Chapter 4: The Abode of the Hidden Immortal

  The entrance of Zhongyuan Cave is not very big.

  You can walk in from the entrance and pass through a narrow passage to reach a spacious place, which is a large cave similar to a hall. The top of the cave can see the sky, above which is an open hole, this is what is called Dan Keng.

  This section is not particularly dangerous, and everyone knows that they can reach Dankeng from Zhongyuan Cave. In the early years, villagers who escaped from bandits would temporarily live here. However, after entering Dankeng, you will find a bottomless cave in front of you, and going inside is the real Zhongyuan Cave.

  "Yang San Shu! Look here..." Xiao Yao found an old newspaper, it was last week's "Chuan Xi Daily".

  "There are also some pancake crumbs, which should be the dry provisions that Aunt Zhang made for Little Chu." The old shepherd looked at the remaining marks on the newspaper, which seemed to have been used to wrap pancakes.

  Before leaving, Zhang Danni mentioned something. Chu Yu said that the pancakes eaten at her house were delicious and asked her to prepare more. She said that after a few days, she would take some back home for her family to try.

  Now everything is clear, Chu Yu has made some preparations with these excuses, and her entry into the cave can also be confirmed. So the two decided to continue entering the cave.

  Before entering the cave, Lao Yang was preparing to tie the fine hemp rope he had brought with him to a small tree at the entrance of the cave when he discovered another hemp rope.

  "Yang San Shu, following this hemp rope should be able to find her!" Xiao Yao said with some delight.

  The old shepherd didn't say a word, tied his own hemp rope and then untied the hemp rope that Chu Yu was tied with and wrapped it around his arm. He then walked into the cave with a serious expression. Xiao Yao hurriedly followed him and also entered.

  As soon as he walked into the entrance, Xiao Yao's heart was completely messed up. This Zhongyuan Cave is a typical karst lava cave, and before walking far, he found three or four fork roads.

  Fortunately, the old shepherd's hemp rope in his hand could still guide them in the right direction, and the two were not yet lost. However, after circling twice, the old shepherd stopped in his tracks.

  "It's knotted!" The old shepherd sighed and said.

  Following the old shepherd's gaze, Xiao Yao discovered that the thin hemp rope they brought was actually intertwined here, which means that they had been to this place before...

  The old shepherd didn't linger, broke the thread and pulled back the fine hemp rope that had been wrapped around in a circle, and reconnected it to its original place, so they wouldn't take a detour on their way back.

  They continued along Chu Yu's hemp rope route and found two more loops, but soon they discovered that Chu Yu's thin hemp rope had broken.

  The thread is broken. The clue is also broken. Chu Yu has lost her way.

  This series of inferences made Xiao Yao's heart sink to the bottom. Is fate really so cruel and has inertia? Can't everything be changed at all?

  Xiao Yao felt somewhat disheartened.

  "Xiao Xiao, now think carefully, if you continue to look for it, it's hard to say! When I first entered the cave, the thread also broke..." The old sheep herder looked at Xiao with a complex expression, stared for a while without speaking, and squatted down to smoke on one side.

  Now turning back should be able to return along the route of the hemp rope, and the old shepherd who has been taught a lesson will fix the fine hemp rope every now and then to prevent the hemp rope from breaking after a long journey.

  But now looking back means completely giving up on searching, and the fate of the future will return to its original trajectory. Those days Xiao Yao had already experienced once were nothing, but that regret and self-blame he didn't want to recall again.

  Was Chu Yu's young life supposed to end at this autumn mountain pass? Since fate has changed, after his rebirth, was he destined to repeat the pain and regret again? He refused to accept it, he really refused to accept it.

  The old shepherd was a little afraid in his heart, after all, the memories of the dangers he had experienced a few years ago were still fresh, and he also had a wild younger sister to support. For himself and Chu Yu, it shouldn't be worth throwing away this old life here.

  Taking a glance at the old sheep herder who was smoking his pipe with his head down, Xiao Yao secretly made up his mind. He lightly shouldered two bags and turned around to walk towards the depths of the cave.

  Xiao Yao ran for a while before shouting loudly: "Yang San Shu, you go back! I'll continue searching!" After that, he ran off without looking back.

  Hearing the shouting from deep within the cave, Old Yang's heart tightened and he chased after him for a few steps before falling to the ground. He let out a loud wail: "Little Xiao! You little scamp! Do you want to have me, Yang Lao San, humiliated by the villagers of Autumn Mountain Village until I'm spat on by everyone?!"

  They had walked for a long time and could no longer tell which direction they were heading in.

  He didn't think about the consequences when he rushed in like this. Now, there's no signpost to guide him, even if he's lucky enough to find Chuyou, but can't find his way back, it will still end up with the same result.

  At that time, rushing in, there was a voice in my heart saying: "If I die, I'll just die, it's better than living like a walking corpse."

  After an unknown period of time, a sound of water flow came to Xiao Yao's ears. The sound grew from small to large and finally became a loud roar. Following the sound, he slowly walked closer to take a look - a small stream flowed out of a cave.

  Not far away, a nearly ten-meter-long spillway was washed by the water flow as clean as jade. A piece of rolling waves overflowed the spillway and poured into a deep crevice in front. Under this crevice is a deep pool with an area of nearly 1,000 square meters.

  Above the deep pool, a huge dome can be seen. In this space, the endless darkness of the original cave is gone, replaced by some dreamy light. This light comes from nowhere and does not hurt the eyes, it's very soft.

  On a prominent rock on the opposite bank of the deep pool, there were two seal characters "Fa Tian". It seems that the legend of Qiu Zhongyuan is true after all. This should be the place where this recluse cultivated Taoism in his early years.

  On the left side of the rock wall with the two characters "Fa Tian", there is another exit. Xiao Yao immediately entered through this hole and found that there were no forks in the road, and there were also some artificial excavation marks on the subsequent road.

  Walking to the end of this cave, a thread of light faintly came out from there. Xiao Yao hastened his pace towards the place where the light was coming from, which turned out to be an artificially excavated stone chamber.

  Inside the cave, there was a silence, as if no one had been here for a long time. On the rock wall, a night pearl was embedded, emitting a faint yellow light. This should be the residence of Chūgen, the former owner of Chūgendō Cave.

  The cave is divided into two rooms, inside and outside. The outer room is not large, with many daily necessities scattered around. In the middle of the room, there is a round table made of jade and two round stools. On the table, there are also some jade cups and saucers.

  Inside the room, there is a white jade bed. Perhaps it was used by Qiu Zhongyuan for rest during his lifetime, made of a single piece of mountain jade, with a simple shape, only the natural color of thousands of years has made the jade bed slightly yellowish-red, very ancient and elegant, on top of the bed there is a jade table, and on the jade table there are two jade plaques.

  Xiao Yao picked them up casually, the jade pendants had a cyan and yellow color, the jade felt cool to the touch, and looked very beautiful when examined carefully.

  Xiao Yao didn't pay much attention to the two jade tokens. He hoped to find some written records, and perhaps he could even find the entrance and exit routes of Zhongyuan Cave.

  A faint fragrance wafted in, subtle yet not dense, but with a refreshing comfort that soothed the heart. Like the elegant orchid in a secluded valley, like the clear lotus on a summer day.

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