第四卷 第二十章【浮游与傀儡】

第四卷第二十章【浮游与傀儡】
在进入洞府之前，王睿不留痕迹地释放出了道标剑，留在距离洞府结界百米远的一处山包上。
Each person entering the vortex disappears without a trace, and about fifteen minutes later, the vortex entrance dissipates, the barrier's power is restored, and eventually dissolves into the air.
"Wow...it's so cool...achoo!" As soon as they entered the cave, everyone felt a coldness, or rather, a chill, giving them the feeling of going from scorching summer to the middle of winter.
Chen Qi first felt uncomfortable because she was a practitioner of fire-based techniques and had some aversion to such extremely cold environments.
However, others felt much more comfortable. Of course, over time, they began to feel a bit colder, but this was not a big problem and everyone could endure it.
The underground cavern is not a typical narrow tunnel, but instead opens up into a spacious chamber. In the center of the chamber is a blue pool emanating a chilling aura, with several unidentified floating creatures dotting its surface.
A loud splash sounded, and suddenly a shadow rose from the bottom of the pool, making everyone feel a bit creepy. The unidentified creatures floating on the water quickly fled, but still couldn't escape completely.
A monster fish with a head the size of a small hill appeared, opened its mouth, and swallowed several unknown creatures on the surface in one gulp. Then, with a splash, it submerged, its huge tail raised, which was about ten feet high and covered with strange shimmering gloss that was unknown.
As the strange fish lurked down, the unidentified creatures that were scattered around came together and played, chased around, and even bred on top of it, as if nothing had happened. However, after only a short period of fifteen minutes, there were roughly the same number of planktons reappearing on the surface of the pond.
"It's really amazing. These floating creatures don't seem to fear or feel sad, letting that monster fish devour them. Could it be a rule of nature?" Chen Qi asked, puzzled.
Chen Fuzhi scratched his head and said, "Are you saying that the floating creatures and the monster fish have a mutually dependent relationship? That's impossible, right?"
"This is also uncertain. The rules of the heavens are ever-changing, and each living creature has its own way of survival. What we see as the floating creatures being devoured by monster fish may only be a price they have to pay for protection in their eyes," said Liu Xianglan. Her explanation was quite impressive, as relying solely on the rules of the heavens seemed too abstract and intangible to Wang Rui.
After observing for a while, the crowd found that there were only two types of monsters in the cold pool, and no others. The monster fish would surface every hour to devour a batch of plankton, and the plankton would reproduce frantically to maintain the overall balance of their population, which indeed complies with the laws of nature.
There are two hallways in the lobby, each leading in two different directions. It seems like we have to make a choice.
"Let's not split up for now. After all, this cave belongs to a Yuanying-level cultivator. Although he may not be an evil demon cultivator, he certainly isn't a kind-hearted person. Let's choose one path first, walk for a while and if we find something wrong, we can turn back." Wang Rui decided not to divide the group, and no one had any objections. This is the safest option.
On one road, it was damp and dark, while the other was dry, bright, and filled with cold wind. Most people preferred the bright and dry path, and Wang Rui did not object. So, they waited cautiously until the monster fish sank again and snuck past it.
Recently, only three to five meters away from the Cold Abyss, those floating monsters seemed to sense something and gathered together, making creepy hissing sounds.
Even some plankton piled up directly on their companions and then jumped towards Chen Qi and Liu Xianglan to bite them, but they ignored the other three men, which was really strange.
A spark of lightning flashed by, burning these floating monsters that leapt into the air into charcoal. It also frightened the monsters that were close by, causing them to retreat in panic and curl up into a ball in the middle of the cold pool.
Chen Qi and Liu Xianglan breathed a sigh of relief. Although they weren't at risk of being hurt by these floating monsters, faced with so many creatures densely packed like mosquitoes, they still felt instinctive fear.
"Are you okay?" Wang Rui asked in a low voice, and both Chen Qi and Liu Xianglan shook their heads, then he signaled for them to follow him.
The five of them looked around at the intersection for a while, and then Chen Fuzhi led the way in.
The cold wind was a bit piercing, and Chen Qi's released fire power also seemed weak under this kind of cold wind, not enough to provide enough warmth. It was not until Wang Rui released his lightning power that he was able to recover.
Walking on this road is like walking on a big tree, with the main road as the trunk and other roads as branches. No one knows where the end of these branches leads to.
Wang Rui arranged for meticulous Chen Qi to draw a map of the cave. This could also serve as proof of completing the mission. After all, even if they discovered the cave, they might not be able to take away much of its contents due to their limited strength. After all, it was the cave of a Yuan Ying cultivator.
The main road is long, and there are various trees blocking the view and some fog, making it impossible to see the end.
After walking for a while, the group didn't find any peerless treasures, but they did find a herb that Wang Rui needed – Dark Cloud Grass, which is difficult to buy outside and belongs to the priceless category.
Chen Qi and her husband did their utmost to pick some of the herb after learning that Wang Rui needed this type of plant, and they finally gathered six plants in total.
Ka ka ka...
A strange noise was heard, and Wang Rui and his companions stopped their footsteps and looked towards the direction of the main road. Three tall and skinny figures were gradually approaching them from a few hundred meters away.
"Is it a demon beast or a cultivator?" Yuan Cheng asked curiously.
"Doesn't really look like either," Liu Xianglan replied shaking her head.
Wang Rui instructed everyone to hide for now as he didn't want to engage in battle with these unknown creatures.
The figures were getting closer and closer, and the tall and thin shapes finally revealed their prototypes.
With a height close to nine feet, their entire structure was made of wood, and the surface was brushed with green paint or something similar. The patterns seemed mysterious and incomprehensible.
Almost human in appearance, but with a head that is an elongated cage-like structure, housing what seems to be spirit stones emitting three different kinds of radiance.
The orange-red luster can sense the power of fire system, the deep blue luster can sense the power of water system, and the dark green luster can sense the power of wood system.
"Up...Upgraded Spirit Stones..." Wang Rui gasped in shock. He did not expect that the three guards in front of him, who looked like puppets, were all driven by Upgraded Spirit Stones.
This discovery immediately made Wang Rui and the others excited. It's no wonder that this is the cave of a Nascent Soul cultivator. Even before seeing the real treasure, the puppet guards in front of them are already very tempting.