The defensive barriers of that cave still exist to this day. Unfortunately, they were destroyed during Lu Xuan's battle with the Black Water Serpent. This allowed Lu Xuan to finally locate the place. It can only be said that the Black-Hearted Old Man, a figure of unparalleled prominence eight hundred years ago, certainly possessed considerable skill.
The entrance to the Dripping Blood Cave was quite interesting. Seven red stones, each about half the size of a palm, were embedded in the cave ceiling. Their texture and patterns were identical to the surrounding stones, differing only in color. Lu Xuan tested them and discovered that the stones possessed no spiritual power; they seemed to be merely ordinary gemstones.
As water droplets flowed over these red stones, they were reflected in the stone, turning a blood-red hue before dripping down, like drops of blood falling from the cave ceiling. This is the origin of the Dripping Blood Cave. Lu Xuan remembered that the small pool where the water droplets fell was the mechanism to open the door. However, he didn't care.
The entrance to the cave was blocked by a massive boulder. This boulder was extraordinary. It clearly felt as if it had been nurtured by spiritual energy, with intricate defensive runes engraved on it. Ordinary forces couldn't budge it. However, these runes had been destroyed during Lu Xuan's battle with the Black Water Serpent. Therefore, it was now just a relatively solid stone.
He placed his right hand on the stone and subtly channeled his spiritual power. With a slight shake, the stone turned to dust. What appeared before Lu Xuan was a stone chamber.
The entire stone chamber is circular in shape, with the tunnel in the center, and another passage extending inwards from the opposite side. It seems there is more space deeper inside.
On the left side of the stone chamber, there are two huge stone sculptures. One of them has a kind face and a smile. Its clothes are carved so lifelike that they look as if they are being blown by the wind. It looks a bit like Guanyin Bodhisattva in Buddhism.
The other statue was completely different, ferocious and menacing, with a black face, demonic horns, eight arms, and four heads. There was even a trace of blood dripping from its mouth, making it a chilling sight.
In addition, in front of the two statues, there is a stone table with an incense burner on it and several packets of incense and candles next to it, all covered in dust, indicating that there has been no incense burning for the past eight hundred years.
At the other end of the stone chamber, there were only a few prayer cushions casually tossed on the ground, nothing else.
Lu Xuan stood before the stone statues, scrutinizing them closely. In his memory, these two statues seemed to be the evil gods worshipped by the Demonic Sect. In other words, the Demonic Sect was a real religious sect, one with a certain kind of faith. Although he didn't know their current level of loyalty, that faith had once been extremely fanatical.
The stone statues were ordinary, nothing special. Lu Xuan quickly gave up and walked deeper into the stone chamber. Passing through a tunnel, he entered a spacious natural cave. The cave was filled with enormous stalactites. At the cave entrance stood a stone tablet, inscribed with several large, flamboyant characters: "Heaven and Earth are ruthless, treating all things like straw dogs!"
Looking at this sentence that runs throughout the entire text, Lu Xuan felt a slight sense of emotion. This sentence truly expressed the utter helplessness of cultivators.
The characters on the stone tablet possessed a certain rhythm, seemingly imbued with the divine will of the engraver. However, eight hundred years had passed, and the divine will within had almost completely dissipated. It could no longer exert any influence on Lu Xuan whatsoever.
Passing through the stalactite cave, Lu Xuan found himself facing two tunnels, one to the left and one to the right. Without hesitation, he randomly chose the left one and entered. On both sides of the tunnel were luminous stones, creating a permanent lighting effect. At the end of the tunnel lay a stone chamber.
The stone chamber had clearly been abandoned for a long time. In the center were shelves covered with various labels: Five Sacred Mountains Halberd, Moon-Gazing Rope, Separation Cone, and so on—labels clearly indicating magical artifacts. These were likely top-tier magical artifacts collected by the Blood Refining Hall back then. However, the shelves were just empty labels; the actual artifacts were long gone. Considering the righteous path's all-out attack on the demonic sect back then, those magical artifacts were probably distributed and encountered enemies.
Lu Xuan inspected all the shelves and found a sealed iron box on the last shelf. After casting several defensive spells around it, Lu Xuan opened the box. Inside was the most crucial magical artifact from the original story: the Hehuan Bell.
He casually put the Hehuan Bell away. Lu Xuan then began searching other areas.
On the other side, in a corner of the stone chamber, a large number of broken weapons were piled up haphazardly. Most of them were worldly weapons, with a few low-level magical artifacts, but they had long since lost their spiritual power over the past eight hundred years and had become junk.
The only thing that interested Lu Xuan was a giant axe at the very top of all that broken metal. The ordinary weapons, after eight hundred years, would have long since decayed and rotted away. But this giant axe was perfectly intact, without even a trace of rust.
However, this thing seemed utterly devoid of any spiritual energy. It appeared to be merely a weapon made of special materials. This greatly intrigued Lu Xuan. After examining it for a long time, he discovered that it appeared to be a half-finished magical artifact. The material it used was astonishing, capable of withstanding the test of eight hundred years. Strangely, this material itself seemed to lack any spiritual energy!
Lu Xuan, an expert in crafting artifacts, vaguely guessed that this material might possess some special properties. Therefore, he used it as a foundation. However, to truly complete the magical artifact, it would likely require the addition of other spiritual materials.
The Dripping Blood Cave was clearly not a place to study this thing, so Lu Xuan casually put away the giant axe and continued to examine the surroundings.
In the original story, Biyao only obtained the Hehuan Bell here. However, Lu Xuan didn't believe it; all the magical treasures had been distributed, leaving only the Hehuan Bell. As a core member of the Demonic Sect, Lu Xuan had never believed in the integrity of that ruthless old man from eight hundred years ago. Therefore, Lu Xuan directly unleashed his divine sense, scanning the surroundings.
A slight resistance was felt. Clearly, runes had once been placed around to block divine sense, but they were now mostly ineffective. Therefore, Lu Xuan easily penetrated the surroundings. A short while later, a slight smile appeared on Lu Xuan's lips. Then, with a casual wave of his hand, a burst of spiritual energy flashed. The stone wall in front of him suddenly shattered, revealing three hidden stone compartments.
One of them was empty. Lu Xuan turned his gaze to the other two.
Inside one of the stone compartments lay a jade bottle, its surface a deep, dark blue. Eight hundred years later, upon its reappearance, Lu Xuan sensed the spread of a malevolent energy emanating from it. Below the stone compartment were carved three characters: "Soul-Capturing Bottle."
"Soul-capturing bottle, I wonder what its connection is with the Soul-capturing staff?"
Lacking any clues, Lu Xuan refrained from wild guesses. He put away the Soul-Capturing Bottle and looked at another stone compartment. Inside was a piece of ancient incense. It appeared to have been used multiple times, and less than a third remained. However, the fact that it was placed here with such care clearly indicated its preciousness. Lu Xuan accepted it without hesitation.
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Chapter 424 Departure
After checking the surroundings again to make sure nothing was missed, Lu Xuan left the stone chamber and returned to another tunnel.
The stone chambers were almost identical, but the contents were vastly different. Directly in front of the chamber was a smooth stone wall. Several large characters were written on it in a flowing, elegant style: "The First Volume of the Heavenly Book." Below that were densely packed smaller characters.
"The creation of heaven and earth. It is said that in the time of chaos, when ignorance and separation were not yet established, the sun and moon contained their brilliance, and heaven and earth were mixed together. After the vastness of change, the clear and the turbid were revealed."
The reason why Heaven and Earth can endure is that they do not exist for their own sake; therefore, they can endure. However, all things in Heaven and Earth have their own forms, but sentient beings are deluded, confused by the concepts of self, others, sentient beings, and lifespan. Because of these various forms, their minds give rise to the three poisons, three fears, and three terrors; thus, their suffering cannot last long…
Lu Xuan read it carefully and memorized it. He originally wanted to destroy the first volume of this heavenly book, but after thinking about it, he decided against it. This thing was a great opportunity in this world, and it was best not to destroy it carelessly.
Below the first volume of this celestial book lies a skeleton. Presumably, it is the skeleton of the Black-Hearted Old Man. He was likely too severely injured in the battle years ago, and ultimately succumbed to his wounds, dying in his own cave.
Behind the heartless old man, however, lies another story.
The bells choked, the flowers withered.
The figure grew thinner, and his temples turned white with frost.
Deep affection brings suffering, a lifetime of suffering.
Passionate love only leads to heartbreak.
What followed was a strange spell. It was none other than the infamous Love Spell from the novel *Zhu Xian*.
This technique is only for women, so Lu Xuan would never need it. However, being a collector, he still jotted it down.
After that, there was basically nothing of value left in the Dripping Blood Cave. Lu Xuan then left. On the way, he noticed that the disciples of Qingyun Sect, Tianyin Temple, Fenxiang Valley, and his Hidden Immortal Sect had gathered together and were fighting against the Demonic Sect.
Originally, the forces withdrawn from the Demonic Sect would not have been weaker than these young people. However, due to Lu Xuan's intervention, You Ji was injured prematurely. Of the three top experts from the Blood Refining Hall, one had his eyes gouged out, crippling his three-hundred-year-old supernatural powers, and another had his magic weapon stolen, greatly reducing his strength.
On the other hand, the righteous path possesses three top-tier magical artifacts: the Pure Yang Jade Ruler, the Reincarnation Pearl, and the Tianya Sword, coupled with the strongest young generation from the three major sects. Add to that the Daoist Duobao, Zhang Xiaofan, and the Sword Immortal, Lin Jingyu. Their combat strength far surpasses that of the demonic sect. Incidentally, the title of Daoist Duobao is newly acquired, and no one objects to it.
Lu Xuan stood in the shadows, watching the battle for a while. He noticed that Biyao and Zhang Xiaofan were facing off.
She possessed the Mountain and River Fan, a gift from Lu Xuan, which was incredibly powerful. However, it couldn't withstand Zhang Xiaofan's sheer numbers. With over twenty magical treasures unleashed, the entire battlefield was illuminated in a kaleidoscope of colors. Even the Dharma images of Tianyin Temple couldn't help but glance in his direction.