Chapter 151: The Cave

In the dim light of night, the two of them moved stealthily until they reached the wooden building. Xiao Tianchi transformed into a black shadow and went in first to scout the area, while Lin Dong waited outside.

Less than ten minutes later, Xiao Tianchi returned.

“There are two floors to the wooden building. The first floor is occupied by guards, and the second floor by laborers. Two of them are on duty in the courtyard keeping watch. I estimate there are around thirty people in total,” Xiao Tianchi said with a pleased expression.

Lin Dong was also delighted. Everywhere, guards held a higher status than laborers. In the Great Han Nation, those of higher status lived upstairs. This wooden building did the opposite—ordinary people might not think much of it, but to those who paid attention, it was definitely strange.

“Master Xiao, with my speed, can I avoid those two night guards unnoticed?” Lin Dong asked.

“They’re both dozing off. As long as we don’t make too much noise, it’s fine to walk in boldly,” Xiao Tianchi sneered.

“Then let’s go in.”

Xiao Tianchi led the way, with Lin Dong closely following. After Xiao Tianchi entered the courtyard and confirmed nothing was amiss, Lin Dong jumped in after him.

In the courtyard, two guards were huddled in a corner, arms crossed, leaning against the wall asleep. Their presence didn’t arouse any suspicion in them.

Quickly slipping into the unfinished main hall, the two moved from left to right, avoiding the sleeping guards, and checked each room one by one. Using their spiritual swords, they inserted them into the door gaps and quietly removed the latch from the third door on the left. Xiao Tianchi slowly pushed open the door.

It was a storage room filled with farming tools like shovels and spades. To their surprise, they found a bamboo bed in the corner. They were astonished and somewhat puzzled.

A simple storage room filled with ordinary farming tools yet requiring guards to watch over it—unless there was a special reason, it made no sense.

Focusing his spiritual energy on his eyes, Lin Dong looked up at the middle-aged man sleeping soundly on the bamboo bed. After studying him carefully, his gaze settled on his face.

The man’s skin was slightly pale, and although there were some wrinkles around his forehead and eyes, they weren’t noticeable. He certainly didn’t resemble an older laborer. Moreover, his breathing was steady and slow—likely indicating he was a trained individual.

Xiao Tianchi had also noticed this. After closing the door, he turned to Lin Dong and said softly, “Mengyan is only as strong as five people. Should we knock him out first or wait?”

Lin Dong replied in a low voice, “Knock him out first. There’s a high chance the trap is in this room. Anyway, there’s only one person here, so it won’t take much time. If we accidentally trigger the trap and wake him up, things will get complicated.”

Xiao Tianchi nodded, took out a small porcelain bottle, and tapped the ground lightly with his toes. His thin frame seemed to move with the wind as he floated over to the bamboo bed. He pulled out the cork, and a wisp of green smoke emerged from the bottle. The moment the middle-aged man inhaled, Xiao Tianchi quickly brought the bottle to his nostrils. After a few breaths, Xiao Tianchi put away the bottle. The man’s breathing remained steady and slow, but now even thunder roaring beside his ears wouldn’t wake him. This dream smoke had the same effect as ordinary sedatives, except its effects were stronger and it had no strange smell, with no side effects like headaches upon waking. If a thousand or eight hundred such bottles were placed in a room, even the strongest person might not be able to escape once they noticed something amiss. Xiao Tianchi began searching everywhere. Although the Lin’s Inn’s storage room also had a secret passage, Lin Dong knew nothing about traps or secret passages, so he couldn’t risk activating them, as the sound of their activation would be too loud. He could only stand by and wait. Xiao Tianchi didn’t overlook any detail, searching inch by inch, from left to right. When he reached the bamboo bed, he crouched down and felt along the legs of the bed with his hands. After checking almost every part of the bed, he stood up, bent down, grabbed both edges of the bed, and with a slight effort, lifted it along with himself. Lin Dong glanced over and noticed a ring-sized circle under the left foot of the bed, which made him let out a soft exclamation. Looking at the circle, Xiao Tianchi sighed deeply, “It must be here!” Lin Dong hurried over. The ring was made of copper, and it seemed connected to the ground below, not just fallen there. After moving the bed aside, Xiao Tianchi didn’t deal with the ring right away but continued searching. After waiting patiently for nearly an hour, he finally searched the entire room thoroughly. With his eyes slightly closed, he pondered for a long time under Lin Dong’s eager gaze, before a smile appeared on his thin, dark face. “The secret passage should be fine. I’ve also noted the positions of all the items in the room. We can go down now.” Lin Dong breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried that pulling up the metal ring might trigger a loud noise, revealing a tunnel somewhere in the room while arrows shot from all directions. He hadn’t expected Xiao Tianchi to be so meticulous as to note the positions of every item in the room as well. Xiao Tianchi stepped forward, inserted his index finger into the metal ring, and pulled up slightly.

At the position on the left wall where the two of them stood, a deep rumbling sound arose. A section of wooden wall, about six to seven centimeters thick, slowly swung inward, pushing aside numerous wooden barrels piled on the ground. Behind the wooden wall, a small, dark chamber roughly two square meters in size came into view. Below the chamber was a wooden ladder leading downward. Xiao Tianchi took the lead, and the two of them continued down the ladder. The narrow passage seemed to widen as they went deeper. “It seems this passage was originally a downward cave. Could it be that… the Spirit Tree grows underground?” Xiao Tianchi frowned slightly. Apart from absorbing celestial energy, Spirit Trees, like ordinary trees, also needed sunlight. If it grew underground, it wasn’t entirely impossible, but the chances were much lower. Lin Dong, on the other hand, remembered Old Ding saying that the Qinglan Tree preferred solitude and couldn’t even tolerate another trunk, let alone other trees. If it grew underground, that could explain why the entire plantation had been searched without finding the Qinglan Tree. Xiao Tianchi stopped frequently along the way, checking for traps every dozen meters or so, and slowly descended the slope for about a kilometer. Not only did the cave expand to a diameter of over ten meters, but the soil beneath their feet also gradually changed from yellow to dark brown. The air seemed filled with a faint scent of decay. “The Spirit Tree… it’s really here in the cave!” Suddenly, Xiao Tianchi exclaimed in shock. Lin Dong focused his gaze, managing to see a little further—from six or seven meters to over ten meters—but beyond that, it was still pitch black. After another twenty-odd meters, a short tree about two meters tall finally came into Lin Dong’s sight. Behind the tree was the cave wall, indicating they had reached the end of the cave. Further ahead, the smell of decay in the air faded, replaced by a delicate fragrance. “It’s the Spirit Tree… it’s this very tree!” Xiao Tianchi’s voice trembled slightly. Lin Dong, however, frowned. After spending over a month gathering information and analyzing the Yang family’s assets, his predictions were correct—this plantation indeed was the location of the Qinglan Tree. But since the cave had reached its end, where was the other trunk of the Qinglan Tree?