Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 2397: Chapter 2300: Bagua Plate

Even though they hadn’t found the Jiaoren’s bones in the ancient tomb, just hearing Anya mention Jiaoxiao and Mermaid Cream was enough to send Fujiwara Seiho and Lu Huairu into a frenzy. The two exchanged a glance, and in each other’s eyes they clearly saw the same delight and excitement.

No doubt about it—if the things in that tomb really were Jiaoxiao and Mermaid Cream, then their deduction was correct. That Ge Hong must have used some special method to capture a Jiaoren, refined Elixirs from it, and in the end discovered the Art of Longevity and successfully transcended into immortality!

Thinking how close they now were to their goal, how they were on the verge of cracking the secret of eternal life they’d hunted for so long, the two simply couldn’t sit still any longer; their whole bodies started trembling uncontrollably.

"Let’s go!"

Casting a look toward the entrance of the tomb’s passageway, Fujiwara Seiho shot Lu Huairu a meaningful glance.

Lu Huairu nodded. Neither of them intended to force their way into the tomb. They turned and headed toward the other side of the deep mountain, planning to go around to the back slope and study the tomb’s terrain, to see if they could find another point of entry.

However, they hadn’t gone far before Lu Huairu suddenly halted, staring toward the direction of the tomb with a somewhat strange expression.

Fujiwara Seiho asked instinctively, "What is it?"

Lu Huairu didn’t answer. He simply stood there, motionless in the shadows.

A strange aura was seeping out from the ancient tomb, and that aura was rousing a Magic Artifact he wore on his person.

Lu Huairu’s heart lurched. Ever since he had acquired this Magic Artifact, he had never seen it react like this. But he knew its use all too well—this unusual aura was coming from the Ningbizhu within a Jiaoren’s body!

The Ningbizhu are a Jiaoren’s eyes, and they are the core organ that allows a Jiaoren’s tears to condense into Pearls. Without the Ningbizhu, there would be no legend of the merfolk whose tears become Pearls.

But for this Magic Artifact to be able to sense a Ningbizhu, there was only one possibility: the Ningbizhu was still inside a Jiaoren’s body, and that Jiaoren was still alive. Otherwise, once the Ningbizhu left the body, it would turn into a dead object, no longer able to produce high-quality Pearls.

Precisely because of this, Lu Huairu’s emotions flared instantly.

If the Magic Artifact could sense a Ningbizhu, it meant that somewhere in this mountain, it was highly likely there was a living Jiaoren in hiding!

And the words of that female member of the archaeology team were still ringing in his ears: they had excavated Jiaoxiao and Mermaid Cream from Ge Hong’s ancient tomb—things that only exist on a Jiaoren’s body!

Lu Huairu stood where he was, closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath before speaking in a low voice:

"There may be a live Jiaoren hidden inside that ancient tomb."

Fujiwara Seiho had already grown grim when he saw Lu Huairu standing there in silence, and impatience was beginning to show on his face. He never imagined that once Lu Huairu finally spoke, it would be earth-shattering. This bombshell landed so hard it left Fujiwara Seiho completely stunned.

He stared at Lu Huairu in disbelief and asked, his tone utterly shaken:

"What did you say?!"

Lu Huairu took out from his arms something that looked like a Bagua Plate. At this moment the Bagua Plate was radiating intense heat, and a pointer inside was spinning violently, as if proclaiming some hidden truth.

Lu Huairu’s breathing turned ragged. This was the first time he had ever seen such a bizarre phenomenon. So this was a Jiaoren’s aura—and this Bagua Plate was what would guide his way!

The pointer in the Bagua Plate spun for a full four or five minutes before finally coming to a stop.

It pointed toward the middle of the mountain and then remained perfectly still!

Lu Huairu instantly understood. He glanced at Fujiwara Seiho beside him and said directly:

"Stay with me."

With that, he gripped the Bagua Plate and followed the direction indicated by the pointer into the mountain path. When they came to thickets blocking the way, he didn’t bother going around, hacking them open with tools instead, afraid that if he let his guard down for even a moment and the pointer deviated, he would take the wrong route.

Fujiwara Seiho was full of questions, but seeing Lu Huairu like this, he held them back, simply following quietly behind him.

The two of them walked for a full half hour before they finally reached the shaded side of the mountain’s mid-slope. At this point Lu Huairu suddenly stopped, staring fixedly at the hillside ahead.

Fujiwara Seiho didn’t understand and was just about to ask why Lu Huairu had stopped, when he lifted his head and saw that in the pitch-black mountainside there was, faintly concealed, a cave!

Although the cave was masked by a tangle of shrubs, it wasn’t covered all that thoroughly. Fujiwara Seiho and Lu Huairu spotted it at a glance.

"This is the far side of that tomb. How can there be a cave here?! Didn’t that archaeology team survey this place? How could they miss a cave this big?"

Fujiwara Seiho was stunned, and unconsciously lowered his voice, leaning close to Lu Huairu’s ear to whisper.

Lu Huairu’s gaze was locked on the Bagua Plate in his hand. Seeing that the pointer was still moving and not pointing at the cave entrance, his heart skipped—he reacted almost instantly, yanking Fujiwara Seiho down and dragging him into a clump of bushes.

Fujiwara Seiho hadn’t yet figured out what Lu Huairu was doing when a rustling sound suddenly came from the forest ahead.

"Shh!" Seeing Fujiwara Seiho’s expression change, Lu Huairu clapped a hand over his mouth in the same instant, signaling him not to speak.

Fujiwara Seiho nodded, but his eyes were already fixed in the direction of the sound.

Lu Huairu’s expression was just as taut, his gaze locked forward, his heart thudding wildly in his chest.

After a short while, under the hazy moonlight, a child only about a meter twenty or thirty tall appeared before their eyes.

The little fellow seemed extremely wary, moving only through the undergrowth. From where they were hiding they could see a head and shoulders, but not the face or features. The child moved along while scanning his surroundings, looking highly alert, yet his speed was very fast as he headed straight toward the cave.

In just a few minutes, the little figure had already reached the pitch-dark cave entrance and darted quickly inside.

And the moment the child slipped into the cave, it was swiftly sealed from within with a stone slab. The slab blended perfectly with the rock of the mountain; if Lu Huairu and Fujiwara Seiho hadn’t witnessed it with their own eyes, they would never have suspected there was a hidden cavity inside that mountainside!

No wonder the archaeology team never discovered the existence of this cave!