Chapter 15

The guard, bowing and scraping, escorted the person inside before returning to his post, sighing, “Ah, the gap between people can sometimes be bigger than that between humans and demon beasts.”

The guard on the left couldn’t help but glance at him and silently moved a bit further away. People like this, who complain all day and would rather scheme than cultivate earnestly, will never amount to much. Though he was just an outer sect disciple, he had ambitions and didn’t want to associate with such people, lest he be dragged down as well.

The Yin Qi Cave didn’t usually have many visitors, but today, in just a short while, three people had already come. Not long after Ouyang Zheng went in, a flamboyant female cultivator hurried over.

The two guards exchanged a glance, feeling troubled. This woman was not someone easy to offend. She was the daughter of the Nine Peaks Elder, only twenty years old, and her cultivation had already reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, making her a little genius within the sect. Ouyang Zheng, who came before, had a similar status and was also a disciple the sect focused on nurturing.

However, the problem was that these two had been at odds for some time, often arguing whenever they met. It was unexpected that they both came to the Yin Qi Cave at the same time today.

The two guards felt a headache coming on. This woman had a fiery temper and, relying on her talent and background, was quite domineering, having offended many people. However, no matter how domineering she was, she had her father to back her up. Those servants and low-level disciples she bullied weren’t so lucky; if they were fortunate, they’d just get scolded, but if not, they might get whipped.

Today, she came with an aggressive demeanor, clearly looking for trouble, no wonder the two guards felt uneasy.

“Fairy…”

“Cut the crap, is that bastard Ouyang Zheng inside?” Yang Wenyu’s face was unfriendly, clearly in a bad mood.

“Uh… Ah!” The right guard answered a bit slowly and got whipped across the face.

“When I ask you something, answer quickly!” Yang Wenyu snapped.

“Yes, yes, yes, Senior Brother Ouyang just went in,” the right guard said, enduring the pain.

“Who else is with him?” Yang Wenyu asked again.

“No one…” This time, the guard didn’t dare delay, fearing another whip.

“No one?” Yang Wenyu’s eyes widened, “Impossible! Would Shen Shu miss such an opportunity?” She flicked her wrist, delivering another whip, “I warn you, if you dare lie to me…”

“No, no, how would I dare lie to the fairy,” the guard said, trembling with fear.

“Hmph, I thought so!” Yang Wenyu snorted coldly, “Who else went into the Yin Qi Cave today?”

The guard quickly said that a child also went in.

“A child?” Yang Wenyu looked suspicious, “What child, how could a child go in?”

The guard grimaced, “I don’t know either.”

“What does the child look like?”

“Uh… quite good-looking, I guess,” the guard said softly.

Yang Wenyu raised an eyebrow. Good-looking? How good-looking can a child be? But seeing that the two guards didn’t seem to be lying, she had a thought. Damn, could it be that bitch Shen Shu used some illusion to disguise herself and sneak in?

This is bad!

That woman must have known Ouyang Zheng would come here, so she came to wait for him.

No way, if she succeeds, wouldn’t I be laughed at by her in the future?

No, she absolutely cannot let her succeed.

“Move aside! I’m going in!” she commanded coldly.

“Ah?” The guard was stunned, “Um… the token…”

“I’ll give you the token later! Move!”

Yang Wenyu’s words startled the two guards. The rule had always been that without a token, one couldn’t enter. But if they stopped her, Yang Wenyu clearly wouldn’t hold back.

The two exchanged a glance and shook their heads inwardly. A wise man doesn’t fight when the odds are against him. If they stopped her now, they’d at most get scolded later. But if they stopped her… they might be targeted by this woman in the future.

Despite her bad temper, she was beautiful and had many admirers. To outer sect disciples like them, she could crush them with a finger.

Why bother…

The two guards simultaneously stepped aside, and a red shadow flashed past as Yang Wenyu’s figure disappeared.

The left guard lamented, “Well, this task was a waste.”

The right guard grumbled, “These direct disciples don’t treat us outer sect disciples as humans.”

The left guard rolled his eyes. This was common knowledge, no need to say it. Then he heard the right guard mutter, “Hope they encounter a night of a hundred ghosts!”

The left guard was speechless. A night of a hundred ghosts was a rare event, and using it as a curse was… quite weak?

Even his threats were so ineffective. This guy really had no future. Better keep a distance from him.

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Lin Qingyang, inside the cave, was unaware of what was happening behind him.

The paths in the Yin Qi Cave were complex, with countless forks. He had a map given by Zhang Yifan, which was barely useful for reference.

The cave he chose had seven levels. The first three had been thoroughly explored, and collecting some Yin attribute materials was straightforward with the map.

The magic fish gold was located near the third and fourth levels. Lin Qingyang, with Cheng Hui, took the fastest route down, fighting off low-level monsters along the way.

Yin Qi easily breeds various evil entities, especially in a Yin Qi cave, which never sees sunlight and is nourished by Yin Qi. Skeletons and ghost shadows were countless.

Fortunately, these creatures weren’t strong. A strong ordinary person, if brave enough and not surrounded, could handle them. Lin Qingyang, a fifth-level Qi Refining cultivator, wouldn’t face any danger even with his eyes closed.

In contrast, Cheng Hui struggled, his body uncoordinated and unable to attack. Fortunately, the creatures were his kind, and as long as he didn’t provoke them, they ignored him.

Lin Qingyang easily dealt with the skeletons blocking the way. His strength wasn’t high, but he had rich combat experience.

Even though Cheng Hui hadn’t seen many cultivators in action, he felt Lin Qingyang’s movements were clean and efficient, not like someone untrained.

Sensing Cheng Hui’s suspicious gaze, Lin Qingyang remained calm on the surface but was a bit nervous inside.

His actions were deliberate. He had considered whether to keep hiding, but his instincts told him not to!

Why not? He didn’t know, but he just knew that doing so might lead to severe consequences.

It felt like… he had made a similar mistake before, leading to a tragic outcome.

So, he decided to say nothing. Whatever Cheng Hui guessed, it was his own speculation, not Lin Qingyang’s deception.

To divert Cheng Hui’s attention, Lin Qingyang started talking about things in the Xuanheng Realm.

He found that Cheng Hui, with his intelligence restored, seemed interested in all kinds of information. So he often chatted with him, keeping him from getting bored and understanding him better through his responses.

“Speaking of the night of a hundred ghosts, we must mention the underworld,” Lin Qingyang said, holding Cheng Hui’s hand as they walked forward.

What? The cultivation world has an underworld?

Cheng Hui was dumbfounded.

His expression amused Lin Qingyang.

“Surprised there’s an underworld, Huihui?”

Cheng Hui nodded vigorously.

Of course surprised, the underworld? Isn’t that the place that governs reincarnation? If the underworld is real, does that mean the King of Hell exists too? The eighteen levels of hell? The six paths?

Lin Qingyang couldn’t decipher such complex thoughts from his eyes, but Cheng Hui’s curiosity was evident.

So he explained the underworld in detail.

The underworld was a mysterious place, connected to many realms yet independent of them.

In the vast universe, with countless realms, the Xuanheng Realm was just one. Some realms were interconnected, allowing travel through various means, while others were isolated, inaccessible without special ‘keys.’

But all realms could intersect with the underworld, though these intersections weren’t fixed, as if the underworld was constantly moving, opening a door in different realms at different times.

This door was called the Ghost Gate.

When the Ghost Gate opens, a night of a hundred ghosts occurs.

Once the Ghost Gate opens, the ghosts living in the underworld seize the chance to enter various realms.

The opening of the Ghost Gate is both a crisis and a challenge.

It’s a crisis because when the Ghost Gate opens, the place where it opens will face a massive influx of ghosts.

The underworld is vast, and powerful ghosts like to rule their territories. The opening of the Ghost Gate is random, and no one knows if it opens in the territory of a powerful ghost or a minor one.

If it’s the former, the place where the Ghost Gate opens will suffer, as the ghost invasion is hard to withstand. If it’s the latter, then it’s a stroke of luck, and during the Ghost Gate’s opening, one might even counterattack into the underworld.

Don’t think the underworld lacks treasures; many heavenly materials and treasures can only be nurtured in its unique environment.

Entering the underworld is like entering a natural treasure trove. As long as the ghosts on the other side of the Ghost Gate are eliminated, the remaining time is for cultivators to reap rewards. As long as they don’t venture too far, they can gain a lot.

Unfortunately, the opening of the Ghost Gate is entirely random, with unpredictable time and place. Sometimes it opens for just a few hours, not enough time to explore, and it might not even be noticed.

Cheng Hui listened to Lin Qingyang’s stories, eyes wide open, as if hearing a tale.

In fact, it was similar. Stories of the night of a hundred ghosts were widespread, but actual openings of the Ghost Gate were rare.

There were rumors that the Yin Qi in the Corpse Puppet Sect was so heavy that a night of a hundred ghosts might occur.

But this rumor had been around since the sect’s founding and had never come true.