Under the fist

Chapter 71 Remains in the Cave, a Secret of the Past

Smelling the stench of decay and stench inside the cave, the boy glanced again at the headless corpse of the mandrill.

"Where did this beast come from?"

The reason he said this was because monkeys are always social animals. Although they do sometimes live alone, he had never heard of such a creature in the Qinling Mountains. Moreover, he had seen intelligent monkeys before, after all, they are primates, but one as vicious as this one, which even understood attack methods and psychological warfare, was truly rare.

If we hadn't encountered it on the mountain, in another two years, if the mountain demon's energy had grown stronger, it would have become a major threat. Not only would it have been able to prey on people and animals, but it might have even become similar to the mountain spirits and monsters described in those supernatural tales.

But none of that matters anymore.

Lian Youming glanced at the corpses on the ground with some emotion, especially the two children. Judging from the clothes that had been stripped off, they had died not long ago, only two or three years ago.

He crouched down, about to throw the mandrill away, but his gaze suddenly stopped, and his expression became somewhat strange. He reached out with his right hand and slowly parted a patch of black fur on the back of the beast's neck.

The black hair was stiff and dense, similar to the bristles of wild boars, but the skin underneath was bare, as if it had been burned. Even more strangely, there was a brand on it, which seemed to be a mark, a lotus-shaped mark.

"Lotus? Could it be the White Lotus Sect? It can't be another beast-driving technique, can it?"

Lian Youming frowned slightly and examined the animal again carefully, but unfortunately found nothing else. Furthermore, the beast's body odor was already fishy and foul, disgusting and unpleasant, and now mixed with the smell of blood, making it truly unbearable to be overwhelmed by.

Too lazy to even stretch out his hand, he hooked his right foot and swept it out of the stone cave.

After doing all this, Lian Youming turned back to examine the two strange corpses again.

Both were lying against the wall, one slightly taller and the other shorter, with withered vines of varying thickness entwined around them. These plants were rooted in a narrow crack in the stone and spread down the wall, forming a large net, with some of the thicker ones almost reaching the cave entrance.

The shorter one, wearing a long robe, is on the left.

The taller one wore Manchu clothing and sat on the right.

Lian Youming approached and saw that the long robe on the man on the left had been blown away by the mountain wind and was now incomplete, faded and brittle. When he rubbed it with his hand, it immediately crumbled into dust, revealing the stark white bones beneath.

But when he shifted his gaze to the corpse's chest, his pupils suddenly contracted sharply, and his shoulders trembled. It turned out that the ribs were covered with countless cracks, as if they had suffered an unimaginable blow. The injury was in the shape of an outward-spreading spider web. It hit the heart, but the force spread and covered the entire chest and abdomen, almost covering the entire upper body.

Lian Youming's aura froze, his eyes filled with both amazement and terror.

This was the first time he had ever directly witnessed the injuries caused by internal martial arts techniques.

It's terrifying.

Not only the ribs, but also the right leg and left arm of the corpse were covered with cracks.

"These injuries are too severe."

And this person's adversary...

Lian Youming then looked at the skeleton on the right.

This skeleton was tall and strong, with extremely broad shoulders and unusually long arms that almost reached past its knees.

Not only were they long, but the bones in their arms were also thick and hard, and their knuckles were also extremely large. They were adorned with four or five rings and thumb rings of various sizes, some of which were stained with blood, and others were inlaid with cat's-eye stones the size of pigeon eggs.

"This person must have practiced some kind of external martial arts, and their hand skills are so powerful and domineering... Hmm, where are their injuries..."

Lian Youming looked left and right, but couldn't find any visible injuries.

"Could it be that the internal organs are damaged?"

As he examined it closely, he noticed a tiny, inconspicuous gash on the neck of the skeleton.

The edges of the gash were relatively clean, clearly indicating that it was caused by a sharp weapon.

"Sharp weapon?"

Lian Youming's eyes flickered. He wanted to put the two corpses aside, but the vines were intertwined like snakes and had long since become inseparable from the dry bones on the ground, almost growing into one.

Without a second thought, he took out his military dagger and quickly cut through the withered vines surrounding the corpse before he could retrieve the bones from the ground.

After carefully laying the corpse horizontally in an open area, Lian Youming then stripped off all the rings and finger rings.

"Could this be some kind of top-tier imperial guard?"

The skeleton in the forest's secret room had clearly been discovered long ago. Apart from a manual on eye cultivation, there was almost nothing that could prove the person's identity.

And this...

Lian Youming's mind raced, and he probed into the other person's satchel and bosom.

The Manchu clothing on the corpse was sturdy; although the color had faded considerably and there was some damage, it was not so fragile that it would be destroyed at the slightest touch, and it was quite intact.

Sure enough, upon checking, he found quite a few loose silver and copper coins in his satchel.

There's something in his arms too.

Lian Youming used his military dagger to pry it open and saw that there was a lining sewn inside the collar, which seemed to contain some hard object and a letter.

"what is this?"

When the items were taken out, the first thing that caught the eye was a dark yellow sign, about the size of a child's palm, with a large "sticky" character on one side and several smaller characters on the other side.

"Shangyu Preparatory Office, Deputy Commander."

Upon seeing this name, Lian Youming's eyes showed a thoughtful expression, then he pursed his dry lips, "The Sticky Rod Office?"

Looking at the letter again, it was so badly damaged that it couldn't be picked up at all. It looked intact, but it was actually almost completely rotten, like mud. It would crumble into dust at the slightest touch.

Lian Youming rubbed the ashes from the paper, then moved to the spot where the two lay and used his military dagger to pry open all the vines on the ground.

Just as the vines were lifted, something fell out from them.

It was an ancient sword that was nearly three feet long.

The ancient sword, covered in dust, fell to the ground, emitting a series of clear, resonant sounds. "It seems this is the sharp weapon."

Lian Youming picked up the longsword, a look of regret in his eyes.

Although the sword has an ancient shape, its blade is now covered in rust. No matter how sharp it was back then, it has now turned into scrap metal.

With his sword in hand, he struck a few poses, but his gaze slowly settled on the ground.

"Heading north to vanquish demons, though I die, I have no regrets; united in purpose, I will never be dishonored... A disciple of the Wudang Lower Dan Sect... buried here..."

The mottled and blurred inscriptions stunned Lian Youming.

The writing was broken and the strokes varied in depth, indicating that the opponent had lost the ability to muster his strength and was in a dying stage where he was exhausted.

These are his last words.

"The Martial Arts School of Advanced Elixir Cultivation?"

Lian Youming's expression gradually became serious.

Could there be any connection between the corpses here and the skeleton in the dark room of the forest farm?
Intuitively, he felt it was highly likely.

They were wearing the same Manchu clothing, and even their periods were not far apart.

The difference is that the two in this room died together, while the one in the dark room was clearly defeated and killed by someone else's fist.

"Heading north to vanquish demons? Forming an alliance to unite our will? Demons?"

Lian Youming's thoughts raced. The only person he could think of was the living person buried in the ground, someone who had lived for over a hundred years. Or perhaps, one of those demonic individuals who cultivated martial arts by consuming the essence of martial artists.

These people, in some ways, seem to fit this description.

But when he glanced at the corpse of the deputy commander of the Sticky Rod Office, his heart skipped a beat.

"Could it be related to the old dynasty?"

After much thought, Lian Youming shook his head; the information he had obtained was still too little. Moreover, the terrifying force of that punch that shattered half of his body's bones was far beyond his current comprehension. Even a single glance at it was enough to make one's mind unsettled and one's liver and gallbladder tremble. If it were anyone else, they might have been so frightened that they would have given up on martial arts altogether.

The only certainty is that "it seems some unimaginable things have happened in this martial arts world."

Suppressing his thoughts, Lian Youming swept away all the vines on the stone wall, but apart from some fist marks, sword marks, and traces of fighting, there was nothing else of value on the wall.

After circling the cave a few times and finding nothing else, he climbed back up the mountain along the vines.

Outside the cave, the warm sun hangs high in the sky.

Taking a deep breath in the sunlight, Lian Youming immediately retraced his steps.

When he returned to the Taoist temple, full of doubts, the scene before him made him exclaim, "Holy crap!"

The mother bear and her cubs were sitting in the middle of a patch of Solomon's seal, eating with great relish, as if they were munching on cucumbers, and had even dug a large hole in the ground in front of them.

The ragpicker sat to the side, also holding several pieces of Solomon's seal and chewing them raw.

"Why didn't you stop me?"

Lian Youming strode over, intending to shoo the mother bear away, but when he saw the cluster of Solomon's seal rhizomes in the pit, which resembled a snake's nest and piled up like a rockery, he couldn't help but gasp.

"There are so many."

The old man, nicknamed "Rag King," raised his eyes slightly and looked Lian Youming up and down. When he saw the cuts that the mountain demon had scraped out, he curled his lip and said, "You really haven't seen anything like this before. Go and dig some more."

"Alright. Haha, I've made it!"

Lian Youming had no time to think about anything else. He quickly rushed to the front of the pit, his face full of excitement as he prepared to make his move, when the mother bear suddenly pounced on him.

"Damn it, you repay kindness with enmity, huh? Not only did you eat my Polygonatum, but you also tried to beat me up."

His expression changed slightly, and he secretly gathered his inner strength, intending to throw a punch to meet the attack head-on. However, as soon as he raised his fist, he hesitated and changed his attack. He raised both hands, and the man and the bear instantly came together.

The ragpicker got up, dusted himself off, and said slowly, "This mother bear found this nest of Solomon's seal before you. There were signs of digging before, and that's where the mandrill came from. The two beasts fought, so we were the later arrivals."

"Old man, stop talking nonsense and take it down quickly." Although Lian Youming was physically strong, he was still inferior to the mother bear. After being touched by the bear's claws, the sleeves of his arms were immediately torn into strips.

The ragpicker said calmly, "Don't hurt it. Observe the way of heaven and act in accordance with heaven. This mother bear has not yet shown her ferocity or evil spirit. Haven't you calmed down? Try to respond to it with your peaceful energy."

"That's a bear, I'd be a miracle if I could stay calm."

Lian Youming clenched his teeth, holding onto the mother bear's arms, and was pushed back step by step by a tremendous force as he spoke.

The junk collector limped to the other end. "Then use the stupid method to wear it down."

Lian Youming hurriedly asked, "Where are you going?"

Without turning his head, the ragpicker said, "I'll go gather some herbs for you. You deal with it for now... I'll say it again, don't hurt it, or don't expect me to answer any of your questions later."

Lian Youming's expression changed slightly. "No, old man, are you deliberately getting revenge on me... Ah, it's pressing down on me."

The only response he received was a cold laugh from the ragpicker.

With no other option, Lian Youming could only brace himself and face the mother bear head-on. In an instant, the man and the bear began to wrestle like ordinary people, twisting and turning from a pile of ruins into the forest, and then back into the Taoist temple.

Believe it or not, this mother bear didn't show any signs of going berserk, but she kept trying to open her mouth. Unfortunately, her arms were firmly held up by Lian Youming, leaving only her legs to hug and embrace her.

After a struggle, the man and the bear managed to hold out for more than half an hour.

When the ragpicker returned from the woods at a leisurely pace, he saw Lian Youming with stiff features, disheveled hair, and half of his face slightly swollen. He was sitting on a charred log, groaning from exhaustion. His newly bought clothes had instantly turned into tattered rags, exposing his arms and legs, making him look exactly like a beggar.

The mother bear, exhausted, finally collapsed to the ground, her limbs outstretched, chewing on some Solomon's seal, as if she were about to get up.

(End of this chapter)