A Clash of Gods - Chapter 18

Chapter 18 A Human Skeleton
Does this old man suffer from persecution mania?

Yang Ning was sulky, “Cut the crap, you scumbag hurt me, and now you even want to kill me. How can I get even with you?” He kept on guard against the sudden attack of Mr. Mu all the time.

Mr. Mu’s eyes stared at the scroll painting in Yang Ning’s hand, and for a moment, he finally said, “If you hand over the scroll painting to me, I will treat the wound for you and let you go. I will abide by my promise. No kidding.”

I don’t believe you.

“Mr. Mu, I suppose that you have already remembered all the content in this scroll painting, so why do you still want it?” Yang Ning said, “Haven’t you understood this scroll painting yet?”

“What do you mean?” Mr. Mu’s voice was cold.

Yang Ning said with a sneer, “If my guess is right, the reason why you suddenly got mad in the cave must be related to this scroll painting.” He rolled his eyes, “You got mad after learning the Skills of Six Directions, so you want to find the solution in the scroll painting. Don’t you?”

He spoke thoughtlessly, but Mr. Mu’s expression changed greatly. He lost his voice, “You… How do you know that?” When he spoke, he realized that he had made an indiscreet remark, so he immediately sneered, “How can I go mad? You are talking nonsense.”

Yang Ning now was sure that he guessed correctly. In this way, this scroll painting was really very important for Mr. Mu, and he had much more confidence in his heart. He touched his chin and said, “You are very clear whether I’m talking nonsense. By the way, you couldn’t move around before. It was not because of the poison but because that you got mad, wasn’t it?”

Mr. Mu took a deep breath before saying, “Bunny, do you know who I am?”

“I do not know.”

Mr. Mu gave a cold smile, “Have you ever heard of the Jiutian Tower?”

“Jiutian Tower?” Yang Ning frowned. “What is that?”

Mr. Mu was annoyed, but he still controlled his temper and said, “I am not surprised that you haven’t heard of it. Listen, Jiutian Tower is the first-ever tower in the Northern Han State, and is directly under the control of the King of the Northern Han State. It welcomes wise counselors and bold warriors, and is full of master-hands. And I’m the God of Wood among the Five Elements Gods in the Jiutian Tower!”

“God of Wood?” Yang Ning smiled, “This name is more prestigious than Mr. Mu. By the way, Wood…God of Wood, you are the citizen of the Northern Han State, so why did you come to the Southern Chu State?”

Mr. Mu didn’t answer. He said, “As long as you hand over the scroll painting, I can not only let you go, but also accept you as my disciple and allow you to join the Jiutian Tower. The people in Jiutian Tower are all paid official salaries. You can not only eat and drink without worry, but also can be prompted to a higher rank in the future and bring glory on your ancestors.” He smiled, “Bunny, I give you this chance. Would you like to follow me?”

Yang Ning knew that Mr. Mu was bribing him, thinking that this old monster really regarded him as a child. At this time, he only hoped to exchange this scroll painting for Mr. Mu to heal him, and then he could get free from the clutches of this guy alive. When he was thinking about this, Mr. Mu took a step forward and said, “What are you waiting for?”

Yang Ning stepped back at once and said, “It’s okay if you want to take the scroll painting, but…” Before he finished speaking, he felt that the stone he stepped on was loose and his whole body was sinking. Yang Ning was shocked. Seeing that Mr. Mu was rushing forward, he wanted to step his foot hard against the stone. It would have been much better if he didn’t exert himself. But he overexerted, so the rock on the edge of the cliff poured down, and he fell down with it together.

Yang Ning never thought that the stone under his feet was so unsteady. He was in the air, and fell quickly. At this moment, he only hoped to catch something to survive. Nevertheless, he still held the scroll painting in his right hand. His left hand grabbed something and it seemed to be a vine. That’s a life-saving straw, so Yang Ning dared not relax his grip.

He was still falling, the wind whistling in his ears and his palm tingling with the vines.

The cliff was steep, but not in a vertical way. It had a gradient. Therefore, owing to the terrain, he fell down slowly. Yang Ning put forth all his strength and caught hold of the vine with his right hand, and he was finally suspended in midair.

He panted heavily, stepped on the cliff wildly, and finally fixed himself on the steep rocks of the cliff. Then he let out a sign of relief slightly. As the night wind blew, he felt ice-cold all over because he was drenched in cold sweat.

Faintly hearing the sound of God of Wood from above, Yang Ning looked up, only to see the starry sky shining in the night. For a time, he could not see the top of the cliff. Looking down, it was dark, and he knew that he was in midair. The vines sprawled all over the cliff, hanging down from above. Fortunately, there were these vines, otherwise he would die.

He placed the scroll painting in his bosom first, and then grasped the vines with both hands with little force, only to feel a sharp pain in the palm of his right hand. After a look, he found that his right hand was already covered with cuts and blood. He felt severe pain all over for there were countless open wounds on his body.

Yang Ning forced a smile and shook his head. He thought after crossing the Niutou Mountain he could take a short cut, but now he found that it was not a bee line, but a dead end.

He was clinging to the mountain, so he would not be worried about his life in a short time. The voice of Mr. Mu from above passed over from time to time, but Yang Ning didn’t intend to respond to him.

Of course, the old guy would not worry about his life. He only worried about the scroll painting of the Skills of Six Directions.

However, Mr. Mu must felt desperate at this time. The scroll painting fell with him down into the cliff, so the old guy might even want to die.

After a long time, Mr. Mu’s voice didn’t pass down again. Yang Ning pulled a vine and made sure it was firm and strong. Then he endured the pain in his palm to climb up.

Rock climbing was also one of the training programs for him in the past, so it was not new to Yang Ning.

He didn’t want to climb to the top of the cliff at this time. He just wanted to know whether he could climb up. Although the God of Wood didn’t make any sound, Yang Ning never believed that he would leave so easily. He might still be waiting on the top of the cliff.

After climbing for a while, his palm was so painful that he could only stop. Suddenly, he found that there seemed to be something strange behind the vines. When he parted the withered branches of the vines, he found that there was a crack behind the vines. This was a natural crack on the mountain. Covered by the vines, the crack was rather difficult to find if he didn’t look closely.

The crack was not wide, but it was wide enough for a man to get into it in a breeze.

Hanging on the mountain at all times was naturally very dangerous. Yang Ning did not hesitate, grabbing the vine and swaying to the edge of the crack. Then he immediately clutched at the rock by the crack edge, and jumped in.

He thought it was just a common crack between the mountain walls. After jumping in, he found that the crack was extremely deep, deep into the mountain. It was pitch dark, so he didn’t know how long it was.

He stooped down and picked up a stone from the ground. He held it in his hand and walked into the crack gently. After about ten steps, it was dark all over, and he could see nothing. He held the stone in one hand, and stretched out the other to explore the way in front of him. The road was getting deeper and deeper, and the crack was getting narrower and narrower.

Yang Ning thought he would come to the end soon. However, after walking for a long time, it seemed that the crack had no end, just winding its way downward.

After walking for half an hour, the narrow path suddenly became spacious, and then he heard faintly the sound of water flowing in front.

Yang Ning sped up, and after a while, there was a glimmer of light in front of him suddenly. Yang Ning felt excited, trotting over, and soon, a wider crack appeared in his eyes. Yang Ning walked into it quickly. Although it was also quite dim, but it was not as dark as the former one.

It was a very empty stone cave, surrounded by walls on three sides. But one side was open, with a curtain of water pouring down, which blocked the view outside.

Yang Ning now realized that the tumbling sound of the water he had heard was just from the waterfall pouring down before him.

This waterfall was much smaller than the one that Yang Ning saw on the top of the cliff, but it completely covered the exit.

The light penetrated through the water curtain of the waterfall. But at this time, he could see that it was already at daybreak outside.

Yang Ning breathed a sigh of relief. He did not expect that there was such a place here. Now he was exhausted. He walked to the edge of the waterfall, reaching out his hands and washing the blood stains on them. After this, he took a few sips of water, and the natural mountain spring tasted sweet and refreshing. He sat down and tore a piece of cloth from his garment, wrapping his injured right hand with it. And then he lay back on the ground and closed his eyes.

This night was thrilling and he almost died in the mountain. At this moment, he was deadly tired both physically and mentally, feeling sore all over. Lying on the ground, he soon fell into sleep.

He was in deep sleep this night, so the sound of the waterfall could not affect him at all. When he woke up and sat up, he saw a ray of glow which shone in various colors. It turned out that the vapor of the waterfall reflected the sun, forming a glamorous light rainbow. And it was also very bright when the light filtered into the cave.

Yang Ning’s energy was renewed. Looking down, he saw the waterfall rushing down, but over ten meters away there was a pool. It was very spectacular when the waterfall cascaded into it, stirring waves of spray.

“Finally I escaped from the death.” Yang Ning murmured, stood up to stretch himself, and then turned around. It was dim last night, coupled with exhaustion, so he only cast a glance roughly. He now found that this was a very spacious stone room. In the center of the stone room, there was a big oval stone. The surface of it was quite smooth, but it was covered with thick dust and looked like a table. Beside the big stone, there was a straw mat which was rotten. On the table, there was a flat box.

Except for these, there was nothing else in the stone room.

He looked around, but suddenly he was shocked and his face changed greatly. He saw a human skeleton in the corner of the stone room.

Yang Ning clenched his fists subconsciously, stepping closer slowly and looking at it carefully. The skeleton was obviously sitting on the ground before his death. There was also a straw mat under the skeleton. But just like the straw mat beside the stone table, it was also rotten. There were still clothes hanging on the skeleton, but most of them were weathered and ragged.

“So, there was an owner in this stone room.” Yang Ning thought to himself, “I just don’t know how he died here? The corpse has now become a skeleton. It seems that this person has been dead for a long time.”