Finally, Lin Yi passed through the stone door and stepped into the hall. Right in front of him stood a large stone tablet with several lines of ancient script carved on it:
On nights of the full moon, the stone door opens,
Only those with fate may enter.
Before dawn breaks, you must depart,
In five years' time, the door opens again.
Since Old Man Lin had taught him ancient script as a child, Lin Yi could easily read the eight lines on the stone tablet.
After reading them, Lin Yi began pondering their meaning.
The full moon night was obvious—tonight was a full moon, wasn't it?
And the stone door opening must refer to this vermillion stone door! But what did "those with fate" mean?
Could it be that he was one of those fated ones, which was why he could enter?
Lin Yi found it all very strange and hard to understand.
There shouldn't be anything special about him.
He was just an orphan, raised by Old Man Lin, living aimlessly until age eight. There was nothing different about him compared to others.
At least compared to Old Man Lin, he had nothing that made him superior.
But since he'd been able to enter, he might as well consider himself one of the fated ones!
The part about "before dawn" was even clearer—it meant before the sun rose and it got bright. "You must depart" meant he had to leave before dawn, right?
Yeah, that's what it meant literally.
But what did the second half mean about the door opening again in five years?
Did it mean that if he didn't leave before dawn, the stone door would automatically close, and it wouldn't open again for another five years?
The thought made Lin Yi shudder. Thank god he could read ancient script—otherwise, if he'd carelessly stayed here all night and the cave door closed, he'd be in serious trouble.
Forget five years—he wouldn't last five days without water or food.
Now that he knew the cave had these rules, as long as he left before dawn, there shouldn't be any problems!
With that thought, Lin Yi's mind settled a bit.
Only then did Lin Yi begin carefully observing the interior of the hall. Night-luminous pearls were embedded in the four walls, which was why it was as bright as day inside.
Anyone with any sense would know that each of these pearls embedded in the four walls was priceless. If even one were auctioned in the outside market, it would fetch an astronomical price.
But since Lin Yi had grown up in the mountains, he wasn't particularly interested in gold and silver treasures. Though he found them strange and pretty, it never occurred to him that these things could sell for high prices outside.
The important question was: in these remote mountains, who would he sell them to?
The richest person around was Widow Wang at the village outskirts, who ran a restaurant and general store and made over a thousand yuan a year!
But no matter how rich someone was, who would spend money on such impractical things?
From Lin Yi's perspective, if you had money, you'd be better off buying two big chunks of fatty meat to eat—now that would be delicious. These night-luminous pearls might look nice, but they weren't practical and you couldn't eat them.
So Lin Yi didn't pay much attention to the hall's luxurious decorations and began exploring instead.
According to the fantasy novels he usually read, when people entered mysterious caves or valleys, they'd encounter some kind of fortune. Like finding rare martial arts manuals!
The thought made Lin Yi's heart race. If he could find a rare martial arts manual, Old Man Lin wouldn't be able to bully him anymore!
Once he mastered it, the old man wouldn't be able to hit him anymore!
The hall was spacious but quite empty. Apart from the magnificent decorations on the four walls, there were only two structures in the center of the hall.
One was the stone tablet Lin Yi had first noticed when he entered. Behind the tablet was a platform!
The platform looked like an ancient altar, or perhaps a place where sects kept important items.
In any case, it looked quite old—at least you wouldn't see such structures in modern times.
Without thinking too hard, Lin Yi ran up to the platform in a few steps. At the very top of the platform sat an ancient-looking small wooden box.
Lin Yi's heart pounded. Could this be some kind of scripture box?
Lin Yi carefully picked up the box, and as soon as he had it in his hands, he immediately jumped down from the platform and hid.
He'd heard that such ancient structures often had mechanical traps. If you touched someone's treasure and triggered some mechanism, you'd be in big trouble.
But after waiting for a while with nothing happening, Lin Yi finally relaxed.
Lin Yi didn't rush to open the box. After all, the cave door would close before dawn, so he could open the box after getting home.
For now, he'd use the remaining time to explore the cave a bit more.
Walking around the platform, Lin Yi was amazed to discover another stone door behind it, with another small stone tablet beside the door!
The tablet had eight lines of ancient script carved on it, each line four characters long, in the same format as the tablet at the entrance!
Lin Yi was greatly surprised and immediately began reading carefully:
After five years, with initial divine skill,
Strike the door with your palm to enter.
If unsuccessful, your skill incomplete,
Wait another five years to try again.
Reading these eight lines left Lin Yi completely confused!
What did "after five years, with initial divine skill" mean?
Could it be that the box he was holding really contained some kind of martial arts manual?
And after mastering it, he could strike the door with his hand to open it?
With that thought, Lin Yi tried pushing the door, but this stone door wouldn't budge at all.
That made the second half understandable too. "If unsuccessful, your skill incomplete, wait another five years to try again" meant that if the door didn't open, his kung fu wasn't good enough, so he'd have to wait another five years for the stone door to open again before trying.
Staring at the unopenable stone door before him, Lin Yi's heart began to itch with curiosity.
Logically, if there was a divine technique manual in this first hall, then behind this stone door in the second hall, there must be even more precious things hidden!
But Lin Yi also knew that with his current abilities, he couldn't open the second door!
He was just someone with fate at best—being able to open the first stone door and enter this hall was already incredibly lucky.
With that realization, Lin Yi decided not to ask for more. He held the box he'd taken from the platform and headed toward the cave exit.
By now, the sky was no longer completely dark—a faint pale light was beginning to appear in the east. This was a sign that the sun would rise and dawn was approaching...