Chapter 91: Caverns and Thermal Springs

Fallen boulders and rocks lay scattered across the wilderness, with countless trees snapped in half. Birds could find no perch and instead wheeled and circled anxiously in the sky.

From behind a mountain col, Chen Yu strode forward, his movement light and effortless as his feet touched the ground.

Thick layers of earth were thrust upward in patches, resembling giant serpents lying prone and coiled, snaking and piling up before his eyes.

Crossing the mountain pass to reach the collapsed zone, what came into view was a sizable sinkhole, accompanied by the towering half-peak of a mountain leaning against its outer edge.

It was indeed only the northern half remaining, standing alone in a corner of the forest. Split straight down the middle as if slashed by a sharp blade, half of it had been sheared away.

Looking around, several other low mounds had either been swallowed by mud and sand or had met the same fate, collapsing together in that torrential rainstorm. Consequently, the entire area currently looked exceptionally chaotic, littered with fragments of stone and broken timber.

Pushing aside the tree roots blocking his vision, the ancient trees that had crashed upside down onto the ground had lost all their vitality. Only a cluster of withered, yellowing leaves hung suspended beyond the soil and rocks, drooping in a precarious, swaying manner.

Walking along the edge of the mountain col beside the rocks, this massive mountain body had shattered quite thoroughly. Nearly half of it had broken off, and the remaining half exposed to the harsh sunlight all sorts of secrets hidden within that had never before been witnessed by outsiders.

Naturally, aside from earth and stone, there wasn't actually much to look at. Yet Chen Yu took pleasure in it all, much like when he was a child in his previous life, wielding a small shovel alongside his playmates and digging furiously into yellowish-brown rock walls, always imagining he might unearth something. Whenever someone managed to dig up a round stone egg or a stone slab with peculiar patterns, it would draw the admiration of the group, setting off a chorus of excited cries as the object was passed back and forth between hands to be marveled at.

Nowadays, he was hardly one to engage in such childish pursuits, but merely observing the internal landscape of the mountain was rare enough to be worthwhile.

At that moment, a gray, unassuming cave entrance revealed itself. A look of curiosity crossed his face as he walked all the way over and stepped inside. The moment he entered, a wave of coolness pierced through his skin and seeped into his body, distinct from the warmth of the outside world.

"I didn't expect to find a natural karst cave here."

The familiar sense of claustrophobic depth slowly welled up in his heart as he ventured further inward. Back in his hometown, Chen Yu had often taken advantage of summer vacations to trek through mountains and forests. Those regions lacked the ferocious beasts found on Mount Qingtai.

Naturally left to roam as he pleased, he had explored quite a few limestone caves during those times. Country children were bold; no matter how deep and gloomy these caverns appeared, they would dare to venture inside alone, grandly calling it exploration and adventure.

Thinking back on it now, it held a rather unique charm.

Unfortunately, for Chen Yu at this moment, he felt none of the thrilling excitement born of fear. With a roll of his eyes, his formidable vision took in the entire cave at a single glance. Even as he advanced several more steps, leaving only a faint glimmer of light within, it failed to obstruct him in the slightest. He strolled leisurely through the interior, the rhythmic dripping of water echoing in his ears.

The further inward he went, the more humid the air gradually became.

Soon, a stone wall appeared before him, flanked by a short recessed alcove on either side. Neither extended very far, and after only a few paces, they came to an end.

Turning back and returning to the outside of the mountain, Chen Yu raised his head to gaze upward, scanning the fractured mountain face in search of any herbs that were usually difficult to spot.

After searching for a long time, no herbs were found, but he did manage to piece together some clues regarding the cause of the mountain collapse.

Thus, he departed empty-handed. He had seen the site of the landslide; his next task was to take a stroll through the area behind Mount Qingtai, just in case similar spots existed so he could make preparations early.

Where the soil needed loosening, he would loosen it; where it needed tamping down, he would tamp it down. If worst came to worst and an area looked as though it was on the verge of a similar collapse, he would simply plant a few mountain-breaking talismans and detonate them in advance.

As it turned out, these stone talismans were genuinely useful.

Under such circumstances, taking a slightly crude approach was an effective way to resolve the problem.

Still, he hoped no such spots existed; otherwise, dealing with them would still prove troublesome.

If the area on the verge of collapse were too large and severely impacted the Taoist temple, he would find it hard to devise a solution on short notice, short of relocating the sanctuary or moving down the mountain.

As for using formations to solidify the terrain... he wouldn't be able to pull that off in a short time. Such things weren't available simply for the wishing, and the combination of formations was currently running into a bottleneck. Although certain formation patterns appeared to have unique effects individually, he could not amplify those effects using his previous methods.

Even sketching the Three Talents Formation and assembling it like building blocks failed to work. It remained unclear whether this was due to a limitation inherent to the formation patterns themselves or caused by other factors.

If the latter was true, he might need to adopt a different perspective to reexamine the Three Talents Formation he had created.

It would likely demand a massive overhaul, a thought that alone was exhausting.

Mount Qingtai was not large to begin with, but when factoring in the nearby regions such as the Luoxia Cliffs and the area close to the Wocan Gorge at the back, this expanse actually possessed a rather considerable scope.

And if one added the lush forests stretching toward the Baiqi Mountain range, the entire Mount Qingtai could be considered vast.

Chen Yu did not rope off the entirety of these lands; he merely walked a circuit encompassing the areas directly above and below the Taoist temple. However, the mountain paths were rugged, and in some places, even the remaining plank roads were rotted and shattered. Had it not been for his exceptional lightness skills, navigating them would truly have been difficult.

Tossing about back and forth on the tour consumed both time and effort, and a fine film of perspiration beaded on his forehead. Fortunately, no major hidden dangers were discovered for the time being. It appeared the collapse of the adjacent mountain would not spread directly beneath his feet, and he wouldn't wake up one day to find the entire Taoist temple buried.

Along the way, he also located two gentle slopes on the verge of sliding. Due to their remote locations and the complete absence of human habitation nearby, he simply ignored them, choosing not to use mountain-breaking talismans to trigger them prematurely.

At this very moment, Chen Yu was standing before a cavern.

Unlike the karst cave exposed by the landslide—which had long been concealed in the mountainside and weathered over the years—this cave, though appearing similarly ancient, possessed a completely different internal structure and a distinct origin.

Stepping inside, a wave of astonishment crossed his face.

A humid sensation brushed against his cheeks, accompanied by a faint warmth greeting him head-on. Yet unlike the dry heat outside, the temperature here was much milder.

Walking a few paces inward, the sound of gurgling water reached his ears. Driven by curiosity, Chen Yu bent low and crossed into the deeper recesses.

A gentle stream of water flowed past his feet. Scooping up a handful, he discovered that the water was not icy at all, but rather carried a pleasant warmth, though it lacked the sulfurous heat of the hot springs from his memories.

After all, this place was situated in Xizhou; despite having many mountains, there were practically no volcanoes or magma sources, making natural hot springs exceedingly rare.

Could it be formed by a surging underground current?

The earlier mountain collapse had triggered several major tremors in the Qingtai region, churning the earth like a turning dragon, which made such an occurrence entirely possible.

Chen Yu seemed to have heard that aside from volcanic heating, hot springs could also originate through other pathways, and this current pool might well be one of them.

Following the watercourse forward to trace its source, he arrived beneath a sheer stone wall of a bluish hue, its upper surface mottled with age. He tapped it with his hand and knocked twice, then looked down to see that the current indeed overflowed from behind the stone wall, converging into the stream.

Channeling his vital energy, his internal blood surged and roared. He attempted to push open the stone wall before him, but unexpectedly, perhaps because the stone had been soaked in moisture for too long, the contrast between the cold exterior and warm interior caused several tiny cracks to form the moment his force struck it.

Exerting his strength to push a few more times, the stone wall gave way with a resounding crash, shattering and collapsing onto the ground.

Thud! Thud!

As the stone wall fell, the sound of boulders plunging into water echoed out.

The stream beneath Chen Yu's feet suddenly surged with much greater force once the obstruction was removed. Looking inward, he saw precisely what he expected: a gurgling, bubbling spring nestled within the mountain grotto.

Stooping down to touch it with his hand, he found the temperature to be delightfully pleasant.