Episode 3: Moonlit Water Cave
The group successfully reached the end of the passage and then another stone door appeared. This time, Thomson did not try to explore it. Instead, he directly handed this prestigious task to the only expert in the team, Duan Tianyi. To everyone's satisfaction, the same situation occurred again. A powerful suction force carried everyone into the same passage. This time, everyone learned their lesson and was extremely vigilant. However, to everyone's disappointment, the journey was so quiet that it made one's heart tremble.
At the end of the passage, there was a huge golden stone door. On both sides of the stone door were two lifelike stone statues of lion heads and eagle bodies. Two sharp eyes were staring at everyone, making one's heart race uncontrollably. In front of the stone door was a stone tablet. The tablet was plain and simple, but the engraved characters were flowing and graceful, giving a sense of awe.
Among the people present, except for Duan Tianyi and Yang Mufeng, who were Chinese, the others were foreigners. Although they knew some Chinese, they couldn't recognize a single character on the tablet. Even Yang Mufeng couldn't recognize all of them.
Thomson frowned, seeming very helpless about the current situation. "Brother Duan, what should we do next?"
Now, they could only rely on Duan Tianyi. Therefore, Thomson appeared very polite.
"This stone tablet introduces the life story of the tomb owner. The tomb owner was the famous general Yue Fei of the Southern Song Dynasty. The person who built the tomb claimed to be anonymous."
Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked. Everyone knew that after Yue Fei died at the hands of Qin Hui, his body mysteriously disappeared. Later, to commemorate this great patriotic hero, people could only build a tomb in his honor. As for where Yue Fei was buried exactly, no one knew. This anonymous title was also something they had heard of. In Chinese history, there were many extraordinary heroes, and this anonymous one was one of them. It was said that he was born in the Northern Song Dynasty and died in the Ming Dynasty, and he was considered a rare martial arts master for a thousand years. If what the stone tablet said was true, everyone knew that its value was incalculable.
Thomson asked urgently, "Then how can we get in?"
Duan Tianyi shook his head and said, "It's very difficult. According to the stone tablet, if we fail, then all of us will be buried here today."
Upon hearing Duan Tianyi's words, everyone's hearts also cooled down. But this stone tablet might contain astonishing martial arts secrets, and it might also have the immortal way of this anonymous hero. For those who have tasted the bitterness of being on the edge of death, there was nothing to be concerned about. Riches are sought in danger.
Thomson smiled slightly, seeming to have some doubts about Duan Tianyi's words. After all, they couldn't understand these inscriptions. "Brother Duan, is it really so mysterious? I think it's not so quiet here. We can just blast it all away and be done with it?"
Duan Tianyi didn't elaborate further. "The inscription on the stone tablet says that to pass this door, one must pass through the Water Moon Heavenly Gate. This Water Moon Heavenly Gate is the lion head and eagle body statues on both sides of the stone door. This Water Moon Heavenly Gate, one thought leads to life, the other leads to death. If you are not careful, you will never be able to leave here. If you force your way in, the Water Moon Heavenly Gate will directly open the death door, leaving the intruder's body intact."
Thomson was not a fool. The previous probing was just to learn more information. Duan Tianyi naturally knew Thomson's trick. He directly recited the content on the stone tablet without further explanation. He didn't want to die, but he hoped that these desperate people would give up.
Duan Tianyi added, "I declare that I also don't know what this Water Moon Heavenly Gate is. But I feel it's an extremely powerful array. To pass through, it's estimated to be a life or death situation."
Although Thomson was not sure, facing such a huge temptation, everything was worth it. He smiled slightly at Duan Tianyi and said, "Then it's up to Brother Duan."
Duan Tianyi and Yang Mufeng both frowned slightly, but there was nothing they could do. People are under the roof, they can't refuse. If they don't, Thomson probably won't let them off easily. They could only grit their teeth and give it a try. If it worked, they would have a chance to survive. If they were really unlucky, there would be these reckless guys to accompany them.
Duan Tianyi looked at Yang Mufeng and said, "Mufeng, come and help me."
Duan Tianyi introduced some details to Yang Mufeng and walked towards the two stone statues. Both of them placed their hands on the right eyes of the stone statues and immediately the stone statues seemed to come to life, with a brilliant golden light shining. A powerful stream of information rushed into their minds simultaneously.
A voice from ancient times rang in their ears, "Welcome, young friends, to the Water Moon Cave. Water Moon, mirror flowers, is there meaning? Nothingness or existence?"
A golden light flashed in front of their eyes, and they felt they had entered a golden hall. In fact, they were being wrapped in a golden light, remaining in the same posture as before. Thomson and the other six people saw the strange phenomenon and dared not think too much. They all retreated about a hundred meters and watched the two stone statues with golden light floating around them and Duan Tianyi and Yang Mufeng inside the golden light.
In the hall, the old voice rang out again, "Congratulations, you two. You are the twenty-first batch of guests to come here. Counting the previous ones, it's been almost over a hundred years. Hope you don't disappoint Lord Yue. In front of you are two doors, one called Mirror Flowers, the other called Water Moon. They are unknown heroes' dimension spaces. Choose whichever you like. The people inside will treat you well."
"Tianyi, is this the Water Moon Cave? What should we do?"
"Just follow that old man's words. There's no other way now. Let's go."
Yang Mufeng nodded and smiled slightly, looking very relaxed. "I like the moon in the water. I'll go into this Water Moon. See you later."
Yang Mufeng strode forward and entered the Water Moon Gate. In a flash, he disappeared in the hall. Duan Tianyi also entered the Mirror Flowers Gate.
Entering the Water Moon Gate, Yang Mufeng was stunned by the scene before him. It was a huge martial arts training ground. On both sides were bookshelves, on which there were many books, seemingly all martial arts manuals. In front of it were various weapons. In the center of the training ground stood an old man with purple white hair, holding a large cleaver, his eyes slightly closed, looking imposing.
Yang Mufeng walked forward and bowed his head, "Senior, I come to pass the test."
The purple-haired old man slightly opened his eyes, a flash of electric light shining in his dark brown eyes. Yang Mufeng retreated five or six steps back.
The old man's mouth curled slightly, "The boy is good. Under my pressure, he doesn't show any weakness. I see there is a very strong energy inside you. You should have taken the Black Bodhi Fruit, Creation is indeed stronger than the previous nineteen."
Yang Mufeng straightened up and said, "I don't know your name, sir. I'm Yang Mufeng. May I ask what criteria you use to determine if I've successfully passed the test?"
The old man laughed heartily and said, "Bravo! I like it. Just call me Song Old Man. I'll give you ten years to defeat me. If you do so within ten years, you'll be considered to have passed the test. Young Master Yang, don't worry. There are no external time limits here. The ten years here is just a blink of an eye in the outside world. But if you can't defeat me within the specified time, look at those people over there."
Yang Mufeng followed the direction of Song Old Man's finger and saw nineteen people standing facing the wall, motionless.
"Old Man Song, are they the people who came here earlier?"
Song Old Man said disappointedly, "Those fools! Ten years have passed and they haven't made any progress at all. There's no way, they can only become living corpses."
"Living corpses?"
"They all have feelings, but they can only stand there forever, unable to speak or move. They have to endure thousands of years of loneliness. Young Master Yang, I have faith in you. I hope you won't let me down. The bookshelves on both sides are filled with the top-level secret books of the martial arts world. You can learn whatever you want."
Yang Mufeng finally felt moved. Looking at the old man, he didn't know if he was an ancient monster that had lived for hundreds or thousands of years, but his cultivation level could only be described as unfathomable. It was really hard for him to defeat him within ten years, and he really didn't have a single bit of confidence. However, Yang Mufeng had a stubborn character. The more difficult the thing was, the more potential it could stimulate.
Yang Mufeng didn't say much and began to immerse himself in the numerous martial arts secret books. With the brain of a doctor, he memorized all the ten thousand martial arts secret books within less than a month.
"Boy, too much to chew is hard to digest. Ordinary people only practice a few martial arts skills in their lifetime, at most no more than a hundred. You're so good, you've gone through all the secret books in less than a month. Don't blame me for not warning you."
Yang Mufeng didn't bother to respond to this so-called Song Old Man. He did a few sword gestures with his sword for a while, then danced with a knife for a while, and then moved up and down randomly. In total, none of them practiced for more than an hour. However, Yang Mufeng was indeed a genius. The bystanders might think he was messing around, but in fact, his spirit had completely entered a state of selfless martial arts supreme realm. Simple martial skills could be learned in ten minutes, and the difficult ones didn't take more than two hours.
A golden light flashed, and Duan Tianyi entered a huge library. It seemed to be three times larger than the national library. There were only two facing bookshelves in the library, and an old man with white hair and white beard was sitting in front of the bookshelf, holding a book in his hand.
The old man with white beard said coldly, "Young friend, come here?"
"Boy Duan Tianyi has met the senior. I don't know how you should address you. Is this the Mirror Flower Sect?"
"Call me Zhu Old Man. This is the Mirror Flower Library. It has over a million books, covering astronomy, geography, history, military strategy, divination, and numerology. It's truly all-encompassing. I've been reading here for no less than eight hundred years or a year. I've only read about five-sixths of them. Your task is to learn from me within ten years. If you can defeat me, you'll be considered to have passed the test. The ten years here in the outside world is just a fleeting moment. Don't waste time, hurry up. I'll test you once a month from now on."
Duan Tianyi didn't waste any words and directly entered the study. Duan Tianyi often stayed in the library for months. This scholarly life might seem dull to others, but Duan Tianyi was accustomed to it.
There were no sun or moon in the cave. In a blink of an eye, four years had passed. In the Water Moon Sect, a man with a full beard was holding a big sword and was fiercely fighting with a purple-faced old man. They fought for over a hundred rounds. Finally, the purple-faced person's figure flashed, and the blade hit the man's chest, sending him flying for dozens of steps.
"Haha... Young Master Yang, your progress is indeed rapid. In just four years, you've been able to block over a hundred of my attacks. It seems you're going to pass the test ahead of schedule."
"Haha... Old Man Song is joking. It's still better for Old Man Song to give way."
That big man was actually Yang Mufeng, who had entered Shuyue four years ago. In fact, with Yang Mufeng's current level of cultivation, if he had to fight, he could definitely withstand the attack for two hundred moves. He himself also knew that he wasn't at that stage yet. The secret scriptures in the training room had already been mastered by him to a large extent, reaching the level of a first-class martial artist who can control their skills with ease. If he could go out now, he was confident that he could subdue Tomson and the other six within a quarter of an hour. However, his goal was to completely handle all of them. Who would begrudge having such excellent martial arts skills? This Song Lao was just a very good test subject. Why not take it? Every time he had a confrontation with Song Lao, he would gain considerable benefits.
During his training, Yang Mufeng discovered that there was a pigeon egg-sized, dark green spot on his chest. The spot seemed to contain an infinite amount of energy. This was exactly what was formed when he swallowed the Black Bodhi Fruit and Green Bodhi Gall. Song Lao said that these energies were being sealed by a strange array. Once it was opened, his cultivation level would increase sharply.
In the Mirror Flower Sect, Old Zhai was playing against Duan Tian. This was a monthly test that had been conducted for the past four years. Each time, only nine games were played. Previously, Old Zhai always managed to kill Duan Tian without leaving a single scrap of his opponent's body. However, four years had passed, and the two had become evenly matched, with wins and losses alternating. According to Duan Tian's chess skills, he was at least a professional third-dan level. In reality, he was an expert wherever he went. But when he met Old Zhai, he could only suffer defeats every time. These four years of games had allowed Duan Tian to understand many strategies and array principles in the game, and he had also mastered a powerful method of using hidden weapons for chess pieces. Old Zhai's attitude towards him had also changed from being cold and indifferent to much more gentle. This affirmation gave Duan Tian more confidence in passing the test. During these four years, Duan Tian had learned almost half of the books in the library. However, there was still a long way to go to meet Old Zhai's requirements.