C35

Stepping onto the shore, Lin Jin jumped up and shook off the water droplets on his body.

His arms, thighs, and stomach were already bruised. He didn't even know when he hit the top of his head, but he felt a faint pain. Only his back was uninjured because it was protected by his backpack. However, he felt a lot more relaxed now, as these small injuries were nothing.

The place he landed on was a gray rocky terrain. Apart from a few small stones, it looked very smooth. It was probably the effect of the flushing water.

The ground was extremely cold, and the temperature was much lower than it was in the water, causing even Lin Jin to feel a bit bone-piercing. It was a pity that his shoes were washed off when he fell into the water. Helpless, he could only split out a few zhenqi and send it into the Spring Water to protect his feet.

Because there was almost no dust or water droplets in the air of this cave, once the light from his flashlight shot out, the chances of it refracting in the air was very small, and the light that hit the walls of the cave was reflected off to who knows where, so the light looked very weak.

Unaware of this, he thought at first that the flashlight had run out of power, which worried him for a long time. However, when he turned the light around, the blinding white light let him know that he still had a lot of electricity!

Following the light, he could just make out a huge karst cave, a typical karst landscape.

The karst cave looked huge, and according to his estimations, it was at least the size of the central plaza of Ninghua. The two sides of the cave were on dry land, which made up half of the entire space. In between them was the underground river that rushed in with Lin Jin.

According to the direction of the underground river, Lin Jin's current position was on the right side of the river.

When he looked at the light, he saw countless stalactites hanging overhead, like icicles hanging from the eaves in winter. On the ground and in the water, there were a few stalagmites about twenty meters tall standing alone in front of him.

However, under these circumstances, he was not in the mood to watch.

The flashlight's light shone in front of him, and he saw that there was a wall not far in front of him. As he did not know how much longer he would have to stay in the cave, Lin Jin turned off the flashlight and followed the route in his memory, step by step.

After coming in contact with the cold and solid stone wall, his heart felt much more at ease.

A while ago, he used up too much of his energy. Lin Jin leaned against the wall and sat down, then peeled a piece of fruit candy and placed it in his mouth. This sweet smell made him yearn for the outside world even more.

After resting for a while and waiting for his strength to recover a little, filled with hope that the underground river s would escape, Lin Jin stood up with all his might.

In order to save energy, every time he turned on a flashlight, he would firmly memorize the terrain that he was looking at in front of him. Then, he would walk forward step by step while holding onto the wall of the karst cave.

After walking for an unknown distance, he suddenly felt that the wall in his hands was empty, and he almost fell to the ground.

He quickly steadied himself and turned on the light. He saw a half meter wide hole in the wall. It was as tall as a person. It was pitch black, and he did not know where it led to.

Moreover, this hole seemed to appear out of thin air. Looking from the back, there was no sign of a hole appearing at all. No wonder he failed.

He looked at the somewhat eerie cave entrance, then looked at the quiet stream of water. After thinking for a while, he decided to not take the risk.

Just as he passed through the hole and continued to walk down the underground river, just as he was about to pass by the hole, under the light of the lamp, he seemed to find a very familiar looking shadow at the corner of the hole.

Lin Jin suddenly had a lot of doubts in his heart. In this kind of place that he couldn't even come to, what could make him feel that something was familiar?

He then turned around and carefully walked towards the cave. Lin Jin walked to the shadow and took out his flashlight to shine on it. He was shocked and almost cried out.

That thing was actually a yellowed bone!

Just then, a monstrous sense of excitement suddenly filled his mind — with the danger of the underground river, this man could actually die here, it was too difficult. Unless he was a Taoist like himself, there had to be an exit that led outside. Otherwise, looking at how yellow this corpse was, it must have been at least a hundred years ago. Without the help of a flashlight, how could he have found this cave and died in it?

Excited, he looked at the cave wall again. When he first thought that the cave passage was created by the corrosion of the water, he did not pay it any attention. When he looked around the cave wall, he realized that the lines of the cave wall were a little straight. Just like the traces of manmade work.

A doubt rose in his mind. Could it be that this passage was a secret passage constructed by the ancient cultivators? Since there were people passing by, then …

He faintly felt a sliver of hope to escape.

Carrying this excitement and suspicion, Lin Jin took out his flashlight and walked deeper into the cave.

After about 200 meters, the tunnel suddenly changed and slanted upwards.

Was it going to the ground? Lin Jin was immediately overjoyed as he quickened his pace.

After walking for a short distance, he noticed that a rough staircase appeared in front of him under the direct illumination of the lamp. His heart immediately calmed down as if he had eaten a tranquil pill. There was no doubt that this passage was built by the ancients. He just did not know why they would create such a passage in this kind of place.

Was it used to hide some treasure?

Fantasy is human nature! Although he was still in a hopeless situation, Lin Jin's heart immediately associated him with the most mysterious treasure described in the novels.

Thinking of this, his heart suddenly thumped in his chest as his breathing became heavier. However, just as this excited him, the light from his flashlight suddenly dimmed.

Under extreme shock, Lin Jin immediately extinguished the flashlight, and stopped thinking about things. If he lost the light from the flashlight, even if he had too much hope, it wouldn't come true.

When his eyes adjusted to the darkness once again, he looked towards the end of the passage. However, he suddenly discovered that not far away, a white light had appeared!

Everyone knew what this meant! Overjoyed, Lin Jin could not care to save energy as he turned on the flashlight and stumbled towards the light.

Who knew how many times he had tripped over the stones on the ground. After some rolling and struggling, Lin Jin finally reached the end of the path.

That little bit of light was indeed the sky that he had long bid farewell to. When he saw the light of day again, the feeling of entering human society immediately swept away all the haze around him that he was swept up into this underground river.

However, the moment he stepped out of this passage, the scene in front of him caused him to feel incomparable shock and fear!

In front of him was a deep pool with a circumference of five to six hundred meters, surrounded by an irregular circular cliff.

On the side where Lin Jin came out of the cave, there was a small path that could only allow three people to walk side by side, encircling the deep pool for half a circle, but there was no exit.

Opposite him on the pond wall, there were dozens of black chains as thick as an arm hanging randomly into the water. It was unknown what they were used for.

Moreover, the other end of these chains had sunk deep into the holes on the walls, emitting a mysterious and solemn aura.

However, this was not the source of his shock. What shocked him the most was the gigantic claw prints that covered the walls of the pond in an awe-inspiring manner!

At first glance, there were at least several hundred paw prints, divided into five fingers, four long and one short. Each of the paw prints was over half a meter wide and two long. On the walls of the pool, two twenty-meter-long, semicircular marks were deeply imprinted, and inside those marks, a few scales could be vaguely seen.

What kind of monster could have such huge claws and such terrifying power?

Looking at the dark green pool water, Lin Jin felt a chill in his bones.