knife

Chapter 177 The Secret of Dragonflame Valley
The footsteps sounded particularly loud in the empty cave.

Hidden among the overgrown weeds, the cave's entrance was small, yet it contained a surprisingly vast interior. From its initial narrow passage, barely wide enough for one person to walk side by side, it had now expanded to resemble a wide road, allowing several horses to ride side by side. Moreover, looking down, up, and to one's sides, it was clear that the cave had always been maintained.

Only Cui Hu, the registrar, and Wang Shan, the guerrilla general, accompanied Li Dachui into the cave.

This secret seems to be known only to the leaders of both the civil and military affairs departments.

This surprised Li Dachui greatly. He never expected that Dragon Flame Valley, located in this open-air prison, would also have its own secrets, and these secrets might give him a big shock.

Earlier, Li Dachui had determined that Dragon Flame Valley must be the source of that dried-up river, and the water source naturally came from groundwater.

Therefore, it is only natural that there are caves in Dragonflame Valley.

Now it seems that this is indeed the case, and the people of Dragonflame Valley have long since made use of these underground caves.

Come to think of it, such a large group of people were imprisoned here for dozens of miles, while Dragon Flame Valley is only so big. Any strange things underground would have been thoroughly investigated long ago.

"Isn't the Protector General surprised at all?" Cui Hu asked, holding up a torch and looking at Li Dachui, who had a calm expression.

Li Dachui laughed and said, "There are underground rivers in Dragonflame Valley, so I'm not surprised to find caves like this. I'm just wondering how much of a surprise joining the army really is?"

"Perhaps it was fright!" said Cui Hu.

"Not at all, I'm very bold!" Li Dachui laughed. "I've seen a lot of things, and there aren't many things that can frighten me anymore."

Cui Hu walked forward with a smile, holding the handles one in front of the other with Wang Shan, while Li Dachui followed calmly between the two of them.

To be honest, he really didn't care what bad things these two people could do to him.

The strengths of both sides are clear.

Wang Shan was only at the seventh rank of Xuan Yuan, and Cui Hu was even worse, only at the sixth rank of Yu Qi.

To put it bluntly, if it really came down to a fight, Li Dachui could take down one person with a single punch without much effort.

All conspiracies and schemes must be based on strength.

Even if an ant plots against an elephant and designs the most perfect trap in the world, it will be meaningless under the elephant's hoof, which is as big as a bowl. One stomp and all the conspiracy will vanish.

The three of them moved very fast. Even though they were deep underground and time seemed to stand still in the darkness, Li Dachui felt that they had traveled at least dozens of miles. After sketching out the shape of the Dragon Flame Valley's surface in his mind, Li Dachui thought that they should have already left the Dragon Flame Valley's territory.

The deafening roar of water filled my ears.

Li Dachui and his two companions stopped.

Taking a few steps forward, illuminated by the firelight, Li Dachui stared wide-eyed at this rare and spectacular sight.

Below them was a cliff, and dozens of meters below them, a mighty river flowed, its origin unknown.

But Cui Hu and his companions must have known where they were going, because a stone staircase had been carved out of the cliff face and led down to the riverbank, where a boat was moored.

Looking up, Li Dachui was genuinely surprised; there was more than just one boat.

There were at least dozens of boats of varying sizes, all tightly packed together.

Taking a deep breath, Li Dachui stared at Cui Hu and asked, "The waterway leading outside?"

Cui Hu nodded.

"So Dragonflame Valley has always maintained contact with the outside world!" Li Dachui continued, "The Yuan people thought they had trapped you in an open-air prison, but in fact you have always been able to move around outside!"

“It took us more than ten years to explore underground waterways and build underground roads. Protector Li, you can’t imagine how difficult it was!” Protector Cui said, “The roads we traveled have buried thousands of lives.”

“I can imagine the difficulties you’ve been through!” Li Dachui said confidently. “But I also know that all this effort will definitely be worthwhile, Military Advisor Cui. Right now, I think what you’ve given me has truly been a shock!”

Cui Hu burst into laughter.

"You know me?" Li Dachui suddenly asked.

“Of course we know about the bandit Li Dachui!” Wang Shan interjected, “but we can’t equate Li Dachui with your current identity. We also simply can’t imagine that you are actually a descendant of Prince Ze.”

Cui Hu laughed and said, "When we learned that the bandit Li Dachui had poached Linghu Ye's men, stolen Xiao Changche, established the Anxi Protectorate, and turned against Linghu Ye, we really did think about contacting you, but we just didn't have time to do it yet."

“You have another identity outside, and you’ve been active outside all along!” Li Dachui understood somewhat: “So you are aware of the current state of affairs in the world. You know that Qin is beset by internal and external troubles, that Linghu Ye has rebellious intentions, and that we are not on good terms with Qin and have no loyalty to the court. So, you see hope for our return, don’t you?”

“Exactly!” Cui Hu said, “Although our news may be a little delayed, we are by no means isolated from the world!”

"What are your identities outside?" Li Dachui pressed.

Cui Hu and Wang Shan exchanged a glance and then burst into laughter. "Commander Li, please board the boat first! You'll find out soon enough!"

Li Dachui arrived with a smile, landing on the boat like a falling leaf: "Alright, let's hurry up, I can't wait!"

Seeing Li Dachui's agility, Cui Hu and Wang Shan exchanged glances, their eyes revealing excitement instead.

The two men were very skilled at navigating the boat and were clearly very familiar with the waterway. With just two torches on the boat, they skillfully drifted downstream.

“The river wasn’t always this smooth; there were many hidden reefs, but we’ve gradually cleared them away, leaving only some traps, in case of any unforeseen circumstances, which can still be used to thwart pursuers!” Cui Hu said with a smile.

"While the heavens may have created wonders, our Dragonflame Valley is even more extraordinary. Their decades-long dedication to transformation is truly admirable."

“When you’re living in constant fear, and everything, including your life, could be taken away at any moment, you’ll be very anxious and want to find as many escape routes as possible.” Cui Hu said, “Don’t be fooled by how much we seem to be doing now. We’re still just putting on a show on someone else’s turf. If a real conflict breaks out, these preparations can only delay our demise and try to get more people to escape. Anything else is just wishful thinking!”

"To have accomplished all this is already quite remarkable!" Li Dachui said sincerely. "It seems that Gao Qunshu and the others are unaware of all this!"

“Of course!” Cui Hu said, “Let alone people like Qunshu who have already gone out to work for the Yuan people, even among those in the valley, only a very few absolutely reliable people know all this.”

As they spoke, Cui Hu and his companion steered the boat slowly toward the shore.

"Governor Li, let's go check out our storage warehouses here first!"

As the two went ashore, they walked a short distance and saw wooden doors on the cliffs on both sides. Judging from the rusty iron locks and thick iron chains, it was clear that these wooden doors were rarely opened.

Wang Shan took out his key and struggled for a long time before finally unlocking the iron lock and pushing open the wooden door.

Under the firelight, rows of wooden crates were neatly stacked, stretching from the front of the cave all the way to the depths. Each row had at least three or five large crates stacked on top of each other. Li Dachui opened one of the crates at random and laughed when he saw the contents wrapped in oil paper.

This cave contains enough swords, spears, halberds, and armor to arm thousands of people.

"For more than a decade, we've been like squirrels, painstakingly hiding things!" Wang Shan said. "Over the past decade, we've prepared more than a dozen such caves, enough to equip ten thousand people!"

"Where did you get your money?" This was the question Li Dachui had been wanting to ask.

The output of Dragon Flame Valley is limited. They have nearly 20,000 people to support and also have to pay heavy taxes to the Yuan people.

Li Dachui believed that the Yuan officials were definitely not useless. The amount of tax they were required to pay must have been calculated in detail. They could not be allowed to starve to death, nor could they be allowed to have nothing better to do and cause trouble for the Yuan Dynasty.

Despite such scheming, the people of Dragon Flame Valley actually hid so many good things, which Li Dachui found somewhat unbelievable!
How exactly did they do it?
Cui Hu did not answer directly, but led Li Dachui back to the boat.

Keep going.

The underground river water has begun to split into two channels.

Under the firelight, the water flow visibly began to decrease and the river channel began to narrow. After about an hour of paddling, they finally reached the end.

And here, light is already filtering in.

Looking up, you can see cracks in the cave ceiling, through which light shines in.

We went ashore and walked along the repaired road.

A tremendous roar of rushing water came from ahead, and a huge cave entrance was formed. A curtain of water cascaded down from above, completely obscuring the entrance like a beaded curtain.

Cui Hu turned to look at Li Dachui: "Li Duhu, the answer you seek lies just beyond this waterfall!"

Have we already entered the mountains?

"It's a full fifty miles from here to Dragonflame Valley!" Cui Hu said. "Outside is a branch of the Qilian Mountains!"

"A cunning rabbit has three burrows! Military Advisor Cui has truly grasped the essence of this!" Li Dachui gave the other party a thumbs up.

"Let me lead the way!" Wang Shan laughed, stomped his foot hard on the ground, and with a whoosh, he passed through the waterfall and disappeared from Li Dachui's sight.

Li Dachui smiled, his figure floated up, and he followed Wang Shan out of the waterfall.

Watching Li Dachui emerge from the waterfall, Cui Hu's expression hardened slightly, and he murmured, "So his cultivation has reached such a level. No wonder he's so confident!"

The moment Li Dachui passed through the waterfall, the water flowing down from the sky automatically parted to both sides, and not a single drop of water fell on Li Dachui.

Wang Shan, on the other hand, was soaked to the bone when he went out.

Cui Hu was shocked by Li Dachui's cultivation level, while Li Dachui, who emerged from the water, was truly frightened. Looking at the flag fluttering not far ahead, he was speechless.

(End of this chapter)