Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Stone Cave

"Uh, ah..." Lu Zhe yawned and sat up from the rock. He glanced at the stream at his feet, then looked up at the sky. The dense branches above seemed to conceal the entire sky, leaving only a narrow strip visible, casting an oppressive feeling over the forest. Gentle sunlight filtered through the thick canopy, sprinkling the ground in scattered patches.

"It's a fine day," Lu Zhe murmured, lowering his head with a bitter smile.

It had been ten days since Elder Ye had thrown him into this boundless forest. Over those ten days, Lu Zhe’s life was almost that of a wild man: drinking from the stream when thirsty, hunting rabbits if luck favored him, and if not, going hungry—a minor inconvenience compared to encountering a beast king, which made things far more interesting. In these ten days, Lu Zhe had run into four or five beast kings. Each time, the result was the same—he turned and fled. He was unarmed, and to face those thick-skinned, powerful, and ferocious beast kings would be nothing short of courting death.

"Thinking about all this is pointless," Lu Zhe thought to himself. For now, surviving in this primitive forest was the most important thing.

He crouched by the stream and drank a few mouthfuls of water, which reminded him of his days in the ruined temple. He looked down at his reflection, smiled bitterly, then gazed at the vast forest around him, sighed, and turned his head to look at the small waterfall not far away. In a low voice, he said, "Let’s go there today."

Standing at the base of the waterfall, Lu Zhe observed the cascading water, reached out, and grabbed a protruding rock, beginning to climb.

Lu Zhe was indeed highly skilled at surviving in the wild. The waterfall towered more than ten yards high, and the surrounding rocks had been shaped by the relentless flow of water over countless years. Moss grew thickly in places, yet Lu Zhe clung to the stones like a climbing tiger, scaling upward like a lizard, using both hands and feet.

Perhaps Lu Zhe had not realized that, during the days Elder Ye had hung him from the cliff, his arm strength had unconsciously increased, making this ascent so much easier. It seemed Elder Ye’s training was not merely torment after all.

After climbing for a while, Lu Zhe reached the top of the waterfall, but the only thing that greeted his eyes was more trees.

Just as he was feeling helpless, his stomach growled. He remembered that yesterday, while chasing a rabbit, he had inadvertently encountered a first-tier magical beast—the Six-Tusked Blue Wolf. A first-tier beast king was equivalent to a human spirit practitioner. Though Lu Zhe might not lose in a head-on clash, he lacked weapons, and the Six-Tusked Blue Wolf was a pack animal; its companions would surely be nearby. If he attacked recklessly, he’d risk being surrounded by the whole wolf pack. With no other choice, Lu Zhe abandoned the hunt and retreated, leaving him without food from yesterday till now. His stomach had begun to protest.

Looking at the dense forest, Lu Zhe murmured, "No one has ever starved to death in the forest."

With that, he ran deeper into the woods.

Reaching the heart of the forest, Lu Zhe surveyed his surroundings, quickly leaped onto a tree, and climbed nimbly upward, moving with the agility of a monkey. Soon he was at the top.

The tree was laden with red fruit, some as large as a grown man's fist, others no bigger than a child's. Lu Zhe smiled slightly, picked a fruit of moderate size, and popped it into his mouth. Instantly, a fiery heat surged from his mouth to his brain.

He spat the fruit out, looked at the tree full of these fruits, and said with a wry smile, "No wonder it's so spicy—it's Red Pepper Fruit."

He tossed the fruit aside, slid down the tree, looked up at the abundance of fruit, and muttered, "This stuff is only good as a seasoning."

Lu Zhe wandered away, and suddenly spotted a rabbit not far off. His stomach growled again, and he swallowed hard. Drawing spiritual energy from his pill, he directed it to his legs, preparing to use the enhanced strength to catch the rabbit.

Like a hunting snake, Lu Zhe crept silently toward the grazing rabbit, edging closer and closer.

A sharp crack broke the silence. Looking down, Lu Zhe realized he had been so focused on the rabbit that he hadn't watched his step, accidentally stepping on a dry twig.

He glanced at the rabbit, which had now noticed the sound, stopped eating, stared in his direction with wide eyes, blinked, and bolted.

"Damn it," Lu Zhe cursed and dashed after it. Food so close to his mouth shouldn’t escape—especially since he’d been hungry for a day.

Lu Zhe chased the rabbit with wild desperation, his eyes locked on his prey. He ran and pursued relentlessly, until he found himself at the foot of a mountain.

The rabbit vanished at the base of the mountain, leaving Lu Zhe searching fruitlessly. He placed his hands on his hips and cursed, then noticed a stone by his feet and kicked it. To his surprise, the stone didn’t budge, and the impact sent a sharp pain through his foot.

The pain was so intense that Lu Zhe lay on the ground, rubbing his foot furiously. After a while, he sat up, looked at the stone, stretched out his right leg, and kicked it again with his heel, only to find the stone remained unmoved. This astonished him.

Standing up with a limp, Lu Zhe approached the stone and bent down to examine it closely. His intuition told him there was something strange about it.

He scrutinized the stone carefully. Though something felt off, he couldn't pinpoint what it was. Stones like this were common in these mountains; normally, he wouldn’t give them a second glance. But now, having nothing better to do and tired from chasing the rabbit, he decided to investigate.

Lu Zhe examined the stone patiently, and at last, he discovered what was odd—it was far too smooth. Clearly, it had been polished by human hands. Despite years of exposure to the elements, its surface still felt unnaturally sleek.

He gently brushed aside the grass around the stone, bent down, and inspected it closely. Finally, he found a very fine cut encircling the stone.

The cut formed a ring around the stone. Observing it closely, Lu Zhe noticed there was a small red dot above the cut, but none below.

Circling the stone, he finally found another red dot on the opposite side. What could this mean?

Curious, Lu Zhe slowly twisted the stone, keeping his eyes fixed on the red dot. Though the stone was hard to turn, with his spirit-strengthened arms he managed to rotate it.

Lu Zhe turned the stone quietly, his focus unwavering. At that moment, nothing short of a landslide could have distracted him.

He watched, and watched, until finally the two red dots aligned. Suddenly, a deafening roar erupted from the mountain nearby, as if the earth itself were collapsing.

Lu Zhe looked up toward the source of the sound and saw that a section of the mountainside had crumbled away, revealing a cave tall enough for a person to enter.