Imperial Treasure
Chapter 243 - 177: Smoke Rises, Three Caves!

Chapter 243: Chapter 177: Smoke Rises, Three Caves!

The crowd looked ahead and saw, about seven or eight meters in front of Sui Yi, a gaping black hole with a diameter of a full meter, its edges surrounded by a large patch of white and yellow mixed fur.

"Such a huge fox den!"

"How large must the fox be? How many foxes could there be!"

"Xiao Dao must have been dragged in there!"

With some children terrified and others curious, eager to rush in and see, the women and elderly wouldn’t dare to let them. Even they were too afraid to approach, so it fell to Mao Gang and the other men to muster their courage and charge over.

------

Sui Yi had already reached the hole, holding a machete in her hand, looking down at the sizable entrance. Her gaze swept the area and landed on the marks on the yellow earth...

Mao Gang and the others had already rushed over, and those who were observant turned pale at the sight.

"These are... these are scratch marks."

At the edge of the hole and down into the pit, there were several claw marks shaped like fingers. Foxes couldn’t make these kinds of marks – judging by their size, they were made by a child...

Was someone really dragged in there?

Everyone present was frightened,

For a fox to drag a person inside, it had to be extremely ghostly and ferocious. Did it eat people?

The women were on the verge of tears. What on earth was happening here? Had the fox become an elf?

"Uncle Gang, what do we do now? Go down the hole? We can’t even fit inside,"

Fox dens run horizontally and not straight down. Adults definitely couldn’t crawl inside. Moreover, who knew what was inside?

"Dig!"

"Dig out this den. We must see the person alive or find the body if dead... if not, at least the bones must be found! These evil creatures cannot remain!" Mao Gang spoke with vehemence, infecting those around him with his resolve. In earlier years several people had vanished without a trace, and weren’t all those people their kin? Just thinking about that made their hatred for the fox unbearable.

"Right, this time we’re going to take down the fox lair in one stroke! Men, protect the women and children... We’ll take point!"

Soon after, people retrieved hoes. As it happened, there were already quite a few who had been hastily summoned for work and had brought their hoes along. Mao Gang grabbed a hoe, and with the first strike, he excavated a circle around the opening of the den.

Four or five men worked together, and as more and more people lent a hand, the entrance to the den was quickly dug out...

But the hole was deep... After digging five or six meters, it still continued downward, becoming even deeper.

Now, everyone also saw various bones.

Many people even couldn’t bear to look, fearful that those bones might belong to their relatives...

Sui Yi watched from the side. Knowing her martial arts skills, others didn’t dare to underestimate her and didn’t shoo her aside. However, Sui Yi called Li Jing and Yan over, gave them a few instructions, and soon they returned with a pile of dry grass.

Upon seeing this, Mao Gang slapped his forehead. "Look at me, I even forgot about this method... Miss Sui is truly clever!"

"Right here, no need to dig further. I think we’re close to the deepest part of the den. Light this dry grass at the entrance, but not too much... just smoke it a bit. A fox can’t stand this kind of smoke."

"But what about Xiao Dao inside..." As this person spoke, they could only give a bitter smile. Could anyone still be alive there?

"This kind of smoke will at most cause unconsciousness, it won’t be lethal... We just need to drive out those foxes," said an experienced elder.

Quickly, the crowd set the dry grass alight at the entrance of the fox lair...

As the smoke rose, some people even fetched fans and large leaves, furiously fanning the white smoke into the hole...

"This smoke... *cough cough~~*"

"It’s deadly!"

"Kill those damn foxes!"

After about ten minutes of smoking, there still wasn’t any sign of movement, which caused many to frown.

Sui Yi frowned as well.

Lin Yun: "What’s going on... Not a single fox ran out. Could it be there are no foxes?"

"It shouldn’t be, these hairs are still fresh; there must have been foxes here before..."

Suddenly, Sui Yi said, "A crafty fox has more than one hideout! There may be other exits..."

"Right! Foxes are cunning creatures. Everyone, check around for any other holes releasing white smoke; that must be another exit for the foxes!"

At these words, everyone had a moment of realization. They started moving around, scattering in all directions. Sui Yi, with a light jump, hopped onto a dirt mound, looking around. Her senses were far sharper than those of the others, and very quickly, she locked onto a direction.

"Over here!"

As soon as Sui Yi shouted, everyone instinctively followed...

But frankly, they couldn’t keep up with Sui Yi’s speed; she was too fast!

Mao Gang raised his eyes and saw Sui Yi moving as if flying, effortlessly leaping onto the slope of the pit. With one jump, she covered three to four meters, then with another, she grabbed onto a bamboo that hung down, pulling and propelling herself up the bamboo to its top, then with one spring, she shot out seven or eight meters away.

Like a lone figure startling a swan, like an elf among the bamboos.

Damn, she’s like a master from the martial arts world!

"My God!"

"I..."

Exclamations erupted...

Even Lin Yun and the others were stunned. Hang on, didn’t this scene seem too fantastical?

It was as if they were witnessing a scene from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, with characters like Yu Jiaolong moving through the bamboo forest...

Enchanting, mysterious, filled with the poetic charm of martial arts.

--Of course, that would be if it weren’t for the horrifying premise of man-eating foxes.

Sui Yi quickly shook off the pursuit of the others and raced to a dark spot in a bamboo forest shrouded by greenery. At that moment, the white smoke was like a mist emerging from its depths. Without any hesitation, Sui Yi charged in.

But behind her, the cries of Mao Gang and others, filled with fear and urgency, rang out: "You can’t go in there! Don’t go in!"

"Miss Sui, you can’t..."

"My God, why does it have to be that place!"

As Li Jingyan watched Sui Yi disappear into the darkened bamboo forest and heard the fearful shouts of Mao Gang and the others, his heart tightened, "What’s happening, what is that place? Why you..."

"That’s a deadly place! Very eerie..."

"If you enter, you won’t make it out alive.."

The expressions of Mao Gang and the others... were filled with extreme horror, their faces ashen.

The faces of Lin Yun and Li Jingyan paled in an instant.

Damn, why didn’t you say so earlier!

"Lin Yun, wait here for me! I’m going in!"

Without a second word, Li Jingyan charged in..

--------

A while later, Sui Yi witnessed a scene.

A very eerie place, it was definitely a bamboo forest, where sunlight seemed to struggle to penetrate, cut apart by the dense bamboo shadows above. The light fragmented into layers upon layers, and subsequently only specks filtered through, illuminating the mounds of earth and the white mixed with dirt..

All in all, it gave off a very ominous feeling.

With one step, there was a crunching sound. Sui Yi looked down to see a bone under her foot, thick at both ends and slender in the middle.

"Human bone?.." Sui Yi frowned. This place seemed to be quite old, and apparently, no one had set foot here for some time, and those foxes...

Suddenly, after a bizarre noise, Sui Yi quickly sidestepped, as a dark figure burst out from the bamboo leaves five or six meters away.

The stench of fox!

The shadow of a fox!

Sui Yi dodged with a swift movement, avoiding the lunging bite of the fox. As it passed in front of her, she sprung up from her feet and delivered a flying kick, sending the assailant flying!

Bang!

The fox landed, collapsed on the ground, hissing continuously. Its eyes shone with a luminous green light, eerie and bizarre.

This fox was fierce, harboring murderous intent.

Sui Yi frowned. Initially, she didn’t harbor such a strong killing intent towards these creatures; otherwise, she would have used her blade instead of just kicking it away. But now, seeing this creature’s fierce aura, she knew she couldn’t afford to be lenient.

However, before Sui Yi could attack...

The stench of the foxes grew stronger.

Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh!

Seven or eight dark figures encircled her from all sides, launching their attacks!

"As expected, utterly cunning," they even knew how to hide and encircle!

Sui Yi tapped her foot, her blade spinning in her hand as her figure darted about. Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh— with one slash per fox, she sent them tumbling to the ground.

Be it humans or the undead, or even the Corpse People, she had killed them all and never backed down; what had she to fear from these white-furred beasts!

Perhaps intimidated by Sui Yi’s fearless and utterly cold aura, the fierce aggression of the foxes suddenly receded. One by one, they whimpered and rushed towards the cave entrance...

Only then did Sui Yi notice the cave entrance. Upon seeing it, she found it quite peculiar.

Actually, this bamboo forest was situated beneath a cliff face. Deep within the bamboo forest was this cliff, and at the moment there was an entrance just right for one person to pass through, neither too big nor too small. The edges of the entrance had fierce scratch marks as if it had been dug open by the foxes. Sui Yi saw some characters carved on a bamboo nearby, observed the entrance for a while, and then resolutely walked in.

She was curious, naturally curious, and this Mao Bamboo Village had attracted her attention with more than just Bamboo Carvings.

The fiercely aggressive and human-snatching foxes, the cave, and the inexplicable spiritual energy—all made her incredibly curious about this place.

Since she was curious, she might as well explore and uncover the truth.

--------------------

The cave wasn’t large, but it was quite deep. Sui Yi braved the stench of the foxes as she walked further inside, using her blade to mark the cave walls as she went. It seemed like she walked for a long time, with the rock walls turning to earthen walls, then back to rock walls, as she exited the corridor.

The significantly intensified stench of the foxes and smoky smell informed Sui Yi that she had reached the foxes’ den.

The place was a mess, the foul odor hitting her in the face!

Sui Yi involuntarily frowned.

The den wasn’t small; it was many times larger than a typical fox den. However, Sui Yi believed that this den was probably not dug out by the foxes, but by humans, and later occupied by the foxes..

There were many skeletons on the ground, along with rotting clothes and flesh, and it seemed that not long ago the foxes had shared a meal together.

"What’s this.."

Sui Yi bent down and picked up an object covered with dust and almost entirely buried beneath it from the ground.

A firearm.

It was an ancient-looking homemade gun.

Sui Yi used her blade to sift through various objects scattered among the bones. After some examination, she found numerous guns littered among the remains. (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommended votes, monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)