Chapter 1145: Sesame Opens

Li Zhangmen thought for a moment. "During the Julu Kingdom era, when our sect's founder was a youth, he followed the army into Baimao Mountain to hunt bears. He even shot out one of the White Bear King's eyes. This event is recorded in our sect's ancient texts."

"What happened then?" He Lingchuan pressed. "What was the White Bear King's fate? Was it killed by the army, or did it escape?"

"I don't recall any records of that," Li Zhangmen replied cautiously. "Let me check our ancient texts."

He Lingchuan got to the point: "So, the White Bear King never reappeared to harm people after that?"

"That's hard to say, but at least since our sect was founded, there have been no records of the White Bear King harming anyone," Li Zhangmen confirmed. "That great demon only appeared in Baimao Mountain around the time of the Julu Kingdom."

In other words, after being severely wounded by the Julu Kingdom's army, the White Bear King never caused trouble again?

He Lingchuan thanked Li Zhangmen and then asked to buy two zircons.

Baimao Mountain does not produce this mineral, but disciples occasionally use it for crafting artifacts, and shops down the mountain use it for jewelry. Li Zhangmen ordered someone to search the storeroom, and soon four or five zircons were selected and handed to He Lingchuan.

They were primarily light green, with two pieces of excellent quality resembling diamonds.

Dong Rui was somewhat puzzled: "What do you need these for?"

Zircons are not considered precious gemstones and cannot be used as primary materials for jewelry.

"For someone else."

"You're giving these as a gift?" Dong Rui clicked his tongue. "That person must have terrible taste."

He Lingchuan didn't bother arguing with him. "Let's go, into the mountain."

What was there to find in the Coiling Dragon World? He wanted to hunt for treasure in reality.

The villages, towns, and roads in front of Baimao Mountain had changed beyond recognition compared to over a century ago.

Only the distant mountains remained timeless, their contours as clear as in He Lingchuan's memory.

Once they entered the mountain, He Lingchuan took the lead.

"This place has nice scenery, but you're not here for sightseeing, are you?" Dong Rui grew more confused with each step. "Hey, you seem really familiar with this place."

He Lingchuan walked with confidence. Sometimes, even when there appeared to be no path ahead, he would draw his knife to cut through the grass. Dong Rui expected to hit a dead end, but instead, they would find a hidden winding path leading to a secluded spot.

How would someone who had never been here before know where to go?

He Lingchuan replied solemnly, "I've been here in my dreams."

Dong Rui rolled his eyes.

Fine, don't tell me. What man doesn't have a few secrets of his own?

However, He Lingchuan's words were immediately proven true:

He made four or five wrong turns in a row and, out of necessity, had to backtrack to find the right path again.

This was hardly his fault; the vegetation in Baimao Mountain 150-160 years ago was different from what it is now. For instance, the large expanse of pink muhly grass before them certainly wasn't there back then.

He Lingchuan looked around, searching for landmarks.

Soon, several towering trees came into view.

Giant firs!

He had even strung up a hammock on these very trees.

So many years had passed, and while the place remained, the people had changed.

He Lingchuan murmured, "It shouldn't be far from here now."

These giant firs, however, hadn't changed much; they were still as tall, just a bit thicker around the trunk. But the plants beneath them had changed countless times.

He Lingchuan placed his hands on a large tree and quickly climbed up.

Climbing high was best for seeing far.

Below the tree, Dong Rui watched him, shading his eyes and looking around as if searching for something.

No doubt about it, this guy had definitely been to Baimao Mountain before!

After a moment, He Lingchuan slid down the tree, pointed his knife eastward, and said, "Follow me."

The two then passed through dense forests.

The area was desolate, with weeds as thick as a wall. As Dong Rui followed He Lingchuan, he noticed a change in the ground beneath his feet. He looked down and saw vast stretches of pebbles.

Such stones usually appear on riverbanks, suggesting that a stream or river once flowed through the area they were now traversing.

This time, He Lingchuan's direction was clear: it was where the waterfall used to be.

As they walked, Dong Rui suddenly whispered, "Hey, we've been followed the whole way. You know that, right?"

He Lingchuan grunted in acknowledgment. The mirror had already warned him when they left Freecloud Sect and entered Baimao Mountain: there were eyes in the sky.

"Never mind them."

This feeling of being watched from above had begun in Julu Harbor. He and Jin Bo had originally thought it was the brown crows used by the Boh Nation's court following them.

It seemed it wasn't just brown crows.

Half an hour later, they arrived.

He Lingchuan looked up, sighing inwardly.

The waterfall was gone; he had noticed this from the top of the giant fir.

Only a barren cliff remained here.

The pool where the white bear once disappeared was now a forest, with ferns and red and white mushrooms growing in the sunless corners.

In just over a century, the landscape had changed dramatically.

He Lingchuan approached the former waterfall, brushing aside the hanging plants above. Behind them, there was indeed a recessed stone groove. However, the trumpet vines outside had grown so dense and vibrant that they concealed the hidden space within.

Once battered by rushing water, it was now covered in green moss and ferns.

Only the stone wall remained unchanged.

That's right, He Lingchuan had come this time for the White Bear King.

Li Zhangmen said that later generations never heard of it again; only people from the Julu Kingdom era spoke of it with fear. Such a great demon would either have quietly left Baimao Mountain after healing, disappearing without a trace, or...

He Lingchuan had come this time betting on the latter possibility.

It had been over a century, so there was no harm in trying, right?

Dong Rui casually ran his hand over the stone wall, a puzzled expression on his face. "What's here?"

"Something good," He Lingchuan said seriously. "There might be a grotto-heaven hidden here!"

If he had only been guessing before, he was certain now.

Because the divine bone necklace had become scalding hot and trembled several times as soon as it got close to this stone wall!

Since He Lingchuan had traveled across the ocean to the Yangshan Archipelago, this item had only heated up twice. The first time was at the platinum island auction, where He Lingchuan immediately bought the item and fed it to the necklace; the other time was when he encountered Nangong Yan.

At other times, it remained quiet, as if in a deep slumber.

Regarding the divine bone necklace and the Grand Square Flask, He Lingchuan had no one to discuss them with and could only ponder on his own. He surmised that the divine bone necklace might have become increasingly picky. After devouring various treasures, such as the Naraku Heaven clone, ordinary items no longer piqued its interest.

But this time was different.

He Lingchuan could feel the necklace's eagerness. The last time it had been so covetous was at the foot of the Star-Plucking Pavilion stairs in the Heavenly Palace, when it sensed the aura of the Grand Square Flask's lid.

So, the small world the White Bear King entered might contain something it particularly wanted to consume?

"Really?" As soon as he heard it was a treasure hunt, Dong Rui's legs stopped aching, and his thirst vanished. He stepped back a few paces to examine the stone wall. "Are you sure it's here?"

He didn't even want to ask He Lingchuan how he knew; that guy had far too many secrets.

"Confirmed, absolutely, definitely," He Lingchuan said seriously. "But I don't know how to get in."

"This small world has an owner, right?"

"It used to," He Lingchuan said, taking out his tools and beginning to clear the weeds around the stone wall. "The White Bear King from the Julu Kingdom era fled into this grotto-heaven to escape human pursuit."

"No wonder you were asking Li Zhangmen about that monster!" Dong Rui suddenly realized. "Some grotto-heavens have unique activation methods. If you don't know them, you can never enter."

"When the White Bear King rushed here, it vanished in the blink of an eye, so it didn't activate a complex array. It could have been a password, a secret sign, or a token. Eyewitnesses at the time saw a bloody claw print left on the stone wall, right at—" He Lingchuan reached out and pressed his hand against the wall—"this spot! So it might also be activated by pressing a mechanism."

"I also heard another theory: this grotto-heaven is guarded by a Gold Spirit, and to enter, you need to bribe it with zircon." With that, He Lingchuan took out the zircons.

Dong Rui realized, "So your gift wasn't for a person after all."

Where should he put them? He Lingchuan casually tossed the zircon into a groove on the stone wall.

As expected, nothing happened.

He knew it wouldn't be that easy.

"My turn!" Dong Rui pushed him aside. "You don't know anything and you're in the way. Go wait back there!"

He Lingchuan raised his hands and quietly stepped back. Array mechanisms were not his specialty, so he could only yield to someone more skilled.

Watching Dong Rui feel and tap the stone wall, He Lingchuan cupped his hands and asked, "How did you break into the divine tomb back then?"

Right, if Dong Rui wasn't skilled at tomb-raiding, how could he have snuck into the divine tomb to steal divine bones and blood?

Suddenly asked about a secret, Dong Rui paused his movements before saying, "I just stumbled in by accident."

"If that place were easy to find, it wouldn't have been your turn," He Lingchuan chuckled. "You can raid ancient tombs, so why not grotto-heavens?"

What was the fundamental difference between the two?

Only then did Dong Rui understand He Lingchuan's intention in bringing him into the mountain. He said grumpily, "Grotto-heavens are divided into two types. One is a naturally formed small world that grows on its own without human intervention. The second type is artificially created using foundation stones. After creation, a very small number of these small worlds can grow independently, but most require continuous human maintenance."

"Which type is this one?"

"I haven't been inside yet, so I can't be sure," Dong Rui said, tapping several times specifically near the groove. "But I lean towards believing it's the first type."

He Lingchuan was about to ask more, but Dong Rui shushed him. "Quiet!"

He pressed his ear to the stone wall, tapped it a few more times, listened carefully for a moment, then inserted a small zircon into the groove and murmured to the wall.

Inside the stone wall, there was a sudden, very muffled thud.

So Dong Rui inserted a second zircon.

He Lingchuan watched as the stone wall slowly receded inward, revealing an opening that was pitch black inside.

"It worked?" Had he been underestimating Dong Rui all this time? "What did you say just now?"

"Open Sesame?"

Dong Rui leaned against the wall, smiling. "That's called 'tossing a stone to find the way'."

"How did you do it?"

"It's simple. Since the Gold Spirit guards the entrance, the key is to attract it," Dong Rui said, pointing his thumb at the stone wall. "Baimao Mountain is huge; you didn't think it would just stay inside this wall, did you?"

"Then what?"

"Then you can go in," Dong Rui chuckled. "It's all about experience. If I tell you, will you be able to do it?"

So this kid also had areas he wasn't good at! It felt good, really good, to finally see him stumped for once!