“It’s okay, it should be okay.”
“Director Song won’t just sit by and do nothing,” Old Hao said as he took a sip of cool tea, calming himself slightly. He couldn’t help but mutter quietly.
“Then what are you afraid of?”
Chen Mu inserted a straw into the yellow gourd and slurped on the Spirit Nourishing Tea.
“When did you prepare this cellar?” Old Hao finally settled his spirit and looked at Chen Mu with suspicion, “Did you already know there was danger?”
“I didn’t know,”
“But I know it’s always good to be prepared,” Chen Mu shrugged.
From Da Liang to Peng Yue Mountain.
He didn’t know how many cellars like this he had dug. He had even developed a proficiency in doing so.
“It would be interesting if it turned into an entry on the gray wall,” Chen Mu couldn’t help shaking his head and chuckling.
“Who knows how long it will take to calm things down,” Old Hao sighed, finally at ease.
“The sky won’t fall as long as the tall ones are there to hold it up, what are you afraid of?” Chen Mu didn’t care much.
Song Wujie was after all a High Cultivator with a Condensing Aperture, and a horde of Exotic Beasts would only cause him a bit of trouble.
But the hunting teams would be in for some bad luck.
“Just wait and see.”
…
Half a day later.
A swath of verdant clouds rose from the direction of Peng Yue Mountain.
They first drove away the swarms of poisonous insects and birds from the skies.
Then, as if duplicating and pasting, one swarm became two, diving towards the ground to ravage the Exotic Beasts.
Chen Mu didn’t rush to leave. He honestly hid underground.
In the meantime, some Exotic Beasts with keen noses tried to dig open the entrance.
They were restrained by Chen Mu using the Qi Forbidden Hundred Miles and devoured by the Five Ghosts Yin Spirit, becoming nourishment for the Five Ghosts Bag.
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He waited underground for three days until Peng Yue Mountain began organizing manpower to clean up the aftermath of the Exotic Beasts’ rampage, then Chen Mu and Old Hao emerged from the ground.
…
Half a month later.
In Yiyou District, on the wooden porch in front of Chen Mu’s house.
“Bad luck has hit us. Why does Jilong Road have to face so many disasters?” Shang Huan stepped onto the long bench, gnawing on some unknown bird wings while lamenting.
“This attack again caused several hundred injuries and deaths.”
“Dozens of Team Leaders from the Inspection Courtyard and Administrative Affairs Institute who had achieved Spiritual Light have died!”
“I heard even five or six Prefects in the Illusion Breaking Realm had perished.”
Chen Mu’s action of chewing vegetables paused involuntarily.
Prefects with Illusion Breaking Cultivation level died? Was it that dangerous?!
Turns out he was so calm and relaxed in that cellar. It was like taking a stroll in front of the Ghost Gate!
“Even such high cultivators can meet with accidents?” Chen Mu couldn’t believe it.
“That’s what you don’t know,” Shang Huan chuckled with a sly smile.
“They say a great monster adept at opening apertures was hiding among this beast tide.” Not waiting for Shang Huan to be secretive, Old Hao told Chen Mu directly.
“One comparable to Director Song who is at Perfection of Condensing Aperture?” Chen Mu felt a chill in his heart.
“Exactly that kind of big monster!” Shang Huan chimed in, and then with a mysterious raise of his eyebrow, asked, “Do you know where it came from?”
“It’s said to be the Cold Moon Toad from Cold Moon Pond,” Old Hao told Chen Mu with a grave face.
“Can’t you just let me do the talking!” Shang Huan was exasperated.
Old Hao, not even sparing Shang Huan a glance, continued to inform Chen Mu of what he knew, “It’s said that when it first came, Director Song fought with the Cold Moon Toad, and both were injured.”
“At the time, they could only drive it away, not kill it.”
“This time, that Cold Moon Toad came back for revenge, and also it wanted to take back Cold Moon Pond.”
Chen Mu’s brows furrowed tightly.
“Someone went to the Scripture Transmission Institute to check the records,” Old Hao went on, “They say that kind of Cold Moon Toad has the ability to disguise and turn invisible.”
“Everyone speculates that it was the one who rallied and gathered the Exotic Beasts, then used a Secret Technique to turn the group of beasts invisible, quietly reaching the hunting team’s defensive lines.”
Chen Mu sucked in a breath of cold air.
That toad was cunning!
“What happened in the end, did Director Song manage to kill that big toad?” Chen Mu asked urgently.
If such a creature was coveting Peng Yue Mountain, it would be too dangerous.
“Previously, with Director Song injured and not fully recovered, it managed to escape. But this time, it should have been possible to kill that big toad,” Old Hao said.
“That’s not necessarily true,” Shang Huan shook his head, “After all, nobody has seen the corpse of that Cold Moon Toad.”
Chen Mu’s heart skipped a beat, “Doesn’t the Lower Courtyard have a statement on this?”
“Haven’t heard any news,” Shang Huan shook his head.
“The Inspection Courtyard is busy cleaning up the battlefield. The Administrative Affairs Institute is busy with consoling and compensating the injured and deceased disciples. It’s been more than half a month, and the whole Lower Courtyard is in chaos. They probably haven’t had the time,” Old Hao speculated.
Chen Mu neither agreed nor disagreed.
Rumors were rampant, yet the Lower Courtyard didn’t provide a clear statement.
This was somewhat unsettling.
…
Three days later, in the underground secret chamber.
On the right stone wall, there was now a door.
Chen Mu leaped into the secret chamber, holding a fist-sized glowing algae lamp in his right hand, and walked through the door on the right.
A sloping, spiraling passage appeared.
Following the passage, Chen Mu arrived about five or six meters below the secret chamber.
Another space, about ten square meters in size, similar to an ordinary living room, appeared.
“A total depth of only fifteen meters is still not enough,” Chen Mu silently calculated the height of the hillside where the wooden house was located.
He planned to continue digging deeper into the underground secret chamber, creating a tunnel that could lead out of Peng Yue Mountain from below.
“With flying exotic beasts around, flying kites won’t be of much use,” Chen Mu said helplessly.
The previous exotic beast assault filled the sky with poisonous insects and birds.
Underground, one might still encounter exotic beasts, but certainly less than on the surface.
Chen Mu wasn’t in a rush and simply took time out every day to dig a little.
After all, the Lower Courtyard was safeguarded by three cultivators at the Condensing Aperture level. Overall, it was still very safe.
“It’s also good to be prepared for any eventuality,” Chen Mu shrugged.
Black smoke clung to the right wall, rapidly corroding and shifting inward, quickly forming a two-person-wide arch-shaped passage.
…
Once the spare space inside the Five Ghosts Bag was filled with soil,
Chen Mu left the underground and jumped up to the first secret chamber.
He sat cross-legged on the soft couch and took out the Black Orb Talisman and White Bone Sphere.
Originally, he should have focused on maxing out the Fire Cloud Curse and the Triple Yin Slaying Demon Technique first.
But then…
“This magic artifact is just too cool!”
With its sharp attacks and strong defenses, one black as ink and the other ghastly white, having menacing appearances that match the Five Ghosts Bag, it perfectly suited his aesthetic taste.
“I’ll practice this first!”
“I have a cheat; I’m not afraid of distractions!”
Mana coursed into the Primordial Talisman and then surged into the White Bone Sphere and Jet-black Moon Blade through his palm.
Then, a force feedbacked from the Black Orb Talisman to him and transmitted into his mind.
Within the Jade Seed, mana mist gently drifted, slowly condensing.
A loose and unfamiliar talisman slowly emerged.
Chen Mu maintained the output of mana, and the talisman became increasingly vivid and discernible.
The Black Orb Talisman was different from all the other magic artifacts he had before; it had its own Jade Slip function.
The incantations needed to activate the magic artifact were within the artifact itself, manifesting when mana was infused.
After a good while, Chen Mu stopped.
The talisman became loose again, the edges crumbling slowly with silver sparkles, until only a core thread with two sparkles remained.
Watching the thread waver on the brink of dissolution, yet ultimately remaining intact, Chen Mu heaved a sigh of relief.
A new entry also appeared on the gray wall.
Spirit Nourishing Curse: 12/10000/First Rank;
“I did it!”
“But what does ‘Spirit Nourishing’ mean?” Chen Mu pondered briefly but didn’t dwell on it.
As long as he increased his proficiency, he would know everything he needed to know.
“Since it’s done, hehe…”
He immediately directed the spark-thread into the Black Orb Talisman with his thoughts.
Hum!
A flash of white light, and a phantom white bone sphere suddenly appeared in front of him.
He raised his right hand.
Whoosh!
The Jet-black Moon Blade instantly began to circulate around him.
A peculiar pulling force wrapped around his palm, as though he was holding a whip.
With a slight flick of his wrist, the Moon Blade swept through the air like a whip’s lash, effortlessly boring into the stone wall opposite and vanishing from sight.
A flick of the wrist brought the Moon Blade back to his side.
After directing the Moon Blade to fly around the secret chamber for a while, Chen Mu withdrew his mana and held the Bone Sphere and Moon Blade before his eyes.
“What treasures!”