With the faint light shining through the hole, Ling Ye stared at it for a long moment. Then, slowly, he leaned back against the wall and slid down until he was sitting on the ground. Sitting there, he looked into the darkness before him.
His left hand still held the sword he had taken from the corpse. He glanced at it briefly, trying to judge what kind of weapon it was, but after only a moment, he lost interest. Without another thought, he placed the sword on the ground beside him.
Then his hand moved to his belt, taking out the Fate Guiding Compass.
Holding it in his palm, Ling Ye stared at it in silence. His mind drifted back to everything he had gone through just to use it, the pain, the risk, the price he had paid.
Yes… it had worked and it had guided him here, but this…? This was not what he had ever hoped for.
A dark, suffocating cave, a corpse with a sword on his right hand and a small hidden notebook, only that and nothing more.
His gaze turned colder as he looked at the compass.
At first, he couldn't see anything clearly in the darkness, but as he shifted slightly closer to the faint light, the details slowly became a little visible and then noticed something. The blood red needle is gone and all that remained were the carved directions of the compass itself.
Ling Ye froze and a bitter feeling rose in his chest. All of his effort and all of the riskes, only for this, a sword and a notebook? His grip around the compass tightened slightly.
Unless the notebook contained something extraordinary, something that defied the heavens… something that could let him cultivate without a spiritual root or unless the sword was some legendary weapon, forged with dragon blood, could he truly say. that any of this was worth it?
Not knowing how to answer his own questions, Ling Ye fell silent and leaned softly against the wall, his gaze fixed on what lay before him, darkness.
"Hehe…"A quiet chuckle escaped his lips.
There is nothing amusing about his situation, and yet he laughed. He had done everything he could. He had risked his life, forced fate itself to reveal something ahead of time.
He could not say he hadn't tried.
It is simply that fate, no, the heavens, had never intended for him to become a cultivator. "Ridiculous… how utterly ridiculous." Anger rose within him.
His eyes burned, his heart filled with unwillingness, refusing to accept the fate that had been imposed on him.
Since the day he was born, he had lived among cultivators. Raised in the Ling Clan, treated as someone destined to walk that path, someone worthy of carrying the Ling name forward and yet, he were never been meant for it, fated to remain a mere mortal.
The anger grew stronger, churning within him, threatening to overflow, but after a while he forced it down and bit by bit, he calmed himself, leaning fully against the wall, eyes still held that deep unwillingness, but what else could he do?
Even if every part of him rejected this fate, he had no power to change it and in the end, he could only accept it.
"Haa…" A deep sigh escaped his lips and in that moment, he looked as if he had aged several years and for a while, he did nothing and just sitting there, until a thought crossed his mind, Bai Da is still outside the cave.
Ling Ye shifted slightly, glancing around the small cave and from what he could already tell, it seemed pretty much safe here and with that in mind, he finally spoke towards the hole, "Bai Da… are you still there?"
It had already been quite some time since Bai Da had taken up his position guarding the entrance and fortunately, nothing had passed by. No beasts or any strange movements, nothing at all. The quiet allowed him to relax just a little.
He even found time to drink some water and eat part of his rations while keeping watch, but as time dragged on, boredom slowly crept in.
With nothing happening, Bai Da ended up eating and drinking a bit more than he should have. Realizing this, he quickly stopped himself and put everything away.
The silence persisted, Ling Ye's silence and that began to irritate him and as the minutes stretched on, Bai Da grew more and more frustrated. Eventually, out of sheer boredom, he tilted his head back and stared at the moon above.
Even so, he never truly let his guard down, his eyes constantly scanned the surroundings, never lingering in one place for too long. Even in boredom, he remained vigilant.
Then, after what felt like an eternity, Ling Ye's voice finally came from within the cave and in an instant, Bai Da's boredom vanished, replaced by a surge of excitement.
With a grin, he quickly replied, "Yes, I'm still here! What's it like on the other side?"
A response came shortly after, but it wasn't the answer he expected, "Let's rest here in the cave. It's safe, there are no dangers inside. If we block the entrance properly, no animals should be able to find us. So widen the entrance enough for you to get through, alright?"
Bai Da blinked. Though his question went unanswered, the idea of entering the cave had already crossed his mind many times. At one point, he had even considered breaking the opening wider himself, but held back, choosing to wait for Ling Ye's lead.
Now that the order was given, he didn't question it and without hesitation, Bai Da stepped forward and began working on the entrance, carefully widening it until it would be large enough for him to pass through.
Luckily, the hole wasn't too small or too long. It stretched only about three meters, and the surrounding earth and stone were firm, holding together even when they dug somewhat roughly.
Ling Ye dug from one side and Bai Da dug from the other.
The work began, and it didn't take long. After about half an hour, they had already reached the halfway point. By the end of an hour, the hole was wide enough for Bai Da to crawl through.
With a mix of anticipation and excitement, Bai Da squeezed through and entered Ling Ye's side of the cave.
Dust and dirt clung to his clothes, making him look more like a beggar than a martial artist, but he didn't notice. His eyes were filled with expectation as he looked around, almost as if he believed he would find the tomb of some great emperor hidden within.
Seeing this, Ling Ye let out a quiet sigh and didn't have the heart to shatter Bai Da's expectations just yet.
Instead, he turned around and crawled back toward the entrance. Once outside, he gathered the stones he had moved earlier and carefully placed them back, sealing the hole and hiding the cave's entrance.
As the final gaps were covered, the last trace of light disappeared and darkness swallowed everything. Inside the cave, nothing could be seen anymore.
By the time Ling Ye finished sealing the entrance and returned inside, Bai Da was still moving around in the darkness without fear, searching eagerly, but just like Ling Ye before him, he found nothing, nothing but the corpse that he had already found before.
And this time, even the sword is gone, now lying somewhere off to the side, no longer in the corpse's grasp.
Although Bai Da found nothing but the corpse, his imagination didn't stop.
"Village Head Ye," he said with a small chuckle, "this person must have been some powerful emperor from ancient times, hiding here because of some serious injuries!"
Ling Ye, meanwhile, leaned against the wall, already feeling the weight of exhaustion. The long journey had drained him, and all he wanted now was to rest. Sleep would at least make the time pass more quickly, But Bai Da was far from tired.
"Maybe it's just because it's night," Bai Da continued, still full of excitement. "We can't see clearly right now. Maybe the real opportunity will only reveal itself during the day! After all, we can barely see anything here!"
Ling Ye inwardly nodded and though Bai Da couldn't see it, there was some truth in his words. Reading the notebook in this darkness was impossible, and perhaps there really was something hidden that required light to uncover.
Still, from the feel of the bones, Ling Ye was already certain of one thing and that is that this corpse is that of a mortal's and not that of a cultivators.
A cultivator's body would not have been so fragile, its bones so easily broken by him. That alone told him enough and even if the notebook contained something, it likely wouldn't be what he truly desired, but he said nothing.
Instead, he let Bai Da continue talking, letting him indulge in his theories until his excitement finally wore down and eventually, Bai Da grew tired.
His voice faded, and before long, he fell finally asleep and with the cave now quiet, the constant chatter gone, Ling Ye finally allowed himself to rest as well.
Leaning back against the cold stone wall, he closed his eyes.
"What a damn long day…" That was his final thought, before sleep claimed him.