Yang Lingxue's face turned pale upon hearing him mention searching for a mother shanxiao. She stamped her feet in anger, "Ren Yuanhao, I finally understand. You won't be comfortable unless you're courting death, right?"
"Don't worry, I won't drag you down. I've recovered about seventy to eighty percent already. You can leave first, I'll—"
Before Ren Yuanhao could finish, Yang Lingxue cut him off, "You bastard, what do you mean? Do you really think we're those fair-weather friends? We, we're worried about you..."
—Worried about me? What have I, Ren Yuanhao, done to deserve this? To have several angelic beauties as friends in this life is already immense fortune. I absolutely don't ask for more!
Ren Yuanhao's nose suddenly felt a bit sore. He wasn't an idiot; he understood these women's feelings perfectly. However, he knew his lifespan was limited, and betraying any one of them would weigh heavily on his conscience.
At this moment, he deliberately turned his head towards the demon tree and said in a deep voice, "I know, and I'm very grateful to you. That's precisely why I don't want to drag you into danger for my own selfish desires!"
"Alright, the noble and righteous Ren Yuanhao, the great young master Ren. Since you wish to benefit future generations, we can only accompany you to our deaths, right, Lingxue."
Shen Lan Ni's sharp eyes were filled with admiration for the radiant Ren Yuanhao, his sharp nose catching the reflected light from the flashlight. He seemed too bright to be real.
"Phew, finding that mother shanxiao isn't that easy."
Yang Lingxue kicked at pebbles rolling down from the cave ceiling and swept her flashlight beam around, her mind a complete blank.
"Don't rush. Since we could find the coffin, we can definitely find that mother shanxiao too."
"No, you found the coffin. We're still completely in the dark." Shen Lan Ni truly didn't understand the feng shui incantations Ren Yuanhao had been muttering, nor could she comprehend where the so-called coffin was.
Ren Yuanhao looked at the two women staring at him expectantly. He decided to explain in the simplest terms, "Didn't I just say that the inscribed text kept mentioning 'coffin' as a way to mislead us? Some ethnic groups practice sky burials or sea burials for their departed, believing that after death, people should assimilate with heaven and earth. This senior's thinking was also quite advanced. If you had observed carefully, you would have noticed that the other three stone walls have some moss or other lichen on them, but why is this side barren?"
"I don't know. Does this have something to do with the coffin?" Yang Lingxue said, knitting her brows.
"The 'coffin' actually never existed from the beginning, or rather, the entire cave is his coffin.
In ancient times, some royalty and nobility, to preserve their bodies from decay, would have mercury poured into them after death, or even before. Coupled with their desire for immortality, they also consumed many 'elixirs of life,' which contained a portion of mercury. So, I suspect this senior was also like that.
And to prevent decay, the primary task was to keep the place where the body was stored dry. Moss and similar plants prefer shade and bring moisture. Therefore, this mountain wall was sprayed with some unknown drug by people back then, which is why this situation occurred. Of course, precisely because this situation occurred, I can conclude that the senior's physical body is likely hidden within the mountainside, making it extremely difficult to find.
And because there was no coffin, there was no need to carve out much space to store the body, making it so difficult to find."
Ren Yuanhao poured out his deductions in one go, leaving the two women stunned. Yang Lingxue shook her muddled head and said ruefully, "Forget it, I knew I shouldn't have asked you. Now I'm even more confused."
Just then, Shen Lan Ni looked thoughtfully at the cracked ground within a three-meter radius of the demon tree and said, "I guess that mother shanxiao was too curious and ventured in here. Of course, the only thing here that could harm her is the demon tree area. Therefore, I suspect that mother shanxiao might be right there."
"So we have to dig three feet deep to unearth her? Even if it might be just bones."
Seeing the cracked ground, Yang Lingxue couldn't help but recall their previous kiss, her heart pounding. Her face flushed crimson.
"Highly probable. Let's try. Does anyone have a knife, a shovel, or anything similar?"
Yang Lingxue was unfamiliar with these items. Her backpack contained only food. Shen Lan Ni quickly pulled a medium-sized dagger from her backpack and tossed it to Ren Yuanhao.
"Here, this is all I have. But if my master knew I was using his Dragon Seizing Dagger as a shovel, he'd probably crawl out of his grave in anger..."
Mentioning her master, Shen Lan Ni's eyes instantly dimmed.
Ren Yuanhao didn't waste any time. He took the precious saber and began his work.
Having practiced the Jade Sea Tide Heart Method, his control over his emotions was quite good. Coupled with his experience with the demon tree area, he worked with ease.
Before long, Ren Yuanhao felt the blade pry against something hard. As he was about to shine his flashlight on it, a hairy hand suddenly emerged from the soil!
—Damn it! You son of a b*tch! Fortunately, I don't have heart disease or anything. Anyone else would be terrified!
Ren Yuanhao had to maintain his composure in front of the beautiful women. He deliberately feigned an incredibly calm demeanor, even turning his head to say, "It's nothing, it's nothing."
But in the next second, the hand that had emerged from the ground seemed to go mad, throwing what it was tightly gripping into the air. This hand was then quickly absorbed back by the dry ground!
The object thrown narrowly missed Ren Yuanhao's head. He muttered a curse, picked up the square box, and tossed it to Shen Lan Ni. Then, he quickly used the Dragon Seizing Dagger to chisel open the ground, and the form of the mother shanxiao gradually appeared.
At this moment, Yang Lingxue suddenly thought of something and couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"Lingxue, what's so funny?"
"I'm laughing. I wonder if Ren Yuanhao will have to kiss that big mother monkey to rescue her from danger, ha ha~ Isn't that hilarious?"
Shen Lan Ni even showed a hint of a smile. Ren Yuanhao could only shake his head and said gravely, "Do you have any sympathy at all? Shut up and get into the passage. I need to figure out how to get her out."
The two women knew this was incredibly dangerous. After all, creatures like shanxiao only existed in Pu Songling's "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio," and the original text/records described them as extremely fierce. When they confronted the male shanxiao earlier, it had taken all their strength to snatch Yang Lingxue back from it.
Moreover, this female shanxiao had been trapped in the earth for an unknown period. She was likely brimming with malevolence and would absolutely not offer kowtows of gratitude to her rescuer!
Thinking of this, Shen Lan Ni hesitated.
And as she hesitated, Ren Yuanhao suddenly reached out and grabbed the mother shanxiao's large hand, tensing his entire body. The mother shanxiao slowly began to emerge from the earth!