Upon hearing that address, Xie Lian blinked, and only then did he realize that youth's voice was a little familiar, and he should've heard it a few times before, and the next moment, his eyes moved downwards to look at that youth's wrist. Although his wrist was covered by sleeves, but Xie Lian was sure that under it hid a ring of black cursed shackle.
Pei Ming also rose to his feet to double check that black clad youth's identity, "His Highness Yin Yu? Well I'll be. I didn't think we'd run into you here. What are you..."
Yin Yu scratched the tip of his nose with his finger and returned the greeting, "Ling Wen Zhen Jun, General Pei, General Pei Junior."
Suddenly, a voice humphed, "Yin Yu? You're that Yin Yu who was thoroughly and miserably defeated by his own shidi?"
The faces of the heavenly officials all stiffened, and that voice continued, "I gotta say, aren't you a little too pathetic? Banishment aside, I can't believe you'd turn your back just like that and went to become a ghost errand boy. Compared to that Quan Yi Zhen, you really got on badly, and to think you're his shixiong..."
That voice came from Rong Guang who was shut inside the pot. Pei Su instantly stuck a talisman on to shut him up.
Even though, whether if it was under Jun Wu or Hua Chengzhu, Yin Yu was an errand boy and there was no difference, still, to be in the same room as the heavenly colleagues of many years now that he had become a ghost officer was like an arresting officer turned thief who was exposed by old comrades, and the air was filled with awkwardness. No one knew what to say, so Yin Yu could only turn around silently, and continued digging the hole with the Earth Master shovel.
The group continued onwards as the path was dug. Pei Ming still had the brother of his friend on mind and asked, "Since Hua Chengzhu managed to get the Earth Master shovel, does this mean the two lords communicate with each other? I recall when I asked His Highness at the time, His Highness excused My Lord and said My Lord wasn't close with that Black Water Demon Xuan, and for sure didn't know his whereabouts. If it's possible, will you give that Demon Xuan a shout and ask him to please release Qing Xuan if he hasn't killed him yet?"
However, Hua Cheng replied, "You're mistaken. It's true I don't know Black Water's whereabouts."
"Then where did the shovel come from?"
"I found it on the ground." Hua Cheng said.
"..."
So he was going to stubbornly admit to nothing. What do? No one could do anything to him, and under the current circumstances, everyone depended on him too, so Pei Ming could only snort, "Alright, fine. Hua Chengzhu certainly is lucky to be able to come across a spiritual device so easily."
Ling Wen who was being carried on Pei Su's back said out of habit, "This sacred shovel belongs to heavenly officials of the Upper Court, will Hua Chengzhu return..." However, before he finished realized he was no longer actively in office in the Upper Court and there was no need for him to collect debt on its behalf, so he shut up.
Xie Lian rubbed his forehead and was just wondering whether if he should ask after it secretly when he heard Hua Cheng say softly using a voice only he could hear, "Black Water ditched it. After he stopped disguising himself as the Earth Master, he tossed the shovel away in the Ghost City and fled. Before coming to Mount TongLu, I thought it might be useful so I sent for someone to grab it."
"I see." Xie Lian replied, "And here I thought I could find out Lord Wind Master's whereabouts... this sacred shovel is perfect for dealing with the mountain spirits, San Lang really does think of everything."
"It's only because I've gained experience from being suffocatingly chased by those mountain spirits the last time, that's all." Hua Cheng replied.
Xie Lian tried in spite of himself to imagine Hua Cheng who entered Mount TongLu for the first time charging through obstacles like a novice. Just then, a few small balls of tiny silver light suddenly lit up, and it was those wraith butterflies who were shimmering in the darkness, becoming guiding lights. Xie Lian hovered a palm under a small silver butterfly and looked upwards, "Just what is this mountain spirit? Why do they attack us?"
"It's hard to say what it is," Hua Cheng replied, "When I first came, they've already existed for a long time. But, it's not that they were attacking us specifically. They will try to stop anyone who wants to enter Mount TongLu, and if they can't stop them, they will attack."
"Attacking indiscriminately?" Xie Lian wondered, "If you think about it, their purpose is exactly the same as ours. Lord Rain Master and His Highness Qi Ying are both here in Mount TongLu, I hope nothing will happen to them."
Yin Yu had been diligently digging and opening the path, but when he heard Quan Yi Zhen's name, his action seemed to have faltered for a moment. Xie Lian noticed and glanced at him, recalling before when he wore a mask, he had met Quan Yi Zhen. Only, at the time, Yin Yu had appeared like he didn't know Quan Yi Zhen at all. If Quan Yi Zhen had known it was his shixiong standing before him, what would've happened?
Ling Wen raised his head with difficulty, "Your Highness Yin Yu, have you seen His Highness Qi Ying? He's come to my Palace of Ling Wen many times to have me help him look for you."
Yin Yu stammered for a second, "R-Really?"
"Really." Ling Wen said, "When you first descended, he came almost once a day. Later, there was never any news, so he came once every three days, then once every month. Until just recently, he'd come at least once a year. He'd always felt there was a misunderstanding between you in regards to the Brocade Immortal affair and wanted to hear your side of the story, so he could explain it to others. Yet, there was never any sign of you nor any communication."
Yin Yu fell silent and only heaved a sigh, refocusing on digging with renewed vigour. 'He doesn't want to talk about it anymore.' Xie Lian thought.
Ling Wen was also a perceptive individual and could tell too, so he didn't say anymore either, leaving Yin Yu to concentrate on opening the path. An unknown amount of time had passed before Yin Yu spoke up, "Chengzhu, Your Highness, we've already dug about thirty miles. Do we continue?"
That Earth Master shovel worked its magic like the winds and progressed through the ground as if it was cutting tofu, leaving not a single mount of shredded earth behind. Since the group of them ran like they were fleeing, they moved faster than when they were above ground, and in the blink of an eye they actually ran for thirty miles. Xie Lian noticed that Yin Yu also included him in the question and was confused, replying gently, "You don't need to ask me."
"It's all the same." Hua Cheng said, "What does gege think?"
Xie Lian gave it a thought, "Since we were almost out of the valley by the time the mountain spirits came crushing, thirty miles should be far enough. Air underground isn't sufficient, if we keep going down here we might get dizzy, so let's start digging upwards."
Yin Yu acknowledged, "Yes sir!" And instantly changed directions, digging in a slant upwards, even erecting beautiful mud stairs as he went. 'This man really is outstanding as an assistant; hands fast and competent, and not a single excessive word.' Xie Lian remarked inwardly.
Everyone followed behind Yin Yu, and after climbing over ten steps, Xie Lian suddenly felt he stepped on something hard and protruding from the ground. It wasn't like rocks and it wasn't like mud, so he looked down and crouched, using his hands to scrape at the ground. A moment later, his brows knitted slightly. Hua Cheng noticed and exclaimed, "Gege, don't touch!" However, it was too late. When Xie Lian stood up again, he already had dangling in each of his hands a skull, "Everyone, a question. Have we dug into a mass grave?"
Pei Ming also pulled out a femur, sighing, "Probably. Look at the structure of this bone. It must've belonged to an exquisitely beautiful woman with long, slender legs. To have her bones buried here, what a real shame."
"Very unfortunate indeed." Hua Cheng said, "The legs are long, that's for sure, but that's the bone of a man."
Once Pei Ming heard it didn't belong to a woman, he lost interest and tossed that femur away. Hua Cheng added, "To say more accurately, it's the bones of a man who's deformed after turning into a ghost, so there must be corpse poison on it."
Pei Ming opened his palms, and sure enough, areas where his hands touched the bone now oozed green corpse aura.
"Can you manage to keep your hands to yourself? Can you?" Ling Wen berated.
"Corpse, poison, won't do any, harm. Gen, eral is a heavenly official, it'll be fi, ne after a, while." Pei Su said.
Truthfully, that femur wasn't just slender, it was also rather sturdy; it was robust and light when swung, so Pei Ming picked it back up, wrapping the end tip with a cloth to hold it, looking like he planned on using it as a weapon. "Your Highness, how come you're fine holding those two heads?"
Xie Lian gently put down the two skulls and showed his hands to the others. Turns out, his palms were also radiating green, but that green was rapidly fading.
Xie Lian explained, "Truth to be told, I've been poisoned by corpses many times, at least eight hundred times if not a thousand, so I'm quite immune to it now. This level of poison is still manageable."
Hearing this explanation, everyone thought it was silly for some reason and wanted to laugh. Hua Cheng however, didn't seem to be very happy, and he walked over, stepped on the skulls and crushed them into pieces.
Xie Lian was at ease at first, but after he heard that violent, furiously brutal even, sound of bones being crushed, he intuitively sensed Hua Cheng's upset emotion. He wanted to ask what was going on, but somehow felt he himself seemed to be the cause of this upset, and didn't dare to ask while stunned.
A moment later, Hua Cheng demanded, his voice flat, "What's taking so long?"
The distance from the tunnel to the surface of the ground should only be no more than six meters, and even if the distance might be slightly longer since they were digging at a slant, it still shouldn't have taken this long. Yin Yu was also baffled, "I'm confused too... Wait, it's done. It's been dug through!"
Right after Hua Cheng's inquiry the Earth Master's shovel dug through to the surface, and Yin Yu cleared a large hole, leaping out first, "We're... out?"
The others climbed out. However, the moment their feet stepped onto the 'surface' of the ground, they were all puzzled.
"We're back above ground? That's not right. What is this place?" Pei Ming asked.
The place where they've come out was definitely not the surface of the ground since light was extremely dim. Ling Wen commented, "Since it was still day when we were walking through the valley, there's no reason why the skies would turn dark so fast."
A few wraith butterflies flew out while shimmering, and circled around the area. The group finally saw clearly just where they were.
This was an enormously large cave. Empty and spacious, the dome extremely high up and wide like an ink black night sky. All around were innumerous small caves, and each cave lead to different directions. Xie Lian was amazed, "Is this place man made or naturally formed?"
Hua Cheng crossed his arms and took a glance, "Naturally formed."
Even though he still answered Xie Lian's every question, Xie Lian still kept in mind that little moment of awry earlier. Hua Cheng added, "The point we picked to dig upwards to earlier happened to right under this mountain. We've dug into this mountain."
Xie Lian nodded. "I see. Then let's hurry and find the exit."
Pei Su spoke up, "But, wh, ich way?"
That was the question of the hour. Other than those small caverns that no person could crawl through, there were still at least seven or eight other cavities that could allow for people to pass through. Xie Lian hugged his arms and contemplated, and Pei Su said, "Break, up, into, groups? It's the fastest way."
Xie Lian dropped his arms. "No. Breaking up is the worst thing to do in this situation. If there should be anything hiding in the shadows, then it'd be too easy to ambush us. I'd rather take time to find the right path than divide our powers."
Pei Ming held that new weapon made of femur in his hand, seeming to have gotten addicted to swinging it, and spoke as he swung it, "Then let's move together. Let's go this way first."
Thus, the group picked a path and moved together. Hua Cheng and Xie Lian took the lead at the very front. After walking silently for a while, Xie Lian tried testing the waters and whispered, "San Lang?"
Hua Cheng seemed to have long since come around and answered, "Does gege have questions?"
Xie Lian felt it'd be awkward to ask if he was angry earlier and replied offhandedly, "No, it's nothing. Just... this tunnel is all winding and twisted like intestines, I'm a little dizzy."
Hua Cheng instantly replied, "Then do you want to take a break?"
He didn't sound like he was joking at all. Xie Lian hurriedly said, "No need, no need." Behind them, Pei Ming piped up, "Did I hear that right? Your Highness, you get dizzy from a little walking?"
"..." Xie Lian also felt his offhanded reply just now was somewhat embarrassing, like he was forcibly making conversation, so he pretended like he didn't hear Pei Ming's comment and spoke up solemnly, "Everyone, do follow closely, this tunnel has many turns and corners, so it's easy for things to happen..."
As he spoke, he turned his head back to look and he instantly stopped from shock, grabbing Hua Cheng to stop him too, "San Lang!"
"What is it?" Hua Cheng asked and turned to look back too, then he also frowned.
There was no one behind them!
Right before he spoke, Pei Ming was still not far behind them teasing, yet now, in that dark cave it was empty except for the two of them. Hua Cheng immediately gripped Xie Lian's shoulder, his voice dark, "Gege, stay close to me. Don't run off anywhere."
Xie Lian also held his breath, tense and alert, "Is there something hiding in this mountain?"
"No." Hua Cheng said, "But it's precisely because there's nothing that's it's worrisome."
Because this meant there's something that could come close under their radar and kidnap everyone away!