Chapter 61: Lost Underground Palace

Twenty years old already, without even realizing it...

Four years had passed since he left home. Standing on a rugged and craggy rock, Wang Yu gazed at the Three Xuan Bone Mountains. Even today, Liu Jinxian and the others had not returned from the underground palace.

Recalling the Foundation Establishment Corpse Demon that had rushed towards the Ningyue Palace, he suddenly felt a pang of hesitation. Could they have died down there?

While it was hard to say for the others, Liu Jinxian certainly had a life token, a soul lamp, or similar items in her father's possession. She might even possess trump cards granted by Core Formation cultivators. If she had truly died in the underground palace, then "True Person Jade Serpent" would surely have come to Xuan Bone Mountain personally. Yet, there had been no movement for half a year. Perhaps they were merely trapped; that was a more likely scenario.

After failing to see the trio emerge for a long time, Wang Yu made a trip to Xuan Bone Mountain. He discovered that over the past half-year, a group of cultivators who had already reached the peak of Qi Condensation Layer Six had broken through to Layer Seven, thanks to the power of Profound Essence Flowers.

Five Yin Peak and Gu Poison Peak together had gained eight new cultivators who had advanced to the late Qi Condensation stage. When Wang Yu arrived, using the Night Concealment Spell, he found them gathered in the abandoned camp in the middle of the three mountains, discussing something.

"Senior Brother Situ and Senior Sister Liu have been missing for over half a year; we can't wait any longer."

"Fellow disciple, rushing won't help."

"Indeed, for some unknown reason, the pit where Senior Sister Liu descended into the ground has been blocked by a large amount of fallen rocks. I have already dispatched people to excavate and clear it."

"It will be cleared within half a year at most."

"Dig, dig, dig! What good is that?!" A newly advanced Qi Condensation Layer Seven disciple from Gu Poison Peak slammed the table and stood up, glaring at the Five Yin Peak disciple. "After Senior Sister Liu went down the hole, Situ Hong went to find Gu Zhengshun, and neither of them has emerged since. They must have gone down to seek opportunities as well."

"I think you're just stalling for Situ, the sex slave!"

These astonishing words immediately drew angry glares from the Five Yin Peak disciples. Someone said ominously, "I think you're not worried about Liu Jinxian's safety; you're worried about yourself, aren't you?"

"What do you mean by that?"

The Five Yin Peak disciple narrowed his eyes.

"Whatever you think is what it means. I heard Liu Jinxian likes to use Gu worms to control male disciples she fancies as attendants. Could it be... you're one of them?"

"Hahahahaha~"

"Pretty boy, how dare you slander Senior Brother Situ!"

"You—"

Within a few sentences, the two sides escalated into a serious conflict, reaching the point of personal attacks. Not far away, Wang Yu leaned against a wall, listening intently. He couldn't help but smile slightly, though he quickly composed himself.

The Heaven Corpse Peak disciples brought by Gu Zhengshun had remained hidden behind their formation and never emerged. Now, with the disciples of the other two peaks in conflict, the meeting ended acrimoniously. They almost came to blows.

However, both sides still organized their own teams internally. On the Five Yin Peak side, Situ Hong's prolonged absence had led to the newly promoted Qi Condensation Layer Seven cultivators seizing authority. They claimed to be rescuing people, but in reality, they coveted the secrets hidden underground.

The Gu Poison Peak disciples, however, were genuinely anxious to rescue their people, for what that inner sect disciple said was true: Liu Jinxian had not only controlled all late Qi Condensation cultivators with her Gu worms, but even the most outstanding mid-Qi Condensation cultivators were under her control. Now, after half a year without the calming spiritual energy from Liu Jinxian, the Gu worms within them were growing increasingly agitated. Once the worms awoke from their dormancy, some of these cultivators would die without a burial place. They were truly desperate!

Consequently, they immediately dispatched a large number of people to search for naturally formed caves everywhere, hoping to find a new path. The Five Yin Peak disciples, on the other hand, diligently continued their work of excavating rocks and opening up the mountain.

As a result, a large number of personnel from the Three Xuan Bone Mountains were dispatched outwards, leaving fewer than a hundred people in total to manage the bone wood on the three mountains. A thought suddenly occurred to Wang Yu.

Knowing that the underground palace ruins held secrets, and considering the existence of a Nascent Soul-level inheritance jade slip like the Taiyin Nether Eyes, he reasonably suspected that the underground ruins might not be merely the site of an ancient sect at the Core Formation level. What if it was only a branch sect?

Just as the Spirit Reversal Blood Sect occupied four states in the Scarlet Kite Demonic Domain, with each state's prefecture city serving as a sect branch location, their standing forces were merely at the Core Formation level. If it truly was the site of a branch of an ancient Nascent Soul sect, many clues could be found in historical records.

Furthermore, before the establishment of the Three Xuan Bone Mountains, cultivation families had once resided here. Now, they had become the "earth-bound spirit" ghost farmers of Xuan Bone Mountain, and they might have knowledge of the underground palace ruins. This was also a valuable clue.

With Liu Jinxian and the others trapped in the underground palace, their remaining followers were in disarray. If no progress was made soon, a chaotic battle was inevitable. The more he thought about it, the more Wang Yu wanted to go down and investigate. But rationality held him back.

"Wait a little longer. There might be new developments. Don't rush into temporary gains or losses."

Thus, time flew by rapidly. Seasons rotated; winter gave way to spring, and summer winds slowly arrived. In the northern part of Fengzhou, due to its proximity to the Endless Ice Plains, the warmth of summer was rarely felt. The season for bone wood to bloom had come again.

The following June, only a portion of the Profound Essence Flowers had bloomed the previous year. This year, another batch of bone wood grew flower buds, but the quantity was significantly reduced, only one-third of the previous year's amount.

Furthermore, since Liu Jinxian and the others had taken all the late Qi Condensation stage experts with them, the number of available personnel this year was clearly insufficient. The Fierce Bone Lions and Corrosive Poison Bees were both troublesome peak first-order beasts. For the eight newly promoted late Qi Condensation cultivators, even a one-on-one fight was difficult, because while their cultivation level had advanced, their spells and magic artifacts remained at their previous level. They could only control mid-grade magic artifacts to fight, so their efficiency naturally plummeted, making it even difficult to clear the three mountains. The demonic beasts crawling out from underground were truly hard to deal with!

With the blooming season fast approaching, everyone grew anxious. A second meeting was quickly convened.

"How have you considered the matter of cooperation?" a cultivator from Five Yin Peak spoke first. There was no other way. Profound Essence Flowers could help cultivators refine their spiritual energy, and were useful for breaking through from Qi Condensation Layer Three to Four, and Layer Six to Seven. For late Qi Condensation disciples, they could even semi-materialize their spiritual energy in advance, which would be of great help for future breakthroughs to Foundation Establishment. Therefore, no matter how one calculated, the Profound Essence Flowers would not be enough. There were too many of them.

Now that the higher-ups were gone, the mid-level cultivators had risen, and even the low-level cultivators could enjoy the effects of first-tier Profound Essence Flowers. After this second year's harvest, this group of people from Xuan Bone Mountain would at least break through to the mid-Qi Condensation stage.

The Gu Poison Peak disciples frowned deeply. Someone said, "Of course, we want to cooperate, but the problem is there's been no movement from Senior Sister Liu's side. If we delay any longer, people will start dying in less than half a month." This was a real problem. Several Gu Poison Peak disciples were as anxious as ants on a hot pan and could not afford any more delays. Compared to their lives, Profound Essence Flowers weren't that important.

Hearing this, the Five Yin Peak disciple smiled predictably and said, "In that case, since you haven't found a new path, then use the path we've excavated."

"You dug through!"

A Gu Poison Peak disciple stood up abruptly, his voice filled with surprise.

"Naturally," the Five Yin Peak disciple replied. "We dug for nearly a year to reopen this path, but something unexpected happened below."