Chapter 00114: Cang Beichun's Secret
# Cang Beichun's Secret
Chapter 114
Novel: After the Myth
Chapter 114: Cang Beichun's Secret
For Cang Beichun, being tightly bound by Old Six wasn’t just an obstacle to his escape—it was an outright insult.
The vines binding him were so flimsy that he could shatter them with barely any effort.
He couldn’t understand why Ding Huan had ordered that monkey to tie him up with such weak restraints.
"Do you know what to do next?" Ding Huan asked with a smile, looking at Cang Beichun.
"Of course, of course. Please follow me. I just came out of that ancient ruin not long ago," Cang Beichun replied with a grin, as if he wasn’t bound at all but was instead teaming up with Ding Huan to explore the ruins.
"Lead the way, then," Ding Huan said.
He wasn’t carrying a backpack, confident that his belongings were safe on the Blue Star ship.
No one could take them.
He also had a communicator on his waist.
As long as he stayed within a hundred kilometers of the Blue Star, he would know if anyone or any beast tried to approach it.
If the ship were attacked, the communicator would sound an alarm.
For Ding Huan, searching for ancient cultivation ruins in the Kunlun Mountains was just something he wanted to do before leaving Earth.
After all, Earth was once a corner of the ancient realm of immortals and gods.
Who knew? He might actually find traces of their existence here.
But abandoning the Blue Star for the sake of ruins? That was out of the question.
With his hands tied behind his back, Cang Beichun seemed unusually compliant.
Despite being bound, he moved swiftly through the mountain paths and narrow cliffside trails.
His innate cultivation allowed him to traverse such terrain with ease.
Ding Huan’s speed was naturally no issue.
Qi Xin Yue, a fifth-level gene cultivator who also knew wind-riding techniques, kept up effortlessly.
As for Old Six, though his cultivation was weaker, being a monkey, he was naturally adept at navigating such treacherous paths.
As Ding Huan followed Cang Beichun, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of surprise.
He was certain that the place Cang Beichun was leading them to was the same location he had learned about from Nian Jinqing.
The area was so remote, with paths clinging to the edges of cliffs, that it was hard to imagine how anyone had discovered it in the first place.
Ding Huan had parked the Blue Star not far from the ruins Nian Jinqing had mentioned.
Cang Beichun had assumed it was a coincidence.
After all, Ding Huan hadn’t immediately gone to search for the ruins after landing.
Instead, he had stayed put, seemingly cultivating.
Cang Beichun didn’t believe anyone who knew about the ruins could resist the urge to explore them right away.
Cang Beichun led them through the mountains at a rapid pace for about half an hour before turning toward a peak and beginning to ascend.
After another thirty minutes, he finally stopped at the end of a narrow cliffside path.
It was a dead end, with nothing but a foggy abyss ahead.
"It’s here. Jump down from here, and about fifty or sixty meters below, there’s a platform. That’s where we need to land to enter the ruins," Cang Beichun explained cautiously.
"Are you sure it’s fifty or sixty meters?" Ding Huan asked coldly.
Cang Beichun thought for a moment.
"Around fifty-six meters. I’ve been up and down a few times. I’m sure of it."
"Good. You jump first," Ding Huan ordered.
"Understood."
Without hesitation, Cang Beichun stepped to the edge and leaped into the fog.
His figure quickly disappeared into the mist.
"Big brother," Qi Xin Yue said, looking at Ding Huan with concern.
Ding Huan chuckled.
"Don’t worry about him. He’s already hiding. I’ll jump first, then you, and finally Old Six. Remember, don’t jump straight down. Move forward about five meters before descending. It’s not fifty-six meters—it’s only about forty."
"Got it," Qi Xin Yue replied without questioning how Ding Huan knew.
In her mind, it was only natural that Ding Huan would know such things.
If he didn’t, he probably wouldn’t have survived this long.
Ding Huan had already used his divine sense to scout the area thoroughly.
He knew Cang Beichun wasn’t being honest, so he let him go first.
Wherever Cang Beichun ended up would likely be the real entrance to the ruins.
With a flash, Ding Huan landed lightly on a protruding rock below.
The rock blended seamlessly with the cliff face, making it appear natural.
Ding Huan couldn’t help but admire the ingenuity of those who had discovered this place.
Behind the rock was a natural cave.
In the Kunlun Mountains, there were countless such rocks jutting out from cliffs, yet someone had managed to find this specific one.
It was truly impressive.
Although Nian Jinqing had provided a map, it was incredibly abstract.
The spot where Ding Huan had parked the Blue Star was dozens of miles away.
Even with a general sense of direction, pinpointing this exact location would have taken years without divine sense and wind-riding techniques.
And that was assuming you had good luck.
Ding Huan wondered if Nian Jinqing had enlisted the help of the Beast King Society to find this cave.
Even with their help, it would have been a challenge.
It seemed Nian Jinqing had been telling the truth—he had collaborated with the Gene Alliance, the Ten Great Academies of Blue Star, the Martial Arts Alliance, and others, including Cang Beichun.
Otherwise, even the Beast King Society would have struggled to locate this place.
Given the number of people who had come here, the cave’s entrance bore heavy signs of human activity.
It was clear that waves of people had passed through.
But if they had all come together, why had Cang Beichun stayed behind? If they hadn’t, then it was likely that Cang Beichun had found something valuable and had been cultivating here ever since.
Qi Xin Yue and Old Six followed, landing steadily on the rock.
Even without divine sense, Cang Beichun’s little trick wouldn’t have caused them to fall.
As for Ding Huan, it was impossible.
If wind-riding techniques couldn’t handle such a minor challenge, they wouldn’t be worth much.
"Xin Yue, you and Old Six stay behind me as we enter the cave," Ding Huan instructed.
His divine sense had already detected Cang Beichun hiding in the second opening inside the cave.
The second passage led to nothing, and Ding Huan knew exactly what Cang Beichun was up to.
Beyond the cave’s entrance was a long tunnel so deep that even Ding Huan’s divine sense couldn’t reach its end.
Along the tunnel were several branching passages.
Cang Beichun had entered the second one, clearly hoping that Ding Huan and the others would explore the first, giving him a chance to escape.
If they didn’t take the first passage and instead went deeper, he could still make a run for it.
Before entering the cave, Ding Huan said, "I’m not sure if there are any branching passages inside. If there are, you two can check them out while I wait outside."
"Alright," Qi Xin Yue replied, though she was a bit puzzled.
Ding Huan’s divine sense remained locked on Cang Beichun.
Even without marking him, Cang Beichun couldn’t escape his detection in this place.
Ding Huan’s earlier words weren’t meant for Qi Xin Yue but for Cang Beichun.
Sure enough, upon hearing Ding Huan’s words, Cang Beichun immediately rushed out of the second passage and bolted deeper into the cave.
"Let’s go in," Ding Huan said, watching Cang Beichun disappear into the depths before leading Qi Xin Yue and Old Six inside.
Cang Beichun was undoubtedly heading to his secret cultivation spot—a place Nian Jinqing and the Gene Alliance hadn’t discovered.
It had to be something special.
All Ding Huan needed to do was follow him.
The cave’s entrance was narrow, requiring them to crouch to enter.
Once inside, the space gradually widened, allowing three or four people to walk side by side without feeling cramped.
Seeing that Ding Huan didn’t send her and Old Six to explore the branching passages, Qi Xin Yue began to understand.
She remained silent, sensing that Ding Huan’s earlier words had been a ploy to manipulate Cang Beichun.
Ding Huan didn’t need to search the branching passages himself.
His divine sense could scan each one to its end.
Most of them were empty, extending no more than two kilometers.
Some contained broken stone pedestals or strange carvings.
Ding Huan glanced at Old Six, suspecting that these carvings were relics from the age of immortals and gods, much like the monkey.
But unless he intervened, they would remain lifeless stone, their memories lost to time.
Ding Huan had no interest in extracting memory genes from these carvings.
Old Six’s memories were enough.
The other carvings could remain undisturbed.
Cang Beichun raced ahead, clearly familiar with the terrain.
Despite his speed, his footsteps made no sound.
Ding Huan’s divine sense tracked him while also scanning the branching passages on either side.
After nearly an hour, Cang Beichun suddenly stopped.
Ding Huan halted as well.
According to his divine sense, there was nothing special about the spot where Cang Beichun had stopped—no branching passages, no notable features.
What was he up to?
At that moment, Ding Huan saw Cang Beichun pull a small flag from his waist and insert it into an inconspicuous groove in the cave wall.
The groove was one of countless similar ones lining the walls.
But as the flag was inserted, the wall began to creak, and a small entrance appeared before Ding Huan’s divine sense.
"Follow me," Ding Huan said, then darted forward.
He was worried that if Cang Beichun entered the hidden passage, he might lose him for good.
It wasn’t an unfounded fear—Ding Huan’s divine sense had never detected the concealed stone door.
Without the flag, he could have walked past it a hundred times and never found it.
As the stone door opened, Cang Beichun yanked the flag out and prepared to rush inside.
(End of chapter.
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