Chapter 537 - Stone Formation

As the Twelve Zodiacs went off on their first task, Ming Yue returned to a quiet home. Descending from the air with Xiao Yin, she frowned while landing, scanning the area. 

"Where are they?" she thought. 

Not only was it strangely quiet, but the cultivator also didn't see any sign of those three. Hongyu, Liang Wei, and Hei Yue were nowhere to be found. 

"Hongyu! Hei Yue! Liang Wei!"

She called out to them before extending her senses outwards. However, Ming Yue found nothing. Whistling for Xiao Yin, the owl circled around her, knowing what she wanted as the beast also found this disappearance strange. 

But even after going around and a bit beyond their home, the Star Owl found nothing as well.

"Strange... they're not in the house nor are they outside. Where could they have gone?" she wondered. 

A rather foreboding feeling crept inside her as the young woman carefully looked around.

What happened while she was gone? 

She knelt down and touched the grass, examining everything. 

"No signs of battle, not even a struggle. They went off somewhere but... where?"

As Ming Yue continued to look around until something caught her eye. Taking a few steps forward, she bent over and picked something up from the ground, a tuft of white fur. 

"This is Liang Wei's."

Looking up, she scanned the ground for more tufts, finding some and following like a trail. 

"It's a good thing, that massive cat sheds fur", she mused to herself. 

Grabbing one after the other, there was a handful of it in her hand as she reached the shallow pond under the waterfall. And then there was no more. 

But that was all she needed to know where they had gone. 

Ming Yue looked forward, expanding her senses until her eyes showed a bit of surprise. 

"There's a cave behind it!" she said with surprise. 

She stepped into the pond, walking towards the waterfall until she stood right before it. The sound of splashing water was at its loudest as it splattered all over her clothes. But Ming Yue didn't care, the young woman walked through, letting the water flow over her as she walked into the cave. 

Once inside, she looked into the darkness before Xiao Yin flew in, cooing as the owl found a familiar scent. 

"So they are here, but... what's inside this cave?" 

She furrowed her brows before sprinting forward towards the end of the cave. Her hand rested on Blood Moon's hilt.

"Be careful. There's something strange about this cave", Xue Yue warned.

"What do you mean?"

She paused for a moment before answering. 

"I'm not sure. The energy here is just too strange, as if something is being pulled in. Whatever is at the end of this cave, I wouldn't suggest touching it", she answered. 

Ming Yue's face turned serious as rushed through the cave, reaching the end in a matter of seconds. Under the growing night sky, a gentle light seeped through the crack in the ceiling, still illuminating the cavernous room and the stacked stones. 

She stopped before it, seeing all three of them collapsed on the ground. 

Her eyes widened as she ran forward to check on all three of them. It was only after Ming Yue checked that she breathed out a sigh of relief. 

"Oh, they're fine, just asleep", she muttered. 

She then went to wake them up, gently shaking them until one by one they roused from their sleep. All three yawned, struggling to open their eyes from this nap until they realized where they were. Their once barely open eyes were wide as they stepped away from the little stone formation. All three of them showed a bit of fear as they hid behind Ming Yue. 

The young cultivator looked at them before staring at the stacked stones. 

"What happened here? What did you do?" she asked them.

The moment they heard her question, there was a look of guilt in their eyes before Hongyu stepped forward. The little girl knelt down on the stone floor and wrote on it with her finger.*

"My... fault... I... touched... the... stone..."

After finishing, Hongyu looked up at Ming Yue, who glanced at the other two, both of which were whimpering. Not to mention, Xiao Yin, seemed to be glaring at them both. 

Ming Yue sighed before looking at the child softly and turning to the others. 

"It's okay. I was just worried about you three. Next time, if you want to do something, tell me first okay?" she said. 

Hongyu as well as the cat and fox nodded, showing remorse for what they did. 

"Alright, let's go and have dinner then."

The group turned to leave but Ming Yue glanced at the stacked stones once before leading them out. After a quick dinner and a good wash, Hongyu fell asleep as did the others. However, only Ming Yue was awake but she wasn't planning on going to sleep tonight. 

She needed to investigate. 

Checking on the others, she quietly slipped away, entering the cave with Blood Moon sheathed in her hand. 

"So this is what they found." 

It didn't take long for her to reach the end of the cave, standing right in front of the little stone formation. It was small, half the size of Hongyu and reaching up to Ming Yue's knees. Kneeling down, she studied it carefully, probing it with her energy. 

"Xue Yue. what do you think?" she asked, "Hongyu and the other two didn't have much to about what happened. The last thing she remembered was touching it and then the next moment, she woke up and saw me."

"I don't know, your guess is as good as mine. I can't tell if it's dangerous or not, only that it seems to be pulling something in", Xue Yue answered. 

"Do you think that it could be an entrance to somewhere else?"

"Or a path to escape but... there's only one way to know for sure."

Ming Yue knew what Xue Yue meant, she continued to study the stone formation, trying to figure it out. 

"Whoever made this must be an expert of some kind. To balance stones like this, into a formation no less. All I need to do is tap it and I could break it but it feels like it wouldn't break even if I struck full force."

She moved her hand towards it, seeing if it would react but it did nothing. To the ordinary eye, this was just a very balanced structure made from little stones and pebbles. 

"It doesn't seem like it would kill you but who knows what would happen if you touch it", said Xue Yue. 

"The worst that can happen is that I end up like them", she responded. 

But then, she stood up and looked around, studying the cavernous room instead. 

"Is it just this?" she wondered. 

Walking all around the room, she studied the walls, tracing her fingers on some of the crevices. It wasn't until she was at the back of the room that she stopped, feeling the current of the air. Looking straight, her hand moved until stopping at a crack from which she felt some of it getting sucked in. 

"There's something behind here."

Muttering to herself, she felt the crack, gentling pressing around it until something pushed in and clicked. Pulling her hands away, Ming Yue took a step back as a few more clicks and cranks followed as the stone door pushed in, opening up. 

"An entrance!"

She stepped in, not giving another look at the stone formation, and entered it. 

What was behind the door was another room, one that had only one feature, a small stone platform with enough space to sit on. Aside from that, the dim light that shone in from the cave revealed something else about this secret room. 

"The walls.... they're covered in cuts. This is a training room, isn't it?"