Senior sister, stop working and go home for dinner.

Chapter 91 Preparing for Zhangshan

"Finally out!" Feng Xiaolu patted her chest, still shaken. "I was really scared to death just now. I thought I was really going to be buried with that senior."

"Senior Brother He? Senior Sister Mo Han? Mengmeng?"

Chen Anran shouted, his voice echoing in the empty cave, but there was no response.

Chen Anran looked around. "There's no signal here. Let's go up first."

So the two of them followed the path they had come from, quickly passing through the mountain of dry bones, and returned to the upward-sloping earthen cave.

Climbing out of the earthen cave and back into the west side chamber, they saw He Qingyun, Mo Han, and Zhao Mengmeng anxiously guarding the coffin.

"Fellow Daoist Chen! Fellow Daoist Feng!" He Qingyun was the first to spot the two emerging from the cave. Overjoyed, he immediately rushed to greet them. "Are you alright? The stone door suddenly slammed shut just now, and we tried everything to open it but couldn't. We were just about to go out and ask our master for help!"

Mo Han also breathed a sigh of relief, a look of relief appearing on her usually aloof face.

Zhao Mengmeng rushed over, her eyes red-rimmed and her voice choked with sobs, "Master Chen! Master Feng! You've finally come out! We were so worried!"

"It's alright, it's alright, we're perfectly fine." Feng Xiaolu patted Zhao Mengmeng's shoulder with a grin, reassuring her in return, "It's just an empty room inside, and there's an old man sleeping soundly there, there's no danger."

Chen Anran nodded to He Qingyun to indicate that he was unharmed, and then asked, "Senior Brother He, was there any unusual movement at the stone door outside just now? How did it open?"

He Qingyun and Mo Han exchanged a glance and both shook their heads.

Upon seeing this, Chen Anran and Feng Xiaolu's suspicions deepened.

It wasn't opened by someone from the outside, nor was a mechanism found inside. How could the door open by itself? Could it really be a timer? Or... is it related to that sleeping old man?

Feng Xiaolu stroked her chin, her eyes flickering, and lowered her voice to say to Chen Anran, "Junior Brother, do you think it's possible that the old senior... woke up, turned over, and accidentally triggered the mechanism? Or maybe he's actually conscious, took a liking to us, and let us out?"

Chen Anran glared at her, signaling her not to talk nonsense.

Although He Qingyun and Mo Han were extremely curious about the "old man" that Feng Xiaolu mentioned, the place was not the right place to discuss it in detail, so they put aside their questions.

He Qingyun said, "It's not safe to stay here any longer. Since you two are both safe and sound, it would be best if we left quickly. It's almost dawn outside, and the archaeological team will be starting work soon."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

They quickly cleaned up the traces they had left behind, moved the coffin back to its original position, and tried to restore it to its original state. Afterward, the group quietly withdrew from the tomb along the original route, and under the cover of the deepest night before dawn, they left the excavation site.

When we got back to the hotel, the sky was already beginning to lighten.

After a night of activity, everyone was exhausted, but their spirits were in a strange state of excitement due to the gains and experiences they had gained.

In Chen Anran's suite, He Qingyun and Mo Han carefully inventoried and stored away the seventy percent of spirit stones and intact treasures belonging to Longhu Mountain. The spirit stones shimmered with light and exuded a powerful spiritual energy, while the several intact magical artifacts also emanated extraordinary fluctuations, clearly indicating that they were not ordinary objects.

"Fellow Daoist Chen, Fellow Daoist Feng, thanks to you both, Longhu Mountain was able to obtain this opportunity." He Qingyun thanked them again solemnly. "Master will surely be delighted when he finds out."

"It's just a mutually beneficial arrangement, Senior Brother He, there's no need to be so polite," Chen Anran said with a smile.

Mo Han hesitated for a moment, but still couldn't help asking softly, "Fellow Daoist Chen, what do you plan to do with those broken magic artifacts?" In her opinion, those things were really useless. Chen Anran's insistence on exchanging them made her feel that Longhu Mountain had gotten the better deal, and she felt a little guilty.

Chen Anran naturally couldn't explicitly mention the Museum of Evolution, but vaguely said, "My Yunyin Sect has some knowledge of weapon crafting techniques, so we might be able to try to repair one or two of them. Whether we succeed or not depends entirely on fate."

Upon hearing this, He Qingyun was filled with respect: "So that's how it is! I've also heard my master say that the Yunyin Sect's teachings are vast and profound. Since Fellow Daoist Chen has this ambition, then we wish you success in turning the impossible into the possible."

"Thank you for your kind words, Senior Brother He." Chen Anran cupped his hands in thanks.

Afterwards, He Qingyun asked about what happened inside the stone gate, and Chen Anran didn't hide anything, telling He Qingyun everything. After all, this was Longhu Mountain's territory, and it was most appropriate for them to handle the situation since a mysterious ancient cultivator had appeared on their land.

He Qingyun and Mo Han listened with surprised and uncertain expressions.

"Is that so?" He Qingyun frowned. "According to Fellow Daoist Chen's description, that senior was able to remain in slumber until now using a secret method, absorbing meager spiritual energy to maintain his life force. His cultivation level is probably far beyond our imagination. This matter is of great importance, and I need to inform my master immediately."

He Qingyun and Mo Han didn't linger any longer. They said goodbye to Chen Anran and the others and returned to Longhu Mountain to prepare a detailed report to Zhang Nanshan on their findings that evening.

Chen Anran, Feng Xiaolu, and Zhao Mengmeng returned to their respective rooms and almost immediately fell asleep.

I slept straight through until the afternoon.

Chen Anran was woken up by her phone ringing. She picked it up and saw that it was Zhang Nanshan calling.

"Hey, Master Zhang."

"Young friend Chen, did you rest well?" Zhang Nanshan's strong voice came from the other end of the phone. "Qingyun and Mo Han have already told me everything. As for that ancient cultivator, Longhu Mountain will keep an eye on him, so you can rest assured."

"Then I'll leave it to Master Zhang."

"Haha, young friend Chen, you're too kind." Zhang Nanshan laughed heartily. "Thanks to you and Feng, we've acquired quite a few good things this time at Longhu Mountain. So, how long until you leave?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Anran immediately replied, "We'll go back tomorrow. My third senior sister and I have been down the mountain for a long time. If we don't go back soon, our sect leader will start to worry." He was genuinely afraid that Zhang Nanshan would come looking for them to sit together at the internet cafe again.

"Hey, I was saying I'd take you guys to have a good time in Chongqing for a few days, and maybe have a few nice drinks while we're at it."

"Next time, next time I'll definitely prepare some good wine, and we'll drink until we're both drunk with the Celestial Master."

After hanging up the phone with Zhang Nanshan, Chen Anran rubbed his temples and let out a long sigh of relief. He could finally end his trip to Chongqing and return to the Yunyin Sect. Although the trip had been incredibly fruitful, the process had been truly arduous, especially the experience of being imprisoned in the ancient tomb—something he certainly didn't want to go through again.

Chen Anran got up and stretched his limbs. Although he had only slept for half a day, the fatigue had been swept away after circulating his spiritual energy. Feeling the increasingly pure and hot pure yang spiritual energy in his body, as well as the faint swelling in his dantian, he knew that he was only missing a suitable opportunity to break through the barrier of the mid-stage Qi Refining realm.

"Knock, knock, knock." A knock sounded on the door, accompanied by Feng Xiaolu's energetic voice: "Junior Brother! Are you awake? Open the door quickly, I'm starving!"