I also ran through the cavern, scanning its contents with psionics. That turned out to be far more efficient than just wandering around and sifting through bones but unfortunately, it produced exactly the same result, which is to say, none. Twice I sensed items clearly made by human hands, but they weren’t even worth digging up. A broken shield and a bent spearhead had long since lost their imbued Qi and were now nothing more than hunks of metal.
Ten minutes later, we regrouped, only to discover that Fifth had disappeared without a trace. He didn’t respond to our calls, even though the cavern’s acoustics were excellent. I had to bring out the compass and search for him. After a couple of minutes, we came upon a massive dinosaur-like skull with Fifth inside it. He couldn’t get out because the skull was surrounded by a trap barrier. Judging by the energy it radiated, this was a “present” left behind by some cultivator during a previous opening of this dimension. Naturally, Fifth had walked right into it upon spotting a shiny golden trinket that looked like a cross between a dildo and a candelabra.
Attempts to disable the barrier got us nowhere, so I simply brought my club down on the skull. Skull Crusher lived up to its name, shattering the core of the trap into pieces. Fifth sheepishly dug his way out from under the bones and proudly displayed his prize. He was the only one who’d found anything at all.
“Throw it away” - I advised.
“Why?” - he protested, clutching the item to his chest.
“That thing contains suspicious Qi. If you decide to keep it, make sure you don’t come within three meters of me.” - I turned away from him. - “Time to move on. First, how do these your Leaky Caverns looks like?”
“They’re not mine” - our “Ivan Susanin” grumbled. - “From the Bone Graveyard, there are three exits. One leads to the Eighteenth Chamber, one to the Leaky Caverns, and one to the rest of the cave system in this dimension. But the Leaky Caverns are really dangerous.”
“How so?” - I asked, realizing he wasn’t about to elaborate on his own.
“They get flooded by dark water from time to time, and anyone who fails to get out in time ends up dead. Even this Bone Graveyard is considered risky because of that dark water, but at least you can usually get away from here in time.”
Once again, I started fiddling with the compass, searching for answers to my questions. What I saw was quite close by: a whole network of parallel passageways through volcanic tuff. Water could pass almost freely through these rocks, leaving behind all sorts of debris in the folds and hollows of the stone. While normal matter was quickly “eaten away” by the aggressive Qi, bones and precious metals remained intact. What fascinated me was how this “ancient” realm could contain so much debris that clearly wasn’t ancient at all. Some of the scenes the compass showed me left no doubt that there was plenty of it and it was relatively fresh.
“Move forward” - I ordered, heading to the passage in question. - “We have to work fast. The water will start coming in about fifteen minutes, and we need to loot the place completely before that happens.”
But before we could even reach the passage, I stopped and darted off to the side. Through psionics, I sensed a nearly fresh corpse lying among the bones. Hurrying over, I knocked aside the covering bones with my club and took a closer look.
It was a woman’s corpse. She used to have a very high cultivation level, but by now almost all the Qi in her body had dispersed. Even so, because of the lingering traces, the body hadn’t decomposed much. However, her face and chest had been stripped down to bare bone, so I could only determine the victim’s gender by her internal organs. But what really drew my attention was the large golden amulet hanging from a gold chain around her neck. Though the corpse had been badly damaged, the metal item on her neck was completely unscathed.
I used the Western Demon Claw to sever the corpse’s head and yank over the amulet.
“Why are you desecrating the body?” - Seventh protested.
“It’s just a corpse” - I replied, examining my find. - “Once upon a time, it was a woman cultivator, but now it’s just bones and rotting flesh.”
There was some sort of Qi seal inside the amulet, but I couldn’t tell its purpose because the energy imbued in it was so dense. I could only sense it with my psionics, while my physical senses detected nothing but plain gold.
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I stuffed my spoils into my ring and focused on the amulet’s former owner. With a simple incantation, I compressed the body into a compact mass, then used a basic fireball spell. Adding a drop of the stolen Core Formation Qi intensified the fire, incinerating the corpse in seconds. I scattered the remaining ash into the damp air.
“That’s it, funeral’s over” - I announced to my once again flabbergasted companions.
“Didn’t she have a spatial ring on her?” - Number Two asked.
“No. If you didn’t notice, the entire right hand was missing, and only the thumb remained on the left. Alright, let’s go!”
I dashed toward the caves once again, and my companions had no choice but to follow. The ambient glow in the air was almost gone now, so I used a simple lighting spell. We shot down the passageways in a surge, and with every step, the surrounding atmosphere turned fouler and fouler.
I was constantly scanning the area with psionics, which allowed me to discover a literal mountain of assorted “treasures” gathered in one particular spot. The tunnels we were currently in had clearly been picked over by cultivators before, so odds of finding anything valuable there were minimal. But the place I’d detected was like a “pocket,” sealed off from the rest of the cavern network. A small offshoot led down to it, carrying water that deposited various objects there. Afterward, the water seeped away through the walls, leaving behind all the “trash.” This area was so saturated with dark Qi that no standard method of detecting treasure would work.
Without stopping, I charged straight at what looked like a solid rock wall and whacked it with my club. The water-weakened rock couldn’t withstand the blow, and a hole gaped open. It took me about a minute to widen it enough for a person to squeeze through.
“Follow me” - I ordered, wriggling into the narrow gap.
Luckily, after a couple of meters, it opened into a cave that looked no different from the ones we’d just passed through.
“Hurry up! Search the place and grab anything that’s not nailed down” - I spurred my companions, who’d gone slack-jawed at the sight of scattered gold items and precious stones. - “And don’t even think about climbing down any deeper. We only have five minutes!”
Leaving them to it, I ran onward, picking up only what was most valuable. First and foremost, I was interested in jade slips with recorded information and crystals charged with Qi. My companions, however, were starry-eyed over gold and weapons.
“This must be a great ancient treasure from the Revelation Stage [4]!” - Number One exclaimed, turning over a rusty sword in his hands — one that could only have been forged about a decade ago.
Sure enough, as soon as you imbue the hunk of metal with a halfway decent technique, it instantly becomes “ancient.” Ugh, these cultivators… ancient Qi, ancient technique, ancient treasure. Their brains are ancient. They haven’t changed much since the time humanity was still apes.
I was busy wielding my club, smashing the cave walls and prying out precious stones that were stuck there. After yet another swing, part of the wall shattered, releasing a whole pile of jewelry — rings, earrings, necklaces. All of them were gold, but the Qi they once contained had almost completely dispersed. My companions swooped down on this new loot like vultures, blinded by the shine of gold. As for me, I moved on, listening to the barely perceptible tremors in the cavern walls. Soon, the flow of water would arrive here and turn this spot into a tomb.
“Wrap it up!” - I shouted, peering into the compass once more.
The dark energy around us was “clouding” the future, so I had to push myself hard to pick out the optimal route for our next move. Right before my eyes, the compass started to blacken, and its golden rings began to crack. Luckily, I’d already found the path, and I had the details memorized via my pure psionic sense. Looked like I’d just killed off my “cheater’s third eye”. Anyway. I understood the basic principle now, so I could manage on my own and later I’d build a more reliable mechanism.
“But we haven’t even collected half of it!” - Seventh cried in desperation. She was covered head to toe in chains and beads, gleaming with gold and jewels.
“If you stay here even a minute longer, all those treasures will remain here along with your corpse. Follow me.”
I dashed away, grabbing another embedded jade slip from the wall as I passed. My own heart was bleeding at the sight of all we were leaving behind, but psionics made it clear that staying here meant certain death in agony. The incoming “dark water” was saturated with aggressive Qi, dissolving organics like a potent acid. Generally, these surges and ebbs were periodic phenomena, so there might still be a chance to come back later and grab the rest. We hadn’t even seen one-tenth of what had accumulated in this recess over thousands of years.
Racing through the cave, I took a different turn, away from the “hole” I’d broken into. By now, there would already be cultivators prowling the Bone Graveyard, having entered this dimension after us. I didn’t want to go back and start competing for limited resources. As long as I could stay ahead of the greedy mob, I would. So, my destination now was a narrow crack leading straight upward. It turned out that in this “channel,” water didn’t just seep through the walls but also drained through the ceiling.
We began working our way through the narrow, twisting passage, climbing as fast as possible. It was obvious the walls here had been eroded by a strong current, so it wouldn’t be wise to linger. And already, the ominous roar of rushing water was echoing behind us.