"Are you sure about this?" I asked, trying my best not to give anything away. Ardena nodded.
"Yeah. There are even reports that several of the demonic sects have actually found the place. We've received confirmation that the spirit beasts are coming from an alternative place that's not the other dimension or from the usual habitats like the seas and forests. They seem to be coming from underground. We've only gotten preliminary reports so far, but the scouts have claimed that they found an entirely new world underground. One of the first entrances was discovered here in Hua Xia. That's why I volunteered."
She giggled as she glanced at me, Sylvie and Silvia. "I'm not here just to visit you guys and sightsee. If there really is a new world under the Earth, then I want to be among the first to explore it."
"Please don't tell me it has something to do with the hollow earth theory," I muttered under my breath. As much as I loved Godzilla, the most recent Hollywood adaptation of Godzilla versus Kong had the most ridiculous nonsense ever.
"No, the Earth isn't hollow," Qin Ying replied. "If I'm not mistaken, this subterranean space really doesn't exist underground, but is actually an alternative dimensional space. The entrance just happens to be in the boundary between the surface and the earth."
"Correct. That's what intelligence says so far." Ardena nodded, impressed. "You really are smart, Qin Ying."
Evidently, the two girls had hit it off and become fast friends while they were hospitalized together in the same ward. I wasn't surprised. Qin Ying had always been among the most studious and intelligent students in our class, and she was our former class chairwoman back in high school.
"Well, I guess I'll go help out with the investigation," I said and rose to my feet. "You girls should stay here and rest. Make sure to recover well before you embark on another mission."
"I'll be discharged in a day or two." Ardena waved her hand dismissively. "You guys worry too much. The doctors just want to keep me under observation for no reason. I'll heal from these injuries in no time at all."
"I'm hoping you get back to 100% strength instead of 80%," I explained. Then I turned to Qin Ying. "You too. Please get well soon."
"Sure." Qin Ying smiled. "I'll have the restaurant opened up for you guys, so make sure you drop by in a few days. I owe you all a meal."
"Thanks. I look forward to it."
Once I made sure that my friends were all right, I parted ways with them at the hospital. Sylvie, Silvia and I returned home, not wanting to waste any time. Sylvie in particular had been sending me worried looks, but her sister appeared more excited than concerned.
"They were talking about the Celestial Labyrinth, right?" She asked. I nodded.
"Most likely."
"This isn't good," Sylvie said anxiously.
"Agreed." I sighed. "We should find out whatever we can. Let's see if Long Wang or Raquel knows anything about this."
The moment we got to my room, I teleported us over. But before that, I remembered to keep my promise to my brother. Jun Hai had already finished his classes and returned home, so it was almost coincidental that we were about to visit my dungeon when I saw him.
"Hey, Jun Hai! You want to come along to my dungeon? You said you wanted to see it, right?"
"Yeah! You're going now?"
"Yeah. Are you busy right now? We can wait a bit, or you can go later, but I was hoping to drop by my dungeon as soon as possible."
"Sure! Give me a few minutes to get prepared."
He finished up whatever it was he was doing – though he was probably playing a gatcha game on his mobile phone instead of homework. Not that I cared. Whatever Jun Hai did during his free time was his business, and even without me hovering over his shoulder, his grades were excellent. Probably better than mine, if I were to be honest. I was more of an arts and literature major, and history was more my jam, but in terms of math and science, Jun Hai had me beat. That was why he was the marine biologist who took after our mom, while I was…an idiot who made pop culture references all the freaking time.
"We'll have the teleportation spirit array set up so that you can join us," Sylvie assured Jun Hai with a bright smile.
"Thanks, sis-in-law…eh?" Jun Hai caught himself, his eyes wide. He coughed. "Sorry, I meant sis Sylvie. I almost mixed you up with sis-in-law."
"You had better not do that in front of Myria or we'll all be in deep trouble," I reminded him with a sigh.
"Yeah, sorry. My mistake."
Really? Somehow, I had the feeling that he did it on purpose.
In any event, we didn't have any other interruptions, and we were in my dungeon before I knew it. I directed Jun Hai toward the forest and sea sections, taking him on a short tour before leaving him to his own devices. He nodded and ventured off on his own, preferring to explore my dungeon alone rather than have me tagging along. You know how teenage siblings were. We were all at that awkward age where we preferred to be independent or something like that.
Once Jun Hai went off by himself, accompanied by Silvia because she thought it would be fun to play with him, Sylvie and I joined Long Wang, who had nothing to offer us in the way of intelligence.
"I'm afraid I'm not familiar with human activity," he admitted. "Sometimes I hear rumors here and there, but I haven't heard anything about demonic sects. Perhaps you might want to purchase the info from a Merchant."
"Yeah, good idea." I recalled the hooded creatures who slunk about in the Celestial Labyrinth, selling everything from down gems…ahem, I mean spirit stones, ores, food to information. But first we actually had to find one. It was fairly common for at least one of them to show up in the bar that I had set up in my dungeon, but I wasn't the type who relied on luck. Besides, I was in a bit of a hurry, and currently there were no Merchants visiting my dungeon.
Otherwise, I would have a pumpkin coffee brewed for them. The Merchant I interacted with loved pumpkin coffee and pumpkin pies.
"If it's information you want, I might have it."
We looked up when Raquel spoke up. She was still serving as a waitress in the bar, and she was currently holding a tray of coffees, both the regular variant and the pumpkin ones. I nodded.
"Yeah. That will be great."
"Give me a second to serve these, and then I'll be with you in a minute."
"Sure, take your time."
I was heartened to see that Raquel was taking her job as a waitress seriously. She hurried off to serve the spirit beasts in the bar their drinks, as well as took the orders for a couple of guests from outside our dungeon. Thankfully, this wasn't peak period, so there weren't that many customers at this hour. Just a few workers off their shifts. The Collector Crabs and Construction Crabs were drinking with straws, while the Twig Turtles and Mud Fishes sat back to relax. There were a few Little Anglers, Ghost Pumpkins and Phantom Stumps as well, and a few Round Owlets were perched on the lofts, their cups next to them atop rafters.
Once Raquel was done, she wiped her hands on her apron and took a seat next to us at the counter.
"Sorry, but I overheard you guys talking about demonic sects in the Celestial Labyrinth?" She had evidently been listening to our conversation when I inquired Long Wang about them. I nodded.
"Yup. You know anything about it?"
"Actually, yes," Raquel said with a nod. "My primary job here is to scout. Just because you see me carrying out my waitress duties doesn't mean I'm a fulltime waitress. I'm only a part-timer. My real job is still to scout."
"Yeah, sorry about that." I was the one who hired her to be a waitress even though she didn't want to be one.
"No, it's a fun job."
Then why the hell was she complaining?
"Anyway, during one of my scouting missions, I did come across what appeared to be demonic cultivators." She nodded seriously. "I tend to avoid them, and I don't think you've ever ordered me to engage them in combat or follow them. That is my mistake. I should have reported them to you. It didn't occur to me that I should be looking out for them. I apologize for that oversight."
"No, that's fine. I didn't ask you to do it, so it wouldn't have crossed your mind." I waved my hand. "But what can you tell us about the demonic cultivators you encountered?"
"I'm not sure. They aren't that much different from the usual residents of the Celestial Labyrinth. They fight other spirit beasts here, and even against each other. From what I can tell, a few of the demonic sects have established footholds here in the Celestial Labyrinths, taking over dungeons and becoming their masters. There's one particularly powerful demonic sect whose name I keep hearing getting tossed about. The Mystic Demon Sect."
"Mystic Demon Sect?" I repeated, my blood running cold. Murderous Crow was supposed to have belonged to the Mystic Demon Sect and I had just killed her. This couldn't be a coincidence. It appeared that conflict with them was inevitable.
"That's right. I believe their dungeon is the Mystic Demon Dungeon. They are a cruel and vicious bunch, even among demonic monsters and spirit beasts. They have been actively hunting on the middle to lower floors, corralling huge numbers of spirit beasts and then slaughtering them."
"That can't be good." I swallowed.
"Not only that, it seems that they are building up their numbers and massing for war." Raquel leaned over, clasping her hands. "It's only a matter of time before they start invading other dungeons."
*
"MURDEROUS CROW!"
There was a sudden explosion of demonic qi that shattered the stone doors of the reinforced training hall. The person who had been cultivating inside there had isolated himself for a long period of time, conducting closed doors training and barring himself from the outside world to focus on making a breakthrough.
As boulder-sized debris ran down, a titanic silhouette loomed through the storm of dust and smoke. The massive figure of a muscular man stepped out, over three meters in height. His skin was red, and black tattoos crawled all over his flesh like writhing serpents, each inscription an arcane rune that flared with demonic vigor. A series of horns dotted his otherwise bald head, and his eyes glowed perpetually, narrowed in a monstrous visage.
"Congratulations, Lord Mystic Demonic Divine!"
Two demonic cultivators were waiting right outside the stone hall, their heads bowed. Though each was a powerful warrior in their own right, being peak Mystic ranked or beginner Earth ranked, they were still dwarfed by the peak Earth ranked demonic cultivator who had just emerged.
"Congratulations, my lord! It appears that you've finally attained the eight level of Mystic Demonic Technique!"
The gigantic man, Mystic Demonic Divine, ignored their preening platitudes. Instead, he went straight to the point, his voice filled with fury.
"Crow has been killed."
"What? Lady Murderous Crow?!" One of the demonic cultivators cried out. "But that's impossible! There are very few people in Hua Xia who is a match for her!"
"Could her killer be the Destroyer of Evil, Chi Xue?" The other demonic cultivator asked fearfully, only for his companion to smack his head.
"Who the fuck is the Destroyer of Evil, Chi Xue?! You've been reading too much The Celestial Zone manhuas lately! Stop confusing fiction with reality!"
Then both of them cowered when they felt the glower from their sect leader. Mystic Demonic Divine's glare was so powerful that both of them wilted almost immediately.
"I have no time to waste on your silly comedy skits. My sister just died, you morons, and you're throwing out random references?!"
"I…I apologize, my lord!"
"M…mercy!"
Mystic Demonic Divine gave them another glare before turning away, each of his footsteps so powerful that they left craters and sent tremors throughout the dungeon. Evidently, the resources he had gained through plundering thus dungeon had benefited him tremendously, allowing him to attain mastery of his monstrous skills.
But obtaining such power was for naught if he ended up losing his sister – the only family he had left after centuries of cruel warfare. Rage built up inside him, coalescing into a violent maelstrom of demonic qi that ravaged his surroundings and causing his two subordinates to quail.
"Find out who killed Crow," he ordered, not even bothering to spare the two demonic cultivators a glance. The both of them bowed low enough to scrape their foreheads against the dirt, almost prostrating themselves.
"It will be done, my lord."
"We will find the culprit and make him pay dearly."
"Most likely, Crow's killer is a powerful exponent from one of the orthodox sects," Mystic Demonic Divine snarled. "Start your search from there. I know Crow's character, and she has no shortage of enemies after all the atrocities she has committed. Nonetheless, she is still my sister…and I will take revenge for her."
Clenching his fist, he demolished a tower-sized stone pillar in a single blow, sending the rocky rubble tumbling. Through gritted teeth, he vowed to himself.
"Whoever you are, I'll hunt you down to the ends of the earth if I have to. You'll never be able to escape my wrath."