I built a safe house in the eerie night.

"Where did these footprints come from? Those ghostly things didn't seem this small..."

Yu Niu's voice broke the deathly silence.

Jiang Ning took a deep breath, looked around, his eyes sweeping over the shadows and withered branches and vines where things might be hiding, before finally settling on the pulse-finding compass in his hand.

The pointer continued to tremble slightly, pointing to its original position.

He stepped forward, squatted down, and carefully examined the small set of footprints, his expression shifting between light and dark.

After a long pause, he stood up, dusted off his hands, and made his decision.

"Never mind that, let's keep going in the same direction."

Yu Niu nodded, then inexplicably lifted his foot and stomped on the few small footprints, grinding them repeatedly, and even spat.

"unlucky!"

Only then did he pick up his bone spear again and lead the way.

Erhu followed suit and stomped on the footprints several times until they were blurry, muttering to himself:

"That damn thing!"

The other two young men seemed a bit apprehensive and unconsciously moved closer to the middle of the group.

Jiang Ning carved directional marks on a nearby tree trunk, and the five-person team set off again, advancing along a relatively open path.

After walking a distance, the crisscrossing bare branches overhead gradually thinned out, allowing a little sunlight to filter through.

Ahead, a hole came into view.

This cave is different from the bottomless, gruesome cave where the skeletons of strange creatures were found before. It doesn't look deep or dark, and there are no scattered skeletons around. There are only some ordinary withered vines and desolate scenery.

The pointer of the pulse-finding compass in Jiang Ning's hand was steadily pointing to this cave entrance.

"This should be it..." Jiang Ning confirmed.

Upon receiving the order, Yu Niu worked even harder, using his bone spear to chop down the vines and thorns blocking his path.

This newly acquired weapon has now become an excellent tool for clearing the way, and it is quite efficient.

The team quickly arrived at the cave entrance.

"What about the fluorescent stone and hoe that you were supposed to bring?" Jiang Ning asked.

A young man quickly handed over a faintly glowing stone and several sturdy mining picks.

Yu Niu held a fluorescent stone in one hand for illumination and a bone spear in the other, and was the first to step into the cave.

Jiang Ning followed closely behind, observing the changes in the compass needle while surveying the cave.

This cave is indeed quite normal; it doesn't feel cold and icy, there are no corpses scattered everywhere, and it's not as damp as the Tai Sui Cave.

It was just an ordinary cave. If it weren't for the compass, Jiang Ning would never have imagined that a material like the Mysterious Eye Crystal might be found inside.

After walking a while further in, to the edge where the outside light could barely reach, the compass needle stopped vibrating and pointed straight to one side of the cave wall.

"Dig here," Jiang Ning ordered.

Having gained experience from the previous two mining operations, Erhu took the lead this time, picking up his hoe and getting to work.

Then, with the combined efforts of the group, they quickly carved a small cavity into the cave wall.

A dim, crystalline light emanated from within, revealing four strangely shaped, eye-like crystals embedded in it.

Jiang Ning's lips curled up slightly, but then he noticed that the compass needle in his hand had shifted extremely slightly.

"Could it be more than one place?" A thought struck him; this was good news.

"Erhu, you two stay here and carefully dig out these crystals. Aniu, and you too,"

He pointed to another young man, "Let's continue exploring further in."

The three continued deeper into the cave, guided by the glowstone.

Until all external light disappears, it relies entirely on the faint illumination of the fluorite.

Jiang Ning stared intently at the compass, only to find that the needle no longer showed any obvious tremor or direction, as if it had malfunctioned.

"What's going on? The signal's down?"

Jiang Ning muttered in confusion.

There was a slight reaction just now, but there's been no movement since I came in.

But he had a gut feeling that there might be something else in the cave, not necessarily the Mysterious Eye Crystal, but perhaps other materials.

He raised the fluorescent stone and carefully examined the surrounding cave walls and environment.

This cave is so normal that it's almost abnormal.

In a place like Changyin Mountain, such clean and ordinary caves are almost nonexistent.

The only noteworthy thing is that there are some small pieces of withered vines scattered on the ground and in the corners along the way. They seem ordinary, but in this environment, they seem somewhat out of place.

"You two, do you feel like something's not right in this cave?" Jiang Ning asked in a low voice.

Yu Niu scratched his head and said in a simple voice, "No, young master, I feel pretty good."

Perhaps for him, a place without eeriness or corpses is a good place.

Another young man nodded in agreement: "It's much more comfortable than digging a hole for a Tai Sui (a type of rare fungus), not stuffy or damp."

Jiang Ning nodded thoughtfully, holding up the fluorescent stone in an attempt to illuminate the depths of the cave, but the light was limited, and he could only see a few feet in front of him.

"Let's walk further in and see what's at the end."

As Jiang Ning spoke, he put away the compass, which was temporarily useless, and continued forward by relying on his intuition.

Yu Niu showed no fear; he would brave any danger, even mountains of knives and seas of fire, as long as Jiang Ning gave the order.

They hadn't gone far when they reached the cave wall, the end of the cave.

On the earthen wall at the end, there were also some withered vines scattered about. These vines did not seem to have been brought in and left behind by someone; rather, they seemed to have grown out of the soil and then naturally withered and died here.

But this phenomenon shouldn't exist in the dry cave environment.

Jiang Ning looked up and down at the cave wall at the end of the cave.

Suddenly, he noticed a small, dark hole in a very well-hidden recessed shadow on one side, just big enough for one person to squeeze through sideways.

Jiang Ning curiously leaned closer, inserted the fluorite a little, and looked inside.

Deep within this dark cave, several objects were emitting a faint, yet different, glow from the crystals. Their shapes vaguely resembled several curled-up human hands.

Normally, this scene would be enough to send chills down one's spine.

But Jiang Ning only glanced at it, and his eyes widened instantly, his face practically overflowing with ecstasy.

"The Deceptive Hand and Withered Vine?" Jiang Ning blurted out, his tone still somewhat incredulous.

He clearly remembered that the name of this material had appeared on the interface when he activated the spirit of the pulse compass.

Based on the hand-shaped object in the dark cave and the slightly glowing withered vine-like object, Jiang Ning made a judgment.

Yu Niu leaned closer and asked curiously, "Young Master, what's this?"

"Baby!" Jiang Ning whispered, suppressing his excitement.

"A treasure?" Yu Niu's eyes lit up. "Shall I go get it?"

"Okay, be careful!" Jiang Ning nodded.

Yu Niu squeezed sideways into the small, dark hole, came to the few withered vines with faint glowing human hands, and turned back to ask:

"Young Master, shall we pull it out directly?"

Jiang Ning hesitated for a moment, then said, "Let's try and see if we can move it."

He originally thought that mining would be similar to mining the Mysterious Eye Crystal, requiring careful and laborious digging little by little.

As a result, Yu Niu responded, stretched out his large hand, grabbed the root of a human hand, and with a low shout, used his waist and legs to pull it out of the soil.

Then he quickly pulled out the other three as well.

After looking around and seeing nothing else, Yu Niu handed over the four withered vines, still covered in fresh soil, with strange shapes but no signs of life, to Jiang Ning.

Jiang Ning took them and examined them closely. The withered vines were tough and cool to the touch. The human hand part even had faint vein-like patterns, which was quite mysterious.

He quickly brought up the interface to check:

[Low-grade material: Devious withered vine (tainted)]

[Description: Possibly formed from the hybridization and symbiosis of subterranean Tai Sui and bizarre limbs and bones over a long period of time, containing fragments of rare and unique energy. It can be used as one of the materials for awakening certain special treasures or unlocking various upgrade options for certain buildings.]

[Note: This material contains impurities. These impurities can be removed through specific methods, such as high-quality energy cleansing or special purification arrays. There is a chance that it will transform into a higher-grade material, "Deceptive Hand True Vine".]

"I knew it!"

Jiang Ning was overjoyed.

Unexpectedly, besides the Mysterious Eye Crystal, there was such an unexpected gain in this cave.

Although the specific uses are not yet clear, since it is a rare material, it is definitely a good idea to stock up on it first.

Otherwise, it would be a headache if you didn't have it when you needed it.

Jiang Ning carefully examined the small dark cave and its surroundings again. After confirming that there were no further discoveries, the three of them withdrew from the depths of the cave and reunited with Erhu and the other two on the outside.

They have successfully extracted all four of the Mysterious Eye Crystals.

This seemingly ordinary cave yielded a total of four withered vines of the Strange Hand and four crystals of the Strange Eye, a truly rich find.

Jiang Ning was in a great mood.

With the compass needle no longer showing any unusual reaction, Jiang Ning didn't delay any longer. He led the team back quickly, following the marks they had left behind, and soon returned to the mountain path that had deviated from their original direction.

Afterwards, the five continued along the path they had taken during their previous exploration, heading deeper into the withered forest and towards the ominous cave where they had previously discovered a large number of first-tier monster corpses.

After walking a short distance, the familiar scene came into view once again.

That relatively open woodland, and at its end, that dark cave exuding an invisible sense of oppression.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Ning's eyes narrowed immediately.

Something's not right.

Because, outside the cave, several more of the strange corpses that they had cleared away and dragged away two days ago had reappeared, scattered messily on the ground.

The most striking feature, however, is a massive, grotesquely skeletal corpse lying right next to the dark cave entrance.

Judging from its size and skeletal features, it is very likely a first-tier monster!

The skeleton's posture was particularly bizarre, facing the cave with its body lunging forward, the bones appearing as if it was desperately trying to crawl into the cave, but suddenly freezing at the last moment.

Jiang Ning's heart sank slowly, and a flood of questions popped into his head.

How did these monsters die? Did they die of natural causes, or were they wiped out by their higher-ranking counterparts?

Why did they all die outside this cave?

What exactly is inside this cave?