Chapter 252: Stone Door
The four walked slowly toward that huge stone door standing abruptly.
As the distance shortened, an invisible sense of oppression became increasingly intense, as if even the air had become heavy.
The stone door appeared dark black in its entirety, its surface smooth like black jade, yet faintly revealing a heavy sense of having weathered many vicissitudes.
The entire door had no decorative patterns, yet it gave people a sense of solemnity. The bottom of the stone door fit tightly with the ground; it was difficult to insert even a single hair, as if it had been merged with this mountain since ancient times.
What was most startling was that when the four approached, the surface of the stone door actually faintly transmitted a low hum, like some kind of sleeping power was being awakened.
Jiang Che reached out and lightly touched the stone door. What came from his fingertips was not the coldness of stone material, but a peculiar pulsation, as if this door was alive.
He quickly withdrew his hand, his brows locked tight: "This door... is not simple."
Chen Xingcai looked up at the towering stone door and unconsciously took half a step back: "I always feel... this door does not look like an entrance leading somewhere, but more like... a seal suppressing something."
Han Yu stepped forward first, pressed his hands against the stone door, circulated the spiritual power in his body, and pushed hard. The stone door did not move a bit; not even a trace of dust was shaken off.
He frowned slightly and changed to striking the door with his palm. The thick spiritual power, at the moment of contacting the stone door, actually disappeared without a trace like a clay ox entering the sea.
"Let me try."
Jiang Che drew his sword, and dazzling spiritual light condensed on the blade edge. He swung the sword to slash at the stone door, but the blade edge let out a piercing clang the moment it touched the surface. The spiritual light completely dispersed, and the stone door did not even have a white mark left on it.
Chen Xingcai walked around the stone door thoughtfully, her fingertips condensing spiritual power to draw various unsealing talismans on the door surface. However, no matter what runes she drew, the spiritual power would dissipate the moment it touched the stone door.
Finally, she even tried to probe with divine consciousness, but found that divine consciousness could not penetrate this seemingly ordinary stone door at all.
"Strange..."
Han Yu withdrew his hand, a trace of confusion flashing in his eyes, "This stone door has neither a keyhole nor a mechanism, yet it can absorb all spiritual power completely."
Just then, Xiao Luo suddenly squatted down, her slender fingers gently brushing away the thick accumulated dust on the ground.
"Look at this..." She brushed aside the dust, revealing two rusty chains.
The three immediately gathered around.
They saw two Black Iron chains, thick as a child's arm, deeply embedded into the bottom of the stone door at one end, while the other end was broken, the fracture presenting an irregular twisted shape. The surface of the chains was covered with thick black ash, and the rust at the fracture was integrated with the other parts, obviously having been damaged for a considerably long time.
"Something... was once locked on this door?"
Chen Xingcai unconsciously looked around, her voice unconsciously lowering.
Jiang Che picked up a section of the chain to examine it carefully, his fingertips rubbing the jagged traces at the fracture.
"This trace..." His pupils suddenly shrank slightly, "I remember a legend I once saw in an ancient book..."
He stood up slowly, his gaze solemn: "There is a kind of Divine Beast named 'Fangxiangshi', with a beast face and deer antlers, which specializes in feeding on Yin ghosts. It is said that ancient cultivators had a cultivation system different from ours; even if the divine soul was annihilated, the physical body would not rot, so Yin ghosts often coveted the cultivator's remains. The Fangxiangshi was the tomb-guarding beast raised by ancient immortal cultivators to guard tombs..."
Han Yu narrowed his eyes slightly, his voice deepening: "So behind this stone door..."
"It is extremely likely to be an ancient tomb."
Jiang Che nodded in confirmation and gently put the chain back on the ground, "Looking at the degree of rust, the chains have been broken for at least ten thousand years. If the Fangxiangshi broke free from the restraints, how could it still remain here?"
In the dark and gloomy cave, the air seemed to freeze for an instant.
Han Yu tapped the stone door lightly with his fingertips, making a dull sound: "So, how should this door be opened?"
Jiang Che pondered and said: "The tombs of ancient cultivators were always set up with only a Death Gate; there was only one method to open them..."
He paused, "That is the resonance of the family bloodline."
"The descendants of the Kunlun Mountain cultivators..."
Han Yu whispered thoughtfully, and the three turned their gazes to Xiao Luo in unison.
Xiao Luo shuddered violently, unconsciously took half a step back, and her back pressed against the cold stone wall.
"Xiao Luo," Han Yu's voice was calm but allowed no avoidance, "You should still have things you haven't told us, right?"
"Wh... What things?" Her voice trembled slightly.
Han Yu took a step forward, staring fixedly at Xiao Luo: "For example... who exactly is your father? Why did the villagers indulge you and your mother repeatedly, only laying a murderous hand after determining that your mother 'betrayed' them?"
Water droplets dripped from the stone wall, making clear sounds in the silence.
Xiao Luo clenched the corner of her clothes tightly, her knuckles turning white.
After a long while, she finally loosened her fist and let out a long sigh:
"Yes... my mother once said that my biological father... was indeed an Immortal on the Kunlun Mountains."
"This is indeed also the true reason why those villagers have tolerated the two of us, mother and daughter, for so many years."
Xiao Luo lowered her head, her fingers unconsciously rubbing that warm jade, her voice so light it almost dissipated in the darkness of the cave: "My mother... was originally just an ordinary herb-picking girl at the foot of the Kunlun Mountains."
She paused, a look of recollection emerging in her eyes: "That year, there was heavy fog in the mountains. Mother accidentally fell into a valley and was rescued by a white-clad Immortal. That was my father."
When speaking the word "Father", her voice trembled slightly.
"Afterward, Father took Mother back to the Kunlun Mountains. They lived in the mountains for three years..." Xiao Luo's fingertips gently traced the stone wall, "Until Mother became pregnant with me."
The firelight in the cave flickered dim and bright, illuminating her pale profile.
"However, Father told Mother that a Great Change in Heaven and Earth was about to occur, and he could not look after only himself. Subsequently, he entrusted us to the villagers of Lengxi Village."
Xiao Luo gave a bitter smile, "He promised to return after resolving everything and left a jade pendant as a token. The villagers revered his identity and took extra care of us, mother and daughter."
Her voice gradually became low and deep: "But not long after, the things I told you about before happened, and then the Immortals of the Kunlun Mountains never appeared again."
Xiao Luo suddenly stopped and clenched the warm jade in her hand tightly: "Actually, another reason Mother helped those outsiders was that she wanted to take me to flee the village, but she was discovered. They said she 'betrayed' the Kunlun Mountains... In reality, it was just that the protection left by Father finally lost its effect."
...
Han Yu's gaze congealed, and he asked in a deep voice: "Where is that jade pendant?"
Xiao Luo hesitated for a moment, reached out, and pulled a thin red string from her collar. Tied to the string was a jade pendant that was entirely pitch black, gleaming with a gloomy luster under the illumination of the spiritual fire.
She carefully untied the jade pendant and handed it to Han Yu: "Before Mother passed away... she told me to wear it always."
The moment Han Yu took the jade pendant, his brows twitched slightly. He tried to inject a wisp of True Essence into it, only to discover that the True Essence was completely absorbed by the jade pendant like a clay ox entering the sea.
This characteristic... He turned abruptly, walked quickly back to the stone door, and his slender fingers carefully stroked every inch of the stone surface.
"Found it."
Han Yu's voice carried a trace of suppressed excitement. In an extremely inconspicuous spot at the bottom right corner of the stone door, his fingertips touched a shallow groove. The shape of the groove matched the edge of Xiao Luo's jade pendant perfectly.
Han Yu turned to look at Xiao Luo, his eyes flickering with a complex light: "Perhaps... your father handed the key to the answer to you and your mother from the very beginning."
Xiao Luo stared blankly at that jade pendant, her lips trembling slightly.
Han Yu said no more and gently embedded the jade pendant into the groove.
"Boom—"
A burst of dull rumbling came from deep underground, and the entire cave vibrated along with it. That giant black stone door, which seemed to have not moved since ancient times, actually opened inward inch by inch at an extremely slow speed.
A wisp of pale faint light leaked out from the door crack, shining on the faces of the four.
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