Without hesitation, Li Yao jumped into the cave entrance, only to find a flat passageway before him, no longer sloping downwards.
He ran at full speed and reached the end of the passage in no time.
At the end was a huge stone cave, and all the walls of the cave were covered with densely packed text.
Upon closer inspection, these densely packed characters are actually four repeated words:
I regret it so much!
In another part of the cave, there is a stone coffin with five characters engraved on it: Tomb of Bai Suzhen!
Beside the stone coffin lay a skeleton, draped in a monk's robe.
A jade pendant with a smooth white color hung on the kasaya, and on the jade pendant were two large characters: "Fahai"!
"What a sad story!"
Seeing this, Li Yao sighed softly.
In the world of Fengyun, the story of the White Snake and Xu Xian is well-known, but the truth is completely different from the legend.
Bai Suzhen was not a snake demon, but the daughter of an immortal god.
She fell in love with Xu Xian, who knew no martial arts whatsoever, and loved him with fervor and devotion.
She even openly rejected God's will.
God would never allow his daughter, who has the blood of God flowing through her veins, to fall in love with such a mortal man.
So the immortal god became angry.
He ordered Fahai, the chief protector of the Search God Palace, to take the divine artifact, the alms bowl, and destroy his daughter, Bai Suzhen!
Fahai was a highly virtuous monk with a compassionate heart.
He couldn't bear to kill Bai Suzhen, but he also dared not openly defy the will of God.
Later, after much thought, he finally came up with a brilliant plan.
He captured Xu Xian, coerced and bribed him, and handed him the alms bowl, forcing him to use it to ambush Bai Suzhen.
Fahai's original idea was...
Xu Xian must have truly loved Bai Suzhen, so he would never have attacked her; instead, he would have given the alms bowl to her.
You should know that the alms bowl is a divine stone left behind by Nuwa, and it has boundless power.
Bai Suzhen's cultivation level is astonishing. If she is combined with the divine stone, no one can kill her, not even Di Shitian or Xiao Sanxiao, let alone the immortal god.
Unfortunately, Fahai misjudged Xu Xian, who was too afraid of death and didn't hesitate to use his alms bowl to ambush Bai Suzhen.
However, Bai Suzhen had already sensed Xu Xian's sneak attack.
She could have escaped with her amazing speed.
However, the moment Xu Xian raised the alms bowl, her heart died completely.
She never dreamed that the person she loved most would kill her just to save his own life.
She was utterly desperate.
Even if one is still alive, it has lost its meaning...
The alms bowl is truly amazing; even in the hands of ordinary people, it can generate tremendous power.
As a result, Bai Suzhen was smashed into mincemeat by Xu Xian using a bowl.
A pitiful goddess, who poured out all her emotions.
She even betrayed her father and, despite all opposition, fell in love with an ordinary man.
In the end, she was killed by the man she loved.
And it was a brutal and cruel killing, which is truly tragic!
If the world knew that the love story of Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian, which they believed in, would end like this, what would they think?
If they knew that Fahai, whom they hated, had actually been helping Bai Suzhen all along, how would they feel?
Legends often romanticize tragic stories, making them more acceptable to people.
Unfortunately, reality is always cruel.
It has to be said, this is a huge irony!
After Bai Suzhen's death, Fahai saw Xu Xian for who he truly was, and he saw the immortal god for who he truly was.
Fahai served the immortal god because he wanted to use the god to overthrow the unequal imperial system in the human world.
However, he never expected that the god not only had great ambitions, but also coveted the divine stone bowl and wanted to possess it for himself.
Therefore, he led all the monks of Jinshan Temple to chant scriptures and admonish the gods.
God remained obstinate and unmoved.
After ten days and ten nights, all of the more than one thousand monks finally coughed up blood and died.
God seemed to be moved.
He agreed to Fahai's request and returned the alms bowl to the foot of Leifeng Pagoda.
However, he had two conditions.
Firstly, he asked Fahai to set up a deadly trap under Leifeng Pagoda, the same trap Li Yao had encountered before, to prevent others from obtaining the divine stone.
Secondly, he demanded that Fahai be buried alive with the organization to vent his anger at Fahai for disobeying his orders.
For the sake of all living beings, Fahai agreed without hesitation.
At the same time, feeling guilty for causing Bai Suzhen's tragic death, he moved Bai Suzhen's remains to be buried under Leifeng Pagoda.
He vowed to guard Bai Suzhen's remains forever as an act of atonement...
It has to be said, this version of Fahai is perfect!
"Excuse me, Lady White Snake!"
Li Yao bowed towards Bai Suzhen's stone coffin.
Then, without hesitation, he opened the stone coffin.
At one end of the stone coffin, there was a crystal box.
This is a transparent crystal box containing the remains of Bai Suzhen.
However, this was not a complete skeleton, but countless pieces of dry bone, each about an inch in size, which was caused by the immense power of the alms bowl.
At the other end of the stone coffin is a three-foot square opening.
This opening is the entrance to the location of the sacred stone.
Li Yao jumped in without hesitation.
Below the cave entrance is another sloping passageway.
This passageway is not long.
Soon, with a 'whoosh', Li Yao landed in a hole in the ground.
The moment his feet touched the ground, Li Yao was stunned by the incredible sight before him!
This is an unimaginable spectacle!
In the center of the cave, there was a large natural pool.
Steam rose from the pool, and a hazy, fiery red light emanated from it.
This is not a hot spring, but scorching lava with flames dancing wildly, the lava glowing blood red and illuminating the cave.
Above the cave was a water column that was over five zhang long and over half a zhang thick.
The water column shot straight down from a gap in the top of the cave, originally intended to flow into the lava pool.
However, it was abruptly stopped by a beam of light, frozen in place, unable to advance an inch, like a tear that had flowed halfway but could no longer be shed.
This is...
Hellfire!
Tears of the Underworld!
Legend has it that the fires of hell and the tears of the underworld were formed from the blood of ancient demons, so that one day a human might lose control of his desires, take the divine stone, and destroy the land of China.
In fact, this hellfire is a huge underground pool of magma.
The Tears of the Underworld are caused by a crack appearing underground in West Lake, allowing the lake water to rush in.
Li Yao's gaze wasn't focused on the Hellfire and the Tears of the Underworld, but rather on a golden object vaguely visible within the dazzling, brilliant light.
That is the sacred stone alms bowl!
The bowl, without any support, floated in mid-air.
The endless white light emanated from this bowl.
However, Li Yao did not rush to take down the alms bowl, but turned around and looked back at the way he came.
Because someone has arrived!
Sure enough, a moment later, two figures appeared in front of him.
The two figures, one in green and one in white, were actually two old women.
Although these two women looked old, judging from their facial features, they must have been two stunning beauties with dimples when they were young!
Li Yao smiled slightly.
Presumably, these two are the Goddess Mother and the Goddess.
The old woman in blue clothes is the goddess mother who rebelled against the Search God Palace. She is also called Xiaoqing and is the maid of the goddess Bai Suzhen.
The old woman in white is a goddess who betrayed the Palace of Searching for Gods; her name is Xueyuan.
This is a great woman who sacrificed her youth and love for the sake of the common people.
Xueyuan was the only woman Bu Jingyun ever truly loved in his life.
The goddess Xiaoqing, her face ashen, stepped forward and asked, "Do you intend to seize the divine stone alms bowl?"