Record of the Missing Sect Master

Chapter 22

The cave was pitch-black, with spiderwebs hanging messily everywhere, and the floor was sprinkled with bits and pieces of animal remains. Just looking at it made people not want to enter. Junior Sect Master Ge pointed to a place near the stone wall that had a four-sided indentation and said, “The box was found here.”

The Alliance Leader’s group looked and examined the nearby surroundings but didn’t see anything out of place. They sent out a few people to keep watch in all directions before picking out a few experts and then finally disturbing the spiderwebs and heading inside.

Wenren Heng was naturally in the lineup, and after Ye You’s outstanding achievement in seeing through the true meaning of Pursued Until Scattered, he was also allowed to follow behind. From afar, those Demonic Sect Elders watched anxiously, afraid that the Sect Master would encounter some mishap. But right now they were “nobodies”, and the only thing they could do was wait outside along with everyone else.

The cave was big enough for only two people to walk side-by-side. Upon the stone walls, the torchlight cast shadows shaped like silent and twisted creatures. Everyone carefully moved forward step-by-step, movements extremely slow, but they quickly discovered some new worries. Other than the spiders and spiderwebs, there were no other vexing things within the cave. Moreover, the cave itself wasn’t deep, only around seventeen to eighteen meters[1] in length, and at the end was a chunk of smooth rock.

On it was carved a sentence, written with powerful force: The ones who can enter have been brought by fate, so go ahead and take away Pursued Until Scattered.

The expressions of the Alliance Leader’s group changed. Holding the torch in hand, they examined the surroundings but found nothing. One person couldn’t help but say, “What if he’s talking about the book in Academy Master Ge’s hand?”

Academy Master Ge immediately said, “Impossible, or else why would he still carve a ‘can’t see the forest for the trees’? Wouldn’t that have been entirely unnecessary?”

Another person interrupted with, “Perhaps he simply wanted to mess with people, or maybe he wanted them to rush in here to read to his hard work, and the real Pursued Until Scattered truly is that book.”

“That’s even more impossible. I’ve already tried everything, and there’s nothing special about this book. Furthermore, Pursued Until Scattered has been passed down for so many years, but this book was written not even ten years ago!” Academy Master Ge’s tone carried a trace of gravity and urgency. If the book truly was real, then it’d be better not to let anyone know. Otherwise, if it was known across the land, then what he’s currently holding was practically a talisman of death.

He couldn’t help but look at Sir Xiao. “You agree, right, young sir?”

Ye You said, “Whether I agree or not, let’s look a bit more before speaking.”

The Alliance Leader waited first for the elders to order people to start searching. And just as he himself had finished his thorough preparations for searching the cave, it turned out that, as before, there were further considerations this time. Using only basic breathing techniques, they had discovered a small, wooden box that had been buried beneath the rock. This box was made of the same materials as the previous box containing the book.

Academy Master Ge immediately let out a breath. “Like I said, it’s impossible that it was my book.”

The cave was too narrow, and everyone couldn’t crowd around it, so they decided to turn back and exit from whence they came.