Chapter 1103: Love is a Light

Inside the underground palace, a dense yin energy permeated the great tomb.

"Old Gu," Chu Feng said with a grave expression, patting the stone coffin as he spoke, "I must warn you very seriously: you can cultivate here, but you absolutely must control yourself and not make any fundamental mistakes."

"What do you mean?" Gu Chenhai looked bewildered. "What's going on?" he couldn't help but ask.

Chu Feng replied, "I have no objection to you stealing Taiwu's wife, but you absolutely must not get into some unresolved ghostly romance. Don't start a necro-romance here. This is a principle; don't make a major directional error!"

Gu Chenhai was silent for three seconds, his face flushed with suppressed rage. He truly wanted to burst out of the coffin.

"Get lost, you little bastard! Now, immediately, disappear from my sight!"

"Hmm, it's good that you still have a sense of shame. Don't let your perverted hands touch Taiwu's wife."

Bang, bang, bang...

The coffin lid was almost shattered. Gu Chenhai, fuming with rage, roared, "Get out of here right now!"

"Alright, I'm very relieved with you here. This is truly a heavy blow to Taiwu." Chu Feng said meaningfully, then patted his backside and walked away, even beginning to sing: "Love is a ray of light, turning Taiwu green with fright..."

As he sang, he carved words along the way: "Your grandpa Taiwu was here, digging up your ancestral grave!"

The Donkey Spirit, acting like a complete lackey, followed him, grinning with its buck teeth and whispering, "Lord Geologist, the greatest in history, do you think Old Gu will appear hand-in-hand with a family of three a few years from now?"

Chu Feng glanced at it. This donkey was no easy character!

In the distance, Gu Chenhai was absolutely furious, wishing he could charge over and chase them down!

"You idiotic donkey, I'll eat you sooner or later!"

Hearing the roar from behind, the Donkey Spirit tilted its head for a look, then said to Chu Feng, "Old Gu is truly an idiot. He's gone completely mad for a female ghost; there's no saving him."

There was simply no reasoning with them. To be scorned and slandered by a donkey was utterly outrageous. Gu Chenhai couldn't bear to listen to its nonsense any longer and plunged back into the dark mist.

"The great river rolls eastward, its waves washing away all heroes..."

Chu Feng sang loudly on a wide river. He stood on a small boat, moving swiftly downstream, as the green hills on both banks rapidly receded.

The Donkey Spirit had successfully transformed, becoming a boy of eleven or twelve. He had red lips, white teeth, and bright, mischievous eyes. Though quite handsome, there was an unmistakable roguish air about him.

"What fine poetry!" he said, flattering Chu Feng.

"Go boil your tea!" Chu Feng rebuked him.

On the small boat, a small red clay stove diffused the aroma of tea. The Donkey Spirit now served Chu Feng as his attendant.

Chu Feng said, "You're so clumsy. It seems I'll have to capture a goddess to serve tea and water. I wonder which Heavenly Venerate has a clever and capable granddaughter who could be of great use."

The Donkey Spirit secretly rolled its eyes, itching to say, "Keep bragging! If a Heavenly Venerate hears that, they'll surely smash your head to bits! Besides, it's just serving tea and water. To call that 'great use' is truly absurd!"

"Young Master, Ming Lake is approaching," the Donkey Spirit reminded him.

Chu Feng was heading straight for Ming Lake in Qingzhou, intending to deal with a few evildoers.

The Taiwu lineage controlled Qingzhou. Even just a few of the spirit lands within this great province spanned countless miles, vast and worthy of being called a land of spiritual essence.

Among these, Ming Lake, controlled by the Taiwu lineage, was a rare place of creation. The mountainous area bordering the lake was renowned as an Immortal Cave.

The spiritual energy in that area was astonishingly dense, forming rivers, rising as mist and haze. Various spiritual birds and exotic beasts roamed there, making it an excellent place for cultivation.

Chu Feng's target was that place; he intended to seize its creation for his own advancement and eliminate the core disciples of the Taiwu lineage.

It was rumored that the Taiwu lineage currently had six exceptionally talented individuals being groomed. Two of them were already young adults, not targets Chu Feng was considering, as they would certainly be difficult to handle.

The other four were not very old and were very likely to be in the Ming Lake Immortal Cave.

In fact, there should have been one more, Wu Cheng, sometimes called the 'dog child'. However, ever since he was severely wounded by Chu Feng in Dragon's Nest, his status had plummeted. Even his blood ties to Taiwu couldn't help him; the competition was extremely brutal.

Chu Feng sat down, leaning back in a lounge chair.

The Donkey Spirit was very quick to please, running behind him to massage his back and even his head, acting like a complete sycophant.

Chu Feng instantly couldn't stand it. "You clumsy oaf, why are you randomly pressing my head? I feel like I'm being kicked by a donkey's hoof!"

The Donkey Spirit grumbled internally, thinking, "Aren't you literally being struck by a donkey's hooves? A wise person doesn't speak nonsense – you really *are* being kicked by a donkey!"

Chu Feng felt something and swiftly turned his head, just in time to see its wicked, shifty expression. He immediately almost slapped it half-unconscious, telling it to go away.

The Donkey Spirit said, "Then I'll go fishing. I hear there's a Royal Fish in this great river, completely golden, like a dragon spanning the sky, full of wildness, but also considered a top delicacy in the Yang World!"

However, after fishing for a long time, it only managed to catch an old soft-shelled turtle. Not even a shadow of a Royal Fish was seen.

Both banks were lined with majestic, towering mountains. The colossal peaks loomed dark and oppressive, as if about to plunge into the great river, incredibly steep and perilous, creating a sense of dread.

The small boat was incredibly fast, moving downstream like a divine arrow.

One could see terrifying ferocious beasts appearing occasionally in the mountains on both banks, crossing the peaks from one side to the other. Golden-furred apes, for example, would leap across in a single bound.

And then there were blood-colored demonic birds, spreading their wings to cover the sky and block out the sun, like the mythical Kunpeng emerging, clearly great demons!

Fortunately, these creatures didn't bother with Chu Feng and his companions, deeming them too weak to be worth hunting as prey. They paid no attention at all.

Of course, Chu Feng wasn't afraid. After all, he had once been a Divine King. If pushed too far, he would risk everything, unleashing his previous life's Dao fruit, even if it meant facing a life-and-death lightning tribulation, just to eliminate his opponents first.

Finally, they arrived. Ming Lake was a lake in the lower reaches of the great river, not very large, but famous throughout the world for its rich spiritual energy, due to its proximity to an Immortal Cave.

Of course, beyond a certain level, assessing the quality of a grotto-heaven or blessed land involves more than just abundant natural spiritual essence. More importantly, it's about whether there are traces of the Great Dao — that's the fundamental aspect, and what advanced cultivators value most.

Otherwise, even if spiritual energy gathered into a lake and medicinal herbs piled up into mountains, it would still be difficult to rank among top-tier Dao lands and could not be called an Immortal Cave.

The area around Ming Lake was bustling, having clearly become a gathering place for cultivators, complete with a market. Many rogue cultivators frequented the area to interact and exchange.

As the small boat entered Ming Lake, shouts of surprise were heard from afar. Then, golden light surged in that area, a fragrant aroma diffused, and the energy fluctuations were astonishing.

"Someone caught a Royal Fish!"

Royal Fish were very rare; only a few were caught all year. They were needed when refining certain potent medicines, serving as extremely precious medicinal guides, which showed just how strong their spiritual essence was.

These creatures were masters of self-preservation. When in water, they secreted a special mucus that could block the spiritual senses of cultivators.

Splash!

In the distance, the water's surface broke. Someone had caught a Royal Fish over two meters long—this was its normal size. It was entirely golden, truly resembling a dragon, radiating golden light, exceptionally majestic, as if it were about to soar across the sky!

It released demonic arts, attacking nearby people, trying to break free.

Unfortunately, despite its extraordinary self-preservation methods, once it was hooked out of the lake, it was no longer in control and was quickly subdued.

"We're in for a treat this time. Heaven is truly on our side, knowing esteemed guests are arriving, and letting me catch this tender Royal Fish."

An eleven or twelve-year-old boy was smiling. He had a slender build, wore a sky-blue treasure robe that fluttered gently, and possessed a remarkably distinguished demeanor.

With sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, he clearly would grow into a handsome man; he already had that dashing and debonair air, making even fishing seem elegant.

At this moment, he stood on a large boat, surrounded by several men and women, all of whom possessed extraordinary bearing, apparently the esteemed guests he had mentioned.

"Who is that?" Chu Feng asked someone on a nearby boat, as there were several small boats on the lake.

The Taiwu lineage occupied the nearby mountainous area, where the Immortal Cave was located, but Ming Lake itself was open to the public, allowing other cultivators to come and practice here.

"That's Young Master Mingyu, one of the core disciples under a Heavenly Venerate. He's a born genius, and if nothing unforeseen happens, he might become a Heavenly Venerate himself one day!" someone whispered.

Chu Feng was surprised. He hadn't expected to encounter a target so soon after arriving. Without much thought, he concluded that the guests invited by Young Master Mingyu must be of considerable background, their sects no weaker than the Taiwu lineage.

He didn't go closer, instead paddling his boat nearby. In fact, that large, elaborately decorated, resplendent ship was only moving slowly, its occupants also enjoying the lake's scenery.

From a distance, Chu Feng overheard the conversation between Young Master Mingyu and his esteemed guests. They weren't deliberately concealing their words, unafraid of being heard.

They were all from the Martial Lunatic lineage!

Vaguely, Chu Feng understood that these people's sects shared the same origin as Taiwu's; they were several prodigies from the lineage of Taiwu's senior martial sister.

"Mingyu, your lineage has been investigating the person who engraved souls for several years now. Have you made any progress?"

"Mere ghosts and goblins, nothing significant. Just some small fry from the Underworld who, for some unknown fortune or method, dared to engrave those words. They were clearly dissatisfied."

Mingyu's smile turned slightly cold. He added, "If he really dares to come to the Yang World, I guarantee I'll make him wish he were dead. Hmm, our Patriarch annihilated his family, Dao companions, and friends, so I suppose he'll try every possible way to come for revenge. We're just waiting for him to show his face. Then, one slap will kill him, and he'll understand that so-called geniuses from the Underworld are nothing in the Yang World!"

"You seem quite resentful," a sweet-faced girl chuckled lightly, as anyone could see that the usually refined Young Master Mingyu's words were overly aggressive.

"It's all because of these engravings, causing many powerful cultivator sects to mock us. Some people are saying strange things, claiming that even when Patriarch Taiwu personally went to the Underworld, he couldn't kill that young man named Chu Feng, calling him an anomaly who will bring about great karma in the future. What karma? I see him as nothing but small fry. Hmph, when he appears, I'll personally take action and just stomp him to death!"

Mingyu's smile was frosty. In recent years, discussions about the Lesser Underworld had been frequent, naturally bringing up past events. While some remained indifferent, many were critical, causing no small amount of trouble for the Taiwu lineage.

"It was just killing some yin spirits, weren't they? Those specters are equivalent to livestock; what's the big deal? Yet some cultivators, being provincial, called it excessively bloody," Young Master Mingyu said dismissively.

From a distance, Chu Feng struggled to suppress and control his emotions, holding back the urge to immediately charge over and kill him, his heart burning with extreme rage.

His parents, his relatives, his old friends—it was bad enough that after they were killed, they were called yin spirits and specters. But now, after so many years, for the old matter to be brought up again, for them to be so insulted and called livestock—this was utterly outrageous and unforgivable! He must be executed!