Chapter Sixty-Six: The Quartz Cavern

It was only then that I realized this creature was the legendary Sea Nymph. But this being was supposed to be a western monster—why would it appear in the Heavenly Lake atop Changbai Mountain in the northeast? Truly, it was baffling. It seems all monsters belong to the same family, wherever they roam. If that’s the case, Ghost-faced Zhang must have known about the happenings in this mountain stream all along, feigning ignorance and deliberately coaxing the black cloak out. Clearly, he cared not for my life or death.

“Are you still leaving?” I asked the black cloak, watching her closely.

She hesitated for a moment, glancing at Ghost-faced Zhang. His face was utterly expressionless, coldly meeting her gaze before letting out a chilly snort: “If you leave, I can’t guarantee your old lover’s safety.”

The black cloak nodded in response to the blatant threat. “It seems I have no other choice,” she said, settling herself onto the boat’s plank.

A chill ran through me. I realized, with a sinking heart, that Ghost-faced Zhang had kidnapped me outright. So that’s why he brought me out under the pretense of showing me the world just to get some equipment—this was the real purpose. But how did he know the black cloak? Our relationship was secretive, even Mengya didn’t know much. Ghost-faced Zhang had only met me a few times—how could he know that threatening me would sway this “tough hand”? I struggled to make sense of it.

“Fourth, you can come along now,” Ghost-faced Zhang said into his walkie-talkie. A voice replied from within, and not long after, the two inflatable boats behind us caught up.

“Third Brother, what took you so long?” my master asked quietly.

Ghost-faced Zhang didn’t answer, perhaps feeling that using me as a bargaining chip was shameful.

My master sensed this and didn’t press further.

As expected, after Ghost-faced Zhang dealt with the spider formation on the wall and the sea monster in the water, the boat traveled for less than twenty minutes before reaching the mouth of the mountain stream. Before us lay the vast expanse of Azure Dragon Lake.

Azure Dragon Lake was immense, its surface calm. Yet this tranquility only heightened my dread of the unknown world beneath the water. Who knew when some giant creature might leap out from below? But then, considering Ghost-faced Zhang’s prowess with his “Hundred-Step Flying Sword,” it was clear he’d been hiding his true strength earlier. With the black cloak beside him as a bodyguard, I felt somewhat reassured.

The boat journeyed across Azure Dragon Lake for about forty minutes before a cave, ablaze with light, appeared ahead. I peered carefully—outside the cave grew clusters of white quartz crystals. It was just past noon, and the sunlight made the crystals shimmer brilliantly, dazzling the eyes.

“Head for that cave,” Ghost-faced Zhang instructed the boatman, who nodded, adjusted his direction, and began paddling forward.

The mouth of the quartz cave was very low, barely half a meter above the water’s surface—our inflatable boat could only squeeze through with difficulty.

“Third Brother, how do we get through?” Kaleidoscope asked, his face twisted in mocking laughter.

Ghost-faced Zhang shot him an annoyed glance, then looked at the cave entrance, letting out a cold chuckle as if he’d anticipated this. He eyed Kaleidoscope again, who shrank back, hastily wiping the arrogant smile from his face.

“This quartz mouth should be the entrance to the Fishbone Cave. If I’m not mistaken, this place has the geographic shape of a ‘gourd mouth,’” Ghost-faced Zhang said, turning to Dragon King. “Old Seven, find a few good swimmers to get in the water. The rest of you, crawl onto the boat and push it inside.”

Dragon King hesitated. “Third Brother, the cave’s interior is unknown. Isn’t it risky to rush in like this?”

Kaleidoscope clearly agreed, echoing him. The others nodded as well—they weren’t wrong, nor were Dragon King and Kaleidoscope simply afraid.

But Ghost-faced Zhang, as always, was resolute. He snorted, “What, haven’t you stumbled enough on this journey? If things go bad inside, do you plan to retreat?”

Faced with that, Dragon King and Kaleidoscope scratched their heads, feeling humiliated. For the Jingjiu Sect, this was a disgrace—if they slunk back to Beijing, they’d never be able to show their faces among their peers again.

“Alright, we’ll follow Third Brother,” Dragon King said, steeling himself as he donned his underwater gear. “I’ll handle pushing the boat inside.”

Everyone tipped over the boxes on the boat, clambered onto the planks, and Dragon King dived below, swimming to the rear of the boat and shaking it gently until it floated beside the cave entrance.

The quartz crystals at the cave’s mouth were razor-sharp, clustered around the boat and making us worry the inflatable might be punctured—if it burst, we’d all drown. Thankfully, I hadn’t skimped on those thousand-odd yuan; the boat was sturdy. No matter how hard Dragon King pushed, the awl-like quartz couldn’t pierce its surface. Yet the grating sound of boat against crystal made my heart race, almost triggering my hypertension and leaving my head spinning.

This tense atmosphere lasted for about ten minutes. Finally, after a muffled grunt from Dragon King, the inflatable boat was wedged inside the quartz cave, and my heart, which had been lodged in my throat, finally relaxed.

I climbed up from the boat’s plank. The cave was pitch-black, with only occasional leaks in the roof letting in faint streaks of light, but they were of little use.

Ghost-faced Zhang brought out a searchlight from the equipment box. When he switched it on, a fierce beam shot forth, stinging my eyes and forcing me to shut them. After half a minute, I managed to open them again, though my vision still danced with spots.

Steadying myself, I looked around. The cave was immense, with massive quartz columns and stalactites growing down from the ceiling and plunging deep below the water. The quartz within shimmered in the searchlight’s blaze, casting rainbow hues everywhere—the place resembled a Dragon King’s crystal palace.

Ghost-faced Zhang surveyed the surroundings for a long time, snorting, clearly pleased. If he weren’t so stoic, he’d probably have smiled. As he’d said, the interior matched the “gourd mouth” formation—narrow at the entrance, wide within, a shape common in underwater or lake caves but rare in mountain caves.

He swept the searchlight deeper into the cave. The waterway was broad, but ultimately formed a single pathway, without many branches.

“Come here,” Ghost-faced Zhang beckoned to the black cloak. She nodded and approached. “What do you think?”

I was surprised—Ghost-faced Zhang actually trusted her enough to seek her advice, which differed from his usual methods.

The black cloak smiled. “What else? We keep going.”

Ghost-faced Zhang nodded, snapping off the searchlight. The cave plunged back into darkness.

I lay back, gazing at the cave’s ceiling, speckled with faint points of light, a strange feeling rising in my chest. I couldn’t shake the sense that I’d been tricked, or perhaps kidnapped. It was as if everything had been planned: I was but a chess piece, first played by Lord Jun, then by Yu Tianhua, and now swept into the Jingjiu Sect by Ghost-faced Zhang. It seemed all of this was destined, a tangled skein with no clear thread. The one clue I had slipped from my mind, lost to oblivion—what had I forgotten? What had I forgotten?