closely at the wear and tear on the cave walls and the crawling marks on the ground, you'll find that it twisted violently and turned back not far in!”

"This is very likely a 'false main road' that it deliberately left behind to lure pursuers into dead ends or traps!"

The building then leads to another, narrower passage with a slightly weaker atmosphere:

"This one seems inconspicuous, but its walls are relatively smooth, indicating that its entry and exit are more 'careful' or more 'regular.' And this one..."

The building's height points to the third line.

"The cave walls show obvious signs of fresh claw marks covering older ones, indicating that it was recently 'processed' to cover something up!"

The sound from the high tower carried an excitement akin to seeing the sun breaking through the clouds.

“This beast is quite intelligent! It knows that the core of the mine it guards is a treasure that will attract covetous people—whether it's other powerful underground soul beasts or audacious human prospectors like us!”

"It dug out so many winding, irregular, and even deliberately dead-end and fork-in-the-road passages for one purpose only: to confuse, delay, and even trap intruders!"

"This complex and chaotic maze of passages can greatly disrupt the tracker's sense of direction and exhaust their patience and stamina."

"Once an intruder gets lost, becomes agitated, makes noise, or reveals its location in the maze, it can wait in ambush and launch a deadly attack from the shadows! Didn't it suddenly burst out from behind the rock wall when it tried to ambush us before?"

Lou Gao's eyes gleamed with intelligence as he continued his analysis, his voice unconsciously lowering as if afraid of disturbing something.

“For prospectors like us, who come in with tools and can dig tunnels, the complex tunnels can make us lose our way and waste a lot of time.”

"If geological changes occur and some passages collapse, it could completely trap people to death. Moreover, this kind of unpredictable digging would completely disrupt our exploration, leaving us clueless about where to begin!"

"That's why the vegetation on the ground is so lush, with no trace of a mine—this beast's deception started on the surface and extended all the way to the doorstep of its lair!"

"As for its true lair and the core of the mineral vein..."

Lou Gao wore a confident smile, his eyes scanning the solid black rock walls around him.

"It must be hidden in some secret location, either heavily 'enclosed' by these chaotic passages or deliberately 'avoided'!"

"These winding passages are like layers of tattered cloth, tightly wrapped up, hiding the real treasures in the innermost, most inconspicuous corners!"

When Lou Gao got to this point, he no longer hesitated and decisively said to Young Gilas, who was listening to his analysis with curiosity:

"Little guy! Ignore these ridiculous fake roads! They're all just that beast's tricks!"

Lou Gao forcefully poked his finger at a seemingly impenetrable black rock wall beside him, which appeared exceptionally thick and had no connecting passages, and shouted boldly:

"Don't go towards these holes! Just pick a direction, break through this wall, and go straight ahead! I want to see what earth-shattering treasure is hidden behind this 'rag'!"

"Yoji—!!!"

(End of this chapter)