Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 529 Exploring the Cave
It's the Purple Shade Cave again!
It would be a lie to say that Li Xiangming wasn't surprised.

But soon, he was filled with excitement. What kind of cave dwelling was qualified to share the same name as a secret realm?

After glancing at the layout of the cave entrance, Li Xiangming was even more pleasantly surprised.

Without hesitation, he took the stone tablet key to enter the secret realm from Liu Xiong Yu's storage bag and placed it on a recessed device next to the bronze door.

In an instant, the bronze door trembled violently.

Countless white lights burst forth from the patterns on the door, so bright that Li Xiangming couldn't open his eyes.

He instinctively raised his hand to block the bright light, retreating while staring intently at the cave in front of him.

"Hey!"

As the squeak of the little spotted fox faded, the bronze door clicked open and lifted upwards.

Li Xiangming suppressed his nervousness and looked around. Behind the door, he saw a long corridor.

The oil lamps hanging on both sides emitted a soft, warm light, giving people a cozy feeling.

"It really is a cave!"

Li Xiangming was overjoyed and stepped into the passageway.

But at this moment, the little fox hesitated and lingered at the cave entrance.

Li Xiangming's joy and sense of pride vanished instantly. He looked at the little fox and asked, "Aren't you going in?"

The little fox shook its head and drew the word "no" on the ground.

Li Xiangming frowned slightly. The cave in front of him was undoubtedly the true secret of the Purple Yin Cave, and its status might even be above that of the Divine Court and the Underground Palace. The little fox with colorful fur was really going all out for his "deal".

But its refusal to go in made me feel a little uneasy.

However, what does it mean to hesitate at this point?
Even if it's a den of dragons and tigers in front of him, he's determined to go for it.

In a short moment, Li Xiangming's eyes hardened, and he strode forward.

With that step, a rich spiritual energy rushed towards him. Li Xiangming shuddered, as if every pore on his body was about to open.

"Such abundant spiritual energy cannot even be compared to that of the Daigo Cave!"

Li Xiangming was greatly shocked. It wasn't that he thought the Purple Yin Cave spiritual vein was inferior to Tailai Peak.

The main problem is that most areas of the Purple Shade Cave Secret Realm have very little spiritual energy.

The area where the Divine Court is located has a spiritual energy concentration a hundred times higher than the desert outside, but it is only close to that of Danggui Mountain.

This led him to suspect that the spiritual veins of the Purple Shade Cave Secret Realm were nearing depletion.

It now appears that the spiritual vein has always been normal. The ancestors of the Su family must have used some method to gather all the spiritual energy into the small purple cave in front of them.

Or rather, the spiritual veins of the secret realm are located here.

Is there any danger in such a strategically important location?
Thinking of the timid little fox, Li Xiangming hesitated for a moment, then gently swayed his sleeves and whispered, "Little Black, come out."

The Blackwater Serpent slowly poked its head out, its nostrils stained with congealed blood. Its once jet-black, shiny back was now covered with festering wounds, large patches of flesh torn open, making it look utterly miserable.

A hint of reluctance flashed in Li Xiangming's eyes.

Since entering the Purple Yin Cave, the Black Water Serpent has been used as a human shield by him on many occasions, especially when he was trying to withstand the aftershocks of the Yellow Turban Warrior's magic, which nearly cost him his life.

It's not that he didn't care about Xiao Hei's life!

On the contrary, it took him several years to subdue the Blackwater Serpent, and he placed high hopes on it, wishing it would stay by his side forever.

Unfortunately, that's all the cards he had!
When he was in Calabash Valley, his magical power was almost depleted. He was taken away by Liu Xiong Yu and entered the Purple Yin Cave without having time to recuperate.

Before finding the Divine Court, he had recovered some of his magical power, but the subsequent battles had forced him to resort to the Returning Void Rune.

As a spirit pet, the Blackwater Serpent naturally had to help him alleviate his stress.

However, the Blackwater Serpent only has the cultivation level of the Spirit Awakening stage, making it useless in battles against opponents like the Fake Miaoyin, Su Qing, and even the Two-Colored Fox Demon, who are at the Foundation Establishment or Bone Fusion stages.

The only thing Li Xiangming could rely on was its copper skin and iron bones.

Now, it's time for the Blackwater Serpent to emerge once again during the cave exploration.

"Thank you for your hard work. I'll make sure you have a good meal when we get home."

Li Xiangming's face flushed slightly; he hadn't yet delivered on his promise of the Netherfire Mushrooms.

The Blackwater Serpent seemed to know that Li Xiangming was just making empty promises, and appeared sullen. However, it still obediently slid down to the ground and swam towards the tunnel.

After a short while, the Blackwater Serpent stopped moving, turned around and looked at Li Xiangming, somewhat bewildered.

Looking around, Li Xiangming saw that the straight passageway had split into three, with an exquisite stone pavilion built at the central crossroads.

The stone pavilion is surrounded by blue stone pillars at its four corners, with dragons and phoenixes carved on them. Each dragon and phoenix holds a luminous pearl in its beak, enveloping the entire pavilion in a hazy glow that complements the warm light emanating from the passageway.

As Li Xiangming approached, he immediately noticed a man-made ditch surrounding the pavilion, about ten feet wide, with a swift current and a dark, inky color that seemed unfathomable. Inside the pavilion, there was a gray-white stone table with a chessboard carved with nineteen lines, black and white chess pieces scattered among it, untouched by anyone.

"It's like a place for relaxation and entertaining guests."

Li Xiangming glanced thoughtfully at the passageways on both sides.

Although the Little Purple Shade Cave is much smaller than the underground palace, it is still far larger than the courtyard allocated to the Li family. Each passageway should correspond to a different area.

After a moment's thought, Li Xiangming passed through the stone pavilion and continued forward.

His decision seemed correct, because the passageway suddenly widened, and Li Xiangming soon encountered the first stone door on the left.

However, the blood-red restriction on the door was shocking.

Li Xiangming stopped to observe for a long time, but dared not touch it, so he had no choice but to leave dejectedly.

He then discovered two more stone doors, both of which were protected by restrictions.

"We can't possibly leave empty-handed, can we?"

Li Xiangming was somewhat disappointed. These restrictions contained powerful magical energy and were most likely set up by a Nascent Soul cultivator. With his abilities, there was almost no chance of breaking them.

Just then, the Blackwater Serpent emitted a hissing sound.

Li Xiangming followed and soon discovered the fourth stone door.

And this stone door was half-hidden, half-closed!
Li Xiangming immediately ordered the Blackwater Serpent to go inside, and only breathed a sigh of relief after seeing it come out safely.

However, he didn't touch the stone door, but instead used magic to slip lightly inside. It was an extremely spacious stone chamber, where an ancient, bluish-gray alchemy furnace came into view.

"An alchemy room?"

Li Xiangming excitedly stepped forward, but suddenly a crisp sound came from under his feet.

He looked down and realized he had stepped on a small shard of porcelain. The shard, bearing the weight, instantly crumbled into dust. And these broken shards were scattered everywhere!
No way?
A bad thought flashed through Li Xiangming's mind as he looked around—rows of tall wooden cabinets, resembling the common medicine cabinets found in pharmacies, were placed on both sides of the stone chamber.

But now, most of them are roughly pulled out, some even flipped over, revealing dark, empty holes.

Li Xiangming found it hard to accept and personally went forward to search through every drawer.

But the medicinal herbs and elixirs inside have long since disappeared.

"Which bastard is so ruthless?"

Li Xiangming cursed, feeling a vague unease in his heart.

Before him, others had ventured into the Purple Shade Cave!
If this person emptied the alchemy room, will he show mercy elsewhere?

With a heavy heart, Li Xiangming left the alchemy room and continued forward.

The situation seemed better than he had expected. Apart from the alchemy room, all the other stone doors were firmly sealed, and the restrictions on them were intact, which meant that the treasures inside had not been touched.

But this is also bad news.

Li Xiangming wandered around for half a day but still didn't find anything.

However, there was one thing that concerned him greatly: the concentration of spiritual energy deep inside the cave had changed significantly compared to the entrance, and it had far surpassed that of the Tihu Cave.

Could it be a third-order spiritual vein?

Surprised and doubtful, Li Xiangming quickened his pace and finally saw the stone gate again at the end of the passageway.

This is also a sealed stone door.

However.
There don't seem to be any restrictions above?

Li Xiangming looked at it again and again, and finally gritted his teeth and placed his hands on the door.

The stone gate was as heavy as a thousand pounds, but under the influence of magical power, it was nothing more than that.
With a cloud of dust falling, the stone gate was pushed open completely.

Li Xiangming opened his eyes and looked over, his heart skipped a beat.

(End of this chapter)