Qiu Guodong gestured, but Ren Yuanhao's heart was already racing. From the characters on the bamboo slip's exterior, he recognized the latter half of the Flying Dragon Seizing Clouds technique!
"Legend has it that this bamboo slip is ancient.裘如海 saw it last time and couldn't make sense of it either, only feeling it was some kind of internal cultivation method. I thought since you, brother, aren't interested in material things, you might fancy this."
"This thing is for me?"
Ren Yuanhao suppressed his impatience.
"Of course, I, Qiu Guodong, keep my word."
At that moment, the system, which had been silent and Ren Yuanhao thought had vanished, spoke again with its heavenly voice.
"Didi, system rebooting, please wait."
"Holy crap, long time no see, my system sister."
"You haven't spoken to me in half a day and you already miss me?"
"You're an AI, can't you be a little less brazen?"
"Spare me. By the way, host, how did you escape death? Did your body have some hidden energy that I didn't detect?"
"Come on, you know my capabilities."
"That's true, but this is just too unbelievable. I clearly detected no signs of life..."
"Can we not talk about such unpleasant things? When I figure it out, I'll tell you. Tell me, now that you've suddenly woken up, is it because there's something else here worth exploiting?"
"Straight to the point. Listen, I'm asking you, is a cultivation technique worth being put in such a beautiful, large case?"
"Of course, it's worth it! This is the lower half of the Flying Dragon Seizing Clouds technique, do you have it, do you?"
"Your tone really sounds like a bumpkin."
"Sister, I am a bumpkin to begin with. A copy of 'Flying Dragon Seizing Clouds' is enough to keep me happy for a while."
"So, double the happiness, how about it? Tempted?"
"Of course, I'm tempted. Tell me quickly, what else is strange about this case?"
"It's the hidden compartments, of course! And the case is so large, there might be something incredible inside the hidden compartments!"
The system sister's voice had become somewhat excited.
Ren Yuanhao shook his head, drawing himself out of his thoughts, and immediately said, "Uncle, thank you, but I have a question. Such a large case, just for this one bamboo slip, doesn't quite add up, does it?"
To his surprise, Qiu Guodong nodded repeatedly, "So you think so too? I actually tried, but I still couldn't figure out what was strange about the case."
"Uncle, can you let me try?"
"Of course."
Ren Yuanhao first tapped around the case. It produced a very pleasant, resonant sound, like paulownia wood used for making zithers, but the sound did not change at all.
With this effort, half an hour had already passed, and Ren Yuanhao had found nothing.
Just then, he suddenly thought of a peculiar question—this remote town should still follow the old burial customs, not cremation. What about the urns on both sides? In such a gloomy and dark ancient tomb, without a coffin, wouldn't that be strange?
As he thought of this, Ren Yuanhao suddenly glanced at the case and, struck by inspiration, stepped directly into it with one foot.
"Brother, what are you—"
Qiu Guodong was naturally confused, and what Ren Yuanhao said next made him even more astonished!
"Uncle, could you please lock the case?"
"What? Aren't you afraid I'll lock you inside, close the bronze door, and turn you into a living dead person?"
Ren Yuanhao's lips curved into a confident smile, "Uncle, if you wanted to harm me, would you need to wait until now? When I was so lost in observing this case, you could have easily slipped out of the bronze door and trapped me here to die."
"Brother, your temperament is increasingly to my liking. Alas, comparing people makes one die of envy. If it weren't for this incident, I fear that brat would have stirred up heaven and earth one day."
As he spoke, Qiu Guodong reached for the palm print and pressed down heavily. The top edge of the case slowly retracted like precise machinery, and the chains retracted along with it!
Darkness gradually engulfed Ren Yuanhao. The case was filled with a rich musk scent. As the chains tightened around the wooden case, the world fell silent.
In the dim, lightless case, all he could hear was his own heartbeat. He quickly took out his mobile phone, which he had asked Qiu Guodong for, and shone the light onto the top cover of the wooden case.
Within the retracted beam of light, hundreds of tiny characters were densely packed on the top cover, facing Ren Yuanhao's feet!
These small characters could only be discovered by lying inside the case. Of course, this was why Qiu Guodong searched everywhere in vain for them.
—What the hell is this, written so discreetly?
Ren Yuanhao wriggled like a caterpillar, turning almost 180 degrees inside the case before he could barely see the characters clearly.
And when he leaned closer, another discovery made him ecstatic.
Around the small characters were extremely fine lines. If one didn't get close, the lines were almost invisible. And these lines were none other than a meridian chart of the human body!
Even more miraculously, if the lines of small characters were aligned with the corresponding positions, they were located at the Dantian, below the Tanzhong acupoint!
Ren Yuanhao was overjoyed, completely forgetting his situation inside the case.
—This meridian chart must be the guidance diagram for this cultivation method. With this, practicing will yield twice the results with half the effort!
At this moment, Qiu Guodong, waiting outside, was worried that Ren Yuanhao might encounter some misfortune inside. After all, no one had ever entered the case before, and what would happen was still unknown.
"Brother, are you alright?"
Ren Yuanhao responded with a sound and then said, "Uncle, could you please wait a moment?"
"Yes, but the oxygen in the case is limited. If you feel suffocated, just bang loudly, and I'll open it for you."
Just as Ren Yuanhao was about to agree, a series of alarm sounds erupted from outside the bronze door!
"Uncle, what is this alarm?" Ren Yuanhao became vigilant. He then realized that the temperature inside the case was gradually becoming hot and stuffy due to his breathing.
"It's the Serpent Mother!" Qiu Guodong's voice was filled with indescribable fear and hatred. These three words were almost spat out through gritted teeth.
The mention of snakes immediately made Ren Yuanhao think of Liu Furong. At that time, the system had warned him that there was a large snake in that forest, and could this so-called Serpent Mother be referring to that snake?
"Uncle, what is the Serpent Mother? It seems quite urgent?"
"That's right. Whenever the hunting大会 approaches, the Serpent Mother appears in public view. This situation has been going on for over a hundred years. In fact, the hunting大会 itself was organized because of this large snake."
"Hunting大会?"