One person: Starting with the Snow Drinking Blade

Chapter 250 Helping Hand

Leading the group was a hunched figure dressed in a jumble of animal hides, feathers, and leaves, barely recognizable as human—the very same mysterious mountain guardian from before! In his hand, he held the old wooden whistle that emitted the sound.

Behind him followed two others. One was a tall, strong, dark-skinned, face-painted, eagle-eyed middle-aged hunter carrying a bow and arrows and a long knife; the other was a thin, simply dressed old woman with a steady demeanor, carrying a bulging animal skin bag.

They were shocked to see the horrific scene in the cave (a huge charred pit, a vanished blood pool, and scattered corpses and skeletons), and to see Nie Lingfeng kneeling on the ground, covered in blood, holding the unconscious Chen Duo. The mountain guardian, in particular, had his dark pupils suddenly contract when he saw the extremely faint aura of dark gold and crimson flames remaining on Nie Lingfeng and the pure but faint phoenix fluctuations on Chen Duo.

But they showed no hostility. The mountain guardian strode forward, knelt down, and extended his withered hand to check Chen Duo's pulse and brow. He then examined Nie Lingfeng's injuries and said in a hoarse voice, "She... her life force is exhausted... nearing... dissipation... You... are also... at your limit... You must... treat her immediately!"

He turned to the old woman carrying the animal skin bag and hurriedly spoke a few words in an extremely ancient and obscure dialect that Nie Lingfeng couldn't understand. The old woman nodded quickly, opened the animal skin bag, and took out several small pottery jars, bone needles, and some dried, peculiar herbs that emitted a strong medicinal aroma, and began to prepare on the spot.

The middle-aged hunter nodded to the mountain guardian, then, like a nimble lynx, silently crept towards the arched passage on the north side, clearly to investigate the "Council" team and the situation there.

"You..." Nie Lingfeng looked at the mountain guardian, his eyes filled with wariness and a glimmer of hope.

"It was... the sound of the wooden whistle... that... led us here..." The mountain guardian spoke slowly, but with an undeniable certainty, "You... activated... the ancient blessing of the altar... and... awakened... the deepest... shadow... We... sensed it... and had to... come..."

He pointed to the old woman who was busy preparing medicine: "She...is the best...medicine practitioner in our tribe...proficient in...the vitality of plants...and...the art of soul preservation...can...temporarily...stabilize...this girl's...condition...but...to...completely recover...requires...something even more...precious...and...time..."

Nie Lingfeng's tense nerves finally relaxed slightly. He could sense that the mountain guardian meant him no harm, and the old woman's aura did indeed carry a gentle, vibrant essence of vegetation. He looked down at Chen Duo, pale-faced and weak in his arms, feeling both fear and relief.

"Thank you... senior." Nie Lingfeng said in a hoarse voice.

The mountain guardian shook his head, his dark pupils lingering on Nie Lingfeng before glancing at the unconscious Chen Duo. He slowly said, "No need to thank me... This is perhaps... fate... The power of the Qilin and... Phoenix... once again... fighting side by side... purifying... the deepest... malignancy... of this land... The source of pollution at the altar... has been removed... The earth's veins... will... slowly... begin... to purify themselves..."

He paused, his gaze drifting towards the north passage, his voice low and somber: "But...the matter...is not over yet...those...outsiders...(referring to the 'Council' squad)...entered...the altar's...'Sacred Relic Chamber'...that place...was where...the 'Key'...communicating with heaven and earth...and...the 'Guardian's' token...were stored...although...most of them...have long been...lost...or...damaged...but...it's hard to guarantee...there aren't...remnants...that they...found...or...triggered...something else..."

"Sacred Relic Room"? "Key"? "Guardian" token?

Nie Lingfeng's heart skipped a beat. It seemed that the "Council's" target was indeed this place! The "sacred artifact" they were looking for was very likely the "key" or "token" mentioned by the mountain guardian!

"Senior, we must stop them!" Nie Lingfeng tried to stand up, but a wave of dizziness and weakness hit him, causing him to fall back down.

"You...can't...now." The mountain guardian pressed his shoulder and shook his head. "First...let the pharmacist...treat your...injuries...that hunter...will be watching...they...wait until you...have recovered...a little...before..."

Before he could finish speaking, a hurried warning cry in the local dialect suddenly came from the direction of the north passage! Immediately following were several muffled thuds, like heavy objects crashing and metal twisting, and… a scream filled with terror and despair, uttered in English by the scarred captain of the “Council”: “No—!! What is it?! Ah—!!!”

Then, all sound abruptly ceased.

The cave fell silent once again.

Only the dark, arched entrance on the north side, like the throat of a giant beast, stood silently open, exuding an ominous aura.

The mountain guardian's expression instantly turned extremely solemn. He stood up, looked towards the passage, and his dark pupils were filled with deep worry.

"It seems... in the 'Sacred Relic Chamber'... besides... those outsiders... there's... something else... that... has... been... awakened..." His hoarse voice carried an unprecedented heaviness, "Perhaps... more... troublesome... than... that... filthy aggregate... just now..."

Nie Lingfeng's heart sank.

Emerging from the wolf's den only to fall into the tiger's lair?

No, perhaps this adventure and battle within the ancient altar is far from over...

The darkness at the entrance to the arched passage on the north side seemed to thicken and become more ominous after the guardian's heavy words. The hunter's urgent warning, the abruptly stopped screams, the twisting sound of metal... like a stone thrown into stagnant water, the ripples were quickly swallowed by the silence, leaving only a deeper chill that seeped into everyone's pores along with the cave's cold air.

The old apothecary worked even faster. She mixed several herbal powders that emitted a strange, pleasant fragrance, quickly pounded them into a paste using a small stone mortar she carried with her, and then carefully applied it to several key acupoints on Chen Duo's forehead, chest, wrists, and ankles. As soon as the paste touched the skin, it emitted a faint, warm green glow, slowly seeping into Chen Duo's body. Chen Duo's faint, almost extinguished Phoenix True Spark seemed to stabilize slightly under the nourishment of this gentle and vital herbal essence. Although still dim, it no longer flickered like a candle in the wind. A faint trace of life returned to her pale face, her tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly, and her breathing, though weak, became more even.

"For now... things are stable..." The old pharmacist breathed a sigh of relief and said to Nie Lingfeng in broken, heavily accented Mandarin. At the same time, she took out a few dried, oddly shaped leaves and gestured for Nie Lingfeng to chew and swallow them. "You... are also... seriously injured... This 'Mother Earth Leaf'... can... strengthen your foundation... and restore... a little... strength."

Without hesitation, Nie Lingfeng took the leaves, which still smelled of earth and grass, and stuffed them into his mouth, chewing them vigorously. The leaves tasted bitter, but after swallowing, a warm current immediately rose from his stomach, quickly spreading to his limbs and bones. Although it couldn't make up for the enormous energy expenditure, it did restore a sliver of strength to his nearly depleted meridians and body, and his mind became much clearer. He nodded gratefully to the old woman, but his gaze never left the entrance to the north passage, his eyes filled with anxiety and gravity.

Chen Duo's condition is temporarily stable, but she is far from out of danger. The unknown threat beyond the passage is a sword of Damocles hanging overhead. Hunter Jida went in and only gave a warning before falling silent; the scarred captain of the "Council" also screamed and then went still… What happened inside? What was it that could instantly eliminate Jida (whom the mountain guardian said was one of the tribe's best warriors) and the fully armed "Council" elites?

The mountain guardian had reached the entrance to the passage, his hunched figure appearing like solidified rock in the dim light. He didn't go in immediately, but instead brought the ancient wooden whistle to his lips and began to play it softly and continuously in a deeper, slower rhythm, as if chanting some ancient prayer.

"Waaaaah—waaaah—"

A strange whistle, like invisible ripples, slowly seeped into the dark passage. This whistle was different from the ones that had guided them or dispelled the miasma forest before; it seemed to carry a sense of exploration, communication, and even... reassurance.

A moment later, a faint response came from the depths of the passage.

It wasn't a sound, but an extremely faint, vibration-like feedback that traveled back along the "ripples" of the whistle. The mountain guardian paused slightly, his dark pupils gleaming as he seemed to carefully discern the information contained in the feedback. His expression grew even more solemn, even showing a hint of disbelief and horror.