54: Chapter 54 Exploration of Black Wind Cave (Part 2)

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the four of them had recovered most of their condition.

Zhang Meng stood up and carefully sized up this Stone Chamber.

The Stone Chamber was natural and irregularly circular. Aside from the entrance they had come through, there was also a narrow crack in the rear rock wall, only wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways.

Even thicker Yin Qi seeped out of the crack. Under the light of the Illumination Pearls, a grayish-black current of air could be seen slowly flowing like mist.

"The source should be inside," Zhang Meng said in a deep voice. "With the Yin Qi being this heavy, be careful of even more powerful entities."

He looked at Lin Xuan. "Junior Brother Lin, lightning techniques have the greatest restraining effect on yin and evil. You take the lead this time. I will support you from behind."

"Alright." Lin Xuan did not decline. With the startling thunder whip in hand, he was the first to walk toward the crack.

The crack was very narrow, and the rock walls were damp and icy. Lin Xuan squeezed in sideways, feeling as if he were crawling into the freezing esophagus of a giant python.

After walking about ten chang, the space ahead suddenly opened up—it was another Stone Chamber, even larger than the one outside.

But he did not enter immediately.

With a thought, the Pangolin inside the Spirit-Taming Tower Space received his command.

The little fellow silently slid out of Lin Xuan's sleeve. Upon landing, it immediately burrowed underground—Lin Xuan had instructed it beforehand that if there was an underground cavern or secret chamber, the Pangolin should scout it first.

Through their contract, Lin Xuan "saw" the Pangolin traveling underground.

The ground below this Stone Chamber was solid, but thirty chang ahead, there was a massive cavern, about five chang deep and over ten chang in length and width.

In the center of the cavern, there was a dense source of Yin Qi, several times stronger than the ghost bats outside.

"Thirty chang ahead, an underground cavern with a powerful yin source," Lin Xuan said in a low voice to Zhang Meng behind him as he exited his perception.

Zhang Meng's expression turned solemn. "Can we bypass it?"

"We can't bypass it; we must go through," Lin Xuan paused. "But we can prepare in advance."

The four squeezed out of the crack one by one and entered the second Stone Chamber.

This Stone Chamber was clearly different. There were signs of manual leveling on the ground, decayed fragments of wooden shelves scattered in the corners, and a few rusted iron canisters.

The most eye-catching thing was the center of the Stone Chamber—there was a downward staircase entrance, from which Yin Qi was billowing out.

"This is it." Li Ming held his compass Magical Artifact, its needle trembling violently as it pointed toward the stairs.

Zhang Meng looked at Lin Xuan. "Junior Brother Lin, is this the underground cavern you just mentioned?"

"Yes." Lin Xuan nodded. "The space below is very large, and the yin source is in the center. I suggest we don't separate after going down. Advance straight toward the yin source and resolve this quickly."

"We'll do as you say." Zhang Meng was very decisive this time.

The four walked down the stairs in single file.

The stairs were crudely carved, sloping steeply downward. After descending about five chang, they indeed entered a massive underground cavern.

The cavern was about ten chang square and three chang high, with countless stalactites hanging from the ceiling, dripping icy drops of water. In the center, there was a naturally formed stone platform.

On the stone platform sat a skeleton in a cross-legged position.

The Daoist robe on the skeleton had already decayed into grayish-black fragments, but one could vaguely see that it was originally a dark green uniform.

Most bizarrely, a jade pendant hung before the skeleton's chest—egg-sized, dark green, and emitting a dense, grayish-black Yin Qi.

Floating around the jade pendant were three human-shaped gray shadows.

Those gray shadows had blurry faces, with only hollow eye sockets and twisted mouths. They had no physical bodies and hovered in midair.

Sensing the aura of living people, they turned their heads in unison to "look" over, ghostly green fires flickering within their hollow eye sockets.

"Wraiths!" Zhang Meng gasped. "First-order Medium Grade. They can pass through walls and launch Divine Soul attacks! Physical attacks are useless against them!"

Before his voice could fade, the three Wraiths screeched and pounced!

Their speed was astonishingly fast, appearing before the four of them almost as if teleporting. Lacking physical bodies, they directly passed through the fiery Sword Qi swung by Zhang Meng and lunged at Lin Xuan, who was at the very front.

Lin Xuan sneered.

Physical attacks were useless? Fire Spells had poor effects?

How coincidental, lightning techniques specialized in curing all kinds of defiance!

"Protect your Divine Souls!" he shouted sharply. Instead of retreating, he advanced, swinging the startling thunder whip with all his might!

This time, what lit up on the whip was not a pale purple lightning glow, but a blinding silver-white electrical flash!

Operating the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder Art with full force, the ultimate yang and rigid power of thunder poured into the whip. The tip of the whip sliced through the air, producing an explosive crackle!

"Crack!"

The first whip strike lashed onto the leading Wraith.

That Wraith let out an extremely shrill scream, its gray shadow twisting violently as it was torn open into a large hole by the lightning glow!

It retreated frantically, but the lightning glow was like maggots on a bone, spreading along the wound. Within three breaths, the entire gray shadow completely dissipated!

Seeing this, the second and third Wraiths did not retreat, but instead pounced even more frantically.

They opened their twisted mouths and emitted silent screeches—sound waves that directly attacked the Divine Soul!

Lin Xuan felt a pang of pain in his head, as if pricked by a needle. However, his Divine Soul, cultivated through the "Purple Heaven Divine Thunder Art", was far more resilient than those of the same tier. He only dithered for a brief second before recovering immediately.

"Die!"

The startling thunder whip transformed into two streaks of silver electricity, striking both Wraiths almost simultaneously!

"Boom! Boom!"

The lightning glow exploded, illuminating the entire cavern as bright as day. The Wraiths struggled and twisted within the thunder, finally turning into green smoke and dissipating.

From the moment the Wraiths pounced to their complete dissipation, it took less than five breaths of time.

While Zhang Meng, Chen Hao, and Li Ming were still maintaining their defensive stances, the battle had already ended.

The light of the Illumination Pearls once again became the primary light source. In the cavern, only the jade pendant was still emitting Yin Qi, though it was already much weaker.

"I-Is it over?" Chen Hao swallowed hard.

Lin Xuan retracted his whip and panted slightly. Those few strikes just now had consumed a significant amount of energy, but the effect was astounding. He walked to the stone platform and looked at the jade pendant.

The surface of the jade pendant was already covered with fine cracks; clearly, the lightning strike just now had also damaged the pendant itself.

But even so, it still emitted Yin Qi, though it no longer spawned new Wraiths.

"This is 'Soul-Nourishing Jade'," Zhang Meng walked over with a complex expression. "It is usually a Magical Artifact used by ghost Cultivators and Demonic Path Cultivators to nourish their Divine Souls and assist in their Cultivation. But this one... left without nourishment for a long time, ended up absorbing the Yin Qi of this place and spawning Wraiths."

Lin Xuan reached out and took the jade pendant. It felt ice-cold to the touch, and a wave of yin-cold energy tried to invade his body, but it was easily dispersed by his Thunder Spiritual Energy.

"What kind of person was this Cultivator?" Chen Hao looked at the skeleton curiously.

Li Ming had already squatted down to inspect. He took a decayed Storage Pouch from the skeleton's waist; the opening of the pouch crumbled at a touch, and the items inside spilled out.

There were several porcelain bottles, but once the stoppers were opened, the Medicinal Pills inside had already turned to ash; a pile of Spirit Stones, but most of their Spiritual Qi had leaked away, leaving only a dim glimmer; and there was also an identity jade token.

Li Ming picked up the jade token and wiped away the dust, revealing the characters inscribed on it.

"Nether Sect, Zhao Jiuyou."

"The Nether Sect?!" Zhang Meng's face changed drastically. "The great Demonic Path Sect that was jointly annihilated by the seven great Righteous Path Sects a hundred years ago! This person is a remnant from back then!"

The atmosphere instantly turned solemn.

The Nether Sect was a Demonic Path Sect that ran rampant a hundred years ago. Renowned for Soul Refining and controlling ghosts, they acted with cruelty and had once stirred up a storm of blood and slaughter.

Later, the seven great Righteous Path Sects joined forces to encircle and suppress them. The Nether Sect's mountain gate was breached, their Sect Master died in battle, and their disciples scattered and fled.

To think that deep within this Black Wind Cave, there was actually the meditation-to-death site of a Nether Sect Cultivator.

"No wonder the Yin Qi is so heavy." Lin Xuan looked at the Soul-Nourishing Jade in his hand. "A relic of a Demonic Path Cultivator, and from the ghost Cultivator lineage at that."

"These things..." Chen Hao looked at the Spirit Stones and the residue of the Medicinal Pills on the ground.

"We will distribute them according to our agreement," Zhang Meng regained his composure. "The Soul-Nourishing Jade was obtained by Junior Brother Lin defeating the Wraiths, so it belongs to Junior Brother Lin. The rest of the items will be split equally among the four of us."

Li Ming nodded. "Reasonable."

He did a quick count: there were one hundred and twenty-three Spirit Stones in total, but their Spiritual Qi had leaked severely, leaving only about thirty percent of their value. When converted, they were roughly equivalent to forty normal Spirit Stones.

Among the several porcelain bottles, only one bottle of "Yin Soul Pills" was relatively intact. However, these were Demonic Path Medicinal Pills, which Righteous Path Cultivators could not use, so they could only be sold.

"We'll split the Spirit Stones equally, ten for each person. The contribution points from selling the Yin Soul Pills will also be split equally," Zhang Meng made the decision. "As for this identity jade token... handing it over to the Sect might yield some contribution points."

Lin Xuan had no objections. Although the Soul-Nourishing Jade was cracked, it was still a Magical Artifact after all. Selling it to a ghost Cultivator or an Artifact Refiner in the market town should easily fetch three hundred contribution points. This was already the greatest harvest.

He put the Soul-Nourishing Jade into his Storage Pouch, and a thought suddenly occurred to him: "Senior Brother Zhang, how should we handle this skeleton?"

Zhang Meng fell silent for a moment. "Burn it with fire. A Demonic Path Cultivator who still spawns Wraiths to harm people even after death cannot be left behind."

He cast a fire-attribute Spell, and intense flames enveloped the skeleton, quickly burning it to ashes. Along with the decayed fragments of the Daoist robe and the remnants of the wooden shelves, everything was turned into flying ash.

After doing all this, the Yin Qi in the cavern grew noticeably fainter.

"Mission accomplished." Zhang Meng breathed a sigh of relief. "We have explored the source of the Yin Qi and cleared out the yin and evil entities. We can go back and report now."

The four of them returned the way they came.

This time, the ghost bats in the cave passage seemed to have lost the support of their source, and their numbers were much fewer. The occasional few that pounced were easily dealt with.

When they walked out of the Black Wind Cave, it was already evening. The afterglow of the setting sun shone on their faces, dispersing that gloomy and cold sensation.

On the way back to the Sect, the atmosphere was much more relaxed.

Chen Hao chattered away about the battle just now, being especially full of praise for Lin Xuan's lightning techniques. Zhang Meng would also chime in from time to time, his tone carrying a few more degrees of genuine approval.

Li Ming walked beside Lin Xuan. After a long silence, he suddenly spoke: "Junior Brother Lin, earlier... thank you."

He was referring to the time Lin Xuan saved him during the ghost bat attack.

"Between fellow disciples, it's only right." Lin Xuan glanced at him. "Senior Brother Li's wind blade technique is also very exquisite, with extremely strong control."

This was the truth. Every single strike of Li Ming's wind blades was precise and efficient, without wasting a shred of spiritual energy. This kind of control required long-term, hard practice.

The corner of Li Ming's mouth curved slightly as if he smiled, but he quickly regained his calm. "After we return, if you ever need help with anything, you can look for me."

"Alright."

The setting sun stretched the shadows of the four very long, casting them onto the mountain path.

Ahead, the mountain gate of the Sanyang Sect loomed indistinctly in the twilight, its lights turning on one after another.

One mission, one battle; some things were quietly changing.

Lin Xuan patted the Soul-Nourishing Jade inside his Storage Pouch, and then thought of the thunder-patterned soil currently being nurtured in the space.

The path of cultivation was still long, but every step was taken with great steadiness.