"Hey, System, what's going on? What did you detect? What's this strange prompt?"
Ye Feng asked in his mind three times consecutively, but received no reply.
"That prompt just now, it seemed to be repeating... Is it all referring to the same item?"
"This is the first time I've encountered the system repeatedly prompting for the same item... and without specifying what the item is... Can the system not identify it?"
Ye Feng recalled carefully, muttering to himself, then walked to the front right.
"The system is hinting at this stone?"
Standing by the altar of the temple, Ye Feng looked puzzledly at the altar in front of him, or more precisely, at a very ordinary-looking black stone.
"Huh? There's a wine jug!~"
Suddenly, Ye Feng's gaze was drawn to a ceramic wine jar next to the stone.
"Ye Feng, what are you looking at?"
Seeing Ye Feng staring intently at the altar, Xue Yuli couldn't help but walk over, looking curious.
"Black silk is sharper than a sword, and strong wine is undoubtedly Nu'er Hong!~"
After observing the wine jug for a while, Ye Feng discovered two lines of text carved on it.
"Is this wine Nu'er Hong?!"
Ye Feng understood.
Immediately, a flash of light appeared in Ye Feng's hand, and he stored both the wine jug and the black stone into his spatial warehouse.
"Uh... Ye Feng..."
Seeing this, Xue Yuli was speechless. "Ye Feng, that wine jug was probably gifted by the owner to a departed friend... and that person was likely female. Descriptions like 'black silk' and 'sharp sword' most likely refer to a woman who participated in that war..."
"Is it... not right for you to just take it away?"
Finally, Xue Yuli added in a low voice.
"Oh~!"
Hearing this, Ye Feng responded with a faint "Oh" and had no intention of taking out the wine jug.
He was joking, of course. That wine jug was something the system had prompted him about several times...
"Judging by the two sentences carved on the wine jug, it was indeed likely intended as a gift for a woman who made outstanding contributions, but that woman might not necessarily be deceased..."
"Although this wine jug is placed on the altar, it might not be an offering... Judging by its placement, it seems more like it was dropped in haste..."
At this moment, Jiang Shishan's voice rang out.
Clearly, he had noticed the jug of wine.
"This person..."
Xue Yuli's expression changed slightly. She hadn't been very clear earlier.
She had indeed thought the jug of wine was an offering to a female hero who had tragically passed away in battle, but to spare Ye Feng's feelings, she hadn't said it. And Jiang Shishan had guessed it immediately...
"And this altar, it's probably not for worship... It's more like some kind of... I can't quite describe it..."
Jiang Shishan paused and spoke again.
As he spoke, he looked up at the large hole in the roof of the temple, directly above the altar...
"Whoosh~!"
Jiang Shishan's analysis made Ye Feng feel much better.
In fact, he hadn't thought much about taking the jug of wine and the black stone just now; he simply didn't want to miss out on treasures the system had pointed out.
When Jiang Shishan mentioned that the jug of wine might have been for a female hero, he had actually felt conflicted...
Next, Ye Feng and the other three continued to search around the temple...
...
The next day,
In a somewhat dim passage beneath the temple,
"Ye Feng, why don't we go back the way we came!"
Xue Yuli, holding a flashlight and crouching, spoke to Ye Feng, who was leading the way.
"What's wrong? Weren't you looking for clues about Regenerating Wood?"
Ye Feng turned his head, looking at Xue Yuli with some confusion.
"I..."
Xue Yuli was momentarily speechless.
She had followed the unique water and wood elemental arcane energies and discovered this underground tunnel beneath the temple, suggesting they explore it.
The entire underground tunnel was very long and narrow, easy for one person to navigate, but cramped for two. It was also very dark and oppressive.
After a long while with no significant findings, Xue Yuli decided to look elsewhere, as she had sensed unusual water and wood elemental arcane energies in more than one location.
However, Ye Feng became very interested and continued to explore, heading deeper into the passage...
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Ye Feng stopped.
He had heard the sound of hammering coming from the underground passage.
"It's over there!"
Xiaoxiao and the others had also heard it and looked in one direction.
"Let's go see!"
Then, the four of them quickened their pace, following the underground passage towards the source of the sound.
After a short while, they arrived at an open area where sunlight streamed in from outside.
"That passage back then was probably used for mining arcane ore... This mountain contains a large amount of arcane ore..."
Jiang Shishan picked up a handful of pebbles from the ground, finding many fragments of arcane ore. Combining this with what he had seen in the passage, he formed a hypothesis.
"Big Brother, what's wrong?"
Seeing Ye Feng holding the Angel's Blade and observing his surroundings, Xiaoxiao asked in confusion.
"The deeper we go, the stronger the Angel's Blade emits light..."
Ye Feng frowned slightly. Besides curiosity, the Angel's Blade was also the reason he kept going deeper into the underground passage.
"Clang~ Bang~ Crackle~..."
At this moment, a much louder hammering sound echoed, faintly accompanied by human voices.
The four exchanged glances and cautiously moved towards the source of the sound.
After some time, Ye Feng and the others arrived at a protruding stone platform.
"This... so... many people..."
Xiaoxiao, standing on the platform and looking down, exclaimed in surprise.
Their current location was a large cave inside the mountain. Ye Feng and his companions were on a stone platform above the cave. Below, on the cave floor, a large group of humans, armed with various tools, were banging and smashing against the walls, occasionally shouting with excitement...
"It's people from the Bald Gang and the Skeleton Society. How did they get here, and in such large numbers?"
After observing the scene below the platform, Jiang Shishan's brows furrowed tightly.
"Guo Hai, Liu Lei, Huang Mu, why are they here, and mixed with people from the Bald Gang and the Skeleton Society?"
After a careful observation, Xue Yuli's expression turned unpleasant.
"Who is it?"
Suddenly, Guo Hai roared and looked up at the stone platform where Ye Feng and the others were.
As Guo Hai spoke, he formed a hand seal, stepped out, and moved directly towards Ye Feng and the others.
With each step Guo Hai took, a water step appeared beneath his feet to provide support. Liu Lei and Huang Mu followed closely behind.
"Old... Boss?"
"You... why are you here?"
Seeing Xue Yuli among the crowd by the stone platform, Guo Hai and the others looked utterly astonished.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that? Why are you with people from Ocean Paradise, the Bald Gang, and the Skeleton Society?"
Anyone could hear the dissatisfaction, even anger, in Xue Yuli's tone.
...