I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 570 - 570 569. Curiosity_1

Chapter 570: 569. Curiosity_1 Chapter 570: 569. Curiosity_1 This cave was not carved by human hands; it more closely resembled the work of a massive worm, gnawing its way through, with moss at the entrance but deeper in, nothing but bare rock walls.

The blond man, Gordon, held a torch out in front of him, while the others behind him used guns, flashlights, and the like to illuminate their surroundings.

“These were created by some bizarre and spectacular creatures, one of the clans of Him, attempting to hollow out the entire mountain to release their master. Unfortunately, the seals of the Ancient Overlords are not physical in nature.”

As Gordon spoke, the brown-haired man, John, and Dai Yuanyang listened silently.

“However, these caves have become clues for geological exploration. By sending seismic waves through the entire mountain and analyzing them, we can quickly determine related structural compositions and have discovered a core.”

“Here, all the worm tunnels have failed to reach, perhaps due to a cognitive discrepancy or some kind of physical protection. In any case, this should be the core of the seal.”

Hearing Gordon’s words, Dai Yuanyang swallowed hard.

He had an intense bad feeling.

“Mr. Gordon.”

He said in English.

“I think it would be best if we didn’t go any further. In the legends of the Nine Streams, Jiangcheng Mountain holds immense power and is the dwelling of Immortals. Although I don’t believe those myths and legends, my intuition tells me that if we continue forward, major problems will arise.”

“Do you want to become stronger? To gain more wealth, money, power?”

Gordon asked.

“But…”

Dai Yuanyang hesitated, his words trailing off.

“It is curiosity that has allowed humanity to dominate Earth, to become leaders of all beings.”

“If we lose our spirit of exploration, we will be forever bound to the land, unable to touch the Deep Sea and the sky. Likewise, if we stop studying Them because of the fear of Divine Beings’ power, we will remain as ignorant and superstitious as those who came before us.”

Gordon’s torch moved forward, casting light on the shadowy path.

The flame suddenly shrank a lot, a sign of oxygen depletion. In such a cave, the air was inevitably stagnant.

The moment the flame went out, the cave became strangely silent.

Shone by the beams of the flashlights, the forbidden darkness ahead seemed to echo with a calling.

Dai Yuanyang’s eyelid twitched uncontrollably; he held a flashlight, surveying the cave’s edges in silence, the explorers’ soft breaths the only sound.

The flashlight’s glow revealed a human face imprinted on the wall like a brand, numb and cold.

His heart skipped a beat and he abruptly stopped.

But quickly, Dai Yuanyang realized it was just an illusion.

In dark environments, staring at luminous objects for an extended period can cause projections in the eyes, a phenomenon known as visual retention, bringing forth the image of the original object in the darkness.

And that face was simply that of someone next to Dai Yuanyang.

No sooner had he calmed himself than he noticed Gordon had stopped ahead.

“What is it?”

He asked.

“The rock here is very hollow… Dig here with a shovel.”

Gordon pointed to a side of the rock wall.

His subordinates immediately picked up their entrenching shovels and started digging there. About fifteen minutes later, with a cracking sound, the shovel broke through to emptiness.

This meant they had broken through the wall, and on the other side was a cavity.

Could this be the Seal?

Dai Yuanyang shone his flashlight into the opposite cavity; he saw a decrepit space with traces that suggested human interference.

The tables and chairs had not decayed due to being sealed away from the air, and there was a coffin carved from stone in the center, surrounded by numerous skeletons.

The coffin, covered and buried under stacked bones, exuded a strange texture that made people wary of approaching.

“What is this place?”

To the side, the brown-haired John seemed to have noticed something, but he didn’t speak out.

“This is the place of the seal.”

A fanatical gleam flickered in Gordon’s eyes as he flashed an excited smile, took a flashlight, and then entered that particular cave.

Click—

Following the rope, Gordon landed beside the coffin, littered with bones. Glancing at the skeletons beneath his feet, which were almost all human, one could imagine that at least dozens had died here.

The nearby tables and chairs were empty, as if something had once been placed there, but it had long since been taken.

Inscriptions in a language Gordon did not recognize were carved around the stone coffin, seemingly describing something.

There was no exit from the cave; all sides were blocked off, making it hard to imagine how it had been constructed.

“Do you recognize the writing on this?”

Dai Yuanyang couldn’t help but ask.

“No, I don’t recognize it, but it’s clear—with a coffin like this, in the midst of the mountains, the secret of Fang Geng may well be inside this,” Gordon said, his eyes ablaze with fervor, his cheeks taut as if in a spasm.

He placed his hands on the stone coffin, instinctively trying to push it, but unfortunately, the weight of the stone was beyond human strength.

“You, come help.”

Gordon called over several people to push the stone coffin.

Accompanied by a series of sounds, the lid of the stone coffin, sealed away for who knows how long, slowly moved to reveal its contents.

…

Lu Ban entered the cave and felt a strong pollution.

The black mist penetrated Lu Ban’s respiratory tract in an instant, saturating his lungs, flowing into his throat and stomach, seeping into his bones through every pore.

“This kind of pollution—if other inheritors of the Ninth River came here, they would likely lose their sanity in a moment. Is it always this way, or has there been some sort of event this time?” Lu Ban was slightly puzzled.

According to what Seventh Master had said earlier, those who had become Mysterious Monarchs had not died but had at least emerged and lived a few years of common life before dying of illness, not appearing insane.

But this pollution…

Lu Ban saw that the artifact in his hand was emitting the same pollution, resonating with it, intertwining yet seemingly opposing each other.

Different sources of pollution do not mix well and only assimilate and overlap each other.

“Is this pollution from two different groups of people?”

Lu Ban had some speculations in his mind as he continued onward.

What seemed like poisonous gas to the common person was merely an unpleasant smell to him.

It might not even be as bad as some of the stealthy flatulence on the subway.

Walking for less than three minutes, Lu Ban arrived at a relatively spacious cavern.

He saw that the pollution here had dissipated quite a bit, with only a trace remaining.

He saw the stone-carved tables and chairs, and there, some books.

Lu Ban scanned them; these books were written in the language of a foreign domain, which he vaguely recognized as the language of the Abandoned Capital.

Behind the table, in the center of the cave, sat a person.