Destiny is ashes

Chapter 58: Out of the Cave
Even cultivators have to eat fasting pills after absorbing and exhaling spiritual energy. Warriors have an astonishing appetite, and it is common to see them eating an entire cow in a day.

An Jing had fought several life-and-death battles in a row and had also been straining his body with Qi-boosting pills. The Jade Dew of the Red Armor Guards could only replenish some of the nutrient loss. He was now so hungry that he was seeing black in front of his eyes, and his stomach and intestines kept moving, trying to digest something.

“Are these fluorescent vines edible?”

Rubbing his stomach, An Jing shook his head to make himself more awake. He looked dimly at the fluorescent vines that had dimmed but still looked chewy, and swallowed instinctively: "It can at least fill my stomach..."

"Anything that glows should be poisonous."

The sword spirit was not too sure. After all, he was a sword spirit and not a cultivator, and had no experience in eating. "It's best not to eat. Even if you want to remove the poison from your internal breath, you need water. We are short of water."

"Well, I know."

An Jing couldn't really just eat the vines. He shifted his gaze and looked deeper into the path: "The vines on the monster are very moist. There must be water where it is."

Following the direction from which the vine monster came, An Jing soon found a dark little cave.

There must be an underground waterway or even a hot spring around this underground relic. The area where the vine monsters usually live is a stalactite cave that is constantly dripping and is quite humid. In the center is a nest made up of clumps of fallen vines, and there are many toadstools on both sides.

From a distance, it looks like a dark green crater surrounded by white fungi.

The ghost mushroom next to the big nest sounds poisonous, but if An Jing is not mistaken, this mushroom is commonly known as "chicken leg mushroom". It is delicious, nutritious and tastes very good.

"We have food, and this water...it's okay to drink a little."

He collected some groundwater with excessive mineral content from the stalactites to quench his thirst. Now An Jing didn't care too much about what these chicken leg mushrooms grew on. After all, they were all gifts from God.

After collecting some relatively large mushrooms that were not missing or rotten, An Jing looked into the monster's lair and couldn't help but exclaimed, "So the body is here."

The source of the nest vines is a corpse. The corpse has decayed into bones, but the color of the bones is bright and clear, like jade.

"It is the magical 'Jade Marrow Bone'." The sword spirit said: "This demon cultivator must have had a high level of body cultivation when he was alive. This magical jade bone has been cultivated to perfection."

"Fortunately, only his head is possessed by the devil. If his body is also possessed by the devil, he will become a 'Jade Bone Demon Corpse' and we will most likely not be able to defeat him."

"He was in his early twenties. His cultivation method was good and his cultivation was also OK. The power behind him should be not small. It is quite strange that he died here."

The sword spirit's evaluation was quite objective. An Jing looked thoughtfully at the skeleton wrapped in vines and said slowly, "It seems that there is indeed something in this relic that attracts these cultivators to come here continuously.

"Unfortunately, now is not the time for us to get involved."

Shaking his head slightly, An Jing didn't think much about it and left with the toadstools.

The original cave.

After the vine monster died, the vines all over its body quickly shrank and dried up, losing all vitality, making them the best firewood.

With the cultivation level of a warrior in the Anjing Inner Breath Realm, making a fire was a piece of cake. He picked up two stones and ignited them after sparks appeared after they collided. The pale yellow flame illuminated the dim cave.

In addition, the clothes on the corpses were easy to burn, so An Jing quickly lit a fire. In the flickering flames, he roughly processed the ingredients, wiped them clean, and then began to roast the chicken leg mushrooms.

There is no seasoning, no oil, just grilled mushrooms. From an ordinary person's perspective, they are not delicious at all.

But for An Jing, who had experienced the frost disaster, it was difficult to eat hot soil when hungry. He could swallow frozen tree bark and grass roots with snow. Roasted, hot and ripe mushrooms were delicious delicacies. He chewed and swallowed with great respect. More than 20 pieces of mushrooms could fill An Jing's stomach.

His internal energy circulated naturally as the body instinctively did, absorbing these nutrients quickly, allowing him to barely suppress his dizziness.

At least now, An Jing doesn’t want to chew moss so much, and he doesn’t drool when he sees those fluorescent vines.

"That's it, we're ready to go."

As soon as his condition improved, An Jing clapped his hands and stood up.

Because of his treatment as the leader in Xuanming Village, he ate a lot of meat and still had fat stored in his body. He would not starve to death if he skipped a few meals. At most, he would return to the weak state he was in when he was fleeing.

But next, An Jing is going to try to leave the ruins, so naturally he needs to ensure his combat effectiveness.

the reason is simple.

Although the cave was relatively safe after the vine monster was eliminated, An Jing was not sure whether new monsters would appear in the depths of the ruins or whether monsters would attack him.

At the same time, the area lacks clean water and a stable food source.

The toadstools and cave water can certainly fill one's stomach, but they will be gone after a few days, so they are not a long-term solution. In the process of escaping the sight of the Demon Cult, the Heavenly Demon, and the Dachen officials, An Jing will have to stay in this strange world for a long time, so he must think more long-term.

A stable, or at least reliable, source of water and food. The cave didn't have that in the first place, so he had to leave, and the sooner the better.

“I hope I don’t have to use these things.”

Before leaving, An Jing first collected some fire and put it in empty magazines.

Then, he collected a large amount of dry vines and almost rotten clothes from the corpses - these things were excellent fuel, and could be used as kindling or simply as firewood at critical moments.

An Jing collected a large number of bullets and made sure that his belongings were in good order. Then he selected a usable rifle from the corpse and put it on his back.

This time he was on the run and didn't need to hide in Xuanming Manor. The power of the pistol was still too small. With a rifle, An Jing's long-range attacks would be possible.

The 'black jade skull' that was left after the vine monster dissipated, which was so strong that even the evil sword could not pierce it, was also hung on An Jing's waist.

This black jade bone has been tempered to some extent. After the evil spirit dissipates, it becomes an ordinary spiritual material. It is not difficult to carry it with you - if it really doesn't work, you can take off the skull and use it as a heart-protecting mirror.

After doing all this, he followed the way he came, heading towards the cave exit and the "outside world".

The road ahead is long and dark.

This is a very, very long dark corridor, a naturally formed cave, or perhaps a dried-up underground river, damp and stuffy.

An Jing walked in this water-shaped rock cave deep underground, his Xuan Bu moving instinctively, so that there was no sound of footsteps. Only a slight, lonely breathing sound could be heard constantly echoing in the passage.

In the darkness, a scarlet light shone in An Jing's eyes, allowing him to see the road ahead clearly - most of it was natural landforms, but some man-made stairs and sculptures could also be seen along the way.

And corpses.

(End of this chapter)