Chapter 91: Disappearance
Chapter 91: Disappearance
The river inside the cave was very narrow, about three meters wide. Only two small boats could move slowly one after the other.
Just a few hundred meters in, all natural light disappeared. Everyone was plunged into complete darkness and had to rely on torches for illumination.
But the surrounding darkness seemed to swallow the light. The torches could only brighten a few meters ahead, and nothing beyond that was visible.
Tang Xianghui let out a sigh. “It’s good this cave has such a narrow waterway. If it were a big lake, we’d probably spend a long time just searching inside.”
Tang Yuan looked up at the cave ceiling. No matter how hard he strained his eyes, he saw nothing in the pitch black. “This place feels a bit eerie. Why can’t the light reach further?”
“Maybe because it’s too deep. The ceiling is probably very high, so we can’t see it. That’s why the light seems to fade so quickly.”
Liu Changding chimed in, “Caves like this are usually formed by groundwater eroding the rock over a long time. Because the rock composition varies, the shapes formed by erosion can differ.” He pointed at the stalactites on the walls.
He continued, “But such a high ceiling above us is likely not just due to water erosion. The shifting of the mountain might have played a part too.”
The members of the Shadow Corps around them nodded thoughtfully. Then they started asking questions and chatting among themselves.
In the darkness, to stay calm and reduce tension, the Shadow Corps members felt compelled to talk. It seemed that if they stopped speaking, the darkness would swallow them whole.
However, neither Qingyue Qiu nor Zuo Zhicheng joined their conversation from start to finish. They knew Qingyue Qiu had the natural aloofness of the Qingyue Family. As for Zuo Zhicheng, also known as Ghost Fist, he left a different impression on them.
‘He’s like a man of iron,’ Tang Yuan thought, recalling Zuo Zhicheng’s past actions and achievements. He secretly glanced at Zuo Zhicheng, who sat at the front of the boat. ‘Extreme willpower, execution, stealth, and action—where did someone like him come from?’
Suddenly, A Wei on the second boat rubbed his eyes and asked Liu Changding beside him, “Mr. Liu, did you see something?”
Liu Changding followed A Wei’s pointing finger but saw only darkness.
“A Wei, don’t scare me. There’s nothing there.”
A Wei frowned. “But I thought I saw a woman in green clothes.”
“Who are you trying to frighten?” Tang Xianghui was startled. “Don’t talk nonsense in a place like this. None of us saw anything—only you?”
Everyone looked around, but there was no woman in green. They all scolded A Wei for making things up.
Zuo Zhicheng, however, turned and glanced unexpectedly at Qingyue Qiu. Through his Infrared Vision, he noticed her breathing had quickened. When he looked back, the heat around her chest had intensified, as if her heart was beating faster.
Under his mask, Zuo Zhicheng’s lips curved slightly. Was this woman, who always kept a cold expression, actually afraid of ghosts?
A Wei’s illusion was just a small incident. A few minutes later, everyone forgot about it. Zuo Zhicheng and the group continued rowing, moving forward along the dark river.
But the river in the cave felt like an endless passage to the Underworld. Even after half an hour, though they knew they were moving, the surroundings seemed unchanged.
“Did it take this long the previous times you came in?” Zuo Zhicheng, recalling the records, asked Qingyue Qiu and the others behind him.
Tang Xianghui explained, “Yes, this river is very long. After about another third of the way, there’s a stone platform. The first two teams entered from there. We used to have a camp there, but after the first two groups went missing, we withdrew everyone from the camp.”
Seeing Zuo Zhicheng remain silent, Tang Xianghui asked, “What? Is there a problem?”
Ghost Fist looked up, scanning the surrounding stone walls and the cave ceiling above. He turned his head, searching for something, then lowered his gaze to the water.
His actions made everyone tense. Tang Yuan asked, “Lord Ghost Fist, what’s wrong?”
Zuo Zhicheng’s voice carried a chill. He looked past the group and directly toward the back of the boat.
“We had two boats when we entered the cave, right?”
“A Wei and Liu Changding—where is their boat now?”
Shock!
In an instant, everyone looked toward the back of the boat. But aside from the empty water surface, there was no trace of the other boat.
Tang Xianghui stared back in disbelief. “How is that possible? How did they disappear?”
Tang Yuan stood up. “Where are they? We need to find them.”
The dark cave, the bottomless water, and the sudden disappearance of their companions threw everyone into chaos.
“Quiet.” A fierce killing intent, mixed with an icy chill, radiated from Zuo Zhicheng. The Shadow Corps members felt a sudden clarity and unconsciously obeyed him, stopping their arguments.
This wasn’t the true power of the Human Aspect. Zuo Zhicheng merely used his killing intent, the strength of Nourishing Qi with Vast Righteousness, and his own authority to achieve this effect.
Seeing everyone calm down but still filled with shock and fear, Zuo Zhicheng said coldly, “Don’t panic. Don’t let your imaginations run wild.
“It’s just a missing boat. I’ve encountered stranger and more unbelievable things.
“Whatever happened, there’s a reason for it.
“First, I need to assess our surroundings.”
The darkness in the cave was like thick black fog, shrouding everything. With the torches, everyone strained to look back into the dim darkness, where they faintly saw the shape of a boat.
Tang Xianghui breathed a sigh of relief. “They must be behind us. It’s too dark in here, so we didn’t see them earlier.”
“No,” Tang Yuan said nervously. “Why aren’t they lighting a torch?”
“A Wei, are you there?” someone shouted into the darkness behind them.
“Why aren’t you lighting up? Say something?” No sound came from the boat in the back. The river fell into a dead silence, with only the sound of flowing water reaching their ears.
It was as if something in the darkness had swallowed A Wei and the others.
“Something’s wrong.” Zuo Zhicheng reached out and said to Tang Xianghui, “Give me a torch.”
At that moment, Zuo Zhicheng had a compelling aura. Tang Xianghui involuntarily handed him a torch.
Taking the torch, Zuo Zhicheng pulled a small jar from his pocket. Inside was magnesium powder he had extracted from lime’s magnesia—magnesium oxide. When burned, this powder released a dazzling bright light and was one of the main components of flares in modern armies.
Zuo Zhicheng didn’t know if the Shuo Jin in Dao Arts materials was similar. But he knew this simple flare made from magnesium powder would let him see the situation clearly.
Since his Infrared Vision hadn’t detected anything unusual earlier, he needed light now.
“Be careful, it will be very bright.” As soon as he finished speaking, everyone saw his hand move swiftly.
The next moment, with a loud whoosh, the burning flare shot upward, trailing a bright path. In an instant, the pitch-black cave ceiling lit up as if it were daytime, revealing everything to their eyes.