Chapter 130: The Cliff Face

I was utterly puzzled, and in the end, I could only tell myself that the answer Li Yue gave was probably the reason.

Seven-Stemmed Ginseng was already a supreme natural treasure. Combined with the way entities in Feng Shui could transform into spirits, it naturally possessed a keen perception of danger.

Among this group of people, aside from my own obsession, which was exceptionally deep and heavy, no one else had it.

Beyond that, it was likely related to my soul.

Although I was still a human, as the number of Hua Zhen characters I drew grew and the more souls I consumed, I could clearly sense that my soul was undergoing a change.

Ordinary people could not yet tell, but ghosts had already vaguely perceived it.

I did not know whether it was due to the transformation of my soul or caused by the growing strength of the companion ghost residing within me.

Standing alone in the mountain forest, Zhang Zhang, Wang Erjun, Li Yue, and the others had already walked out of sight.

My heart was restless, and I was afraid they might fail. Yet, now I had no other choice.

The mark on my face irritated me immensely right now. If not for it, I could have gone along with them; with the companion ghost present, many uncertain factors could have been avoided.

At this moment, however, I could only wander around the foot of the mountain as Zhang Zhang had instructed.

This place could not even be considered the waist of the mountain.

Zhenyinhuai Mountain was massive. To reach the mountain waist would take at least two hours or more, and there was no winding, major path leading up.

Lowering my head, I bypassed my original route and began to wander as Zhang Zhang had told me, searching for any collapsed areas.

After all, doing this might also spare the villagers at the foot of the mountain from some calamities.

The night watchman had been bitten by a corpse, contracting the corpse poison that eventually harmed his daughter and caused their entire family to meet a tragic end.

If I could run into that group of people, I would be able to ascertain whether their goal was the Seven-Stemmed Ginseng or something else.

If it had to do with the corpses on Zhenyinhuai Mountain, I could not let them carry it out under any circumstances, lest it cause disastrous harm to heaven and humanity.

If it had to do with the Seven-Stemmed Ginseng—my hand touched the talisman brush inside my chest.

Then it would depend on whether I could snatch it from them.

Or whether they could take what I wanted right before my eyes.

A dozen minutes later, I had moved far away from the original mountain forest.

Moreover, I had made a small discovery.

Beneath a small earthen mound, there were obvious traces of someone having lit a fire and camped out.

This could not have been done by the local villagers of Zhenyinhuai Mountain.

Although the mountain was large, if they wanted to return home, they would never go this far out, especially since this place was close to the lower part of the mountain and they could easily descend.

The only possibility was that group of people who had brought the night watchman up the mountain and later abandoned him.

The footprints were chaotic and hard to make out clearly among the grass and bushes.

From this disorder, the only conclusion I could draw was that there were at least five or six of them.

The ashes of the campfire had not yet been blown away, nor were they completely cold. They had definitely stayed here last night.

I distinguished the trampled vegetation underfoot and slowly followed the trail.

They had not gone up the mountain. Instead, they were walking diagonally along the lower slopes.

This baffled me. Not going up the mountain, but heading down instead—wouldn't that bring them closer to the mountain settlement and places where villagers lived?

However, what slightly relieved me was that since they were heading down, they probably were not searching for the Seven-Stemmed Ginseng.

Of course, there was also a bad outcome: they had already found it.

Following the traces, I kept my head down and walked for over an hour.

The signs became increasingly obvious—not just trampled vegetation, but also cut shrubs, along with discarded water bottles, paper, and other trash left on the ground.

If we had been on a normal mountain path, I certainly would not have been able to keep following them.

Yet because there was no path, the traces left behind after someone passed through became all the more distinct.

From these plants and bushes, I could conclude that they had started off rather leisurely, going around any thickets they encountered.

Later on, they evidently grew impatient, directly hacking a path through the obstructing bushes, as if trying to save time, or perhaps walking a path invisible to me.

Another hour passed. I had walked a considerable distance, far exceeding the time needed to descend the mountain. Not only had I not descended, but I had also completely moved away from the village.

At my edge of hearing, I could catch the sound of the Yin Dragon River flowing.

Looking to the right, I could see a wide, expansive river. On the opposite side stood more mountains, their forests densely packed.

A profound sense of my own extreme insignificance welled up inside me.

At that moment, the traces also came to an end.

Towering giant trees grew here, right beside a sheer, abrupt cliff edge. There was not even a foot of mountain slope near the Yin Dragon River here; it was purely a sheer rock wall.

Zhenyinhuai Mountain was vast, but it did not cut straight across the Yin Dragon River.

As the great mountain suppressing the dragon's head, it presented a concave shape.

Both the left and right sides had mountain bodies, with a depression in the middle where the head of the Yin Dragon River flowed inward.

The cliff wall I was standing in front of right now was the extremity of the left-hand mountain body of Suppressing Dragon Mountain, and further ahead lay an open expanse, with another mountain fifty meters away.

The trail broke off right here.

There were only two possibilities.

One: the entire group had jumped into the Yin Dragon River.

The other: they had left without leaving any trace at all.

I scanned the trees on either side. With so many of them, it was utterly impossible for them to leave without a trace.

Lowering my head to look before the cliff face, I slowly walked over to the side.

What met my eyes was the vast expanse of the Yin Dragon River and a chilling coldness.

What made my pupils constrict was a jutting tree trunk underfoot.

It was a broken tree, with only a small lower section remaining.

A rope was tied around the base of the tree.

My breathing grew tight. I squatted down to examine the rope and peered down over the edge.

The rope was very sturdy. In addition to its nylon material, it had clearly been thickened, and there was steel wire running through the core.

This rope dropped straight down the cliff face, and on both sides of the rope, there were clearly footholds attached.

Some thirty or forty meters below, there was a very small platform. From my angle, I could faintly discern what appeared to be a cave down there.

My expression shifted slightly.

When we entered Suppressing Dragon Mountain, we had spent a whole day boating on the Yin Dragon River, passing countless cliff faces and numerous mountain forests.

Caves were innumerable.

The other caves were quite ordinary, but as for cave openings situated high on such sheer cliffs, the old boatman had once said these were Saint Caves.

Saint Caves were not formed naturally.

Whenever a person of great virtue and prestige passed away in a village, or someone of lofty status met their end, members of their family might carve out a Saint Cave.

Saint Caves could only be hewn into the cliffs of Zhenyinhuai Mountain, lowering craftsmen down by ropes to hack out passages and stone chambers right on the precipice.

The corpses of the deceased were placed inside.

Along with a vast amount of precious burial objects.

Were they not excavating things on the mountain? Was their goal actually these Saint Caves?

Back on the boat, I had pondered this: places like this were close to the Yin Dragon River, yet devoid of grievances on the mountain; the corpses stored there would surely undergo some unexpected transformations.

Connecting this to the concept of ascension mentioned by both Zhang Zhang and Li Yue, the thought suddenly struck me: wasn't this the absolute best place for ascension?

The cliff wall suppressing the Yin Dragon River possessed the strongest vital energy of the mountain.

Beside it lay the yin energy of the Yin Dragon River. Such an intersection of yin and yang, while not harmonizing with ghosts and deities, was an exceptionally supreme location for corpses, allowing them to remain undecayed and uncorrupted.

What did that group want by going to the Saint Cave?

Furthermore, if one were to search for the Seven-Stemmed Ginseng, wouldn't a precious place like this be an ideal spot?

I regretted not asking Zhang Zhang clearly how to find it using Feng Shui methods, and not asking Wang Erjun for a body-immobilization spell; otherwise, I could have tried it on my own.

Right now, staring at that rope, should I cut it to prevent those people from coming back up, or go down and take a look?

Intuition told me not to go down. Either I should immediately walk away and pretend I saw nothing, or I should cut the rope and then go report it in the village.

Going down would lead to unforeseen developments. Those people dared to descend into the Saint Cave like this, so they must have something to rely on.

After all, fighting multiple people alone meant I could not choose such an environment.

On the other hand, if I cut the rope, they would be left with no choice but to jump down a fifty- or sixty-meter-high cliff, inevitably perishing in the Yin Dragon River. They would have no chance to come back up either, so I would simply have to go report it.

Just at that moment, an enticing, delicate fragrance suddenly drifted into my nostrils, carrying a medicinal scent along with an illusion that made my mind somewhat dazed.

I froze, and just as I was about to turn my head, a tremendous force suddenly struck my shoulder, shoving me directly out over the edge of the cliff!

My expression changed drastically as my entire body tumbled down the precipice!

The instant I threw my head back, I caught sight of a pale, chubby face smiling down at me, with a few bizarre braids tied atop his head.

An extreme chill struck the depths of my heart, and I desperately lashed out with my hands to grab the rope hanging against the cliff face!