Water Ink Panel: Starting with Bow Technique to Hunt the Sun and Patrol the Skies

No doubt, the snake skins before his eyes were an invaluable treasure.

However, when Shen Qing thought about his current predicament, it was as though a bucket of cold water had been poured over him, instantly dousing the fire that had just flared up.

What use were so many snake skins?

They couldn't solve his problems, nor could they fill his stomach.

Even if they wanted to exchange them for wealth, it would have to wait until they restored their cultivation and could escape from here.

If they couldn't escape, then no matter how many snake skins were before them, they would be nothing but worthless dead skin.

With a sigh in his heart, Shen Qing continued to explore further inside.

He placed his hands on the cold stone walls, feeling around but finding not a single crevice, leaving him extremely disappointed.

"Is there really no other way out besides that green pond?"

Shen Qing mused to himself.

He carefully proceeded along the winding stone wall, his palms gently gliding over the icy surface.

Suddenly, his steps halted.

A strange sensation came from beneath his feet, as if he had stepped on something round and bulging.

A faint glimmer of stalactite light happened to fall nearby.

Using this dim light, Shen Qing slowly lowered his head and spotted a hint of metallic luster amid the scattered bones.

Among the scattered remains, a small Ancient Cauldron, the size of two palms, was partially buried.

He let out a slight exclamation and squatted down slowly, nudging it for a closer look.

The cauldron had two ears and three legs, bearing an ancient and solemn form.

Its surface was dull, covered in green rust, and intricate patterns were carved on the body.

It resembled intertwining cloud motifs and racing mythical creatures.

Shen Qing hesitated for a moment, then carefully reached out to touch the small cauldron.

The moment Shen Qing's fingers lightly touched the cauldron's body, he felt an indescribable warmth from it.

This warmth did not come from the outside, but emanated from within the cauldron.

In disbelief, Shen Qing realized that this Ancient Cauldron was no ordinary artifact, perhaps harboring some incredible power, but having limited knowledge, he could not grasp its mysteries at the moment.

He took a deep breath, trying to use True Qi to sense the world inside the cauldron, only to find his True Qi being blocked by an invisible force, unable to penetrate at all.

After researching for a while without any leads,

Shen Qing was not in a hurry and quietly pocketed the small cauldron before continuing to explore along the stone wall.

Finding no other exit, Shen Qing did not linger and turned around to return to his original meditation spot.

By the flat area beside the pond,

Huang Furo gently parted her red lips, closed her eyes, and concentrated, as if surrounded by a gentle but vast Spiritual Power.

As her thoughts flowed, the pure, unmatched Spiritual Power surged through her meridians, transforming into delicate, silky warm streams that gently traversed every inch of her skin.

A faint mist gradually permeated the air.

It was the water stains on her damp clothes rising and condensing under the effect of the Spiritual Power, then fading away into the void.

As her garments lightly fluttered, the wet clothes clinging to her body seemed to be gently smoothed by an invisible hand, restoring Huang Furo's attire to its original state.

Huang Furo slowly opened her eyes, inadvertently meeting Shen Qing's gaze, feeling waves of astonishment.

She hadn't expected Shen Qing to recover faster than herself.

This little dispatch officer before her seemed to be enveloped in a mist, delicate as silk, appearing and disappearing, making him increasingly inscrutable to her.

Seeing Huang Furo's significant recovery, Shen Qing stepped forward and asked, "Sir, how do you feel now?"

"Some strength is restored, a bit better," Huang Furo deflected the topic and asked, "I saw you wandering around earlier, did you find anything?"
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"This seems to be the snake demon's shedding place; I saw many snake skins inside," Shen Qing truthfully said, choosing not to hide, "In addition, I also discovered this cauldron."

"A cauldron?"

Shen Qing took out the three-legged furnace from his arms and placed it between them.

In Shen Qing's view, this cave wasn't that large, and since they would be spending several more days together, many things couldn't be hidden well.

Being open and honest rather than being guarded and defensive might yield better results.

Perhaps given Huang Furo's background and experience, she might recognize the origins of this small cauldron.

Huang Furo took the small cauldron, glanced at it a few times, and then returned it.

She noticed it was merely an ancient-style burial ritual cauldron, ordinary, without any peculiar features.

"Sir, do you recognize the origin of this cauldron?" Shen Qing asked when he saw Huang Furo's response.

"It is just a common burial item, nothing extraordinary."

A common burial item?

"Sir, did you not feel any warmth when touching this cauldron?"

"No, it felt like cold bronze," Huang Furo shook her head and replied.

Shen Qing looked astonished.

Now, when he touched the cauldron, it was warm to the touch, radiating layers of heat, leaving no room for mistake.

Why did Huang Furo not detect it?

He was puzzled.

At that moment, Huang Furo interrupted and asked, "Besides the snake skins and this cauldron, did you find any other exits while checking inside?"

Shen Qing returned to himself and pointed helplessly at the green pond before them, saying, "The cave's end is a stone wall, a dead-end. If we want to get out, we still have to find a way through this pond."

Huang Furo paused after hearing this, then nodded, saying, "It seems we still have to stay here for a few more days and talk about other things once we've recovered some cultivation."

Shen Qing let out a long sigh and said, "Quite so."

Huang Furo scanned Shen Qing up and down, asking, "Shen Chasi, is your family by any chance a Han Sect?"

A Han Sect referred to a fallen ancestral clan with some legacy.

Even when such clans fell, they often had some remnants of legacy.

In her impression, there were no prominent Shen families in Yongzhou or the surrounding areas.

Shen Qing's quick recovery suggested he might be from a Han Sect, possessing some family inheritance.

Unaware of Huang Furo's thoughts, Shen Qing flatly denied it, "To my lord, before coming to Yongzhou, I lived at the foot of Shicheng Mountain in Taiping County, and my family has been hunters for generations, nothing like a so-called Han Sect."

A hunter?!

Huang Furo's eyes flashed with extreme surprise.

She guessed that this person likely relied on his own abilities, building up little by little, but never thought he was just a small hunter initially.

However, with this new understanding, her doubts deepened.

Since this boy was a hunter, why did he recover so quickly, even matching her pace, or perhaps even quicker?